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In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus gave this final command to his disciples:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” When I preached on this passage last week, I mentioned some of the ways in which Matthew brings his Gospel full circle:
There’s another way in which Matthew’s Gospel comes full circle: baptism. Jesus commands his disciples to make disciples, by going, baptizing, and then teaching. Baptism is the beginning of discipleship, the lifelong process of learning about Christ and becoming more like him. And when new disciples are baptized, Jesus says that they are to be baptized “in (literally into) the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Since the very beginning, Christians have recognized that God exists as a Trinity, three Persons in one Being, and that to be baptized meant to be added into and joined with his visible body on earth, the church, through identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom 6:1-11). This is why Christian baptism is always done in the name (singular, not plural) of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Baptism identifies a person as a disciple of Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Godhead; and because God cannot be separated from himself, to be identified with Christ is also to be identified with the Father and the Spirit. Jesus’ command to baptize in the threefold name of the triune God is an explicit revelation of God’s nature as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So how does this tie in with the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel? Matthew 3:13-17 records Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, 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 thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” At the beginning of his earthly ministry, at his baptism, the Trinity is on full and glorious display for all to see. As Jesus is baptized in the river, the heavens are opened and the Spirit descends on him like a dove, and a voice from heaven, the voice of the Father, declares that Jesus is indeed his beloved Son, with whom he is well pleased. Father, Son, and Spirit together, each playing a different part in the work of redemption, yet perfectly united in being and essence. And so again at the end of Matthew, Jesus gives his disciples the command to make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching, once again making the direct connection between baptism and God’s triune nature. Strictly speaking, baptism isn’t necessary for salvation. The thief on the cross is the classic example of this (Luke 23:39-43). Jesus didn’t need to be baptized in the sense that he commanded us, but it was still necessary for him to be baptized, “to fulfill all righteousness.” In the same way, we don’t need to undergo baptism in order to go to heaven, but it is still a direct command from our Lord Jesus. No matter what position on the timing, mode, or further significance of baptism they may hold, all Christians agree that baptism of disciples is a direct command from Christ, and must be administered in the triune name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And as we make disciples of all nations, by going, baptizing, and teaching them, always remember that we do this not in our own strength or power, but in Christ’s, because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, and he has promised that he will be with us always, to the end of the age.
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Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15)
The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:22) For much of church history, November 1 has traditionally been observed as All Saints’ Day. In our church, we dedicate the closest Sunday to remembering those in our congregation who have died in faith and gone to be with the Lord during the past year. We mourn their absence, but we also rejoice that because they died in faith, they are now experiencing fullness of joy in the presence of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that we will be reunited with them on the last day, when Christ returns in glory, our bodies are resurrected, when he will dwell with us and we with him in the new heavens and new earth, and so we shall be with the Lord forever. (1 Thess 4:13-18; Ps 16:11; 1 Cor 15:50-58; Rev 21:1-5) Every year, on All Saints’ Sunday, we sing this hymn. I invite you to meditate and pray these words along with us, thank God for the faithfulness of the saints who went before us, praise him for his faithfulness to them, rest in his promise to be faithful to us as well, and joyfully look forward to the day when every eye shall see him, and the church militant will enter into her eternal Sabbath rest as the church triumphant. “For All the Saints" William Walsham How, 1864 For all the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed; Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia, Alleluia! Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might; Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight; Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light. Alleluia, Alleluia! O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia, Alleluia! And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long, Steals on the ear the distant triumph song, And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia, Alleluia! But lo! there breaks a still more glorious day: The saints triumphant rise in bright array; The King of glory passes on His way. Alleluia, Alleluia! From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast, Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia, Alleluia! Today, October 31, 2024, we observe the 507th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of All Saints’ Church, commonly known as Castle Church, in Wittenberg, Germany. This event sparked the Protestant Reformation, in which the doctrine of sola fide, salvation by faith alone, was a central point of contention between the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformers.
On April 18, 1521, at the Diet of Worms, Luther was called before the church authorities and even the emperor himself to publicly recant and retract his teachings on sola fide. At that time, Luther gave his now-famous reply: “Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture, or by eminent reason, I will not recant, for my conscience is held captive to the Word of God, and to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” * We’ve all heard the saying, “Let your conscience be your guide,” or a similar motto, “Follow your heart.” Generally speaking, what we call the “conscience” is actually a good gift from God. It's something that tells us when something we’re about to do is wrong, or when there’s something that we ought to do but may not want to do. That's one aspect of what we call God’s “common grace,” the good things that he does for all people everywhere, even unbelievers. It's something that he designed every human being to have at creation, which was originally “very good” (Gen 1:27, 31). But what happened? Sin entered the picture. Adam and Eve sinned against God, and so every aspect of what it means to be a human being was affected by sin. This is what the Reformers meant by the doctrine of radical corruption: not that every individual person is as evil and depraved as he or she could possibly be, but rather that every aspect of every person is affected by sin, all the way inward to the core of our being, our “heart.” This is also what the prophet Jeremiah was getting at when he wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9) Because of sin, our consciences are not always trustworthy guides. Following our heart will only lead us to destruction. So how then could Luther make such a bold stand on the basis of his own conscience? Because he was not standing on his conscience alone, in and of himself; his famous phrase, “Here I stand,” was referring to the supreme authority to which his conscience was bound: The Word of God! One of the key aspects of the Reformed doctrine of salvation is that, apart from God’s working in us by the Holy Spirit, we are dead in our sins and unable to live in a way that pleases him (Eph 2:1-4). We need to be given a new heart, so to speak, one that will animate us to exercise true saving faith and live a life of good works (Ezek 36:26-27; Eph 2:5-10). Once we have a new heart, then, the rest of our being begins to live accordingly. This begins the lifelong process of sanctification, of becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn’t happen by accident, though! It takes diligence, dedication, and discipline. God doesn’t just zap us into instant Christlikeness; he uses normal, everyday, earthly means to mold and shape us into the image of Christ. And one of the key means by which he does this is his Word. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2) When we become Christians, we begin the long and often painful process of being changed, shaped and molded, conformed no longer to the world, but to Christ. We won’t achieve it until we die, or he comes back again. But as we study the Scriptures, as we meditate on his Word day and night (Ps 1:2), as we let it become the lamp to our feet and the light to our path (Ps 119:105), we will find our hearts and our minds becoming more like that of Christ. And guess what? Our consciences will be shaped and molded as well. The longer you live the Christian life, the longer you hunger and thirst for righteousness and let that hunger drive you to God’s Word (Matt 5:6), the more your conscience will be equipped to direct you in the way that you should go, to make decisions that are honoring and pleasing to God. It's important to keep a few key concepts in mind here:
The more your heart and mind is renewed by God’s Word and so conformed into his likeness and image, the more you will be able to discern God's will. The more you discern his will, the more you will be faced with difficult decisions, unpopular courses of action, and opposition for obeying God's will. And when you face overwhelming opposition, the only way you will be able to stand on your conscience as Luther did, is to have your conscience held captive to the Word of God, as Luther did. Then and only then will you be able to stand and say with Luther, “Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” * There are several reported variations on what Luther said here, but all of them contain essentially the same information, just with slightly different wording. "I Will Be God To You and Your Children:" God's Covenantal Promise to Abraham and His Descendants10/24/2024 I recently preached on one of the most unpopular verses in our day, Matthew 27:25. You can watch that message on YouTube or listen to it as a podcast. I wanted to follow another related biblical thread that I didn't have time to explore in that message, but which gives us another angle on the nature of God's covenantal people and how Christians ought to think about the Jews today.
