Hero Worship from Romans 4

Today I am commenting on Romans 4:1-25, which reads:

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 

Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 

“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven; whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”  

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 

And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 

For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.  As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” 

He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 

The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Humans love to worship their heroes.

I remember very clearly an incident that took place when I was returning by an airplane from a denominational meeting. I boarded the plane and sat in my seat and noticed that in front of me a few rows sat a prominent denominational personality. I knew about this gentleman but I did not know him and so I remained where I was.

What I found very interesting was that as pastors leaving this denominational meeting were boarding the plane many of them made a special effort to shake the gentleman’s hand and to recognize him for the personality that he was. I don't suppose there is anything particularly wrong with that, but it does go to show that even pastors can sometimes succumb to hero worship.

The Jewish people of the Bible also indulged in hero worship.  Along with Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, one of their biggest heroes was Abraham.  Abraham was the human founder of the Jewish faith, and thus the Christian faith.  If the foundation he laid was that of works, then we must work to gain our salvation.  If the foundation was the grace of God, then we gain our salvation via grace.  Let us investigate this:

Abraham was Blessed by God:

On their face God's promises sound a lot like those made by politicians today. Abraham would become a great nation and he would gain a great name and he would be a means of blessing and cursing. It sounds so much like those politicians that talk about cutting taxes increasing benefits and reducing the national debt all at the same time. However, we must recognize that God is not a human politician.

Unlike many politicians God actually delivered on His promises. We see that nothing is too hard for God and what we find is that there are Jews in every nation on earth. We also find that modern Israel is an advanced nation with many advanced features to their culture and to their economy. Abraham is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It's easy to see that God really did deliver on his promises to Abraham.

So, what did God require of His constituency? Merely to vote yes. To believe in God's promises and to trust them and to accept God as the governor of life.

What was the source of God's favor? Was it grace or was it works? This is a bit like asking which came first, the chicken or the egg? We need to investigate further.

Abraham was Justified by Grace:

Paul did not believe in straddling fences. For him, it was going to be our works or our grace, but it was not going to be both! It has been said that not to choose is making a choice and Paul does not give us that option.

From Paul's perspective it's like being a little pregnant or a little dead. These things are very digital, either you are pregnant, or you aren't. Either you are dead, or you aren't. And either you are saved by works or by grace.

What we see here is that God gives us a clear choice: be judged by our works or by His grace.

What we know is that our works will fail. The Scriptures tell us that none are righteous no, not one. The Scriptures tell us that our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. On the other hand, God's grace is sufficient; it will never fail us! Which would a rational person then choose?

We must grasp the depths of forgiveness by God's grace. All our sin past, present, and future is forgiven by His grace and we will receive mercy to help us live through the human consequences of our sin.  The eternal penalty of sin is repealed. 

Imagine if you owned a toxic waste dump and you were required to clean it up and to restore the property as if no human had ever been there. This is nearly impossible for the federal government with all the financial and other resources that it has available to it. It is completely impossible for an individual or small business to undertake and complete that kind of remediation process. Well, our lives were turned into a toxic waste dump by our sin. Our ability to clean up our lives is even less than our ability to clean up a toxic waste dump. Only by the power and grace of God can our lives be made clean, and our sin forgiven.

Abraham was Saved by Faith:

Abraham believed God. Now it is easy for us to think oh, Abraham believed God; that's nice. But we must understand what the word “believe” means in this context.

To believe the way that Abraham believed means to trust and rely upon without reservation. It means to have no fallback position and no plans in reserve. He was all in all the time with God and he had reserved no other options for himself

Thinking of time, we must understand that he did this before circumcision, before any establishment of the Jewish law, and he really did it even before God fulfilled his promises to him.  Four decades after God had told him he would become a great nation he and his wife Sarah had had no children. Yet, he still believed God. Yet, he still trusted God. Yet, he still obeyed God.

His obedience is how he showed his faith. We show our faith by our works but what we must understand is that works follow faith. Faith is the locomotive of the train and works are the cars.

God responded to Abraham’s faith and trust by imputing righteousness to him. This does not mean that Abraham was righteous in himself. We know that Abraham made mistakes and yes, Abraham at times became fearful and apprehensive. Yet he never stopped trusting God and therefore God's righteousness was placed upon him due to his faith.

Abraham’s faith was like that of the man who was afraid to fly. When he was met at the arrival airport by his friend he was asked “I thought you were afraid to fly. How could you make this flight?” Whereupon the man replied, “I didn't put all my weight on the seat!”

