The Church Ministering to Itself in Love, Part 2

Encouraging Scriptural Attitudes: Love and Humility

0:03 All right, brethren, as we move on now in our consideration of this matter of our task as overseers being one of seeking to impart to our people a biblical concept of biblical body life, we're addressing the question of how is this done, and we've taken as our first subheading by constantly inculcating the scriptural concepts of the church which undergird the duty. Now, what you have in your notes, large two, by constantly encouraging the scriptural attitudes essential to the performance of this duty, by constantly seeking to encourage the scriptural attitudes essential to this duty. And here again we find at this point the materials in the scripture are abundant, and a quick reading through the hortatory, sections of the epistles and the gospels will show that these graces are underscored again and again. And it's, I think, artificial to try to reduce them to one or two and say the others are fruits. But if we were to even move in that direction and run the risk of being a bit artificial,

1:24 we might say that those graces are love, humility, and all of their varied fruits. Now, the passages that come to mind immediately are the passages that are listed in your notes, and I will simply read several of them. First of all, Matthew 20 and verse 27. Matthew 20 and verse 27.

1:55 Whosoever will be first among you shall be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Or to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Here we have our Lord impressing upon the disciples the necessity of that attitude essential to the performance of body, life, interaction, and responsibility. The attitude and disposition of humility that is willing to serve rather than arrogance and self-importance that desires to serve.

2:35 Desires to be served. And then in John 13 and verse 34, we find the emphasis here, of course, falls upon the grace of love. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. The commandment of mutual love is new only in this sense, that it's...

3:05 Its new standard and measure is the manifested love of the self-giving of the Son of God.

3:14 Love is not a new commandment. That's why John says, I don't write a new commandment, yet I do write a new commandment. The dominance of love is embedded in the Old Testament revelatory complex. And anyone who denies that just shows his ignorance of the Bible.

3:34 So when he says, A new commandment I give unto you, the new commandment is not that we love one another, but that we love one another with this new dimension of revelatory standard. And that is the love of the incarnate Son of God, who having loved His own, loved them to the end, loved them even to the death of the cross. And then all of the other passages listed, Romans 13, 8 to 10, if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this one word, love one another. 1 Corinthians 13, we may have great benevolence, great gifts, great oratory, great insight, but if we have not love, we are nothing. Ephesians 4, 1 and 2, where the emphasis falls upon the graces of humility, forbearance. Philippians 2, 2 to 4, the emphasis falls there upon the absence of self-centeredness. Let this mind, which was also in Christ Jesus.

4:39 Colossians 3, 12 to 14, above all things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 1 Peter 3, 8 and 9, and 5, 8, and 1 John 4, 7 and 8. Well, all of these texts point us in the direction of those graces, those scriptural attitudes essential to the performance of these people, these duties that we are to discharge one to another. And our Lord assumes in the outline of the prayer that He's given us that these graces will be prominent in our thinking and our experience so that when we plead with God for forgiveness, what becomes the ground of our plea? Forgive us even as we forgive those who trespass against us. We are living in the consciousness when we accept, express our hearts Godward that we have organic relationships at the horizontal level and we are seeking to be dealt with by God in the manner in which we, by His grace, are dealing with one another. Now, we all know that these gracious attitudes are the fruit of the Spirit, that in a sense, in a sense, they are the spontaneous and reflexive dispositions of a gracious heart.

6:06 And yet they are commanded. And we are commanded to cultivate them. Besides all this, giving all diligence on your part, add to your faith virtue into virtue, knowledge into knowledge, and then the various graces are listed. So we come back again to what we must hold tenaciously and to which I've already made reference.

6:35 Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 9, You're taught of God to love one another. You have no absolute necessity that someone write to you. God teaches you. Therefore, end of discussion, no.

6:48 We exhort you to abound more and more. We're right back again with Philippians 2, 12 and 13. As you've always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work in you to will and to work for his good pleasure.

7:09 Well, does he work or I work? We both work. Does the reality of his working negate the necessity of mine? No.

7:20 Does the arduous, intense nature of my working cancel the validity of his? No. You say, that's double talk. Well, that's Bible talk.

7:32 And if I get accused of talking double talk when I'm talking Bible talk, I gladly bear the reproach and I hope you will. And one hell without the other leads to grievous imbalance. So don't assume that because you are simply expounding the Scriptures that somehow these graces of love and humility and all of their fruits essential to the fulfillment of biblical body life duties will just automatically begin to appear in full luscious form upon the tree of your people. No.

Directing to Scriptural Activities: Spiritual Duties

8:11 You must seek to inculcate a biblical concept of their identity as a church and then you must constantly encourage the scriptural attitudes essential to the performance of this duty. And then, thirdly, by constantly directing your people to the scriptural activities by which they perform this duty. Just as we do not expect the graces to grow without exhortation or without a sense of their identity as the family of God, as the body of Christ, and as the living temple, so we do not expect that these attitudes inculcated by the work of the Spirit and reinforced and strengthened by constant repetition that they will automatically find the proper channel. We must go, further, and constantly direct our people to the scriptural activities by which to perform the duty of true biblical body life. Now, I've broken it down, as you can see, in your notes, into two major categories. Category A is spiritual and Category B, social, no, three, and physical and material.

9:36 All right?

9:38 Spiritual. And what are those duties by which they perform and by which they fulfill their responsibilities to one another spiritually? First of all, prayer for one another. Now, this duty is so self-evident that it's difficult to find an explicit, generic command to perform it.

