Reduction of Elders: What Might God be Saying? Part 4

Revisiting the Framework for Assessing Providence and the Call to Mutual Ministry

0:03 The following message was delivered on January 31st, 1993, in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now we come this morning to our fourth adult class in which we've been concerned to answer a most relevant, a very practical and vital question. And the question is this, what may God be saying to us as a church through the providential thinning of our ranks, particularly in the leadership at the eldership level? Again, for the sake of our visitors, just a brief overview in the last year and a half or so, there's been an attrition in our eldership through various providential factors. And while pastor...

0:58 Pastor Lamar, who was part of that temporary attrition, was laid aside with an unexpected triple bypass surgery. As we wrestled with how best to invest this class time, we judged that it might be good for us to wrestle with this question. And as we have attempted to wrestle with it, we have sought to place our answer to that question in the triangle of the biblical teaching on a Christian's assessment. And we have seen, and I have repeated each week, and I will repeat again today, that that biblical perspective on interpreting or seeking to interpret or assess God's voice in providence must continually be an activity carried on within the guidelines of this triangle of biblical truth. The Bible teaches us, first of all, that everything...

1:58 It happens in human history, both the life of the individual, the life of nations, the life of churches, is the outworking of the sovereign decree and purpose of God. Romans 11, 36. Of him, and through him, and unto him are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever. Ephesians 1, 11.

2:21 He works all things after the counsel of his own will. The second...

2:28 The second biblical truth that must guide us as we seek to understand what God may be saying to us in any providence, singular or any combination of providences, is to recognize that God alone comprehensively and infallibly understands his purposes in his providence. God alone comprehensively and infallibly understands his purposes in his providences. Since all that God does at any given point in time takes into consideration all of his purposes from eternity to eternity, God alone knows the full significance of any one event in your life span or in my. God alone fully understands any combination of events. And therefore, as we seek to understand what...

3:28 God may be saying to us, we are not making an attempt to pry into the mysteries that are locked up in the infinite wisdom of God. Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord, but the things that are revealed are for us and for our children. And part of the secret things is what we might identify as the comprehensive and infallible purpose of God in any given providence.

3:58 And part of the secret things is what we might identify as the comprehensive and infallible purpose of God in any given providence. And part of the secret things is what we might identify as the comprehensive and infallible purpose of God in any given providence. And then the third biblical truth that must form the guidelines of our efforts to understand what God may be saying to us in any providence is this. God expects his children prayerfully and humbly to assess his providences in the light of his word.

4:21 And a clear example of that is the instruction in the book of James, chapter 1, where James says that we're to count it all joy when in the providence of God there is an unusual concentration of trials. Count it all joy when ye fall into diverse trials knowing that the trial of your faith works patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire lacking in nothing. But in the midst of trials that we've embraced with joy knowing God has sanctifying purposes there are times when we lack wisdom to know exactly what sanctifying purpose is intended in any given situation so verse 5 says and if any lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally humbly and prayerfully seek to assess the specific purpose of God in this particular providence. And so within that framework and I hope by the time we're through what will probably be a total of 8 to 10 classes if you've retained nothing else I hope you will have retained that and thereby have as it were a pocket guide for dealing with providences throughout the rest of your earthly pilgrimage. Well having set that framework I then opened up to the class particularly to the male members of the class since it was a form of instruction

The Equipping of Saints for the Work of Ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12)

5:50 for you to tell us what you believe from the scriptures God may be saying. Now we do not tolerate prophetic utterances thus saith the Lord this is what God is saying infallibly. No, we have humbly submitted what we feel God may be saying to us as we have been driven into the word of God. And you as a class came up with seven very clear things all couched we couched them all in the form of a call to and you came up with such things that could it be that these providences are a call to and you went right down the line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and when you came to number 8 one of the brethren stated could it be that God is issuing a call to us as a church that we might consider a responsibility to be more actively engaged in ministering one to another and in reaching out more aggressively to God. To our own community our own Jerusalem. In other words the question was raised could it be that we have unwittingly fallen into a kind of clerical mentality that anything that is distinctly ministry one to another let the elders do it they are competent.

