Why Do the Nations Rage?

Psalm 2; Acts 4:23-31

Why do the nations rage? (“Nations” can also be translated as “heathen.” These are the unbelieving nations of the world who don’t know the God of Israel.) The world always seems to be in a state of restlessness and upheaval, like a storm-tossed sea. The world as a troubled sea is a Biblical image of unrest caused by ungodliness:

“But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20-21). 

The Psalmist says that it is only the Lord

who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples (Psalm 65:7)

In commenting on Psalm 65, Augustine says: “For the sea, by a figure, is used to indicate this world, with its bitter saltiness and troubled storms, where men with perverse and depraved appetites have become like fishes devouring one another.” In the Confessions Augustine also says: “thou dost curb the wicked lusts of men’s souls and fix their bounds: how far they are allowed to advance, and where their waves will be broken against each other – and thus thou makest it a sea, by the providence of thy governance of all things.” In other words, just as God sets the boundaries for the oceans of the world, He also reigns and rules over the nations of the world, setting limitations for how far the wickedness of man may go.

So the wicked world is raging like a restless, foaming sea! And until our voyage is over, we have to ride the waves and weather the storms of life in this world. Be prepared! The forecast calls for more storms!

There are times of peace and calm, yet these never seem to last very long. Have you found life to be something like an unpredictable sea, one that is calm in one moment and stormy the next? We often feel like the disciples on the storm-tossed sea of Galilee, with Jesus asleep in the boat: “Lord, don’t you care that we are going to drown?”

Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh;
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threat’ning
A grave in the angry deep?

Jesus calls us over the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless, sea

The nations continue to rage. Men are searching for peace but cannot seem to find it. Some seek it through politics, some through religion, some through economics. And some seek peace through inner reflection and psychology. People often try to find peace through some kind of escapism, or denial and detachment from reality. Everyone who tries drugs and alcohol is really looking for an escape or a sedative.

Why does the world today seem to be raging out of control? We see images of the chaos in the news every day. We see the war, pain, suffering, oppression, and death in the world. And all of this misery is caused by man, though in their insolence men often blame God for the state of the world! We do not want to pine for the good ole days, but there seems to have been a significant moral and spiritual degeneration in our culture in this generation. People do things today that the last generation would be ashamed to even talk about. People dive into sin with gusto, and they are proud of their sin. You can be a pervert now and be admired, maybe even have your own show!

Why? That is the first word in the text and it is still the great question of the world today. This situation is not new. Why is the world the way it is? Only the Word of God has the answer to this question. Worldly wisdom does not have the answer to this crucial question about human life. Modern man with all of his science and technology does not have the answers to the human condition. Worldly wisdom can make observations about what is seen and the way things are, but they cannot look deeper to find the cause. The whole problem of evil and suffering is a particular stumbling block to the modern mind. Modern man holds the position that men are basically good – so where does evil come from? They have no answer. The world does not have the answers to these questions because it has rejected the Word of God.

The Source of the World’s Raging (Psalm 2.1-3)

This Psalm reveals that behind this restlessness in the world is a desire and an intentional effort to do away with the authority of God. I am not by nature a conspiracy theorist, unless the Word of God reveals that a conspiracy actually exists! There IS a conspiracy in the World, and it goes up to the highest levels of power. The World and its rulers do not want God around and they are doing everything they can to get rid of Him.

The World seldom objects to religion. Religion, including institutional Christianity, is really just an extension of the World and its values. But the World will not tolerate the living God, His Law, and His Word. It is not that the world objects to the discussion of ideas about God. We can talk about God, as long as it is purely theoretical and lacks any real, concrete definitions. But the last thing they want is someone speaking in absolutes, or telling other people what they must believe about God. This kind of absolutism will not be tolerated today. You can entertain any private theory about God you want, but don’t tell anyone else what to believe!

So people create their own gods, in their own image. Men today are really worshiping themselves. We have about six billion people on this planet who all want to be God, and this is bound to cause trouble!

1. A Vain Thing (v. 1)

Of course, God will not be gotten rid of so easily. All of the world’s plans are ultimately vain, especially this plan to get rid of God. Now you have to come up to get a higher view to see this, because it often looks like the plans of the world are quite successful. The Psalmist is a Man of God, and he can see the truth about the world and its schemes. “The peoples plot a vain thing.” Or as someone else has said: “Man proposes and God disposes.”

Even Solomon knew that everything that is under the sun, or what is done by man, is vanity, which is just a lot of hard work that ultimately comes to nothing. The history of the human race is like someone riding a stationary bike. They pedal the stationary bike like mad, get tired, die and fall off the bike, only to be replaced by a new generation that didn’t learn anything from the previous one and starts pedaling all over again. Every generation rages against God, dies, and gives birth to a new generation that rises to do the same thing! The world has always been raging. This is the world – life under the sun – as Solomon in his earthly wisdom could correctly observe. Other thinkers have seen it too.

William Shakespeare put this truth about human life in the mouth of one of his characters in Macbeth: “Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." What is life in the world like, apart from God? It is “full of sound and fury”–the nations are raging against God–but it amounts to nothing. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot a vain thing?” The question is meant to be rhetorical. Why live as if there is no God? It is a vain thing to do! Apart from God, life amounts to nothing.

2. Freedom from God (v. 3)

But the world has a reason for its anti-God agenda. The world views God and His Law as a restriction, keeping them from doing what they want. This is the meaning of “let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:3).

God is viewed as a harsh taskmaster or a cosmic killjoy, who wants to tie man down, make him a prisoner or a slave, and keep man from really pursuing his own happiness. This is exactly why so many people today say they do not want to become Christians: there are just too many rules and restrictions. Man wants to be free to pursue his own desires. But there is God with His Law ruining all of man’s enjoyment and expression. This is at the heart of the nature of man, or what Paul calls the Flesh:

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8). 

Children rage against their parents because the children want to have their way, and the parents stand in their way. When kids get a little older and leave their parent’s home, going off to college, we say that they want to sow their wild oats – do everything they want to do that their parents kept them from doing!

One of the great values of our Age is our so-called freedom, which is understood as the ability to pursue every desire without restriction, especially from religion or from a domineering and interfering deity! There are things that people want to do and God simply gets in their way, so God must go away! This is true on an individual level and on a societal level. Our society does not want God to stand in the way of progress! They do not want to hear the Word or the Law of God, telling them what to do, or that their behavior is wrong and will have consequences. The perfect example of this is the present campaign for the acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

One of Satan’s oldest lies whispered in the ears of humanity is that God is trying to keep you down and is refusing to allow you some wonderful blessing or experience. This is what the serpent said to Eve:

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). 

The lie is that God cannot be trusted. God is not good and does not have your best interests in mind. You must take matters into your own hands and break free from this ogre we call God! And man believes the lie!

But the authority of God is benevolent – it is for the ultimate good of man – which makes the world’s raging against God irrational. God is the source of everything that is good. This means that man needs God and cannot live without Him. We are not self-sufficient but are dependent. That was the real lesson of Eden. With God there is life. Without God there is nothing but death. Death is nothingness: separation from the Source of life itself.

Why would man want to be separate from God? Sin is a form of insanity. But at the root of all sin is unbelief. Man does not really believe in the goodness of God and is convinced that the consequences of being without God are really not all that bad, and may actually be advantageous. As John Milton said in his epic poem, Paradise Lost, the mantra of the damned is “better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”

The great tragedy of human history is that man has refused the only thing that can really help him. Imagine a hospital ward filled with cancer patients. The doctor announces that a cure has been found! But the patients will not trust the doctor and refuse to receive the healing! That is the madness of the world that continues to rage against God and refuse the only one who could save them.

3. Opposition to God’s Anointed (vs. 2)

God came into a world that was raging against Him, in the person of Christ. He left heaven, humbling Himself as a man, and making Himself vulnerable to the hatred of the world. How the world really feels about God was seen in how it treated the Son of God. The world was face to face with God, and they condemned Him to die! All of the world’s raging against God came to a burning focus in Jesus.

