Category: Sermons

Luke 19:28 When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to [a]Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ”

32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”

34 And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” 35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. 36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.

37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying:

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

John 12:12-19
Mark 11:1-11
Matthew 21:1-11
Luke 19:28-44

As we consider this account we remember the earlier words of John the Baptist announcing Jesus as the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. With His entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday Jesus is in the chute, so to speak, of going to the Cross where He will take away the sins of His people. This marks the beginning of Holy Week and we call it Holy week because the events of this week all lead our Lord to the Cross.

The Palm Sunday account is unique in Scripture inasmuch as it is mentioned in all four of the Gospels. It is not common for one event to reported in all four of the Gospels. The fact that Palm Sunday is recorded in all four communicates its centrality to the Gospel account. With this action Jesus the Christ is purposely fulfilling one of the prophecies of the OT.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zechariah 9

Jesus rides in on a donkey because in this ancient culture Kings would ride horses during times of war but during times of peace Kings would ride donkeys. The Messiah Jesus comes to His people in humility to offer peace and His ride into town would have been understood in just that way.

Consider I Kings 1:33 where Solomon @ David’s direction rides to his anointing as King on a donkey;

33 And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

So, while this entering into Jerusalem on a foal of a donkey might well seem strange to us it was pregnant with meaning to the folks of that culture. The King has come and His terms are peace.

As the Lord Christ descends to enter the Holy City the crowd spreads their garments on the road just as the disciples had used their garments to cover the back of the foal of the donkey that Jesus rides in upon. There is a symbolism going on here. Jesus is being given what we would call a red carpet treatment. The Jewish officials of the city have refused to greet Christ with honor and so in a kind of populist uprising the rank and file of the city provide for Jesus their own royal entry. They do this because they do recognize that their Messiah King is in their midst. This greeting is a royal greeting. The kind of greeting one would expect a King to receive from His people.

And this royal greeting is proper because Jesus Himself is self-consciously entering as a King. In this pericope not only is the Zechariah 9 passage in play but less obviously so is the fact that Jesus is fulfilling King Jehu’s anointing as King in II Kings 9. There we read;

13 Then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him (Jehu) on the top of the steps; and they blew trumpets, saying, “Jehu is king!” II Kings 9:13

In this entry, planned by Jesus to announce His Kingship, Jesus is the greater Jehu. Jehu rode to his kingship over his followers clothes to destroy the temple of the enemy Baal (II Kings 9:11-13; 10:18-28) the entry of Jesus upon the garments of those hailing Him will end with the making obsolete the vaunted Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

The antithesis seems to be clear in this passage. We will either be those laying down our cloaks in the honor of the King or we will be those who in opposition to the King try to silence His praises.

When it comes to the life of Jesus theologians talk about how in His incarnation Jesus’ life goes from humiliation to exaltation. That is to say, that as you track the live of Jesus you see all humiliation reaching crescendo in the Cross. After the Cross then we talk about His exaltation beginning with His Resurrection, followed by His ascension and then His session at the Right hand of the Father. Phil. 2:5-11 traces this humiliation to exaltation.

When we come to Palm Sunday we might think that we are seeing part of the exaltation of the Lord Jesus. There is all this raucous celebration. Jesus is purposefully arriving as the King of the Jews. He is being received as the King of the Jews by the hoi polloi.

But there is something going on here that Matthew brings to our attention of this event that suggests that what we read of here is not part of Christ’s exaltation but is instead part of his humiliation.

Luke’s account tells us that while all this exuberance is going on Jesus the Christ reveals by His tears that this is not about His exaltation but His humiliation. Listen to the text;

41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

This really is a study on contrast. On the one hand you have the populist uprising, on the other hand you have the city Fathers going around insisting on shushing everybody, and finally you have Jesus weeping.

But why do we say this is part of His humiliation?

Well, first we know, and Jesus knows, where this is all going. Remember, earlier Luke had recorded;

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, Luke 9:11

He set His face like flint to go to Jerusalem because that is where the path to His humiliation apex lies. Jesus knows that the apex of His humiliation lays yet before Him in and at the Cross and this celebratory mood is only a well intended but misplaced enthusiasm. Misplaced because these folks want all the glory but none of the Cross. They want to be delivered, not from their sins, but from Roman tyranny. The delirious crowds have identified His office of King but they have misinterpreted it. He has not come as King to slay the Romans. He has come as King to be slain. The heights of exaltation cannot be reached without going through the depths of humiliation.

With this in mind it is significant that the Palm Sunday texts explicitly identify two of Jesus offices.

In Luke we hear;

“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

In Matthew there is this exchange;

10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” 11 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

So this delirious crowd understood that Jesus came as King and they identified Him as a prophet but what they couldn’t own that which made them fall away when the tide turned was the fact that Jesus came as a Priest who would offer Himself as a sacrifice. They could go all hyper happy at the idea of King and Prophet but the notion of Christ as Priest who would offer Himself as a sacrifice for sins was something they only understood after the resurrection.

