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The Book of Titus: A Theology of Good Works

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The theme of good works is a dominant theme in the book of Titus (Titus 1:16; 2:7, 14; 3:1, 8, 14). “The fundamental teaching of the epistle is that the redemptive work of God in Christ must lead to changed lives,” William Mounce argues, “that Christ sacrificed himself to ‘redeem us from all lawlessness and cleanse for himself a special people, zealots for good works.’” And in this blog, I want to examine what Paul says about good works so we can develop a proper theology of good works.

Before I get started, though, let me give you a brief definition of a good work: a good work is any action or speech that honors our Lord and helps our neighbor. With good works defined, we are ready to look at a couple foundation stones for our theology of good works.

Foundation Stone #1: We Are Not Saved because of our Good Works

To properly understand good works, we must start here: God did not save us because of our good works. Before God saved us, we were dead in sin. We were not spiritually unconscious and waiting for a spiritual awakening. No! We were spiritually dead and buried in the muck and mire of sin. We were “foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). We were spiritually lifeless, and we needed God to resurrect us.

Thankfully, at God’s appointed time and in accordance with God’s immeasurable grace in Christ, He gave us life. God illuminated our minds, replaced our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, and drew us to Christ. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,” Paul says, “He saved us” (Titus 3:3-5). While we were spiritually dead and buried in the muck and mire of sin, God graciously breathed new life into us and resurrected us from our spiritual graves.

This had nothing to do with our works, our futile and defective religious deeds. Paul makes this clear: God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” (Titus 3:5; emphasis added). In other words, our salvation in Christ is not because of our works, it is because of God’s work. God is the giver of our salvation, and we are the recipients. God is the subject of our salvation, and we are the objects. A proper theology of good works must start here.

Foundation Stone #2: We Are Saved for Good Works

How would you answer this question: “Why did Jesus die as a substitute for sinners?” You could answer this in various ways: 1) to save us, 2) to deliver us from the penalty of sin, 3) to give us eternal life, or 4) to reconcile us to God. These are great answers. But how many of you would also say, “One reason Jesus died was to save a people for Himself who are zealous for good works”? Based on my conversations with Christians, not many.

Here is the problem, though, this theme—divine deliverance for the sake of God-honoring service—is a major theme in the Bible. “Go into Pharaoh and say to him, ‘thus says the Lord, ‘Let my people go that they may serve me’” (Exodus 8:1; emphasis added). And this theme is found in the book of Titus. Paul says that Jesus gave himself for us “to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:13-14; emphasis added). Paul is clear, Jesus died to create a people who are zealous and enthusiastic for good works. So, Jesus did not hang on a Roman cross because of our good works, but He did hang on a Roman cross to create a people for Himself who have an unquenchable zeal for good works. Our theology of good works must include this.

The Role of Good Works: They Help Our Neighbors

We are not saved for good works because God needs our good works. God does not need anything, especially our good works. He does not sleep or slumber, eat or drink, or wear out or rust out. He does not need clothing, nor does He need advancements in modern medicine. This is the “God who made the world and everything in it.” He is Lord of heaven and earth. He “does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands” (Acts 17:24-26).

Well, why are we saved for good works? It is because our neighbors need our good works. We live in a fallen world wrecked with the inevitable consequences of sin. Death leaves people childless and spouseless. Disease leaves people hurt and in despair. Disasters leave communities ravaged and desolate. Involuntary unemployment leaves families anxious and in need. Divorce leaves families fractured and splintered. Sexual sin leaves people worn out and ruined. Rebellious children leave parents discouraged and in anguish. We can go on and on. This fallen world leaves people with a variety of urgent needs. 

And God saved us for good works so we could demonstrate our love for Him by aiding our neighbors: “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14; emphasis added). We are commanded to spend ourselves doing good to meet our neighbor’s urgent needs.

The Role of Good Works: They Increase Our Fruitfulness

Good works increase our fruitfulness. You probably noticed this in the verse I previously referenced: “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14; emphasis added). God is glorified in us when we bear much fruit. One way we become increasingly fruitful in the Christian life is by selflessly devoting ourselves to good works for Christ’s namesake. 

Paul prayed for this type of increased fruitfulness for other Christians: “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will. . . bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10; emphasis added). Paul’s prayer teaches us two things: 1) spiritual fruit springs from good works, and 2) God is the one who ultimately enables us to bear fruit in every good work. So, let us selflessly devote ourselves to good works, and let us eagerly petition God to bless our labors and enable us to bear more and more fruit.

The Role of Good Works: They Adorn the Gospel

Above all, good works adorn the gospel. Just think about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is a message about how God has acted in the person of Jesus Christ to save sinners. When we proclaim the gospel, we proclaim words, sentences, and paragraphs about what Jesus Christ has done. And the clear proclamation of the gospel is the most beautiful proclamation of all.

The message of the gospel, though, can be adorned with our good works. Paul makes this clear when he says, “Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:9-10; emphasis added). When we adorn something, we make it attractive. The Jewish temple was “adorned with noble stones” (Luke 21:5). Women should “adorn themselves in respectable apparel” (1 Timothy 2:9). It is what a bride does on her wedding day. She is already gorgeous, but she becomes even more eye-popping when she adorns herself in a radiant wedding dress.

So, when slaves submit to their masters instead of arguing with and stealing from their masters, they adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ, they make it attractive to their masters. And when we, as blood-bought Christians, devote ourselves to good works, we adorn the gospel to the outside world, we make it eye-popping to unbelievers.

We proclaim the good news of the gospel with words, but we adorn the good news of the gospel with good works.

Application: Be Ready for Good Works

Paul tells us to be ready for every good work: “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. . .” (Titus 3:1; emphasis added). To “be ready” means we need to be prepared. This is why Jesus tells us to be ready for His Second coming: “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44; emphasis added). Because Jesus will return at an unexpected hour, He wants us to live in a constant state of readiness. He wants us to be prepared.

And Paul wants us to have this same mindset when it comes to every good work. Since God has prepared good works for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10), Paul commands us to be ready, to live in a constant state of preparedness to walk in these good works.

Application: Be Carefully Devoted to Good Works

Paul also tells us to be carefully devoted to good works: “The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works” (Titus 3:8; emphasis added). The phrase “be careful” means to pay close attention to something. Just think about a teacher who instructs her students to carefully read the instructions before answering the questions on their exams. She wants them to pay close attention to the instructions. 

And the term “devote” means to seriously apply yourself to something. I constantly tell the youth in our church to devote themselves to the study of God’s word. I want them to seriously apply themselves, to employ their time and energy, to the study God’s word.

Let us put these together. When the Bible tells us to carefully devote ourselves to good works, God is telling us to have a thoughtful approach to the continuation of good works, and to seriously apply ourselves to the completion of good works.

Warning: Good Works Display the Authenticity of our Faith

The Bible clearly teaches these two truths: 1) a living faith in Christ is evidenced by good works, and 2) a false faith is evidenced by ungodly works. Jesus teaches this. “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me” (John 14:21). He goes on to say, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (John 14:24). Our love for Christ evidences itself by our obedience to His commands. Our lack of love for Christ evidences itself by our disobedience to His commands.

The book of Titus teaches this as well. If Christ’s death secured His people’s zeal for good works, then our zeal for good works will show that we are truly among His people. On the other hand, if Christ’s death secured His people’s zeal for good works, then the absence of good works will evidence that we are not among his people. 

Paul even alludes to this after he commands Titus to rebuke false teachers. He says the false teachers “profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work” (Titus 1:16; emphasis added). The false teachers are phonies—their works make this evident. And since they are phonies who remain dead in sin, they are unfit for any good work. As you can see, good works display the authenticity, or inauthenticity, of our faith.

Applying God’s Word

First, and perhaps most importantly, we must remember this, God’s love for us does not wax and wane based on the amount of good works we do. Because we are in Christ, God has loved us with an everlasting love. He loved us while we were dead in sin, and He most certainly loves us now that we are alive in Christ. This means He loves us when we fumble in bumble throughout the Christian life, even when we neglect to carefully devote ourselves to good works. 

Second, we must strive to eliminate time-consuming activities that hinder us from a life of good works. God has generously given us many good gifts such as T.V., movies, social media, sports, and certain hobbies. We are supposed to master these good gifts and use them to maximize our joy in Christ. Sadly, though, these good gifts often end up mastering us. These things begin to consume too much of our time, energy, and money. And when these good gifts take up too much of our precious resources, we end up with fewer resources that we can utilize to carry out good works—works that honor our Lord, aid our neighbor, and increase our fruitfulness.

Third, make a list of good works you want to fulfil throughout a day, week, or month. Sure, many of the good works God has prepared for us appear out of nowhere and require our spur-of-the-moment obedience. Some good works, though, can be planned out. Because of this, try to plan out some good works: 1) list out a few people you desire to encourage when you gather with your church on a Sunday morning, 2) write down a couple widows or widowers you desire to visit, or 3) plan a discipleship date with one of your children. I believe this discipline, planning out good works, will enable us to live a purposeful and fruitful Christian life.

Fourth, we need to understand that most of our good works will take place at home, church, and work. The average Christian spends most of their time in these places. So, to be maximally fruitful, we need to strategically devote ourselves to good works in these places. This means the people who will benefit most from our good works are our families, fellow church members, and co-workers.