Both the religious and the political establishments rejected Jesus. In fact, they worked together to get rid of Jesus, coming together in a rare act of cooperation against a common enemy. Jesus did not fit the agenda of the religious leaders and he even posed a possible threat to their position, so they conspired against him. Jesus and His Kingdom were mocked by the authority of Rome as an insignificant nuisance. Pilate washed his hands and refused to be troubled by this Galilean, sending him to Herod, his political rival. Herod mocked him and sent him back, and the two actually became friends after they both had done away with the nuisance Jesus and they at last had something in common! In a final act of mockery and revenge on the Jews for bothering him, Pilate inscribed a sign above Jesus’ head as He hung dying: “The King of the Jews.” Pilate was saying “this is what I think of you Jews and your pathetic king!”

There are those today who, like the Jewish leaders, have an intense hatred for Jesus and want to get rid of him, seeing him as a threat to their own, little kingdoms.  There are also those, like Pilate and Herod, who have so little esteem for him that they will not waste any of their time listening to him, choosing to simply set him aside, as someone would scrape a bug off their windshield, and then go about their business as if nothing had happened.

The world is still rejecting Jesus. And when you reject the Son of God you are rejecting the Father. There may be many things the world disagrees about, but when it comes to their hatred for God and His Christ they are united.

4. Opposition to God’s People (Acts 4.23-31)

The experience of the early Church reveals that the world is also in opposition to the people of God. When the early Church was persecuted by the Jews for the first time – the same people who had killed the Lord – they got together to pray and they remembered Psalm 2! The Jews had always believed that Psalm 2 was a prophecy about the Messiah. The early Christians saw that Psalm 2 had been fulfilled!

The world could no longer persecute Jesus directly, but it could persecute His Body! Now the hatred of the world for God, once focused in Jesus, is turned on the Church. And the Church should not be surprised by the animosity from the World. Jesus said it would happen. The only thing we really need to be concerned about is the world’s friendship, not its hatred! In some of His final moments with His closest disciples, Jesus warned them about the world’s hatred so they would be prepared for it and not be caught unawares. We should understand the world’s attitude toward God and His Christ and expect opposition. We should heed this warning, which is almost a commentary on the second Psalm:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause’” (John 15:18-25). 

There seems to be so little in the institutional Church today that the World could actually persecute! The Church has shaken hands with the World and become friends, which is a very dangerous position! To be the World’s friend is to be an enemy of God. It is impossible to really serve God while also courting the favor and approval of the World. If we love the World and its pleasures, we cannot love God (1 Jn. 2.15-17). The world has not changed and cannot ever be changed. We are to come out of the World, to be separate, and refuse all the seductive advances of the Great Whore of Babylon (Revelation 17.1-6).

Our best defense against the World and its opposition is prayer. We go to the Throne of God in our time of need, acknowledging that above all the tumult and raging of the nations, is our Father in Heaven.

God’s Response to the World’s Raging (Psalm 2.4-9)

1. God Laughs at the Wicked (v. 4)

How does the one seated on the Throne view all the raging of the nations? He laughs! This is a laugh of scorn for all the pathetic attempts of wicked men to overthrow His reign. It would be much easier to try to move the earth itself than to move the Lord from His Throne! One writer said that “the Throne of God is the central fact of all Biblical revelation.” God’s sovereignty is THE absolute upon which all truth is built. We build our lives and our hope on the Throne of God:

“A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary (Jeremiah 17:12)”. 

“The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever” (Psalm 29:10). 

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne (Revelation 4:2).

When we have the right view of God all of the evil in the world seems pathetically small. Wicked man cannot do all that he would. Man does not have a free will to do whatever he chooses to do! The very thought is absurd to anyone who knows anything about the Scriptures! The whole world once gathered together against God to build themselves a city. And God laughed at them and scattered them in His wrath!

2. God Raised and Exalted Christ (v. 6-9)

And then the world gathered together against the Lord’s Christ. They condemned Him to die. They thought they had gotten rid of the Son of God! They even put Him in a tomb and rolled a stone in front of the entrance, just to make sure He stayed in the grave. But God laughed and raised Him from the dead! Jesus is currently reigning over this world in spite of the world’s objections to His authority. The resurrection was God’s vindication of Christ and His overthrow of the world’s schemes.

Jesus has been exalted to a place where He can no longer be seen by the World, but is only seen by the faith which comes through the preaching of the Gospel, until He comes again in power and glory for the judgment of the world (Acts 17.31). Jesus will destroy all these nations that are now raging against God and against His reign. “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). Paul is alluding to another Messianic Psalm:

The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
The LORD sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies! (Psalm 110:1-2)

Jesus is ruling in order to bring many sons to Glory through this present, evil world. We need an exalted Savior to get us through this raging, hostile world all the way to the Throne of God. This is the saving power that God

worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:20-23).

God has a plan for His people and nothing can stop it! Nothing in this world, not even the god of this world which is Satan himself, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Only Jesus, the Prince of Peace, can calm the troubled sea that is our world. There will come a time when there will be no troubled sea and the world will finally be at rest (Rev. 21.1).

We are to live with that confidence, knowing that our faith overcomes the world because Jesus has overcome the world. And He will deliver us out of this raging world that is like a troubled sea so we can one day stand before the Throne of God on a sea of glass, peaceful and calm forever (Rev. 15.2). If we stay with Jesus He will bring us all the way from this world to glory because God has set His King on Zion!

God’s Final Words to a Raging World (Psalm 2.10-12)

Americans have trouble with passages like this Psalm because we have trouble with kings. The idea of someone who has absolute power seems to us like the greatest form of evil in the world! We believe, being children of the Enlightenment, that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We believe that absolute power is to be resisted at all costs!

If we don’t like those in authority, we just vote them out of office. But there is no voting in the Kingdom of God. God has already cast His vote for His Son. And God’s vote is the only vote that counts.

1. A Gracious Offer (vs. 10-12)

The Gospel is really a royal proclamation from the Throne of God that He has made Jesus His King and every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Now is the time to bow the knee to Christ. If we bow the knee now, during the Day of Salvation, we will receive the King’s mercy and grace. In those countries that have kings it is customary to get down on one knee and kiss the king’s ring on his hand. Kiss the Son! Jesus is holding out His hands to the nations of the world. We can bow and kiss His hand and serve Him, making peace with Him, or we can declare war on Him and fight against His authority. That is a fight that we will lose.

But the Church carries the message to the world to be reconciled to God through Christ:

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). 

To be reconciled means to make peace where there was once enmity. God has made peace with the world that is raging against Him. We preach this peace, offering men a way to stop their raging against God. We are in the final stage of history, which is a space for repentance and salvation. God has provided a shelter from His own wrath. Christ is the only safe place to hide from the wrath of God that is to come on the world. So let us be at peace with Him now so that Day will bring our salvation and not our destruction.

2. A Stern Warning (v. 12)

But the time for making peace will not last forever. The unrepentant world is storing up wrath (Rom 2.5). Jesus will come to this world again, not as a humble baby in a manger, but

in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)

As long as the world keeps up its raging God’s wrath and anger is rising like water behind a dam. Someday the dam will burst and the wrath of God will flood this world. Then the people of the world will call for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6.15-17). But there will be no place to hide.

In light of this coming Day of Wrath God's people should be bold and speak the Gospel no matter what the world says. When the early Church prayed, after being persecuted by the world, they prayed that God would look on their enemies, and consider their threats, and that they would have boldness to continue speaking the Word of God, which is the Gospel! We should not let the threats of the world intimidate us. We should only fear God, not men. What can men do to us, after they have killed the body? But we must all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of our deeds (2 Cor. 5.10). So while we are still in this raging world let us not be afraid of the world, but let us “serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.”

Preparing for Persecution

1 Peter 4:12-19

Most of our failures in life come as the result of our not being properly prepared for some situation. There was a problem that we had not considered. Something broke that we had thought to be unbreakable. Perhaps we were overconfident in our abilities, but when the true test came we were not really prepared like we thought we would be. There is perhaps nothing more frightening than coming to the moment of crisis and realizing that you do not have the answer. There are some moments we cannot do over again and the failure is something we must live with for the rest of our lives.

