Ye Are Lights of the World

Introduction: Burden and Divine Direction

0:02 ...mind with reference to just what might be his word for us as we met tonight.

0:09 I confess I went through great trauma of spirit. I had hoped that I would be able to take out something that had been of help to the Lord's people in some other situation and refresh my own mind with that truth and share it with you. But as the hours drew near to our gathering tonight, I had no rest in my spirit and about 2.30 this afternoon began to get panicky before the Lord with reference to the responsibility.

0:42 And we had no conferring on this matter and I think it was at least some indication of a kind providence that the thrust of what's on my heart has already been introduced by the two hymns, that one that we've sung and one that has been sung in our hearing. I would direct your attention...

1:03 I would direct your attention to Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, Philippians chapter 2.

1:12 Bob had suggested that perhaps I share some thoughts, some observations relative to a recent trip I was privileged to make to some mission fields in Pakistan and in the Middle East. And that just went dead in my hands. I had no sense of the thing gripping my own spirit. And so I said, no, that's not what we need to deal with tonight.

1:35 And then my mind was directed... I was directed to this portion of the word of God, Philippians chapter 2, verse 12.

1:42 So then, my beloved, even as you've always obeyed, not as much 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 worketh in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and questionings, that ye may become blameless. and harmless, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain, neither labor in vain. Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. And in the same manner do ye also joy and rejoice, with me.

The Christian as Light in Darkness

2:40 Now it is not my concern to give a careful exposition of this portion, as would be the pattern in a regular service of worship, but I want to say some things based upon the perspective of the apostle, articulated particularly in verses 14 and 15, to say some things that I would imagine are not said too often in the normal church situation, but things which need to be said to us, as the servants of Christ, serving him in our respective callings. And the perspective is that suggested by Paul's direction to the Philippians, Do all things without murmurings and questionings, that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world. And here it is obvious that the apostle Paul, calling the Philippians to a lifestyle that will be in such marked contrast to that lifestyle of the world, that it will be the contrast between light and darkness. For I remind you of something you've heard many, many times, you've read many, many times, that the same Savior who said of himself, I am the light of the world, said of his own, Ye are the light of the world. And in this passage, the emphasis is upon the responsibility, the emphasis is upon the responsibility,

4:09 the responsibility of the Christian to shine as lights in a world that has been described in these terms, crooked and perverse, which are simply more synonyms for the general description of a world that lies in the power of the wicked one, that lies under the grip of darkness. And I'm thinking particularly of certain areas in which there is unusual necessity for us to shine as lights because in a very special way the powers of darkness are seeking to inundate our whole society with facets of the kingdom of darkness. Now this exhortation to shine as lights in the world can be carried out to apply to every single area in which the lifestyle of the child of God is diametrically opposed to the lifestyle of the worldling. But what I want to do is to reach into certain areas that I think are of peculiar importance to us in the context of our own particular generation. I think of a word that Luther spoke as he thought of the crisis of his own generation. He said, and I quote Luther, If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point

5:37 which the world and the devil are at that moment in time at that moment attacking I am not confessing Christ however boldly I may be professing Christ where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefield besides this is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. Now I believe there are certain areas on the battlefield between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light where the battle is raging with unusual fierceness at this precise hour in human history. And I would like to exhort you my brothers and sisters as those who meet tonight under the canopy of a common experience at some point in your spiritual development associated with Columbia Bible College but more so we meet as those who have a common identity with our Lord Jesus Christ and we're jealous. For the honor of His name any other human name any other human institution eventually goes to the dogs and with it the name goes to the dogs. But there is but one name there is but one institution that God is committed to uphold. That's the name of His dear Son and that's the church which He purchased with His own precious blood.

