Story for the 3rd Week of July, 2014

The Parable of the Father who Forgives His Son

Text:  Luke 5:1-3, 11-32

Themes:  God loves us very much and forgives those who do not deserve forgiveness.

Story:

All the tax collectors and other disreputable people approached Jesus to hear him. The Pharisees and scribes criticized him for this, saying: - This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. - Then Jesus told them this parable: 

- "A man had two sons, and the younger said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate that is due me.' So the father divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son sold his part of the property, and with that money went away to another country, where he squandered it all in riotous living. But when he had spent everything, there was a great shortage of food in the country, and he began to starve. He was looking for work and a local man sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he wanted to be filled with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one would give him anything to eat. 

At last he said to himself, 'How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will return to my father's house, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Treat me like one of your hired men. 'So he got up and returned to his father's house. 

"When he was still far off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him. He ran to meet his son, and received him with hugs and kisses. The son said, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 'But the father said to his servants,' Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it.  Let's celebrate with a feast! For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; was lost and is found.’ So the party started. 

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he returned and came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what had happened. The servant said to him, 'Your brother has returned; and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has come home safe and sound. 'But the older brother, would not go in to the party because he was very angry. So his father had to go out and beg him to come inside. He told his father: "You know how many years I have served you.  I have never disobeyed you, and you never gave me even a young goat to have a meal with my friends. But now comes this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes, and you kill the fattened calf for him.'

His father said, 'Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate with a feast and rejoice, because your brother was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'

This is the story we find in God's word. 

Does Baptism Save Us - Part 2

Baptism relates to regeneration symbolically, not causally.

The Bible so closely links regeneration to its symbol, baptism, that people often confuse their relationship.  In the first century of the church, baptism took place moments after coming to faith in Jesus (Acts 2; 8; 10; 16; 18) and was when new believers actually repented and called on the name of the Lord.   Peter says that they made an “appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”—at baptism (1 Peter 3:21).  Nowadays, baptism often takes place weeks, months or years after a person repents and believes the gospel. Many churches have lost the urgency and original use of baptism as the time for repenting and turning to Christ for salvation.  Thankfully, some have returned to a biblical pattern of spontaneous baptism, forsaking the card-signing and hand-raising of late, and teaching people to publicly repent and be baptized when they come to faith in Christ.

Baptism for the remission of sins?

A few verses of the Bible seem to say that forgiveness of sins depends on water baptism.  How must we understand Peter’s command in Acts 2:38, “…repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”?  As we have already seen in the first installment of this series, Jesus forgives our sins when we turn to God in faith, apart from works—this is the clear teaching of Scripture.  So then, the phrase, “for the remission of sins,” cannot mean “in order to obtain remission of sins,” but “because your sins have been remitted.”  For example, you may take an aspirin for a headache.  You do not take an aspirin because you want to obtain a headache, but because you already have one.  Likewise, you do not get baptized in order to receive forgiveness of sins, but because you already received forgiveness of sins when you turned to Jesus in faith.  John the baptist also preached a baptism “for the remission of sins” but we do not hold that his baptism actually procured forgiveness of sins for his followers.  Instead, we understand that anyone who turns to God receives forgiveness.  Remission of sins through faith in Jesus leads us to submit to water baptism.  

Washing away your sins by baptism or by calling on His name?

Another verse that strongly connects baptism with forgiveness of sins says, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.”  The construction of this verse unequivocally relates baptism with conversion.  Baptism shows off our conversion, but it does not effect our conversion.  The water of baptism has no more power to cleanse the soul of sin than the scalpel of circumcision has to make a man’s heart new. The power to regenerate and cleanse the sin-stained soul belongs to God’s Spirit (John 1:12-13).  We must conclude that, “Wash away your sins,” relates symbolically to “be baptized” and finds its actual cause in the last phrase in the verse, “calling on His name.”  (Romans 10:13)


Tell me about your interactions with others on baptism.  Do these suggestions for understanding baptism's relationship to forgiveness help you?  