Now truthfully, we know that he put his entire weight on the plane, and whether he was afraid or not was not important. What was important was what he did, and what he did was that he trusted the plane by getting on it and flying to his friend’s location. The same is true of us. We may be afraid, we may have apprehension, we may sometimes waiver, but in the end, we find our God is trustworthy and what we commit to Him He will keep until the end.

Conclusion:

No doubt we're all familiar with the phrase, “Live by the sword and die by the sword.” We all have to live by the rules even Abraham.

Abraham had to decide, would he live by works or by faith? If Salvation is through works, then that is what Abraham had to do and that is what we must do. But if Salvation is through faith then that is the road that Abraham had to take and that we must take also.

In this passage Paul clearly asserts that Salvation is by grace through faith. Like other parts of scripture what Paul teaches here is reinforced by other passages including Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

So, the bottom line of my comments today is that Abraham was not really a hero. He was just a man who had faith in God. We can be just as heroic as Abraham by expressing that same faith in our lives. Like Abraham we must live by the rules. Do we want to rely on our works or on our faith in God's grace? Which decision have you made?

The Master of Temptation from Matthew 4

Today I am commenting on Matthew 4:1-11, which reads:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you,  and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’" Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Temptation is something we all face, and we usually face it daily.  Temptation is so common that we use it to sell products.  Remember the potato chip commercial that says “You can’t eat just one!”

We even use temptation to market our entertainment acts.  A mild example of this is the singing group “The Temptations.”

Leave it to the late Christian comedian Jerry Clower to come up with the most unusual example of temptation.  He said that one day he went by his uncle’s farm and saw a hog out in the field with a wooden leg. He stopped and asked his uncle about the pig.

Jerry’s uncle told him, “That pig is like a member of our family.  When our house burned down, he rushed in to save my grandmother.  When our little girl was drowning in the creek, he jumped in and saved her.  He’s just like a member of our family.”

Jerry asked, “Why does he have a wooden leg?”

His uncle replied, “Son, when you have an animal of that quality, you eat him only one ham at a time!”

While we can use temptation to sell products, and while we can make light of it, the truth is that temptation is a serious problem that we all face.  The very fact that we resort to it so much for our own purposes shows us that temptation is powerful and that we often fall prey to it. 

We are tempted to sin in many ways, and none of us in our own power can resist temptation.  There is a Master of Temptation, however and we will see that Master at work today. He will show us the way out of temptation and if we follow Him and His example we will be able ourselves to resist more effectively.

The Identity of the Tempter:

Everything except God has an origin and we know that good things come from God. Jesus said that good and bad cannot come from the same source. God can no more do an evil thing than can the shade of black become white. It will never happen. Evil also has an origin; it originated with Satan, and so did temptation. Knowing where temptation comes from helps us learn its purpose.

Satan was Lucifer; He was the beautiful “Day Star” of Heaven. He was the archangel, the  most privileged servant of God who played beautiful music to glorify God. Sadly for all concerned, he became proud and so he rebelled against God. Because of this he was banished from heaven.

Now, in his bitterness and anger, Satan wants to cause pain. Satan’s response to this conflict was to become bitter and he wants his revenge against God and to hurt Him. He wants to hurt God through  turning God's highest creation, humankind, away from Him.  His main tool for this desperate and dastardly plot is temptation.

His main tactic is not control or possession, but temptation. This is why the Bible calls him a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is a roaring lion because he is defeated and toothless, and he’s trying to scare people into siding with him against God. Like many dogs, his bark is worse than his bite; but he can entice or scare God's people into sin, then he can hurt God. And that's his real intent!

The Opportunity for the Tempter:

Why did Satan decide to tempt Jesus at this time? Was it because Jesus was in a weakened situation?Was he kicking someone when they were down? No!

In fact Jesus was in a spiritually strong condition. He had just been baptized and heard His Father’s approval. He was completing a fast and the purpose of a fast is to grow closer to God. Jesus may have been closer to God later in His life and ministry, but I would argue that He had never yet been so close to God as when He was in the midst of this fast.

In fact, in Matthew 6, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught:

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Fasting is tough, physically, but it is revitalizing, spiritually!

Satan likes to try to play hardball because he wants to be just like God. He wants to show his power and all through Bible he attacks people during/after spiritual highs:

Adam and Eve in the garden
Noah after the flood
David after the covenant from God
Elijah after Mount Carmel
Paul and Silas during a powerful ministry in Philippi

And Jesus after His baptism and affirmation of God from Heaven.

So, we need to be aware of this trend, this tactic. When things are going well we need to guard our hearts. Satan wants to score as many points as possible by knocking off a successful person, family, or church.