7:01 Now we pray and we use every influence possible to see that whatever we can do to preserve the spiritual integrity of an institution such as CBC. We do seek to exert our influence. The churches in which we labor either as pastors or as members of those assemblies but history tells us that every single institution has its day and that it passes into oblivion or it really merely remains as the shadow of a great man or a great movement and the soul goes out of the thing and there's nothing but the carcass left. But there is one cause one name to which God is committed and it's the cause of His own dear Son and it is the church which He purchased with His blood. So I speak to you then out of that I trust common identity of concern for the honor of Christ and Bob when should we aim at being done here? Half an hour be alright? I've got enough things to keep us busy for a lot longer than that but I'll aim at half an hour.

Three Spheres of Christian Witness

8:02 Alright? Because I know all of you have responsibilities. Now all of us carry out our lives basically in three spheres. There is our general contentment in society the people with whom we work the schools in which we teach or administrate the office the shop the neighbors with whom we have social intercourse the people whom we meet down the street.

Shining in Society: Dignity of Life, Authority, Sexuality, and Work

8:27 We carry out our lives in the general sphere of contact with society at large then we carry on our lives within the domestic sphere our homes and then the third major sphere of course is that of our churches. And I should like to exhort and challenge you as I've exhorted myself in preparation for these thoughts to remember the words of the Apostle that we are to shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation that in these three areas or spheres in which we carry out our witness we are to make it evident that we stand out in bold relief against everything to which the world is committed and in particular those spaces that I'm going to touch upon. All right, let's take the first broad area society in general. If you and I are to shine as lights against the peculiar manifestations of darkness in our day we must by word and deed bear witness to the dignity of human life.

9:33 There is a concerted effort to undermine everything that the scripture teaches concerning the dignity of human life and this is being manifested in two ways. In two very critical areas the wholesale slaughter of unborn fetuses and the refusal put to death murderers and both of these are a frontal attack upon the dignity and the sanctity of human life.

10:03 It's strange that the generation that produces bumper stickers be careful I stop for animals is the generation that has produced legislation that butchers human beings by the millions. Isn't it strange? The generation that deifies a flower will treat an unborn life as though it's nothing but the collection of a few cells.

10:30 And the biblical doctrine of redemption so precious to us has its tap roots in the biblical doctrine of creation. And the biblical doctrine of creation is a doctrine that sets forth the dignity of human life because man is an image bearer of God.

10:49 In the beginning created he then male and female in his own image. And you remember in Genesis 9 and verse 6 it is this very thought that causes the writer to enunciate the principle whosoever sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God created he him. In other words human life has such inherent dignity as being an image bearer of God that anyone who will take upon himself violently to snatch away the life of another must by the forfeiture of his own life be an eloquent testimony to the dignity of the life that he took.

11:35 And I believe as Christians God calls upon us not to be campaigners not to put on sign boards and to walk up and down Fifth Avenue and have the right to life bumper stickers plastered on our foreheads no no but I'm saying in the spheres in which God has given us opportunity to have contact with people that we will not be silent it's not enough to say well what does this have to do with the gospel well everything because you see it's only as man recognizes that he is an image bearer of God accountable to God a moral creature that the doctrine of sin and salvation and grace and redemption will make any sense whatsoever and we're called upon to be lights in the midst of darkness bearing witness to the dignity of human life wherever we can by whatever means we can writing our legislators where possible doing what we can to make something of our Christian concern manifested. And the second area in which I believe we're called upon to be lights in the midst of darkness in society in general we must by word indeed bear witness not only to the dignity of human life but to the validity of constituted authority in every single area of our own national life

13:03 there is an attitude of blatant anarchy that has as its watchword human rights it's an interesting thing that our founding forefathers did not talk so much about human rights as they talked about human responsibilities and duties before God and 2 Peter 2.10 is perhaps the most apt description of the whole spirit in the mental world of our generation Peter describes a people that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise dominion daring self-willed they tremble not to rail at dignities they despise dominion self-willed in such a situation we as the people of God are called upon to manifest our subjection to the clear teaching of the word of God expressed in the text in such portions as Romans 13 when Paul wrote to the Roman Christians and says there is no power but the power that is ordained of God whosoever therefore resisted the power resisted the ordinance of God that was not an elected president who had the power of government in his own hands wasn't a Christian

