Inside or Outside the Outhouse

Sometimes I suspect many people misunderstand or underestimate how offensive sin is to God including myself. I intend to at least try to shed light on the repulsiveness of sin from God's view of it in Scripture  I will present the offense in layman's terms as I have never been one to go easy on people when it comes to understanding the Truth.

We have to admit outright that no one would've ever looked at the Brazen Serpent if they had not been bitten by venomous snakes first (Numbers 21). They would've never looked unless they knew that they were threatened with their own demise or death. It follows that none will look to Christ either as it is not within them to do so. None will look to Christ with an understanding that they are in need of Him unless they understand that their lives (eternal) are under the threat (curse) of death. It is only when people become painfully aware of their sin and the awareness that they need to seek forgiveness of it that they will ever truly recognize their need for Christ and a true understanding of who He really is.

Not only do we need head knowledge of our sins but the understanding that we need to repent. Therefore we need to understand the acuteness and severity of sin. To be able to repent we must be utterly convinced /convicted of our nature. We must be completely on-board with the fact that we are guilty before God. We are twisted by the Fall. We must acknowledge that there is a steep price to pay for our sins and that God is a just judge who is perfect to judge those sins because He is not sinful...He is holy.

We don't need the Devil and the powers of this world to trip us up either. This is just our consciences trying to blame-shift guilt of our sin to others or something else. Frankly, I believe the Devil is to incompetent to be blamed for all of our sins all the time. I suggest he is not that organized as he is always running to-and-fro in a chaotic manner literally raising Hell. In actuality it is just our own twisted and fallen consciences and morality there to convince us otherwise. Even our own morality becomes an encumbrance when it is based on emotions or consciences that are not first guided or led by Scripture. Without the Scripture and God's Spirit in accordance with Scripture, our own minds become a trap as we will go astray of God without Scripture. Only morality based on Scripture that spiritually regenerates in the image of Christ is legit. Morality based on our old nature in any form is not a Gospel holiness! It stands to reason that anything divorced of the Gospel cannot be holiness based in the Gospel! Duh.

More often than not our tainted consciences let us off the hook, and excuse us from our infractions against God. Yes, the conscience is a warning system but it will not be able to accurately discern right from wrong without the guidelines of Scripture. Scripture is righteous...we are not (Romans 1-3). Conscience can send up the red flags to tell us something is not right but it cannot always tell us the true severity of the sin.  Just like the Law and the Law written on the hearts of the believer, the Law will show us our sin...but it cannot save us. Our own conscience and measure of morality will convince us that our sins are not that bad, are excusable or worse, it will convince us that a sin didn't exist at all. Eventually the conscience can become so "down-tuned" to wickedness it effectively shuts off (Romans 1) like an overstimulated hormonal system. The biggest sin is to be convinced that we're "basically good" so we don't really need God nor forgiveness. Our offenses against God are therefore taken lightly and barely warrant a second glance when in fact they have stored up justice against us.

The truth is that to be able to understand the extreme depth of our sickening and twisted nature we must fully grasp our demented sinful condition and our need for judgment, not just our deserving of it. In other words. Without the benchmark and understanding of what is acceptable to God, we must be shocked into the holy through a paradigm shift of understanding. Without this shock to the system, people will continue to believe they can justify themselves before God. Given the chance we will always try to talk ourselves out of the guilt of our sin. It is just our nature.

We see this quite a bit in the faith but it is rarely acknowledged as such. Even in our conversion I suggest that we take the seriousness of our former selves too lightly. We  forget just how murderous, sick and broken we are and after our conversion we attempt to distance ourselves from what we are/were. This then presents the inherent danger of setting ourselves up for a fall by downplaying the severity of just how catawampus  we are. Although we are new creations in Christ, we forget the sin is only a breath away. We forget that being free in Christ does indeed allow freedom but doing everything is not beneficial and in some cases is downright sinful and an abuse of grace (1 Cor. 6:12, 10:23).

1 Corinthians 6:12 ~ "I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

1 Corinthians 10:23 ~ "“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive."

A true understanding of our former condition would have us approach God with a tentativeness  respect and awe but with the understanding He loves us. When we do not fully understand our transformed condition and how mutated by sin that we used to be, we come to our new life with a devil-may-care-attitude and approach God with irreverence and treat Him as our buddy, our pal or our homeboy. I got news for you, if you are coming to the throne this way you should be ashamed. He is our Father, our Savior...our King...not our buddy. It shows that you don't truly understand what you were saved from...therefore you might not be. We were lost and demented. It was as if our eyes had been gouged out, our heart ripped from our chest and a stone was placed in our rib cages. All the while we were wading in offal, debris and waste of the cesspool of this world. No life, only a blind  dead man, prisoner to sin and locked in spiritual dementia. All the while doing the backstroke in a septic tank.

People that have just been plucked from a cesspool must realize that they have not been necessarily pulled from the waste only to be placed right back in the very septic system of sin that we have been pulled from spiritually. We were separated from it for a reason. We are to remain detached from the world and act as a dispatch from the Holy One and be messengers of His Gospel. We go in, deliver the message and we get out. We engage and then disengage not immerse ourselves. It is called a surgical strike. Occasionally, we will need to drag the fallen out if the cesspool's pit (Jude 22-23) just like dragging the wounded from the battlefield.

