Submission Under the Spirit’s Control

Transcript

GRM 1184
05/13/2018
Submission under the Spirit’s Control
Ephesians 5
Gil Rugh

This is Mother’s Day. We’ve been talking about the roles of men and women as set forth by God and His plan from the creation and there is a beauty in the plan of God. You look around at His creation and even though the impact of sin is so evident, the beauty and majesty of the creation that God brought into existence from nothing, is amazing. Nowhere more amazing than our being created as man in His image, both male and female, and there is a wonder to that that our minds cannot grasp, that we would be created in the image of the eternal God, male and female. Created to have a relationship with the living God and created to be brought into a relationship with one another as well. I just want to follow through on that a little bit and then maybe address one or two questions and then we’ll open it up to you for what you might want to address this evening.

Why don’t you turn to Ephesians 5? I want to look at just two major passages that deal with this subject, since it is under such a relentless assault. Marilyn was reading to me an item from the news today where a person was addressing this issue, on the role of being a mother in these days. It is everywhere and it has descended to a level that even the unbeliever wouldn’t have thought possible not many years ago. We want to remind ourselves what God the Creator created us to be, and to do what is best for us. There is beauty in that, there is fulfillment there is blessing. I mean He’s the Creator. Our children, you give them certain toys to play with but if they misuse them, they break them, destroy them and you tell them, “it wasn’t made for that. You don’t use it that way you’ll ruin it,” and that’s the way it is with God’s creation when we rebel against what God created us to be, then we lose the blessing and the joy and the fulfillment that comes from that. That’s the sad thing when believers begin to be shaped by the world rather than by the word of God. They fail to enjoy the fullness of God’s blessing and provision for them.

Ephesians 5, I referred to it in our earlier study but I just wanted to look at it with you. We talked about the order of Scripture. We looked at Romans, the first 11 chapters to lay the biblical teaching that we must grasp. Then in light of that, chapter 12 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies, a living sacrifice and we are not to be conformed to this world.” We are a people being transformed by the making new of our mind, by the ministry of the Spirit through the Word of God, as we submit to the Spirit and the truth of God, so you have the same pattern in Ephesians. The first three chapters unfold the teaching, serious in-depth teaching. Chapter 1 begins, with talk about God’s electing work in eternity past, and how He has predestined us. These serious doctrinal matters and then you come to chapter 4.

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy,” and there is our conduct, our walk now, “worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” In light of the great truths of these opening three chapters as we have it, that great truth. Now live your life accordingly, in light of that, in line with that. Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called and that includes humility, gentleness and so on. Come down to verse 17. “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer, as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them,” because of the hardness of their heart. They have become callous, they give themselves over to all kinds of sinful practice, “but you did not learn Christ in this way,” so you see the contrast.

“Walk in a manner worthy of the calling.” Don’t walk in a manner that would be in conformity to the world. The world is living in a realm of emptiness. The futility of their mind. They don’t have a mind being made new as Romans 12:2 said. They are “darkened in their understanding.” They “are excluded from the life of God.” They are ignorant. They have hardened hearts. How sad it is that God’s people, who have experienced such powerful redeeming grace, would allow themselves to be drawn back into a life and a lifestyle of a world that is cut off from the life of God. That’s always been a danger and a challenge. That’s why we have passages like this in Ephesians that remind believers in the church at Ephesus; God’s recorded it for our benefit down to today. You walk this way as God’s children. you don’t walk the way of the world. Now you know what that means. We’re going opposite ways, and the world then is opposing us, because the world’s not happy unless we’re going their way.

Come down to chapter 5 verse 1. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love.” There’s our walk again that denotes that pattern of life and that now characterizes the child of God, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us. So then, all the sinful practices are to be set aside. Come down to verse 8 verse 7 says; “therefore do not be partakers with them for you were formerly darkness and remember” He said up in verse 18 of chapter 4, the unbeliever is darkened in their understanding.” They have no real true knowledge of the living God. “Do not be partakers with them” chapter 5 verse 7 verse 8 “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of Light.” This is a characteristic. We walk in the light.

We are not drawn into the unprofitable deeds of darkness. We don’t have a life and a lifestyle that conforms to what the world would like, what the world finds acceptable. We don’t allow ourselves to be pressed into that mold of conformity by the world. He tells us the fruit of the Light consists in goodness, righteousness and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. You come to verse 15. “Therefore, be careful how you walk.” I mean this repeated emphases and contrasts. We are God’s children, living in the world populated by the devil’s children, and “the whole world lies in the evil one.” He’s the god small (g) of this world, so we are the small minority and the pressure is to conform and the world is opposed to God. The devil is opposed to God and His work and all of His children, so we are to be careful how we walk.