14:31 but he speaks even at the existing Roman government and says to the Christians at Rome nearest to the seat of that pagan government the powers that be are ordained of God and whosoever resists them resists the ordinance Peter writes along the same line in 1 Peter 2.13 submitting to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether unto the king as unto supreme unto governors that are sent by him right on down through to verse 18 so in the whole area of our relationship as employees in our relationship to those who are over us in any structure of constituted authority it is essential that we shine as lights in the midst of darkness and make it evident that we respect the biblical norms concerning the validity of constituted authority and then the third area in society in general is what I'm calling the sanctity of human sexuality need I remind any of you that we're living in a world where we're living in a world where we're living in a world where we're living in a world in a day when the sanctity of human sexuality is being attacked from every single particularly in two ways the sexual identity as fixed by God there's a sense in which there's one area where you can't fight God

15:59 he caused you to be conceived a male or a female and essentially the unisex movement in clothing and with reference to the obliteration of distinctive domestic roles etc. it's man's last ditch stand against God saying even in the area where I cannot deny that I'm male or female I'll do all within my power to absolutely gloss over any marked evidence that I recognize that distinction now I am not saying that every person who wears clothing or adopts fashions that have their roots in the unisex clothing style is consciously doing this I'm not saying that that would be both ignorant and untrue and unkind and everything else but I am saying that the whole move that undermines the movement in that direction is a blatant affront upon this very principle chapter 11 is the classic statement of the fact that it is God who has established the sexual differences and assigned to them specific roles and relationships and relationships and relationships and the essence of Paul's exhortation in 1 Corinthians 11 is if anyone should make it evident

17:25 that he embraces his God-given identity it is the Christian therefore Christian men be masculine whatever that means in the context of your society Christian women be feminine whatever that means and of course the second area in which the sanctity of human sexuality is being undermined is with reference to sexual activity itself there was a day when homosexuality was called sodomy and was judged so by the courts then it became sickness then it became viable lifestyle now the latest evangelism of the gay movement is to say it is the most desirable life some of you people got hang-ups you're only heterosexual you can only relate to those of the opposite sex well if you just go the next step and become homosexual now you are bisexual and you've attained to your fullest development now if you're not homosexual you're not aware that this is what the world's saying I don't know where you've been I don't know where you're carrying out your witness this is what's being said and it's being promoted aggressively and evangelistically not by some kooks on the corner somewhere but by people who have their MDs and their PhDs all due respect to my brother but this is being said we're called upon to shine as lights in the midst of darkness and how do we do so? we do so by making it evident

18:54 in all of our demeanor in all of our in all of our attitudes in what we snicker at in what we refuse to snicker at that we accept the sanctity of human sexuality not only in terms of our identity as men or women but in terms of the activity that we will approve of as being of God it's a sad thing to read in the secular magazines that Maribel Morgan's book The Total Woman they can't keep enough of them on the bookshelves in the evangelical bookstores and it's a form of pop hedonism it's Playboy stripped of the glossy pictures and Maribel Morgan is teaching Christian wives how to be little playthings who by being little bunnies Christian bunnies to their husbands can manipulate them to get what they want that's exactly her thesis and the Christian bookstores cannot keep the bookshelves full of