Jesus is coming as Prophet, Priest, and King. The crowds drop the Priest part and misinterprets the prophet and king truths.

So, all of this is humiliation for our Lord Christ. It was like having a party thrown in your honor when all along the people who are throwing the party are completely clueless of why it is you are to be honored.

Next this is humiliation for Jesus to see how they were bending and twisting the royal word of the King – the scriptures. The people use the texts and psalms in the praise they are giving to Jesus but the crowds are willing to accept the prophecy only as it seems to fit with their preconceived notions.

Listen to the way that Reformed theologian Klaus Schilder put this;

“Jesus therefore suffers acutely now…. “

And the “now” here refers to Jesus observing the frenzy of praise.

“the false interpreters of Scriptures are concentrated upon Him. This distortion is an earmark of that basic sin which is leading Jerusalem to its grave. Israel wants to shed its light upon Him, but He must illuminate Israel…. Whoever looks at the Christ in his own light withdraws himself from the influence from Jesus through the Word. Those who do this excludes himself from that influence, though He shout “Hosanna” a thousand times. To see Christ in our own light is to sin terribly, for it is to deny Him the right to minister His threefold office to us.”

We talk about this often here but the humiliation of Jesus here is discovered in the fact that this crowd is reinterpreting Jesus through their own sinful prism. They are making Jesus in their own image. They are shouting Hosannas but the Hosannas they are shouting too is to a Jesus who is not the Jesus who is before them, but a Jesus they have constructed in their heads.

And in that Jesus suffers the humiliation. How long had He been among them and yet they misinterpreted both His person, mission, and the Scriptures that spoke of Him? They could never accept a suffering servant Messiah. In this same vain Peter rebuked Him when Jesus spoke of going to the Cross.

21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

So, for this crowd there is no room for the Christ and no room for the Cross. Instead, they reinterpret Jesus, twisting the Scripture, thus committing linguistic deception and in that there is humiliation for Jesus the Christ.
As we mentioned just a moment ago, they want the Jesus that brings them all the glory. They are praising Jesus for the carnal good that He is going to do them. None of this praise is about praising God, but it really is about praising of self. Hosanna to God in the highest because of how I or we will be advantaged by the Messiah setting us on high.

You see they want the power but not the justice of God. They want the glory but not the suffering servant. Jesus has come into Jerusalem to satisfy God’s justice. God’s holiness has been set aside and through the centuries God winked at and overlooked man’s wickedness but now in this arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem we have the one who will do the Priestly work of offering up Himself to meet God’s justice against our sin. Yet, all that these crowds are crowing about is how the might of God is going to advantage them. There is not a word of praise for the one who will satisfy God’s justice, fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, and turn away the Father’s wrath. Not one word of praise for the one who will bring them peace with God by reconciling them to God through His bloody redemptive work on the Cross.

All kinds of praise for the might/power of God for what it can do for them but not a word about the rights of God against rebellious man in his sin.

And because of this Jesus weeps and the valley of humiliation continues on to the Cross. This is not exaltation. This is humiliation painted in cheerful colors.

On this score note the fickleness of this populist movement. Here they are frenzied for Jesus because of what He might do for them and yet only in a few days when Jesus is clearly being set forth as the one who satisfies God’s justice all they can scream is “Crucify Him.”

And we have to yet speak of the more wretched in this account. The scribes and the Pharisees are more wretched because they sin against a better knowledge here.

Here again we see the humiliation of Jesus the Christ.

There is humiliation also to be found in the enemies of Christ here. We know from the Scripture that already this crew was planning on Killing Christ and this due to the fact that the rise of the popularity of Jesus the Christ meant the diminishing of their influence. Just prior to this entry Jesus had raised the dead (Lazarus). Because of this the populist movement was in high gear and the Jewish deep state had to do something to erase this threat to their power. The rise of Jesus of Nazareth meant the removal from power of the establishment. So, Palm Sunday was very political;

John records the political side of all this;

“Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin [their supreme court]. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation’ John 11

And so Jesus must bear the humiliation of being resisted by those very people who were supposed to be the shepherds of Israel… supposed to be those people who should’ve been His greatest supporters.

But they were too interested in power and they too, like the crowds, missed the purpose of His coming, even though they ended up being used by God to be chief aids in the accomplishment of the Messiah’s mission.

It may be that the words from the Pharisees came in the context of all this rejoicing being within site of the Roman Citadel Antonia where the Roman garrison was housed in Jerusalem. Rome was always especially on alert during the religious festivals held in Jerusalem. And I can see the Pharisees urging Jesus to hush his disciples while looking with worry that the citadel might empty itself to forcefully disburse this crowd.