10:00 In preparation for this lecture, I remember reading, speed reading, through the entire New Testament. Now, you do have James 5.16, Confess your sins one to another and pray one for another. But that has a limited context.

10:17 Very difficult to find a single text where the generic responsibility to pray one for another. You have Paul say, pray for me, pray for this, pray for that. We're told to love one another, forbear with one another, forgive one another. And the reason I'm personally convinced that we do not have it, it is so self-evident, it's like looking for a command in the Bible to breathe.

10:43 All the commandments in the Bible assume you're going to keep breathing. When you stop breathing, you ain't going to be reading them no more. It's done. It's over with.

10:51 The undertaker's coming. And hopefully you've joined the spirits of just men made perfect. Well, I wonder if it isn't that way with the matter of this duty. If in any sense we believe that we are part of the same family, we are part of the same living body and living temple, and if these graces of love and humility and all of their fruits are part of the same family, are being grown in our hearts by the Spirit and pruned and nurtured by exhortation and entreaty and admonition, then surely the most inexpensive thing that everyone can do for his brethren is to bring them and their needs before the throne of grace.

11:36 But having said that, as our Lord is our pattern, 1 John 2, 6, He that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk. How does he manifest his ongoing care for his people? Hebrews 7, 25. He ever lives to make intercession for us.

11:59 And as our Lord's selfless love finds one of its most crucial expressions in the glory now by ever living to intercede for us, so we, will manifest our sensitive, caring love for the brethren by praying one for another. And here, not only is our Lord our pattern, but the Apostle Paul is our pattern. And when you read the opening sections of the various epistles, Romans 1, 9, Ephesians 1, 16, Ephesians 3, 14, Philippians 1, 3, 9 through 11, 2 Timothy 1, 3, oh, text after text. And surely if our Lord commands us to pray for our enemies, Matthew 5, 44, how much more for our friends.

13:00 It's very interesting. In recent days, I have been brought to learn afresh, not for the first time, but to learn afresh and to learn at a deeper level than ever before. It is impossible to truly pray for anyone, friend or foe,

13:19 brother, with whom you have a generally good relationship or a brother who's become sour and made himself your enemy. It is impossible to pray for him and maintain an unchristian attitude. And in recent days, in terms of some of the circumstances through which God has brought me and my fellow elders, I have found tremendous deliverance from any carnal desire for vengeance by simply doing what Jesus said, pray for your enemies. And then God makes your spirit like Teflon and the ugly attitudes can't stick.

14:00 Prayer turns your spirit into Teflon and it just won't stick. So surely if we're commanded to pray for our enemies, how much more then for our friends in Christ. So prayer for one another is the first of the spiritual activities by which we discharge our true biblical, body, life, duties. But then mutual encouragement and exhortation.

14:29 And here, of course, the scriptures are replete. Mutual encouragement and exhortation. Paul gives the great dissertation on the return of Christ and how the dead and living saints will be disposed of in that day. And he concludes 1 Thessalonians 4, 14-18 with the words, Wherefore, encourage, encourage, parakaleo, draw near to your grieving brother or sister who stands by his grave, the graveside of a lost husband or wife or child, and take these words that I've given you and encourage and strengthen their hearts.

15:09 Encourage, exhort one another. And then 1 Thessalonians 5, 11. Again, not directed to elders, but directed to the people of God, God in general, in their responsibilities one to another. Wherefore, exhort one another.

15:29 The ASV gives the marginal reading comfort. It seems in that context that parakaleo is to be understood as encouragement. And what do we do when we do that? And build each other up, even as also you are doing.

15:47 You're doing it, but I exhort you. I would, entreat you to exhort one another and build one another up. Colossians 3, 16 and 17. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

16:03 To what end? That you may have great internal spiritual ecstasies? No. In all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

16:21 This is the word of God. This is biblical one-anothering. Admonishing, encouraging one another. Ephesians 4, 29.

16:30 Another one-anothering passage. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying, the building up as the need may be. And this is a marvelous concept that it may give grace to them that hear. My tongue may be a means of grace, a means of grace, a means of grace to build up one who is weak, one who is falling, one who is faltering, one who is stumbling.

17:01 And this is the great privilege our people have one to another. And then, of course, Hebrews 3, 13. A text that, alas, so often is the only one that people think of when they think of exhortation.

17:19 Hebrews 3, 13. But exhort one another day by day so long as it is possible to do so. So long as it is possible to do so. So long as it is possible to do so.

17:24 So long as it is possible to do so. So long as it is possible to do so. As it is called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we are become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end. Mutual exhortation is here tied to perseverance, which is essential to eschatological salvation.

17:47 Your people need to understand that. Because God placed them in the body and He gives the charisma to every member of the body and it appears that one of the graces He's given if He's given any knowledge and given a tongue to speak is that of mutual encouragement, admonition, and exhortation as an integral element in the complex of those things which cause us to persevere to the end. The passage clearly establishes that. And then, of course, Hebrews 10.

18:22 A passage that we can never exclude from any biblical text concept of what we are to do for one another spiritually, not only to pray one for another, but mutual encouragement and exhortation. Let us consider one another, Hebrews 10.24, to provoke unto love and good works. It doesn't just happen.

18:43 We must consider one another. How can I provoke this brother, this sister, unto greater love and good works? I'm to consider my brothers and my sisters with a view. To holy provocation unto love and to good works.