19:58 to shine as lights in the midst of darkness even the world has picked this up Time Magazine Newsweek has run articles some of the women's magazines on Maribel Morgan's book and others like that and they've seen right through it and yet they know that the quote professing Christian world is running crazy after this stuff we're called upon to show that we're in the realm of light not in the realm of darkness well the last thing I'll touch on very quickly in this whole area of our general relationship to society is what I'm calling the necessity of labor and industriousness the Bible's attitude to labor is that it is given by the appointment of God to man in his innocency God gave us Adam a job to do not after he fell but before he fell he put him in the garden to dress it and to keep it and when he fell work was not the punishment but there were to be discomforts attached to the work that was the punishment in sweat he says you'll now cause the earth to bring forth part of the fourth commandment you see is six days shall thou labor we usually put the emphasis on this one day and seven cycle of rest but the commandment to labor work is honorable in itself but the commandment apart from what you're able to do with the proceeds of your labor in supporting the work of God it is honorable to be found engaged in your legitimate calling in life

21:27 and oh how we need desperately to bear witness to this by our attitude to work because the average American has the idea that work is a necessary evil to be indulged in for only so long a time as is necessary to get enough money to play that's right that's the whole view of work that's the work work ethic of the 1970s in America work is a necessary evil to be indulged in only so far as is necessary to get enough to go play no no not so the Christian so if you're one of these that stretches your coffee break beyond the legitimate time you're not shining as light in the midst of darkness it's interesting that the thing that introduced this was the word do all things without murmurings and questioning and oh the murmurings and the questionings that go on with relationship to legitimate work responsibilities well I call upon you my brothers and sisters to shine as lights in the midst of darkness in our general interaction with society in these four areas now I hurry on and I'll just give you the main headings because my time is half gone I want to say a few things about the domestic sphere if we're to be light shining in the midst of darkness then there must be absolutely no hedging absolutely no equivocation whatsoever in these three three areas

Shining in the Domestic Sphere: Roles, Children, and Priorities

22:55 number one submission to the divine order for the roles of husbands and wives submission to the divine order for the roles of husbands and wives we do not take the position that is being blatantly and again aggressively propagated in our day that our present mentality with reference to the wife having a distinctive role and the husband having a distinctive role is simply a cultural conditioning business I heard one of these women just the other day and she was really hot under the collar she says it seconds me she said the minute you turn the kids loose in the nursery school where do they put the little girls over to play with the dolls and where do they put the fellas over to play with the trucks she says they condition them to think that way there's absolutely no reason why the girls should not be thinking trucks instead of dolls the whole concept that she should be conditioned to think of motherhood she said is terrible serious you could see her juggler veins standing on the side of her neck and boy she was really going at it and that's just the tip of the iceberg Don Ritter missionary a graduate of CBC and his wife Liz whom we now fully support and for whom we have the direct responsibility as a church in Sweden they share with you what's happened there with this experimentation

24:23 of role reversal taking it serious well what an opportunity to shine his lights in the midst of darkness why do we believe that there is a distinctive role for wife and mother because marriage is not an accident in the evolutionary process it is the expression of the wise loving design of the creator God it was God who said I will make him help answering to his needs it was God who brought her to the man it is God who says husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church exercise a headship that is characterized by tenderness being solicitous for every need of your wife oh they say that's feminine no it's scriptural you see the man who really exemplifies the tender sensitive nourishing love of Christ to his church and his relationship to his wife he'll be accused of fawning over his wife well thank God Christ fawns over his church or I wouldn't be standing here tonight he nourishes and he cherishes his church husbands that's how you're to love and in that context you're to exercise an administrative headship over that domestic circle wives as the church is subject to Christ a trustful loving abandoned subjection isn't that the submission you render to Christ

25:52 I hope it is if you're a Christian you do you don't cower in the corner before your Lord he's moved towards you in his redemptive love and the response to your love the response of a heart quickened by the Spirit is here Lord I give myself to you it is all that I can do as the church is subject to Christ so let the wives be to their husbands in everything and I say if we're to shine as lights in the midst of darkness what opportunities we have you women talking with other women in the neighborhood this they don't have any concept like this what an opportunity for you by your attitude and where you can judiciously slip in a word concerning that which lies behind your attitude and your demeanor we're to shine as lights in the domestic sphere evidencing no equivocation at all on our submission to the divine order in our role secondly in the implementation of the divine directives for the rearing of our children it was a sad thing when a year ago this past January Dr. Spock wrote his article in Red Book and said folks I goofed maybe you see that article maybe you hear of it it was sad the radical generation of the 60's was called the Spock generation and now the poor old man says I goofed