Does Baptism Save Us? Part 1

When we speak of salvation, we often refer to passing from death to life, from eternal separation from God to reconciliation with God through Jesus.  The Bible, though, makes many uses of the word salvation or saved.  For example, 1 Timothy 2:15 says that believing women will be saved through childbearing, yet no one believes that giving birth reconciles a woman to God.  We must understand “saved” to refer to another kind of salvation.  Paul uses the word saved in 1 Timothy 4:16 when he tells Timothy to, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”  If we say that our eternal reconciliation to God depends on how well our teachers watch themselves and their doctrine, we deny the sufficiency of the work of Jesus for us and hang our salvation on the abilities of a merely human teacher.  Paul wants Timothy to watch himself and what he teaches so that his hearers will flourish in their faith and be saved from the anguish and shipwreck that results from believing false teaching.  

According to Jesus, "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”  (John 5:24)  Who has eternal life, according to Jesus?  Whoever hears Jesus’ word and believes God.  The New Testament repeats this unqualified statement concerning receiving eternal life through believing in many places:  John 1:12; 3:14-16, 18, 36; 6:40, 47;  Acts 13:48; 16:31; Romans 4; 10:9; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 John 5:13.  

Clearly, we receive eternal life when we believe the good news of Jesus. We experience eternal life through uninhibited access to the Father through Jesus.  He counts us righteous and forgives our sins so we can enter boldly before the throne of grace.  All of these benefits come to us through faith apart from works so that man cannot boast of his own abilities (Romans 4:1-12; Ephesians 2:8-9).   

Some parts of the Bible seem to say that forgiveness of sins, and thus salvation, depends on water baptism.  This definitely contradicts the teaching of Jesus on receiving eternal life when we believe.  My next post will work through these passages and the relationship between baptism and the forgiveness of sins.  

10 Things to Pray for That are Definitely God's Will

Jesus says in Luke 11, that if we ask, seek and knock we will receive, find and have doors opened to us.  Obviously, not everything we ask for in prayer appears magically when we want it.  Does Jesus give us some clue as to the kinds of prayer he always answers with a resounding, "Yes!"?  He sure does!  In the same chapter of Luke, we find a great clue on answered prayer--ask for what God tells us to ask or what he has promised to give.  Here are ten things you can pray for and know for sure He'll give you.  (Seven of the ten are found in Luke 11.)

1. Ask for many to hold His name sacred.
2. Ask for His kingdom to come.
3. Ask Him to accomplish His will on earth as in heaven.
4. Ask Him to provide enough for you to daily accomplish His will.
5. Ask God for forgiveness, as you forgive others.
6. Ask God to deliver you from temptations and evil.
7. Ask to receive the Holy Spirit.
8. Ask for wisdom about everything (James 1:5)
9. Ask for God to send more people to work in sharing the good news of Jesus. (Matthew 9:38)
10. Ask for unity among followers of Christ. (John 17:21)

Bonus:  If you run out of things to ask for in prayer, stop and listen for a bit, asking God to prompt you in prayer.  God still speaks and will show you what to pray for.  Sometimes, when you have no clue what to pray for, the Holy Spirit will pray for you.  Of course, God cannot ignore these prayers, since they come from His own heart to ours.

The Trinity and Salvation Part 5

The Son of God is a person, in the sense that He can relate to others through being sent, loving, bearing witness, and communicating. Person is used here in a theological sense, and is not the same as human or being.  Really, it is here that many non-trinitarians get hung up on the Trinity as a summary of Biblical data.  

The use of the term person in regards to God does not make Him a human being, because Trinitarians use the term in a sense that simply makes note of the capacity to relate to others.  When we say that God is three persons, we mean that God is three «Whos», not just one.  He is not one Who, playing three Whos (ala Jakes and other Oneness adherents).  He is one God that is also three Persons.  Hank Hanegraaff says that God is one «What» and three «Whos».  