The Methods of the Tempter:

From this passage we can see some of the techniques that Satan uses. These are probably not inclusive of all his wiles, but they do seem to attack three basic motivations in our lives.

First, we see that Satan appeals to the flesh.  I call this the "Temptation to Greed."

We live in a world that is fascinated by physical possessions. As one pastor friend put it, "People try to get all that they can, put it in a can, put a lid on the can, and then sit on the lid!"This temptation makes our flesh our God and it denies that God is sufficient to care for our physical needs.

Next we see that Satan appeals to our vanity. I call this the "Temptation to Gaudiness."

People have always seemed to crave fame and notoriety, and this especially is true today when we create stars of people who have never achieved anything but a mastery of manipulating social media. People want to be known, they just don't want to put in the effort to be known for something they have actually accomplished!

Finally, we see that Satan appeals to our spirit of rebellion. I call this the "Temptation of Glory."

We, like Satan, want to think we are "large and in charge," but there is only one Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent God of the universe. When Frank Sinatra sang about doing things "my way" he is singing the theme song of this temptation, the temptation to place our selves on the throne of our life and not Almighty God.

Again, Satan may use many other techniques than the ones he tried with Jesus, and we must stay on the alert for his manipulations and deceptions. Satan is the chief of liars and we can never trust him!

The Defeat of the Tempter:

Satan tried to play hardball with Jesus. He was going head to head, and hand to hand with God, and while he is powerful, his strength pales in comparison with God's. In fact, the contest wasn't even close. Jesus brushed away Satan with little effort, the way we might brush away a fly or a piece of lint on our jacket.

The results of this contest present us with some important lessons: 

1. Jesus had a relationship with His Father from His childhood.
2. Jesus’ relationship with His Father continued into adulthood.
3. Jesus’ relationship with His Father was fresh and renewed.
4. Jesus made wise use of God’s Word in defeating Satan.
5. We can take advantage of these principles as well and if we do, we too can have victory.

Consider what Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says, 

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

We need to remember, that while Satan is a cruel liar, God showed His true nature in that passage of Scripture and in Matthew 4:

He gives us help to escape the tempter.

He nurtures us and cares for us.

Jesus showed us the way to use Scripture to overpower the tempter.

Conclusion:

In our text for today, we have seen how Jesus took Satan's best shot and walked away unscathed. He is truly the Master of Temptation, and if we let Him be our Master, then we can master temptation as well. If we turn to Him in times of testing, He will help us and, like Him, we can be victorious.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

Eyewitnesses from 2 Peter 1

Today I am commenting on 2 Peter 1:16-21, which reads:


For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Often,  when a preacher has made a statement in a sermon, and he wants to see if the congregation is still engaged with him, he'll ask,"Can I get a witness?" For the early church, "Can I get a witness?" was more than just a throwaway line from a preacher. It was central to their ministry in, and out of, the church.

Even the newest church member among us will have heard of Acts 1:8, which tells us, ". . . you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The early church was determined to follow this command of Jesus and be witnesses for Him throughout the known world.

Peter, of course, was one of the Apostles and he, too, was a witness of and for Jesus as he describes in our focal passage for today.

Witness:

The earliest Christians were Jews and their Bible was the Old Testament. They did not set out to write a new Bible because they believed that the Old Testament contained an abundant amount of prophecies and other passages that proved that Jesus was the Messiah. Their desire was simply to follow God's command to be a witness for Christ in the world.

They did not need to write a new Bible because they had been trained all of their lives to follow the Old Testament Law and Prophets. They knew Deuteronomy 19:15, which directed that,  "A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." The early church had far more than two or three witnesses to the life and ministry of Christ!

The early church had the testimony of the eleven Apostles, plus the testimony of the seventy that Jesus had sent out two by two. They had the testimony of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, as well as that of Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus. They also had the testimony of the disciples who were on the Emmaus Road, as well as that of Paul who met Jesus on the Road to Damascus.

If a preacher asked, "Can I get a witness?" in a meeting of the early church, he'd get all the witnesses he could stand! That's actually a good thing for us, today, also. As Peter said, our faith is not based on myths, but on the testimony of hundreds and even thousands of eyewitnesses to the life and ministry of our Lord.

Word:

Of course, we no longer have any living eyewitnesses of Christ, and we haven't had any for many centuries now, but we still have their testimonies about Him. Blessedly for us, the early church decided that they needed to record these testimonies for future generations, and so they collected the four Gospels along with the epistles of Paul and Peter, as well as those of John and some others, and created what we now know as the New Testament.