27:20 I missed it I missed it and you know when I've been teaching on the Christian home and expounding principles from the book of Proverbs I've had Christians ready to fight me and tar and feather me they didn't prove my exegesis wrong but I dared to say that Solomon was not culturally conditioned to act like a man when he used such terminology as he that loveth his son chasteneth him diligently thou beat him with the rod he shall not die thou shalt deliver his soul from hell and I've dared to tell Christian parents all your prayers that God will save your children are mockery until you begin to apply the rod firmly with principle and in love God says the rod is a means of grace to deliver your soul the soul of your child from hell had a young woman here at the back of the church just last week how old is the little our baby honey year not a year yet oh no he was exerting his Adam very obvious and he was slapping someone and the young mother said well pastor I don't understand it how can I teach him he's not to slap when I slap him for it I said let me ask you one question does he have authority from God

28:49 to slap anybody she said no I said do you have authority from God to spank him she said yes I said no whether you understand it or not in the name of the Lord you exercise your God given authority and responsibility and God will honor it I don't understand I don't understand the psychology of the relationship between firm loving consistent discipline that brings some very sharp awareness to nerve endings and various parts of the anatomy and the formation of soul and character but I've seen with my own eyes the blessing of God and the upon that kind of simple faith and obedience that does what God says we need to shine as lights in the midst of darkness by the implementation of divine directives for the rearing of our children in the area of discipline and we could go into Ephesians 6 4 and its application to Christian schools and the rest but time will not permit I want to touch one third area namely the exemplification of biblical priorities in our whole lifestyle and oh how necessary this is we've heard it until it becomes a truism that this is an affluent society inflation and deflation all together notwithstanding you spend a few weeks in a country like Pakistan and you realize we could have our money

30:18 devalued five times over have our income cut in half and have inflation soar ten times more and we'd still be wealthy compared to those poor people a week and a half to two weeks wages for a pair of shoes now you figure that out in terms of your earning power a third of a day's wages for a day's work for a dozen oranges half a day's wages for a pound of rice and yesterday's luxuries have become today's conveniences and tomorrow's necessities and we need to shine as lights in the midst of darkness and the Lord said seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and every necessary thing will be added to us and the writer to the Hebrew says having food and raiment sufficient for the meeting of our basic necessities let us therewith be content be content be content be content be content be content be content that's the admonition of God raiment content but no we're bombarded there's the constant bombardment by the media to say well you shouldn't be content all you've got is that old eight year old range well that doesn't have the latest clean yourself feature and that doesn't have this and that it's calculated to create discontent with such things as ye have now we've got to shine as lights in the midst of darkness this is no neutral influence not to be no no

31:47 that's the influence of a world that has no God so it's made things it's God and we are called upon to shine as lights in the midst of that darkness and what a blessed thing when a family can stand in the midst of a sea of affluent materialism and know something of that wonderful release from itching for more things it's a common saying in our house that the kids say you know that so and so got such and such and such and such and such and such and such and such and such and such and such down the street I say hmm isn't that interesting what's that have to do with us I just look real stupid what's that have to do with us well I say what's that have to do with us it has nothing to do with how this house runs we operate on a totally different basis of perspective and ambition and then we just begin to enumerate what we have that they don't have in terms of those values that can't be touched with moth and with rust we had a classic example of it just recently one of our keen young men one of the deacons in our assembly was offered a position that would have meant a doubling of his salary and it wouldn't have shot him from five thousand to ten thousand I'll tell you he has a whole group of engineers under him would have meant prestige the thing that a lot of men fifteen years older than he would have sold their souls for and they couldn't understand it and he said no