Jesus responds by saying … Look, if these should be silent a stone choir would raise their voice in praise. Even the stones would cry out … inanimate creation would burst forth in praise. It may be here that Christ is recalling the prophecy of Habakkuk.

“The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it”

Despicable men and yet how often have we been mute about the glories of Christ when we should be signing His praises. How often have we been silent when we should have sang like stones?

And so again we see humiliation. He is the great King. He is worthy of all this praise and more and yet He has to deal with the leadership who should be leading the praises and yet are doing all they can to shut this down.

This humiliation is an ironic thing. God uses these very men who are committed to doing all they can to grind Jesus into utter humiliation and yet it is by their work of opposing Jesus and by ushering Him into His crescendo of humiliation in the Cross that His exaltation is arrived at.

This is the eucatastrophe of the humiliation. In God’s providence the catastrophic visits the Messiah and yet out of this catastrophic the victory of God is achieved. Covering Christ with this humiliation the enemy aims at victory but through and because of this humiliation the catastrophe of the Cross is overcome in the exaltation of Christ – an exaltation that means that God’s justice is upheld, God’s people are delivered, and the age to come continues to overcome this present wicked age.

All this humiliation and yet at the end of it, it serves the purposes of exalting Christ.
The humiliation around Palm Sunday reminds me of the hymn we sang yesterday at Ross’s funeral;

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

1. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
   But trust Him for His grace;
   Behind a frowning providence
   He hides a smiling face.

    

2. His purposes will ripen fast,
   Unfolding every hour;
   The bud may have a bitter taste,
   But sweet will be the flow’r.

    

3. Blind unbelief is sure to err
   And scan His work in vain;
   God is His own interpreter,
   And He will make it plain.

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. ¹⁸ Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. 

²⁰ O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and ^[f]idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— ²¹ by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.

After the brief excursus (a digression in a narrative) we examined last week Paul returns to the issue of wealth. When reading St. Paul we need to be aware of these inspired bunny trails that St. Paul will go on. It is a habit of his. Some people call this habit “a flight of ideas,” and such a habit often is characteristic to highly intelligent people. They will be going along on a particular point and they will say something that reminds them of another subject and off they go pursuing that subject for a while before returning to where they left. It’s the whole “squirrel” thing. Paul does that here.

He was talking about the problems of money earlier and the urgent necessity for Timothy to flee this inordinate love of money led him into a digression in the narrative outburst, first concerning what Timothy should be pursuing and then concerning the greatest of God.

Now, however having expressed himself on that brief tangent Paul returns to the issue of money.

I hope you have noticed how often this issue of money has come up in our walk through 1st Timothy. Sometimes it is explicit as we have twice in chapter 6 but more often it has been implicit. Remember;

^{I Tim. 2:9} in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and ^[e]moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, ¹⁰ but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works

There the problem with wealth was poking through in the uppity way women were dressing.

And then there was the I Tim. 5

⁸ But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

In that context the problem with wealth was that it was being hoarded to the neglect of providing for extended members of the family.

So, this issue of money is a repeated theme in I Timothy, along with the theme of the miscreant false teachers upsetting the Church. Even with that though there is overlap as we saw last week. These miscreant false teachers were seeking to grift off the church in order to line their pockets.

With that all as background St. Paul tees up the issue of wealth, money, and responsibility once again.

The Holy Spirit begins with the attitude that wealth can often work in those who have wealth. Paul starts with a negative by saying if you have wealth “do not be haughty.” We today might say “don’t act snooty,” or “don’t act condescendingly.”

ὑψηλοφρονεῖν (hypsēlophronein)
Verb – Present Infinitive Active
Strong’s 5309: To be high-minded, proud. From a compound of hupselos and phren; to be lofty in mind, i.e. Arrogant.

Clearly, if this disposition were not a problem in the Ephesus Church St. Paul would not have warned against it.

We should note here that the fact that Paul can raise this issue, suggests if we read between the lines, that this was a have and have not congregation. There were the rich who are being told “do not be haughty,” and likewise there must have been the not rich who were being visited with the rich folks “haughtiness.”

In light of this it is interesting that while the Holy Spirit calls for humility among the Rich he does not inveigh against them simply because they have wealth. Their problem is not their wealth. Their problem is that they think wealth allows them to look down on those without wealth. Paul does not call for a forced wealth redistribution program within the Church as headed up by Timothy. Rather the Holy Spirit calls the wealthy Christians to become familiar with the Christian under-estimated and seldom practiced virtue of humility. He doesn’t browbeat them for having wealth … something that has been present too often in church history. He corrects them by telling them “do not be haughty.”

This problem of haughtiness is a product of pride and remember pride along w/ unbelief is the motherlode of all sin. We, as fallen humans, have a predisposition to be haughty about any combination of things.