Jude 22-23 ~Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

People need to distinguish between what is possible and what is probable. Our path towards holiness in sanctification is a process that isn't meant to be pretty nor clean. It is a dirty messy process not because of God but because of us. We are our own worst enemy, probably even more so than Satan since neither he nor his minions are omnipresent and cannot be everywhere at once. We on the other hand are everywhere that we are at standing in our own way hindering our own progress. 

If we truly understand ourselves and how flawed we are we would understand this and accept this. Because we're so horribly flawed we do not accept it...even after conversion. Even after conversion I suggest many do not understand this fact. It shows in the fact that we often fight this process tooth-n'-nail thinking we are better people once we converted but all the while failing to realize we are the same person. The only difference is that we have Jesus Christ's righteousness imputed to us so that we can be saved. It was through His grace that we are now washed, sanctified, and justified in His holy name and by the Spirit of our God.

Our natural condition is to fight against this even after conversion (Romans 7). What's worse is that a sinful fallen condition might actually convince some that they are actually saved when in reality some never actually understood their true depravity and therefore were not really convinced of their need for salvation. I suggest this might be because...just maybe...they didn't think we really needed it. Sometimes I think the greatest lie many are given over to is that they are truly saved because we followed some type of formula and then showed absolutely no outward signs of Christ being in us whatsoever. The proverbial, "...I'm a Christian because I said a prayer to accept Jesus into my heart when I was six years old." Then the next thirty years showed absolutely no signs of the indwelling Spirit of God.

2 Corinthians 13:5 ~ "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

Do we see a growth of Christ in our lives in accordance with Scripture? Do we see a diminishing of sin in our lives? Sin will continue to negatively affect our lives but does it continue to gain victory over us? Do we exhibit the sins of the flesh or the outworking of the Spirit? What spirit rules our life-the spirit of the world or the Spirit of God? It stands to reason that we cannot have the righteousness of God and be ignorant of it at the same time. We cannot do the things of God unwittingly. We are to be conscious and volitional in our actions and holiness should shape our behavior. The origin of some sins may be of omission but righteousness will not be.

If we are still doing cannonball dives into the cesspool and wallowing in the jetsam of the world we will be too dull of senses to see our own depraved condition...and this is why we always think we are "good enough". Only through the measure of Scripture and Spirit of God can we know for sure. If we do not acknowledge the Word and Christ how could we ever know for sure that we are truly saved? The answer: We cannot know outside of Christ and Scripture.

Are you in a cesspool of sinful waste and doomed to the fiery sin-heap of Hell or are you justified through the life, death and blood of Christ? The difference is a stark contrast and should be an easy discernment. It would be like living happily in an outhouse and not realizing we're wading in filth and sewage...or looking at the inside of the outhouse from the outside. Either way, inside or outside the direct grip and imprisoning affects of sin, the stench of sin still reeks and we cannot fully remove its smell from our lives until we are fully removed from it's contaminating effects. This can only occur once we move on to be in glory with Christ. Only death stops our sinning.

It is in these stark offensive terms that we begin to come to grips with what God through Christ has done for us. He has literally plucked us from the sewage of our own lives and wiped us clean in God's eyes. Yes, we still have a rank stench that hangs on us but its from the indwelling sin that we never seem able to rid ourselves of. Once we're saved we still have a stench like a freshly manured field because of our own inability but God is long-suffering and His forbearance is great and He is willing to overlook (over-smell) our sin because of the blood of His Son.

Skeptic’s Endgame

Without spiritual illumination, the doctrines of the Gospel are open to skepticism therefore interpretive error. Nowadays skeptics pretend not to renounce or forsake the truth of God. But they talk about the truth and argue about it with a "devil may care" attitude. In truth they are ambivelent and apathetic towards the word of God. The truth is that they are indifferent as to whether it is true or not. Scripture, the Trinity, Christ and his offices, justification by grace and all the other great truths of the gospel are weighed and examined and mostly just considered a bunch of intellectual nonsense or worse supernatural myth. It is a point of contention in theological arguments but holds no sway on the hearts of the one’s arguing the points. It is just another academic pursuit to win arguments over, not win converts. Other people are the farthest from these people’s minds. This is all about being right and who is the most aligned with the culture, truth be damned.

 

Many act as if they are true teachers of true Christianity and even hold posts in supposed Divinity schools and Seminaries. Yet they are only old windbags teaching another hip…but false Gospel. They may be teachers of religion, but they show their spiritual ignorance of the fundamental difference between truth and error. They cannot see the glory, beauty and power of truth of Scripture and of God so it all looks like an uninspired book to be argued over. What they fail to understand is that Jesus felt the Scripture was infallible and quoted from it often. So either Scripture is infallible and Jesus is right or both become compromised because if Jesus believed it was infallible and it wasn't, He was wrong and is therefore not divine. an omniscient

 

Furthermore truth, truly known and understood, will produce reverence, love and sacred esteem in the souls of a person. So much so that they would not dare to whore themselves to skepticism or allow it to be debated about by every fool that has an unfounded opinion.