And lastly, we need to have a war-time mentality. A little over two years ago, the region I live in was dismantled by a category four hurricane. The destruction was catastrophic. It looked like a massive shrapnel grenade blew up and damaged everything in sight. This whole area looked like a region ravaged by war. At this point, amid the destruction, our beaten and bruised church became a base of operations for disaster relief efforts. 

We immediately began to process and fulfill hundreds of work orders. We had a chainsaw crew devoted to clearing roads, driveways, and yards. We had a tarp crew dedicated to tarping damaged roofs. We set up a supply and distribution center to distribute goods to those with urgent needs. And, as we did all this, we sought to encourage and pray for those we served. In other words, we were devoted to good works. And I think we were so careful to devote ourselves to good works—to the continuation and completion of good works—because we, as a church, had a war-time mentality.

Well, how can we develop a war-time mentality when it does not feel like a time of war? We need to understand the spiritual war we are currently in. Satan and his demons wreak more havoc on a day-to-day basis than any category four hurricane could inflict in a lifetime. We are definitely in a time of war, an unseen and spiritual war, but a real war! And since we are in a time of war, we, as followers of Christ, should urgently and strategically do good works, works that honor the Lord Jesus Christ and aid our neighbors.

Refraining Wisdom

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“When words are many, transgression is not lacking, 

but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.”

Proverbs 10:19

If you are anything like me, and I am confident that I am not the exception here, then you love to hear yourself talk. According to the Bible though, this is not a good thing. Lately, this particular sin pattern of mine has been at the forefront of my thinking—it has caused me to examine myself. And I figured one of the best ways to examine myself was to ponder and meditate on Proverbs 10:19. In this blog, I’ll just mention a few of my thoughts on this popular but poorly applied, at least in my case, verse.

The Untamed Tongue

It should not surprise us, biblically or experientially, that our hearts are evil (Gen. 6:5). And when we consider that our words flow from our evil and wicked hearts (Matt. 12:34), “we cannot conceive of words, much less a multitude of words, without sin.”[1] It is as though our tongue is a “restless evil, full of deadly poison” (Jas. 3:8). Sure, the tongue is a small member of our body, but it is a small member that has catastrophic affects—much like a small spark that causes a devastating wildfire (Jas. 3:5). Even though the tongue is a slender portion of flesh, it contains a whole world of iniquity[2], defiles and stains the whole body, sets our lives on fire, and is fueled by the very flames of hell (Jas. 3:6). 

Therefore, proverbial wisdom concludes that the increase of words inevitably leads to the increase of transgressions. In other words, the more we talk the more we sin! And I am sure that by now, if we are honest, we have come to realize that no other “member” of our body wreaks more havoc to our Christian lives as our tongues do.[3]

Godly Restraint

Thankfully, this verse does not just teach us that the increase of words leads to an increase of transgressions. The Spirit of God goes on to tell us that “whoever restrains his lips is prudent” (Prov. 10:19). To restrain means to keep back, withhold, or hold off. Prudence is simply the God given wisdom that enables us to live a life that magnifies the Lord. And it is the one who has enough self-control to restrain his lips that is prudent. So godly wisdom reveals that it is far better to largely keep our mouths shut than it is to incessantly open our mouths and multiply transgressions against our good and gracious God.

But how come so many Christians, including myself, do not restrain their lips? Well, I believe it is because we are not nearly as spiritually mature as we think we are. We think that if we put away sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, drunkenness, murder, and things like these, then we are spiritually mature—and to an extent this may be true. We forget, though, that few things clearly reveal the credibility and maturity of our Christian faith like how we manage our tongues (Mt. 12:33-37; Jas. 1:26; 3:1-4). 

So do some self-examination. Evaluate your spiritual maturity based on how you govern your tongue. How are you doing with these sins: grumbling, complaining, lying, crude joking, quarreling, degrading humor, gossip, slander, flattery, destructive sarcasm, and irritable responses? And do not just evaluate your spiritual maturity based on how you speak to co-workers and strangers; evaluate it based on how you speak to those closest to you, i.e., your friends, family, and spouse.

Gospel Comfort

This type of self-examination is helpful. Regarding sins of speech, self-examination enables us to see that these sins are not trivialities—they are treasonous acts against our Sovereign Lord that deserve a sentence of condemnation. Self-examination alone, though, is never good. It must also be paralleled with an examination of the grace of God in Christ.

If the Lord counted these sins of speech against us, who could stand on the day when we must give an account of every careless word we have ever spoken (Ps. 130:3; Mt 12:36)? None of us. Thankfully, in Christ, the Lord does not count these sins against us. Christ, with His single and efficacious sacrifice for sins, has made complete atonement for our sins, even our sins of speech (Heb. 10:11-13). Now we can exclaim with the Psalmist, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). Praise the Lord!

Gospel Obedience

Gospel obedience is an obedience that is rooted in God’s love for us in Christ. Well, what does gospel obedience look like regarding Proverbs 10:19? Let me mention four ways this may look in the lives of Christians.

First, we need to have a biblical view of the seriousness of speech sins. We must never think of these sins “as anything less than the nails that pierced” Christ’s hands and feet. This will lead us to pray for an increase of “refraining wisdom.” [4] Second, we should be prudent and restrain our lips, “not indeed in silence, but in caution; to weigh our words before uttering them; never speaking, except when we have something to say; speaking only just enough; considering the time, circumstances, and person; what is solid, suitable, and profitable.”[5] Third, we must exercise the same level of refraining wisdom on social media, email, text, and any other medium we use to communicate these days. And fourth, when we hastily open our lips and use our tongues in destructive ways, we need to repent and cry out with Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:24).

[1] Charles Bridges, Proverbs, Geneva Series of Commentaries (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth, 2008), 102.

[2] John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 320.

[3] Douglas Moo, The Letter of James, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), 159.

[4] Charles Bridges, Proverbs, 103.

[5] Ibid.

Get Self-Control!

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“A man without self-control 

is like a city broken into and left without walls.”

Proverbs 25:28

The Bible teaches that we have three great enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. These three adversaries have done more damage to the human race than all the communist regimes throughout history. The world, this godless age that we live in, is a prostitute constantly seeking to allure and entice us to commit spiritual adultery on the Lord (James 4:1-5). The flesh, our sin nature that rages against all that’s godly, is consistently seeking the fleeting pleasures of sin (Romans 8:5-8; Hebrews 11:25). And the devil, that fierce nemesis of our souls, is actively tempting us to rebel against God. These enemies are forcefully trying to infiltrate our souls, to corrupt every aspect of our being, and to leave us desolate before God. 

A City Without Walls

And the proverb above teaches us how instrumental self-control is when these adversaries rage against us. You see, when we possess self-control, we can exercise control over our sinful desires and passions. On the other hand, when we lack self-control, we cannot exercise control over our sinful desires and passions. As you can see, without self-control we lie open to our enemies’ every attack. We are “like a city broken into and left without wall” (Proverbs 25:28). A city without walls is a city without a defense. It is easily taken, plundered, and conquered. This is how it is when we lack self-control. We have no line of defense against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Perfect For Conquering

When we cannot control our sinful passions and desires, every worldly enticement can lead us into spiritual adultery, every fleshly desire can lead us into heinous sin, and every temptation can lead us to rebel against God. Periods of anger have potential to lead to murder (Genesis 4:8). Moments of inward lust can lead to acts of adultery (2 Samuel 11:2-5). Envy and jealousy can lead to gossip, slander, and false accusations (Matthew 27:18). Desire for worldly glory, honor, and power can lead to genocide (Esther 3:1-6). Unrestrained sensual passions can lead to incestuous rape (2 Samuel 13:11-14). A desire for continual pleasure can lead to poverty (Proverbs 21:17). Though more examples could be given, it should be apparent by now that without self-control, the world, the flesh, and the devil arrive at the city of our souls to find it lacking walls and ready to be easily taken over!

Where Do I Find Self-Control?

But how are we to get self-control? And we are not talking about the self-control it takes to wake up early in the morning to go to the gym. We are talking about the self-control it takes to say “no” to sin and “yes” to God — to say “no” to worldly enticements, the lust of the flesh, and the temptations of the evil one, and to say “yes” to righteousness, holiness, purity, and godliness! How are we to get this kind of self-control?

The Spirit of God

First, the Bible teaches that we must be born again by the Spirit of God. Apart from the new birth, we are in the flesh, and we live in accordance with our fleshly desires (John 3:6; Romans 6:5-7). And to be in the flesh and living in accordance with our fleshly desires is to be hostile to God (Romans 6:7), enslaved to sin (Romans 6:15-19), and under the dominating power of sin (Romans 6:6-11). 

However, once we are born again by the Spirit, we are in the Spirit, liberated from slavery to sin, and released from the dominating power of sin (Romans 8:1-11). By the Spirit of God, we are enabled to say “no” to sin and “yes” to God. Simply put, we are enabled to have self-control when it comes to saying “no” to worldly enticements, the lust of the flesh, and the temptations of the evil one, and “yes” to righteousness, holiness, purity, and godliness.

Secondly, as the Spirit of God leads us, we are to “walk by the Spirit,” and to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 18, 25). As we do this, the Spirit of God will increasingly produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. And “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22). So, as we “walk by the Spirit,” and “keep in step with the Spirit,” we will progressively have the Spirit empowered ability to exercise control over our sinful desires and passions. Rather than being like a city without walls, we will be like fortified city with impenetrable walls. 