O Spirit of Christ grant us all grace to recognize how we each are haughty in our lives towards others. Grant each of us the humility to have this mind in us with was also in Christ Jesus whose whole life was one of humble service. Thanks be to God that Christ paid for the sin of our haughtiness and gave us the Spirit of Christ to put off the old man of pretend superiority and put on the new man of humility towards others.

The first negative word on this disposition was “do not be haughty.” A second negative word is given when St. Paul says that rich folks ought not to trust in uncertain riches. Here Paul is echoing God’s Word;

Proverbs 23:5 When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

Psalm 62:10 If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

So, God’s Word does not condemn being rich but it does instruct the rich how to be rich. Hold on to your wealth with a open hand. Understand that your riches are always going to be uncertain.

We all should hear well here. Understanding that here in America there exists different levels of wealth, it is still the case that all Americans are, as compared to world history, and compared to the world today we are all wealthy and being wealthy we ought not to trust in uncertain riches.

Instead we are to richly enjoy all things that God has given us.

Notice the play on words here … “riches are uncertain,” but “God gives us richly all things to enjoy. 

Note here that there is no evil found in enjoying the rich things that God gives us, and that includes wealth. Everything is to be received w/ thanksgiving.

From the negative proscriptions that the Holy Spirit gives

-Do not be haughty (Violation of 6th Commandment)
-Do not trust in uncertain riches  (Violation of 1st Commandment)

St. Paul, inspired by the Spirit of the living God gives positive proscriptions;

– Let them do good
– That they be rich in good works

God has blessed the wealthy that they in turn may be a blessing to those around them. Of course, we understand this in light of what we have learned elsewhere in I Timothy. This doing good and being rich in good works follows the ordo amoris (order of affections) pattern that we find in I Tim. 5:8. Should it be the case that God blesses us with wealth we need to look around us in our families and local church first to be rich in good works. These are the “neighbors” in our lives that God has placed in our lives that we dare not pass by.

Of course the idea in this passage is that the Christian rich have a responsibility to not hoard. Their wealth ought to be a blessing to others in need in their Christian families or Christian churches or Christian communities, depending on the level of wealth we are talking about.

The Holy Spirit correlates the doing of good now and the being rich in good works now and the readiness to give and share in this present age with realities for them in the time to come.

¹⁸ Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

The text clearly communicates that there is continuity in the way we are rich in good works, ready to give, and willing to share here and our future after this life.

Now, the prosperity / health & Wealth preachers have taken this truth and debauched it so as to teach that people need to send in money to them and then they can be sure that God will return their investment. People like Kenneth Copeland and other Word-Faith grifters have turned this idea into a way to get rich. The “Hole you give through is the hole you get through” is the spiel and so if you want to be rich you will send in your money to them and God will bless you with a greater return. May God have mercy on them.

What is clearly being called for here is generosity. Another Christian virtue. It is the widow’s mite given. It is;

⁹ Lay(ing) not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: ²⁰ But lay(ing) up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: ²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

What is being called for here is seen elsewhere in Paul’s corpus when he says to the Corinthians;

II Cor. 9:3 — For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting to the Macedonians that since last year you in Achaia were prepared to give. And your zeal has stirred most of them to do likewise.

In his Epistles, particularly in 2 Corinthians but also elsewhere, Paul often boasts about the generosity of the churches. Here he is again enjoining the Christian virtue of generosity.

I want to tread lightly here because I have seen that through the years this congregation has been a generous people. Still, we have need, all of us, to examine ourselves on the issue of generosity. Are we storing up for ourselves a good foundation for the time to come via our generosity here and now?

We learn thus that the way we live now has eschatological impact on the life to come. While doing good for others the rich can simultaneously store up or lay up for themselves a good foundation for the future age to come.

What excites me about this passage is to see the continuity that will exist between this life and the life to come. The way we live now will impact the way we live in the eschatological state. This is inspiring to the end of being a generous people.

Before turning to the final charge we want to note how all this is consistent w/ Paul’s teaching throughout his corpus. What Paul says to the rich through Timothy — live with a view of the age to come —   is what he says to Timothy in 11ff

¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

This idea of living with a view of the age to come is what Paul has said of himself elsewhere;

^{I Cor. 9:24} Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may ^[a]obtain it.²⁵ And everyone who competes for the prize^[b]is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

This idea of living with a view of the time to come is what Paul speaks to others;

^{Gal. 6:7} Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Good works thus are seen as demonstrative of the reality of faith and salvation and are present when eternal life is received and is to be received. Jesus himself taught about the the godly and generous use of wealth, which stores up treasure in heaven. Similarly our Lord Christ taught that good works show that a person has an indestructible foundation (Mt. 7:25). What Scripture everywhere teaches is that one who has accepted God’s grace in justification must evidence salvation in one’s life. This is not salvation by works. This is works because of the grace of God in forgiveness. It is the cry of the soul unchained from the accusation of the law to walk in gratitude for God’s great grace given in Christ.