The creation of the New Testament canon did not begin soon after the ascension of Christ, because, as I noted above, they had the actual witnesses themselves who could attest to the facts of what had gone before. At a certain point, however, these witnesses began to die, and the church became concerned that their testimonies would become lost, and, led and inspired by the Holy Spirit, they recorded the New Testament as we know it today.

While we know that the personal witness of a follower of Christ is powerful and God has used such testimonies to covert untold number of people, the written Word is also powerful. I, personally, met a former Muslim man in West Africa who was converted to Christ by reading the New Testament. He had heard all of his life about the Injil, which is the Arabic name for the Gospels, but he had never read them. He searched for a copy, and in reading the Gospels was converted to Christ! He only met with a Christian after he had decided to follow Christ!

Will:

Of course, the fact that Christian witness moved from personal, verbal testimony to also include the written text of the New Testament was not a surprise to God. In fact, far from being a surprise, it was a part of His plan all along. It was not human will which decided that a written testimony was needed, but it was the will of God as His people, inspired by the Holy Spirit, recorded His Word for the generations to come.

When we reflect upon the will of God for His Word, we should also consider what Paul taught Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:14-17, which says:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

From Paul's mentoring of Timothy we see that not only is God's Word a key to evangelism and conversion, but it is vital also for equipping and discipleship. As Christians read and study the Bible, they are better equipped to become more and more conformed to the image of Christ, which makes their testimony to unbelievers even more persuasive and powerful.

Clearly, it is God's will that we witness in all forms possible,  in word (both written and spoken) as well as in deed and in attitude.

Conclusion:

Acts 1:8 is not only a command but a prophecy. We will be His witnesses, but the open question is, will we be good witnesses, indifferent witnesses, or bad witnesses?

Clearly, the will of God is that we would use His Word to be good witnesses for Him. By knowing and internalizing the Scriptures,  we are empowered and equipped to do the basic ministry that all Christians are called to do: be good witnesses for Christ in all parts of our lives and in all ways that we represent Him.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

Workers Together from 1 Corinthians 3

Today I am commenting on 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, which reads:

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

One of the most powerful ministries I have ever been involved with is Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Each year, after storms or floods or other disasters have wreaked havoc in a community, hundreds or even thousands of ordinary church members volunteer their time and energy to perform an extraordinary ministry by helping people recover from disaster.

One of the key features of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is teamwork. Whether it be cooking thousands of meals a day or cutting and removing downed trees to providing emergency childcare, Disaster Relief is a team ministry. What one person can’t do on their own, a team of people can do quickly and efficiently.

Teamwork means cooperation, and cooperation means volunteers must possess a certain level of maturity and the willingness to humbly serve. If these characteristics are missing, then teamwork fails and then the team fails to do the work. This is the very situation that Paul addressed in our focal passage for today.

Working Together Means Growing-Up:

Everyone loves babies. They are cute and adorable and harmless . . . until they start to cry! I really believe that God perfectly designed a baby’s cry to get the attention of any adult in the vicinity. And a baby’s cry will certainly spur adults into action, mostly to respond in love to the child but also, to some extent, to silence the noise that will get on our . . .  very . . . last . . . nerve.

Everyone loves babies, but everyone wants babies to grow-up also. As I often told my wife in those years we were approaching the empty-nest syndrome, we raise up our children to send them out, not to hamstring them so we can keep them at home. Babies were designed by God to grow and mature, and when that doesn’t happen something has gone wrong.

Everyone loves baby Christians, too, and we expect there to be growing pains. New Christians, like new babies often cry out when they are scared, uncomfortable, or hungry, or when they just don’t know what to do. Paul would graciously admit that is a natural stage in the life of a new Christian, but he rightfully insisted that new Christians must grow and mature. If that doesn’t happen, then something has gone wrong . . .  dreadfully wrong.

Babies don’t make good teammates, not do people who are infantile in their maturity!

Working Together Means Knowing Who We Are:

Some commentators have said that the institution of slavery was the original sin of both the United States and Southern Baptist Convention. It is hard to argue with that premise. Both our nation and the SBC still suffer the consequences of that sin that both have rightfully forsaken. Because of our dark history regarding slavery, we often will miss the fact that probably all the “servants” and “stewards” mentioned in the Bible were slaves or indentured servants of some kind.

Slaves, by definition, must place their masters’ concerns above their own. They must satisfy their masters’ wants and needs, and they must be good stewards of their masters’ property. Their goal is to make their masters successful, profitable, or powerful. Their concern is not their own reputations, but their masters’ reputations. This is a lesson that Paul was trying to impart to his readers.