The Lord does not reveal to us what will happen tomorrow and what kind of trouble we will face. We do not know what a day will bring! It is nearly impossible to prepare for every scenario or situation that life may bring our way. And we should not sit and worry about tomorrow, letting our imaginations run wild.

But there are some situations that are known ahead of time, and for these we must be prepared. To fail to prepare for these situations is foolish and slothful.

This is especially true if the Scriptures warn us about the possibility of facing a certain situation, test, or trial. To fail to prepare for these things is evidence of unbelief – we don’t prepare because we don’t believe the Word of God applies to our situation.

Many Christians in the Western World think this way about persecution. That could never happen to us here! We are protected by the freedom of religion. Stories of persecution belong either to the distant past or to some Third World country.

But the times are changing. The West is Christian no longer. In fact, our society is growing more and more hostile to Biblical Christianity. And the freedom that man gives men can take away.

I do not think that most professed Christians in our society would stand up under the heat of persecution. The kind of Christianity we are seeing today does not prepare people for persecution.

But we must also give some thought to our own faith. How can we prepare for persecution?

The Theme of First Peter

The epistle of First Peter was written for this very purpose. The theme of suffering as a Christian runs through every chapter. Peter was writing at a time when the Roman government was beginning to be hostile toward Christians. Nero was Caesar, ruling with absolute power, and he would make many politicians today seem like shining lights of virtue. Most secular historians think that Nero was literally insane. He wanted to do some building in Rome, but there were some structures already standing where he wanted to build. So, he simply set them on fire. Legend has it that he played his violin while he watched the city burn. He then blamed the Christians for starting the fire. This began one of the very first systematic persecutions against Christians conducted by Rome.

This persecution would eventually claim the lives of both Peter and Paul. It is said that Paul died by beheading, because he was a Roman citizen. But Peter was to be crucified. Peter did not want to die exactly as Jesus had died, feeling unworthy, so he requested that they crucify him upside-down.

One of the last things Jesus had said to Peter was concerning how Peter would die.

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me” (John 21:18-19).

And Peter did follow the Lord, even unto death! That is the man writing this epistle to prepare believers to endure persecution.

How does Peter go about this task?

Believers are Exiles and Sojourners

He reminds believers that they are not at home in this world. Peter addresses his letter to the elect exiles (1.1), and then refers to them as sojourners and exiles (1 Pet 2.11). An exile or a sojourner is someone who is not in his home country, but is just a visitor. Being an exile means that we prefer our true homeland. And being a sojourner means that we are on a journey to that true home. God’s people have always been exiles and sojourners in the world. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents in the Promised Land, depicting the sojourning of the Faithful through this world (Hebrews 11:9-10, 13).

Our physical bodies are like tents – temporary dwellings that we will one day fold up and trade in for a permanent, heavenly body. The people of God recognize that they have no lasting city here that they can call home. The City of Man is not our home. We are waiting for the City of God. There are two different societies of people in this world. We are out of place here in this world and are waiting for a New World that is to come, wherein dwells righteousness (2 Pet 3.13).

Believers must begin to think of themselves this way, which will clarify many of our trials. We should reason that if this is not our true home, then we cannot expect to always be happy here. We should not expect our desires to be fulfilled here. Exiles and sojourners are not always welcomed or treated well by the inhabitants of the land. Our customs, values, and lifestyle are not the same as those of the City of Man. We should not expect peace and welcome in this world because it is not our home.

If we do not think this way then we will not understand persecution when it comes.

Believers are to be Holy

Or, we may be tempted to just blend in with the City of Man and avoid the persecution entirely. But the Apostle has also told believers to be holy or separate from the world:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile (1 Peter 1:14-17). 

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation (1 Peter 2:11-12).

. . . but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame (1 Peter 3:15-16).

This is to be done so that we are above reproach and our enemies will have nothing to say against us. Being holy does not mean you will not have enemies. In fact, you may have even more! But we should be like Daniel, whose enemies had nothing against him unless they invented a charge.

Believers have a Powerful Enemy

Behind all of our suffering in the world is the Enemy of our souls! Satan is pursuing God’s people while we are in his domain seeking to tempt us to sin, to overthrow our faith, or even to destroy us if he can.

So Peter exhorts us to

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:8-11).

Men are really not our enemies. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Behind all of the world’s opposition to the people of God is Satan Himself who is making war on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17).

Believers Participate in the Sufferings of Christ

In preparing for persecution we should think about how Christ also suffered while in the world. We serve and follow a Savior who was rejected by men (1 Peter 2:4).

In other words, if Jesus suffered persecution and rejection there is no reason to think we will escape suffering while we sojourn through this world. And if they opposed Jesus, who never did anything wrong, we can expect the world to oppose us who follow the Lord.

We should not let this make us bitter, even against those who persecute us. Jesus prayed for the men nailing Him to the cross. And the Lord told us to bless those who curse us and pray for those who persecute us.

Suffering as a Christian is a participation in the sufferings of Christ (1 Pet. 4.13). This is not saying that we have to pay for part of our sins. Christ’s suffering has completely paid for sin so there is no need for us to suffer for our sin. That is why the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is so wrong. The sufferings of Christ are referring to how the world treated Jesus. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah predicted that He would be

despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

And the apostle John wrote that “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10-11). Jesus was God in the flesh, but they did not recognize Him. And the world is hostile to God. So they were hostile to Jesus.

Even the large crowds that came to see Jesus and hear His teaching mostly came for the wrong reasons and did not understand the things He said. At the end, when Jesus was delivered over to Pilate, there were no crowds coming to Jesus’ defense.

The Jewish leaders hated Jesus, being threatened by Him. The Romans just wanted to get rid of a nuisance and Pilate simply washed his hands of the matter.

Jesus was not just killed, He was mocked, beaten, humiliated, and tortured. Jesus died as a criminal, hanging exposed between two criminals. There was nothing dignified about how the world treated Jesus.

So how do we participate in that kind of suffering? Does this mean we will be tortured and die? Maybe. Many believers have been, including Peter and the rest of the Apostles. The world has treated Jesus’ people like it treated Jesus, and that is how we participate in His suffering. The world rejected Jesus and it will do the same to us if we are like Him. “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (1 John 3:1).

When the world rejects and mistreats you because of Jesus, you are participating in a little of His sufferings.

This is what Paul also had in mind when he said “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). Paul must have never forgotten what Jesus said to him on the road to Damascus: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” When people persecute the Church, they are persecuting Christ because the Church is the Body of Christ. The world can no longer persecute Jesus, so the world’s hatred falls on the Body of Christ. And so we get to participate in Christ’s sufferings.

Someone might ask why God allows His people to experience suffering. The most obvious answer is that we are still in the world, which means we will suffer like Jesus did while He was here. If Jesus was not spared from this suffering, we should not think that we will be. When we get saved, the Lord leaves us in the world and does not immediately take us to heaven. The reason for this is so that we can be made like Christ, being conformed to His image. Suffering is part of this process.

That is the blessing for enduring these kinds of sufferings: we know that we are part of God’s purpose to make us like His Son. The suffering confirms that this process is actually taking place. So in this way the rejection of the world is evidence of Divine blessing. (The Health and Wealth Gospel preachers need to take note of this!) If the world accepted us then that would be evidence of Divine rejection. And so Jesus told His disciples:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).

Practical Instructions

To help us prepare for persecution, the Apostle Peter gives us some very practical instructions. There are some things we should not do, and then there are some things we should do.

First, what we should not do:

• Believers should not be surprised by suffering ( 1 Pet. 4.12). Being surprised by suffering betrays a woeful lack of understanding of what it means to be a Christian. And yet there may be people who think they want to follow Christ because He will give them some kind of earthly advantage. This may be the case for many people in our time when religion, wearing the name of Christ, is actually fashionable or trendy. But following the real Jesus will not make you popular with the world. And Jesus does not underwrite the American Dream.