7:19 Perhaps the elders should do it and God is thin to the rank of our eldership at least 10%. And could it be the question was raised that God is seeking to get our attention and say to us as a church no, there are manifold ministries which you the people of God are to have one to another and God gives you pastors and teachers to equip you unto the work of service not to negate in your life the validity of your works of service. And the key passage that we studied and I'd ask you now to turn to that passage and we will then hopefully break new ground in just a moment. The key passage that we studied was Ephesians 4, 1 to 16 and I do not have time to justify a thorough review of the context the main burden of the passage, etc. But we focused our attention upon verses 11 and 12. The risen Christ gives some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints unto the work of ministry unto the building up of the body of Christ. And in this passage by rubbing up the comma that in terms of the original structure the grammar, syntax

8:49 it does not belong there. It is not that God gives pastors and teachers for the work for the equipping of the saints, comma all the equipping is to be done by pastors and teachers and then all of the work of ministry of service is to be done by pastors and teachers and all of the building up of the body of Christ. No, he gives pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints unto work of service, literally. And that in turn results in the building up of the body of Christ.

Unpacking 1 Thessalonians 5:14: Four Duties of Mutual Care

9:22 And so you were given a homework assignment to try to do. To try to discover particularly from the New Testament those works of service for which God gives you elders, pastors and teachers that they might equip you that you might be competent to perform those specific works. And when we opened that up for input from you last week one of the brethren brought forward 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and we spent the entirety of our class after our initial review simply unpacking 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 14. And we exhort you brethren admonish the disorderly encourage the faint hearted support the weak. And that's all we focused upon. And you as a class established that this directive was to all of the people of God for in the context he makes the clergy laity distinction in the previous verses. Verse 12 we beseech you brethren know them that labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake.

10:44 Paul is unembarrassed to write to the Thessalonians indicating that within that assembly there was a group of people who were over the saints of God in the Lord. And he says these people were to know them be acquainted with them they were to esteem them highly in love for their work's sake and he does not say and obliterate the distinction so that you can have true body life. Now that's what some would say. You must obliterate the distinction between competent properly recognized office bearers and the people of God or you will always have a let the , preacher, let the elders do it mentality.

11:29 Paul did not think that way. So when he says in verse 14 we exhort you brethren it is clear that he is speaking to the rank and file of all of God's people. Now what I did because I didn't have my Greek text in front of me and we were expounding together out of an English version I have no retractions to make but having gone back and done my homework in my Greek text I have a little emendation this morning alright because what we have in this text is not three works of service enjoined upon all the people of God but in the structure of the original you have as your own English Bible reflects four distinct responsibilities. They are all present imperative verbs three duties to specific groups and one duty for all of the people of God to all of the other people of God. And remember we said that some works of service are to be done by some of the people of God to all the body. Some are to be done to some.

12:43 Some are to be done to a few. A few are to do it to another few. In other words not every directive means that every believer must be engaged in that particular work of service. This would violate Romans 12 3 and following where we are told we are soberly to assess our particular gifts 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 where we have the diversity of gifts and no one gift can say to the other I have no need of you.

13:15 So in this passage though we have all of the brethren exhorted and three of the imperatives have to do with all of the people of God all of the people of God concerned with specific groups within the people of God. Do you see that? Admonish the disorderly encourage the faint hearted support the weak. Those are the three special categories that can be found at any given time within the church of Christ.

13:48 There will be some who are disorderly some who are faint hearted some who are weak and the entire body who are weak and the entire body and the entire body given natural relationships levels of maturity and discernment and understanding there is to be a concern throughout the whole body to admonish the disorderly to encourage the faint hearted and to support the weak. But then there is a fourth imperative which is a duty which the entire body is to perform to all of the members of the body and notice how that comes out in the language be long-suffering toward not a special group but toward all. So we have four imperatives concerning four different duties three of which are to be performed by the brethren to certain groups one of which is to be performed by the brethren to all of their brethren. And just to give you a little encouragement that we were on the right track even though we were not even though we had just a good English translation in front of us as I went back and did some word studies on these verbs and nouns it's interesting that the first strand of instruction admonish the disorderly the word admonish nutheteo means to place in mind of something

Detailed Word Studies on Admonish, Encourage, and Support

15:15 and the disorderly are the ataktos and Vine in his expository dictionary of New Testament words says ataktos signifies not keeping order the alpha privative a and taso which means to put in order or arrange under it was especially a military term denoting not keeping rank or insubordinate. So the disorderly is someone who's out of step with what the word of God says ought to be the marching tempo of the people of God. And when you see someone not who occasionally hits a pebble and just has one step and then looks and gets back in line left, right and he's marching along but he's always right when everyone else is left. He's always going east when everyone else is going west. Or he's going northeast when everyone's going due north. He's disorderly he's out of rank.