Even though Apollos and Paul both had powerful ministries, Paul knew that they were simply servants of the Most High God. They were nothing in themselves, but their lives only had meaning in relationship to God. Like John the Baptist, their attitude was “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Paul would have approved of Harry Truman’s comment that, “It is amazing what you can accomplish of you do not care who gets the credit.” People with such attitudes make great team members.

We are servants of the Most High God! We should live so that He increases, which means we must decrease. Keeping our eyes on that goal makes us good teammates.

Working Together Means Knowing What We Are Supposed to be Doing:

Amos 3:3 asks the simple question, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” It is impossible for two people to go the same way if they are not going to the same place. Sooner or later their paths will diverge. Likewise, we cannot work together unless we agree on what we are supposed to be doing.

We are supposed to tend to God’s Garden. Let’s remember together what Jesus taught us in John 15:1-8, which reads,

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

The world offers us many different goals. Among other things, it promotes fame, fortune, power, recreation, and a life of ease and consumption. God’s Kingdom, however, has a starkly different and more eternally useful purpose: tending God’s Garden.

Good teammates focus on the mission and they help each other accomplish it.

Working Together Means Knowing Who Brings Success:

Here’s a hint: it isn’t us!

One of the major responsibilities in my current ministry is to organize meetings and ministry projects, and to plan and execute volunteer mission trips. God has given me the gifts and talents I need to make these events successful, but I often find myself fretting and worrying over them. I like to see things done well; it is one of my core values. Truth be told, however, I often take on too much responsibility for making these events a success.

What I forget is exactly what Paul was telling the church at Corinth to remember: it is our Lord who brings the harvest. Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor who empowers our pastoral care. He is the Great Physician who heals out bodies and our souls. He is the Good Shepherd who protects and guides His sheep. He is the Sower who scatters the seed, tends the field, and brings the bounty. Make no mistake,  if anything good comes our of our ministry it is because our Lord made it happen!

Of course, while we should not become arrogant at any ministry success we may experience serving our God, we must also realize that God has chosen to work through His people. And, of course, He expects His people to cooperate with Him and do the work He has asked us to do. We must not sit back on our salvation and glibly assume that God will make a way somehow. God has chosen us to labor with Him in His vineyard. Does there exist a greater honor than that for a servant of the Most High God?

Good teammates are diligent and responsible, but don’t take on themselves the responsibilities God has designated as His Own.

Conclusion:

 I am a Southern Baptist, so for me, the idea of cooperation in the service of our Lord is vital.

Each Southern Baptist Church is autonomous, which means it is self-governing (ideally under the guidance and nurture of the  Holy Spirit). While Southern Baptist Churches are autonomous, they should not be independent. It is inherent in the definition of Southern Baptist churches that they voluntarily cooperate to share the Gospel with a fallen world.

The need for cooperation is not just limited to cooperation between churches, but also within individual churches as well. Pastors and other church leaders cannot coerce church members to participate in worship or ministry activities. While good leadership techniques can encourage cooperation by church members, it is up to every church member play their part in the ministry of the local church.

We truly should be workers together with God!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

Called into Unity from 1 Corinthians 1

Today I am commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:10-25, which reads:

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a [stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

As I write this posting it is very common to hear pundits opine on cable news programs that our nation has never been so divided. To this I say, really?

During the Revolutionary War, when our nation was being founded, about a third of the people in the Thirteen Colonies backed independence and another third were loyal to the Crown. The balance of the population, the remaining third, remained neutral. Seems pretty divided to me!

During the Civil War we had armies fighting one another. Americans were actually killing one another over political issues. Not only that, but the two sides were divided internally as well. Within the ranks of the Unionists there were divisions over why the war was being fought and riots broke out in New York City over drafting men into military service. Deep rivalries existed among the general officers in the Confederate Army, and shortly after the last shots were fired, U.S. President Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached. Again, seems pretty divided to my way of thinking!

Our nation is divided in many ways, but at least we are not shooting at each other!

With the backdrop of the looming Civil War, Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus when he said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Sadly, churches fall prey to divisions as well, even churches in the New Testament. Just a few years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, Paul was dealing with division in the Church at Corinth. What he taught them applies to many of our churches today who are in conflict.

What Is Fellowship?

 In the preceding verse to our focal passage for today, Paul told the congregation at Corinth that, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Often in churches we use the term fellowship to mean a party or meal of some type. This use misses the deep richness of the meaning of the word. The Greek word translated fellowship is koinonia.  Koinonia means intimacy, community, communion, and joint participation. So, fellowship is more than just "kool aide and cookies." Fellowship is close friendship and shared trust.