• Believers should not suffer because of doing evil (1 Pet. 4.15). We cannot do foolish or wicked things and then when we suffer the inevitable consequences think we are suffering for Christ. Being persecuted for your faith and being punished for needlessly breaking the law is not the same. There may be times when we must obey God rather than man. But Christians should not be known as rebels who disregard the laws of society. Under normal circumstances Christians are to be obedient citizens of the nation: submitting to its laws, honoring its rulers, and even paying taxes.

• Believers should not be ashamed when suffering for Christ (1 Pet. 4.16). Peter knew something about this from personal experience. When Jesus was arrested, Peter was too ashamed to even admit that he knew Christ, but denied Him three different times. That was a moment of weakness from which Peter recovered. What about you? Have you actually been embarrassed to be known as a Christian? Did you try to keep it a secret that you follow Jesus, fearing what people might do or say? Don’t be ashamed of the Lord. Jesus died for you publicly and you need to confess Him before men. If you continue to be ashamed of Jesus, then Jesus will be ashamed of you when He comes again (Mk 8.38).

Peter also gives us some practical things we should do when preparing for persecution:

• Believers should rejoice in suffering for Christ (1 Pet. 4.13). We do not rejoice in the pain and suffering but in the reason for it. There is no reason to intentionally seek suffering, it will come to you naturally if you are busy serving Christ! We rejoice because this is our confirmation that we belong to Christ and that He will reward us when He comes again. When Peter and the other disciples were beaten for their preaching, they rejoiced that they had been counted worthy of suffering for the Name of Jesus (Acts 5.41).

• Believers should entrust themselves to God and do what is right (1 Pet. 4.19). We might shrink back from doing or saying certain things for Jesus because we fear the repercussions. The antidote to this fear is faith. We “let the chips fall where they may” and do what we know is right. Our job is to do what is right. It is God’s job to take care of us when there is fallout for doing the right thing. The best example of this kind of thinking is found in Daniel and his three friends, who all refused to obey the King’s edict even though they knew there would be deadly consequences. These men put their lives into God’s hands, knowing that He could deliver them. God does not always deliver His people. In that case we will be ushered into the presence of the Lord! We are not to fear those who can only kill the body. Fear God and do what is right, knowing that your life is in His hands.

Is This Worth Dying For?

But I suppose it is part of our nature to ask if such a sacrifice is really worth it? If I lay down my life and give everything up for Jesus, what am I going to get in return?

Some people might actually say this is the wrong question. They might say that we should do the right thing for its own sake and not for any reward. It should be enough that Jesus told us to lay down our lives and we should just do that because He said so. We should not be mercenaries, they say, just serving the Lord for some kind of payout.

I both agree and disagree with this kind of thinking. First, I agree that we should do what the Lord says just because He says it. We don’t really need any other reason.

But the Lord has told us what the rewards will be for laying down our lives and suffering for His sake. Can you imagine entering a race that has no finish line and no prize to be won? How long would you run in such a race? People who enter athletic competitions suffer. And they do so because there is a prize to be won. Perhaps they should just compete for the love of the game, but even that love is a kind of reward.

Human beings are wired to work toward a goal. God made us to desire something. Unfortunately, many people desire things that will perish. But God means for us to desire what only He can give to us.

This thing that God wants to give us is what the New Testament calls “glory.” This glory from God is worth whatever suffering we might have to endure in this world. As Paul said, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

Wait for His Appearing

To get this glory we must wait on the Lord and His appearing. In this world we should expect suffering. The glory is not going to come until the Lord comes. So don’t expect too much while you are still in the world. If you are the kind of person who insists on having it all now, you will find it difficult to persevere during tribulation.

The Devil will offer you instant gratification. Remember how he even tempted Jesus with this?

“The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:8-9). 

The Devil was saying to Jesus “You can have it all right now!” Satan will tempt us in much the same way. Does it not seem like the Devil takes better care of his servants than God does of His? There are the Devil’s people all fat, rich, and happy while the servants of God are poor and suffering! Satan’s offer is to have it all now.

It is possible to avoid suffering for Christ. (Perhaps we should examine ourselves to see if we are even being persecuted for anything!) You can take the easy way and just enjoy life, finding all of your pleasure and satisfaction in this world. On the Day of Judgment many people will hear the words “remember that you in your lifetime received your good things” (Luke 16:25).

But I would rather it be said of me that I, like Moses, opted “to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:25-26).

Being ready to suffer persecution really comes from believing God and His promises. It will be impossible for you to let go of this world and your own life unless you believe there is something greater and better that is worth such a sacrifice. If this world and this life are all that we have in our vision, then we will hang onto it as long as we possibly can.

But faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11.1). Faith cuts our ties with this world and anchors our hope in God. Our hope beyond this world is based on God's promise of a New World. If we believe that God is going to make a New Creation then it will be our goal to make it into that New Creation at all costs – even if that means losing our lives in this world.

The Body of Christ (Part 5 of 5)

Leadership

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

The Body of Christ has only one Head. Christ is the Head of the Body, who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. This means that the Head sets the agenda for the Church. The Church does not have the right to set its own agenda but must take all of its orders from the Head. One of the problems with the Church today is the unwillingness to accept Christ’s headship. Many churches and Christian organization seem to want to establish their own agenda and do their own thing. But the marching orders for the Church of Jesus Christ have already been given. When Christ ascended into heaven after His resurrection He gave these orders, which are for the Church in every place and in every Age:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

If the Church is not obeying the command of Christ then it has lost connection to the Head. There came a point in the history of the Church when it did begin to set its own agenda and the institutional Church, which is not the Body of Christ, came into existence. Every church should examine itself today to see if it is connected to the Head or if it is doing its own thing.

Jesus ascended into Heaven after His resurrection. So Christ is no longer here in the flesh to guide the Church. Jesus did send the Holy Spirit to be another helper and to dwell in believers individually and in the Body corporately. The Church must listen to the Holy Spirit just as it would listen to Christ Himself. And while we might conclude that the presence of the Holy Spirit is sufficient to guide the Church, Christ has also placed leaders in His Body. Some members of the Body are given as leaders to the Body. Paul mentions the positions of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, and Shepherd/Teacher. (The last position is actually one and not two separate functions.) Many wonder how there can be Apostles in the Church today after the original Apostles have passed away. The original Apostles of the Lord had a foundational ministry that cannot be duplicated. However, there may be those in the Body today who have a ministry and function similar to that of the original Apostles. When men take the Gospel into new territories where Christ has never been heard, what we usually call the work of a Missionary, this may be the function of an Apostle. Obviously there is no Apostle today who is writing inspired Scripture so this particular function is no longer needed today. The function of a Prophet is what we typically think of as preaching. A Prophet speaks the Word of God, applying it to the needs of the Body, so the Body is encouraged and built up in the faith. Again, we do not need a Prophet to add to the inspired words of Scripture. A true Prophet speaks only what is in agreement with the written Word of God, applying that word to the needs of the Body today. An Evangelist is a well-known gift of leadership today, but most Christians think an Evangelist only speaks to the unsaved. But a true Evangelist also speaks the Gospel to the Body of Christ, which needs to hear it expounded and applied. And then the Shepherd/Teacher is what we would call a Pastor today. This leader functions as a guide for the people of God, keeping them well fed and away from spiritual temptations and dangers, just as a shepherd would care for his flock. The Shepherd is also a teacher in that he feeds the flock from the Word of God. We should take note that all of these leadership positions involves some type of speaking ministry. It is not possible for Christian leaders to do their work without speaking the truth of God’s Word to the Body.

The work of leadership in the Body is to equip the saints for ministry. While there are different leadership functions and these positions are not all the same, there is really only one common goal for leadership, which is to make sure the members of the Body are ready for ministry. Unfortunately, this model of equipping the members of the Body for ministry is not commonly known in the Church today. Because of the rise of professional, educated clergymen in the Church, this model has been forsaken. These religious professionals are supposedly trained to do the work of the ministry while the people themselves support them financially. This means that in the Church today very few of the members are actually involved in ministry themselves. People work their jobs, take care of their families and homes, attend Church services, tithe, and that is all they are expected to do! That is not the New Testament model of the Body of Christ. In the Body of Christ all of them members have a function. These functions are not all the same, and not everyone has a leadership role. But everyone does have a role and there are no parts of the Body that are unnecessary and idle. These members may not be fully prepared to accept their roles in the Body, and this is where leadership must step in and help.