16:18 And he is to be put in mind authoritatively firmly and lovingly of where he is out of step that he might be brought back in line and though the elders do this officially notice that up in verse 12 know them that are over in you in the Lord and the same Greek verb and admonish you. It does not mean that what the elders do officially and with unique ecclesiastical authority is their unique province and responsibility. You as the people of God are responsible to admonish one another particularly when someone gets out of step falls out of rank becomes disorderly. And then the next injunction encourage the faint hearted that word encourage is para mutheomai and it's the word used in John 11 verses 19 and 31 where it is said Jesus went to the grave side in order to comfort that household in the face of the death of their brother Lazarus. He had gone to comfort them. And the faint hearted is a combination of two Greek words which taken in of themselves are little or small and soul. And so we are to comfort the little souls.

17:46 The small soul among us the opposite of what Bunyan calls Mr. Great Heart this is Mr. Little Heart. Mr. Fainting.

17:56 Mr. Ready to Halt even as we described him last week. And that's exactly what Paul had done by example for in chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians that's the word that is used here. Verse 11 As you know how we dealt with each one of you as a father with his children exhorting you here's our word and encouraging you.

18:23 So when he told them that you are to encourage the little soul you are to paramus oh my the little souls it's not as though they would throw up their hands and say how do you do it? For he had already told them that's exactly what I did when I was among you. And so we learn by analogy that just as your elders are to set an example of godly admonition that is putting people in mind when they step out of line fall out of rank become disorderly and insubordinate so likewise those of us in leadership ought to be setting the pattern of what it means to encourage the faint hearted. And then it was fascinating to do the word study on support the weak. The word for weak is the general word for weakness asthenia it can mean physical weakness it can mean weakness of courage it's just the general word for weak just as we use it but the verb support on tecomai is the verb used in Matthew 6 24 no man can serve two masters either he will love the one and hate the other or hold to the one and despise the other and it's the verb used in Titus 1 9 for an elder he must be one

19:50 who holds fast to the faithful word as he hath been told now think of the two images from the other two usages of this verb in Matthew it's the picture of someone clinging to an object of supreme affection a child clinging to a daddy who's about to go off to war a wife clinging to a husband when he's about to go off on a lengthy business trip that's the picture that we are to cling to and hold up and draw alongside us the weak ones we are to do what every true man of God does with the word of God he holds it to his heart as his only source of authoritative instruction he will not let it go under the pressure of popular opinion under the frowns of people's faces or even when they nod and go off to sleep he's going to cling to this word now God says that's what we're to do with the weak ones we're not just to occasionally send them a nice little booklet to cheer them up there's nothing wrong with that but this cost this means you must personally draw alongside and become their crutches as we saw last week as they are weak and fainting and ready to fall we've got to deny ourselves and get underneath their armpits and hold them up like crutches I'm sure the crutches

The Duty of Long-Suffering and a Call to Obedience

21:19 that hold a perpetually crippled man get weary of their task and there are times we may grow weary but nonetheless the adversaries of our mission is clear well I thought you'd like that little supplement of my own study I found it encouraging and I wanted to make sure I didn't teach any heresy in guiding the class to discover what we did now I have one question to ask before we move on to another duty and I don't want you to raise your hands but I want you to answer in the theater of your own conscience how many of you who were here last week have made at least one prayerful attempt to apply at least one prayerful attempt at least one of the three duties that we looked at last week now don't answer don't raise a hand but answer with judgment day honesty in the theater of your own conscience in your own heart have you made one prayerful effort to admonish someone who's out of line to encourage someone who is faint to support someone who is weak if not why not be ye not hearers only deceiving your own selves if you sat here in the class and said oh isn't this wonderful and it's exciting to see the word of God