Sadly, true fellowship was lacking in Corinth; church was seriously divided.

How Was Corinth Divided?

The Church at Corinth was apparently divided into several factions based on personalities:

The sophisticated camp (Apollos). Apollos was a wonderful speaker and he was very articulate. Some people in Corinth wanted to claim him as their role model and it seems as if they were trying to bask in the glow of his rhetorical brilliance.

The traditional camp (Peter). Peter, of course, was the first leader of the Apostles and of the Jerusalem Church. He was a bedrock of the faith and it could be that some people at Corinth preferred to admire one of the first followers of Jesus rather than give respect to a leader who came later. For them, the original model was still the best!

The doctrinal camp (Paul). Paul was a very learned man and his many Epistles formed the basis for much of the theology which we still teach in Baptist churches today. Maybe for them, the knowledge provided by Paul made him superior to other leaders.

The arrogant camp (Jesus). It is easy for me to imagine some at Corinth looking down their nose at others and bragging, “I am of Christ!” Probably, we have all come across that person with this "holier than thou" attitude. Or maybe we have ourselves fallen prey to such thoughts?

Truth be told, the Bible does not characterize the attitudes of the people within each camp, but it does make it clear that the congregation was divided. When people follow different leaders, chaos ensues, and the church loses it way.

Crucial Questions:

Is Christ divided? No!

Not only is Christ not divided, He actually unifies! Read how Paul describes this in Ephesians 2:11-18.

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Was Paul crucified for you? No!

It went unsaid by Paul that neither Peter nor Apollos was crucified for the people in Corinth either.

Were you Baptized in the name of Paul?  No!

The members of the Church at Corinth were not baptized in the name of Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, but in the Name of Jesus.

Paul was reminding the Corinthian believers that Christ was what was important, not human leaders and personalities. Even today we see people in churches following human personalities as opposed to Jesus. People will follow a pastor from church to church if they can or sometimes people will leave a church because of a pastor. The truth is the church is not about the pastor and nor is it about the church member it is about Jesus and worshiping him as he deserves.  As Paul would tell us, "Brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so!

So what, then, is the answer to these things?

The Cure For Divisions:

Paul gave two cures for the divisions in Corinth:

First is the message of the Cross of Christ.

Before we come to the Cross we have no salvation, no forgiveness of sin, and no hope. Truly, the ground is level at the foot of the Cross for no one brings anything good with them into the Kingdom of God. In fact, we come to the Family of God like a new born babe, and so none of us should be proud. Instead, all of us should exercise humility and meekness. This includes everyone: pastors, deacons, and church members alike.

Second, we must acknowledge the wisdom of God.

The world thinks it is wise and sophisticated and that the simple faith of the Christian is foolish and naive. The opposite is the real truth. True wisdom is seeing life from God's point of view, which brings us to back that simple and humble faith in Christ.

If either cure is applied to our lives, we will be united in grace and peace as we humbly take our place in God's Family!

Conclusion:

A teaching point that I have often used in premarital counseling is illustrated by the diagram below:

As a husband and wife individually grow closer to Christ, they also will grow closer together. It is a simple fact of geometry! The same is true of the members of a church, the Bride of Christ. As we all grow closer to Christ we naturally grow closer to each other. It is only if we remain babes in Christ and distant from God that divisions are allowed to occur.

Let us determine to grow in the nurture and admonition of our Lord. If we do, we will become more and more united at  home, and at church!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

The Fellowship of the Son From 1 Corinthians 1

Today I am commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:1-19 which reads:

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Epistles of Paul are fascinating and instructive books of the Bible. The truths we find in the have guided the Christian church in development of its theology and its ministry practice for centuries. It is not too much to say that without the Pauline Epistles the church would probably look very different than it does today. The far-reaching impact of these letters is hard to exaggerate.

The factor that many people forget, however, is that the Pauline letters are just that, letters. These epistles were the result of Paul taking advantage of the technology of the day, the Roman transportation and communication system, to provide pastoral care and guidance to churches he had planted during his various missionary journeys. No doubt, these letters were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and they are the Word of God, but they were also written to real people in real places facing real spiritual issues.

The issues faced by those early Christians are the same as we face today. Therefore, the instruction provided by Paul to his children in the faith is just as valid today. Even this short introductory passage contains important facts about our relationship to God through Jesus.

The Fellowship of the Son is to be Sanctified in Christ:

Such a simple statement but one which has a tremendous meaning!

First, we see that God calls people to Him. God loves us and wants to relate to us, we who are part of the highest level of God's created universe. God has invested Himself in us in the fullness of all that concept includes.

Second, people need to be saved and sanctified. As powerful as God's love is for us, His desire for righteousness is just as powerful. Sadly, the sin of humanity brings God's righteous wrath into play in our lives and prevents us from experiencing God's love in our natural state. Becoming disciples of Christ saves us from our sin and sets us on the path of sanctification so that we can become more and  more like Christ. This not only honors and blesses God, it also blesses us.

Finally, we see that the essential element in God's call on our lives is Christ. None of the work of saving and sanctifying can be done without the intervention of Christ. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost, which is sinful humanity, and He sent the Holy Spirit to empower and guide our sanctification.

The call of God to people to be saves and sanctified in Christ should be focus of the Christian church as it goes in to all the world to make disciples of all peoples.

The Fellowship of the Son gives Grace and Peace:

A popular internet meme allegedly quotes John Wayne as saying, "Life is hard; it's even harder if you are stupid." He probably didn't say that (look here) but that doesn't make the sentiment any less true.

Life is hard because our world does not operate the way God intended it to operate. In fact, this world will someday be destroyed and God will start over. Until then, like Adam, our lives will be full of thorns, thistles, enmity, dust, and sweat. We need resources we don't possess to make a go of this world. Paul prayed for the Church at Corinth that they would find grace and peace.

Grace is the unmerited favor of God which is available to us in Christ Jesus. Grace recreates the broken relationship with God that was the result of our sin and it is grace that promises "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Knowing God is on our side helps us make our way through the tragedy of this world.

Also, the promise that He will take us home to be with Him when we leave this planet comforts us with the knowledge that this world is not our final home.

Even though our ultimate future is bright in Christ, we still must slog through the daily grind of living in a fallen and dying world. That's where God's peace comes in. His peace is not like the world's peace, but is greater and eternal. God's peace calms our hearts and reassures our minds. It strengthens  us to stand fast in the storms of life and to resist the Devil and his wiles.

Like the members of the Church at Corinth we remain in need of God's grace and peace. Blessedly for us, He still provides it to His children!

The Fellowship of the Son Enriches and Equips People:

Jesus told his disciples in Luke 11:13 that, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” God is like human fathers in that He loves His children, but He is greater and more loving than any human father. God loves His children and He wants the best for them.

What is best for God's children is to become His disciples. Here is how Paul described that in Ephesians Chapter 4:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,  to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Later in 1 Corinthians Paul would express his frustration that the members of that church had not grown in the faith but were still "babes in Christ." Growing in our faith not only blesses us, but it also fulfills the will of our Father. "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30)."

The Fellowship of the Son is Faithfulness to His People:

Have you ever wondered why some of the disciples had doubts after the Resurrection? With this question I am referring to   Matthew 28:16-18, which says: "Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted."

No one can say why these disciples had doubts because the Bible doesn't give us that information. The events of the proceeding days were now doubt traumatizing. To see their Master arrested, abused, executed and buried was shocking and frightening, but the Resurrection might equally be confusing and shocking as well. In any case, some of His closest followers were troubled when in the presence of Jesus.

It is instructive to note His response to their doubts and fears. Jesus used what some today may call the "sandwich technique". He began by reminding them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

He continued on to give them a huge, God-sized task,  "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

He closed by reassuring them, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Do you see what He did their? He enclosed the overwhelming task of making disciples of all people inside statements designed to remind them of who He was, what He could do, and what He would do. He would be with them throughout the entire process, and He had the power and authority to help them and care for them.

God was faithful to the first disciples. He was faithful to the Church at Corinth. He is faithful to His children today. He will be faithful until Jesus returns!

Conclusion:

A former pastor, the minister who performed the wedding for me and my wife, used to describe fellowship as "two fellows in one ship."

If two people occupy the same boat, then they both have to go the same place the boat goes, and they both will enjoy the same weather, food, and living conditions. In fact, in one sense these two can become one since they make of the crew of the boat. Two people, but one crew.

As we walk more and more closely with Christ, we too will become more like Him. As Paul put it in Ephesians 4, we will attain "the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." 

May it ever be so!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about Pleasing the Father

Today  I am commenting on Matthew 3:13-17, which reads:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Baptism is a vital rite of the Christian church and it is universally celebrated as a special occasion in the life of a congregation. Of course, that does not mean that every baptismal service is flawlessly conducted. Awkward moments can occur.