We come to a command in verse 18. We’re “not to be drunk with wine but we are to be filled with the Spirit.” Here’s the walk of the believer, under the control of the Spirit of God, in obedience to the word of God. Be filled with the Spirit is the command. Many of you are familiar with this. That’s the command given here, be filled with the Spirit. Then you have a series of participles. Usually in English our participles we think of with “i-n-g” on the end, so what would be characteristic, when you’re walking under the control of the Spirit. That’s what it means, to be filled with the Spirit. The contrast is when you’re drunk with wine. The wine, the alcohol controls you so one of those police programs where they go and they’re trying to deal with a person who was drunk. Then he couldn’t stand up and they said, stand over here and he falls over and then he goes this way and he’s under the control of the alcohol. He has no control. We are to be under the control of the Spirit, and that means you’ll see us speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody with our hearts to the Lord.

You know in the fruit of the Spirit we study Galatians chapter 5. His love and joy, something is wrong with miserable Christians.
There’s contradiction. We’re to be filled with joy. Yeah, but you don’t know what’s going on in my life. Well, but what’s going on inside your life? We are privileged to have the Spirit indwelling us, producing the character of God in us, so that our life is not controlled by the circumstances around us. It’s the amazing thing, we can have the joy, the peace of God in our lives even when externally things aren’t going the way we would want. And if not, then we need to consider where we are spiritually. That’s where I usually want to start with someone who comes and says they’re a believer, but they’re miserable. They think their misery is caused by someone else, something else or circumstances. That doesn’t mean the circumstances are pleasant. Sometimes they come, remember “count it all joy my brethren when you fall into all kinds of trials.” James chapter 1. That doesn’t mean we’re happy to suffer, but those difficulties and trials don’t sap the joy out of our life because we have the joy, and peace, and satisfaction of knowing that God “causes all things to work together for good, to those who belong to Him.” That’s a paraphrase of Romans 8.

How blessed with are. So when you’re under the control of the Spirit your life is controlled with a heart that is happy, that has joy. Many times you have an unbeliever say—“what are you so happy about?” We ought to be ready to tell them. I can tell you how you can be happy and he says well if I had what you have, I’d probably be happy, too. If our happiness comes from what we have, or the good circumstances we’re in, we’re not much different from the world, so “speaking to one another, making melody in our hearts to the Lord,” verse 20, another participle, “Always giving thanks for all things.” I love the way God includes everything so we don’t include our exceptions, but somehow we think it’s all right to weave in our exceptions. Always, giving thanks for most things. No! “Always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.”

That doesn’t mean that you’re glad, you find you have a disease or cancer. It doesn’t mean you’re happy that something difficult or tragic has come into your life, but in that we can say—what? I serve a sovereign God. He’s my heavenly Father. He controls what happens to me. I may not understand why this is happening at this time, but I don’t have to understand. He knows and He knows what’s best for me. I can thank Him. Lord, as miserable as this situation is, I want to thank You for loving me, for caring for me, for promising that You will provide for me in every situation. That You will never leave me or forsake me, so there’s much I can give thanks to Him for, and that ought to characterize us. An unthankful Christian is another oxymoron. I mean, what do you mean an unthankful Christian? Christians are described as those who are always giving thanks for all things, even this trial Lord, which gives me an opportunity to grow in my trust in you, to see Your sufficiency for me in this, in many ways a seemingly hopeless situation.

I thank You Lord that I can trust You, “always giving thanks for all things,” and then there’s the third participle here. We didn’t put it as a participle I wish we had. You have it in the margin of your bible probably. Being subject, that’s another area we had speaking to one another in these various ways. Verse 20 “always giving thanks.” Verse 21 “being subject, to one another in the fear of Christ” that willingness, to humble ourselves, be in subjection. I don’t know what happens to commentators, but some of them like just draw a big dark line after verse 21 as though that was it. He goes on then to express particular areas, where God has placed us in subjection to others, and that manifests He’s in control, and the first one is wives. “Wives to your own husbands.” You’ll note they’ve put in italics there be subject, but it really just picks up on “being subject to one another, in the fear of Christ.” “Wives to your own husbands.” Then he’ll come down for “children obeying their parents,” and then he’ll come down in chapter 6 and then in verse 5 “slaves to masters.”

These major areas, but he’ll elaborate the relationship of the husband and wife and he will not just deal with the subjection, “so wives, subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.” That’s a strong statement! Some women think, “well they’re directly subject to Christ” and so they decide when they’ll be subject to their husband, or not. You’re never subject to the Lord when you are in rebellion against your husband. Now, of course that means if he tells you something to do, something dishonest, go to the grocery store and shoplift some stuff for dinner. Well, I can’t do that because you know the Lord tells me as His child I can’t steal, but most of our things we deal with don’t put us in that kind of situation. We put ourselves into situations of elevating ourselves thinking were the ones who decide. Wives are subject to their husbands as to the Lord. Why? “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, Himself being the Savior of the body.” It put us men in a serious position least we think too highly of ourselves, he’ll put us in proper perspective here in a moment, but first, you know, as always the wives want to run and see what the husband is supposed to do, and the husband wants to run and see what their wife is supposed to do.