19:03 But then, thirdly, under the category of the spiritual, not only prayer for one another, mutual encouragement and exhortation, mutual reproof and admonition. And here again, the texts are familiar, I'm sure, to most of you. The text on which Dr. Adams builds the whole structure of competent counsel, Romans 15.14, and we want to look at it for a moment, even though it's familiar to us,

19:32 because of the jellyfish climate in which we're called to minister. We need the perspectives of this text. I'm persuaded of you, my brethren, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able, therefore, to overlook one another's failures and faults and bear infinitely, and indefinitely, with all kinds of irregularities. That's the way some would write the text.

20:06 That the mark of spiritual maturity is that unless someone's falling into immorality or heresy, just back off and leave them alone. Just trust the general preaching of the Word to do its work. The rest creates a climate that is threatening and oppressive. Is that so?

20:26 That's not what Paul envisioned at Rome. I am persuaded, I give you, my brethren, that you are full of goodness. That's the moral grace of kindness, the moral virtue of uprightness, filled with all knowledge, therefore, able to what? Nuthutel.

20:49 Able to admonish, point out one another's faults, make correctives, give directives for moving out of the way of danger and of spiritual pain, and spiritual harm into the way of spiritual life and vigor. Galatians 6.1 If a brother be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, show your spirituality by turning your head away from his fault. Show your spirituality by bearing infinitely and perpetually with his fault.

21:27 That is not what the text says. If a brother be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, not split his skull open,

21:40 not engage in head-bashing, but restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering or looking to yourself, lest you also be tempted. If a man be overtaken in any trespass, now you see, it's not a matter of me conjuring up something because I play God. And I've got a standard that goes beyond the law and word of God. No.

22:08 There is a trespass. There is an evident stepping over the boundaries of God's revealed will, not as dictated by my judgment, but by God's word. If any be overtaken in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one. You to do it in the spirit of gentleness, you to do it in the spirit of self-distrustfulness, looking to yourself, but you're to do it.

22:38 And you're not to hate your brother by refusing to do it. Matthew 18, 15. If thy brother sin, and you know there's a textual problem, is this seeing him sin in relationship to someone else or just against God or sin against thee? But one thing is clear.

22:57 The knowledge of his sin is to go no further than is necessary to deal with it. But his sin is to be dealt with. If, Jesus said, Matthew 18, 15. If thy brother sin, go tell him his fault between you and him alone.

23:15 If he hears you, that is, he's acknowledged his sin, repented of it, and if it was against you, has sought God's forgiveness in yours, the issue is buried. No one else knows about it. But if he does not hear you, as inconvenient, as uncomfortable as it may be, you are then to take two or three witnesses, only as many as are necessary righteously to deal with it. You are then to take two or three witnesses, only as many as are necessary righteously to deal with it.

23:37 You are then to take two or three witnesses, and you know the rest of the story. But this is a duty, mutual reproof and admonition. And Luke 17 and verse 3, If thy brother sin against thee, go pout. If thy brother giveth sin against thee, go stew in your juice.

23:54 No, if thy brother sin against thee, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive him. This idea of unconditional love and unconditional open access and free fellowship, regardless of what a person does to me, that's not a problem. It's not a biblical concept.

24:10 It's not a biblical concept. Sin brings a barrier between the soul and God. And when it's sin at a horizontal level, it brings a barrier between the soul of the one against whom I have sinned. If thy brother sin against thee, rebuke him.

24:25 Reprove him. Point out his sin. If he repent, then forgive him. And that proves that pointing it out was not done as a matter of vindictiveness, but as a means of restorative grace.

24:37 If pointing out his fault, lo and behold, he says, brother, you're right. I was ignorant. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?

24:44 Or if he says, brother, you're right. I was teed off at you and I did do that deliberately, maliciously. I see my wrong. Will you forgive me?

24:52 If you do not immediately say, brother, standing under the canopy of divine forgiveness from a God who could throw me into hell, how can I do anything other than forgive you? You're in big bad trouble because then Jesus was on the same man. Matthew 18. If you've got the spirit that says, I'm going to get my pound of flesh, he says, your spirit has never known the spirit of forgiveness.

25:16 You're an unforgiving, wicked man. And your heavenly Father will do to you as you've done to the other.

Spiritual Duties: Mutual Forgiveness and Forbearance

25:23 So these are duties that we must lay upon our people from the word of God. Direct them to the scriptural activities by which they perform the duties of biblical body life. Prayer for one another, mutual intercession, encouragement, mutual reproof and admonition, and then mutual forgiveness and forbearance. And oh, that 1 Peter 5.8 was stamped upon the forehead of all of God's people. Peter's given numerous exhortations, but now he says, 1 Peter chapter 4, that should be chapter 4, correct that in your notes, please. Not 5.8, but 4.8.

26:11 Above all things, being fervent in your love among yourselves, for here is not the only, but in this context, where brethren, all of us are guilty of a multitude of shortcomings, they are sin when measured by the absolute law of God. They are sin. Nothing else but sin. But they are not sins of such a nature as to warrant reproof and reproof and rebuke because they do not destroy the bond of fellowship.

26:48 They are not indications of someone moving into the way of apostasy, into the way of turning away from the faith. What are we to have? A love so fervent that it's constantly creating a blanket. The heart of love is a blanket factory that's turning out one blanket after another to throw over those niggling faults of my life.