Thirdly, we must know what it means to “walk by the Spirit,” and to “keep in step with the Spirit.” I mean, how are we to live in such a way that the Spirit will increasingly produce His fruit in our lives? And I think J.I. Packer is particularly helpful here, so I am just going to let him teach us:

The Spirit works through means—through the objective means of grace, namely, biblical truth, prayer, fellowship, worship, and the Lord’s Supper, and with them through the subjective means of grace whereby we open ourselves to change, namely, thinking, listening, questioning oneself, examining oneself, admonishing oneself, sharing what is in one’s heart with others, and weighing any response they make. . . . Habit forming is the Spirit’s ordinary way of leading us on in holiness. . . . Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control are all of them habitual. . . . ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Packer goes on to emphasize that, “Holiness by habit forming is not self-sanctification by self-effort, but simply a matter of understanding the Spirit’s method and then keeping in step with Him.” Essentially, Packer is teaching us that the Spirit works through means. The more we make use of these means, the more the Spirit produces His fruit in our lives. Therefore, if we want to grow in self-control, lets habitually make use of the means the Spirit has promised to bless.

A City With Walls

This is the key to having ever increasing self-control in the Christian life. And if we are faithful to do this, the world, the flesh, and the devil will show up at the city of our souls to find unscalable, impenetrable, and sturdy walls built around it. These ancient foes will not find a city without a defense. They will find a city aware of their schemes, defended on every side, and ready to make an offensive attack by the power of the Spirit of God.

Don’t Overstay!

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“Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, 

lest he have his fill of you and hate you.”

Proverbs 25:17

Just the other day I was meditating on this proverb while I was sitting in my office. As one of our custodians came in to straighten up, I mentioned it to her to see what she thought about this bit of proverbial wisdom. Let’s just say that she was tickled by it. She had no idea that the Bible directed us in such small and seemingly insignificant matters of the Christian life. But this is an amazing aspect of the Bible, isn’t it? The Word of God expounds great and glorious doctrines like the Trinity, and it also give us seemingly insignificant instructions that aid us in our relationships with others.

Enjoyment to Hatred

When the proverb above tells us that our foot should “be seldom in our neighbor’s house,” it is telling us that we shouldn’t frequent our neighbor’s house too regularly. Solomon then gives us the reason for this when he says, “lest he have his fill of you and hate you.” And this idea of having one’s “fill” of something was just used in the prior verse when Solomon said, “If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit” (Proverbs 25:16). The idea is simple — eating just enough honey brings sweet contentment, while eating too much honey brings disgust. Considering verse 16, it is evident that verse 17 is teaching us not to overstay our welcome.

Though we may think spending significant amounts of time with ourselves is a foretaste of heaven on earth, our neighbor may not think so! In fact, overstaying our welcome may lead our neighbor out of the realm of love and into the realm of hatred. Just as too much honey may lead out of the land of enjoyment and into the land of to vomit, so too much Philip may lead my neighbor from delightful enjoyment of me to an utter hatred for me.

Considering our Neighbor

This wisdom, however, was not given to keep us out our neighbor’s house. God would never instruct us to do something that would halt the flow of neighborly love. Instead, God is teaching us that, in all our interactions, we must show consideration for those whom we are interacting with. 

Our neighbors typically have a spouse that needs to be loved, children that need to be cared for, business that needs to get done, and a good night’s sleep that needs to be enjoyed.  Aside from these, our neighbors may simply want to enjoy the creaturely comforts of being in their home without hosting a guest. Moreover, even the godliest of neighbors still have a sin nature that rears its head from time to time. 

If we frequently enter our neighbor’s house without due consideration of these things, then they may become weary of us —perhaps even degusted with us! However, if we enter our neighbor’s house giving due consideration to these aspects of our neighbor’s life, then we won’t overstay our welcome.

Frequently Come Before God

Though our neighbors may have their fill of us, God will not. Our neighbors have a sin nature and creaturely limitations, but God is a perfectly pure being that has no creaturely restrictions. While God causes the grass to grow, provides food for the birds of the air, and sustains the life of every human being, He can still give undivided attention to all who enter the throne room of grace. Though millions pray to Him at the same time, He can give wholehearted attention to each one with loving care. This led Charles Bridges to say:

Blessed be God! There is no need of this caution and reserve in our approach unto him. Once acquainted with the way of access, there is no wall of separation. Our earthly friend may be pressed too far. Kindness may be worn out by frequent use. But never can we come to our heavenly Friend unseasonably….The more frequent the visits, the more welcome, and the more fruitful.

What an incredible thought! May we never forget that this kind of access to God the Father is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:16).

The Necessity of Rebuke

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To rebuke somebody is to tell somebody that they have done wrong. It is, figuratively speaking, a verbal spanking (Ps. 141:5)! A godly rebuke, one that honors the Lord, is to lovingly tell somebody they have done wrong with the aim of bringing them to repentance and restoration (Gal. 6:1). An ungodly rebuke, one that dishonors the Lord, is to angrily or bitterly tell somebody they have done wrong with the aim of tearing them down. The important point is this: if either rebuke, the godly or the ungodly, is true, then it is for the benefit of the Christian.

An Illustration

Think about it this way, surgery is one of God’s ordained means to heal a person from an illness, infection, or injury that’s wreaking havoc on the body. Generally speaking, if there was no surgery, then there would be no healing. In the same way, rebuke is one of God’s ordained means to a heal a person of a spiritual malady that’s inflicting harm on the soul. So if there is no rebuke, then there will be no spiritual healing.

An Example

This truth becomes evident as one looks at the Bible. Take David for example; David was languishing in unconfessed sin after he quenched his sinful sexual passions by having intercourse with Bathsheba, another man’s wife (Ps. 32:3-4). As David languished, the Lord mercifully sent Nathan to use the scalpel of rebuke in order to expose David to the spiritual danger that he was in (2 Sam. 12:1-5). Afterwards, David confessed his sin and found restoration and forgiveness (Ps. 32:5). Nathan’s rebuke proved to bring healing. As Proverbs says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Prov. 27:6).

Rebuke…..A Despised Thing

Though what I am saying is biblically accurate, I should let you in on something. Our sin nature abhors rebuke. Since we often times desire the approval of man, we don’t like giving nor receiving rebukes, and this is understandable. Giving a rebuke is kind of like doing surgery on somebody that is not under anesthesia. You can visibly see the pain that you are causing them, so you want to stop or even avoid the surgery. And receiving a rebuke is like being under surgery without anesthesia. You feel every bit of the pain.

Despite the fact that our sin nature is repulsed by both giving and receiving rebukes, we must remember that our sin nature doesn’t desire our spiritual well-being. Our Heavenly Father desires our spiritual well-being, and those who are his children must understand God’s ordained means for rebuke in the Christian life. It is clear from the Bible that rebuke is necessary if we want to grow spiritually. And it is clear from the Bible that the godly man both gives and takes heed to rebukes, and that the ungodly man refuses to both give and listen to rebukes (Ps. 141:5; Pr. 13:1; Pr. 17:10).

How To Rebuke

So how are we supposed to rebuke people? Here’s some advice:

  1. Examine yourself to make sure you aren’t in the same sin you are about to rebuke
  2. Make sure what you are about to rebuke is actually sin, and not merely some man-made standard you have for people
  3. Make sure the sin you are about to rebuke is actually deserving of a face to face rebuke
    1. Simply put, you can’t rebuke every sin that somebody commits. I mean, you could……people just wouldn’t hangout with you anymore
  4. Be as gentle and loving as possible when you rebuke
  5. Have useful Scripture
    1. One of the purposes of the Bible is to reprove and rebuke, so let the Bible do the rebuking
  6. Expect the person you are rebuking to get defensive (this will allow you to remain calm when they actually do get defensive…….because they probably will)
  7. Do not expect the person to appreciate your rebuke immediately
    1. Often times the person will come to appreciate your rebuke hours, days, weeks, or even months later
  8. Trust God for their repentance
    1. God is the one that grants repentance, so trust him for the other person’s repentance

How to Receive Rebuke

And here is how we can receive rebuke:

  1. Be in a constant pattern of repentance
    1. This produces humility and a spirit that is willing to receive rebuke
  2. Have friends that are willing to wound you
    1. Gather godly friends around you that are willing to rebuke you when it is necessary
  3. When rebuked, in either a godly way or ungodly way, weigh the rebuke to see if there’s any truth in it
  4. If the rebuke is valid, repent as soon as possible
  5. Thank the one that rebuked you, and tell them that God used it to bring you to repentance
  6. Memorize Psalm 141:5 which says, “Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.”

The First Commandment

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“You shall have no other gods before me.”

Last year I wrote a blog on the seventh commandment that listed out its meaning as well as some applications that followed. Within this blog, I want to do something similar with the first commandment. Let’s begin looking at this famous commandment.

The Importance of this Commandment

The importance of this commandment cannot be overstated. Our God is an orderly God and, in his infinite wisdom, He placed this commandment at the beginning of the Ten Commandments. This led J.I. Packer to say that the first commandment is, “the fundamental commandment, first in importance as well as in order, and basic to every other. . . .true religion starts with accepting it as one’s rule of life.” And Packer is simply drawing from Thomas Watson who, when looking at the first commandment said, “This may well lead the van, and be set in the front of all the commandments, because it is the foundation of all true religion.”