The goal of leaders should be to make the people mature and stable. When a person is a new believer, they are like a baby and need some special care. Just as children must be taught and learn how to be responsible people, new believers must also be given what is necessary for their growth and maturity. We expect children to grow and learn certain things, and we even discipline them when they do not learn as they should. It would be completely unacceptable for a teenager to still be unable to feed himself, for example. The same is true in the Body of Christ. We expect the members of the Body to grow and mature and it is unacceptable when they remain infantile in their faith, unable to help themselves or others. Unfortunately, the Church today is often tolerant of baby Christians who should be mature and able to help others. Part of the problem may be that the leaders have not helped these believers mature. The result is that many Christians are weak, unstable, and unreliable, easily falling into sin or deceived by false teachers. The point of good teachers and Gospel preaching in the Body is so that believers will mature and grow in their understanding of God and of the Gospel of their salvation. When believers are confident that God is their Father and are able to make godly decisions about life, the Body of Christ will be strong.

When the Body is strong, it can build itself up. As believers mature and begin to do the work of the ministry, the Body will function as it should and be able to care for itself in love. This means that the members of the Body will be able to minister to each other. It is impossible for just a few leaders to ministry to the needs of every member of the Body! This would lead the leaders to a point of exhaustion in a hurry, which is exactly what happens to many professional ministries in the traditional Church today. But that is not the New Testament model of leadership and ministry. Every member has a ministry, not just the leaders. As the leaders provide spiritual food for the Body, the Body is healthy and is able to grow naturally. This principle is seen in nature. A healthy plant with a good root system, water supply, and sunlight will naturally grow. God has designed things this way. Children that are given plenty of healthy food, and who have loving parents to care for them, will naturally grow and mature because that is how God designed things to work. These illustrations in the natural world are there for application to the spiritual realm. When the Body of Christ is being equipped by its God-given leaders, it will be mature and stable and will then be able to grow and care for itself as each member loves and serves the rest of the Body.

The Body of Christ (Part 4 of 5)

Unity and Interdependence

But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together (1 Corinthians 12:24-26).

In spite of all the divisions created by men, there is really only one Church. Christ cannot be divided. All those who believe in Christ are joined to Him spiritually, through the work of the Holy Spirit, and are therefore joined to one another. Just as we could not choose our siblings in the flesh, we cannot choose our spiritual family. When we were joined to Christ we got a lot of brothers and sisters, whether we were willing to accept them or not. But we must learn to accept them. The Apostle Paul wrote to Corinth because that Church had been torn apart. And division is perhaps the greatest damage that can be done to a church. It is a sin against Christ and a misrepresentation of Him to the world. I shudder to think what the Church must look like to the world! If we cannot agree with each other, how can we expect the world to take us seriously and listen to our message? We preach a message of reconciliation, yet we cannot ourselves be reconciled. It is no wonder that most people think Christians are nothing but hypocrites! In spite of this mess we have created, we must understand that Christ is not actually divided. This means there is only one, true Church which is the Body of Christ.

We are to strive to keep the unity that reflects the true nature of Christ. Christ is one, yet churches can become divided. It happened at Corinth and it happened later in Church history. And it still happens today. Unity can be a delicate thing. It is like a beautiful rose that can easily be destroyed if not properly cared for. We can’t actually divide the Body of Christ. But we can behave in a way that does not reflect the unity of Christ’s Body. In the same way it is possible for married people to fight and argue with one another. This does not mean they are not married, though they may not be happily married. If a couple fights with each other, they are still married but are not reflecting the true nature and purpose of a marriage. Now this metaphor breaks down because some married people do not reconcile and the marriage ends in divorce. Jesus will never divorce His Church, which is His Bride. So perhaps a better metaphor is that of the family where siblings must learn to live together. Siblings often fight with each other, yet they are still related to each other, having the same parents. Brothers and sisters may even refuse to speak to each other, yet they are still related and you can’t actually disown DNA! Siblings who fight each other are not reflecting what a loving family should be and was designed to be. In our marriages and our family relationships we must strive to maintain what is the true nature and purpose of these relationships. Likewise, the true nature and purpose of the Body of Christ must be maintained by the members of that Body. If this love and unity break down, this does not mean we are not brethren. We are all still in Christ. But it does mean we have failed to correctly represent Christ.

Why does unity often break down? Why do Church splits happen? And why do we have all of the different Christian groups and denominations today? The answer is actually very simple to understand, yet the problem is extremely difficult to solve in actual practice. Division is a work of the Flesh. The Flesh is that part of us that is still subject to sinful desires. In every believer there is still a little sinner who wants to have his own way and who does not care about anybody else. This is the part of us that we inherited from our Father Adam, who was the first sinner in the human race and passed on his problem to all his offspring. When we become Christians, we are born again and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our mortal bodies. This means that although we have this old, sinful nature still with us we also have a Helper who lives in us as well. The Spirit of God is stronger than our old, sinful nature and no believer has to live under sin’s dominion. However, this does not mean we are not capable of sin. Every Christian knows what it is like to slip back into the old ways of thinking and living. If we slip back into the Flesh, then there will almost certainly be a cause for division as pride, selfishness and worldly thinking begin to infect the Body. It happened at Corinth and it happens in churches today. The Flesh is a constant threat to the Body of Christ.

Division is a sure sign that the Flesh has been at work in the Body. And divisions can only be maintained if some of the members regard some of the other members as disposable. There are organs in the physical body that we can live without. Does this also apply to the Body of Christ? Can we ignore or remove certain members without any consequences? Because God has placed all of the members in the Body where He wanted them, we cannot view any member as unnecessary. Sometimes divisions are caused by members of the Body regarding other members as unnecessary or insignificant. This is usually a sign of the hideous sin of pride. At Corinth this pride may have been in spiritual gifts. Those with a certain gift considered themselves to be more important and other members who had different gifts were expendable. But if every member has a different place and function in the Body, then this makes each member indispensable. The members of the Body depend on each other because no single member has everything that is needed. We can all add something to each other. When we see how we need each other, it becomes impossible for us to maintain divisions and continue to ignore other members of the Body of Christ.

I believe that underneath many of the divisions in the Body of Christ is the sin of pride. When we are proud we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We think we are better and are more important than other members of the Body. And therefore we think we don’t really need these other members after all. Pride leads to a feeling of independence. Some proud people think they don’t need God. And some proud Christians think they don’t need other Christians! We may think we have everything we need to make it on our own. So we don’t feel so bad about ignoring and excluding other members of the Body. In Western countries we have exalted the independence of the individual. The individual has the right to make his own decisions and be his own master, without conferring with anyone else. To many today the highest value is that of the freedom of the individual to chart his own course in life. This completely ignores the fact that we are in need of relationships and community. God created us this way. And when we are reconciled to God He places us in the Body of Christ where we must learn to depend on other members of the Body. This interdependence should make each of us more humble. We have to be humble enough to receive God’s grace, especially when God wants to give us grace through one of our brothers or sisters in the Body of Christ!

The Body of Christ (Part 3 of 5)

Edification

So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12).

All spiritual gifts are for the edification of the Body of Christ. Instead of arguing about which spiritual gifts are in or out of the Church today, the focus should be on edification. No gift is given just for personal use and private enjoyment. This does not discount the vital ministry of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives. In fact, if the Holy Spirit is not at work in each of us, it is doubtful that He will be able to move among us when we are gathered together. If we are walking in the Spirit individually then we will be able to respond to the Spirit and operate in the gifts when we are gathered together as the Body. But in his discussion of spiritual gifts in Corinthians, Paul’s focus is on the Body of Christ and not the individual Christian. The gifts are given for the Body and are never considered apart from this context by Paul. The modern invention of a private, spiritual prayer language finds no support in Paul’s discussion of the gifts. In fact, Paul would not allow a person to speak in a tongue in the assembly unless there was an interpreter because this would not edify the Body. The focus of the Body must be on edification even if that means a particular gift is not utilized when it does not edify.