27:12 Have fervent love among yourselves. And when you do, that love will continually be covering what a multitude of sin. What a difference from what I call the huge sore toe mentality. The person that goes around almost leading with this big toe about the size of a blown up balloon saying, anybody disposed to touch my...

27:37 Oh, you touched my sore toe. I've got heart against you. How different. The person who goes around with a box of balls and a box full of blankets says, oh yeah, you walked by me and you're kind of brusque and not so kind.

27:51 Here, here's a blanket for you, brother. Hide that ball. How many times have I done it? You talked to me.

27:59 You obviously had garlic last night. You didn't use your scope. It's offensive. But how many times have I done it?

28:05 Another blanket. What a difference when you've got a church full of people whose hearts are a blanket factory and whose hands are dispensing the blankets continually. All you need is one person with that other mentality and be good. Because in any group of God's people there will be a multitude of sins.

28:24 Not sins that warrant formal reproof, let alone discipline. If we don't have fervent love causing us each to have his own blanket factory, we're going to be in big bad trouble. And that's one of the delights as Dave mentioned even in his message this morning, that in this place, I believe by the grace of God, to great measures, God has given us the experience of that in our life together. So that we can sit here in the confidence of goodwill toward one another.

28:55 Because by God's grace we've got a blanket factory. Excuse me. So mutual forgiveness and forbearance, the other text of course, Ephesians 4.29, being tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven.

Directing to Scriptural Activities: Social Duties

29:11 Alright, what about our social? Our social responsibilities to one another that we must emphasize with our people. You'll notice I've listed three of them. Visible, physical confirmation of mutual love.

29:28 Visible, physical confirmation of mutual love. And here I simply cite the five texts in which in the imperative mode the people of God are commanded warmly to greet one another in a way that has some physical dimensions. 2 Corinthians 13, and verse 11 and 12. Finally, brethren, farewell.

30:00 Be protected. Is that optional? No. Be comforted.

30:06 Optional? No. Be of the same mind. Optional?

30:11 No. Live in peace. Optional? No.

30:16 And the God of love and peace shall be with you. A promise worthy to be trusted or not? Yes.

30:25 Warmly greet one another with a holy kiss. Optional.

30:32 Don't have the option. Don't have any option. The same God who says be perfected, be comforted, be of the same mind, live in peace, says you're to one another one another in such a way that has a physical dimension. Am I saying that we should adopt the cultural custom of the mid-first century?

30:59 Greco-Roman world? No. I'm not advocating that, but I am saying we must see in this text the principle that there is to be an outward physical manifestation of our affection one to another as a constant expression of the life of the people of God. And then that imperative is repeated in Romans 16.16, 1 Corinthians 16.20, 1 Thessalonians 5.26, and then in 1 Peter 5.14, you have it in a little different way.

31:41 Greet one another with a kiss of love.

31:45 And I love the combination. It's a holy kiss. What was the common greeting now became set apart for special service among the community of God's people. And what set it apart was not the difference in the act.

31:59 This is crucial. But the difference in the relationship between the two people and in the intention which attached itself to the action. If you walked up to your friend Demetrius down the block who was a swearing, drinking pagan, you would have greeted him socially unless he were your enemy with an embrace, a mid-eastern kiss. Now he says, take that which is common to the culture and make it a holy kiss.

32:31 The external, the internal act is not changed. But the relationship which precipitates it and the attitudes which attend it make it set apart or devolved. And now it's a holy bus. It's a holy embrace because it is expressing the unique love and is, as it were, a sacramental affirmation.

32:54 Brother, sister, there is nothing between us. We are not only one positionally, we are one experimentally.

33:06 And then Peter says, it is a kiss of love. I believe the Holy Spirit gave us that note to make sure it is not a kiss of eros. Not a kiss that in any way partakes of that which is sinful, that is erotic. It is the kiss of brotherly and sisterly affection.

33:31 Now the measure of that physical expression will differ. And we've gone over that ground in another context and I don't want to rake it over ad nauseum. But each of us must find in our own given situation and in our measures of relationship but surely, surely it means at least this much. You must teach your people they don't have the luxury as a pattern.

33:56 I'm not talking about when a woman must go to get a child in the nursery or a man must go to assist his wife but they have no luxury for the pattern of rising from the pew being the first one out the door week after week month after month for no reason of necessity but simply because they've heard the sermon and that's all they care for. They have an obligation to stay around long enough to greet one another with a holy kiss. It's a duty and you need to bind their consciences to that duty. Bind their consciences to the duty.

34:34 Now don't bind their consciences to an outworking of the duty that goes beyond scripture but bind their conscience to the duty and if anyone's conscience should be bound to it, yours is. Now I perform that duty differently now than I did when I had three little ones. It would have been wicked for me to be the last one to leave the church building week after week when my wife had three little ones.

35:02 But may I say I believe it would be wicked for me now given the fact our nest is empty not to be the last one to leave the church building. Every Lord's Day. What am I doing? I'm going around greeting the brethren with a holy kiss.

35:16 Hugging some of them. Kissing some others. Embracing some others. Shaking some hands.

35:21 Squeezing some shoulders. Why? My conscience is held captive to the word of God. This isn't something I grew up with in my home, in my culture.

35:34 No, it's the word of God that has got hold of my conscience. I can't do it. I cannot ignore those five imperatives. I don't have the luxury nor do you.