In essence, Packer and Watson are saying that the essence of true religion is placing the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, as the exclusive object of our worship. If we make the God of the Bible anything less than the exclusive object of our worship, then we have swerved into a false religion.

These truths lead me to say this: in order for us to be obedient to any other commandment, we must be obedient to this commandment. Every other commandment must be obeyed because we have the God of the Bible as the sole object of our worship. To attempt to obey every other commandment without obeying the first commandment is considered sin, and is worthy of eternal condemnation. This is why this commandment is so very important.

The Uniqueness of this Commandment

As one looks at the gods of the ancient world, it is evident that none of them make the kind of assertion that our God makes in the first commandment. The God of the Bible is saying that you must worship Him and only Him. None of the other religions said anything like this. The cult of Baal, Asherah, and Molech never made such statements.

So when God said, “You shall have no other gods before me,” He was saying something quite unique. Ryken makes this even clearer when he says, “This command was without precedent. None of the other nations in the ancient world prohibited the worship of other gods. The God of Israel refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of any ofter God.” As you can tell, the God of the Bible is not a man pleaser! He will have you worship Him and Him alone because all the gods of the nations are false and illegitimate; completely unworthy of the worship of men and women made in he image of the one true God.

The Commandment in Light of the Trinity

We have briefly covered the importance and the uniqueness of the first commandment. Let’s now look at this commandment in light of the Trinity. This will be important when we start addressing what this commandment is requiring of us.

God has revealed Himself as the triune God. The One true God that gave us the first commandment eternally exists as three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each person within the Trinity is fully God and is worthy of our worship, allegiance, and trust.

So, the Son is worthy of the same honor as the Father (Jn 5:23). The Spirit is worthy of the same honor as the Son. All three distinct persons of the Trinity, since they have the same essence, are worthy of the allegiance that the first commandment requires. And it is when our lives are dominated by our relationship with the one true triune God, that we are walking in faithfulness to the first commandment.

Now that we have a general overview of this commandment, let’s try to understand what the first commandment is forbidding us from doing, as well as what the first commandment is commanding us to do. In order to do this, we will use the two-sided rule.

The Two-Sided Rule

This is one of the interpretive methods we use in studying the Ten Commandments. This rule teaches that, when something is forbidden, the opposite is also commanded. It also teaches that, when something is commanded, the opposite is forbidden. In essence, there are always two sides to each commandment; a negative side and a positive side. We will begin with the negative side of this commandment.

The Negative Side

First, this commandment is forbidding us from worshipping any other so called “god.” When the Lord says, “You shall have no other gods before me,” He is forbidding us from worshipping any and all false gods. With that said, false gods come in many different shapes and sizes.

-Obvious False “Gods”

This is important to understand because some people merely think of false gods as statues of certain gods and goddesses, or they think about all the gods of other religions. Though the worship of these statues and gods of other religions is clearly forbidden by the first commandment, there are other false gods out there that are a little more subtle.

-Subtle False “Gods”

False gods that are a little more subtle are ones that have Christian terminology attached to them. For example, in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, the Apostle Paul talks about Satan’s craftiness in deceiving people. One way he deceives people is by placing a different Jesus out there than the Jesus the apostles were preaching about.

Also, in Galatians 1:7, Paul admonished the Galatians for turning to a different gospel than the one he originally preached to them. These false teachers in the region of Galatia are using Christian terminology, but they are preaching and teaching about a different gospel than the one handed down by the apostles. And the first commandment is forbidding us from worshipping these different “Jesuses” and different “gospels.”

This means that the first commandment is forbidding us from worshipping the Jesus of the Jehovah witnesses. They do not believe in the Trinity, that Jesus is God, or that Jesus resurrected bodily from the grave. They preach a distorted gospel with a distorted Jesus.

This also means that the first commandment is forbidding us from worshipping the Jesus of the Mormons. They believe that god used to be a man and that, after obedience to the law, was eventually elevated to a god. They believe that god had sex with his goddess wife and they produced offspring (Jesus and Lucifer). Jesus obeyed god’s laws and became a god himself. This is also a distorted gospel with a different Jesus.

This also means that the first commandment is forbidding us from worshipping the Jesus of the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel preaches that the Abrahamic covenant brings material wealth, that prayer forces God’s hand, that faith is not a gift from God, and that Jesus’ atonement brings physical healing and financial prosperity. As Jones states, “In light of Scripture, the prosperity gospel is fundamentally flawed. At bottom, it is a false gospel because its faulty view of the relationship of God and man.” The Jesus of the prosperity gospel is different than the one recorded in the gospels and preached by the apostles.

And lastly, for subtle false gods, the first commandment is also forbidding us from worshipping the Jesus of theological liberalism. The Jesus of theological liberalism is not God over all, a being most glorious and worthy of our exclusive allegiance. Rather, he is merely a moral example; a paragon of virtue. His death was not substitutionary. It did not accomplish anything. It merely teaches and models what it means to be sacrificial and to look after the interests of others. Simply put, the god of theological liberalism is not the God of the Bible.

-The “God” of the Muslims or Jews

I would also say that worshipping the god of the Muslims or the Jews is a breaking of the first commandment. Sure, both Muslims and Jews say that they worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but as Christians we must reiterate that they are worshipping a god other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When you look at the Bible, it is clear that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has revealed Himself as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus clearly teaches that to dishonor the Son is to dishonor the Father (Jn 5:23). Therefore, both Muslims and Jews are worshipping a false god, and not the God of the Bible. They are worshipping a god that is other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

-“God” Substitutes

The last category that I want to hone in on when it comes to things forbidden by the first commandment is god substitutes. God substitutes do not present themselves as gods, but we end up relying, trusting, and worshipping them as though they were gods. At the outset, let me just say that these are the predominant idols that gain our allegiance and affection in the west.

A god substitute can be strength (Hab 1:11), money (Job 31:24; Dan 5:23; Mt 6:24), possessions (Lk 12:16-21), pleasure (1 Tim 3:4), or entertainment. The scripture clearly teaches that our sin nature delights in elevating these things to unhealthy places in our heart. When we do this, we then trust and rely on these god substitutes as though they were the one true God. When we do this, we are breaking the first commandment.

The Positive Side

Now that we are done with the negative side of this commandment (looking at what this commandment is forbidding us from doing), let’s look at the positive side (what this commandment is positively commanding us to do). This will be much shorter so bear with me!

The first commandment is positively commanding us to place our allegiance, affections, and love on God and God alone. God is to be the chief object of our love. Our loyalty is to be to Him and Him alone. I love how one author put it when he said, “The commandment calls for a style of life dominated by a relationship with God….the relationship to one God must dominate every sphere of life, whether the life of action, of thought, or of emotion.” So the first commandment is commanding us to have a life that is dominated by our relationship with the triune God of the Bible.

This means that our entire lives are to be consecrated to the Lord; completely set apart for the purposes of glorifying and magnifying Him. Like Jesus, we should seek to be obedient to the Lord in every sphere of life: thoughts, actions, motives, and words. When we eat and drink, we are to do so to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). When we work, we are to work heartily as for the Lord (Col 3:23). While we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord (Rom 14:8). Our entire life is to be dominated by our relationship with the one true God that has eternally existed as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is when we are doing this that we are walking in obedience to the first commandment.

Gospel Hope

With that said, it is evident that there is no commandment that we break more often than the first commandment. As a matter of fact, anytime we break any other God given commandment, the root of our sinful disobedience can ultimately be found in a breach of the first commandment. It is when God is not the supreme object of our affections that we dishonor our parents, murder, commit adultery, steal, or covet our neighbor’s wife and possessions. So, though this commandment comes first and is of utmost importance, there is no commandment that we have violated more frequently than this one.

And the Bible teaches that only a curse awaits those who violate God’s law. When we commit cosmic treason by elevating other gods and god substitutes to the place of Almighty God, we deserve everlasting torment in the lake of fire. However, the good news of the gospel is that, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3:13).

After Christ faithfully obeyed the first commandment throughout his life, he hung on a tree; bearing our violations of the first commandment and suffering under the lawbreakers curse. God the Father willed for Jesus, his beloved Son, to die this way so that violators of the first commandment might be redeemed and restored to a proper relationship with Him. This is the hope of the Gospel, and this ought to lead us to praise and glorify our Savior, who loved us and gave himself for us! Indeed, this ought to lead us to joyfully and wholeheartedly live a life that is dominated by our relationship with the God that saved us by His grace.

 

How Good is the Steadfast Love of God?

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Psalm 63:3

Within Psalm 63, David says, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you” (Psalm 63:3). As you can see, David places two good things before him, the steadfast love of God and life, and compares them. In order to understand the beauty of what is being said here, we need to first understand what David means by steadfast love of God as well as life. Let’s begin by looking at what David means by the steadfast love of God.

Steadfast Love

Within Scripture, the steadfast love of God, in this particular context, is the loyal, faithful, and unfailing love that God had shown Israel because of the relationship He had with them. And in the Bible, we see that the steadfast love of God leads God to redeem his people from their enemies, to preserve them from death, to give them spiritual life, to forgive them of their sins, and to keep his covenant with them (Ex. 15:13; Ps. 86:13; Ps. 119:159; Ps. 25:7; Neh. 1:5). This is the steadfast love of God. It is that loyal, faithful, and unfailing love that God shows his people by being a hundred percent for them rather than against them. Now let’s look at what David means by life.