The Son is a Person, distinct from the Father, because He was sent by the Father.

This is important, because the Gospel teaches us that God sent his only Son to die for those who believe.  It teaches us that this was a sacrificial act on behalf of God.  He gave up something.  God the Father watched as His Son took “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:7-9)  The Father didn’t take on the form of a servant, the Son did.

This agonizing experience for both the Son and the Father gives profound meaning to John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Oneness Pentecostals say, “God so loved the world that he didn’t send someone else… He came Himself.”  In fact, I have heard Oneness Pentecostal preachers mock the idea that the Father would send someone else to die, as a form of cowardice.  This kind of mockery, though aimed at Trinitarians and not at the Bible per se, reveals how the Oneness view of God denies the Gospel.  

Let's look at the Biblical evidence of personhood for the Son of God:

All of the “sent” language of the New Testament must be read as “came Himself”, for the Oneness position to be correct.  Let’s try a few:

1 John 4:14, And we have seen and testify that the Father has “come Himself”  to be the Savior of the world.

John 3:17, For God did not “come Himself” into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through “himself”.

John 17:18, As you “came Yourself” into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

John 17:3 Now this is eternal life:  that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have “come Yourself.”

John 20:21  Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you!  As the Father has “come Himself”, I am sending you.

The Oneness view makes utter nonsense of these passages.  

The Son is a Person, distinct from the Father, because they love each other.

To see how central this idea is to the Gospel, we can take a look a some verses that teach it and change them to match the Oneness position:

John 5:20 For the Father loves “Himself” and shows “himself” all that he himself is doing.   In fact, the Father will show “himself” how to do even greater works than healing this man.   

Matthew 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is “myself”, whom I love; with “myself” I am well pleased."

John 3:35 The Father loves “Himself” and has placed everything in his “own” hands.

The Son is a Person, distinct from the Father, because they count as distinct witnesses for the authority of Jesus' teaching.

John 8:16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. 17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me.

Jesus clearly makes a distinction in persons evident here making a case for his authority to teach.  If Jesus was actually the Father, this argument would be no argument at all.  

The Son is a Person, distinct from the Father, because they speak to and about each other.

Trinitarians nearly always say that Oneness people make nonsense of Jesus’ prayers to the Father.  We say it makes Jesus pray to himself.  We say this because Jesus communicated with his Father, as one person to another.  If the Son is the Father in flesh, then the question must be raised, “who” is speaking to whom?  

If we say that the Son has two personalities, then we deny his absolute Deity--the human Jesus shed his blood, but not the God Jesus.  

If we say that the Son is one person with two natures, we do well, unless we say that one nature speaks to the other nature.  This is confusing categories, an error Oneness people make in order to explain how the Father and the Son are the same person.  

The simple use of pronouns in language makes reference to the distinct persons mentioned in a conversation.  But if you change the personal pronouns in Jesus' prayers to match Oneness theology, you get another helping of pure nonsense:

John 17:1-5ff, is a prayer of Jesus to his Father:  “Father, the hour has come; glorify yourself that you may glorify you, 2 since you have given yourself authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given yourself. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and the Father whom you have sent. 4 You glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave yourself to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify yourself in your own presence with the glory that you had with you before the world existed… " 

You can do this for the whole chapter and see how ridiculous and unnatural it sounds to make the Father and the Son to be the same person. 

In the next post, I will show that the Son of God took on flesh, not the Father.  Stay tuned.

The Trinity and Salvation Part 4

So far, I have established that the Son of God is God, that he has existed as God from all eternity and that he is also known as the Logos.  Now, I hope you will see that the Son of God has always been in relationship with the Father as a Son.  The term translated as “only begotten” (John 1:14; 3:15, 18; 5:18; 17:5) in English, holds the key to understanding this truth.