22:48 being opened up and to have a happening when we study it together and you went out blessed but if the blessing didn't result in obedience you are self-deceived you're mistaking those good feelings for progress in grace be ye doers of the word not hearers only deceiving your own selves I didn't say that James said that and if you can't say I did prayerfully seek to implement at least one strand of that last week repent of that disobedience here and now and ask God to give you grace in the coming week to do it and the fourth thing that is incumbent upon all of us and here Paul is the realist the fourth imperative is that we are to be long suffering to all you hear about a macro zoom and macro this the macro chasm well this is macro thumeo it's the long suffering that God himself has over a lost world 2 Peter 3 9 the Lord is long suffering to us were Luke 18 7 shall he not avenge his own elect that cry unto him day and night though he is long suffering over them it is one of those unique qualities of agape love 1 Corinthians 13 and verse

24:16 4 love suffers long in its noun form it's spoken of God in Romans 2 4 and 1 Peter 3 20 in its noun form it's one of the ninefold fruit of the spirit Galatians 5 22 5 22 the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering it's one of those qualities true servants of God must have 2 Timothy 4 2 where Paul admonishes Timothy that he is to preach the word he is to be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all here it is macrothumia with all long suffering now what is long suffering it's suffering for a long time and when he says be long suffering to all you know what he's saying amongst all of us there are going to be many things that make us suffer as we interact with one another we're going to do things that cause suffering and he says you must be like God he doesn't write us off the first time we cause him grief nor the second nor the third nor the hundred if that were so I wouldn't be in this pulpit nor would you be sitting in that pew you'd be in hell now he says therefore be long suffering to all anyone done anything to you this week that apart from

25:45 long suffering would it cause you to blow your pork look on it as an opportunity to obey this injunction be long suffering to all you want to save your elders a lot of work of mending saints then be long suffering to all then we don't have to step in and sort out fusses amongst God's people this is something you are to do be long suffering to all yes yes even to the one that makes you suffer the most for the longest time be long suffering to all alright all of that out of the one text now we ask you to come prayerfully prepared to show us from the word of God brethren another work of service which is the responsibility if not of all of God's people to the rest of God's people nonetheless a work of service that is to be exercised within the body by more than one person by some of the people of God if not all of them who has come prepared to bring forward such a text alright David alright Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 through 13 and especially what text David 12 to 15 alright Hebrews chapter 3 and so that those that

Exhorting One Another Daily: Hebrews 3:12-13

27:14 listen on the tape and those that are in the farther reaches can hear I will read the text in its entirety take heed brethren he's addressing the word of God the brethren the people of God in their generic identity as the household of God members one of another brothers and that includes the sisters as well but the Bible uses the masculine term primarily it's interesting the church is called bride of Christ but the church is the society of the brethren take heed brethren lest happily there should be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in fallen away from the living God there the responsibility is laid upon who David to make sure that we do not tolerate an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God whose responsibility is it to see to it that we don't fall away every one of us is responsible to be on constant watchfulness lest in ourselves we allow unchecked an evil heart of unbelief that would take us away from the living God but is that all that he says that the brethren are to be on constant self-watch no he then goes on verse 13 but exhort one another day

28:43 by day so long as it is called today lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin now in this verse he adds a new dimension of corporate duty each one of us is to be in a state of constant red alert with regard to our own hearts no one can do that for me I must guard my own heart above all that I guard for out of it are the issues of life Proverbs 4.23 Francisco can't guard my heart for me and I can't guard his heart for him he must guard his own and I must guard his own and each one of you must guard your own no elder can guard yours no fellow member we must take to heart verse 12 constant watchfulness red alert with respect to our own heart and the tendency to unbelief that would take us away from God but in addition to that we have a responsibility one to another to engage in a labor of exhortation now I do know that this word in the original parakaleo is one who is called alongside and it has the full range of words the full idea of encouragement that's very clear in 1 Thessalonians 4.18 wherefore comfort same Greek word encourage one another with these words sometimes the nuance