Life

By life, David means the good, valuable gift of living in this world and, inevitably, all the good things that comes with living in this world. By all the good things, I simply mean things like kids, a loving spouse, business success, honor and glory, sex, entertainment, food, drink, etc. Though that was probably obvious, it was helpful for us to ponder nonetheless.

Comparing Them

The reason it was helpful for us to ponder is because David places the steadfast love of God and the good valuable gift of living in this world together for the purposes of comparing them. And when he does compare them, he ends up saying that the steadfast love of God is better than life. Or to put it another way, “The steadfast love of God is better than life. O! it would be better not to have lived than to have lived without knowing the steadfast love of God!”

These are amazing words. David is rightly esteeming the steadfast love of God. And, when it comes to us personally, as New Covenant Christians, we ought to be able to say this with the same level of earnestness as David. For, when you think about it, we have seen more redemptive history than David. Therefore, we have more evidence that enables us to better see the infinite value of God’s steadfast love.

Steadfast Love in Christ

Just think about it. We have seen God show his steadfast love for us by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to be a wrath appeasing substitute on our behalf. We have seen him raise Jesus from the dead and exalt him to His right hand showing us that Jesus Christ is a faithful High Priest who always lives to make intercession for us. And we have seen Him give us the Holy Spirit to enable us to put sin to death and to live to the glory of God. Then, as if all that were not enough, we have seen him elaborate on how unfailing his steadfast, never-failing, and unceasing love for us is when he says that nothing will be able to separate us from his love for us in Christ (Rom. 8:39).

Just think about all of that. Isn’t it apparent that the steadfast love of God is better than life? This is the testimony of the Scriptures and, in all honesty, it ought to be engraved on the tombstone of every martyr that has died for the sake of Christ! For, is this not what they were testifying to when they poured out their blood unto death for Christ?

Martyrs Testified to this Truth

Wasn’t Stephen, not with his mouth but with his life, saying that the steadfast love of God is better than life when he was being stoned to death for his faithful preaching of the gospel in Acts 7? Or think about Lady Jane Grey, a strong Christian woman who lived during the reign of Bloody Mary. Was she not saying with her actions that the steadfast love of God is better than life when she placed her head on the execution block and prayed to Jesus, saying, “Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit”? And then they severed her head because of her faith in Jesus.

And think about John Bradford. In the year of 1555, during the reign of Bloody Mary, he and John Leaf where tied to a stake to be burned alive for their faith in Jesus. As the fire was about to begin, John Bradford turned to John Leaf and said, “Be of good comfort brother, for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night.” Every martyr throughout church history testified to the truth that the steadfast love of God is better than life.

We Should Testify to this Truth

And, as Christians, this ought to be our testimony as well. We ought to look to the heavens and tell God the Father that his steadfast love is better than life. We ought to look to friends and remind them of this precious truth. And we ought to look at the enemies of Christ and inform that they can take away our possessions, families, reputations, and even your own lives because the steadfast love of God in Christ is infinitely more valuable than all of it.

What God the Father has done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord is better than life. Spurgeon put this so beautifully when he said, “Life is dear, but God’s love is dearer. To dwell with God is better than life at its best; life at ease, in a palace, in health, in honor, in wealth, in pleasure; yea, a thousand lives are not equal to the eternal life which abides in Jehovah’s smile.” Ponder on this truth today. Be enraptured by it. And, just as David mentioned in this verse, let this truth lead your lips to praise the God that has been pleased to make you a recipient of His steadfast love.

Our First Priority

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A Remarkable and Important Verse!

One of my favorite verses in all the Bible is Matthew 6:33. Within the section of Scripture that this particular verse is found, Jesus is teaching his disciples how they are not to be anxious about food, water, or clothing. Their lives should not be consumed with an overwhelming preoccupation for seeking the necessities of life. They are made for so much more than this. I mean, unbelievers are the ones that are to be preoccupied with the necessities of life because that is all they have. This is not so with the Christian. We know there is a God that is in enthroned in the heavens. Therefore, that is what we ought to be procuppied with seeking. This is why Jesus says these famous words in Matthew 6:33:

Verse 33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

 This verse is by far the most important verse in this section of Scripture. This is the whole reason we, as Christians, are not to be anxious and preoccupied with running after food, drink, and clothing. It is because we are to be seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

What This Means

Well, the term “Seek” here literally means to “eagerly seek” or to “run after.” Then he says “First” which is in reference to a level of priority. So, in essence, Christ is telling us, in context, to stop placing food, water, and clothing as our top priority and to begin placing the kingdom of God and His righteousness as our top priority.

So, this is what we, as Christians, are to be earnestly seeking and running after. But what in the world does this look like? We like this verse as a screensaver on our phones but what does it mean for our lives? To understand this, let’s begin with what the kingdom of God is.

The Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God is a reference to the rule and reign of God. It is the Kingdom that is not ruled by man, but the one ruled by Almighty God. It is the kingdom that Jesus Christ inaugurated in his first coming, and it is the kingdom that will be consummated in Christ’s second coming. And to seek this kingdom is three-fold.

First, we need to seek this Kingdom personally. Recall when Nicodemus approached Jesus at night saying, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). Then Jesus responded to Nicodemus directly, getting at the heart of the matter, saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

This is what I mean when I say that one, first and foremost, needs to earnestly seek the Kingdom of God in a personal way. They need to be born again by the Spirit of God. They desperately need God to impart new spiritual life to their dead spiritual corpses through the ministry of the Spirit. They need to repent of their sins, look at Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected as the only Savior of the world, and then place their faith in Him. It is at this moment that an individual passes from Satan’s evil kingdom to God’s glorious kingdom. It is at this moment that one goes from being in the domain of darkness to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. So, first, one needs to seek the kingdom of God in this way!

Secondly, we need to earnestly seek the Kingdom of God corporately. By that, I mean that we need to be consistently seeking the reign of God in the church. We need to seek each other’s submission to Christ as a local assembly of brothers and sisters in Christ. What might this look like?

Well, we need to encourage one another, we need to speak the Scriptures into each other’s lives. We need to correct and rebuke one another. We need to pray for one another. We need to disciple one another. We ought to be earnest and zealous for everybody in the church, including ourselves, to be more and more obedient to the Lord. This is what it looks like to seek the Kingdom of God corporately!

Thirdly, we need to earnestly seek the Kingdom of God globally. We need to seek to advance the Kingdom of Christ throughout all the world. Our desire and ambition ought to be to take this Gospel of the Kingdom of God to family, neighbors, co-workers, and ultimately to the ends of the earth. We need to pray to this end, raise our kids to this end, give money to this end, and send out missionaries to this end. In doing this, we are seeking the advancement of God’s Kingdom all across the globe!

This is what it means to seek the Kingdom of God. And, according to Christ, it is to be our first order of business! It is to be our top priority. It is to be our main ambition. It is more important that food, drink, and clothing. That is incredible!

His Righteousness

Now, let’s reflect on what it means to seek “His righteousness.” Within the Bible, we learn about two types of righteousness. The first is an alien righteousness we receive by faith. The second is a practical righteousness that comes from being filled with the Spirit of God. So first, let’s talk about the alien righteousness.

In Philippians 3:7-9, Paul says, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

Did you notice how Paul said that this is not a righteousness of his own? This is not a righteousness that he mustered up. No! It is an alien righteousness. By that, I simply mean it comes from outside of himself. It is a righteousness that comes from God that he received through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the righteousness that brings salvation. This is all by God’s grace!

At this point, it is important to understand that this is not the righteousness that Jesus is telling us to be seeking in our passage. We do not have to seek it. The Lord gives us it as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the good news of the Gospel. So, if you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, then God has graciously given you Christ’s righteousness as a free gift. That is why you are saved.

With that said, this means that the righteousness that Jesus wants us to seek in our passage is that second type of righteousness. It is that practical righteousness that comes from being filled with the Spirit of God. It is that righteousness that we are to live out after we become children of God. The righteousness that comes as we submit to God in the whole of life. The righteousness that makes us a light to the world and a city on a hill.

So, this is the righteousness we are to be seeking as our top priority. But what does this look like practically? And to begin with, let’s talk about what seeking this righteousness does not look like.

First, seeking this righteousness does not look like merely attending church on a Sunday morning. Many people think that this is what is required of them. They think that, as a Christian, you go to church on a Sunday morning and that is it.

Secondly, seeking this righteousness does not look like merely being baptized. You talk to many people and that is what they think. They think that to be baptized is what it is all about!

Thirdly, seeking this righteousness does not look like mechanically praying the same rote prayer every evening and before every meal. That is not it!

Lastly, though we could keep going, seeking God’s righteousness does not look like voting straight republican or democrat during the elections. That is not it either! This is too small a view of the Christian religion.

You see, Christianity is huge! It encompasses everything. It consumes the entirety of one’s life. To seek God’s righteousness infiltrates every part of our minutes, days, weeks, months, and years.

It is waking up every day, peering into the Word of God, and saying, “I am not my own, I have been bought by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, Christ is my Lord and I am his slave. My aim today will not be to live for myself, but to live for my Savior. I will aim to love, serve, and obey Him and only Him.”

Seeking God’s righteousness sounds like Paul when he says, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians. 3:12-14).

