9/30/13

From Ben Fronczek.... Angels Among Us

Angels Among Us

Acts 12 (By Ben Fronczek)

Since the beginning of the year we’ve been looking at the book of Acts. As I read Chapter 12 this past week something peaked my interest. Read the following:

Acts 12:1-19 “It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”

When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

“You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the brothers about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.

In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.” (NIV)

As the persecution against Christianity and the church spread, we read here that James is killed with the sword. After seeing how much this pleased the Jews Herod had Peter arrested. He may have thought he was next. But the Lord had a different plan. And so He sends an angel to Peter in prison, and we see him miraculously saved. What an amazing story.

Now what excited me this week and what I want to talk about is the reality of angels among us. Angels are incredible beings; and for many of us mysterious. There are many people who quite literally do not believe in such mystical beings, but I do. As a matter of fact Angels are mentioned about 273 times in the Bible; 108 times in the Old Testament, and 165 times in the New Testament. So I would say that the mere number of references here indicate that these spiritual beings play a major role in carrying out God’s plans, and He wants us to know a little bit about them. .

As I began to research the topic of angels, I was almost overwhelmed with the information and stories that are out there; especially stories of angelic encounters. I believe with all my heart that there are millions of angels at God’s command and ready to help and serve us.

Hebrews 1:14 refers to angels as, “ministering spirits.” They do not possess physical bodies like ours. They can seemingly take on the form of a physical body when God appoints them to special task. As far as we know they don’t reproduce, nor do they get married. (Mark 12:25).

There are many accounts of angels in the Bible. The Bible contains story after story of how God’s angels have interacted with man. Just to mention a few:

In Genesis 18, we read about how the angels come to Abraham and how God used His angels to save Lot (Abraham’s nephew) before bringing judgment upon the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In Daniel 6, we read the story of how God sent His angel to shut the mouths of the lions when Daniel was put into the lions den.

In Luke 1, we read the story of the angel Gabriel who appeared to Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, telling him that his wife, Elizabeth, would bare him a son and that he would be the forerunner of the coming Messiah.

Gabriel would appear again in Luke 1 to the Virgin Mary with an important message for not only her, but for all mankind; that she was going to conceive and bring forth a son, He would be the Messiah, and He would reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom would never end.

In Matthew 1, an angel appeared to, Joseph assuring him that Mary was with child through God and not through another man.

In Luke 2, God sent His heavenly messengers to deliver the news to the shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem that the Messiah, who had been prophesied in the Old Testament, had been born.

After Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, as His body lay in the tomb, and it was an angel of God that rolled away the huge stone guarding the entrance to the tomb for the disciple’s sake.

Here in Acts 12 we find the Apostle Peter, laying bound in shackles, in prison, awaiting execution. and an angel appeared. No bars or iron door prevented him from entering. The angel appeared unto Peter in the prison cell, shook him awake, and told him to prepare to escape.

As a light shone through the darkness of the prison, Peter’s chains fell off and he followed the angel out of the prison and into safety. What a mighty deliverance God achieved through His angel. These are just a few of the many stories we find in scripture.

Amazing stories of angelic encounters are still taking place today. The internet is just loaded with stories of angelic encounters. Here are a few for you to look at:

Deathbed Angels BY JENNIFER R.
I’m a nurse, and primarily work private duty, which means I get hired by families through a nurses registry to care for their family member or loved one. I care for patients 95 percent of the time in their homes. Many cases are hospice cases, and I go in knowing that my job is to keep my patient comfortable and their family at ease, knowing everything is okay.

I was on a case in June in Redding, Connecticut. I was caring for a man who was 91 and dying. I was lucky enough to spend some time with him before he started his path to heaven. His path was hard, for him and his family. Around the 8th day, I was mentally and physically beat. I work the 12-hour overnight shift, and spent plenty of time alone with my patient, counting his respirations, waiting for his last breath, letting him know it was okay to let go.

On evening around 10:30 p.m., the family was all asleep, my patient in his hospital bed, his wife in hers, and I was at his side. There was a mirror on the wall across from the bed, and I saw what seemed to be an image, a face. I looked harder since the room was dark, with only a faint light coming from the bathroom. The image became more and more clear. I looked behind me, around me, and nothing was there that could be reflecting the image in the mirror. Then, what I can only describe as a smoke, or mist, began to flow from the mirror.

At this point I’m frozen, unable to take my eyes away. Within this mist, I start to see what I can only describe as pockets of energy, some just round, others actually taking the shape of people. As these entered the room, they scattered throughout the home, and tiny little flashes of white and gold light flickered when these energies came close to each other.

I was so confused and convinced my mind was playing tricks and so I walked out on to the patio to get some air. Once outside, I slowly took some deep breaths and tried to shake it off, telling myself I was dreaming. As I turned around, I saw the flickering of lights still going strong in the house. This went on all night, until the family started to wake. I was so nervous to say anything, especially to the nurse coming in to relieve me. We had worked together many times before, and I was sure she would think I had gone crazy if I told her what I saw.

I finally decided to tell her, and told her of my story soon after she arrived. Her eyes filled up with tears, and she told me of a prayer she had prayed all day for our patient. At the end of each prayer she would add, “…please send the angels” for him. ”They answered my prayer!” she rejoiced! I gently grabbed her arms, and cried, “Why didn’t you warn me?”

It was then that I realized I had seen angels that night. My life has been truly blessed by this experience and since then have seen angels with two more patients. I was always skeptical when I heard other nurses tell of similar things that they experienced. I know now wholeheartedly that it was real. I will never doubt again. If I never see angels again, I will never forget when I did

Angels Among Us by Rick Kallstrom
Don, Tim and Jim were college students from the Midwestern United States and they all attended the same university in Connecticut. It was Christmas break time, 1983, and they were all looking forward to going home for the holidays. One came from Fort Wayne, Indiana while the other two were from Chicago, Illinois.

As they traveled by automobile on their way home they finally reached Indiana. They were now only two hours from Don’s home in Fort Wayne. The weather outside was bone-chilling cold and the ground was covered with heavy snow from a recent blizzard. The radio station they were listening to on the car radio was repeatedly giving weather updates and warnings advising travelers not to drive.

The wind chill factor had reached a record-setting 80 degrees below zero! To get stuck outside in this weather would be life-threatening. Travel was slow but they finally arrived safely at Don’s home in Fort Wayne. Because of the severe weather, Don’s parents invited Tim and Jim to spend the night before proceeding on to their own homes in Chicago.

They wanted the boys to wait until the weather improved and it was safe to drive again, but these college students were anxious to get home for the holidays to their families in Chicago. After all, it was Christmas Eve and they had only four more hours of driving to reach their destination.

They sincerely thanked Don’s parents for their generous offer but decided to brave the cold and snow and head home. After leaving Don’s house, Tim and Jim continued on their way home. They had traveled approximately 30 minutes and had finally reached the access road that would lead them to the toll expressway.

Tim’s automobile had done well in the bitter cold, but now it was beginning to sputter and lose power. The access road they were traveling was eleven miles long and it had been built along a hillside. It was a higher road then the rest. They were able to look out the car windows and see the many roads below, but they saw no other cars traveling that night. There were no houses within miles.

They assumed that other travelers had heeded the weather warnings and made the smart choice to not travel on such a dangerous night. Tim’s automobile continued to lose more and more power – and then with one final sputter and moan, the engine completely stopped. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere on the frozen road.

Soon the inside of the car became freezing cold. No other cars were anywhere to be seen. To leave the vehicle and attempt to walk to safety would likely mean death. No one could survive more than a couple of minutes outside in these record cold temperatures. Their feet were getting so cold and their bodies were becoming numb.

They didn’t know what to do, so in desperation, Tim began to pray. “Dear God, You are the only one who can help us now. Please help us dear God, please help us!” Within moments, from out of nowhere, lights appeared shining brightly through their windows. How was this possible? They hadn’t seen anyone coming and they had been watching closely for any sign of life at all.