 

Spiritual darkness caused by biblical illiteracy and biblical ignorance keeps the mind and soul from arriving at any assurance of the truth. It prevents the soul from loving the truth and so provides no defense for the person against sliding away from God because it doesn’t even allow a person to love God to begin with. How can one love someone or something he knows nothing about?

 

Absent the proper guide or map each person in blindness and ignorance of what is truth and what is error, is left to determine what is truth for himself. They all do what is right in their own eyes. Each person has their own opinion of what truth is and everyone’s truth is as equally valid as any other truth. In the postmodern quicksand it is easy to wander away from God and into apostasy.

 

Apostasy is the endgame of Skepticism.

 

In this way, truth is lost gradually day by day and people gradually wander. Truth is the only guide to right thinking. If the mind is not guided by truth, its thoughts will soon wander into error. So went the Jews, so went Judas, so went the Roman Catholic Church and so goes all the cults of today that say the name Jesus Christ but attribute to Him something less than divinity, holiness or salvation.

 

The minute someone believes they have a better idea their apostasy has already crept into their darkened unlit heart. As soon as someone adds to what has already been done apostasy has gained its foothold. As soon as the first doubt surfaces… disaster will ensue if it is not stamped out like sparks near kindling. Skepticism leads to apostasy and this leads to thought other than on God. Skepticism and apostasy is a step towards death and puts one foot firmly in the grave rather than a footstep towards an empty tomb.

 

All false religions claim that their followers are more holy in their lives of work than those who hold to the gospel of Christ. In this way is they wish to win converts to themselves. Whereas those that preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ wish to win converts to Jesus Christ, and thereby do so. The rest just blow hot air like bellowing windbags and when they win converts, they win them to damnation and make their disciples twice the son of Hell that they are

Slaves Do Not Have Entitlement Mentalities

I’ve heard it said by politicized Christians. I’ve heard myself say it. “These are my God given rights!” I have also said that I have the right to defend my rights. Then a voice whispers to me in my head...“If you’ve died to self, what rights do you have, whose rights would you be defending?” I am conflicted. The sinful man in me wants to get what I believe I have earned and what I have coming to me. I want to believe that I have rights or am entitled to basic things just like the US founding documents have so forcefully resolved.

Then the voice whispers again...

"Jesus Himself considered Himself of no accord. He abandoned Himself to the will of the Father…even if it meant to face death."

John 6:38, "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

Philippians 2:6-8 “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-even death on a cross!

Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

It was a death he ultimately faced. It was undeserved and it was not right. Jesus in His obedience to the will of the Father ditched His own will…and His rights. What is this telling us? What does this tell me as a Christian…an American?

When one believes they have rights…they will end up demanding them and if they do not get what they deserve they will often become vindictive or worse - angry. Did God grant all humans inalienable rights or is that a man-made concept? God indeed gives humanity their value - but rights? When we die to self as Christians does this concept still apply?

God made man as the pinnacle of His creation and gave man dominion over the earth but does this equate to rights? We indeed are created in the image of God and Jesus did come as a man. But rights? In truth the more I read the Bible the more I start to realize that in this life the Christian has no “rights” of his own, because he has surrendered his life to Christ. Christ “owns” the believer. He is our Master and we are His δοῦλοι /slaves.

“...You are not your own; you were bought at a price...” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

A slave as commonly understood in the time of 1 Corinthians had little or no rights. They were at the will of their master. What does this tell us as Christians? What does this tell me as an American if I am a Christian…a δοῦλος /slave of Christ? We have no righteousness nor do we have rights in the eyes of God as we are sinners saved by grace. We need a Savior and it is through Him we have any righteousness, rights or value whatsoever. We are in Him. If we are in Him we need to ask ourselves, what type of life did He live? Did He demand His rights? If we are in Him, what does this tell us? What can we expect? I suspect we can expect suffering and violation of our so-called rights. Look what Jesus ended up telling Peter in John 21 about following in His footsteps:

John 21:17-19 ~ "Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!"

Yet, ironically...because of the One we represent we are not to be complete doormats to the system of the world / κόσμος …because we are told to resist evil (Titus 2:12). But I can hear the dissenters already quoting Matthew 5:39, "But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Sorry folks, this does not mean to lie down and be a doormat. It means you are not to set yourself against one who wrongs you and seek vengeance against that person/people. In other words don't resist evil with evil. Matthew 5:39 does not mean to make yourself defenseless. If we take the wrong interpretation of Matthew 5:39 to its absurd ends it leads to chaos and evil completely reigning.

On the flip side to this, it is not mean you have rights either.

We are to resist sin. Sin might be personal to us but in reality it is first and foremost an offense against God, not against a man. Yes, we’re made in the image of God but this does not necessarily equate to rights in this world for us. As a matter of fact, like Christ, what we will get in this world is just the opposite. If they crucified the Savior, what will they do to us?

I’ll be quite honest, everything in me fights against this concept. If someone asks me to go one mile, my reaction is not to go two it is to tell the person to get bent and carry his own gear. If someone bad mouths me my reaction is not to just accept it, it is to write a blog article on why that person is an imbecile. If someone strikes me on the cheek, I want to pulverize them and drive them into the ground like a sledgehammer on a tent peg. But I am a slave of the Most High who allowed Himself to be crucified for my sins. I have no rights as He is my Master and my Master does not want me driving people into the ground like tent pegs. He could easily do that but He does not. This should tell me something also.