30:11 is more strongly what you're doing when someone is pulling on the oars coming near the end of the race and the coxswain may be there and say pull give it all you've got one, two he's inciting to greater diligence it's not the soft word of encouragement now you do them all right just keep it up it's barking orders it's what the coach does at halftime when the team's down 25 points and he's seeking to stir them up incite them to action to impel them to greater diligence and sometimes it even has little bits of overtone of admonition where it may have some at least some lacings of exhortation in the sense that we normally think of it of the serious face and the wrinkles the little brow and the pointed finger but primarily it's the concept of drawing alongside to encourage to help to incite to action in a given direction and here we are told that we are to exhort one another on rare and infrequent occasions when the situation is so patently bad that if we don't speak up we'll have a bad conscience and that is what it says what does the text say we are to exhort one another day by day in other words it's to be part and parcel of ordinary Christian experience just as we are on red alert

31:40 for ourselves we're on red alert for our brethren now you better have the order right I'm always suspicious of the person who's out looking how to exhort someone else when his own life is like the field of the sluggard the walls are broken down and the field is full of the weeds of obvious pride and spiritual sloppiness no it's in this order not one without the other but in that order constant red alert regarding myself but then constant loving red alert regarding my brethren exhorting encouraging one another day by day so long as it is called today now notice why we need one another lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin though I may be on red alert sin is so subtle that at times my glasses are fogged right at the point that they need to be clear to see the thing that is hardening me and taking me away from the living God and I may not see it because sin is deceitful from its very entrance into the human race it came clothed in deceptive garb when sin was proposed to Eve it wasn't proposed in terms of pain in her childbirth seeing her first son become a murderer

33:10 standing by the grave of her second born it didn't come that way it came only in terms of a luscious piece of fruit that looked so good and that promised so much that's all she saw if she saw it was good desired it would make her wise pleasant to the eyes it was deceitful and from that time on sin has always been deceitful promises what it can't give gives what it never promises and sometimes though we're on red alert for ourselves sin deceives us but our brothers and sisters can see how sin is at work in us and what's their attitude to be that of Cain my brother's keeper what are you asking me God yes I am my brother's keeper this text says I am brethren exhort one another lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin now let me ask you a question suppose a brother or sister comes to you and says John Mary Henry Helen whatever the name may be and says you know I may be wrong but in times past when you and I have met in the foyer if we happen to call one another up on the phone I noticed it was very natural for you

34:37 in the course of conversation to share with me something that was very precious to you in your devotions to share with me something that out of the matrix of your family life you and your husband had been wrestling with and God had given you a wonderful answer to prayer but you know it's been two or three months now and unless my memory is failing me in my old age I've heard nothing come out of your mouth that has its roots in what God has said to you in your devotional life what God has said to you in your family worship lessons you've learned in seeking to live your family life under the eye of God my brother my sister is it because there's been a sloughing off is it because there's been a coldness now let me ask you if there is some good and rational explanation for that and it's not because of hardness of heart and deceitfulness will a person who is in spiritual hell go off in a huff and go to bed offended that you sought sought to exhort them will you go off in a huff let me ask you more personally would you go off in a huff if there were no cause no you'd say so and so I appreciate your concern for my soul and it may well be that since out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks that maybe I've allowed other concerns

36:07 to crowd out but I can assure you I am by the grace of God being consistent in my devotions and I'm not and God has met me as with all of us some days more than others but my dear friend I can assure you I've not given up private devotions and we've not given up family worship and my husband and I have not given up I'll tell you why I haven't said much when I've said it in the past the conversation has kind of gone dead and I kind of assumed that maybe you didn't like me presuming to be your teacher so I was kind of waiting for you to indicate that you'd like me to do that again and just the very fact that they told me they talked about it they realized that this was a standoff through lack of communication on the other hand on the other hand it just may be that your exhortation your entreaty your encouragement in that area could be the thing God would use to cause the person to say well wait a minute wait a minute though I haven't gone out and committed adultery and though I haven't thrown off attendance at the stated means of grace John or Mary you're right there has been a great erosion in my own devotional life and there has been a sloughing off of vitality in our own family worship and I want you to pray for me because your words have been the words of God to my own heart to get back on track and I fully intend to have dealings with God