A big, strong-looking man approached their car and knocked on the window. “Need a tow fellas?” he asked. Excitedly and with a sense of great relief the two boys climbed into the warm cab of the tow truck. From the cab the boys used the driver’s truck phone and telephoned Don’s house. They would be spending the night after all! However, they would need some additional money to pay the driver who had rescued them. Don’s parents said they would be happy to help.

The tow-truck driver drove through Fort Wayne and back into the neighborhood where Don lived. They thanked the driver for rescuing them and asked him to wait just a moment while they went inside to borrow the money to pay him.

They jumped out of the truck and ran into Don’s house. Don handed them the money they had asked to borrow and immediately hurried back outside, grateful to pay the driver, but the tow truck was gone!

Don and his parents joined them outside, also wanting to thank the driver. The boy’s car was there, but there was no sign of the tow truck or its driver, nor was there any sign of a tow truck having ever been down that road.

Neither Don nor his family had heard any sound when they had arrived, even though they had been listening for them. There were no tire tracks anywhere on the snow-covered road. There was no tow bill, no tow truck driver, no farewell, and no taillights that could be seen off in the distance. There was no evidence anywhere that any vehicle had even been down that road!

The boys had no explanation other than that the tow truck driver was an angel sent by God to answer their prayer.

There are quite literally 1000’s of stories like these where people are convinced that they encountered an angel.
So I ask you – do you believe in the existence of angels? Surely I do, because the Bible says that there ARE angels; and I believe the Bible to be the true Word of God. Even though I have never seen one, I personally believe that God’s angels have protected me more than once.

So what can we gain from this information and knowledge of Angels?

#1) The existence of angels should remind us that the unseen realm is real. Just like the Sadducees in Jesus’ day who didn’t believe that there is a resurrection, or Angels, or spirits, (Acts 23: 8), many today deny the reality of anything they cannot see. But the biblical teachings concerning the existence of angels, are a constant reminder to us that there is an unseen realm that is real. If you remember the story, in 2 Kings 6:16-17, it is only when the Lord opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant to the reality of the invisible world that the servant saw that the mountains were full of angels and chariots of fire round about .

An unbelieving world may dismiss talk of angels as mere superstition, but Scripture offers these stories as insights and proof for us this unseen realm is real. Even today, these encounters, these stories about individuals who see angels, also help reinforce the fact that there are many things that our eyes just can’t see, especially God’s eternal spiritual realm.

#2) Understanding who and what angels are, and how great they are should also help us to appreciate how much God truly loves us as humans. As one takes the time to read and study scripture, God sets a plan in motion to save us from our sin, but not Angels when they rebelled. In doing so, God has declared us His sons and daughters. Angels cannot make that claim. As great as they are, (and they are awesome and great) only we are created in God’s own image. We just stand in such a privileged position.

#3) The angels can also be a great example for us by showing us how obedient and worshipful they are. In heaven, God’s will is immediately, joyfully carried out without question. Their delight is to be God’s humble servants, each faithfully performing their assigned tasks, whether great or small. Our desire and prayer should be that we should be as loyal and serve God with such enthusiasm.

We also see how angels readily worship our God. Just to mention one of many examples, in Revelation 5:11-12, John records this, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand…” And what were they doing? Worshiping and praising our Lord!

I can’t help but believe angels find their highest joy in praising God; and if that is so, should we not delight in worshiping and praising God each day?

#4) We should also be more aware of angels in our daily lives. Scripture makes it clear that God wants us to be aware of their existence and some of their activity.

When we worship together, we are not only joining in with a great company of believers across this planet, worshipping our Lord together, we are also worship together with a multitude of unseen angels.. (I believe there are some with us here today!)

Though we do not ordinarily see or hear evidence of this heavenly worship, it can certainly enrich our sense of reverence for God and bolster our own worship if we appreciate the fact that angels are probably joining in with us as we worship our God.

#5. Moreover, we should also be aware that Angels are watching over us. They see how obedient or disobedient we are to God throughout the day. Even if we think our sins are done in secret and bring grief and no one else (except, of course, God himself), we should be sobered by the fact that perhaps many, many angels witness our disobedience and are also grieved by what we do or don’t do.

On the other hand, when we are discouraged and think that our faithful obedience to God goes unseen, if we are encouraged by no one, you can be comforted by the fact that many angels witness the good you are doing and perhaps the long struggle you endure because you love Jesus.

Sometimes angels may even appear to us in secret. We read, “do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware” Heb 13:2 Gen. 18:2-5 & 19:1-3

If anything, this should encourage us to minister to the needs of those we do not know who seek our help. Someday in heaven you just might meet that angel who you helped when he appeared disguised as a human being in distress here on earth.

#6. And last of all, if you are suddenly delivered from danger, distress, or an accident, it just might be an angel sent from God to help you and you should be thankful. (Dan. 6:22; Acts 5:19-20, 12:7-11; Matt. 4:11, Ps. 91:11-12). We should thank God for His mercy and His help and the angels among us!

Conclusion

This has only been a brief study of angel but what I want you to see is the fact that we are part of something far greater than anyone of us can see. And, that you are loved by God. Battles are being fought for us that we cannot even see. His angels stand ready at His command to help us and guard us from seen and unseen dangers.

Next time you hear someone say to you, I think my guardian angel helped me today, offer up God a special prayer of thanks, that He does care that much for us, that we have those periodic reminders that there is a wonderful spiritual realm, a heavenly realm that just lies beyond our vision. And I pray that you will walk by faith, and not by sight this day and every.

For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566

From Jim McGuiggan... Matthew 8:20: Foxes, birds and Jesus

Matthew 8:20: Foxes, birds and Jesus

Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20

Matthew is centrally about God’s kingdom authority as expressed in Jesus Christ and this remark made to a biblical lawyer (scribe) seems to be a warning to the man, seems to be calling him to a radical lifestyle or commitment. He may have been “a disciple” in some sense of the word (8:21 says “another” disciple) but in any case, it would appear that Jesus was saying to him, “Do you know what it is you’re wanting to get in on?”

But was the Master speaking of literal homelessness? He’d have been welcomed in his mother’s home or with Peter, Lazarus and his sisters. Perhaps it isn’t physical issues he has in mind. For all the homes that were open to him and would have welcomed him to have their beds, there was an aloneness about Jesus that couldn’t be changed. For all the rich truth that the Incarnation teaches us Jesus didn’t fit in our society. In his song Vincent,Don McClean said of the famous painter, “this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.” If this was ever true of anyone it was true of Jesus Christ. The fox trotted his way home to a warm lair and his pups and birds winged their way home to nests they had built for themselves and their families—they had their place, they belonged; Jesus did not belong!

P. T Forsyth has taught us that for all the joy he found in life, doing his Father’s will, Jesus must always have lived in profound separation. The only living being in a world that had died in sin, the only one left standing when Sin was done ravaging and reaping. Alone—though never alone for he always did those things that pleased his Father.

Did the Torah teacher note the authority of Jesus; had he taken notice of the healings and the jaw-dropping power and would he have agreed with Nicodemus that nobody could do these things unless God was with him? Did he sense that this was the beginning of the divine revolution and that now was the time to get into the circle of the Master’s disciples? And if he did, knowing that the Messiah had come to rescue Israel and restore their place of blessedness with God was he wanting to find a home, a place, security and acceptance? Did he seem to see all that promised in the young teacher?

To embrace Jesus as Master that our marriages might be made better, that our commerce might prosper, that our living quarters might be bettered, that we will be treated with more respect—what do you make of that?

It’s said that in light of the gold and silver of one of the fabulous buildings a Pope’s said to Aquinas, “We can no longer say as Peter did to the lame man, ‘Silver and gold have I none’.” Aquinas was said to have quietly responded, “Neither can we say, ‘such as I have I give you, rise and walk’.”

Should we say that the days of foxes, birds, holes and nests are long gone? Is Christ now welcome in the world? Is he now at home? Does he want to be at home in a world like this? I don’t doubt that kingdom authority is still invested in him but since I believe that Matthew tells Jesus’ story in a way that has the character of Philippians 2:5-11, have things really changed? Some things have changed—obviously—but has the character of Jesus changed simply because he's King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

Does he not to this very day choose to live in this world in the lives of those who are happy for foxes and little birds but who now and then are jealous of them because somehow they feel homeless?