John MacArthur, in his article about the Eternal Sonship writes the following: 

“The Greek word translated "only begotten" is monogenes. The thrust of its meaning has to do with Christ's utter uniqueness. Literally, it may be rendered "one of a kind"--and yet it also clearly signifies that He is of the very same essence as the Father. This, I believe, is the very heart of what is meant by the expression ‘only begotten.’”

After understanding that monogenes does not have to do with time or origin, in reference to God’s Son, John MacArthur renounced «incarnational sonship» in favor of Eternal Sonship stating: 

“Careful study and reflection have brought me to understand that Scripture does indeed present the relationship between God the Father and Christ the Son as an eternal Father-Son relationship. I no longer regard Christ's sonship as a role He assumed in His incarnation.” 

So, instead of establishing that the Sonship had a beginning in time, we see that the term, monogenes (only begotten), simply and succinctly establishes the uniqueness of the Son of God.  He is the Son of God in a way unlike any other of God’s sons; he shares his Being, his essence.  The term speaks of relationship, not procreation.   God the Father and the Son relate in a father-son way.

These verses teach this truth clearly.  Read them in their most natural-sounding sense, without forcing them to fit some secret or hidden interpretation:

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The word “with” here means the same as the word “to” in the phrase “face-to-face”.  It has to do with relationship.   James R. White, in his book, “The Forgotten Trinity”, page 52, says, “...the Word was eternally face-to-face with God, that is, that the Word has eternally had a relationship with God.”

John 1:18 makes the same point even clearer:  “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

First it is in agreement with the other verses that call the Son both God and begotten.  Second, it shows the close relationship they have, as if the Son were held close by the Father.  Trinitarians understand that this intimacy has always characterized the relationship between God the Father and the Only Begotten God (the Son). 

John 17:5 shows us that the Son of God, had glory with the Father before the world was.  John 17:24 shows us that the Father loved the Son before the creation of the world.  Hebrews 1:8, God honors his Son before the incarnation, saying, 

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.

“You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”

And in verse 10, God praises his Son again, prior to the incarnation, and says, 

“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the works of Your hands;

11 They will perish, but You remain;
And they all will become old like a garment,

12 And like a mantle You will roll them up;
Like a garment they will also be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.”

These passages form the basis for believing in the eternal Father-Son relationship within the Godhead.  

In the next installment, I will give the scriptural evidence for point number 3:  The Son of God is a person, in the sense that He can relate to others through love, communication, submission and Lordship. Person is used here in a theological sense, and is not the same as human or being.  

Eternal Life and Falling Down

This is an excerpt from yesterday's sermon at Casa del Alfarero in Providence:

John 13:36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. (ESV)

Jesus foretells two amazing things for Peter in this passage.  1.  You will go to heaven.  2.  You will fail miserably on the way.

Nothing could thrill me more than for the Lord Christ to say to me, face to face, you will be with me in paradise.  Peter received this promise, "you will follow afterward."  Talk about security of salvation!  It was like Jesus had just said to him, "Well done my good and faithful servant..."  No doubt, this promise of Jesus did much to comfort and affirm Peter in his Christian life and death.  

Really, the same promise Jesus gave Peter, he gave to all those who repent and believe on Jesus.  John 5:24 teaches us that if you believe what Jesus said about God and sin and forgiveness, and you trust in Him for salvation, you have the same promise Peter received... You have eternal life.  You will not be condemned.  You have passed from death to life. 

The second thing Jesus foretold in this passage, happened to involve the biggest failure of Peter's career as a disciple.  I imagine the first promise inflated Peter's heart in his chest and the second one let it go like an untied balloon.  What?!  Deny you?! Whoa! Didn't you just say I was going to follow you to heaven soon?

So in just a few verses, Jesus puts sovereign grace on display.  Jesus knows who will make it to heaven. Jesus also knows that on the way to heaven, we will experience sin and short-coming.  

Did Peter's foretold failure affect Jesus' promise of heaven to him?  Not at all!  Jesus knows all your future failures and he still chose you and washed you and set you apart to serve and love him. 

This was Jesus' way of saying, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph 2:8-9).