Paul now pivots to a final injunction to his young padawan;

²⁰ O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and ^[f]idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— ²¹ by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.

One reason I love the Scriptures is the earnestness you find throughout. The inspired writers are not blase men. When they write their pens are fire and their thoughts are gasoline and the result is explosive.

Note the earnestness here. The passion. The depth of expression.

This is a plea. This is a command.

The idea of guarding here communicates a diligence that requires work. The need for it suggests that there are those who would abscond with that is to be guarded. What has been committed to Timothy’s trust is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ considered in its broadest meaning. What has been committed to Timothy we might say today is “Biblical Christianity.” Here Timothy is told to guard. Elsewhere he was told to fight the good fight. We find all these militaristic masculine terms. It’s enough to send a WOKE feminist “Christian” screaming.

Paul is asking of Timothy what he himself spent his life doing and all only for the desire to hear the “well-done thou good and faithful servant.”

And so the Christian life is for the conscientious clergy a matter of being at war. Defending. Fighting. Guarding. Refuting. Correcting. Discipling. All that God’s Word might continue to be seen as glorious as it never ceases to be.

Fellow believers, inasmuch as we have all been called by God to the Christian life, and inasmuch as we are each and all of us Prophets, Priests, and Kings under Sovereign God we likewise are called, along with Timothy, to guard what has been committed to our trust.

Paul makes reference again to the Gnostics who are inside the Church. The counsel is to avoid their teachings, which I take to mean to “not be ensnared by them.” Remember my friends, the effect of what these Gnostics were doing was to empty the Gospel of being the Gospel. Wherever you find men emptying the Gospel of being the Gospel there the battle lines are drawn and there the battle must be engaged.

I personally find the mention of “contradictions” to be fascinating if only because I have been taught and trained that to locate the contradiction is to locate the vain babbling. Vain babbling is always characterized by the presence of contradiction.

Paul reminds Timothy that the worst thing imaginable has occurred because of these vain babblers… and that worst thing imaginable is that some have strayed from the faith.

My friends …. in that final day, I want to meet with you in heaven. To that end may none of us ever stray from our undoubted catholic Christian faith.

May we all together guard the faith.

It needs guardians.

I Tim. 6 Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. ² And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

The Fact of Slavery in Ephesus

In 1st century Rome, slavery was a deeply ingrained part of society, where slaves were considered property with virtually no legal rights, often subjected to harsh labor conditions, and could be punished severely by their masters, although some skilled slaves could enjoy better treatment and even eventually gain freedom through a process called “manumission.”.

Key points about 1st century slavery in the Roman world
Legal status:

Slaves were considered property under Roman law, meaning their owners had absolute power over them, including the ability to sell, punish, or even kill them without legal repercussions.
Sources of slaves:

Most slaves were captured during military conquests, with prisoners of war often being enslaved. Other sources included debt bondage, abandoned children, or people sold by their families.

Slavery was very important in the ancient city of Ephesus during the Roman period. Whether in the countryside or the city, slaves bore the economic burden of society. In Ephesus, as in the whole Roman Empire, slaves were acquired primarily by selling prisoners of war. The slave trade became a very large volume of trade, especially in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. The Cilician pirates were the ones who were engaged in stealing and selling people in the broadest sense.

It has also been seen that those who could not pay their debts in the city or the countryside sold their wives and children as slaves in return for debt.

Work roles:

Slaves were employed in a wide range of jobs, including agriculture (fields, vineyards), mining, construction, domestic service, manufacturing, transportation, and even skilled professions like medicine or accounting depending on their abilities.

Treatment variations:

While many slaves experienced harsh conditions, including poor food, inadequate housing, and brutal punishments, skilled slaves could sometimes live relatively comfortable lives and even gain some autonomy.

Manumission:

Slaves could be freed by their masters through a process called manumission, which could happen through a formal legal act or informally. Freed slaves (freedmen) often maintained ties with their former masters.

Social impact:

Slavery was so prevalent in Roman society that it significantly impacted the economy and social structure, with a large portion of the population being enslaved

Slaves always paid for their master’s displeasure with punishment. The forms and methods of punishment were very different. The greatest danger to the master was that the slave thought of running away and taking revenge on his master. But the law made escape virtually impossible. Anyone who helped the slave escape or hid the slave was punished.

If the slave managed to escape and was later captured, he was often driven into the arena in front of wild animals. If the slave tried to take revenge on his master, the penalty was death with his entire family. The customary death penalty was executed by crucifixion.

The Fact of Slavery in the Bible

Slavery is regulated in the Bible and so can be Biblical. Biblical slavery is Biblical.

God gave Abraham slaves.
God gave Job slaves.