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... The Exaltation Of Christ (Ephesians 1:20-23)

                     "THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS"

                   The Exaltation Of Christ (1:20-23)

INTRODUCTION

1. In expressing his prayer that the Ephesians might know "the exceeding
   greatness of His Power toward us who believe" (Ep 1:19), Paul makes
   reference to the working of God's power in...
   a. Raising Jesus from the dead - Ep 1:20a
   b. Seating Jesus at His right hand in the heavenly places - Ep 1:20b
   -- At this point, Paul digresses slightly to expand upon the idea of
      "The Exaltation of Christ" - Ep 1:21-23

2. This is a theme worthy of Paul's digression and our own careful 
   consideration for several reasons:
   a. Without "The Exaltation of Christ", none of the spiritual 
      blessings already described would be possible!
   b. There are some who say that Jesus...
      1) Has yet to start His "kingly reign" (e.g., some pre- and post-
         millennialists,)
      2) Or did not start it until 1914 (e.g., "Jehovah's Witnesses")
   c. Some amazing things are said by Paul in this passage, not only 
      about Christ, but about His church!

[Since the Holy Spirit saw fit to lead Paul into this "digression", we
will take the time to consider what is revealed, beginning with the 
fact...]

I. CHRIST IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD (20)

   A. SEVERAL PASSAGES PRESENT CHRIST AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND...
      1. "received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of 
         God" - Mk 16:19
      2. "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God" - Ac 2:33
      3. In the book of Hebrews...
         a. "sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" - He  1:3
         b. "seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in 
            the heavens" - He 8:1
         c. "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat 
            down at the right hand of God" - He 10:12
         d. "endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at
            the right hand of the throne of God" - He 12:2
      4. "where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God" - Col 3:1
      5. As a point of interest, one passage has Jesus "STANDING on the 
         right hand of God" (at the martyrdom of Stephen) - Ac 7:55-56

   B. IMPLICATIONS OF CHRIST SEATED AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND...
      1. Fulfillment of prophecy - cf. Ps 110:1-7
      2. As indicated in this prophecy (and compared with 1Co 15:25-
         26) Christ began His "kingly reign" when He sat down at the 
         right hand of God
         a. He shall "rule in the midst of [His] enemies"
         b. At the right hand of God He shall "judge among the nations"
         c. He shall reign  "till He has put all enemies under His feet"
      3. As Peter indicated in his sermon on Pentecost, by Christ's 
         resurrection and exaltation He has been raised to sit on 
         "David's throne", and is therefore truly "Lord" - Ac 2:30-36

[But how extensive is the "reign" or "authority" of Christ?  Does He 
have only "partial" authority?  As we return to our text, we find Paul 
saying that...]

II. CHRIST IS FAR ABOVE ALL OTHERS, ALL ARE UNDER HIS FEET (21-22a)

   A. CHRIST IS FAR ABOVE...
      1. "all principality and power and might and dominion" - a likely 
         reference to angelic beings and evil spirits - cf. Ep 3:10; 
         6:12
      3. "every name that is named" - this would include authorities 
         here on earth
      4. "not only in this age but also in that which is come" - both in
         the present dispensation, and in the one to be ushered in at 
         the consummation of all things
      -- Sounds like Christ's authority is all inclusive, doesn't it?

   B. ALL ARE UNDER HIS FEET...
      1. As Christ Himself said:  "All authority has been given to Me in
         heaven and on earth" - Mt 28:18
      2. As Paul described Christ:  "the blessed and only Potentate, the
         King of kings and Lord of lords" - 1Ti 6:15; cf. Re 19:16
      3. As Peter wrote:  "angels and authorities and powers having been
         made subject to Him" - 1Pe 3:22
      4. As John wrote:  "the ruler over the kings of the earth" - Re 1:5
      -- Can anyone say that Jesus has NOT begun His "kingly reign" in 
         view of such statements?

[Indeed, Christ was granted all this dominion when He ascended to heaven
to sit down at the right hand of God, as prophesied by Daniel (Dan 7:
13-14), and as revealed by Jesus to the seven churches of Asia (Re 
2:26-27; 3:21).  Clearly, from the viewpoint of Christ and His 
apostles, He was reigning over all when the pages of the New Testament 
were being written.

But there is more amazing truth revealed in Paul's "digression" and that
is...]
 
III. CHRIST IS HEAD OVER ALL THINGS "TO THE CHURCH" (22-23)

   A. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE PHRASE "TO THE CHURCH"?
      1. Christ exercises His authority over all things "in the 
         interest" of the church (Hendriksen); i.e., the rule of Christ 
         is for the benefit of His church!
      2. Because Jesus is Lord, all things work together for our benefit
         - cf. Ro 8:28
         a. This is not to say that Christ will prevent hardship,
            persecution, even death
         b. But through Christ all such things can used to our benefit
            and ultimate glory!
            1) "in all these things we are more than conquerors through
               Him" - Ro 8:35-39
            2) "...the world or life or death...all are yours" - 1Co 3:21-22
            3) Even the sufferings brought on by Satan can be used by
               God to "perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle" us! 
               - 1Pe 5:8-11

   B. WHAT IS "THE CHURCH", THAT IT SHOULD BE SO BLESSED?
      1. It is "His body", i.e., the body of Christ - Ep 1:23
         a. Those who have been "called out" into the "assembly" of 
            God's people are like a "body" to Jesus - cf. Ep 5:28-30
         b. As such, Christ loves it and gave Himself for it - cf. Ep 5:25-27
         c. Thus, He is not only the "head" of the body, but the 
            "savior" of it as well - Ep 5:23
      2. The church is also called "the fullness of Him who fills all in
         all" - Ep 1:23
         a. Hendriksen suggests that this means "the church is Christ's 
            complement...filling or completing Him who fills all in all"
         b. Hendriksen continues:  "As to his divine essence Christ is 
            in no sense whatever dependent on or capable of being 
            completed by the church.  But..."
            1) "as a bridegroom he is incomplete without the bride"
            2) "as a vine he cannot be thought of without the branches"
            3) "as shepherd he is not seen without his sheep"
            4) "and so also as head he finds his full expression in his 
               body, the church" (New Testament Commentary, Exposition
               of Ephesians, William Hendriksen, p. 104)

CONCLUSION

1. With this "digression" of Paul we have seen...
   a. The exalted position that Christ now holds, as "head over all 
      things"
   b. The exalted position of His Church, which is viewed by Christ as:
      1) His "body" (which He loves, nourishes, and cherishes - Ep 5:
         25,29)
      2) His "fullness" (the perfect complement to His being)

2. How can anyone say...
   a. That Christ is not yet "ruler over the kings of the earth"?
   b. That the church is not important, a non-essential concern for 
      those following Christ?

3. In view of such truths concerning Christ and His Church...
   a. Are we freely submitting today to His authority? - cf. Ps 110:3
   b. If you have not done so yet, will you allow Him who is "head over
      all things" ADD you to His church? - cf. Ac 2:47

9/29/13

From Gary.... The level of Mercury, a gentle breeze and love

Yesterday, I spoke with my Linda, who is recovering from a severe ankle injury. She mentioned that it was in the 70's in New Jersey and I just smiled and said it about 90 in Florida. I could tell from her voice that she was happy to be out of the heat, and I wish I was there to share the cooler weather with her, but, alas, that doesn't seem to be in the near future. So, Linda and I talked and though thousands of miles apart, we were close. She understood how hot Florida can be and I remembered what 70 felt like. Fellowship; it comes in all temperatures. Where the heart is- there you will find the commonality that only love can comprehend. And so we come to this passage from the book of 2 Corinthians...

2 Corinthians, Chapter 1

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.