The Body meets together in order to edify itself. I know that this is not usually the reason for most Church assemblies today. Many would say the reason the Church gathers is to preach the Gospel to the lost. The Gospel certainly needs to be preached to the lost! No one will argue with this point. And the preaching of the Gospel should be a part of the gathering of believers. But to make the gathering of the Church an evangelistic event for unbelievers is unbalanced at best. The believers must be edified. Edification is a word that belongs to the world of construction and building. From this word we get our English word “edifice.” To edify means to build up and secure something – like the construction of a sturdy, brick wall. Believers need their faith to be built up and reinforced. This is the real purpose behind the gathering of the saints. Some Christian people, with good intentions, will state that the purpose of the Church gathering is to worship. These are probably the folks who enjoy music the most. There is no doubt that God’s people are worshipers. But we worship God at all times and not just when the Church gathers. We can worship God privately at home, but we cannot function as the Body of Christ while we are alone. Edification is a corporate undertaking. This is because as we are edifying each other, building each other up, we are also being built together as a holy Temple for the Lord.

This implies that each member must begin to think about the other members. There is no place for selfishness in the Body of Christ. Each member must have concern for the other members. We all form one Body. Christ is not divided. We are interdependent. Oh how I wish Christians could learn this lesson! We have far too many people who think they can stand on their own without other believers. This kind of thinking has to come from the Devil because I know it did not come from the Lord. It is a serious error to think that you don’t need other believers. If you isolate yourself, you will die, having been severed from the Body of Christ. I have every reason to believe that Satan would love to isolate believers from the Body so that he can devour them! In Western culture we believe in the priority of the individual. We have cultured this kind of private spirituality and personal freedom that actually contradicts the very essence of Christianity, which is belonging to the Body of Christ. You simply cannot have Christ and not also be a part of His Body. When you get Christ you get everyone else who is in Christ. We are all one Body and there is no other Body because Christ is one and is not divided.

So the Church should gather together for the purpose of edification. Each member should be thinking about the whole Body and not himself alone. We do not gather to get something only but to give to the Body. But how do we edify each other? Edification is accomplished primarily through speaking and understanding the truth, particularly the Gospel of Christ. That is why prophecy is the greatest gift, because it edifies the Church. Paul’s primary purpose was the edification of believers. But he wanted the Church at Corinth to be able to edify itself even when he could not be there. It seems the Church at Corinth had plenty of spiritual gifts and they should have been able to edify each other. But they were divided and were competing with each other instead of edifying the whole Body. Paul writes to rebuke them for this in his first epistle to the Corinthians. There seems to have been a particular issue with the gift of tongue there in Corinth. Paul forbade the use of this gift unless there was someone to interpret the tongue so that all could be edified. Paul did not forbid tongues as long as it was interpreted. But he preferred prophecy as the superior gift because a prophet spoke to edify the Church. Trying to understand the gift of tongues and prophecy would require another series of articles. (But prophecy could be similar to what we call the preaching of a sermon today.) The point is that the Church must be edified, that is, the people must understand what is being said so that the mind or the understanding is fruitful.

Edification happens when our minds are enlightened by the spiritual truth of the Word of God. We cannot be edified by what we do not understand, which is why Paul commanded that tongues be interpreted in the Church. The result of edification is stability. Just as a strong building will stand firm, a believer who is edified will be strong, firm, and stable. The purpose of edification is to make people strong, solid, and confident in their faith so they can stand firm in all of the trials and temptations of life in the world. Edification is needed because this world is like a storm that blows against us at all times, seeking to tear down what faith has built in us. People who live near the coasts know how important it is to have a house that is reinforced to withstand the strong gale of hurricane winds. The believer must be reinforced spiritually to withstand life in the world. All kinds of winds crash against the believer. There is the force of the world and all of its carnal pleasures and temptation. There are Satan and his demons and all of their deception and false teaching. And there is the constant opposition that comes from our own Flesh, or the sinful nature, that is still within the believer. To withstand all of these assaults we must be strong. We have been placed in the Body of Christ so that we can be edified!

The Body of Christ (Part 2 of 5)

Spiritual Gifts

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).

There is perhaps no area of greater controversy in the Church than the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Some Churches claim to be Spirit-filled, exercising all of the gifts mentioned in the New Testament, while other Churches teach that there are only some of the gifts available to believers today, the miraculous gifts having ceased. Most of the controversy is over the gift of tongues. But if these spiritual gifts are being given by the Holy Spirit to the Body of Christ, then how should they be utilized? When writing to the Corinthian Church, which was torn apart by divisions, Paul addresses this very issue. Paul does not discourage the use of spiritual gifts. The problem at Corinth was in how these gifts were being used. If the gifts of the Spirit are not exercised in a way that benefits the whole Body, then nothing of value is accomplished. For example, if the gift of tongues is actually given and someone speaks in a tongue, but there is no one who can interpret the meaning so that everyone can benefit, then it would be better for the speaker to keep silent. So while we can argue about which gifts are given today, the whole point is the edification of the Church and not just a miraculous display of the gifts. No gift should be operating unless it is being used for the edification of the whole Body. Otherwise, we are just making noise.

The giving of spiritual gifts is according to the will of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Distributor of the gifts that are needed to edify the Body. If the members of the Body are in-tune with the Spirit then the gifts can flow freely. It seems that the Church at Corinth had plenty of spiritual gifts, but there were other things hindering the use of these gifts for the edification of the Body. For example, if the gathering of believers was disorderly, then the gifts that were given by the Spirit could not be used properly. If many people were all speaking at the same time and not yielding to one another, then there was just a lot of noise. Now this seems strange to modern Christians because our Church gatherings usually only have a single speaker, or preacher, and everyone simply listens to him. In most Church services today there is no format or place given for the operation of spiritual gifts except what is given to the preacher or pastor and maybe the worship leader. Corinth had all the gifts going at the same time, which was disorderly. The modern Church does not provide a format for the gifts at all. Modern Church services are not designed with the Body in mind, but are more like a spectator sport where a professional performs and others watch. It is difficult to see how the Holy Spirit can distribute gifts in these environments.

There is no single person in the Body of Christ who has every gift. If the main purpose of the gathering of the Church is for edification, or the building up of the faith of believers, then it must be understood that a single person cannot accomplish this work. The Body is only edified when all of the members are utilizing the gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes. There is no set formula or pattern for how this is to be accomplished. There is not a single way to accomplish this goal of edifying the Body and that is why there is no pattern in the New Testament for how a Church meeting or worship service should be constructed. We should not get sidetracked by such trivial matters as the order of worship! Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians was that everything should be done in an orderly manner, for the edification of everyone in the Body, so that all of the gifts the Spirit gives might be utilized. That being said, it is not realistic to expect a single person, like a pastor, to be able to do everything by just preaching a sermon. Sermons must be preached, but that is just one of the gifts of the Spirit.

Every gift is given for the benefit of the whole Body. The gifts are not given just to edify the individual. The very idea of a private spiritual gift that is only for the individual to use to edify himself goes against the design of the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit simply does not give these kinds of gifts. If a gift is given, it is for the edification of the Body. The individual to whom the gift is given must use that gift for the Body and not keep it to himself. For example, if a person receives some kind of encouraging word for the Body, it is the responsibility of that person to share what the Holy Spirit has given. Of course, there must be a format for this kind of sharing to take place. Unfortunately, most Church services do not provide this format. It is time for the Church to reevaluate the purpose of the gathering of believers together. Most Churches think of their services only as a place for preaching, and that for preaching to the unsaved. These kinds of services are not designed with the edification of the Body of Christ in mind at all and the exercise of spiritual gifts is next to impossible.

The gifts are given to promote unity and mutual edification in the Body of Christ. Leaders in the Body should give some serious consideration as to how this can best be accomplished when the Body is gathered together. The goal of the gathering of the Body is not to evangelize the lost, but to edify the believers. It is unfortunate the most Christians think of Church services only as a kind of evangelistic crusade designed to get lost people saved. There is nothing wrong with evangelistic crusades. But the gathering of believers is not for this purpose. Of course, it is possible that an unbeliever will attend a gathering of the Body of Christ. This is all the more reason for the assembly to be done in an orderly fashion so that the Spirit can move freely and the gifts can function. If an unbeliever sees the Spirit of the Lord at work in the Body of Christ, it is possible that he or she will be convicted of sin, perceiving that the presence of the Lord is there. This has happened, no doubt, on more than one occasion. There is no more powerful witness to the world than a unified, strong, spiritual Church.

The Body of Christ (Part 1 of 5)

The Church is the Body of Christ

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).

There seems to be a tremendous amount of confusion regarding the nature of the Church. In fact, the word “Church” has been corrupted and is almost a negative rather than a positive term. For instance, when most people hear the word “Church” they almost always think of a building. Perhaps even worse is the fact that people think of the Church as a religious organization or institution. There are literally hundreds of different Christian groups today, each claiming to be the Church, yet often teaching contradictory doctrines. How confusing this must seem to the world! It is impossible for the Church to present a coherent message to the world while being so divided and confused. I cannot imagine how confusing it must be for someone who decides to seek the Lord is confronted with the multitude of religious entities that claim to be the Church. Some of these institutions even make the incredible claim that their group is the only true Church! Trying to understand how the Church became so divided is a difficult undertaking. However, we must begin by admitting that what is called the Church is often a poor and inaccurate representation of Christ. The Church represents Christ and should never be separated from the Lord Himself. The Church is not a building or an institution but is the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ is made up of individuals who have been spiritually joined to the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul is the only writer in Scripture to develop this doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ. While Paul is obviously using a metaphor, we should not think that there is no reality behind the imagery. Paul is comparing the Church to the human body. The point is that there is both unity and diversity in the Body of Christ, just as the various parts of the human body together constitute the whole body. The spiritual reality behind this is that every member of the Body of Christ has actually been joined to the Lord. It is the presence and work of the Spirit that has joined us to Christ, making us a part of His Body. Just as our physical bodies are really instruments that allow us to exercise our will as we move about and work, so the Church is the Body of Christ, allowing Him to continue to exercise His will and accomplish His work in the earth while moving through His Body with its various members. The members of the Body of Christ are animated by the Spirit of Christ. Every member is indwelt by the Spirit who also joins each member to the Body. The same Spirit works in all the members, joining them together into a common purpose and fellowship.

The Body of Christ is one entity made up of many different parts. Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth because they were deeply divided, which is always inappropriate for those wearing the name of Christ. It seems that the Christians in Corinth were competing with each other rather than working together toward a common purpose. The Corinthians were exercising many different spiritual gifts, yet they were not doing these things unto edification but for selfish display. The Corinthian Church meetings must have been disorderly and chaotic as they tried to display their gifts and be more prominent than the other person. This kind of chaotic competition contradicts the very essence of Christian fellowship and undermines the purpose of the Church. Paul’s answer to this situation in Corinth was to highlight the unity of the Body, even though there was a diversity of spiritual gifts. All of these gifts came from the same Spirit, Paul argues, and were intended by the Spirit to contribute to the edification of the whole Body. However, if the individual members were selfish and ignored the other parts of the Body then the whole Body would be weakened and could not function. The individual members must think of themselves only in reference to the whole Body and not consider themselves alone. The gift that each member has received is for the Whole Body, not just for the satisfaction of the individual members. No spiritual gift is for private edification. The diversity of gifts is a blessing if each member is concerned about the whole Body.

The focus must be on the health of the entire Body, each part contributing to the well-being of the Whole. Unfortunately, this manner of thinking does not occur naturally. In fact, selfishness is the norm for those who live according to the Flesh. The Church at Corinth was dominated by the wisdom of the world and by the Flesh, which resulted in their chaotic divisions. Paul himself had been the founder of the Church at Corinth. This Church had a legitimate beginning. They had heard the true and pure Gospel of Christ. Yet, these divisions and the resulting chaos still arose. This shows us the powerful influence of the Flesh with its worldly way of thinking. When we look around at the world, we see people living in competition with each other, each trying to have the preeminence. The world is an arena of struggle and conflict where many times the strong simply dominate the weak. The world knows of this tendency and even they try to take steps to avoid the self-destruction of order in society. Sometimes worldly people do manage to overcome their own differences in order to work for a common goal and some astonishing things have been accomplished. The Church is not to think like the world. When it does, as was the case in Corinth, the result is that the Body of Christ cannot function and does not accurately reflect the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is not divided so His Body cannot be divided.

Any personal or private agenda that does not contribute to the overall health and growth of the Body must be aggressively denied and repudiated. When each member is concerned about the other there is unity which leads to mutual ministry and edification. The design of the spiritual gifts is that the Holy Spirit works in particular ways in each member so that everyone can be edified, or built up. It does not seem possible that one person can contain all of the things the Holy Spirit wants to do in the Body. That is why there are many members and a diversity of gifts given. This is why the members of the Body need each other. No one can be independent because no single member has everything that is needed. Therefore, we must depend on each other rather than competing with each other. There is a dangerous kind of thinking today that denies the dependency of the believer on other believers. There are people who claim to be Christians who want to have nothing to do with other Christians. People think that they can have some kind of private faith that has nothing to do with anyone else. They are greatly mistaken. On the other hand, there are those who want to be a part of the Body of Christ, yet they continue to put themselves and their own needs, thoughts, and feelings ahead of the needs of the Body. This is also an unacceptable condition that can only be traced back to the Flesh and not to the Spirit. Those who are truly following the Spirit will subordinate their own needs and desires to the edification of the Body of Christ.

Lessons from the Hebrew Prophets (Part 5 of 5)

The Hope of Salvation

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:10-12).

Salvation is the theme of the Bible. The story of the Bible begins with mankind falling into temptation and sin. The result was that they were cast out of Eden and the way to the Tree of Life was blocked. But God did not desert mankind. There was the promise of salvation even as the curse of sin and death was announced (Gen. 3.15). We know that God is sovereign and that He had already made a plan for salvation even before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. The Bible records the unfolding of this plan of salvation. But it should be made clear that man’s sin did not catch God unprepared. And salvation is more than just a reaction to human needs. God’s plan is to glorify Himself, or make Himself known, through the salvation of fallen man. There are hints in Scripture that there had been another rebellion and fall previous to Adam’s sin in Eden. The Devil and his angels engaged in a cosmic rebellion and were cast out of heaven. There is much mystery surrounding these events, yet there is nothing in Scripture about a Divine plan or salvation for the Devil and his minions. But when man fell, God announced a plan of salvation. We cannot correctly understand the message of the Bible unless we see the unfolding of this plan to rescue sinful man.

The plan of salvation was carefully and purposefully developed by God. There had to be a time of preparation before this project could be launched. It would take many centuries of time for God to set the stage for the final act of the drama of salvation. We must understand that God works with His purpose in mind. He knows the end from the beginning and does not have the limitations of a man, including the limitation of time. God was first developing two things that were vital to His plan of salvation: 1. He had to teach the human race about the nature and consequences of sin. 2. He had to develop a unique group of people with whom and through whom He could work in the world. The reason for the first development should be clear: God had to show man his need for salvation. From what, exactly, is God saving mankind? A plan of salvation would be meaningless unless the danger is clearly defined. Even today there are many people who do not understand the Gospel of Salvation through Christ because they have not been taught about the nature of sin. The second part of the development of God’s plan was related to the first: God would work with a particular group of people to reveal Himself to them and teach them about the nature of sin and their need for salvation. This group of people would be the descendants of a single, chosen man, whose name was Abraham. The nation that came from him was the nation of Israel. God worked almost exclusively with them, preparing and teaching them about Himself and His plan of salvation.

When God spoke to the people of Israel the first time at Mount Sinai, He spoke the Ten Commandments directly to them. That was the first and last time He would do that. The people were afraid and begged that Moses speak to the people for God so they would not have to hear the voice of the Lord directly. Moses was the first of a long line of God’s spokesmen, also known as the Prophets. Through His prophets, God “leaked” certain things about the plan of salvation. Most of the prophets were sent to tell Israel about their sin and unfaithfulness to the Covenant God made with them at Mount Sinai. At Sinai the people had vowed to keep the words of the Covenant, which were the Ten Commandments. But they almost immediately turned away from God and His law, even making a golden calf to worship right there at the holy mountain of Sinai! This pattern of sin and covenant unfaithfulness continued throughout Israel’s history, which is why God raised up prophets to speak to the people and call them to repentance. But through these prophets God also spoke words of hope about His plan of salvation. For example, through the prophet Jeremiah God promised that He would one day make a New Covenant (See Jeremiah 31.31-34). Part of this New Covenant would be the complete removal of all of the people’s sins. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promised that He would give the people new hearts so that they would no longer be unfaithful to Him as they had always been (Ezekiel 11.19-20; 36.26-27). And to the prophet Isaiah God revealed that His servant would one day come to suffer for the sins of the nation and make them righteous before God (See Isaiah 53). These words gave the people who believed the hope that God would not desert them or His plan of salvation.

The prophets themselves did not live to see the fulfillment of their words, yet they had hope in God. Most of the Prophets of God lived during difficult times when they saw the apostasy of the people and they had to announce the judgment of God. Yet their prophecies were also laced with hope. God would finish His work! While the people failed to keep the words of the Covenant, God had not forgotten the promises He had made to Abraham (See Genesis 12.1-3). Though they saw it dimly, the prophets wrote about a time of great victory, joy, and glory when God would fulfill all of His promises and bring the fullness of salvation. Joel saw a time when God would pour out His Spirit on the people, which would be the beginning of the Day of Salvation (Joel 2.28-33 and Acts 2.16-21). Amos saw a time when God would turn even to the Gentiles and they would be included in this plan (Amos 9.11-12; Acts 15.15-18). Isaiah even foresaw the time when God would create a New Heavens and a New Earth, free from sin and all of its effects (Isa. 65.17-25; Revelation 21.1). After Jesus had risen from the dead, the Apostles began to preach to the people of Israel that God was fulfilling everything He had promised them through the Prophets. Peter preached to the Jews in Jerusalem that

“what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed’” (Acts 3:18-25).

Hope is looking forward to the fulfillment of all God’s promises. Today believers are still waiting in hope for God to finish His great plan of salvation. We look forward in anticipation to the return of Jesus and to the New Heavens and the New Earth, wherein dwells righteousness (2 Pet. 3.13). We also look forward to the resurrection of the dead, our new, glorified bodies, and to eternal life in the presence of God (1 Cor 15.35-56; Revelation 22.1-5). This is why we were saved (2 Cor 5.1-5)! We are saved by hope that the work of salvation will be completed (Rom. 8.24-25). And so for this salvation we wait patiently, just as the Prophets who spoke of Christ waited in hope.

Lessons from the Hebrew Prophets (Part 4 of 5)

Encountering Opposition

Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day” (Daniel 6:12-13).

The very presence of God’s people is often perceived as a threat to the world’s agenda and desires. There was no logical reason for anyone to oppose the prophet Daniel. He had done nothing wrong. Their scheme was nothing but jealousy and selfish ambition. When the religious leaders conspired to kill Jesus, it was also done out of jealousy and a desire to protect their position and power. The Darkness hates the Light. God’s people disturb those hiding in the Darkness and this arouses their hatred and opposition. Daniel had done nothing to intentionally offend his fellows. They simply hated him for what he was and they were jealous of his position, which had actually been given to him by God. Most of what happens in the world is driven by greed, competition, and a lust for power or position. Daniel had not intentionally sought a high position for himself, but had been humbly serving God his entire life. Because of his humble obedience, God had placed Daniel in a position where he could be a spokesman for God. Daniel had faithfully served God and spoken God’s word in the courts of both Babylon and Persia, which had even earned the respect of the rulers of these great empires.

It is vital that God’s people live above reproach. Daniel had lived this way for many years and is an excellent example of godliness and integrity in Scripture. There is actually no sin recorded against Daniel in the Bible! Daniel’s enemies were so desperate to find some fault, they actually had to invent a new law that they knew Daniel could not obey while serving God. God’s people should be like Daniel! It is a great tragedy and a scandal that in our time the people who profess to be Christians are often known as hypocrites who do not live according to the truth. If God’s people are going to be persecuted, it should not be because of wrongdoing but because of godliness and taking a stand for righteousness.

“But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name” (1 Peter 4:15-16).

If we do foolish or sinful things, we cannot then count our sufferings for those actions as the sufferings of Christ. If we do not live above reproach, we will give our adversaries an opportunity to blaspheme because of our poor conduct. If we have no integrity then our witness will be meaningless. Living above reproach will not necessarily gain the admiration of everyone. In fact, it may make us some enemies, as was the case with the prophet Daniel. But if we make enemies it should not be because of doing what is wrong, but for doing what is right. Sometimes doing what is right might mean that we have to obey God rather than men.

God’s people live unto God and not for the praise of men. The only way Daniel’s enemies could catch him in something wrong was to make a law that Daniel could not keep because it would violate the law of God. This is something that should be true of God’s people today, especially in light of the greater revelation we have in Jesus and the Gospel! Since God’s people live for God, there will be times when they will be in conflict with the values and thinking of the world. The world is in conflict with God and does not submit to God’s law. This is the nature of the Flesh, or the sinful nature of mankind. As soon as we determine that we are going to live for God, we will find ourselves in opposition to the world and its system. We cannot love God and love the world at the same time (1 John 2.15-17; James 4.4). Those who only want to court the favor of the world, seeking to have the praise of men, forfeit receiving any praise from God (John 12.42-43). This does not mean that God’s people will be known as lawbreakers and rebels. However, when the world’s laws and values conflict with God, we must choose God over the world. There can be no compromise and no negotiations. When God’s people take this stance against the world and its system, they must be prepared for the opposition from the world that will almost certainly follow.

When God’s people suffer, they put themselves in the hands of God, knowing that He can deliver them if He so chooses. Daniel was sentenced to death in the lion’s den for refusing to obey the law to pray only to the king. Daniel knew the consequences of his actions, yet he did not change what he had done before. Daniel had apparently prayed every day with his window open toward Jerusalem. Perhaps this was well known to everyone who was near to Daniel. I suppose Daniel could have changed his habit of prayer and not prayed, just to avoid the penalty of breaking this new law. But Daniel refused to change his act of worship and devotion to God. Daniel chose to openly display his faith in God, even though he knew it would certainly mean capital punishment. When encountering opposition, there is almost always a strong temptation to compromise in order to avoid certain inevitable consequences. And it is possible to avoid suffering for our faith. Daniel could have avoided being thrown into the lion’s den by simply not praying that day, or praying privately where no one could see him doing it. Fear is a powerful adversary that must be conquered by faith. We do what is right in the sight of God, in spite of the consequences, trusting God to take care of us. Daniel did not know if he would live or die when he was being cast into the lion’s den. But whatever the outcome, he was trusting in God.

God’s people glorify God through life or through death. Daniel was miraculously saved from the lion’s den. But Daniel did not know beforehand what his fate would be. If Daniel had been killed by the lions, he would have died having been faithful to God and would have left an example of being faithful unto death. Many of God’s people have not been rescued from death. There are great numbers of faithful martyrs, a number still growing, who have died as a result of their service to God and the Gospel of Christ. By their deaths they glorified God and gave a testimony of their faith. At other times God chooses to deliver his servants from death so that they might continue to be in the world, glorifying God both in their deliverance and their continued testimony. And so the Apostle Paul could say “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” If we live, it is to glorify God. If we die, it is also to glorify God. We do not fear those who can only kill the body, and after that can do nothing more! After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus spoke with Peter personally:

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me” (John 21:18-19).

We too are called to simply follow Christ, not taking any thought for our own lives in the world, knowing that if we continue to follow Him all the way, even through the opposition of this evil world, we will eventually be with Him in Glory. And all our troubles in this world are not worthy of being compared to that eternal weight of glory!