37:36 and talk to my husband or my wife about this you see what the issue is? we are to exhort one another day by day so long as it is called today lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin that's why we need one another your eye may see in me that which is like a mole on my ear I can only see it if it's in the back of my ear if I stand in front of the mirror and pick my ear up you sit behind me in church and you can see the thing growing and often through the deceitfulness of sin there are spiritual molds evident to one another that are not evident to ourselves and someone says well what's the big deal? I mean couldn't that create a climate where people would be nitpicking? yes it could there's no blessing that man in his perversity cannot turn to a curse none whatsoever that doesn't mean we throw out that blessing because some make a curse of it there are people cursing themselves today with food I'm not about to go on a slanderous diet starvation diet I want to use food to the glory of God there are people cursing themselves with sex I'm not about to become a eunuch yes there can be an abuse

Mutual Exhortation as a Means of Perseverance (Hebrews 3:14)

39:03 and thank God hopefully those who see it will exhort those abusing it but what's the big deal? what's at stake? look at verse 14 4 now he's going to give a rationale for this twin exhortation we're to be on personal red alert regarding an evil heart of unbelief we're to be on mutual red alert because of the deceitfulness of sin and why is this so important? verse 14 for we are become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end you see what he's saying? this is a matter of the means ordained of God to preserve us in the way of perseverance we are become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end in other words once a true believer always a true believer in spite of the conditions within that call for constant red alert the conditions that call for constant red alert the conditions among us that call for constant mutual red alert

40:31 we shall and we must persevere in faith and the fruits of faith which are a life of holiness unto the end or we will make it manifest that we were never truly partakers of Christ so this duty of mutual encouragement mutual exhortation is according to this passage an integral and necessary element in persevering grace now I believe you're well instructed enough as a congregation that you are convinced of those two truths yea I to the end shall endure yes I to the end must endure both are true and what are the means that God will use here is one of them loving sensitive mutual encouragement particularly with respect to keeping one another alert alive and vigorous in our faith that's the whole emphasis of chapters 3 and 4 the children of Israel did not enter the land of promise because of their unbelief the whole wilderness generation died off because of a hard heart of unbelief and once the nerve of faith is cut

42:01 the hand that grasps the unseen world of spiritual reality where God and Christ and sin and heaven and hell and the cross and the intercession of Christ and all the stuff of the Christian faith it is the hand of faith that holds those realities and when that hand withers and shrivels and everything else goes personal holiness personal disciplines in the way of obedience and discipleship and discipleship and therefore it is crucial that we recognize that God has ordained this means to keep us in the way and if I love my neighbor as myself I will be just as determined that he will persevere to the end as I am determined that I will persevere to the end you see that in the passage so we have the twin responsibility verse 12 red alert with regard to my own evil heart of unbelief you see it's unbelief that leads to apostasy it is letting go of the great realities of the unseen world of spiritual stuff that's what unbelief does that causes us to depart from the living God and when we depart from God we depart to something

Overcoming Barriers to Mutual Exhortation: Indwelling Sin, Fear of Man, and Self-Love

43:28 to the world to the flesh to our appetites to sin to sin of every sort but as we are on personal red alert we are to exhort one another day by day lest any one of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin alright now David was there something else in the passage that you saw and were constrained to underscore good ok in other words you don't find yourself clicking your heels with joy when you have an opportunity to try to exhort to encourage or in the language of first Thessalonians to admonish someone in whom you may see the signs even you don't like to do this why don't you like to do it alright there's an inbred aversion to obey Romans 7 when I would do good evil is present with me so there's the general opposition of remaining sin that whenever we would put any foot in a path of biblical obedience there is this contrary principle of remaining sin

44:57 that would either paralyze the leg or turn it in an opposite direction alright any other specific reasons why you don't find this the easiest thing to do alright so it's much easier to push it off onto the professionals we pay them and why do we want to push it off on them I mean you don't push off payday on us I never yet have had a call I'm serious 30 years in this conversation I've never yet had a call on payday Pastor Martin I've got the most distasteful thing to do this afternoon I've got to go and collect my paycheck will you do it for me never I want in my notes that silly thing just came into my head just now alright so what's the problem then not only the general aversion to anything that is in the direction of the law of God but there is a peculiar aversion and what's at the root of that fear of what fear of man fear of rejection fear that if a brother or sister is manifesting signs of an evil heart of unbelief and faith is waning then the fruit of the spirit will not be flourishing and the first of the nine fruit of the spirit is what love and we're fearful of rejection we're fearful