33:15 I see the price tag's too high and he bailed out of the company he said the most important thing to me is my own walk with God my own family and my own church and I said and they looked at him and they can't figure out guys like that but the next day when the boss knew he would not be dissuaded he said to him calling him by his first name so and so he said twenty years ago I think that's the time limit fifteen, twenty years ago he said I stood where you stand now and I made a decision and everything that's been offered to you I wanted and I took it but the price I've paid is I've lost my wife and my kids so I have a woman at home and people at home but I don't have a wife and children that I feel I know here was light in the midst of darkness you see showing a totally different set of priorities and that's what God calls upon us to do at every stage well in the five minutes that are left let me touch the last area in the area of our churches and it would be a wonderful thing if we could say that the visible church of Christ was immune from the influence of the spirit of darkness but it isn't and I want to say a couple of things very quickly and I'll have to guard them with some qualifying statements lest I be misunderstood because time will not permit any extensive treatment but there are several areas where I believe we need as God's people professing subjection to the scriptures to shine as lights

Shining in the Church: Supremacy, Preaching, Truth, and Norms

34:42 and the first one is this in the area of our church relationships we must insist upon the supremacy of the institutional church now let me explain what I mean by institutional church I do not mean decadent ecclesiastical graveyards but I mean visible communities of saints organized and functioning as a living organism after the biblical pattern that's what I'm talking about I'm talking about what Paul meant when he spoke wrote and said to the church which is at Corinth the visible organized functioning body of assembly of believers the assembly of God at Corinth now why do I say we need to insist upon the supremacy of the institutional church for the simple reason that we need to insist on the supremacy of the institutional church for the simple reason that in 1st Timothy 3 one of the most pointed letters in the New Testament dealing with the subject of the local church Paul says this to Timothy these things I write unto you hoping to come shortly but if I tarry long that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth here Paul calls the church the pillar and ground of the truth now he's not talking about the church universal he's not talking about the church invisible

36:11 he left Timothy there at Ephesus verse 3 of chapter 1 in order to assist the churches in Ephesus to assist them in ridding themselves of these heretics who were teaching wrong doctrine based on a perversion of the law he was there to guide them in their public worship chapter 2 the place of men and women chapter 2 verse 1 verse 8 to 15 the election of deacons and elders chapter 3 and he says now if I do not come I want you to have a manual of behavior in the church now the church there is obviously the church is local the church is visible the church is organized and functioning and he calls them the pillar and ground of the truth now God has constituted but one pillar and ground of his truth and that is the church now the church the church is perfectly warranted in establishing organs to carry out some of her functions her function is to evangelize to baptize to teach and the church in carrying out her mission at times must establish certain organs to carry out her functions but when these organs become organisms that bleed off the life from the church itself something is wrong for instance let me illustrate it's possible for someone in our present setup

37:40 to come right through from being converted to being a full time Christian worker and never once have been a vital part of a visible functioning local church he gets converted in a non-church youth movement alright and his camaraderie with these other young people is such that going into a place where you got some old people and some not so sharp looking people and some will look a little dull and some will dress a little bad he's been with the kids that are all with it you see and the youth leader who's always got the latest styles and all the rest you know right with it so that becomes his intimate tie of fellowship well he isn't there very long before someone says look you got to get the gab you ought to get trained for the work of the ministry somewhere so he goes off to a bible school or a bible college and what happens why is it bible college well that becomes his closest association and generally speaking if the bible college is interdenominational it doesn't teach any definitive doctrine on the church because that cuts off some of your constituency so there are no deep ties with the church then lo and behold while he's at bible college the missions representative comes to chapel and says oh he gave a good pitch for his mission I'll apply to his mission and he applies to the mission gets accepted by the mission and the only time he sees the church is when he needs to beat the woods for some money and I'm not caricaturing and then he goes out to the mission field having never seen that the church is the pillar and ground

39:10 of the truth and he's never been part of the church I confess to my shame this was true of me for years I confess it to my shame and I believe we're seeing the fruits of this on the mission field and one of the things that has struck me as God has been privileged to open doors of ministry among missionaries and pastors and Christian workers in other countries is to see the confusion over the doctrine of the church and if the devil hates the truth you know what he's doing he's going to try to undermine that which God has made and he's going to made the pillar and the ground of the truth so my exhortation is if we would shine as lights let us give due place to the supremacy of the institutional church secondly the centrality of preaching in the church and oh how I'd love to just take off for about an hour now we're in the day of dialogue the day of drama the day of discussion the day of group sharing and added to all this the day of charismatic flights into revelations and fantasies of all no no my friend God has given to preaching a central place that will never be replaced both in the calling out of his sheep and in the building up of his own it is the scriptures that are able to make us wise unto salvation and to furnish us unto every good work

40:37 but they must be opened up they must be applied they must be shown in their proper use for doctrine reproof correction instruction and righteousness 2nd Timothy 3 and verse 16 but you see we live in a day that doesn't like the idea of authority because you see preaching is not a man sharing his own notions preaching of it is that it's a fellow mortal standing in the name of God declaring the word of God in the authority of God so that you're having dealings with the God before whom you'll stand in judgment and I believe we need at every level I don't care what your responsibilities are in your church situation don't care don't allow any erosion of the centrality of preaching and sit by silently if you've got to be an old crank in the corner you be over there and squeak and squeak good and loud and thump or whine or do something but seek to call the attention of your church leaders to the fact that God is ordained by the foolishness of the thing preached is a literal translation of 1 Corinthians 1.18 by the thing preached which has referenced both the confidence and the form of communication to say them that believe it is by speaking the truth in love that we are built up into Christ in all things Ephesians 4 and then we need to insist upon

42:03 the necessity of knowing and receiving the whole counsel of God's truth we live in a day when we have the minimizing mentality what can we take as the minimal common denominator and call it evangelical faith whereas God has given us the whole of his word to our prophet all scripture is God breathed and profitable Paul could say as a missionary I have not shunned from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God Acts 26 and verse 20 and then finally we need to insist on the validity and authority of biblical norms for church life this whole matter of the ordination of women this is no tempest in a teapot this is a death struggle concerning the church life concerning the issue who will rule in his church Jesus Christ or present fans nothing could be plainer in the word of God that the woman is excluded from the teaching preaching office of a mixed assembly not because of intellectual inferiority not because of a lesser spiritual dignity no no not at all in terms of creative dignity in terms of native ability there is equality across the sexes but God roots this in the order of creation in the order of the fall in 1st Timothy chapter 2 and it's flying into the face of what God

43:31 has clearly revealed and people say oh it's a little thing my friend listen if King Jesus can be snubbed in this area where he speaks so clearly it won't be long before he'll be snubbed in every area where there will be lights in the midst of darkness Luther says it's where the battle rages but there the loyalty of the soldier is tested oh man can be polished in his brass and you know whistling up a storm looking like a brave soldier over there where no fighting's going on but where there's hand to hand combat here's the issue now I had to run that risk tonight you see not knowing you personally and this is what made it so difficult to get to know the mind of the Lord in this some of you may not like what I've said but I only plead with you to judge it in the light of the scriptures that's my only plea you claim to believe the Bible is the final court of appeal I plead with you I plead with you that as God's people we should be light in the midst of darkness shining in those spheres in society where the darkness would press in upon us shining in those spheres domestically shining in those spheres in the realm of the church well may the Lord take these thoughts and be pleased to bring some good out of them to our prophet and I trust to the prophet of others with whom we may have opportunity to discuss these things thank you

Conclusion and Benediction

45:00 thank you Bob for the opportunity of coming and thank you for your patience in listening