Love, it really does change things. Perhaps not the physicality of reality, but the perception does change. To me, for awhile yesterday, I WAS IN NEW JERSEY, enjoying the fall temperatures, talking with the love of my life- and happy. Today, I am reminded by the elevated mercury of my thermometer, that Florida is reality. But the memory of those few minutes with my sweetie is like a gentle breeze that changes everything. I wonder if that is how God feels when we spend time with HIM in PRAYER? I know that prayer is a soothing aroma ascending to heaven, but I am curious as to whether or not God has a fan directing it towards his face? If so, that must be some whopping electric bill HE has each month!!!

From Ben Fronczek... How They Became Christians

How They Became Christians

Acts 10 Cornelius (part 4)

In the past few lessons I have been talking about someone I feel is a very special, a Bible character that I never really looked at before. In Acts chapter 10 I’ve spent some time looking Cornelius. He is a special individual not only because of who he is, but also because what he does.

Who is he? He is a Roman soldier of high rank, a centurion, probably part of a squadron of men that were in charge of security, guarding the Roman governor Marcellus in the capitol city of Caesarea.

Being a Roman soldier he had not only pledged his allegiance to Caesar who also claimed to be divine he also had pledged his allegiance to the Roman many pagan Gods.

As mentioned in an earlier lesson, what made Cornelius unique was the fact that at some point he seemingly turned his back on those pagan Gods and after learning about the God of the Jews, he accepted Him as his new Lord and God. And we read in chapter 10 that he and his family were totally devoted to the Lord, and was on good terms with the Jews helping those who were in need.

In chapter 10 we also read about the angel that came to Cornelius one afternoon as he was praying. The angel instructed him to send for the Apostle Peter to listen to what he had to say. In the meantime the Lord also sent Peter a vision of unclean animals being lowered in a sheet to the earth from above with the command to kill and eat. After Peter responded saying that he couldn’t he was told that he should no longer consider things impure if the Lord has made it clean. After repeating this three times, the sheet was taken back up to heaven and that’s when Cornelius’ men came searching for Peter to bring him back to Cornelius. And it is at this point that the Spirit tells Peter to go with these men.

Why is this story so important? Because when Peter goes to Cornelius’ house and preaches the good new about Jesus it is the first time we see non-Jews accepted into the kingdom of God. From the time of Abraham, who was literally the first Hebrew or Jew, until that day in Cornelius’ house, no one could be part God’s covenant people unless they were born a Jew or unless they became a proselyte Jew.

This is the first time in Bible history since before the time of Abraham that a non-Jew or gentile could become part of God’s family. This is a pivotal time in all Bible history!

And so that Peter and the other Jews that came with him would recognize this great event, that God was now going to accept gentiles into His kingdom and His Church, the miraculous gifts and power of the Holy Spirit were poured out on these uncircumcised gentiles by God Himself, showing Peter and the Jews that these people were also accepted.(44) God tore down the wall that divided the Jews from the gentiles. Now we all can become God’s chosen people.

Later Paul would write about this in Ephesians 2:11-18 , he wrote, “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (Notice he technically made peace by setting aside or doing away with the old Jewish covenant at the cross so that Jews and Gentiles are now on equal ground cf.. to Colossians 2:14) (Click on highlighted Bibles verses to read)

That’s why this story about what happens here with Cornelius’ is so special. Because of it, we as gentiles (or non Jews) have the same hope as the chosen people of old. We can become part of God’s family and be saved from our sin without first becoming a Jew.

So why Cornelius? Why this household?

Well, as we already mentioned, he and his family are already devoted to God. It took a lot of courage to turn his back on the pagan Roman gods. He could be seen as a traitor.

They are more than just believers in our Lord, they are devoted and this devotion was reflected in how generous they were to others, and even in how the Jews saw Cornelius. We read that he was respected by all the Jews.

In the last less (part 3) I talked about Cornelius being a spiritual leader, a man who probably influenced people in a good way. Evidence of this is seen by how many people gathered at his home when Peter arrives. Friend s and family obviously liked him and had enough respect for him to show up when he invited them to his house to hear this Jew speak.

But I believe there’s more; it goes deeper. I believe Cornelius is what we would now call a seeker.

What he had, what he already knew and believed about the Lord, probably wasn’t enough. He wanted more. He was still open to hear more truth, more revelation. Maybe he wasn’t satisfied with his present spiritual condition or serve.

I almost wonder if when he prayed, he prayed, “Lord help me understand, I’m not a Jew but I want to be right with you. I want to serve you. Help me Lord.”

And so when the angel appeared to him and told him to send for Peter, I almost sense an excitement, some anticipation in the text. This is something I fear many of us have forgotten. This desire, the thirst and hunger for wanting to know more about God and how we can fit into His plan.

Jesus Promised us something when He said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (that is for God) he will be filled.” (Matt. 5:6)

And this hunger grows into excitement.. Cornelius had to be excited about Peter coming to his home; otherwise he would not tried to pack his house so full of people.

We also see this great man’s humility. Do you see his reaction when he first meets Peter? Verse 25 says that he fell at Peter’s feet in reverence. It probably embarrassed the heck out of Peter because he told him, “get up, I’m just a man myself.”

After Peter enters the house full of people he explains to them that Jews normally don’t associate with non-Jews but he explain to them that God himself showed him not to call any man impure.

After Cornelius explained why he summoned Peter (because an angel told him to do so) I find what Peter has to says next is interesting. (Please click on Bible verses to read) Acts 10:34-43

Did you notice what Peter said here. Did you notice how he began vss. 36 and 39? He said, “YOU KNOW the message about Jesus. YOU KNOW what happened throughout Judea from the time of John’s baptism to when they nailed Him on the cross.”

And then Peter let these people know that he was a witnesses of these facts and not only saw Jesus die on that cross but also witness of the fact that He rose on the third day and was seen by many. And then Jesus commanded them to go out and share this good news, that he will Judge both the living and the dead. Peter goes on and let’s Cornelius’ household know that even the prophets talked about Him and that everyone that believed in Him could receive forgiveness of Sin through His name.

And then ‘BAM’, that’s when the Holy Spirit poured out some miraculous gifts on these people. Right then and there God was letting Peter and these Jews know that these people were ready, these people were believers; God was willing to accept them into his kingdom.

Were these people Christian yet? No, they only needed one more thing, the same thing that was needed in Acts 2 when the 3000 believed and repented. It was the same thing that the Samaritans needed in Acts 8 after they repented and believed. It was the same thing that the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:34-39 recognized, that he needed after he came to believe in Jesus; and the same thing Paul needed after he came to faith, fasting and repenting in Acts 9 and Acts 22. These people needed that master surgeon to cut away or remove their sin in the waters of Baptism. So in verse 47 Peter says, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus.”

So why did I use the terminology that Jesus is the Master surgeon? In Colossians 2:9-12 Paul clearly tells us that Jesus cuts away our sin in the waters of baptism. And in Roman 6 tells us that after we come up out of the water we rise to a newness of life. (Click on the verses to READ)

Without hesitation Cornelius and his household allow themselves to be baptized so that Jesus could remove their sin and so fulfill what God had ordained as a final and necessary step in their redemption; thus opening the door for us as believing gentiles to follow. So here we see another example like with the Samaritans in Acts 8, where just belief in God was not enough. Knowledge of Jesus was not enough for they knew of Him. Praying was not enough. Even good works and a good reputation were not good enough.

There comes a point where we have to allow Jesus to purify us, and remove our sin. And based on Colossians 2 Paul wrote that it is in the waters of baptism that Jesus Himself removes our sin. It is a “circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism”.

You can’t pray your sin away. Doing a bunch of good works is not going to get rid of our sin. There is nothing we or any man can do to fix our sin problem. Only Jesus can do that. On the cross He died for our sin and based on this text and others, it is in the waters of Baptism, when we are buried with Him He personally removes our sin.

So what I hope you can take from this lesson today:

#1. I don’t think we should ever stop seeking, and hungering and thirsting for righteousness and what God wants and expects from us. Continue to seek out his will for you. Pray, study the scriptures.

And as Jesus promised, you will be blessed, or happy, because if you seek with all sincerity you will find, and you will be filled.

2^nd Our own pride and stubbornness, and ‘know it all attitude,’ can be our greatest enemy. When it comes to truth and learning the things of God, and understanding your spiritual relationship with God, don’t ever settle for what someone tells you what you should or should not do. God has preserved His word in the Bible so that you can know the truth and that truth will set you free. Research it out for yourself!

#3. If you have not done what Cornelius and his family did that day, having consciously put their faith in Jesus and then allowed themselves to be baptized so that Jesus could remove their sin, Then I suggest that you seriously consider looking into this matter and doing what Cornelius and family decided to do.

I believe that there is a right way to be baptized, a right time to be baptized, and and a right and a wrong reason to be baptized. If you this is new to you and you want to learn more about it email me for more information

For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566

From Jim McGuiggan... Matthew 8.16-17 & SUFFERING

Matthew 8.16-17 & SUFFERING

Biblically there’s more than one face of suffering and loss. Over the years one of my failures as a student of scripture and life is that I’ve responded to complex realities with answers and proposals that are too simple. In addition to my sheer ignorance I’m sure one of the reasons I did that was because I was impatient. I’d like to have these matters all squared away so the sooner I can set them aside thinking, “That’s another one taken care of” the better I like it. It’s important that I don’t do that. I need to work patiently through the ins and outs because when I make it too simple somebody suffers, some poor soul falls through the cracks and is left comfortless. Besides, if I leave the job half done I haven’t heard all God is saying to us and that’s always a loss. I recognise the task is unending and in some ways always beyond me but that doesn’t excuse me if I don’t make the attempt.

Take for example the work of Stanley Hauerwas, a brilliant and provocative theological ethicist, and his remarks about suffering in general and the suffering of children in particular. In Naming the Silences (1990) and The Suffering Presence (1986) he thought that suffering that came as a result of one’s devotion to God made sense but that suffering that is part of what we might call “the human condition” is beyond explanation. In particular, the suffering of a child, he thought, is “a blackness before which we can only stand mute.” (NS, page 86) Quoting Brueggemann with approval he rightly wants us to avoid a sort of masochism that’s “too understanding” about suffering so that we won’t take it like whipped dogs. On the other hand he rightly urges us not to trivialize the cross by identifying our own losses with Christ’s cross and so reduce his death to one more example of suffering to be borne. I think Hauerwas’ work here leaves a profound gap that begs to be filled. The bulk of the world’s pain involves disease and loss that is not the immediate result of one’s devotion to God and Hauerwas thinks we have nothing worth saying in the face of it all. I think that’s untrue and maybe we don’t have to stand utterly mute before a little child’s suffering.

Scholars urge us to take suffering seriously and not to gloss over it but perhaps we aren’t taking the general suffering of the world seriously enough when we sever it from the cross. And maybe we’re robbing sufferers of something they can ill do without.

It might be that we aren’t wrong in recognizing secondary and intermediate causes but that we’re wrong to exclude the ultimate Cause of pain and loss—God himself who uses secondary causes as instruments. We’re urged to hold God accountable by having an authentic faith that will protest. It might be that laying the entire world’s suffering at the feet of God is the most serious way to “hold him accountable” and to give our suffering the dignity it deserves. Screaming at him in our pain even while we think “the blame” should be laid at the feet of free will abuse, bad luck or demonic thugs—maybe that’s not really holding God accountable. At least when Job did his raging and insulting, he knew it was God he was mad at (“If it isn’t him, who is it?” he asks). Some say, "Hold God accountable and show authentic faith" and then they go on to "explain" everything in every conceivable way while keeping God out of it. The bold call to authentic faith melts to mush.

To stand mute before Auschwitz makes sense in many ways and to be speechless in the presence of the suffering of little children is a measure of its awful nature. But maybe that is to make too little of it. Maybe its true measure is seen only when we link it to the cross and a cosmic catastrophe. You understand, Christians aren’t interested in making less of these awful realities especially if the biblical witness makes them part of a vast divine/human Story. If the world’s suffering is God’s strange but redemptive work in response to human sin it is taken more seriously and given an aura and dimensions that poor hurting hearts can’t give it and for which they beg.

Suffering’s many faces

The scriptures speak a lot about suffering that results from faithfulness to God. In fact, this is almost exclusively what the New Testament talks about. I say “almost” because there are a few (important) texts that speak more broadly. Then we hear that suffering transforms and enriches us and brings Christians more into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Then again there are the sufferings of a particular class of people who have a peculiar place in God’s service (apostles, for example, see this developed in 2 Corinthians). We read of suffering that is punishment for wrong done and we read of suffering that is chosen for the sake of others. There is suffering that is remedial chastisement and there is some that is “terminal” punishment. These are spelled out in various texts but it’s easy to see that there is also a kind of suffering, an inner suffering, that’s experienced because of love for others. Anxiety and sleeplessness, the kind of thing Paul felt because he loved the little congregations that he established and that were undergoing great trials. This is real suffering but it isn’t exactly “inflicted” (though it exists because redemptive love has come into conflict with a dangerous and sinful world).

It’s important that we allow a biblical text to speak its own message rather than generalise it beyond recognition. Not to see that Paul in 2 Corinthians is dealing immediately with his own apostolic sufferings is to miss the edge of Paul’s message and that helps nobody. But maybe there’s a way to view Paul’s suffering that keeps faith with what he had in mind and still allows it to speak to a wider situation. I believe that all the various faces of suffering can be brought together under one head without losing their own particular place in a multifaceted truth.

I think one biblical aspect of suffering that is insufficiently noticed is that it is the redemptive work of God expressing itself in curse in response to humanity’s rebellion (as recorded in Genesis 3:11). If all suffering is connected with the curse then all suffering has a moral and redemptive context to it. And if this is true it should come as no surprise to us that it is embraced in the Christ and his cross. I would like to develop this line by taking a look at a passage in Matthew.

Christ and kingdom authority in Matthew

Scholars are still coming up with new ways to look at Matthew and what he meant to achieve by his gospel narrative. It isn’t really surprising that they can come up with different emphases that usually add to rather than contradict earlier proposals. On anybody’s view, Matthew’s gospel is as rich as cream.

It’s clear that there’s a lot in Matthew about “authority” and power and it’s also clear that that authority and power is related to the kingdom (reign) of God which was showing itself in the person and work of Jesus. It’s just as clear that that kingdom authority and power is intimately related to the love and mercy of God toward a nation that’s under his judgment. Those two truths don’t seem to sit together easily in our minds. If the nation was under judgment and needed to be called to a national repentance we might have expected the wrath of God against sin to show itself in Christ instead of love and mercy which brought forgiveness and healing. (That last sentence is risky speech because it seems to suggest that wrath and mercy are conflicting responses when in truth God’s wrath is a face of his mercy. But there’s biblical precedent for such risky speech as Exodus 20:4-5 illustrates. More on this later.)

The religious leaders thought this a strange “Christ” who in their eyes belittled the law (torah) and was “soft on sin”. While they stressed commandment-keeping (and especially their own commands), which resulted in isolating sinners, Jesus stressed love and mercy which drove him into the fellowship of sinners. It wasn’t that Christ didn’t speak of judgment and wrath because he certainly did but he saw wrath and judgment as servants of love and mercy; more, he saw them as expressions of love and mercy. He also insisted that rightly understood the central call of the law (torah) was that Israel should respond to God and one another out of love and mercy; God-imaging love and mercy.

The teaching of Christ in Matthew

He came as an authoritative teacher of the true understanding of the law. It wasn’t that he was abolishing the law; the reverse was true (see this with special clarity in Matthew 5:17-20). In his own life, and the life to which he called people, the fulfilment of the law was of paramount importance. He hadn’t come to make it easier for men to sin. Nor did he think that he was the only one who was able to see the truth he taught, though clearly, and for many reasons, his grasp of things was far beyond anyone else. He held people responsible for not seeing the true thrust of the law and he makes that clear in places like Matthew 23:23. There he held Pharisees responsible for leaving undone the more important matters of the law as the result of an undue emphasis on the less important (not unimportant) matters. And in Matthew 12:7 he clearly expected his critics to understand passages like Hosea 6:6 and held them responsible for not doing so. So, far from claiming executive privilege to pick and choose what suited him in the law, the Christ lived by the true meaning and nature of the law and expected others to recognize that truth. His grasp of biblical truth gave him authority that made jaws go slack (see, for example, Matthew 7:28-29 and Matthew 13:53-54).

Christ’s teaching about the reality and awfulness of God’s wrath is seen clearly in Matthew (a few examples, 3:7-12; 7:13-19; 8:12; 10:15,28; 11:20-24 and chapter 23 and 25). But for Matthew’s Christ God’s wrath wasn’t vengeful or a divine lashing out, it was set within his character as part of his holy love and faithfulness; a holy love that came to redeem his people. In Matthew Jesus Christ raged most against people and views that estranged children from their Holy Father and shut up the kingdom of heaven against God’s wayward children (23:13). Even his scathing Matthew 23 ends with sadness and not a foaming at the mouth. The single thrust of the whole of Matthew 18 is to say that every single individual is precious and that we’re to go the distance to regain them because this is the heart of the Holy Father (Matthew 18:35).

This kind of teaching underscores the nature of the reign of God and it adds a moral and spiritual dimension to Christ’s miracles even while the miracles give confirmation to the teaching.

The miracles of Christ in Matthew

But his authority wasn’t confined to teaching since Matthew’s record is filled not only with large teaching blocks but also with scores of healing sessions. Chapters 8 and 9 illustrate this point where he heals “all” and casts out demons “with a word”. Because Christ’s miraculous power almost invariably eased suffering and restored great losses we have again the stress on love and mercy. And since he did all this because God was with him (see Acts 10:38) we’re reminded again that the reign of God focussed in on love and mercy and restoration. His life, teaching and miraculous power all served one grand stress: the kingdom of God had finally shown itself and it was loving and merciful even while it acknowledged sin and brought judgement. More, the reign of God showed itself merciful and loving by exposing sin and judging it.

The leadership saw the masses as under condemnation and fit only to be isolated and to experience wrath (Matthew 9:11 illustrates). Then comes the Christ, proclaiming the reign of God and bringing love, mercy and consequent fellowship to the diseased and the sinful. But he doesn’t do this without authority and he makes it clear that the same power that guides and empowers him to heal the sick leads him to fellowship sinners because he regards them as sick also (Matthew 9:11-12). In Matthew 9:1-8 he links his capacity to deal with sins and diseases as though they were two sides of one coin.

The nature of Christ’s teaching/acting authority in Matthew

Yes. But why is he the one to whom this authority is given? It’s because he embodies the heart and mind of God toward his people. It’s because like his Holy Father Jesus announced the call for holy behavior but still desires mercy and not sacrifice, fellowship rather than isolation. Kingdom authority could not have been given to the current leadership precisely because this was not their way of thinking or behaving. They laid burdens on people rather than easing them (see Matthew 11:28-30 with Matthew 23:4). And it was precisely because Jesus knew as his own experience that the will of his Holy Father was mercy (“hesed,” love that expresses itself, for example, in covenants) rather than sacrifice that he could embody the reign of God. Jesus exegetes the meaning and nature of the reign of God precisely because he is God reigning.

In a very real way Christ’s character and devotion to his Father and his people is his authority. He is identified with both. He possessed and shared the holy passion of his Father with its steadfast love and kindness. He shared God’s judgement along with his sinful family and bore with them their sicknesses and diseases that were part of that judgement (see Matthew 8:16-17).

It was this identification with both God and man that made Jesus the agent of the reign of God, which, when it would manifest itself, was to rescue people from their sins that life with God might be restored in its fullness. It was because of sins that the curse was on Israel (and mankind) so that in dealing with sin the Christ would deal with the curse and in undoing the curse he was demonstrating that sin was being dealt with. (The complete removal of the curse would coincide with the complete restoration of all things and the final dealing with sin. See 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 54-56 and Acts 3:21.)

This weaving between sin and sickness, between repentance and health in the book of Matthew is one movement in Christ’s ushering in of the kingdom of God. The life and ministry of Christ undermines isolation or restriction of fellowship as a mark of sin and judgement by drawing near sinners. He touches isolated lepers, answers the prayers of a hated Canaanite woman, visits outsiders like the Gentile centurion and calls to him a hemorrhaging woman who has touched him. He touches the dead, has table-fellowship with the notorious all the while he offers forgiveness and full fellowship with God to those who are astray from God and outside the circle of the self-proclaimed elite.

But, again, why is he the one who embodies kingdom authority to forgive sins and heal the sick and oppressed? Because contrary to the leaders who isolated the sinners and the diseased he made himself one with them and bore their sins and diseases (Matthew 8:16-17; 20:28; 26:28). Kingdom authority, Matthew would teach us, is the authority of identification and bearing.

He comes to save “his” people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). His own life recapitulates the career of his people (Matthew 2:15,17,18; 3:13 4:11; 12:15-21 and elsewhere). He comes to be God “with” them (Matthew 1:23) and this is seen in how he socializes with them and in his “compassion” for them (Matthew 9:36; 14:14) and in the way he views them as “sick” and in need of a doctor though they are sinful (Matthew 9:10-13).

In all this Matthew teaches us that kingdom “authority” and “power” has nothing to do with naked force and that it is only related to divine “muscles” rather than that being the sum total of it. The authority and power is moral through and through and is motivated by love and mercy even when it shows itself in judgement. The miracles are not mere prodigies or wonders; they are God’s faithful, holy and loving response to his commitment to his people (and to humanity at large). Given the God the Old Testament bore witness to, there was an inevitability about the manifestation of his reign and it was inevitable that it would be loving and merciful as well as holy. Therefore it was holy love coming into close contact with sin and God’s grand provision coming into contact with human need. And this faithfulness on God’s part, Matthew teaches us right from the beginning, is not to be shown from the “outside”. In Christ, God had identified himself with his people and was bearing their sin and disease in order to fully heal and restore.

And when Christ shared this authority and power with his followers it is for no other reason than to heal and deliver and proclaim the good news that God’s reign was breaking in (Matthew 10:1-9).

We need not deny that Christ’s miracles had credential value but it’s important that we don’t empty them of their full biblical content. They are a sign of God’s gracious return to a people that had begged for judgement. Deuteronomy 32 is a long declaration of God’s coming judgement against a people that would apostatize. God says he will bring his four sore judgements against the nation. He might have utterly obliterated them he says, had it not been that he feared their enemies might misunderstand. The enemies might think that Israel’s pain and loss was their doing when it fact it was the Lord’s (Deuteronomy 32:26-27). “I said I would scatter them and blot out their memory from mankind, but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversary misunderstand and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed; the Lord has not done all this.’” But the Lord that insisted that he is the one who brought them under judgement also assured them that he would return to them through and beyond judgement (Deuteronomy 32:36-43).

And the authority of Christ is not that of a demagogue or rabble-rouser. He didn’t overtly seek public acclamation. He forbids people to tell of his powers and deeds (Matthew 8:4; 9:30) and is described in terms that contradict the description of someone anxious to make a name for himself (12:14-21). In fact he insisted that true power and leadership was the way of the servant and the renouncing of pagan power (Matthew 20:20-28). Like Moses and David before him he took pains to make it clear he wasn’t seizing authority. If he was to be exalted it would be by the hand of God.

Matthew 8:16-17 in particular

Matthew 9:1-8 insists on linking sin and disease. In it Christ insists on linking his authority to dismiss disease with his authority to dismiss sin. In Matthew 9:10-13 he defends his being with sinners on the grounds that they are sick and need a doctor (and he is that doctor).

Chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew are bracketed by the amazement of the crowds in Matthew 7:28-29 and the amazement of Matthew 9:33. In 7:28-29 it’s astonishment about his teaching and in 9:33 it’s amazement about his deeds. In between these we have the disciples amazed at his power over the elements (Matthew 8:27) and the crowds at both his teaching and healing powers in Matthew 9:8. It’s in that kind of a context that we find this in Matthew 8:16-17.

"That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, 'He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.' "

The fact that this section is clearly stressing the authority and power of the Christ and that Matthew connects Christ’s power with his “taking” and “bearing” of their diseases suggests the nature of and grounds for kingdom authority. He has identified with them and taken their sicknesses on his heart, to be his own, and so is empowered to remove them. Kingdom authority and power is “bearing” and “carrying” power.

The text quoted by Matthew (Isaiah 53:4, see Isaiah 52:13-53:12) was an atonement text, received by the early church and used through the New Testament as centering in Christ and his cross work. This would suggest that for Matthew (as for Paul in Philippians 2:7-9) kingdom authority and power is rooted in Christ’s identification with and bearing loss with and for his people.

It could be that the passage isn't connected with the atoning and reconciling cross-work of Christ at all. It might be that Matthew is using those words to underscore Christ's compassion for the people. The purposeful (if often puzzling) way Matthew uses prophetic scriptures makes it unlikely that he just wants to add depth and color to the occasion. He's more than capable of telling us that Christ had compassion on the people without bringing in a word of prophecy (see Matthew 9:36). Besides (and in light of his way of using prophetic texts), it's a bit of a risk to bring in such a theologically freighted passage simply as a rhetorical flourish. His readers (or listeners) are more likely to think he's making a theological point than a verbal exclamation point. I'm taking it that that evening's events had a direct and profound connection with the cross and atoning/reconciling work of Jesus Christ.

We shouldn’t think that Matthew believed that only that evening’s healing work fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. He would have seen the Master’s entire healing ministry as one piece so that any day that saw him healing and delivering would have been another occasion when he was taking and carrying in Isaiah 53 style.

Nor should we think that he was bearing only the diseases and losses of those he healed. Precisely why Jesus healed this one and not that one, or these and not them, may be open for discussion but it would be a mistake to think he was only working for the people he healed and had no concern for the people he left sick. There would be something representative in the people he healed. They would surely speak of his complete care for all the diseased in the same way Hannah saw in her own blessing God’s care for all the oppressed (1 Samuel 1:21, 2:11). This would mean that every time Jesus conducted a healing session Isaiah 53 would be heard.

Again, the events we witness here are deeds of great power but they’re immediately linked with bearing and taking. Matthew hasn’t taken leave of his purpose to stress kingdom authority as showing itself in Christ but he does insist on linking it with carrying and sharing so we shouldn’t ignore this. Evil spirits are dismissed with "a word" and every sick one who came went away freed from disease. The text portrays great power but Matthew says it was a "carrying" session.

In Isaiah 53 the "suffering servant" shares in hurt and loss that is not of his own making (note the “ours” and “theirs” throughout the chapter). In addition, the healing and liberating that comes in and through the servant is immediately connected in Isaiah with his vicarious "bearing" and "carrying". The servant doesn't heal or liberate from the "outside". At the very least he shares their conditions and in Isaiah’s text that is one of the elements essentially linked to his power to liberate and heal (compare Isaiah 53:11).

We need to note that the suffering in texts like Matthew 8 has nothing to do with “persecution for righteousness sake”. It isn’t something these people were bearing for Christ, it is something Christ was bearing for them. It would be a mistake to look at all their (and our) suffering (even the suffering that is directly related to our sinning) and see it as “the cross I have to bear.” But it would be a mistake not to see all their (and our) suffering as focussed and embraced in the cross of Christ (even the suffering that is the direct result of our sinning).

Matthew’s use of an atonement text which, for the early church, is a text about Christ’s cross-work, links Jesus’ work as Savior and kingdom-bringer with his healing their diseases. How does that work?

It’s difficult not to think that Matthew looks back on all this from a post-cross perspective and sees that that healing work was part of the whole Christ-event that came to its critical moment on the cross. But if that’s how we should see it then Matthew makes a connection between cancer or heart disease and the cross-work of the Messiah. These are the very things that we see as merely part of the “human condition”. They’re certainly part of the human condition but if Matthew links them with the atoning work of Christ then the whole human condition can be brought into contact with the cross. Universal suffering is embraced and Christ bears it. Universal suffering is given another dimension; a dimension that can’t be given to it by awed silence and deep human grief.

How does that work?

The Isaiah text focuses on the suffering of the servant. (The Isaiah text is too rich to exclude from it Israel’s suffering that the nations might be blessed. It’s too rich to exclude the suffering of the righteous remnant that Israel might be blessed and it’s too rich not to see it come to its fullness in the world’s Redeemer.) But the text doesn’t suggest that the pain and loss of others fall on him so that no one else suffers. There is no sense of “transference” in the sense that all their hurt and pain vanishes from them and lands on the servant. Those who are in the know are aware that he is suffering not as a result of his own sins but he has (in the immediate Isaiah setting of exile) borne exile with them and for them. The sinners aren’t exempt from exile, he shares it with them. He bears their sins in the same way (Isaiah 53:11-12). There is no transference of sin and guilt to him and away from them. He bears the judgement of God on the nation’s sin and does it for them though he himself does not become a sinner nor does God view him as a sinner (Isaiah 53:11).

The Isaiah passage immediately speaks to Israel’s situation but Israel’s place in the purposes of God reflects his purposes regarding the whole world. I would be taking Matthew’s immediate concerns and expanding them bearing in mind that Jesus healed not only Israelites (Matthew 8:3-13; 15:21-28 and compare 8:28).

What seems clear is this: Matthew makes the healing of diseases a facet of the atoning work of the Christ. Supposing that to be true how might we understand it? How do we make the connection between cancer or heart disease and the cross-work of the Messiah?

Perhaps the simplest and best suggestion is that the biblical record would have us believe that disease and death are in the world in response to our sin. That not only are disease and death never neutral, they are not “natural”. They always have theological significance. Paul, for example, however else he saw death, saw it as the righteous judgement of God against sin (Romans 1:32). The Genesis narrative speaks of God bringing pain and loss to earth and humans in response to their sin (note especially the death sentence in 3:19).

If this is correct, then it was God who introduced the curse at the point of our sinning. This curse which fell on all humans—and not only those guilty of transgression—is part of the judgement of God against sin. The curse isn’t something independent of God. The curse isn’t written into the fabric of reality as if it were in some way autonomous. No, the humans sinned and God acted. The curse was as surely the work of God as was blessing (see Genesis 1—11 which is a single narrative of the Fall).

It would mean that disease in a specific individual is a specific outworking of the universal curse that God brought on humanity as a single family. It would be a specific application of a universal judgement.

What “authorized” Christ to remove the curse in the experience of so many sick people during his earthly ministry is that he had come to bear in himself, with and for them, the judgement of God against sin—the curse. This is what authorized him to forgive sins also.

His healing and nature miracles should be seen in light of the Genesis fall and curse narratives as well as Israel’s wilderness experience. The control of seas, the undoing of death, the multiplying of fishes and bread, the banishing of darkness by calling for light—these all were the prophecies and promises of a complete obliteration of the curse when all sin and all the woes that go with it are removed.

A newly born baby in Amos’ day despite its innocence would suffer the agony of a famine (see Amos 4) which was a divine judgment against Israel’s sin. This baby’s agony would not be punishment for the baby’s guilt (it has none). Nor would it be the case of a “legal transference” of guilt (the baby doesn’t become sinful and the nation innocent). The agony is endured because of the baby’s solidarity with the sinful nation.

Nevertheless, the agony endured is the agony that is part of penal suffering. The child is never regarded as an actual transgressor though it suffers under God’s righteous judgment against sin—the famine is never less than judgment against sin.

But the child's suffering is purposed of God. It would be possible for God to miraculously sustain all the innocents without food while punishing the transgressors with hunger. The punishment on apostasy is redemptive wrath. Its purpose is to work itself out of a job—that is, to obliterate that which provoked the wrath in the first place.