35:45 I don't care if you're not made that way. Yes, but it isn't. I don't care.

35:52 Five imperatives.

35:55 I shocked someone recently when I said if we're ready to rest our whole argument not our whole but a major pillar in our argument of the change of the appointed day from the seventh to the first day of the week on two or three texts that explicitly delineate apostolic practice and we're prepared for so radical a thing to rest on a pillar constructed of those materials and I am not as the only but as one of the major pillars. And what about a duty that comes a five-pronged imperative? How in the world are you going to wiggle out of that? And you see, God knows how we're made. Just like with your wife. If there's any burr in your relationship and you go to take her hand or give her a kiss or give her a kiss the same thing is true with your brethren. You look them straight in the eye and hear the text saying greet one another with a holy handshake.

36:59 That is, this is not a civil greeting. I'm saying by this handshake you're my brother. I'm bound to you. You're bound to me.

37:06 We're in the same family. We're in the same living temple. There's nothing between us. When you bind your conscience that your handshake with a brother means that I tell you if you're determined to obey that injunction there are times when it'll force you to take a brother aside and say, brother, I can't really shake your hand until we talk.

37:28 And you see, God knows there's such an integrated system to the divine imperatives and God's a lot smarter than we are.

37:36 And they say He's a lot more practical than we are too. He knows how to keep us honest. And I'm convinced that this is one of the reasons God has laid this upon us so clearly. So you need to lay it upon your people.

37:50 And you know what you get accused of? Oh, there you go. Just passing on some of the odd things they taught you at Trinity. That's all right.

37:58 You just counteract it by expounding the five texts and say, now I've expounded them. I've applied them. If I haven't expounded right or applied right, will somebody please come and set me straight so I can make a public retraction and do it right.

38:13 You don't need to say that with your jaw stuck out. Say it sweetly.

38:19 Say it so they really mean you welcome it. But you say, my conscience is held captive to the word of God. All right? Then they must be aggressive in hospitality.

38:28 You'll never get done at this rate.

38:31 First Peter 4, 8 and 9, written to all the people of God. And what does Peter tell them? Peter tells them that regardless of the size of their house or their income or anything else, he says, using hospitality one to another. And look at the realism without murmuring.

38:55 Ah, it's a burden. It means I've got to fix more food. It means I've got to tighten the bell. It means that...

39:01 He says, use it one to another without murmuring. Use it one to another without murmuring. Hebrews 13, 2. We're commanded to show hospitality to strangers because some have thereby entertained angels unawares.

39:19 Probably a reference to Genesis 18 and to Abraham. And Romans 12 and verse 13. Again, a generic Christian duty communicating to the necessity of the saints given or pursuing, I believe it's Dioko, tracking down, persecuting hospitality, making it a matter of conscience to have an open door to the brothers and sisters. And you see the beautiful pattern of this in Acts.

39:50 They had their grand, glorious assemblies in Solomon's portico. But then it says they ate, they ate, they ate their food from house to house with singleness of heart, praise in God and having favor with all the people. And why is this made one of the requirements for an elder in 1 Timothy 3, 2 given to hospitality? Because one of the concrete ways a man shows he recognizes the nature of his relationship to the church.

40:18 We're members of the same family. Therefore, we want to be under the same roof from time to time. We're members of the same body. We are part of the same living temple.

40:31 And then the third social dimension of one anothering biblically is sympathetic identity with each other's joys and sorrows. Sympathetic identity. And how many times have you heard Romans 12, 15 in this place? Weep with those who weep.

40:47 Rejoice with those who rejoice. And it's very interesting when Job is vindicating his own integrity. One of the things he underscores is this is what he did as a righteous man. Job 30 and verse 25.

41:04 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? You see, he picks this out as one of the things that affirmed in his own conscience that when they're accusing him of being a hypocrite, their accusation was not valid. Because he wept with those who wept.

41:25 In Hebrews 13, tells us that we, in a manner that I don't fully understand, and my wife and I just read this night before last in our own devotions, remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.

41:42 When you remember them, whether in prayers or in gifts of benevolence, do so with holy empathy as bound with them. Them that are ill-treated as being yourselves in the body. You see, you can't go around in a kind of sick, carnal, fleshly narcissism looking at your own face in the water, navel-gazing, and enter in to this kind of valid Christian experience. It costs to enter in and make the state of the heart of my brothers and sisters the state of my heart.

42:23 I may be in a happy frame and I come in a brother who's in a weeping frame. And I tell you, you know what? It says in Proverbs about the reaction of someone who comes with a wrong attitude. He says, it's like putting vinegar and water together.

42:37 I remember as a kid, I used to love to do that. Put the vinegar and soda. I'm sorry. And you put the baking soda in the vinegar.

42:45 That's what happens. You come to someone who's heavy-hearted and needs someone to draw near and empathize and you say, how you doing, old bucko? Everything's going fine. Great.

42:55 Good. You're not even letting him send out his legitimate signals of concern. Now, I'm not talking about these people who go around and, you know, if it's sunny and a beautiful day, yeah, it'll be cloudy by noon.

43:07 If it's raining and you've had a drought, say, isn't it wonderful the Lord sent us rain? Yeah, but I bet it'll be raining for the next three weeks. I mean, there are people like that. Now, the best thing you can do for them is just don't take them seriously.