The Jews prided themselves on being “God’s chosen people,” the children of Abraham, inheritors of the covenant God made with him in Genesis. What was one of the key promises of that covenant? “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” (Genesis 17:7) By Jesus’ day, the Jews assumed that because they were physically descended from Abraham, that meant that they were irrevocably “God’s chosen people.” Idiomatically, for the Hebrews, to be a true son of your father meant that you said and did the same things as your father. But the Jews of Jesus’ day were largely opposed to him, to the point of having him killed. Jesus exposes their hearts, and demonstrates how they are, in fact, acting as true sons of their true father, who is neither Abraham nor God. They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me . . . . This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. . . . You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. . . . But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me.” (John 8:39-47) The Bible makes it abundantly clear that Abraham’s true children are not necessarily those who are descended from him physically, but rather those who say and do the things that Abraham said and did. What did Abraham do? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:3). But how could Abraham be counted as a Christian when he lived around 2,000 years before Christ? By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” (Hebrews 11:17-18) And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 11:39-12:2) Abraham had true faith in God, faith that God would raise up his descendants not through merely physical means, as with Hagar and Ishmael, but through his promise, as with Sarah and Isaac. In other words, even though he didn’t fully understand it, the object of Abraham’s faith was Christ! Who then are the true children of Abraham? Who are the recipients of God’s covenantal blessings promised to Abraham? But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. (Romans 9:6-8) Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:7-9) Now, some respond to this with the claim that Christ is the fulfillment of God’s covenant only for the church age, the age of the new covenant, the age of the Gentiles being grafted into the vine of God’s people. The covenant to the Jews stands on its own, separate from that of the Gentiles, and is irrevocable, regardless of their faith in Christ, some claim. How do we understand this? God’s covenant is certainly irrevocable, because God swore his oath to Abraham by himself, and he does not and cannot change (Gen 15:17; Heb 6:13; Mal 3:6; Rom 11:29). But the covenant with Abraham is not merely to the Jews; it is also to all Abraham's descendants, which, as we've just seen, is not those who are descended from him physically, but rather spiritually. Because the fulfillment of God’s covenant was always in Christ alone! The old covenants were pointing forward to Christ, and now that he has come and completed his ministry, the former things, the types and shadows that pointed forward to their fulfillment, have passed away (Gal 3:16; Heb 8:13). Christ was always intended to be the fulfillment of the covenantal terms and conditions for receiving God’s blessing. And on this side of the cross and the empty tomb, on this side of his ascension and his destruction of the temple, in the full light of the completed canon of Scripture, we can clearly see God’s hand in breaking off the unrepentant natural branches of his people, the Jews, and graciously grafting in the foreign branches, the Gentiles, thereby comprising his people, the true Israel of God, of both Jew and Gentile together, one new man in place of two, saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Eph 2:14-18; 4:4-6; Gal 3:27-29; Acts 4:11-12; Rom 1:16-17; 10:12-13; 11:17-24; et al.). In other words, faith in Christ alone is the only way to be counted among the true spiritual Israel, the true Israel of God, God’s chosen people. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [Christ]. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:20-22) And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:29) So then, what about the Jews? Let’s revisit God’s original covenantal promise to Abraham: “I will . . . be God to you and your offspring.” (Genesis 17:7) The Jews largely rejected Jesus. Their hatred of him revealed their lack of faith in God and their lack of belief in the Scriptures (John 5:46-47). Their hatred of him even led them to infamously declare, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:25) Did you catch that? The Jews had already rejected Jesus Christ, the one who came to fulfill God’s covenantal conditions and deliver God’s covenantal blessings to God’s chosen people. By imprecating themselves and their children with the blood of Christ, they declare the exact inverse of God’s promise to Abraham. They cut themselves and their children off from the covenant. Just as Abraham’s true children are those who do what he did and believe God, so too the true children of the Jews who declared “his blood be on us and on our children” are those who continue in the works of their spiritual fathers. As the Jews continue in the sins of their fathers, killing the prophets, rejecting and hating Christ, reviling and subverting his Word and his people, then they too will be under the covenantal curse of God (John 8:42-47; Matt 27:25; Matt 23:29-36). What does that mean for the Jews today? Is there any hope? Absolutely there is! The good news of the gospel is that they can once again be grafted back into the vine of God’s chosen people. What do they have to do? The same thing as everybody else: hear the conviction of the gospel, repent, and believe in Christ alone! Then, and only then, will they be once more grafted back into God’s covenantal chosen people. “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (Joel 2:12-13) And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (Romans 11:23-24) And finally, what is the promise to them, when they do repent of their sins and come to faith in Christ alone? “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:36-39) The Jews removed themselves and their descendants from God's covenant with Abraham. They cut themselves off from God's covenantal blessings by rejecting and crucifying Christ, and so their spiritual descendants do so today, by continuing in the sins of their fathers. But the good news of the gospel is that because Christ fulfilled God's covenantal conditions, both the Jews and the Gentiles can be grafted into the vine of God's chosen people, through repentance and faith in Christ alone. By faith in Christ, the true Son of the Father, both Jew and Gentile are made true sons of Abraham, true sons of God, true brothers of Jesus Christ, true inheritors of all God's promised covenantal blessings, and God promises that he will be God to them and to their offspring. In other words, God’s chosen people are all who have faith in Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile alike! Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33, 36) |
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