The wrath is no sign of God’s absolute abandonment of Israel. The reverse is true. So earnestly in love with them is the Holy Father that he shows mercy in the form of wrath. And, so earnest is he, that he will not spare his own infants but delivers them up for Israel. So it is when Matthew presents the coming of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. He shares (bears and carries) our sicknesses and by doing it he acknowledges the righteousness of God's wrath against sin. But by sharing and bearing our hurt he is removing it (then in part as prophecy and promise and later in totality and finally). In this he shows that the kingdom of God is not about ceaseless chastisement but mercy and judgment that results in life that is eternal. This is kingdom authority in Matthew. It is because Christ alone acknowledges and bears that he is the one with kingdom authority.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... Paul's Prayer For The Ephesians (1:15-20)

                     "THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS"

                Paul's Prayer For The Ephesians (1:15-20)

INTRODUCTION

1. We have seen Paul describe how richly blessed we are in Christ in the
   "doxology" of verses 3-14 in this first chapter of Ephesians.

2. Paul now proceeds to reveal what sort of things he has been praying 
   for on behalf the Ephesians...
   a. Paul does the same thing in his epistles to the Philippians and 
      Colossians - cf. Php 1:9-11; Col 1:9-12
   b. In noticing such prayers, I find it helpful to remember that Paul
      is writing by inspiration
      1) I.e., the things mentioned were not just Paul's desire for his 
         readers, but the desire of God as well!
      2) And in most cases, what concerns are expressed in these prayers
         are just as applicable to us as they were to the original 
         recipients of these epistles

3. With that thought in mind (i.e., Paul's prayer is God's desire for us
   as well), let's take a close look at this prayer...

[Beginning with a recognition of their faith and love (verse 15) and a
mention of his unceasing thankfulness for them (verse 16), Paul then
states that in his prayers his concern for the Ephesians is...]

I. THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW GOD (17)

   A. TO "KNOW" GOD IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE...
      1. More important than human wisdom, glory, or might - cf. Jer 9:23-24
      2. It is eternal life itself! - Jn 17:3
      3. Failure to know God will lead to everlasting destruction! -
         2Th 1:7-9
      -- Of course, we are speaking here of knowledge that comes through
         close and personal association, not casual awareness

   B. THIS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD COMES BY "A SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND
      REVELATION" (17)
      1. Paul could have reference here to either the Holy Spirit 
         Himself, or a spiritual gift that the Holy Spirit gives
      2. In either case, it likely refers to that process that was still
         going on in the first century, where the Spirit of truth was 
         guiding the apostles and early Christians into all the truth 
         (cf. Jn 16:13; 1Jn 2:20,27)
      3. Today, we have the full and final revelation in the pages of 
         God's Word, where we can go to learn the truth about God (e.g.,
         cf. Ep 3:3-4)

[Do you "know" God?  Many people know "about" God, but it is God's will
that we come to know "Him".  Through the Word of God as we have it
today, you can allow  the "spirit of wisdom and revelation" give you
that "saving knowledge" of God Himself!

We now observe that Paul's concern for the Ephesians included their
"eyes being opened"...]

II. THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THE HOPE OF GOD'S CALLING (18a)

   A. IN CHRIST, WE HAVE BEEN "CALLED" BY GOD...
      1. This "calling" occurred through the preaching of the gospel -
         2Th 2:14
      2. God is "calling" us into His own kingdom and glory - 1Th 2:12
      3. We have been "called" out of darkness into God's marvelous
         light - 1Pe 2:9

   B. PAUL'S DESIRE IS THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THE "HOPE" OF THIS CALLING...
      1. The word "hope" means "desire with expectation"
      2. What is the expectant desire of this "calling" by God?
         a. Paul has already revealed some of this hope in verses 4-5
            1) To be holy and without blame
            2) To be adopted as sons
         b. Paul will reveal more about it later in the epistle - cf. 
            Ep 2:19-22
      3. In this way, Paul is helping to fulfill his own prayer by the 
         writing of this epistle

[Do we appreciate the "hope" of God's calling?  Again, it is through the
revealed Word of God (like this epistle to the Ephesians) that we are 
able to have our own eyes enlightened.  There is no reason for us to be 
ignorant of our wonderful "hope"!

In addition to their knowing the "hope of His calling", Paul prays...]

III. THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THE RICHES OF GOD'S INHERITANCE (18b)

   A. PAUL HAS ALREADY MADE REFERENCE TO...
      1. The fact that we were predestined to adoption as sons - Ep 1:5
      2. The fact that we have obtained an inheritance - Ep 1:11
      3. The fact that the Holy Spirit was given as a guarantee - Ep 1:14

   B. HE WILL WRITE MORE CONCERNING OUR "INHERITANCE" LATER ON...
      1. Speaking of the exceeding riches of God's grace in the ages to 
         come - Ep 2:7
      2. Speaking of how Gentiles can be "fellow heirs" - Ep 2:12-13;
         3:7

[Again we see how Paul by writing this epistle is attempting to help 
answer his own prayer for the Ephesians.

There is one more thing that Paul wanted the Ephesians, and if the way 
he elaborates is an indication of its importance then Paul more than all
else prayed...]

IV. THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THE POWER OF GOD (19-20)

   A. A "POWER" DESCRIBED AS...
      1. Exceedingly great ("the exceeding greatness")
      2. Shown toward those who believe ("toward us who believe")
      3. In accordance with the same power that...
         a. Raised Jesus from the dead!
         b. Seated Him at the right hand of God in the "heavenly places"
            (cf. Ep 1:3)
      -- How can it be said that such power is available to us who 
         believe?  (The next section suggests how)

   B. CONCERNING THIS GREAT "POWER"...
      1. Paul gives an example in Ep 2:1-6
         a. We who were "dead in trespasses" (2:1-3) were "made alive"
            (4-5) and "raised up" (6)
         b. I.e., in Christ we who were spiritually dead have been made 
            spiritually alive - cf. Col 2:12-13
         c. This may not sound as impressive as being raised from the 
            dead physically (as Jesus was), but it cannot happen without
            the same sort of Divine Power!
         d. As Jesus said when He raised the paralytic, "Which is 
            easier...?" - Mt 9:2-8
            1) To raise the sick (and the dead), or to forgive sins (and
               make the spiritually dead spiritually alive)?
            2) Both require Divine Power!
      2. Paul speaks of its source in Ep 3:16
         a. It is through God's Spirit in the inner man that we can be 
            "strengthened with might"
         b. Just as we were "renewed" by the Spirit upon our baptism - 
            Jn 3:5; Tit 3:5
         c. So we can be strengthened by the Spirit in our daily battles
            against sin - Ro 8:12-13
      3. Paul speaks of its greatness in Ep 3:20
         a. It comes from Him (God) "who is ABLE to do"
         b. With ability that is "exceedingly", "abundantly", "above 
            all" that we ask or think!
         c. Such ability is "according to the power that works IN us" 
            - cf. Ep 3:16 ("through His Spirit in the inner man")
      4. Finally, Paul charges the Ephesians to stand strong in this 
         power in Ep 6:10ff
         a. By putting on the "armor of God" - Ep 6:11a
         b. For we are in a battle against the devil and his forces - 
            Ep 6:11a-13 (dare we fight this battle dependent upon our 
            own strength alone?)
         c. The "armor of God" described - Ep 6:14-18

CONCLUSION

1. It appears that Paul followed that saying "Pray as though it all 
   depends upon God, but work as though it all depends upon you!"
   a. For while he prayed for the Ephesians that they might know...
      1) God
      2) The hope of God's calling
      3) The riches of God's inheritance
      4) The power of God
   b. Paul takes it upon himself (with the aid of inspiration, of 
      course) to write of these things in this epistle

2. How is our knowledge of God, the hope of His calling, His riches, His
   power?
   a. Certainly it is God's will that we increase in our understanding, 
      appreciation, and application of these blessings!
   b. With the help of God's Word, especially a book like Ephesians, we
      can grow in all these things!

But before growth can occur, there must be life.  Have you been "made 
alive together with Christ"? - cf. Ep 2:5-6; Col 2:12-13

xecutable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011