What we have to do is concentrate on what is my role, so first let’s examine what Marilyn is supposed to do. “The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. As the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives to their husbands,” in things they agree with, in things they like. The comparison here is absolute in everything. How are we submissive to Christ? Do I sit and decide? This is what Christ says I am to do, but I don’t agree with that, so that’s an area then I don’t follow through. I just say, well no. You can’t do that. Well where do we get the idea that the submissiveness of the wife is optional. Now I realize we can say, well what if he does this, what if he does that? Unless it’s something clearly, directly in conflict with the word of God, you’re subject or you’re not submissive to the Spirit. You’re not submissive to Christ. It’s not so complicated. In everything? Well I don’t like the way he does this, I don’t like the way he does that. Well your life is simplified. You don’t have to decide that.

Now that doesn’t mean husbands can just run over their wives. Not a godly husband. “Husbands love your wives.” Same comparison “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Now there’s no sacrifice too great for my wife, for what is best for her, so this is not an opportunity for the man to be selfish. Now again, we can’t go back and forth. Well men say, “well if my wife was submissive like she’s supposed to be then I would love her like I’m supposed to do.” God doesn’t say husbands love your wives if they’re submissive the way they’re supposed to be, nor does it say wives be submissive to your husbands if they love you the way their supposed to be.

We complicate our lives and confuse them by trying to make decisions for other people and this is where I go if you come to see me and this has happened a number of times over the recent months. It doesn’t do me any good to have one spouse come and want to tell me everything’s wrong with the other one. If you come and tell me that, I’ll say I can’t do anything about your spouse. I can’t change them, you can’t change them, so no sense in us going through everything that’s wrong with them. The only person you can change is you. The only person I can change is myself. Let’s talk about what God says you are responsible to do.

Sometimes I sit and I go through that and I’m explaining as we go through the word. As soon as I take a breath they say, “let me tell you what else they did.” It doesn’t matter what else they did. What are you supposed to do?

We become experts in the seriousness of other people’s sins. That’s not just true in a marriage situation. We become experts in how serious someone else’s sin is. You don’t realize, I could be sinning in becoming an expert in someone else’s sin. That doesn’t mean we don’t deal with sin according to the biblical pattern and so on, but so much of the difficulty and problem comes, we just become experts. Their sin is just so serious. I want to stop and think, by not doing what God tells me to do, I’m in sin, and then our life gets all complicated because we think until they get straighten out, I can’t function as I should, and that won’t be an excuse that holds water, so to speak.

Am I going to stand before Christ when I’m judged and say Lord I couldn’t do it. They didn’t do what they were supposed to do, and the answer will be, what’s that have to do with you doing what you’re supposed to do? Well it would have been a lot easier if they had done what they are supposed to do, but I brought it into your life, not to make your life easier, so you would learn to do what is pleasing to Me in difficulty. Oh, I didn’t know that. You should have known it, My word tells you that.

Christians create a world of confusion for themselves by just ignoring the clear instruction of God’s word, so “husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Then Christ made the ultimate sacrifice of going to the cross. There’s no husband sitting here who’s sacrificed that much for his wife. Now that’s the example. Well, I’ve gone as far as I can go. Well, so “husbands” verse 28 “ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. No one ever hated his own flesh” and we’ve used this verse to talk about, you learn to love yourself. You don’t have to learn to be sinful. We are all there. He nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, we are members of His body, so the mystery of marriage and he goes back—what--verse 31 to quote Genesis chapter 2 verse 24. A man “leaves his father mother, joins to his wife and the two become one flesh.” You think cutting off my arm, you think the way we treat our body. Well we are one flesh husband and wife, so husbands treat your wife that way. The mystery is great. I’m speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual. Now note this. This is personal. Christ is evaluating each one of us, each individual among you, also is to “love his own wife even as himself,” and “the wife must see to it that she respects her husband,” and interesting here, you see, the margin is fear—phobos. That word used of the fear of God we’re to have.

I mean the comparison for both the wife and the husband is the relationship with Christ. The wife’s submission is absolute, the husband’s love is absolute. Now I have my hands full with my responsibility. My responsibility is not to control my wife. I provide godly leadership for her, I will not relinquish that. When it comes down to the line, I want to talk about it with her. I want to see we come to agreement. Why would I want to exclude her from the decisions, but ultimately I will be responsible and there may come a time when I say, well before the Lord I believe that this is what we have to do, what we should do. Then the wife submits and the wife has a right to expect that I will make that decision in love, but she can’t control that and I can’t control my wife.

She may choose to rebel, but I’m not following her in the rebellion, and she shouldn’t rebel because I’m not loving, and I can’t use her lack of submission to not love, so it’s not so complicated. That’s why my counseling sessions tend to be short. I told someone not too long ago, “here’s what the word of God says. You said you can’t do it, you’re not going to do it. I can’t help you. If you claim to be a believer and you’re not shakable in that, and you say you’re not able to do what the word of God says, I can’t help you. It’s a lie to say you’re a believer and you can’t do what God says you should do, because God doesn’t tell you to do something He doesn’t enable you to do.”

Come over to 1 Peter 3. Now we are totally out of step with the world and that’s exactly where we want to be, because God doesn’t expect and want His people to be conformed to the world. Come over to 1 Peter chapter 2. The same thing from Peter. It’s talking about our behavior and so on and we come to verse 13. “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution” and that includes all levels from king on down. “To the king as the one in authority,” to the governors. Why would we do that? Verse 15. “For such is the will of God,” so it doesn’t matter who gets elected president, who gets elected mayor. You’re free in our society to vote for whom you will, but whoever it is, we submit and we don’t do it with murmuring, grumbling, and complaining, and as much as possible for me unless they tell me to do something directly unbiblical, I will submit. I can’t follow the course of the world. When their person doesn’t get in then let’s join the bandwagon. We have to be careful about letting ourselves get so worked up we act like the world. I mean, God says He’s put them in authority.

Well I don’t want to rebel against God’s authority. We mentioned earlier today Romans 13. When you rebel against those in authority--God has put them there, then you’re rebelling against God. Don’t paper it over with something spiritual. That means they may do things that I would not support, but that doesn’t mean, unless they tell me I have to do something unbiblical that I rebel. Obviously, I don’t expect the unbeliever to be doing biblical things. The issue comes when they tell me to do something unbiblical. Forbid me from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m sorry I can’t submit to that. I will be preaching the gospel, but they may tell me there’re restrictions on how many cars you can put in your parking lot. Well I have to live with that law. When they told us to expand our parking lot, we had to do certain things. Well we live within those laws. Oh, you’re persecuting us as a church. We live within the laws, so all levels. Verse 16. “Act as free men, but “do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves, slaves of God.”

“Honor all people love the brotherhood. Fear God honor the king,” so we’re going to submit to governing authorities. Oops! Here we go. Verse 18. “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.” Unreasonable, skolios, crooked, twisted, unscrupulous, these are the kind of words you find for this word. It’ easy to be submissive to someone who’s good to you and for a servant who had a master who treated him good, who made sure he was well fed, comfortable, treated properly and not overworked, of course you want to be submissive to that person but what about those who are twisted and crooked and unscrupulous and mistreat you? Well you submit to them too and we “do all things without murmuring and complaining.”

Why would we do that? Verse 19 “this finds favor, grace with God, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.” Whom am I trying to please? I get so caught up in how unfairly I’m being treated that I end up not pleasing God, because I’m fighting against it. I am grumbling and complaining. I’m not doing what I should do because they’re not doing what I think they should do and the example is Christ. Verse 21 as believers we easily forget this. We think we put our faith in Christ, we become the children of God, now part of His taking care of us is, you know, our marriages should be good. Our jobs should be good. Our health should be good and that’s why health and wealth preaching and all that goodness preaching appeals to us, but it’s just not biblical.

“You have been called for this purpose”—what—“patiently enduring wrongs, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in His steps.” What were His steps? “He committed no sin, no deceit was found in His mouth, while being reviled He did not revile in return, while suffering He uttered no threats. He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously.” Lord, my life is in Your hands. You are the One who will exercise final judgment. My only desire is to be vindicated as one who has pleased You. I can’t control how they treat me but I am responsible for my conduct. “He bore our sins in His body on the cross, so we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds, you were healed” that’s what He did for us. Where do we go in chapter 3?

“In the same way,” the same way as what—what Christ did and the responsibility of submission to these others in light of what Christ did, and how He submitted? “In the same way, you wives be submissive to your own husbands.” (Sigh) What can I say” What has His example been? Well the example of Christ has been suffering unjustly. Does anyone think that Christ’s suffering was what He deserved? Verse 20 “if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.” Oh, you don’t know what I go through in my marriage. No, I don’t. “In the same way, you wives be submissive to your own husbands so that if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, while they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.” Even when Christ was suffering unjustly, He showed respect to the governing authorities. He didn’t tell Pilot you’re a wretched hell bound sinner and da da-da da da. He simply said “you would have no power over me if God had not given it to you.” That doesn’t mean Pilot was properly using his power but Pilot was responsible for his misuse of his power. I can’t deal with this.

“Your adornment must not be merely external. Let it be the hidden person of the heart the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit. That’s precious in the sight of God.” I didn’t write this. You sa, “well my situation—.” It doesn’t matter. “In this way in former times, the holy women also hoped in God. They used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands” and under the Old Testament times they, you know, it could be difficult. Abraham and Sarah, I mentioned earlier today. What did Abraham do? He put Sarah in a Harem twice to protect himself. “Say you’re my sister. Otherwise, they might kill me. Now you might be put into a Harem. You might become a toy of a pagan monarch, but at least I preserved my skin.” This is a husband you’re going to admire respect, honor. She “called him lord and you become her children when you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.” That means women would be in difficult situations. You do what’s right and you don’t have to be afraid, because your life is in the hands of God. God protected Sarah. That doesn’t guarantee that every wife is going to be preserved from harm in every way, but they have the confidence of knowing, my life is in God’s hands.

Then there’s a reminder. “Husbands, in the same way…” The same way as what? The way Christ functioned, which parallels Ephesians 5. How did Christ function? He did what was best and right for us. We live with our wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman. A woman was not made to be like the man. Spiritually we are equals, “an heir of grace.” At the end of verse 7 but she was not made to be out there and be beat on and you know in other times I’ve used the comparison. The woman’s the fine china, the man’s the pots and pans. Sometimes, when your kids are little, they like to make noise. You open the counter under the sink and let them bang around with the pots and pans. You don’t do that in the china closet. You deal with the fine china, it’s weaker. It deserves a certain kind of care and attention. Men aren’t to treat their wives like one of the guys. She’s not. He’s to treat her with knowledge, understanding. What do you think you’re dealing with here, but you know you don’t go back and forth here?

Boy, if I had a husband who treated me in an understanding way and realized I was the weaker vessel, I’d delight in being submissive to him. But you have to submit to the husband you have, and husbands, you have to treat with love and kindness the wife you have. You know if we as believers—we claim to believe the word of God. “All Scripture is God breathed and profitable.” Amen brother, preach it, and then we go out and say I can’t live it. That’s not true. I never accept that. You come to see me, I won’t accept it as an excuse. You say I’m a Christian but I can’t put up with that and I say you’re a liar and some would testify that’s what happened to them. You’re lying, you say you’re a Christian but you say you can’t do what God says you must do, you’re lying. You’re lying, either you’re not a Christian and so of course, you can’t do what God says to do, because He doesn’t enable the non-Christian to do what His children do or you are a Christian, and you don’t want to do what God tells you to do and so you say you can’t. We have to be honest with each other.

You don’t need to go into two years of counseling to get this worked out. Come see me for a $1000 a half hour, I’ll solve it. I’ll even do it for free. You know we get into this. The world has counseling sessions because people have to have anger management. People have to learn and work—they’re in a hopeless cycle. They are slaves of sin. They can go play their games and adjust their behavior but it’s all in the sinful realm. We are those who have been rescued, set free, set free now to be slaves of the living God, to have Him indwell us, empower and enable us, so this whole area. The world’s going one direction, we’re going the other, and the constant pressure is for us to quit going upstream against the world. As soon as you stop going upstream, you’re going downstream, and if you’re not careful, you get caught in a current.

We were swimming in the ocean many, many years ago when I could swim. I got out there and got caught in one of those currents and I kept going further and further out. Pretty soon, the lifeguard at the ocean was standing up blowing his whistle and waving for me. I’m waving to him because if you’ve ever been to the ocean and see what happens, if they think someone’s out there, pretty soon they blow their whistles and all the lifeguards grab their boats and come out. I said I’m not going to be humiliated like that, so in pride, I’m drowning, you know, I just wave. It’s all good it’s all good, it’s good, it’s good. You know, pretty soon that’s what happens; you get caught in the wrong current, then you’re going the wrong way and pretty soon, it seems like it’s controlling you. You have to get out of it. You know you can’t swim with it. You’ve got to get out of it, so we as believers, we want to live biblically.

All right, that was more than I planned to say on that, but I got it said. I have several questions but I’m going to come down and open it up to you if you have some. I want to give you the chance to ask your questions first since you’re here. I haven’t forgotten your questions, Jeff keeps adding them so I have them on my paper so if you have some. I told Marilyn with my foot, I couldn’t go on the cruise. Since I’m head of my house . . . she said, “You’re going if I have to wheel you.” I just want you to know, I rule my house with an iron hand.

All right, anybody have anything, you were thinking of you want to bring up. I don’t like you to come and then I flood it with—or did you just come to hear what other people ask? I may have some of your questions here. Let me answer one on missions while you think about it. This follows up on missions.

I understand your conviction that the local church is to be focused on reaching the lost around them. Is this also the conviction of our Elder Board as well?

We, as elders, have worked through this over many years. You know actually, over the years, some elders have gone off the board, moved away, others have come but basically, this is how we work through it. Back in the early days, we’d started with Missions Conference and we did support missionaries, and you worked through that as you analyzed Scripture and what would God have us do? Our conviction is that we are doing missions. We’re fulfilling the Great Commission where we are. Reading another new book, I picked up this past week on missions and reminded the Great Commission is misunderstood. The Great Commission is that the gospel be carried to the nations, and we did support a missionary in another country, a large portion of his salary for a number of years. We thought as we’d get the reports, how difficult the work was, things are hard and he’d come back and we’d—and then a native from that country where he was came to Lincoln. I forget why he came. He may have been with Back to the Bible, he may have been from something else, but had opportunity to sit and visit with him.

As he talked, I said I appreciate the chance to visit with you. I know the ministry in your country is difficult and hard and it’s hard to reach people and I mentioned, we’d been involved with so and so, and he says, yes I know them well. I know their ministry, and I want to tell you the ministry in our country is not that hard. We are seeing great blessings. He’s not seeing them because he’s incompetent, so he’s not experiencing the blessing, but it doesn’t have anything to do—the Lord’s doing great things and I felt bad, but the hard thing was for us to maintain the kind of involvement that would enable us to know. Now I want to say something honestly. Missionaries don’t get sent home from the field very often unless they do something illegal, immoral or something like that. It’s difficult when you are paying people and there’s no connection between the people paying the bill. If someone from China was supporting my ministry at Indian Hills, how would they have any connection with what I’m doing? They would have to have a go between and that’s where mission organizations come in. Some of them do a good job, some of them do not. I’ve tried to search it out, I’ve studied in a graduate program in missions, I’ve interviewed missionaries to try to sort through.

We as a board have worked through what is best for us. We were being overrun in the ‘70s into the ‘80s. We had four major building programs in the 1970s, baptized about a 1,000 people, so people were getting saved. We were doing the Great Commission I take it. At the end of Luke it’s, you share the gospel with the nations, primarily a ministry to non-Jews in the place God had put us. So to say we’re not going to do something here and send money over there because it will be more spiritual. Now other churches may not have experienced that blessing and they feel or they feel called of God, so all of that working through, for a variety of reasons have come to where we are, and we’re basically committed that the bible doesn’t say you have to go. There’s no church in the New Testament told that they have to send anybody.

The missionary books, if you read them, I don’t know how many—some of those have feelings about missions, but they’ve really never ever seriously considered the biblical doctrine of missions. I’m not saying everybody, but have you studied the theology of missions? Have you read books? If you want some books, I’ll recommend them to you. Not those against missions, those that are pro missions, but you have to sort through the theology of missions, not just give my feelings, I feel like we should do this. I feel like we’re being selfish if we’re not doing it overseas. That’s not a good motivation. That’s not everybody’s motive. Some believe and in light of Scripture think this—and like I said there’s freedom, and I myself, at the end of every year send money to certain organizations I’m comfortable with, missions…individual or corporate. That’s a personal thing. I don’t think the church has to do everything I’m personally convicted to do, and I feel that way with you.

If you tell me, I support a missionary here, I’ll say that’s great and it’s interesting to hear about it. But let’s face it, we’re not going to be able to support everybody’s missionary thing anyway, so there are those personal things. So yeah I would say that we as a board are in agreement that where we are is biblical, and we are doing what we can. You go to other churches in Lincoln and some people do move on to other churches. There would be churches in Lincoln that wouldn’t have much of a church if it wasn’t for Indian Hills people, who have moved there, so we are helping churches in even in this area, hopefully to have a stronger testimony in providing good people that’ll strengthen their ministry. I’ve settled that with the Lord long ago. Lord if part of what we do is equip people for other ministries, thank you for the privilege. I, of course, love having people here, and if they go,don’t be upset with us.

Whatever reasons, you ought to go because the Lord moved you and, if you want to do missions, it’s good, and if you believe the Lord has called you to another field, search out that field. Search out the word of God on it, be involved in that because it’s consistent with the word of God and consistent with what I would believe the Lord would have me do, and if you want to have lunch with me and talk to me about you’re going someplace, I’ll say great. I’m going to ask you first. How many people have you shared the gospel with in the last six months. If you haven’t shared the gospel with anybody in your city, what makes you think you’re going to share the gospel across the ocean. Then I will ask you the next question. How many people have you led to the Lord? Amazed the people that are going to the mission field and I ask that question and they say, well I have never lead anybody to Christ. Well, what are you going to do on the mission field? Umm. Isn’t that a valid question?

I mean I ask that of pastors, you’re going to go pastor? Have you ever taught a class? Was there anybody in the class the second week? If nobody’s called to hear you teach, maybe you’re not called to teach. Now I realize I don’t want to push that too far but we are, oh, they’re called to the mission field, how wonderful. I told you my mother told me when I said, I’m going to go study for the pastorate. We have too many men in the pastorate that don’t belong there. Well that doesn’t encourage me. I’m not saying just because you feel you want to be a pastor that’s good, you’d better be sure if you’re going to the mission field, and you have never witnessed to other people.

I look at how many people are going out door to door to reach our own city. I don’t see these people that have such a heart and oh, my heart’s overwhelmed with the concern for those lost in darkness, over there. You know the people in our city, on your street’ are going to the same hell as the people in Latin America, Asia and Africa, so the burden ought to be here and that ought to make me carry us someplace else. That’s what Paul did. He took off and went. I realize the church at Antioch stood behind him but they didn’t send his support. He worked along the way. I’m not against supporting them

There’s a question on 3 John that those who come into town and are preaching the gospel we should support and send them on their way. I have no problem doing that but evidently, they didn’t come with their support in place and in those days, they traveled without support. They got support from churches where they went and ministered and be happy to help them and to pay for them on their way, so I just want to be sure we search through the Scripture.

What were the circumstances? Would there be something we’d be open to be doing in the future? I don’t know. Right now, I don’t see getting involved in the mission in other places. I get contacts from time to time from people that want to do that. I’m burdened for our city. I’m burdened for the campus. You know I could go someplace else and tell them how needy this city is, you know there are churches, but we have over 200,000 people on our doorstep that are lost and on their way to hell. We have a major university that brings people not only from our city and our country but from around the world to study. Few of them are saved we need help in reaching--and that’s why some people in other countries where, as I shared, the church has grown 5,000 percent 4,000 percent, 2,000 percent, talk about sending missionaries here, so I want to be sure I have a realistic view and I’ve talked to some.

One of the best things we could do, when I think of a big missions project, is provide good sound solid theological material for those who have been saved, like pastors, be sure everybody has a bible in their language. I appreciate that and probably as valuable as sending people, since they already have Christians there, is be sure they have a bible in their language, and provide the money so everybody gets one and then provide solid sound biblical material. I told you when I was in China they said, we don’t need your help evangelizing, but right now we have minimal resources. When Acacio was here from Brazil, Portuguese the language, he says the best thing for me in learning English is now I have access to resources that we don’t have in Portuguese. Well that would be a great mission’s project. Help them get sound solid materials. They’ve already got believers there. They’ve already got churches there. What could we do to strengthen it, which is why we paid to have our program translated into Mandarin for many years and spoke in China?

All right, let me pause again maybe you have questions on things we’ve talked about or something else. Anybody got anything?

Yeah, I met with my sons-in-law awhile back and we talked about home devotionals and things. Do you have a perspective on how families ought to approach home devotionals and home time with young kids or even the empty house in our case?

So how we do devotions and teaching in the home, our kids and things like that? I let that as a personal thing. Some people like to have a set time of devotionals for their family and that was something used greatly in church history. The Puritans were great on that in the home and so on. We’ve had different people in church feel differently, we’ve had staff that feel differently about the devotions, about the teaching. I want to be honest, in our home I never did any formal teaching. We didn’t have set times for family devotions. That doesn’t make it right or wrong, at least I didn’t think it was wrong at the time, you could have a different conviction. What I thought mostly went on in the home that was most important was that we modeled godliness in our home. That what our children saw in me, was the father and the head of the home and in Marilyn and in our relationship together, the living out of what the word of God said we were to be. We were modeling what they learned at church, what they were taught in their classes, because they were taking in a lot of information.

They came to Sunday school, Children’s church, Sunday night activity, the Wednesday night. They were involved then in the youth group, so they got a lot of input. I thought it was most important they see modeled in our home the godly character that they should expect. How we conduct ourselves. How we use our time. How we treat one another. How do I treat their mother. Do I treat her with respect? Do I talk to her properly? Do I spend all of my time propped up in front of the TV wiling away the time? Where do they see me? I’m more concerned that they see me reading the bible rather than communicating to them.

There can be, and I don’t want you to misunderstand, there can be an overload of information, but it has to be lived out. I also realize some, probably very effectively, have family devotions and time together but that’s the way, just using myself as an example. I don’t want to hold myself out as what the standard is but I wouldn’t want you to think well, Gil in his home, he probably taught the family. I think the home is the model, and you interact about things, and explanations go on the way, why are we doing this? We’re not going to do that because of this.

I’ve shared with you. You realize your children are watching. We were traveling on vacation going east and I had a driver in front of me that naturally was not functioning the way they should with the speed limit, so I just stepped on the gas and whipped around them and zoomed off down the road and Greg, after a moment, just piped up. You lost it back there didn’t you dad? Shut up! But he’s right, and you realize they’re watching. You lost control there and you shouldn’t have. Yeah, I did. Wouldn’t have done it if that driver hadn’t of been going so—no—that’s not the excuse. They caught it exactly right, you lost it. It had nothing to do with that driver. Now that’s never happened since, but to me the modeling is what I’m most concerned about, whether you have devotion or whether you don’t.

The kids are observing. Does dad treat mom like she is special? You know we don’t do special days and Marilyn doesn’t look for special days, but I have to treat her special in the ways that are special to her. That’s where you become adjusted to each one and I want the kids to think, well the most important person in dad’s life is mom. The most important person in mom’s life is dad. She adjusts to him. She’s always looking for ways that she can help him, so to me that is teaching and then you talk about things. Why we’re not going to do this, why we’re not going to buy that. We want to handle the finances properly and so on.

Okay, let me answer one totally different--this question came in. In the study of the word, I have been convinced that God made Saturday as His wholly consecrated day. Isaiah 66 verses 21 and 22 tells us that the Sabbath will even be practiced in the new heaven and the new earth. Why do churches celebrate Sunday? Jesus tells us, “if you love Me keep My commandments.”

That is a good question. Let me just say something. That quote, “if you love me you’ll keep My commandments” is from John chapter 14 verse 15 and something you’ll note— and it’s hard for you to pick up in the English bible, but in John’s writings, the Gospel of John and the epistles of John. John uses a different word that we have translated in English “commandments.” Two Greek words he could use. He uses one when He’s referring to the Mosaic Law and another one when He’s referring to the commandments of Christ, so every time he’s talking about commandment and he talks about the commandments of Christ, he’s not talking about the Mosaic Law, so it can be confusing. Some of you know Greek, nomos is the word for the Mosaic Law and then John uses entole when He’s using the commandments of Christ, so those commandments are not the Mosaic Law, so there is a difference. Let’s come back.