God’s 10 Commandments prohibit coveting a neighbor’s male or female bondservant.

Onesimus was owned by Philemon and Paul returned Onesimus to Philemon begging for clemency for the slave. Paul never tells Philemon that slavery is sin.

Here are just a few Scriptures on slavery besides the one we have before us this morning;

Exodus 21:16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

Here we see that man stealing or slave trading is a crime punishable by death. However, having slaves was not punishable by death. That slave trading remained a sin in the NT is seen by Paul’s condemnation in I Tim. 1:9-10

9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless … for slave traders

That the Scripture does not teach that all slavery is sin is seen from;

Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.” – Leviticus 25:44

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.” – Colossians 3:22

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.” – Ephesians 6:5-7

“Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them.” – Titus 2:9

“Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.” – 1 Peter 2:18

“Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.” – Colossians 4:1

There are at least seven passages in the Bible where God is depicted as directly permitting or endorsing slavery. Two of these are in the Law of Moses: God permitted the Israelites to take slaves from conquered peoples permanently, and the Israelites could sell themselves into slavery temporarily to pay off debts (Exod 21:2-11; Lev 25:44-46).

The other five passages are in the New Testament, where slavery as a social institution is endorsed and slaves are called to obey their masters “in everything” (Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:22-4:1; 1 Tim 6:1-2; Tit 2:9-10; 1 Pet 2:18-20).

But slavery is viewed positively in Scripture well beyond these commands. Owning slaves was seen as a sign of God’s blessing (Gen 12:16; 24:35; Isa 14:1-2), and there are literally dozens of passages in the Bible that speak of slavery in passing, without comment. Slavery was simply part of life, and most people saw it as just the way things always were, even the divinely ordained order of things.

And yes, in case there is any doubt, this was real slavery: “the slave is the owner’s property” (Exod 21:21). Both Old and New Testaments called for better treatment of slaves than many of the peoples around them, and the Law of Moses in particular called for better treatment of fellow Israelites as slaves.

These passages are all pretty straightforward. One could even say that the Bible is clear on this: the institution of slavery is permitted by God, endorsed by God, and owning slaves can even be a sign of God’s blessing. This has in fact been the Christian view through history: it’s only in the last 150-200 years that the tide of Christian opinion has shifted on slavery.

So why do Christians today believe slavery is wrong? Why don’t most Christians today believe that “slavery is permitted by God, endorsed by God, and owning slaves can even be a sign of God’s blessing,” even though the Bible is pretty clear on this?

This points to the second main reason Christians today believe slavery is wrong in spite of the clear biblical passages that permit or endorse slavery: we have developed a different hermeneutic, a different way of reading the biblical texts on slavery.

The early Christian abolitionists paved the way. Rather than emphasizing the specific Bible passages that directly approve of slavery, they looked at other biblical texts and themes that they saw as more big-picture, more transcultural and timeless: the creation of humanity in the “image of God,” the “liberation” and “redemption” themes of the Exodus, the love teachings of Jesus, and the salvation vision of Paul. That is, they set the stage for a way of reading the Bible that was not grounded in specific texts of Scripture, but in a trajectory of “Exodus to New Exodus centred on Christ,” or “Creation to New Creation centred on Christ”—a larger biblical narrative with Jesus at its heart.

And so when some “Christians” today read the slavery passages in the Bible, this is what they say;

“Sure,  the Bible says this here—but we know from Genesis 1 that all people are created in God’s image, and we know from Galatians 3 that there is no longer slave or free in Christ, and don’t forget about God redeeming Israel from slavery and Jesus’ teaching to love our neighbour as ourselves.”

In other words, we no longer take the slavery-approval passages as direct and straightforward teaching for all times and places. Rather we take these as instances of the way things were done in the past but not the way God really wants things to be. They are descriptive of what once was; they are not prescriptive of what is to be.

So, this type of reasoning goes, “the next time we hear someone talk about the ‘clear teaching of Scripture’ on women’s roles, or saying that ‘the Bible is clear’ on homosexuality, or whatever the topic might be, think about this: the Bible is at least as clear on slavery, yet thank God we no longer believe that slavery is God’s will. We’ve read the Bible, and we’re following Jesus.”

The fact that people really do dismiss Scripture like this on slavery is seen in a quote from the 19th century liberal Theologian Albert Barnes;

“There are great principles in our nature, as God has made us, which can never be set aside by any authority of a professed revelation. If a book claiming to be a revelation from God, by any fair interpretation defended slavery, or placed it on the same basis as the relation of husband and wife, parent and child, guardian and ward, such a book would not and could not be received by the mass of mankind as a Divine Revelation.”