It looks like Jesus when he says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34). And like Jesus when he was fasting for 40 days in the wilderness and Satan comes and says, “If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into bread.” To which Jesus responded saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:3-4). This is what seeking “His righteousness” looks like!

Conclusion

So, this is what Jesus expects us to seek first and foremost. Our main ambition is to be seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness. We are to be running after this. This is what we were made for. This is what we were saved for. This will glorify and honor our Lord a great deal. Therefore, let us strive to, by the power of the Spirit and through faith in Jesus, seek to be obedient to this remarkable verse!

Sexual Sin-Proverbs 5, 6, & 7

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Introduction

This blog post is specifically going to deal with sexual sin by looking at Proverbs 5, 6, and 7. I will be jumping around these chapters to get a holistic view of sexual sin. Also, I originally taught some of this content to the college students at the church I serve, but have increasingly had a desire to condense and revise it in order to put it on this blog so that it would benefit others. With that said, much more could be said than what is in this post! Let’s get started.

Main Crux

Within Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 we will see a father address his son with loving wisdom regarding the dangers of the adulterous woman and adultery in general.

For men, these chapters are informing us of two things. First, we need to guard our hearts against lusting after women because it will ultimately lead to our destruction. Secondly, we do not need to entice a woman.

For women, these chapters are also informing you of two things. First, you need to guard your hearts against a predatory man. . .one seeking to woo you, win you, and speak sweetly to you, but who will ultimately destroy you. Secondly, do not seek to allure a man sexually with how you act and dress.

Solomon-Speaking from Experience

Now, the father that is giving this advice to his son learned the dangers of sexual immorality the hard way. I say that because King Solomon is the father in this discourse. And, from the biblical witness, Solomon was a man that was given to sexual immorality.

In 1 Kings 11 we read, “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women.” The Scripture goes on to say, “Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 hundred wives and 300 concubines,” as well as, “They turned away his heart and he began to follow other gods.” As is evident, Solomon knew the devastating effects of sexual immorality experientially. With this in mind, he is seeking to give wisdom to his son throughout these three chapters in Proverbs so that his son might not fall into the same trap that he did.

The Desperate Need for Wisdom in this Area

My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. (Proverbs 5:1-6)

As we look at this, we see two appeals from Solomon!

  1. “Be attentive to my wisdom”
  2. “Incline your ear to my understanding.”

Every time Solomon is about to address the son about the adulterous woman and adultery in general, there is always an appeal for the son to listen to the father’s instructions so that he can gain wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 5:7; 6:20; 7:1-2).

Moreover, in chapter 7 we are given an example of what Solomon saw one day as he was looking down from his castle. And it was this, a simple boy amongst a bunch of youths that lacked sense. It was this boy that fell into the sin of sexual immorality and thus destroyed himself. Therefore, it is evident that the simple, the ones that lack knowledge and understanding of the appeal of sexual sin, the embrace of sexual sin, the true nature of sexual sin, and the consequences of sexual sin, are the ones that succumb to sexual sin.

So, let’s incline our ears to the Word of God and listen to what our Lord has to say about sexual sin. This will lead, as the text says, to “discretion and guarding knowledge!” That phrase just means that we will be able to make the proper decisions in any given circumstance. . . even when the adulterous woman comes out to entice us and when sexual immorality is bidding us to partake in it. With that said, let’s begin gaining wisdom by looking at the initial appeal of sexual Immorality.

The Initial Appeal of Sexual Sin

The text quoted about said, “Her lips drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil.” The adulteress is revealing the very nature of sexual sin isn’t she? Sexual sin initially appears delightful, sweet, easy to partake in, and enjoyable. It is simply not like other sins in its appeal.

I mean, murder does not look sweet and delicious to the eyes. Theft does not come with a strong appeal of deep satisfaction. Dishonoring parents doesn’t look like honey to a hungry soul! This, however, is exactly what the adulterous woman looks like.

Sexual immorality initially seems to promise our soul many good things. It seems to present something that ought to be partaken in and delighted in. It looks like something to be enjoyed and gratified by. That is the nature of both the adulterous woman and sexual sin. In their initial appeal, they are very deceptive.

And sexual sin’s deception does not stop here. Solomon gives more insight throughout these chapters of the strong appeal that the adulterous woman has. In Proverbs 6:24-25, Solomon says that the adulterous woman has a smooth tongue, that she is beautiful, and that she has eyelashes that capture men. So, the adulterous has a smooth tongue. She has a way with words that strokes the male ego. She uses her voice in subtle ways to allure and persuade men. This is seen in Proverbs 7:21 as well when we read, “With much seductive speech she persuades him, with her smooth talk she compels him.”

She also has physical beauty that she uses to her own advantage as she seeks to draw men in. Chapter 7 says that, “She is dressed like a prostitute, wily of heart.” So, she dresses in a manner that reveals her desire for sexual intimacy. When men see her, they cannot help but think that she is interested in promiscuity.

And she has eyelashes that are captivating. So she shows men interest. She looks at them, shows interest in them, and goes out of her way to gain the their attention.

This is the initial appeal of the adulteress. This is what one sees from afar. This is what allures and tempts. And it is overwhelmingly appealing isn’t it? But, keep in mind, this is only its initial appeal. It is not what she truly is. Rather, she is incredibly crafty. That is why the Scripture says, “She is wily of heart.” She is cunning. She is a hunter dressed in camouflage waiting to kill her prey. This is why these chapters are so important for us. We must get wisdom in regards to sexual immorality’s initial appeal.

However, to know the initial appeal is not enough in and of itself. We also need wisdom in understanding sexual immorality’s initial embrace.

The Initial Embrace of Sexual Sin

For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. And behold the woman meets him. (Proverbs 7:6-10)

This young man is simple. He is naïve. And, as if that weren’t bad enough, he also isn’t  around a bunch of men with wisdom. Rather, he’s among a bunch of youths that lack wisdom. So, he is ignorant and lacking sense and around others that are ignorant and lacking sense!

And look, he is headed to the adulteress’s street. He is taking the road to her house. And it is at night time when sexual immorality happens to be rampant. So, he is tempting the devil to tempt him. And, with this being the case, the adulterous woman comes out to meet him in order to tempt him sexually.

And think about the strength of this temptation. The naïve young man runs into the adulteress in the evening. Her lips are dripping honey and her speech is smoother than oil. She is beautiful and dressed in a way that shows her desire for sexual intimacy. She is looking at him in an alluring way showing him that she is interested in him. As you can tell, this is not good. This is just the initial appeal though. The initial embrace is even worse.

Proverbs 7:13-15 says, “She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, ‘I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.”

The lips that drip honey embrace the young man’s lips. This is a bold sexual encounter! And look, she begins to present herself, not as devoutly promiscuous woman that lives a life of unrestrained sexual immorality, but as a religious woman. She says, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows.” So, she has been to the temple to “offer up” sacrifices and vows to God.

But, let’s be honest, her heart is not set truly on God. Rather, she uses religion to her own advantage. She uses it to ease her conscience and also to woo her prey. So, she plays the hypocrite with God all the while she seduces man.

Still Seen Today (Excursus)

This mode of attack is still common today. There are many people out there that use Christianity to assuage their consciences. They live immorally, go to church to fill better about themselves, and then step back into a life of immorality.

And, both men and women, still masquerade as Christians all the while using it to their own advantage. They seek to woo a member of the opposite sex by their religiosity in order to get to their own end. They use religion to get the other person to let their guard down so that they can get them to fall into sexual sin with them. Do not be deceived by this!

Initial Embrace Continued

And then look, she tells the young man, “I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.” Look at how crafty and manipulative she is. She is seeking to make him feel important. She wants him to feel special. She wants him to feel like he is the only one she intended to be with. But, as is apparent in the text, she has not really been seeking him at all. Proverbs 7:11-12 says, “She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.”

So, in reality, she is always out and about just waiting for her next prey. This man is not special to her. She cannot reveal this truth though. She cannot embrace him as though he is merely prey. That would not be nearly as successful a strategy for her. Therefore, she embraces him like he is special. She embraces him like he is all she has ever desired.

And is this not the case even today. Whether it be in high school, college, or in your career, at the gym, church, or job, the people that are sexually promiscuous are good with their words. They know how to make a person feel incredibly important. They make people feel like they are the ones that they have been waiting for. They are sweet talkers and know exactly what to say.

But they are not doing this out of sincerity. They are doing this for their own end. . . and that end is immorality. So, look beyond the mere words of an individual. Look at the way of life. Look at holiness, godliness, and knowledge of the Bible. Don’t be easily led astray by mere words!

So, as you can see, the initial embrace of sexual immorality is daunting. It gets even worse though. Look at Proverbs 7:16-20 where she says:

I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning, let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.

The adulteress has been preparing for this moment. The bait has been set. The couch is covered, nice linens are spread out, the perfume has been poured on, the husband is not home, and no one will find out!

And notice how she says, “Come, let us take our fill of love till morning, let us delight ourselves in love.” She is tempting him to sexual immorality by presenting it as love! She is using the longing of the human heart, a desire to be loved, to manipulate her prey. This is a tactic that is both deceptive and successful. And then in verse 21 Solomon says, “With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.”