43:19 They're the people, I think I've told you, most people, I say, how you doing, how you doing, how you doing? I've got a few people. I never ask them that at the door on Sunday.

43:27 That's right. They come along, how are you today? How are you? How are you?

43:30 When I see them, I say, it's good to see you today. And then when God brings them to maturity, to where they grow, I've taken them aside and said, did you ever notice that I gave you a different greeting from everyone else? No? Well, sit down, let me tell you.

43:42 And then I tell them. But I say, you know, now I dare to ask you how you're doing. You know why? Because now you're not all wrapped up in yourself.

43:51 Just recently, I had the joy of doing that with one of the dear black brothers. I put my arm around him and I said, you know, one of my greatest pastoral joys is when I see you now,

44:00 I said, I dare to ask how you are. Because the last time I asked him how he was and he gave me this mopey business, I looked at him and I said, what are you talking about? You tell me you're an heir of the kingdom, your sins are forgiven, you're washed in the blood, you're marked for the presence of God and you go around like that? You must not believe what you say you believe.

44:20 And God used it. And when I commended him for his smiley face, he said, Pastor, only God could do that. I said, yeah, but he's done it. Hallelujah.

Directing to Scriptural Activities: Physical and Material Duties

44:32 Sympathetic identity. With others' joys and sorrows. And then physical or material.

44:38 Physical or material. There's to be one anothering. There's to be, in fact, it's interesting. Do a word study of koinonia or its verbal form and you'll find that in the vast majority of cases in the New Testament it probably refers to a material sharing.

44:54 There must be response to the monetary needs of the brethren. Romans 12, 13. We are to distribute to the necessities of the saints. Koinonia.

45:04 Oh, and then all of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and then of course the Zinger text that you must expound to your people somewhere along the line early in your ministry. 1 John 3, 16 to 19 where he says in the heart of his argument if the love that redeemed us was self-sacrificing love and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren if that kind of love has taken root in our heart how can we say it has if we see a brother simply has no love he has need of something I possess which demands I part with a measure of something. That's all. If love that would cause me to lay down my life is in me and I will not part with something to meet the need of my brother how dwells the love of God in me? And the answer is obvious. It doesn't dwell there at all. He argues from the greater to the lesser.

46:00 If the love of God is in us we are prepared in principle to spill our blood for one another. Now if we won't spill a few shekels when we have it or won't spill a little time when we have it what makes us think that love that would enable us to spill blood is in our hearts?

Caution 1: Primacy, Not Exclusiveness, of Preaching

46:20 In the matter of our pastoral oversight and on the miscellaneous warnings and cautions let's hold off and tack them on next week alright? Because I'm conscious I've taken the time allotted and I don't want to so let's just break it off and can we pick that up and make sure it just gets appended on there?

47:11 The humbling and frightening things taught in the scriptures and confirmed in the history of the church is there is no truth no matter how clearly it is taught in scripture which if left to the hands of carnal wisdom cannot be greatly abused and ultimately bring harm to God's people and dishonor to Christ. And so it is necessary with reference to this subject of the church ministry to itself in love to consider these three major cautions that are set before you in your outline. And the first one is this do not fall into the notion that the biblical doctrine of the primacy of preaching equals an unbiblical doctrine of the exclusiveness of preaching as God's appointed means of edification.

48:11 Now many have fallen into this very erroneous concept. They have seen in the scriptures that the public teaching and preaching of the word of God is to have primacy among the public means of grace. And when we speak of the primacy of preaching that is precisely what we mean. And if they have been under preaching that has been owned of God and they have seen the effect of it in conversions transformed lives and in the language of Ephesians 4 the end for which pastors and teachers are given being realized namely equipping or mending the saints to the work of service people then very imperceptibly drift into a concept in which they think that the primacy of preaching equals the exclusiveness of preaching as God's appointed means of edification. And we have seen from the bulk of materials we have covered that the whole doctrine of the church ministering to itself in love all the way from the warm greeting of the holy handshake in lieu of the holy kiss to mutual encouragement mutual admonition exhortation

49:39 and voluntary commitment to the community of goods etc. that these are indeed divinely appointed means of the edification of the body of Christ. And so I warn you men going out into a climate in which preaching is demeaned its efficacy is questioned if not actually denied in practice as well as in theory going forth as men committed to the primacy of preaching due to the fact that it is not that doctrine of the primacy of preaching means the exclusiveness of preaching as an appointed means of edification and therefore it will be necessary for you to instruct your people from the word of God to give direction from the scriptures and sound counsels from the word of God with respect to this duty. Now in a real sense two of the most telling signs of where a church is biblically on these issues the primacy but not the exclusiveness of preaching as God's appointed means of edification are found in these two areas. What does the congregation do prior to a stated service

51:05 of worship and ministry and what does it do after such a service? Now generally speaking the answer to those two questions are a good index of whether or not the church is well grounded and is practicing a biblical balance in conjunction with the primacy but the non-exclusiveness of preaching as God's appointed means of edification. If a church is thinking biblically on these matters as a general rule you will find that before stated meetings of worship it will be evident that people are preparing themselves primarily for the exercise of vertical religious privileges and responsibilities. They will sit quietly meditating upon the reality that God is going to gather with his people the risen Christ will be in the midst of his lampstand. They will meditate upon those things calculating to prepare their hearts to bring to God those sacrifices which according to 1 Peter 2 he requires and receives of his people who as new covenant priests offer them up in his spiritual temple there will be prayer preparation of heart meditation