For example, we have all probably seen the on-line video  of the child who does a cannon-ball into the baptistry, resulting in a tidal wave of water cascading onto the choir sitting below.

On another occasion, a pastor who was baptizing a man much taller than he smashed the man's head into the side of the pool during the baptism. The new believer came to the surface sputtering words more suitable for his former way of life than for church.

These incidents demonstrate that even the most sacred of our church rites can sometimes become awkward moments. One might say this almost occurred during the baptism of Jesus as well, but the actual outcome pleased His Heavenly Father. Let's look at that together:

Jesus Pleased the Father by His Humility:

Few who read the account of the ministry of John the Baptist would doubt that his was a powerful ministry. He preached captivating sermons which touched many lives. He confronted evil and sin without hesitation. Masses of people came to him to repent of their sins and be baptized. Yet, despite all of this, he knew that one was coming who would be far greater than he.

Like John, Jesus had a powerful ministry, He, too, preached captivating sermons which touch many lives. He confronted evil and sin without hesitation. Masses of people came to him to repent of their sin but also to be healed of their diseases and be fed with physical bread as well as the Bread of Life. Jesus was a prophet, like John, but unlike John He was God incarnate, who raised the dead and who defeated death and hell on the Cross. John had no doubt that Jesus was superior to himself, and we should have no doubts about that also.

Despite Jesus's obvious superiority to John, Jesus humbly submitted to baptism by him. Jesus's humility began even before the primitive circumstances of His birth, but in Heaven, when He humbled Himself to be born in the form of a man so that He could be the Savior of the world. This humility on the part of His Son pleased God the Father, and when His people choose humility today it pleases Him as well.

Taking the path of humility on the part of a child of God is never a bad choice for it pleases the Father

Jesus Pleased the Father by His Desire for Righteousness:

God is perfect, which, among other factors, means that He has perfect balance all the time in all His attributes and all His actions. Righteousness is a key attribute of God and it balances with other qualities like benevolence

Dr. Fisher Humphreys, a retired professor of theology, has taught for years that God is both good and loving, that is, "We can trust in One who does what is right, in One who loves and is concerned about us."*  Part of this goodness, to my way of thinking, is the characteristic of righteousness. Jesus the Son, cared about upholding righteousness, and this pleased His Father in Heaven.

Why is upholding righteousness important? Some people's concept of God is that He forgives all people all sin without any standards at all. In Romans 6:1-2 Paul rebukes that thought strongly, saying "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"  The Scriptures are clear: although God is Love, He also clearly hates sin! How then can we find a way out of this conundrum? Through Christ!

Jesus is the One who fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf. It was He who came to fulfill the Law. As Paul went on to say in Romans 6, "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

The righteousness of Jesus has provided for our salvation. The children of God please Him when they live out the righteous life given to us at such great cost to Him.

Jesus Pleased the Father by His Baptism:

In the present day we are proud of our use of audio-visual techniques to share the Gospel and to worship God. We project hymns onto screens and we frequently show promotional or motivating videos as well. We incorporate drama, dance, and even puppets into church services. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and the whole galaxy of social media outlets are viewed as vital, and  even indispensable, tools for ministry. Yet, we are not the innovators that we think we are.

Centuries before we were even born God was using audio-visual means to declare His presence and His plan for us. He used pillars of smoke and fire to guide the Israelites in the wilderness and assure them of His presence. The Ark was a physical reminder of His covenant with them and the fire from Heaven on Mt. Carmel demonstrated His power. The star over Bethlehem and the Spirit descending as a dove graphically illustrated God's engagement with humanity. The Lord's Supper is not only audio-visual, but it is also tactile and olfactory as well. God was way ahead of us in using these techniques to communicate His love and truth to us. This should not surprise us since God is Creator and we are His creation, and we should approach the use of these tools with humility.

Baptism, of course, is a powerful audio-visual sermon which testifies to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and the transforming effect that this has on the lives of His people. In the case of Jesus it was a prophecy of what was yet to come. In the case of a believer it is a testimony of what Jesus has done for them and a declaration of their trust in faith in Christ. As Romans 6:4 says, "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

When a child of God is baptized, they are preaching a powerful sermon about redemption and God's love for us. This also pleases the Father.

Conclusion:

The task of servants is to please their master. As servants of God we should always endeavor to please Him. As we live humble, righteous lives, and as we obediently follow the commands of Christ our Savior to be witnesses for Him (including following Him in baptism), we please our Lord. May we all live so that we meet Him in person we will hear our Lord say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Every Blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

* Fisher Humphreys, Thinking About God, page 68.