So, this is the initial embrace of sexual sin! And it is very apparent, as we have seen, that the initial appeal and the initial embrace of sexual immorality are overwhelmingly powerful. It seems like sexual sin, for some reason, tends to carry a unique amount of both power and deception. With this being the case, we most certainly need to know the true nature of sexual sin. Thankfully Solomon gives us much detail regarding this.

The True Nature of Sexual Sin

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. (Proverbs 5:4)

This is sexual sins end. The adulterous’ initial appeal distracts us from the end that she will bring. She promises sweet pleasure but, in the end, she is bitter as wormwood. She promises gratification and satisfaction but, in the end, she cuts like a two-edged sword.

I am telling you, before people partake in sexual sin, they are not thinking “What is this going to do to my soul, my spouse, my children, my reputation?” Rather, they are thinking, “Honey!” “Oil on the Lips!” “Satisfaction!” This is all they are thinking about. And, because of this, they are blinded to what will follow!

Also, look at Proverbs 5:5 where Solomon says,“Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.”

This shows us how sexual sin has impacted the adulterous herself. I mean, she is walking in darkness. She is headed straight for death. Just look at how unrestrained sexual sin has destroyed her. She does not even think about living a holy or righteous life. She wanders, or is unstable, in her ways as she heads to judgment without even knowing it. It is as though her unrestrained sexual immorality has taken away any thought of God.

And this is the nature of sexual sin isn’t it? The longer one partakes in it, the harder their heart becomes. The longer sexual sin is indulged in, the less we think about the things of God. This is honestly why it is so foolish to say, “I will enjoy this sin for a season and then I will repent of it.” That is not how this works.

That view has the presupposition that we have mastered sin and that we can partake and repent of it any time that we desire. This is not true. It is a lie for the enemy of our souls. You see, biblically speaking, sin has mastered us and we are enslaved to it. The only hope that we can be released from its mastery is repentance (which is a gift of God) and faith in Jesus (who obliterated the dominating power of sin on the cross). And, from the Scripture, the longer you put off repentance, the less likely God will gift you with it. So, before you become like the adulterous woman, not even pondering the things of God and following the path leading to destruction, repent and turn to Jesus in faith.

Alright, Let’s continue looking at the true nature of sexual sin. Proverbs 5:7-14 says:

And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciful, less strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, ‘How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teacher or incline my ear to my instructors. I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.

Let’s focus on, “Lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless.” You see, through this act of sexual immorality your honor will be taken away. Just think about David. Wasn’t this true of him? He was a man after God’s own heart who served the Lord many years of his life, yet, bring up David’s name in mixed company and it is his adultery that is mentioned first. This is also the case with Samson and Solomon. These men are remembered more for their adultery than they are for their obedience. It’s clear, sexual sin of this sort will take away honor!

Moreover, Solomon says, “And your years will be given to the merciless.” You must know that people are a harsh. They are not merciful, forgiving, or gracious. When people hear that somebody has had an affair or committed sexual immorality of some sort, they will mock and slander your name. Just look at the newspaper headlines or gossip magazine covers. Affairs make the front page. People simply delight in being merciless.

Then he says, “Lest strangers take their fill of your strength and your labors go to the house of a foreigner.” So, oftentimes sexual sin of this sort (adultery) leads to poverty. Everything you have is taken away and given to a stranger. This is not always the case, but it is generally true. A season of financial hardship often comes on those who have affairs.

And then he says, “And at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, ‘how I hated discipline and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.’” Sexual sin has the tendency to destroy your conscience. As you see the devastating effects of such sin, you want to go back and take heed to the counsel you heard when you were younger, but it is too late. The flesh has been gratified, a life has been wasted, and death is right around the corner.

And lastly, look at how Solomon put the true nature of the adultery and sexual sin. Proverbs 7:23 says, “All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast, till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.” This is horrific. I mean, this sin is bitter as wormwood and sharper than a two-edged sword. It takes away honor, leads people to be merciless towards you, it destroys your conscience, and it often times enraptures its victim so much so that it leads to eternal death. It will cost you your life!

And even though this sin is this destructive, because of its initial appeal and initial embrace, it destroys many people! Solomon says in Proverbs 7:25-27, “Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way of Sheol, going to down to the chambers of death.”

This sin has brought down Samson, David, and Solomon. Sexual sin brings down pastors, theologians, seminary professors, seminarians, CEO’s, doctors, politicians, teachers, etc. It brings down both the wealthy and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, Christians and non-christians, men and women, young and old. It is bringing down people left and right in our day. Sexual sin’s victims are a mighty throng. It continues to slay thousands upon thousands!

And since this is the true nature of sexual sin, we need to know how to die to this most deadly vice!

How to Die to Sexual Sin

First, stay away from it! Proverbs 6:8 says, “Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house.” This shows the strong nature of sexual sin doesn’t it? It is something that we must avoid all together. We must not even get close to it, for in getting close to it, we will find ourselves in its trap.

It is remarkable how, all to often, this simple warning is not heeded. People trifle with sexual sin as though it isn’t that dangerous! They fool themselves by saying:

  • “I can get close to it but not completely succumb to it.”
  • “I can do this or that and it will not affect me.”
  • “I can view this website without going to that website.”
  • “I can go to this party without doing this particular thing.”
  • “I can date this particular guy without giving in like his last girlfriend.”
  • “I can develop a really close friendship with a co-worker of the opposite sex without getting involved emotionally or sexually.”
  • “I can watch this particular movie without succumbing to lust.”

All the while, Solomon is pleading with his son to stay FAR away from the adulterous. . . . do not even go NEAR her house!

With that said, it really is sad that this disposition of the heart towards sexual sin is not seen in our day. We simply play around with it not thinking that we will succumb to it. All the while our fragile self-control falls apart and we end up on the path to destruction. . . like a city with broken down walls.

Secondly, rid yourselves of lust. Proverbs 6:25 says, “Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.” This is sexual sin in its beginning. It is desiring her beauty in your heart. Therefore, repent of lust and seek to purify your mind by saturating yourself with the things of God and thoughts about Christ.

Thirdly, gain wisdom. These three passages are filled with exhortations to gain wisdom, knowledge, and understanding so that we can have discretion. Therefore, study up on sin. Read books about sin and how we are to kill it.

Fourthly, understand one of God’s providential means to keep you from sexual sin. Proverbs 6:15-20 says:

Drink water from you own cistern, flowing water from you own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

Pertaining to this passage, Ray Ortlund says:

And God is saying, “Satisfy your thirst through lovemaking with your wife.” Look what the Lord is not saying. He is not saying, “There’s temptation out there? Then what you need is a will of iron. You need steely determination. So here is your future—endless frustration bottled up inside.” Obviously we all need self-control if we are going to have emotional structures above a five-year-old level. Verse 23 warns against a ‘lack of discipline.’ But God’s remedy for your thirst for sex is sex, overflowing sexual joy with your wife. That is what he means in verse 15 by ‘your own cistern’ and ‘your own well.’ Your wife is your own personal and private, divinely approved wellspring of endless sexual satisfaction.

So, understand that God is not some kill joy that is forbidding you to enjoy your natural God-given desire for sex. Rather, He is a gracious God that has given you the institution of marriage for the regular satifaction of those desires with your spouse!

Lastly, a greater view of the worth of Christ. Thomas Chalmers said this in a sermon titled The Expulsive Power of a New Affection: 

In a word, if the way to disengage the heart from the positive love of one great and ascendant object, is to fasten it in positive love to another, then it is not by exposing the worthlessness of the former, but by addressing to the mental eye the worth and excellence of the latter, that all old things are to be done away and all things are to become new.

Chalmers is saying that our hearts are often engaged in a positive love for a great and ascendant object that has our affections. In our case, it would be sexual immorality. And the way to disengage our hearts from this object, sexual immorality, is to expose our hearts and affections to something far more worthy and excellent. Thus, we need our affections set on something that is far superior, satisfying, and glorious than sexual sin. Thus, we need to set our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we want to rid ourselves of sexual immorality, we must set our hearts and affections on Christ. We must always seek to be getting an education in his infinite worth and value. We need to understand that He is a fountain of living water that satisfies the weary soul. We need to see him as the eternal Son of God reigning in glory with His Father. We need to see him as the meek and sacrificial lamb that takes away the sins of the world. We need to see him weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. We need to see Him on the cross, bleeding, and dying as a substitute for sinners. We need to see him resurrecting in glory, restoring Peter, teaching the multitudes, and then ascending into heavens. We need to see him in heaven right now, interceding for us and being a faithful high priest on our behalf. And, when we see Christ, an object of more worth than a billion worlds, our hearts will be drawn from sexual sin and enraptured in Him. This is the key to killing this deadly sin.

We, Too, Shall Rise

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Easter Sunday is quickly approaching. On Resurrection Sunday Christians all over the world are going to gather together to celebrate Christ’s glorious victory over death. In light of this, I just wanted to write a blog about how our resurrection is directly tied to the resurrection of Christ. In other words, because our Lord rose from the dead, we too shall rise from the dead.

This truth is seen throughout the Bible . . . especially in 1 Corinthians 15. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul even tells us what our resurrection bodies are going to be like Christ’s resurrection body – pretty awesome! Before we get to the description of the resurrection body, let’s look at the context of this great chapter.

The Problem

Some people within Corinth were denying the bodily resurrection of Christians. They were saying that Christ had been raised from the dead, but that Christians will not be raised from the dead. This is why Paul says, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:12)?

Those in Corinth could not wrap their minds around the fact that Christians are going to receive a physical resurrection body upon the return of Christ. This was probably due to the popular belief that a person’s spirit was good, but that a person’s body was evil. If they had this mindset then receiving a physical resurrection body upon the return of Christ would not make any sence to them. They were probably thinking, “Why have a pure spirit reunited with an evil body?”

The Argument

Throughout 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is destroying this unbiblical thinking. He begins by saying that the most important aspect of his teaching ministry was that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and then resurrected bodily (1 Cor. 15:3). Then he shows the Corinthians that many people witnessed Christ’s resurrected body (1 Cor. 15:5-9). He goes on to explain to them that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised from the dead. And if Christ has not raised from the dead, then everything we do is in vain (1 Cor. 15:12-19). What a dreadful thought!

Praise God that this is not the case though. Christ most certainly rose from the dead. And because He rose from the dead, we too will rise from the dead. He is the first-fruits of the resurrection. As the first-fruits of the resurrection, Christ received His resurrected body first. Those who are in Christ will receive a similar resurrection body later on (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Then Paul pretty much says, “Since my resurrection is tied to the resurrection of Christ, I risk my life every single day for Christ’s sake” (1 Cor. 15:30-34).

The Question

At this point in Paul’s argument, he is supposing that there is going to be some wise guy among the Corinthians that will ask a question saying, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? How in the world does a rotten and decaying corpse resurrect? That would be a bit ridiculous and horrifying!” (1 Cor. 15:35). Even though these seem to be pretty legit questions to us, Paul thought differently. He basically responds saying, “You foolish person! This is not far-fetched, so quit talking like it would be! This kind of thing happens all the time. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies” (1 Cor. 15:36).

A Lesson from Agriculture

Paul then begins to give the Corinthians a lesson in agriculture. He tells them to go to the farmer and watch him sow seed. The seed he sows goes into the ground, dies, begins to decay, and then, from that decay, becomes a beautiful harvest. Thus, that stock of wheat that sprouts from the ground comes from the seed you sowed. Paul’s striving to emphasize the continuity and difference of the sown seed.

There is continuity between the seed and the stock of wheat. That specific stock of wheat actually came from that specific seed you sowed! However, there is difference as well. That specific stock of wheat sure looks a lot different than the seed you sowed.

And this is how the resurrection body works. My current body is the seed, and the resurrection body is the body that will be upon the return of Christ. There will be continuity. I will be Philip. It will be this body that I am in as I am typing this blog. However, there will be a difference. My resurrection body will be way better than my current body.

A Lesson from Creation

After this, Paul tells them to look at the many different bodies that we see on a day to day basis. Look at the body of a human, the body of a fish, and the body of a bird. They all have different bodies. God does this intentionally and easily. Then Paul tells them to look at the stars in the heavens. Star differs from star in glory (1 Cor. 15:41). Some are big and some are small. Some are brighter than others.

Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that God gives different bodies for different reasons. He wants us to understand that this is how it is with the resurrection of the dead. The body that we are currently in is made for this world. However, God will give us another body upon the return of Christ. Though it will have continuity with this current body, it will also be different. The resurrection body will be made for the world that is to come. It is at this point that Paul explains how our current bodies are different than our future resurrection bodies that God is going to graciously give us – this is one of my favorite biblical passages!

1 Corinthians 15:42 “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.”

Our current body is a perishable body. The older you get the more this verse will resonate with you. Your hair-line begins to recede, your teeth begin to decay, and your bones begin to ache. Some of us will undoubtedly be diagnosed with a terminal disease that’ll makes our body wither like a fall leaf as it approaches winter. And even those of us who are healthy will inevitably breathe our last breath and be lowered six feet beneath the surface of the earth. Our bodies will continue to perish even after we die. Worms and maggots will treat our body like a five star buffet until nothing but our bones are left. This is how God has made these earthly bodies that we have. He has sown bodies that are perishable.

However, this perishable body will be resurrected as an imperishable body. It will be a body that will never notice the beginning of a receding hair line, and it will never feel the effects of a rotting tooth. This resurrection body will have ears that never lose their capacity to hear. You will never have to hear a doctor as he gives a diagnosis for a terminal disease. This imperishable body will never see a coffin again, nor will it ever have to frequent a cemetery. It will never have to mourn at the loss of a loved one. No, God is going to give us a body that will be imperishable. And after 10,000 years of enjoying perfect fellowship with Jesus and other believers on the New Earth in this imperishable body, we will look as we first did when we rose up out of the grave. As Spurgeon puts it, “In heaven every nerve of the new body shall cry, ‘Immortality.’”

1 Corinthians 15:43 “It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.”

This body is dishonorable. Because of Adam’s sin, it has lost its state of honor and dignity. Just how dishonorable is this body? Think about this . . . God gave us this body to honor him, but we have used it to perpetually sin against him. In perpetually sinning against him, we waged war against Him with the very body he gave us. Then, while we were at enmity with him, God, in His great love for us, reconciled us to Himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. And even after He justified us, adopted us, and placed His Holy Spirit in us, we still sinned against him. Then, after years and years of walking with Christ and progressively being made holy by the Spirit, we will continue to commit sins against our heavenly Father. Sadly, even up to the moment of death, we are going to be dishonoring God with some type of sin. As you can see, this body is sown in dishonor.

However, this dishonorable body is going to be raised a glorious body. Our resurrection bodies will be so glorious that we will never even conceive of sinning against our Heavenly Father or our blessed Savior. Instead of sinning, we are going to radiate with the glory of God. We are going to shine like the brightness of the sky above, like the stars in the heavens (Dn. 12:3). And like Christ said, we are going to shine like the sun in the kingdom of our father (Mt. 13:43). This dishonorable body that is destined to return to dust will one day rise up out of the grave like the morning sun in all of it brilliance. As John Newton says in his hymn:

When we’ve been there ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun.

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Then when we’ve first begun.

1 Corinthians 15:43 “It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.”

These bodies that God has sown are also weak. We get wearied and tired easily. We run a mile and are worn out. We put in a day’s worth of work and need to go to bed. We study for a test and we get mentally exhausted. Another aspect of this is that we seek to work hard, our bodies get tired, and we end up injuring something. We play baseball, get hit by a pitch, and end up bruising. And when we are near the end of this life, we are so weak that we cannot take care of ourselves. Other people have to tend to us. And the ultimate weakness of this body is most evident when we die, for we cannot even bury ourselves. Our family and friends must do it for us!

But these weak bodies that God has sown are going to be raised up as powerful bodies. We will be able to run miles upon miles without growing weary. We will be able to work for years upon years without growing faint. In all our endeavors, we will neither wear out nor rust out.

Our bodies will be able to do anything that our minds conceive of. If we look at the highest mountain and desire to climb it, our bodies will prove to be mighty enough to do it. If we look down into the deepest valley and desire to scale it, our bodies will prove powerful enough to do it. And after we do all that our minds conceive of, our body will be ready to go again. To a body that is raised up in power, exhaustion and fatigue will be a foreign concept.

1 Corinthians 15:44 “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

The bodies that we have now are natural bodies. They are like Adam’s body in every way. This means our bodies are made for this current earth. We could put it like this: these natural bodies we have are made for this natural realm that we are in. Though these bodies work for us here, they will not work for us in the life that is to come when we are on the New Earth.

Since this is the case, our resurrection bodies will be spiritual bodies. God will graciously give us spiritual bodies for the spiritual realm that we will be living in. Essentially, it will be like the resurrected body of Jesus Christ. Christ’s resurrection body was wonderful. He could eat and drink. He could touch and be touched. And he could also walk through walls and ascend into the heavens!

Now we do not know exactly how much our resurrection bodies will be like Christ’s resurrection body. Christ may be able to do more with his resurrection body than we will be able to do with ours. However, we do know with utmost certainty that our resurrection body will be like His to some extent.

This is the resurrection body that God has promised to his people. Therefore, if you are a child of God, this is the resurrection body that you are guaranteed by a loving God who cannot lie! With that in mind, think about this quote from Thomas Watson: “The body shall rise again; we are not so sure to rise out of our beds—as we are to rise out of our graves.”

Application

There are many ways to apply this. Paul applies this passage beautifully in 1 Corinthians 15:58 when he says, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” In other words, if Christ is going to return, defeat death, and give us resurrection bodies then we should be overflowing in good works!

We can also get a good idea of how to apply this by looking at how this truth impacted Martin Luther during a significant trial he faced. Martin Luther, the German reformer, had a little 14-year-old daughter named Magdalena that he loved dearly. As a plague was making its way through Germany, Magdalena fell into its grasp. This was one of the lowest points in Luther’s life.

Watching his little 14-year-old daughter suffer from this deadly plague was hard. He was constantly petitioning God to take away her pain. And then, one day, the Lord ended her suffering by way of death. Luther’s Magdalena breathed her last breath, and she went home to be with her Heavenly Father. Her earthly father, however, was left to weep by her bedside.

Even though Luther was absolutely devastated, he still had an unshakable hope. And the unshakable hope that he had was grounded in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. When the carpenters were nailing down the lid of Magdalena’s coffin, he screamed, “Hammer away! On doomsday she’ll rise again.” Because of Christ’s resurrection, Luther knew that Magdalena’s cold, lifeless body would one day rise up an imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual body. As you can see, the resurrection of the dead changes everything!