52:32 contemplation all of which indicate that they are coming to give to God in worship what he requires and to prepare their minds to receive from God his own word preached. But then that same congregation after the service is over if the dominant characteristic is that everyone splits and heads for his own car and his own home that's a bad sign. What happened before may have indicated they had a grasp on the biblical concept of the primacy of preaching and the dominance of the vertical dimensions of worship. But what happens afterward if it's a pattern usually is indicative of an ignorance and a non-appreciation of the whole concept of the church ministering to itself in love. If meaningful knowledgeable friendships are to be established which make a climate for encouragement natural which make a climate for admonition natural you've got to get to know people and you don't get to know people without spending time with people and you don't spend time with people unless you're in the same geographical proximity to people and when you see

54:00 at the close of a service not this business of everyone splitting as the general rule and going to his own place but you see a number of pockets and groupings of people obviously finding delight in one another delight in looking upon each other's faces and communicating one to another and long after the service is over the building is still open because there are people who find sheer joy in spending time one with another as Malachi says they that feared the Lord spake often one to another then there is some reason to believe that to some degree they have captured they have captured some of the leading emphases of scripture on this biblical body life teaching now let me say by word of caution we recognize that some are chronically limited from this at certain periods in their life because of the demands of children now we fully understand that that's why we as elders make no judgment of those who may go through a pattern for a rather lengthy period of time in which they are seldom found lingering after a service they themselves and maybe their children are borderline hypoglycemic if they don't get back and get food in their tummies there's going to be real problems there are other

55:28 pressures and demands and we fully understand that but the indication will be this that as soon as those pressures lessen to the point that people can have the desire of their heart you will see them begin to mingle or if it's an occasion where the children have been farmed off to the grandparents why they'll be the last couple to leave the church they'll suck in all they can get on that one Lord's Day when they don't have the pressure and the responsibility of their children as I was indicating recently it may have been even to you men this is one of the joys of this stage of life it has many liabilities old athletic injuries come back to haunt you and stare you in the face every single morning when you get out of bed as you try to loosen them up and they're many indications that the outward man decays and it's slated for the undertaker and for the grave and there are many other sad dimensions to middle age but one of the delights is when your nest is empty as a pastor and you have a wife whose heart is involved with you in the work of God and his people what a sheer delight to be just about the last one to leave the building Sunday after Sunday and Wednesday after Wednesday I think it was ten after ten before I left this Wednesday night what a sheer delight to just mingle amongst God's sheep and then to see God's sheep mingling one with another and in that way to set an example of one who delights in the sheep who simply doesn't

Caution 2: Body Life Not Always Immediately Visible in Stated Meetings

56:57 look at them as a sea of faces to whom he can deliver his pontifications from the pulpit or a sea of hands that put enough money in the plate to make sure there's some money covering the check from the treasurer but these people are your delight your joy your comfort your crown and you delight to be among them so you may want to tuck that away brethren and as you're trying to assess whether or not your teaching is balanced in this area and your people's obedience is balanced to continually reflect and say what's going on before the service what's going on after the service alright now my second word of caution is this you'll see it in your notes don't be bullied into an unbiblical and unrealistic notion that your biblical body life must be immediately immediately visible in your stated meetings don't be bullied and I don't know of any other term to use into an unbiblical and unrealistic notion that your biblical body life must be immediately visible in your stated meetings now let me explain what I mean we have had people who've had unscriptural concepts of body life come among us and in conversing with them at one time or another they've said well I came to

58:27 three surfaces at Trinity and it appeared to me that it basically was just a preaching center I mean in the adult class there was one of the elders leading it oh yes there was opportunity for questions but it really wasn't a sharing time as such Bibles were open on the lap and people were free to make observations but nobody was free to stand up and say well I think the text says this and means this I mean the thing was still pretty structured it was open ended it was a class granted but there were no testimonies and there was no free sharing and then the service was so structured there was no opportunity for people to say well I'd like to sing this hymn I'd like to sing that I have this prayer request I have this prayer request there just was no body life now what were they doing? they were making a very unbiblical and unrealistic assessment of how one discerns if indeed there is biblical body life it's very very interesting you see that they often press into service 1 Corinthians 14 26 how is it then brethren when you come together each one of you hath a psalm hath a tongue hath a revelation let all things be done unto edification they said everyone should have a contribution that is visible and vocal and known by all who are present each one of you every one of you hath a psalm hath a tongue

59:55 hath a revelation that's body life well it's very interesting if that's what Paul meant he surely contradicted himself later on in the chapter because he said even those who could speak as the organs of God prophets the most two or three in one meeting then if you had three thousand prophets the rest had to shut their mouths only two thousand nine hundred and ninety seven could talk in any one meeting so I don't think that's what he meant because as even with those who are organs of revelation by prophecy or by tongues with interpretation are to be limited you'd only have at the most six contributors in any one meeting isn't that what your Bible says that's what my Bible says rather I believe with some of the responsible commentators Paul is using a bit of sarcasm what is it when you come together everyone's got his thing to say stop it let everything be done unto edification and now I'll tell you how to pursue edification let only those with proven gifts exercise them let them be exercised with decency and order let them be exercised in proper gender roles the women are to be quiet and the men are to speak now that's first Corinthians 14 as I see it in my Bible so these people who make this assessment that unless you have a laid back free for all you're not you don't understand body life nonsense brethren nonsense