Let me look in the Old Testament here with you. A couple of references. Why we don’t observe Saturday. Let’s see, you know Genesis when God sanctified the sabbath because He rested on the sabbath, but there’s no indication that anybody observed the sabbath day as a special day until we get to the Mosaic Law. No indication that men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob ever observed the sabbath day as a special day, so it’s not given as a special day. It was a special day of God’s rest, when He stopped creation but He never gave instructions to any of the believers, the great men we think of up until the Mosaic Law, so no indication that was a day observed especially.

Let’s look and see. Go to Exodus 31, look at verse 13. “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths;’ (now note this last part. You ought to have it marked or underlined) ‘for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Therefore you are to observe the Sabbath.’” It is given to Israel. Now part of the problem comes, if people don’t distinguish between Israel and the church, then they carry that over as a commandment for the church, but when you take a literal interpretation of the Scripture as we do, this is for Israel. This is a sign between Me and you. He’s speaking to the sons of Israel.

Down in verse 17 in Exodus. “It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever;” and He bases it on His pattern of the creation but it’s for the sons of Israel and it is forever, so I take it, it will continue in the new heavens and the new earth, because the distinction between the church and Israel will continue into eternity. One of the questions I have that’s still on my sheet that I have to address, and I will at least address it I hope, before we get there, but we are going there in Revelation. Incidentally, some of the questions I’ve set aside to do a special study on, and then a question and answer following up. You see here, it’s between Me and the sons of Israel, so if you take a literal interpretation of the Scripture as we do, and distinguish between Israel and the church; it’s for Israel the sons of Israel, forever.

Come over to Ezekiel chapter 20 and we’re going to verse 12 and again He is addressing Israel as Ezekiel’s prophecies are. Chapter 20 verse 3 Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, and we’ll come down for time, verse 12 “Also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” Down in verse 20 “Sanctify My Sabbaths; they shall be a sign between Me and you,” so when you come back to Isaiah 66, if you want to get there, I’ll read it to you if not. The verses that he questioned that they will go on in the new heavens and the new earth and we’ll talk about what goes on in the new heavens and the new earth, and the relationship of Israel, to the church. I take it the distinctions are eternal distinctions between Israel and the church.

You want to watch, we’re going to talk about Covenant Theology and that in a future study on Sunday night but we don’t talk about one people of God. That’s terminology for those who blend Israel and the church. There is a distinction between Israel, for time and eternity, so when He says in Isaiah 66 verse 22, “’Just as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make will endure before Me,’ says the LORD, ‘your offspring and your name will endure. And it will be from new moon to new moon sabbath to sabbath. All mankind will bow down before Me,’” but for Israel they’ll have a special place in the eternal kingdom. The first stage, which is a 1,000 years, so the sabbath was given to Israel as a special sign for them, and that will continue as long as Israel continues and Israel’s promises are eternal as nation, so that’s why we don’t observe Saturday.

In Acts chapter 20 verse 7 for time, they met on the first day of the week. First Corinthians chapter 16 verse 2 Paul says “when you meet together on the first day of the week.” It seems that became the pattern for the church because of the resurrection of Christ but there is no special day required for the church. We meet on Sunday and the structure works well for us but if, for some reason we could not meet on Sunday we could meet on Tuesday evening as a church, because there’s no day required, so the example the early church, like in Acts and the church at Corinth met on the first day of the week. That does not mean it is a requirement for us to meet on the first day of the week but it is a day, so this is not the Christian sabbath. Again, that is a misnomer that comes from Covenant Theology who just decided they would transfer the seventh to the first and make the requirements that governed the seventh day the first day.

When our family, early in the conversion of our family, my family, my parents when I was young they tried to enforce it. For example, on Sunday we weren’t allowed to ride our bikes because you weren’t supposed to do activities on the Sabbath. We weren’t supposed to go play, and do things. We were supposed to be reserved, and then you know this is a holy day. That came from a misunderstanding of the Sabbath and now it’s part of the Law and part of what God had set apart for Israel.

Okay we’re out of time, so if you have any questions and you’re not comfortable expressing them or you have something you would like to challenge, don’t hesitate to write it down, put it on a card, send an email. You can do it anonymously if you want. You don’t have to put your name on it. That’s fine and I’ll try to cover that as well.

Let’s have a word of prayer. Thank You Lord for all You have done for us, the Savior You’ve provided, and then Lord the wonder of Your word and in the day in which we live we each have our own copy. We have it with us we have it in our homes. We can refer to it again, and again, and again, and again. We are blessed beyond measure and Lord it is so important that we carefully consider our lives regularly, in light of your word and make any adjustments necessary, so that we walk as children of Light, in a manner worthy of the high calling we have received in Christ Jesus. I pray that will be true of us as we live for You in the days of the week before us. In Christ’s name. Amen
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