Rev. Albert Barnes
Presbyterian Minister

As long as we will not admit that slavery was Biblical and rightly ordered by God we will never win out on the debates on perverse sexuality. Slavery is the lynch pin. If Scripture can speak so plainly on slavery and still be repudiated as sin then whatever Scripture speaks clearly on in terms of perverse sexuality can likewise easily be repudiated and is being repudiated.

In the words of Dr. Leonard Bacon, a Congregationalist from Connecticut writing in 1864,

“The evidence that there were both slaves and Masters of slaves in the Churches founded by the apostles, cannot be got rid of without resorting to methods of interpretation which will get rid of everything.”

This was made even more clearly evident by R. L. Dabney;

If you will not embrace the perspicuity of Scripture on slavery you will not embrace perspicuity of Scripture on any other subject when it is convenient to disregard it.

The logic is thus… “We know God was wrong on slavery therefore we can come to the point where we see that God was wrong on sodomy, trannie-ism, abortion, and just about anything else. We treated the issue of slavery, as taught in the Scriptures, like a wax nose, and now we are surprised to find that other issues in Scripture are likewise being treated as if we can appeal to some higher or better insight.”

That this is happening is seen in the fact that recently 33 pastors from the Christian Reformed Church bolted the CRC to join another Church because the CRC would not allow them to treat the prohibitions against sexual perversion in Scripture as not being prohibitions. Like the abolitionists long ago, these 33 ministers have putatively found a higher and better way to read Scripture.

So, while we don’t long for a return of slavery, and we ourselves would never want to be enslaved nor enslave others, we do recognize that slavery is not automatically sin if it were to be practiced under God’s regulations.

The Fact Of Slavery As Experienced By All Peoples

Another thing we should be clear about on the subject of slavery is that slavery as well as enslaving has been the lot of every people group you can name. Nobody has the corner on the misery of slavery or of being the victims of slavery. Slavery was not only present in Ephesus but it has been present throughout world history and is still occurring today as seen in the grooming of numerous young white British girls to be sex slaves by foreign interests living in Britain. This kind of slavery is forbidden in the Scripture because if falls under “man-stealing” but it still makes the point that we have slavery today.

Proof of the ubiquitous nature of slavery in nature touching different peoples is observed by from Jordan and Walsh from their book, “White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America”

White slaves in the colonies suffered all the horrors, if not more, than the subsequent black slaves suffered, but their story is not part of the educational curriculum. Blacks and their white advocates would never stand for it because white slavery detracts from the racist image that black studies have created, an image that conveys special victim status to blacks just as the Jews have acquired by the holocaust. But the facts are, report Jordan and Walsh, that black slavery emerged out of white slavery and was based upon it. They quote the African-American writer Lerone Bennett Jr:

“When someone removes the cataracts of whiteness from our eyes, and when we look with unclouded vision on the bloody shadows of the American past, we will recognize for the first time that the Afro-American, who was so often second in freedom, was also second in slavery.”

Likewise we have Robert C. Davis, a professor of history at Ohio State University, in his book “Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800″, put the number of white slave at between 1 and 1.25 million Europeans from 1500-1800

Davis said the vast scope of slavery in North Africa has been ignored and minimized, in large part because it is on no one’s agenda to discuss what happened.

The enslavement of Europeans doesn’t fit the general theme of European world conquest and colonialism that is central to scholarship on the early modern era, he said. Many of the countries that were victims of slavery, such as France and Spain, would later conquer and colonize the areas of North Africa where their citizens were once held as slaves.

Maybe because of this history, Western scholars have thought of the Europeans primarily as “evil colonialists” and not as the victims they sometimes were, Davis said.

Davis said his research into the treatment of these slaves suggests that, for most of them, their lives were every bit as difficult as that of slaves in America.

 

“As far as daily living conditions, the Mediterranean slaves certainly didn’t have it better,” he said.

While African slaves did grueling labor on sugar and cotton plantations in the Americas, European Christian slaves were often worked just as hard and as lethally – in quarries, in heavy construction, and above all rowing the corsair galleys themselves.

So, the Bible talks frankly about slavery. The text this morning speaks frankly about slavery and we see that slavery is not unique to the ancient world nor to any particular people group throughout history.

Now, what Christianity did as it entered the ancient world is that it provided a new ethos for both slave and master as we see in the text this morning;

 Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. 2 And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

The issue of honor ties much of what Paul has been writing to Timothy in chapter 5 and here. In chapter 5 widows who are widows are to be honored. Next Elders in the Church are to be counted worthy of double-honor. And now finally when dealing with the Master slave relationship Masters are worthy of all honor.

τιμῆς (timēs)
Noun – Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong’s 5092: A price, honor. From tino; a value, i.e. Money paid, or valuables; by analogy, esteem, or the dignity itself.