61:24 in fact true biblical body life will not be patent in just the stated gatherings of the church some of it will leap out at the end of the meetings as I indicated but you see most of the aspects of true biblical body life will be done either in the privacy of the restrictions of scripture or in the modesty of the virtue of true loving deeds of mercy if thy brother sin against thee go tell him his fault between thee and him alone if a brother be overtaken in the fault ye that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself and surely one of the aspects of the meekness will be that you do not put that brother or sister in the context of unnecessary embarrassment you take them aside privately many of the texts we looked at in the earlier part of this lecture in their outworking are texts that will find fulfillment in a private context and then if they are the deeds of sharing in material things those two deeds of mercy are never ostentatious Jesus in Matthew

62:53 6 says don't be like those who want their gifts their alms to be known to all remember Matthew 25 come be blessed of my father I was hungry you fed me naked you clothed the Lord when did we do this there is a modesty about true virtue finding expression in biblical body life that doesn't go around tooting its own horn and parading itself there are there is an element of of veiled ness in terms of much body life so that in a truly well ordered healthy biblical church biblical body life will be like the base of an iceberg and all people see in the stated meetings is the tip of the iceberg and the base of it is all of this body life going on much of it known only to God once in a while it leaks up here when we get a letter in a prayer meeting dear brothers and sisters in Christ during my recent illness and then for the first time as an elder and I have to read the person's handwriting understand their grammar and all the rest all at once the note was lying there on the podium and that's the first time I saw it first time I knew and then I see oh look here's been another whole dimension of body life going on I didn't know it and then

64:22 you're in a home having a pastoral visit and you're asking someone well do you feel you're getting integrated into the life of God into the church oh yes pastor do you remember that particular problem we went oh yes well I can't believe it we're only here six months but and then I begin to find out the expressions of body life or you may get a letter like this dear pastor Martin I've wanted to write for a long time yet was fearful of trying to place my thoughts on paper but over and over again God has showed me my responsibility to him in writing you about six months ago one of our friends a couple approached my husband and me on a Sunday evening they spoke to us specifically concerning me and my revealing information that I should not have I really didn't understand at the time what they were trying to say or how serious my sin was about three months later a good friend of our husband a good friend of ours the husband of another couple approached my husband about the same matter when he did so my husband saw clearly what he was saying and he spoke to me I was so grieved for never before had I seen the besetting sin of a talebearer and a whisperer that I was my heart was truly wretched before God the next day I ordered the series on the bridal tongue and listened to this series oh dear pastor

65:52 God showed me the seriousness and the weight of this sin I also did a word study on talebearer and whisper with the concordance in my Bible there are so many exhortations and rebukes concerning this in the Bible I'm writing this letter to thank you for your diligence in preaching to the honor of our dear Lord and the growth of our souls the series on the bridal tongue helped me so much in one of the tapes you exhort us to go to our brother and confront them if we see them struggling with this sin because they can't see the sin they're blind to it that was me but our gracious God was pleased to open my eyes and my heart to receive his rebuke and his loving guidance sometimes when I think of how God's chosen to let others go on in their sins I shudder with fear and gratitude that he stopped me before it was too late and then she goes on to express her goodwill that's biblical body life you see now if this dear sister had not written a letter I wouldn't have known that until the day of judgment but here was one couple faithful to point out a sin and it didn't win the field three months later someone else dropped the load and that became the instrument God used and then something preached years ago was taken up out of the little mechanical preacher's file and became that's biblical body life you see

67:22 and the notion that someone can come in from the outside in three weeks and assess whether or not your assembly is practicing biblical body life is sheer nonsense so don't be bullied into an unbiblical and an unrealistic notion that your biblical body life must be immediately visible in your stated meetings and I had to settle before God if people come with an unbiblical notion and judge us by an unbiblical standard that's their problem not mine and therefore we are not going to turn every Lord's Day morning service once a month into a free for all hoping that somehow we'll convince people we believe in body life don't you tamper with any of God's institutions administered by God's rule simply to accommodate people who have unbiblically framed expectations that's my caution and my warning and then my third and final caution and warning is this do not be weary of reminding your people again and again of their duties in this area of Christian life and experience do not be weary of reminding your people again and again of their duties in this area of Christian life and experience you remember in some of

Caution 3: Do Not Be Weary of Reminding People

68:51 the text we considered earlier in the lecture though Paul said in first Thessalonians four you yourselves are taught of God to love one another he said I exhort you to abound yet more and more and I speed read sections of first John earlier this morning again noticing how John almost ad nauseam says in chapter two I write no new commandment unto you but the commandment you had from the beginning that you love one another then in chapter three he picks up the theme again then he picks it up in chapter four and then he writes second John and he picks it up again John you get a little senile in your old age no no you want to get senile the older one gets the more one realizes people aren't going to remember an awful lot of what I say and it will be some of those notes that I thumped and thumped and thumped and thumped and thumped and thumped again ad nauseam that

69:57 again and again and again put on Colossians Paul in Colossians says that above all things put on love and then Peter says above all things have fervent love among yourselves John emphasizes it you find that emphasis to brotherly love again and again and again and you have specific directives concerning the channels love is love to cut and therefore you and I must not be weary of reminding our people again and again of their duties in this area of Christian life and experience alright those are the cautions and warnings with which I want to conclude our treatment of this subject of biblical body life