46:26 of at least temporary alienation and what's the only antidote to that anyone got an answer we're fearful what's the antidote to that Cliff right so fear of God fear of what may happen to our brother fear of the consequences of dulling our own conscience when we don't fulfill a duty that we know we ought and isn't it really a matter of a lack of love for our brother we love ourselves more than we love him and we are afraid of some pain to ourselves more than we are afraid of what sin may do to him see that's why this whole business we need to learn to love ourselves is sheer garbage and nonsense we have bucket loads of natural love for self the first commandment is love God with all your heart and the second is not love yourself so you may love God and love others the assumption is you already have all the love you need for yourself and now God says love your neighbor as yourself you've got plenty of self love now take that natural measure of self love and begin to exercise it towards your brother love your neighbor as yourself and if I'm not I really love my neighbor

47:55 I'm not going to be protecting myself from the possibility of temporary rejection I'll remember the text in Proverbs he that rebuketh a man shall afterward find more favor than he that flatters with his lips faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful so we need to be delivered from the fear of men we need to be delivered from self love that would keep our mouths shut that makes us vulnerable to temporary alienation the thing any faithful preacher faces almost every single time he preaches the word if he knows his people and if he knows the human heart in general rarely is there anything he's teaching of objective truth or applying it but that he cannot think of someone whose big toe may well be stepped upon and if he is not delivered from the fear of man he will hold back a hundred things in the course of a few weeks that otherwise he would say and that's why the scripture says the fear of man brings a snare it snares our tongue but whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe there's no safer place than to be trusting in God enveloped with a good conscience that I have pleased my Lord then if my friend my brother or sister temporarily frowns it's like a husband

49:23 I'm sure there are times when you've had to lovingly gently tactfully admonish your dear wife and she has not thrown her arms around your neck and said sweetheart you are the best husband in all the world I love it when you exhort me I'm sure there are times when you've had to be willing for the sparks and vice versa I'm sure there are times when your wife has had to take David in hand and you have not fallen down at her feet and say oh what a blessing that was to have a wife like you that nails me to the wall when I need it right? but you thank God she did it anyway and when you got humbled and came to your senses and got rid of your stinking male pride you said well what did God give me a helper for but to point out my sins who knows them better than God but my wife and here I am bucking against the very in-house Nathanist that God has given me shame on me you come to your senses and then you really do inwardly if not outwardly fall down at her feet and say thank you sweetheart for being such a good wife to me well what's true in the husband-wife parent-child it's true in the brother-sister relationship in the family of God we've got to be willing for temporary sparks if we're not we don't really love one another so the problem is the general aversion of indwelling sin the specific problem of the fear of man

Concluding Prayer and Future Study

50:53 self-love oh my and our time is gone it is 10.33 so we've got to stop but we've covered one more text and that's the second one that I had right there Hebrews 3.13 we could add to it Hebrews 10.24 provoking unto love and good works and there was 1 Thessalonians 5.14 so we got through one line of the text that we have here let's continue to pray search the word and someone had his hand raised back away who was it Henry we'll take that up God willing first time next week alright good let's pray together our father how we thank you for this blessed time that we have been privileged to spend together in your presence and under the authority of your word thank you for your people and their love for your word and we believe the rank and file who desire with all their hearts to be obedient to it we thank you for this text that David has brought to our attention Lord it speaks so clearly so clearly

52:03 that we cannot claim ignorance but we must confess that native indisposition to fulfill what is our clearly revealed duty give us such love to you and love to one another and such death to self love that we may indeed be on constant personal red alert for our own souls and constant red alert for the souls of one another oh God deliver us from the self love that would allow us to see the signs of departing from you and be silent Lord liberate us truly to love one another seal your word we pray for our good and for your glory in Jesus name Amen