It may be the case that the Gnosticism that was present in Ephesus was of a nature as to level or flatten all relationships so that everyone is seen as being equal or the same. Paul does not desire the Christian faith to be tainted with that flavor and so he tells the slaves to do what might be a difficult at times and that is to esteem their Masters and this so God’s name might not and His doctrine may not be derided – blasphemed. This was Paul’s governing passion – that God’s name might not be seen as being anything but lofty and glorious and so he tells the Christian slaves

Q. 127. What is the honour that inferiors owe to their superiors?

A. The honour which inferiors owe to their superiors is, all due reverence in heart,658 word, 659 and behaviour;660 prayer and thanksgiving for them;661 imitation of their virtues and graces;662 willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels;663 due submission to their corrections;664 fidelity to,665 defence,666 and maintenance of their persons and authority, according to their several ranks, and the nature of their places;667 bearing with their infirmities, and covering them in love,668 that so they may be an honour to them and to their government.669

Q. 128. What are the sins of inferiors against their superiors?

A. The sins of inferiors against their superiors are, all neglect of the duties required toward them;670 envying at,671 contempt of,672 and rebellion673 against, their persons674 and places,675 in their lawful counsels,676 commands, and corrections;677 cursing, mocking678 and all such refractory and scandalous carriage, as proves a shame and dishonour to them and their government.679

 

 

 

As we consider Resurrection 2024 we must be mindful of the battle we are in and which now Easter has been caught up in. Of course Resurrection Sunday along with Christmas are the two high days on the Christian calendar. The fact that it is still so widely celebrated in the West and has always been a calendar reminder that some little residue of our original Christian nation status remained.

But now the Biden administration has brought even Easter under attack as it sought to displace Easter by recognizing Sunday as “Transgender day of visibility.” This is akin to the how the French Philosophers tried to change out the Christian calendar during the French Revolution.

Of course, to a people who have not been like the frog boiling away as the temperature in the pot is turned up, this is nothing short of Statist blasphemy and it demonstrates for us again that Governments are always hopelessly religious. Our current Federal Gov’t is revealing that it is a servant of the religion and God of Wokeianity. It continues, not least by claiming Easter Sunday as “Transgender day of visibility” to make war on God and by extension God’s people.

But Christianity is an anvil that many a pagan hammer has worn itself out upon and it will be so in this case as well. Christ is King — quite to the chagrin of Ben Shapiro and many Evangelicals — and as King the celebration of the Resurrection will one day cover the globe.

As we turn to the doctrine of the Resurrection we consider the honored Heidelberg Catechism on this score. It asks;

Question 45: What doth the resurrection of Christ profit us?

Answer: First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, that He might make us partakers of that righteousness which He had purchased for us by His death;1 secondly, we are also by His power raised up to a new life;2 and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.3

As we come to Lord’s Day 17 on the Resurrection we want to note that the thoroughness of this question and answer is not that for which we might hope. What the Catechism teaches here is true but there is a good deal more that needs to be said and so we will say a good deal more this  morning than what we find here though we will also incorporate what the HC teaches.

Before we get into the heart of the matter notice again how practical the HC is with its doctrines. This is something that we brought forth before but be alert again as to the desire by the HC for you to profit by knowing the doctrine of Scripture. The HC does not want to teach you a sterile understanding of the Resurrection. It wants you to know how it is that your Christian life is nurtured and sustained by understanding the import of the Resurrection.

But before we turn to how it is we profit from the resurrection we turn first to the fact of the Resurrection and the fact is that the Resurrection is the pivotal truth of Christianity. No Resurrection. No Christianity. Everything hangs on the reality and truth of the Resurrection. In the book of Acts, the two-fold Apostolic message everywhere the Apostles go is the Kingdom of God and the Resurrection as seen by the 24 references to Christ’s resurrection throughout the book of Acts. The Apostolic message was the message of the Resurrection. This is why the Apostle could declare in I Cor. 15

 if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 

It was that conviction that spurred the Apostles as they fanned out to the known world preaching Christ and the Resurrection;

It starts on the Day of Pentecost. Peter says there in His Sermon after properly pinning the responsibility of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the Jews,

²⁴ whom God raised up, having ^[g]loosed the ^[h]pains of death, because it was 2not possible that He should be held by it.

And again in vs. 32

^2:32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Peter put the resurrection front center in Acts 3 when God heals the lame man

¹⁴ But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and killed the ^[b]Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.

And then in 4:10 in explanation to the Jew leadership Peter again speaks of the resurrection

¹⁰ let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.

Then later in chapter 4 after being released from Prison for preaching the Resurrection we read that these same Apostles;

“w/ great power gave … witness to the resurrection.”

As Acts begins to concentrate more on St. Paul we see St. Paul putting the Resurrection front and center when dealing with the Jews. In Perga, St. Paul proclaims that the Jews condemned and slew Jesus, adding;

³⁰ But God raised Him from the dead. ³¹ He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. ³² And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers. ³³ God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: