Preaching as a Means of Grace (2)

The Foundational Role of Apostles in the Church

0:05 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, July 25, 1993, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. The first passage is found in Paul's letter to the Ephesian church, the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, Ephesians, chapter 2. Paul having stated that in God's present working, he has purposed to break down the wall between Jew and Gentile and comprise of saved Jews and Gentiles a new humanity.

0:47 And having asserted those realities, he goes on to write, I read beginning in verse 19 of Ephesians 2, So then ye are no more strangers and slaves. Sojourners, but ye are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built.

1:30 And ye are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. Now the second passage, way over to the book of the Revelation, the second last chapter in our Bibles, Revelation chapter 1, and I shall read verses 9 through 14. Revelation chapter 21, Revelation 21, verse 9. And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls.

2:05 Which were laden with the seven last plagues. And he spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. I'll show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

2:31 And he shows him the holy city, Jerusalem. Coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Having a great, a wall great and high, having twelve gates.

2:55 And at the gates, twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. And on the east were three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Let us again seek the face of God in prayer.

3:33 Our Father, we thank you. For the note of holy entreaty that has been woven through the hymns we have sung this morning. We have cried that you would arise and shine in saving power upon the nations. We have prayed that you would awake and bear your mighty arm.

4:01 And, O God, you have revealed in your word that your rising in mercy and the bearing of your arm in saving power, is always in conjunction with the preaching of your word. We therefore come to this time pleading with you, that as was said of your working at Antioch centuries ago, that your hand was present and many turned unto you. O God, this morning may your hand of power be present, working in the heart of saint and sinner of God. Amen.

4:42 So that your word comes to each one of us, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Now, as I read these two portions of the word of God in your hearing, did you perceive any common concern in the passage from Ephesians, and in the portion of the Bible, and in the portion read from the book of the Revelation?

5:20 Well, if you did, I trust that the common concern that you saw, at least in part, is the underscoring of the unique place of the Apostles in the foundational structure of the church of Jesus Christ. In the Ephesian passage, the church comprised of Jew and Gentile, the church indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is the church that is built upon that foundation which has Christ himself and Christ alone as its cornerstone,

6:01 and its remaining foundation materials comprised of the teaching of Apostles and of Prophets. And in the Revelation 21, the Lamb's bride is seen as a holy city, a city whose light is the very glory of the special presence of God, and a city which, having walls, has walls supported by a foundation. And in that passage, we read that inscribed upon the foundation, from the foundation blocks,

Context: A Manifesto of Trinity Church and the Means of Grace

6:46 are the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Now, why have I highlighted these two passages and their common denominator, namely, the unique place of Apostles in the foundation materials of the church of Jesus Christ? Well, my answer to that very legitimate question, is this. We're in the midst of a continuing series of studies entitled, A Manifesto of Trinity Church, a series in which I've been attempting to bring into sharp focus

7:28 those major biblical truths which have shaped both our life and ministry together during our more than 25 years of existence as a duly constituted church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the unfolding of this series, we have for many months been occupied with unpacking, proving and applying the ninth major tenet or affirmation of this manifesto. I have expressed it this way. We are determined to maintain a balanced teaching and expectation

8:12 concerning conversion, the Christian life and the mission of the church. Having opened up some of the most important biblical truths relative to the subject of conversion, we are now doing the same thing with reference to the doctrine of the Christian life. And in the course of our concentration on what constitutes a balanced New Testament perspective in the Christian life, we've come to the principle that there are no effective substitutes for the God-appointed means of grace in living the Christian life.

8:57 I have defined the means of grace as any discipline, relationship or activity ordained by God to nurture in the believer the life which God imparted to him. In his conversion, we have seen that those various means of grace can be not neatly but roughly placed into two major categories, the private or individual means of grace and the public or corporate means of grace. And it is that second category upon which we are presently concentrating our studies.

9:41 We have seen that the majority of the public means of grace are deposited in the context of a well-ordered biblical church. Furthermore, with Acts 2.42 as the focal point of our study, we saw that the four major public means of grace are described in that text as follows. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.

10:15 The four major corporate means of grace for that church at Jerusalem under the guidance of the apostles as their pastors are described as continual adherence to the ministry of the Word of God, continual involvement with the people of God, continuous remembrance of the Son of God, and continuous pleading for the blessing of God. Now we are moving on from this broad overview of the four major public means of grace

The Centrality of Preaching and Teaching as a Means of Grace

10:55 to take as it were a biblical and verbal zoom lens and to look in greater detail at each one of them. And so we have returned to this matter of the continuance in the public proclamation. And we have asserted that in the New Testament the centrality of the reading, preaching, and teaching of the Word of God is set forth as an indispensable, non-negotiable, divinely ordained means of grace. It took two messages to demonstrate

11:39 from the Scriptures the biblical basis, and the manifold blessings of the comprehensive public reading of the Scriptures. What we do in our gathering in this consecutive and comprehensive reading of the Scriptures is not a tradition we've inherited from our fathers, it is a practice rooted in the clear teaching of the Word of God. And while the manner in which any given congregation may do that, I trust your consciences have been persuaded from the Scriptures that there is divine warrant for the comprehensive public reading

12:24 of the Word of God in the gathered church. We are now concerned with demonstrating from the Scriptures that the preaching and teaching of the Word of God must also be central in the corporate gathering of God's people, if we are to maintain any claim to being a biblically ordered congregation. So in our last message, which was two weeks ago, I took up with you the first major line of evidence concerning the centrality of preaching and teaching of the Word of God

13:06 as a public means of grace. And that line of evidence was set before you in this manner. The preaching and teaching of the Word of God must be central in the life of the gathered church because the changeless commission of the sovereign Lord of the church demands it. And we parked in Matthew 28, 16-20 where we saw together that the changeless commission of the exalted Lord Jesus Christ to whom all power in heaven and earth has been given is distilled into the major task

13:51 of making disciples of all the nations and the two accompanying activities of baptizing such disciples, giving them the badge of identification and incorporation into communities of professed disciples, and then the major activity teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. So that whatever else Christ would reveal to his apostles with reference to the corporate life of his church formed by the proclamation of his word

14:34 identified as communities of baptized disciples, whatever else would be divinely introduced, teaching would have a central place wherever Christ's will for his church is understood and obeyed. Now this morning we take up the second line of evidence. The second line of evidence that the preaching and teaching of the Word of God must be central in the corporate life and activity of the gathered church. And that line of evidence I'm expressing this way.

Apostolic Example and Practice Demands Centrality of Preaching

15:18 The preaching and teaching of the Word of God must be central in the life of the gathered church because the consistent pattern of apostolic example and practice demands it. Having seen that the will of the sovereign Lord of the church demands it, our second line of evidence is this. The consistent pattern of apostolic example and practice demands it. I am not speaking this morning of apostolic precept and directive.

16:00 That's my third witness whom we will call to the stand, God willing, next Lord's Day. But having seen that the changeless command of the sovereign Lord of the church demands that the teaching and preaching of the Word be central to the maturation of disciples, this morning I want to prove from the Scriptures that the pattern of apostolic example and practice demands it. Now in opening up and applying this line of evidence, consider with me first of all the significance of apostolic example and practice.

16:44 I'm asserting that the example and the practice of the apostles is regulative and normative for us with reference not to their unique authority as apostles, not to their unique gifts to perform signs and wonders as apostles, not to their unique position of being the recipients of direct revelation as apostles, but their example and pattern is regulative in terms of how they establish the order and the life of the New Testament churches. And since there are many

17:29 who either never consider this fact and others who if considering it say how in the world could the things done in the first century with all of the differences between first century culture and first century mindset as compared to twentieth century mindset and culture, how could that be such as to be picked up and translated in a one to one equivalence for the twentieth century? And so they simply say it is an invalid assumption Well I want to try to demonstrate and persuade your judgment that when I assert

18:12 that the preaching and teaching of the word of God must, must, must, must be central and that because of the consistent pattern of apostolic example in practice that indeed to do anything other is to forfeit our claim to being part of that church which is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. And that is a very serious invitation. All right? The significance then of apostolic example in practice we call in three witnesses from the word of God

Significance of Apostolic Example: 1 Corinthians 4 & Philippians 4

18:56 that point us in the direction of this principle. The first is 1 Corinthians 4 verses 15 through 17. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. As most of you know Paul's letter first letter to the Corinthians was a pastoral letter taking up many of the specific problems which existed in the church there at Corinth.

19:28 And in the midst of dealing with one of those problems namely the problem of divisions occasioned by the presence and ministry of various servants of Christ Paul says let's back up to verse 14 of chapter 4 I write not these things to shame you but to admonish you as my beloved children. So I've had to say some pretty stiff stuff. I've had to give you some pretty stiff medicine and I haven't done this to make you ashamed but as a father who must at times say some pretty stiff things and stinging things to his children so as a proof of my love I have had to admonish you. And then he reminds them of a fact

20:12 for though you have 10,000 tutors in Christ he says remember though there may be 10,000 people coming on your doorstep saying I'm a divinely sent teacher I'm ready to tutor you in the ways of Christ he says though you may have such remember you only you don't have many fathers for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel. My claims to deal with you as a spiritual father are validated by the fact that I am under the blessing of God through the preaching of the gospel I did begat you through the gospel I was God's instrument to bring you to birth and to see a church brought to birth. You can read about it in Acts chapter 18.

20:57 Then he goes on to say in verse 16 now we're coming near to our proof text I beseech you therefore be ye imitators of me here is a call that they should not merely heed his words but imitate his life his patterns what we shall see in the next verse that which he calls my ways in Christ verse 17 for this cause that you might be imitators of me for this cause have I sent unto you Timothy who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord

21:41 who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ even as I teach everywhere in every church you see the apostle here is very conscious that as an apostle he is part of the foundation of the New Testament church and he was consistently declaring what he here calls his ways in Christ that is those patterns of life and ministry that grew out of his union with Christ

22:24 his submission to Christ and Christ activity as the head of the church granting special revelatory data to Paul and the other apostles that they might properly lay the foundation of the New Testament church and though Paul himself is not there he does hope to come verse 19 but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will and will know not the word of them that are puffed up but the power for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power what will ye shall I come unto you with a rod or in love in the spirit of gentleness and love for Satan

23:09 and find it beyond what the devil has practiced to the end of the line and never ever shall I come to you that will not be I will not the end for me but I will come and will ruled up the accomplishment and the comfort I sets thou away thee some heavy-handed fatherly treatment I am principled enough in my spiritual paternity to give you what you need to get you whipped into line this is what

23:50 he tells them and he then is also in that paragraph a good pattern of a godly father but for our purposes the thing upon which I would do to which I would direct your attention is that he sends Timothy now notice not that Timothy might teach whatever he is inclined to teach he is already regarded and described as one who is beloved and faithful or trustworthy in the Lord he has no suspicions that Timothy would teach heresy that Timothy would undermine their faith in Christ but Timothy is strictly charged to do one

24:29 thing to put the Corinthians in remembrance of the ways of Paul's which are in Christ even as he taught everywhere in every church but now I want you to see the conjunction between what he taught and what he did for he says in verse 16 be ye therefore imitators of me indicating that his ways in Christ are imparted not only by verbal instruction as we shall see in our next passage but by the patterns and

25:13 example of life and of ministry and he charges Timothy to go to Corinth and to put them of remembrance of the Apostles ways that were in Christ Jesus for those ways that are in Christ Jesus are to be normative not only for the Corinthian church but for all of the churches then the second text is Philippians chapter 4 Philippians chapter 4 just seeking to establish the

25:53 significance of apostolic example and practice in general toward the close of the epistle he writes in verse 8 finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honorable whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are just whatever things are just whatever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and be any praise think take account of these things here is this comprehensive concluding exhortation in which the Apostle gives this call to the Philippians to fix their minds upon these

26:37 various virtues and to seek to have their lives regulated by them and it's as if they say but Paul that's a lop damned and to hang it all together is so difficult in the abstract can you help us he should yes verse 9 the things and here you have two couplets the things which you both learned and received that's the first couplet and heard and And saw in me these things do, and the God of peace shall be with me.

27:23 In response to the cry of the heart, but Paul, what will it mean to take account of and be regulated by a commitment to whatsoever things are true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and of good report and virtuous and praiseworthy? He says, the things you learned and received, do, do them, and you will know the special presence of the God of peace. Probably overtones of the whole Hebrew concept of shalom.

27:57 All of the goodwill and the good favor of God upon you in the way of obedience to this injunction as you saw it fleshed out, or as you heard it fleshed out in my instance, the things you received and heard, but how did they receive and hear them? He says, by a two-fold method. You saw, I'm sorry, the things you both received and learned, how did they receive and learn them? They heard and saw them in the apostle.

28:33 The things you received and learned are the things you heard. The first organ of reception was the ear. The second was the eyeball.

28:45 You heard them, the ear was active. You saw them, the eyeball was receptive. And he says, these things do, not merely what I said to you, but what was exemplified in my pattern of life before you. And in so doing, you will be walking in the ways of God.

29:13 And you will know the peculiar and special blessing of the manifest nearness and presence of God, the God of peace shall be with you. Well, is he not with all his people at all times, even when they are most dull and backslidden? Yes. But here he is saying he will be with you in that more heightened, conscious awareness of his presence and his nearness.

29:43 Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

29:43 Those who would know intimacy with the living God must walk closely and adhere tenaciously to the revealed ways of God. And where are those ways revealed? Not only in apostolic teaching, but in the pattern and example of apostolic action.

Significance of Apostolic Example: Acts 20 (Ephesian Elders)

30:06 You see, the first was in a pastorally corrective context. This is in a general pastoral direction. Directive context. Now turn to Acts chapter 20.

30:19 And this has a more limited context, where Paul is speaking not to believers in general, but he's speaking to a group of believers who hold a peculiar office specifically. He's speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus. Acts 20 and verse 17 makes this very clear. After calling the elders to himself at Miletus, in verses 18 to 27, Paul reviews basically two things.

30:52 The manner of his ministry while among them, and the substance of his ministry while he was among them. He gives a review. He looks back and he says, You yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time, serving the Lord. So he underscores the manner of his service, and then also describes in broad strokes the substance of his service.

31:24 Then in verse 28, he begins his direct charge to the Ephesian elders with reference to the responsibilities they will carry now that he is to leave them, not to return to them. And he tells them, Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit made you overseers, to share. Shepherd. The word feed is a weak translation.

31:49 It's the Greek verb poimino in the imperative. You are to shepherd. Or it's not in the imperative. I'm not sure.

31:57 I haven't checked it. Maybe in infinitive. But it is the Greek verb poimino, which means to perform the functions and the role of a shepherd. Shepherd the church of the Lord, which he purchased with his own blood.

32:11 And then after giving them reasons why the flock needs shepherds, and, what the shepherds must do in fulfilling their function, he then is able to say in verse 32, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. And then he closes in a very similar vein to Samuel's final address to Israel, vindicating the integrity of his own character. I coveted, verse 33, no man's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me.

32:48 Now, verse 35. Notice, he does not say, in this thing, there is a very simple construction in the Greek in which he could have said that. In this thing, I gave you an example that's so laboring you ought to help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive. But he doesn't say that.

33:10 He says, with reference to this, as in all other matters pertaining to the task, of shepherding the flock, in all things, in all things pertaining to the task with which I have just now charged you, to shepherd the flock of God, in all things, I have left you an example. I did not leave you merely a string of precepts about what you are to do as elders. I left you, an example, and that example is binding upon your conscience.

33:53 Now, he had just mentioned one specific area, namely, selfless, self-denying, non-coveting motivation in ministry. But that's not the exclusive reference of verse 35, as I say, in the construction in the Greek, had he meant to say that, he would have said, in this thing. But he doesn't say, in this thing, but, in this, just as in all other areas, I have given you an example. The apostolic example of being a shepherd, was to be regulative of their task, of shepherding the flock of God.

34:35 Well, in summary, I trust that at the mouth of these three witnesses, your judgment has at least been tentatively persuaded, to base our conviction on practices, and practices on apostolic example, and practice is not only permissible, and admirable, but it is essential, if we are to validate our claim, to be one of those churches, built upon the foundation of the apostles, and the prophets. Further, if we're to be part of that bride, the wife of the Lamb, in the day of consummation, we must manifest our claim, to that identity, by making it evident,

35:20 that the walls of our corporate life, rest upon the foundation stones, upon which are inscribed the names, of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. That is that we take seriously, not only apostolic precept, and directive, but apostolic example, and pattern, as revealed in the scriptures. Well, having set before you then, the significance of the apostolic practice, and example in general, let us come to consider in the second place, the substance of the apostolic practice, and example in particular. That is with reference to our concern.

Substance of Apostolic Practice: Acts 2 (First Christian Church)

36:04 As the apostles under the guidance of Christ, the head of the church, through the executive office, and ministry of the Holy Spirit, were forming the New Testament churches, what place did they give to the preaching, and teaching of the Word of God? We saw the place they gave to the reading, the comprehensive reading of the Word of God. What place did they assign then, to the public preaching, and teaching of the Word of God, in the emerging churches? Well, here we're going to take a quick overview, of several passages in the book of Acts.

36:46 Turn back, to our starting point passage in Acts 2.42, simply as a reminder, and also for those who are not with us, to just underscore it, and highlight it afresh. God wonderfully blessed the proclamation, of the gospel through Peter, on the day of Pentecost. And I remind you, it wasn't the sound of the wind.

37:12 It wasn't the cloven tongues of fire, over the head of the 120. It wasn't their speaking, in languages and dialects, they had not acquired by natural means of acquisition, that was instrumental in the conversion of the 3000. All of that was simply used of God, to get people's attention. And once God get their attention, it says Peter then standing up in the midst, lifted up his voice, and he began to preach.

37:41 And it was not the wind that pricked their hearts. It wasn't the cloven tongues of fire, that pricked their hearts. It wasn't hearing languages from people they knew, were not from their area, and could speak their dialect with such perfect accent, and all the rest. That did not pricks, it only hooked their ears.

38:06 God is telling us something about the centrality of preaching in evangelism. God hooked their ears with the miraculous. He didn't break their hearts with the miraculous. He broke it with preaching.

38:18 He broke their hearts with preaching. God have mercy. Those that would turn us away from the only heart breaking instrument, to the toys that only have hooks to get ears. That's another subject.

38:38 But having hooked their ears, broken their hearts, through preaching, God brings 3000 into the church in one day. And then what happened to them once they were in? Verse 42 of Acts 2. They continued steadfastly.

38:57 And here is the central, foremost activity. In the apostles' teaching, it was the apostles' instruction of the company of the believers that gave shape and contour and dynamic to their fellowship, demonstrated the basis and formed the spiritual perspectives of their instituting of the supper of remembrance. And it was the apostles' teaching, that gave direction and promise and impetus and motive to their prayers.

39:36 Their whole life together in all of its other activities was shaped by the apostles' teaching. For they were obeying the commission of their Lord. Make disciples, baptize and teach them. And they were following his orders to the letter.

39:56 And here by example, in the first Christian church established, when the Spirit had come in power, the apostles were guided in their activity to give a central place to the public teaching and preaching of the word of God to the gathered church, that it might come to maturity in Christ. And as we saw in a previous study, when you read the subsequent history, it's not as though they were left woefully deficient because they didn't have a cell group for this, and they didn't have a relational group for that,

40:40 and they didn't have a seminar for the other. And all of the power of modern church life, with these simple means, with teaching and preaching at the head of the list, fear came upon every soul. Apostles continued to know their unique endowment for their unique, exercise of unique gifts, signs and wonders done, not through all the believers. Winter and these men that have their signs and wonders evangelism, they claim to impart more to ordinary believers than even Peter and the apostles could.

41:21 Nonsense! It is an enemy of vital Christianity. No, friend. And here you see the healthy church, all that believe we're together, all things common, sold their possessions, one accord in the temple, praising God, having favor, and the Lord adding to them day by day, such as should be saved.

41:45 Do they seem to be a church pitifully anemic and woefully and pathetically undernourished? Because and teaching was central in their life, not according to the record of the Holy Ghost. And if and when preaching and teaching ceased to produce a healthy church, the answer is not to make, not to make up means of grace of your own. It's to get on your face and say, Oh, God, why are your means not being home to your ends?

42:18 But use other means. We dare not. We cannot offer strange fire upon your altars. We cannot insult you and ask you to bless means that you yourself have not instituted.

42:31 That's the height of something very close to blasphemy. At least it's the height of presumption. Yet before God, until once again, God by the Spirit is pleased to own his own means to accomplish these glorious acts. So the example of the apostles is established in the very first description of the corporate life of the first Pentecostal church of Jerusalem.

Substance of Apostolic Practice: Acts 6 (Widows and Priorities)

43:04 All right. Second text, Acts chapter six. Familiar to many of us. Remember now what we're trying to prove.

43:18 I'm trying to set before you. The substance of the apostolic example and practice regarding one issue. What place did they give to preaching and teaching in the corporate life of the church? Acts chapter six.

43:31 Now, in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, continue to multiply, there arose a murmuring of the Grecian or Hellenists against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. In the daily ministration. In the daily ministration. In the daily ministration.

43:50 So here we have a problem of division in the church. And the division is along ethnic, religious, cultural lines. You see that? There was preferential treatment being given to the pure Hebrew widows, and there was less care being given to those Hellenistic widows, widows, those who weren't what we call pure-blooded Jews.

44:22 It seems to be a problem of division. There is murmuring, murmuring. That very word used in 1 Corinthians 10 in parallel structure with fornication and idolatry as that which brought the judgment of God upon the wilderness generation. Neither murmur ye as some of them did, and were destroyed of the destroyed.

44:50 Neither commit fornication. Neither commit idolatry. This is a crisis of unity in the church. But now look at the next verse.

45:01 The apostles didn't view it that way. And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not fit or pleasing that we should allow this disunity to continue.

45:17 That isn't what they said. They said, They saw, They saw beyond the issue that seemed to be the issue to what the real issue was.

45:28 The issue that seemed to be the issue was unity. And that unity is now fractured along these religious, cultural, ethnic lines. But when the apostles become aware of it, what they say before the multitudes is, It is not fit that we should forsake the word of God to serve table. They saw that it was not a crisis primarily of unity, but a crisis of priority in their labors.

46:03 They said the problem of unity can be solved if there's a closer administration of the widow's benefits. That's relatively easy to resolve. But we see in this problem of unity something of the fangs of the serpent. We hear the hiss, we hear the hiss, we hear the hiss, we hear the hiss, we hear the hiss, we hear the hiss, we hear the hiss, of the serpent.

46:27 And what he's attempting to do in getting us to be involved in this matter of sorting out the cause of this disunity, namely closer hands-on administration of the widow's benevolences so that there'll be no grounds for murmuring, he would move us away from the priority of preaching. And if disunity will curse the church, that would doubly curse it.

46:57 So what do they propose? They don't give a sharp exhortation. You people stop your murmuring, take your misuse patiently, and be like your Savior. They could have said it, but they didn't do that.

47:08 Verse 3. Look ye out, therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. Yes, we'll deal with the secondary issue. We'll make sure that there's more hands-on, even-handed administration of this issue.

47:30 But we will. Same word as you have in Acts 2.42 and in Acts chapter 1. They continued steadfastly in prayer with one accord.

47:41 They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine fellowship, breaking of bread in prayers. It's one of Luke's favorite words. They said, we will continue steadfastly. Steadfastly in prayer and in the deaconing, the ministry, the service of the Holy Spirit.

48:04 You see the wisdom the Holy Ghost gave them? I confess to you, I never saw that until I was preparing for the Southern Conference. All the times I've read this passage and expounded it in pastoral theology, and I said, you dummy, where you been all your life?

48:19 It's plain on the surface of the text, isn't it? They saw that this was an attempt of the enemy to budge them. And from their divinely given priority, and that was to mold and shape and fashion and perfect this infant church by a primary commitment to the ministry of the Word, bathed in prayer for the blessing of the Holy Ghost. God gave them this discernment to see it, and their keen eagle eye penetrated through to the real issue.

48:54 And they said, no, this is what we'll do, that we might continue steadfastly. In prayer, in the ministry of the Word, verse 5, and several young smart alecks who don't like to take suggestions from others stood up and said, ah, but you're not directly addressing the problem of disunity. Now, you didn't have any smart alecks. Had people who respected their position as apostles and the wisdom of their suggestion, this saying pleased the whole multitude.

49:27 And they chose Stephen, and seven are listed, and then to show that they approved, they laid their hands upon them, not to give them unusual gifts. It doesn't say when they laid their hands on them, they spoke in tongues and climbed up the wall and down again without leaving any footprints. They weren't slain in the Spirit. The apostles were acknowledging, yes, we approve of that choice.

49:54 And they commit them to God in prayer for wisdom and grace, for the blessing of God. And what happened? A very, very unique phrase. Look at verse 7.

50:05 And the word of God increased.

50:12 What a strange phrase. The word of God increased. How can God's word increase? Well, obviously, it's got to increase in something.

50:24 And I think the proper understanding is it increased in its influence, not only within the church, as these pastors, the pastors of the church, for there are only pastors at this point, were the apostles. They gave themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word and in the context. That was within the life of the church, where the problem of the widows was emerging. But it not only increased in its influence within, but then without, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly, in a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

51:02 You see, what God is saying, he's saying to show you how much I am pleased with what you, my servants have done to show that heaven smiles upon your perception of the real issue. I will come with even more and greater measures of converting and establishing and strengthening grace and the word of God increased. And not only were great multitudes multiplied, as believers but a great company of the priests. Some of those who joined with the Sanhedrin,

51:41 perhaps even members of the Sanhedrin who were behind all of the spring pulling for all of the puppet trial and execution of our blessed Lord. These priests whose hands were doubly red with the blood of the son of God. They repent and they come to faith. Why?

52:03 Because by the grace of God, the apostles had the wisdom to maintain the centrality of preaching and teaching in a context of prayerfulness in the church of Jerusalem.

Substance of Apostolic Practice: Acts 11 (Antioch Church)

52:18 Does that carry your judgment? Carries mine. Do you feel the pressure of it? And surely if ever there were an expedient proper to replace the centrality of preaching, it would be one that had to do with what James calls pure religion.

52:36 Pure religion and undefiled before God is to visit, to care for the fatherless and the widows and their affliction. But they would not even allow a dimension of pure religion to budge them from the priority of preaching the word of the living God. I have time for just one more text. I'm determined, dear people, and I hope you bear with me.

53:08 That's six texts I want to get through. But my elders have encouraged me, don't run to them, preach them out. So I'm going to do that. And I trust none of you finds this tedious.

53:18 I'm very conscious in these days that if the Lord tarries, forty years from now, we'll declare either the folly or the wisdom of what's being done in these days. When some of us are in our graves, and when worthy issues are set before you as a church, such worthy issues as the care of widows, but issues that will demand moving a few degrees, right or left, of the centrality of the public preaching and teaching of the word of God. Oh, may the Holy Ghost bring these passages back to your remembrance.

54:03 May you, in an orderly manner, leave with the elders for a congregational meeting, take the floor, and stand with Bible in hand, and say, respected elders, in the light of Acts, do what apostles dared not do. Men who could work miracles and raise the dead would not budge from the centrality of preaching and teaching to nurture the church and to evangelize. Those men, whoever they be, unless they can go back,

54:46 and so exegete this passage as to carry your judgment, that they're not twisting the word of God, I beg you in the name of God, if you have any love for your soul, and the souls of your children, and the souls of men and women in this area, and to the ends of the earth, guard this precious legacy with your blood. One last passage, and then I'm done for this morning. Acts chapter 11. Oh, we're trying to prove, we've got our second witness on the stand, that the preaching and teaching of the word of God was central by apostolic example and practice,

55:29 and therefore it must be central in our practice if we claim to be built upon the foundation of the teaching of apostles and New Testament prophets and Old Testament prophets as well. Acts chapter 11. If you've not read in some time the account of how God established the church at Antioch, I commend to you a meditation upon Acts 11, 19 through 26, but I must pass over some of the details of how God took these scattered believers and gave some of them boldness to break out of the mold of just preaching to Jews, and they started preaching to Greeks.

56:11 And God so blessed their preaching of the Lord Jesus, verse 20, preaching the Lord Jesus, the hand of the Lord was with them. And God's hand will never be with anyone who does not preach the Lord Jesus. And God's hand will not be in power with anyone who does not preach. The Lord Jesus.

56:30 You don't mime him. You don't sing him out in a substitute for preaching. You don't act him out. You preach him out.

56:40 And the hand of the Lord was with them who were preaching the Lord Jesus. And what happened? A great number that believed turned to the Lord. Well, a thing like that won't be done in the corner.

56:50 So news trickles down to Jerusalem, and there you have the apostles, the divinely ordained foundation builders of the church. And so we want to check this thing out. We want to find out what's going on. See if the report is accurate.

57:04 They understood as we all do that verbal reports can get skewed very quickly. Overinflated, underinflated, half-truths. So they take a proven man who's introduced to us in the latter part of chapter 4 of the book of Acts. And it's a fascinating thing to trace out why they probably sent Barnabas, verse 36 and 7 of Acts 4.

57:26 But the apostles choose Barnabas. Barnabas. And the report came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem. And they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch, who when he was come and had seen the grace of God was glad.

57:39 He came and what he saw as he moved among the people said, as we were reminded in the previous hour, only one explanation for what's happened here at Antioch. The grace of God's been effected and operated with power. God's grace has turned Jew and Gentile from sin to Christ. God's grace has made Christ crucified precious to hearts.

58:01 And that professed belief and adherence in and to the Lord Jesus has transformed their lives. They turned to the Lord. There was deep evidence of solid conversion. The ways of their past religious deadness and idolatry in the case of Gentiles put behind them.

58:21 And here was a group of people for whom there's no explanation. God's grace is with them. Now, what did Barnabas do? He said, all right, you're now saved.

58:31 You've heard the preaching of the Lord Jesus. That's got you in the door. But now we're going to take you to the next step and have you all get to baptism and speak in tongues. That's what many in our day would do.

58:41 I had a book that sent to me a couple of months by a preacher within 30 miles of here saying, this book is being greatly used of God throughout the whole world. I want you to have it. I could not believe that he would be shameless to even print it. But his whole thesis was you trusted Christ, you're in the kingdom, good, fine, nice.

59:00 But that's just like putting on your socks on your first toe of your right foot. You ain't dressed yet. Now you've got to go on and get to baptism and speak in tongues and be open to the gifts of the Spirit. Is that what Barnabas did?

59:12 He came out of a situation where he'd seen the miraculous. He'd heard real tongues. He saw real miracles. They were still going on in Jerusalem.

59:20 What did he do with these young believers? He saw the grace of God. What did he do to them? What did he do to nurture the grace of God in them?

59:29 To give direction to the motivations of the grace of God which had attached them to Christ. What did he do? Well, Luke summarizes what he did in what I call his summary of a one-note Charlie Preacher. He had one note, one string in his banjo, and he kept his finger on one fret on his guitar or his banjo and he just kept plucking away.

59:53 Every text, every theme, every subject, by the time he was done, he was bringing these people back to this same issue. And what was it? He was exhorting them all. The form of the verb means this was the pattern, the overall thrust of his exhortation, that with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord.

60:16 They got in by the preaching of Jesus, and he says the same way you got in is the way you're going to go on, by clinging to Jesus. Clinging to Jesus as your life. As your wisdom. As your grace and power and enablement for all the demands made upon you as disciples in a hostile and an evil world.

60:38 Cleave to the Lord Jesus. Do it with purpose of heart. And why did he keep giving that exhortation in one form or another? Why did all of his notes have that note supreme above others?

60:52 Was it because he had a limited vocabulary and a limited theology? No. Verse 24. For, for he did what he did because he was what he was.

61:04 For he was a good man. He had been made morally good by the refining work of the Spirit. He was free of carnal motives to promote himself. And what better way for a preacher who doesn't want to promote himself than to try to get his people thoroughly glued to Jesus.

61:25 Not me, Barnabas. Not the apostles back in Jerusalem. Cleave to the Lord with all purpose of heart. And he did this because he was a good man.

61:35 He went out to Fleeston. That's why I didn't offer him miracles for a price. These men who call themselves the promoters of power evangelism. A lot of you don't know anything about it, but I'm telling you enough so when you hear it, you'll go, ah, that's what Pastor was talking about.

61:49 That's part of my task according to Titus 1.9. They'll have the seminars. $150 for a two-day seminar.

61:56 How to perform signs and wonders. I feel like going to one of them with nothing in my pockets. You say, I'd like to be in your seminar. Well, where's your money? Don't have any.

62:05 Well, you can't come to our signs and wonders. I'd say, all right, make some money for me right now. Do a sign and a wonder. Fill my pockets with dollars.

62:15 I need a miracle to get in your seminar on miracles. Now, thankfully, if I attempted to do that, my wife would grab me and wouldn't let me do it. But I am tempted. Barnabas was a good man.

62:35 He wasn't there fleecing them. Appealing to anything carnal. Teaching them how to get to baptism and speak in tongues. How to float off into the never-never land of mystical experience.

62:45 No, he kept doing what he was doing because he was what he was. He was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. The Holy Spirit always testifies to the glory and sufficiency of Jesus. And the man who is under the influence of the Holy Spirit will constantly point you to Jesus.

63:06 And if he's a man of faith, he will believe that Christ is enough. See how it's all hung together? When a heart is free from self-centered motives and if man is a good man and he is full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, his ministry will be one of seeking by exhortation, proclamation, teaching, encouragement, instruction to get you to cleave more tenaciously to the Lord Jesus. And God was pleased with that because what happened?

63:37 Look at the text. And much people was added to the Lord. Didn't say many people made decisions. Many people were all filled with wonder because now everybody was performing miracles and speaking in tongues and getting slain in the Spirit.

63:53 My friends, this nonsense has no basis in the Word of God. None whatsoever. The Lord added, He was pleased that those who turned to the Lord under the preaching of the Lord were now cleaving to the Lord. So many more were added to the Lord.

64:11 You see how Lord centered this whole passage is? But then something happened in Barnabas' judgment. Verse 25. He went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul.

64:22 Oh, maybe the reason I can't impart miracles is I'm not an apostle. Maybe the reason I can't get them all to speak in tongues is I'm not an apostle. Maybe the reason I can't get them all slain in the Spirit and I just have to keep telling them Jesus is enough. Jesus is all.

64:39 Cleave to Jesus. Cling to Christ. Cleave to the Lord. Maybe the reason I can only tell them that much is I'm not an apostle.

64:47 I don't have the same endowment of the Spirit as apostles. The same promises. The unique gifts. The unique promises.

64:55 So I'll go find me an apostle. And boy, watch this church take off then. Oh, we're really going to. So he goes and seeks out Saul.

65:04 He went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And what did Saul do? This is Paul now, of course.

65:14 And it came to pass that even for a whole year, they were gathered together with the church. Oh, how boring. And taught much people. You mean you got someone who got saved by a blinding light and a voice out of heaven who is an apostle and can perform miracles?

65:40 I mean, you talk about being overqualified. If all you needed was somebody to teach, get some little no-account wing-ding out of Podunk. Or get your rising star, Saul of Tarsus, who can really talk about a vision of the exalted Christ. Heard the voice of the exalted Christ.

66:03 But my friends, listen. God's saying something by apostolic example. You get it? You get it?

66:12 You get it? And what did Paul do? They became a teaching team. And together with the church, they taught much people.

66:25 And their teaching was so effective and Christ was so fully formed in these people that for the first time in human history, a group of people were called little Christs. And whole books have been written, doctoral dissertations on the significance of the word Christianus. But at the end of the day, this much is clear. The Holy Ghost says the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch, whether by their enemies, and there's a textual variant and there's a whole argument that it was their enemies.

66:59 Fascinating stuff, but not edifying, so I won't bother you with it. One thing is clear. The result of this concentrated central emphasis upon teaching and preaching the gathered church is this. Christ was so fully formed in them that either their enemies got sick, and tired, or wherever they went, why won't you join in our Machiavellian feast?

67:28 In our old way of life. Christ, Christ, Christ. Why do you do this? Christ, Christ, Christ.

67:33 Why do you do that? Because of the Lord Jesus. Because of Christ. Maybe it was their enemies got sick and tired and they finally said, they're little Christs.

67:44 Or it may have been their friends. Those with whom God gave them favor. As we read in Jerusalem, the early church had favor with all the people. It could be that people in common grace, admiring the moral transformation and the moral integrity and the moral uprightness.

68:01 Bosses who no longer had to wonder if their employers were going to be tipping their hand in the pill. Taking some of the shekels for themselves. Wives who no longer had to wonder whether their husbands would be true to them, even though they were not converted. They knew their husbands would be true to their marriage vows.

68:20 And kids who no longer had drunken fathers come in, but reasonable, gentle, firm, principled fathers. It may have been people who were given this perspective. And every time they asked why, they said the answer is Christ. It's what Christ is and what Christ has done.

68:39 That we are what we are. And the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. Now I ask you something. Is that put there to denigrate the teaching in its central place, left something to be desired?

Exhortation to Maintain the Centrality of Preaching

68:53 Or like Acts 6-7, is it the Holy Ghost underscoring in red, I like what was done? Dear people, if we claim to be a church built upon the foundation of apostles, we claim to be part of that bride, the wife of the Lamb, with that city that comes down out of heaven with its twelve gates and its twelve foundations on which are inscribed the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Then by apostolic example and practice we are bound to be committed

69:35 as a matter of intelligent conviction before God to the centrality of the teaching and preaching of the Word of God in the gathered church as God's primary means for the maturation of His people. We've just looked at three passages and our time has come. And our time has more than passed. What can I say?

70:02 I've already given my exhortation. I sat at my desk late last night and said, Lord, if I live out my threescore in ten and my bonus ten and you take me in twenty years when I'm eighty and I could come back for a month of Sundays twenty years after, what would I find if the Lord belays His coming and doesn't bring such judgment as precludes public gatherings like this, assuming God is merciful to us and to our nation? I said, Lord, what would I find if I sneaked in as a stranger and sat on the back row of Trinity Church for a month? Would I find that in place of a central pulpit this had been pushed to one side

70:46 and the stairwell filled up and there the communion table had been elevated from beneath the pulpit to an altar in the middle symbolically saying the Word has not been shoved out the side door and down the ramp but pushed to one side. Would I then find the choir loft and the special bench for the soloists and the quartets? What would I find? Dear young men and women, listen to me.

71:16 Under God, under God, you will determine what I find. You will be in our graves. Hopefully our prayers will have some influence where they're gathered in the vials of God in heaven and maybe just the memory of what some of us have tried to teach you and maybe some pressure. But at the end of the day as the human instrumentality you will determine whether this pulpit is still central and whether central to what goes on in this pulpit is not a joker, not a clever guy, not a nice guy who makes you feel good and smooth talker and skips over the Bible

71:59 but someone equipped of God with the gifts and graces to handle the Word with integrity and in the power of the Holy Ghost. May God grant that whatever it costs to maintain the centrality of the teaching and preaching of the Word of God in this place, you'll pay the price. My unconverted friend, it's that very thing which is your best friend that you most despise. Some of you sitting here today, this is the last place you want to be.

72:33 But my friend, it's the place you most need to be because here you're confronted with Christ and the gospel and judgment in hell and heaven, not because some man is up here ranting and raving but because that's the issues in which this book tracks. May God help you to see that your privilege is great, your responsibility great and may you seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near. Our Father, we thank you for your Holy Word. We thank you that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway.

73:17 And oh how we pray, oh God, that by the Holy Spirit who alone can write your word upon the fleshy tables of the heart, may he come as with a burning pen. May he come with laser-like accuracy and burn into our hearts the truths we've studied this morning. May your spirit, wed judgment and understanding, conviction and heart all into one. Oh Father, for your name's sake, for the sake of unborn children,

73:59 for the sake of the lost community about us, preserve in this place, oh God we plead, the centrality of the preaching and the teaching and the public reading of your Holy Word. For we know that that is your divinely chosen means, not only to bring men to faith, but to nurture us up into the fullness of the stature of Christ. Hear our cry and answer our prayer for Jesus' sake. Amen.