If we have died to self and submitted to Christ, the implications for us in this life are startling.

We have freedom but it has been bought for a price. We have freedom but not everything is beneficial to do in our "freedom". We have liberty but the truth is that we should gladly lay it down to serve others in self-sacrificial giving whenever necessary. Our freedom was gained for us from sin but in return we must repent and submit to the One who bought us out of our old slavery. In reality we are His slave now. We don’t necessarily have rights. We do have rewards in heaven though. Sometimes we need to be the anvil that takes the blows of the hammers in bad people’s hands. We should get used to this as this is the life of one who dies daily. In truth…you have no rights.

Instead of wanting our rights we should want righteousness. Instead of expecting our rights we should be thankful for our blessings.

Instead of always demanding our rights and expecting things to be certain ways, shouldn’t we be looking to do right things as told in Scripture? God never promised us “right” or rights in this life, He rightly promised us eternal life in the next. That eternal life only comes when we repent and submit to Him and trust in Him. When we do this, our supposed rights we think we have now end up pale by comparison.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Nexus Of The Future

 

The Future Is Now

 

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

 

Colossians 1:15-20

♫ Nothing More Than Feelings ♫

I have often repeated the fact that I am not wholly concerned with people’s feelings when it comes to to Bible or passages of Scripture. Come to think of it, feelings in general too.

Please hold off on the hate mail and pelting me with tomatoes until you've read the entire post.
Let me explain fully before I am accused of being harsh, not compassionate or unfeeling…again.

People’s personal feelings must all be filtered through God’s word.

The reason I am not wholly concerned with how people feel is because if I cater all the time to people that feel certain ways I am shaping my theology based on the whimsy of people's feelings. Feelings are man-centered (anthropocentric) not God-centered (theocentric). Because of this, our churches are being steered more by the “feelings” of the congregants and leadership than by the infallible and inerrant Word of God. We often try more to find out what makes people tick and cater to that whimsy than we do just teaching the word of God and the Gospel outright. This is usually what we see in seeker-sensitive churches. If we are biblically literate we already know that the message of the cross is offensive to people. We need to get over the fact that some people just will not be reached by the Word or the offensiveness of the Cross as they are stiff-necked and reject it outright, it has nothing to do with our presentation.

1 Corinthians 1:23 ~ "...but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles"

Therefore, if the feelings do not align with Scripture…then I really don't care about the feelings. What are they to me if they are not in alignment with God’s Word. I’ll tell you what they are…they are of this world or of the flesh. The filtering through the word is the only way I know as an observer what I am dealing with.

Feelings not aligned to God and Scripture are inevitably about the self and are inherently self-centered or selfish by their nature. If not properly filtered through a complete understanding of Scripture they become a detriment to the person that has them and those around that person. This is because the less the feelings are controlled or attached to Scripture...the more they will deviate from God. Those that will not concede this fact become tools for the powers and system of this world. The more we conform to the positive self-image doctrine that has pervaded the evangelical church, the farther afield we drift from God.

When this type of mindset infiltrates a church it is literally a rebellion right within the body. It is the feel-good mentality that the evangelical church has borrowed from Psychiatry. Why is this bad? Because at its base, it denies sin and therefore trivializes God and God’s role in one’s life. People will readily take credit for a job well done but when things are wrong or they are wrong, they will blame-shift to remove the stigma from themselves. This is typical of our fallen nature because none are righteous. We love ourselves and what matters to us-too much and we do not love God enough.

This type of mindset assumes that someone’s feelings and opinions matter. This is a dangerous assumption to make in this fallen world.

Those that overvalue their own feelings or other people’s over Scripture nearly always undervalue God’s feelings and opinions and other people’s opinions and feelings. And what does Scripture tell us to do? What did Jesus say were the most important commandments?

Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

We are turn outward toward God (or inward in the case of the Spirit) and to others and love them over top of every other command. This means trumping what we feel is proper and loving God first and then others. If we turn inward it is only to the Spirit not purely to our feelings as they would not contradict one another if they are in accordance with Scripture. The people in this passage of course also need to be viewed through the test of Scripture also as they are, after all, human and flawed. The thing is…if one turns to God first which is what is being said here…it assumes you would already have a decent grasp of Scripture and God’s precepts already. The mindset is already there to put God first…therefore His word.

You need to always have Gods filter held out in front of you when examining things in this fallen world otherwise our vision and feelings are just as distorted as anything else in the Fall as we are all fallen beings that are incapable of righteousness without Christ. By putting Scripture first we view the world and our feelings through God’s eyes which are not blurred by the feelings of people (Numbers 23:19).

To think too highly of one’s self in terms of opinions and feelings makes oneself the highest authority and excludes others. It makes one’s self an idol and therefore you become a detestable thing before God. I hate to tell you folks this but you cannot base a productive meaningful relationship with others on just your feelings. If you do then the relationship revolves around nothing more than how you feel and frankly, that is just plain selfish. It needs to at least include the Scripture.

In the end, I will state that I do care immensely about what people say and do and how people feel about things, but I care about them after they have been sifted through the perfect measure of Scriptures. I see when people are struggling in their sin when their feelings reflect the same. Everything about them swings wide of the word of God. It is because all people’s feelings (by their nature) are selfish and tainted by the Fall of Humanity into sin. This then makes them suspect and worthy of closer examination before just accepting them at face value.

One must always approach everything in this world with one question or presupposition in mind:

What does Scripture say?

It is then and only then that feelings should be taken seriously.

This then leads to a second principle that must be taken seriously. We do need to discern, whether or not the feelings of people are matching Scripture. Yes people, we need to make a decision or more specifically to discern or distinguish the difference between what is biblical and unbiblical. Be warned, we will be accused of judging others and being legalistic. If we do not do this we end up wasting precious time given to us to preach the Gospel. We cast pearl before swine or throw children’s bread to the dogs. In other words we waste time and energy continuing to allow people’s unbiblical feelings to distract from and detour us from what is important: The Gospel and teaching of God’s word.

So the next time you “feel” something about Scripture or about issues taking place in the Church, please do yourself and everyone else a favor and pre-screen or filter what you feel through the word of God first. With the help of Scripture, filter out the ungodly in your feelings. It is the only way for humans to know for certain what is coming through is pure and of the Spirit of God and not our own polluted being. Test everything against Scripture and in this way people will not need to do it for you. In this way you will greatly aid the Kingdom spreading the Gospel. By Scripture, through Scripture and with Scripture…never against it.

Pushers or Pastors

We do a great disservice to the Church whenever we refer to the pastorate as the “ministry”. Even I am guilty of this often. I have gone to school and I am entering the ministry as if it is this elitist group that only a privileged few can enter after enormous amount of education and gads of training. It’s just not true. When we say, “the ministry” we make it sound as if it is the only ministry there is and if you miss the boat…too bad.

The Greek word diakonia/ διακονία  for ministry is generic and better understood as ministration or specifically “service”. If you’re a Christian…you’re in the ministry…somehow. Where you are at in the ministry is the question to a lesser of greater degree. It is really up to you and the work of God to determine where. It usually (but not always) lies where some of your natural talents lie…or God will gift you.

As for the word diakonia, it lacks specificity until a descriptive adjective is added, whether 'pastoral' , 'social', 'political', 'medical' or another. All Christians without exception, being followers of him who came 'not to be served but to serve', are themselves called to ministry, indeed to give their lives in ministry. But the expression 'full-time Christian ministry' is not to be restricted to a church. This is a misunderstanding. It can also be in government, as a professional tradesman, industry and even the home. Actually, especially the home. We need to properly see this vision of diversity of ministries to which God calls his people. Many body parts, one body, one Spirit.

It is to the ministry of the word and the Gospel to which pastors are called to dedicate their life. It is not just that many are too busy for ministry, it is also that many are preoccupied with the wrong ministry too. Many pastors, instead of concentrating on the ministry of the word (which is what they're primarily called to do) end up counseling individuals and training and they become overwhelmed and burned out with the nuanced penny ante details that could probably be delegated to others better qualified. Many times what I have seen is it is the pastor's own fault because he is a micro-manager and distrusting. If we’re all led by the same Spirit, we should be at least able to trust He will guide the next guy as well.

Regardless, the consequences are disastrous. The standards of preaching and teaching most often are in steep decline as pastors do not spend the proper time reading and understanding the text, praying and being in God’s presence. The other half of this is a lazy congregation. They do not exercise their God-given right to read and teach themselves, expecting instead to be spoon-fed long after they should have been eating the meat of the word with their own fork and knife. For both of these reasons congregations are stunted in their maturity in Christ. They never grow. There is little spirituality and although they have headcount, their churches end up looking more like a battle’s body count in terms of salvation, sanctification or growth.

What is needed is the basic, biblical recognition that God calls different men and women to different ministries and utilize them all to the edification of the entire body. If you are expecting the leaders in your church to do all the work for the Kingdom, perhaps you are not really going to get there with them?

We need to do some of the work in the Body of Christ folks, otherwise we end up forcing our pastor to moonlight and do jobs he has not been called to do. Some of which can be doing damage to his true calling. We make him something he's not and often...he allows it. The Apostles knew better in Acts 6:1-7, so should we. We have the Bible and hindsight to teach us. If we do not all do our job in ministry, its as if we pimp our pastors and leaders out to the devil. How you say? Because we allow them to be doing things they were not called to do. We let them do what we often times are called to do and this is one of the subtle deceptions of Satan. Distracting us from our ministry or service. The old adage is true here, you can please some of the people some of the time but you cannot please all of the people all of the time. You are better off pleasing God and leaving it at that.

It is a shame, we're pimping out our pastors or making them our dealer because we're too lazy to do what we've already been commanded (or called) to do which is read and learn the Bible. Instead we literally show up at church once a week to get our fix in small bite-sized parcels like cruising for dime bags. Once we're done Sunday afternoon, we feel better after we've had our fix and we move on for the rest of the week forgetting all about God and the Body. We can't be weekend warriors for Christ and ignore our responsibility to be Christian the rest of the week. 

A part time Christian is no Christian at all and a derailed and distracted pastor is the Devil's own since he has been taken from his God-given task. Trying to get a quick fix of God from our pastors is abuse of the pastor. If the pastor continues to allow it instead of teaching people to teach themselves, he becomes an enabler or worse...a pusher of bad behavior.

The Gospel: The Power of God, Part II- A Study of Acts 2

[Continued from Part I: In continuation of the last post I will reference the Scripture again...but only the piece I need to make my point for the Word Study below.]

³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” ³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” ⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Greek Word Study:

(v.36) Word: ἀσφαλῶς / asphalos “assured, certainty, beyond a doubt”. I chose this because Peter ends his sermon with this word in the last clause. Furthermore it is the very first word in the clause is ἀσφαλῶς / asphalos, therefore Luke is bringing emphasis to it locating it in the beginning of the clause since it didn’t need to be there (Rienecker et al 267). Assured or certain of what? Peter/Luke tells us right in the passage: “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” There is no doubt about this fact. There is little need for faith here. They all bore witness to Christ’s death and crucifixion, it is indeed a fact for them and Peter/Luke are drawing intense focus to this fact. The truth of sin they are subsequently convicted by causes them to repent. This is in harmony with Luke’s overall modus operandi to show the certainty (ἀσφάλειαν / asphaleian [same cognate as Acts 2:36] ) of the things Theophilus had been taught (Luke 1:4), since what Theophilus had been taught is exactly what Peter preached in Acts 2 at Pentecost. Peter’s sermon therefore ties together in parallel the promise from Jesus of the Holy Spirit/and command to baptize (Acts 1:4-5) which itself is a jump back to the Great Commission of Matthew 28 which was to carry on all the things Jesus had taught the Disciples (Matthew 28:20). Peter also shows the manifestation of what Luke wrote in Luke 24:47-49 that “(v.47) and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” they were to wait for what was promised which was…, “ (v.49) power from on high [the Spirit]”.

(v.37) Phrase: κατενύγησαν τὴν καρδίαν / katenugesan ten kardian / “cut to the heart” or more literally “their hearts were down-punctured”, kata meaning "down" and nýssō meaning "pierce" to pierce all the way down, deeply (thoroughly) pained; "emotionally pierced through"; psychologically pricked, these people were thoroughly emotionally stunned (Rienecker et al 267).

The fact in verse 36, that “the One that they were guilty of crucifying was the Messiah”…was excruciating to them and they sought the only relief from the convicting guilt of their sin. When they ask, “Brothers, what shall we do?” It is clear their hearts are already turning towards repentance.

They are appropriately convicted to the core of their being (heart) and it literally physically paining them which seems evident from the word κατενύγησαν / katenugesan. What in reality is paining them psychologically/physically is their own sin and guilt…and the answer from Peter to remedy this was to repent (turn from or change their minds from sin) and be baptized…which many did (at least 3000 that day).

Peter’s response and subsequent actions are reminiscent of speak Jesus’ Great Commission and also of John the Baptist’s words in Luke 3, “I baptize you with water. But One more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Summary of Meaning

The people (both Christians and non) are gathered together at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes on them and they begin speaking in tongues. Many are perplexed and want to know what’s going on. Some speaking in tongues are even accused of drinking. Peter responds to the question first with an apologetic (v. 14-22) to defend the speaking in tongues. He does so from Joel of the Old Testament (v.16). Second he quite literally gives the Kerygma or preaches the Gospel after defending the believer’s behavior. This /Kerygma/Gospel Peter preaches contains the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures (Old Testament). Unlike David mentioned herein, Jesus’ body did not decay (v.31). The proof of what Peter says about Jesus was evidenced by the miracles he worked and the fact that God resurrected Him from the grave, all of these facts were known by the  people Peter preaches to. The remainder of this passage shows the sum / end result of Peter’s preaching: People convicted of their transgression (sin, putting Jesus to death) subsequently repent and are baptized which is the proper  response or outward manifestation (repentance) to the Gospel for one that is repentant and seeks forgiveness.

Implications of the Text: What it Always Means

The same implications to the Jews that Peter speaks to (1st century) apply to us today also. The universal application from this passage can be stated with cross-referenced Scripture alone as I will do in just a moment. If you want a formal stated implication of text…here it is. The general underlying principle of Peter’s apologetic and preaching still apply today.  The culture may change but the means of God’s mercy, grace and salvation remain the same as it was planned and foreknown since time immemorial (Acts 2:24) and will be so until the return of Jesus.  Peter’s pattern, is the basic pattern for calling people to repentance and forgiveness through conviction caused by the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The result of those that are to be saved will be conviction of sin and a turn towards the Cross of Jesus Christ!

Because of this I will combine the next two sections of the exegetical process: Implications of the Text and Summarizing of the passage into a thesis/synopsis. It is wordy but I am dealing with a periscope of 27 verses and it is hard to encapsulate in on a limited scale. We are dealing with the truth of God’s word and eternal life here folks.

Thesis or Main Idea of Acts 2:14-41

By preaching the Gospel as Peter did, he/we obey God and fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20. It’s in Acts 2:14-41 that they/we see why Jesus commanded teaching what He taught and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is by hearing the message of Christ that faith comes (Romans 10:17). Those that accept the Gospel will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (1^st Century Jews or 21^st Century Americans). The Gospel being: His Life, Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus in agreement with Scripture/Prophecy (ex: 1 Cor 15:3-4) as Peter did here. All this being God’s plan and foreknown by Him (Acts 2:23) which is evidenced through Old Testament prophecy from God in advance (Acts 2:17-21, 25-28, 34-35). Prophecies that told people that if they repented and believed…they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit promised (Acts 2:4, 33, 38).

Stated another way…

We are to love Jesus, obey His commands and Jesus Himself will ask the Father, and he will give us another Counselor to be with us forever -the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit, who is in reality a down-payment of salvation for believers that He indwells (Ephesians 1:14). The signs of this down-payment are the Fruits produced by the Spirit in a believer (Galatians 5:22-23). But as we see with the incredulous Jews that are gathered (Acts 2:13), the message of the cross is sometimes foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power [δύναμις] of God! (1 Corinthians 1:18). It is the dunamis/power that can and did resurrect Jesus from the dead…therefore it can resurrect believers too since we are in Him (and He in us) (1 Cor 1:30). Christ was the first fruits of the Resurrection so when He returns, those who belong to him will be resurrected also (1 Cor 15:23). This is because the same exact power that raised Jesus resides within believers in the form of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11).

Scope of Truth

Although Peter addresses Jews in this passage the implication of needing to repent and seek forgiveness from God is universal for all. One must be saved to have eternal life. That salvation is exclusivist. It is only possible through believing and trusting in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This applies to me or anyone else that would desire to seek entry into Heaven or into the eternal kingdom of God. That is the plan Peter refers to here: That Christ would be crucified by sinners for sinners to save sinners from there fate of eternal judgment in Hell because of their sin.

The Proper Response to This Indictment

The proper response for me or anyone else in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is what Peter preached here in Acts 2:14-41 is to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Period. There is no other away to eternal life.

This response or repentance appears to be a work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that does the convicting that leads to repentance (John 16:8, 1 Corinthians 3:6)

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Significance of the Text: What It Means to Audience 

The significance to the audience both Peter’s, Luke’s and mine would be the same as stated above. We are to defend our faith, preach it and the response should be conviction of sin and a turning of heart (repentance) towards God seeking forgiveness. The stipulation for salvation is universal and holds sway until “The Great Day of the Lord” or until the judgment in the Eschaton (End Times).

What is the Call to Arms or The Takeaway?

So where do we go from here? Well…that’s part of my sermon…you’ll need to read my sermon for that. :P

[Completed in Part III: The Sermon]

The Gospel: The Power of God, Part I- A Study of Acts 2:14-41

It's been a while since I've been able to post. I've decided to post an exegetical review of Acts 2:14-21. Since time is scarce and the message needs to get out, I went for the juggler on this one. It's the Gospel, pure and unadulterated. Furthermore, this is what a sermon looks like long before it becomes a sermon. On paper , this is about 12 sheets of 8 x 11 notes and nearly all of this is study that filters through me first before being written or turned into a form recognizable as a sermon. It will be about 5 pages of notes and 30 minutes long. I will post the sermon word for word after this. This is how one becomes attuned to the Spirit. Through is mercy, grace, patience...and intensive study of His word.

Just so you know, this is what your pastor goes through once a week preparing a sermon. At least he should be. If he is not, you are getting robbed of the thoroughness and deepness that proper study draws out of the Scripture. Come to think of it, the pastor is robbing himself too if he does not take the time to let the Scripture filter through to this depth. Yes, I personally go through this every time I study to deliver a sermon with few exceptions. I owe it to the servants of Christ.

The other reason I felt like posting this is because its all I have to post right now. I am on page 45 of my graduating thesis which will be posted here by May.

The Power of God

Peter's Sermon At Pentecost

Acts 2:14-21, 22-36, 37-41

Peter’s Apologetic…

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. ¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. ¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. ²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. ²¹ And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

The Kerygma (Preaching of the Gospel)

²² “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³ This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. ²⁴ But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. ²⁵ David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. ²⁶ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, ²⁷ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. ²⁸ You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ ²⁹ “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. ³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. ³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand ³⁵ until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ ³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

A Call to Repentance & Blessing

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” ⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

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Meaning of Text: What it Meant

The "Sitz im leben" (Setting In Life) of Text

Author: Luke

Luke is the author of Acts (as he was of the Gospel of Luke). Both Acts and the Gospel of Luke are written to a Theophilus in the same Greek style (Stott 21). As Longenecker states it, the structure and stylistic tendencies of and the Gospel of Luke and Acts are virtually the same and can be demonstrated through a linguistic study (Longenecker 34). Per Colossians 4:14, Paul states that Luke is a physician.

Audience

Luke is primary writing to Theophilus just as he did in his former book (Acts 1:1) (Luke). This comes directly from internal evidence in the text. Outside of informing Theophilus, this book also has a “kerygmatic purpose” of preaching (of the Gospel) also. As such it should be noted that Theophilus may not have been the sole intended audience in writing Acts under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The “kerygmatic purpose” may be the more profound and overriding purpose than that of the face-value purpose internal to the text which was writing to Theophilus. (Longenecker 13). In other words, Luke may have had intended one thing when writing but the Holy Spirit may have been working through that intent for a much more profound and far-reaching purpose (i.e.: sensus plenior).

Date

Acts was most probably written or started in 62 A.D. which coincided with the approximate time of Paul’s release from imprisonment. This the last time of reference in Acts, or the two years mentioned in Acts 28:30 (Kistemaker-Introduction 21-22). Longenecker suggests that Acts is written approximately 64 A.D. (Longenecker 35). Between these two sources I produce a terminus a quo (start date) of 62 and a terminus ad quem (finish date) of 64 A.D. Nero’s persecutions would’ve begun in 65 A.D. and the outbreak of hostilities of the Jewish Zealots and Roman Tenth Legion commences approximately 66 A.D. Neither are mentioned in the text but historical markers in the text lead one to believe this.

Occasion

The purpose/occasion of Acts should be answered at least in a four-fold manner.

The purpose in writing according to Longenecker is scripturally based. He quotes Luke 1:4 (being the first part of Acts), “so that you [Theophilus] may know the certainty of things you have been taught”. It is clear from the way Luke writes that Theophilus may not have understood the full implications of “these things”, so Luke elaborates on them at length in Luke-Acts.

The next occasion according to John Stott is that he wrote as a historian. He approaches the events of Christ as a historian because he wishes to document the things that transpired with Christ and that they were in accordance with Scripture or to fulfill Old Testament prophecy.  God literally entered history as a historical event. He shows contemporary eyewitnesses. He did so to draw up an account.

He wrote as a diplomat because he is interested in developing a political apologetic since he seems concerned about Romans authority’s attitude towards Christianity in general. This was important because the perception that Christianity was a “sect of the Jews/Judaism” was starting to fall out of favor and as such the religio illicita that had afforded some level of protection from persecution was beginning to dissolve (Bruce 19-20, Kistemaker 5, Longenecker 15).

Luke writes with a theological-evangelistic purpose. There is a Kerygmatic purpose in this text. It shows the continued confrontation of men and women with the Word of God. In so doing we see in Acts how the Gospel is related to the course of redemptive history, how it interacts with the secular world/history, how it is unique and separate from Jewish law and especially how, behind the proclamation of the Gospel we see the power of the and activity of the Holy Spirit. (Longenecker 13).Of course Luke approaches it as a theologian as he was concerned that the message about Jesus and the early church should be based upon reliable history…so he used history to bolster his theology which was to show; Salvation was prepared by God, it is bestowed by God and it is offered to all people (Stott 22, 25, 29-31).

Place

There is very little consensus of where Acts was written. Two places of possible writing are Achaia or Rome with little to support either claim (Kistemaker 24). It is briefly mentioned by Longenecker (as an aside) that Acts may have been written from an earlier “travel document” or “dairy” and used in conjunction with the Gospel of Luke (Longenecker 19).

Limits of the Passage

Because I will need to build the context for Peter’s sermon/speech at Pentecost it is necessary to break the Passage of Acts 2:14-41 into (3) three portions to frame it and understand it properly. The portion I do my manuscript on is most often understood or referred to as Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost.

Portion #1 (Acts 2:14-21) Peter’s Apologetic. The day of Pentecost has come and there is bewilderment due to the speaking in tongues (v.4) and utter amazement of the things transpiring from the Jews in attendance. The text literally says they were, "amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Peter literally addresses that question in the second portion.

Portion #2 (Acts 2:22-36) Peter’s Kerygma or Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that Peter (a Jew) gives this sermon to mostly Jews, on a Jewish holiday (the fiftieth week, Feast of Weeks) about the Resurrection of the Jewish Messiah who Himself was raised as a Jew (Wiersbe 409). Peter also proves that Jesus is very much alive, not dead.

Portion #3 (Acts 2:37-41) The Crowd’s Reaction. Convicted of their sin, they are told to repent and be baptized. This is the proper reaction to hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It should convict people of their sin obliging them to repent and seek God. This is exactly what we see in the text. Subsequently, 3000 are saved that day and added to the ranks of Christianity (Longenecker 70-78).

This passage is placed with the miracle of Pentecost which is the arrival of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s absence after His ascension (Longenecker 64). The Spirit is the Helper or Paraklete promise by Christ in the larger context of Scripture in John 14:15-31 and in Acts itself in Acts 1:4-5. It is the post-Jesus launch of the Great Commission. On the other side of this passage we see a brief statement about the fellowship or koinonia of the believers which is and exemplification of proper behavior within the Church.

It is here we see the fruit or product of obedience to God, communion with God/brethren. We begin to see the outcroppings of the Kingdom of God begin to encroach on our current reality. The “now but not yet” of the Kingdom is well displayed here. We see the Kingdom in Jesus’ physical absence in His believers / disciple / apostles that are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It is here we begin to see that God’s Kingdom starts within believers in this new dispensation of grace. Furthermore, the Kingdom becomes larger/greater within 3000 additional through the hearing of the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Having heard, they repent, convert and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (v.38-39) (Longenecker 81). We see amazing proof of the arrival of the Kingdom of God in force…through miracles / powers (dunamis). In the context of the entire Bible at-large we see the power of the Gospel that is noted in 1 Corinthians 1:18 by Paul: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

We see God in word and deed through the preaching of Peter and through the conviction and actions of the Holy Spirit working within people. We also see the embryonic Church and its inception. The immediate fruit of the Spirit that we see after these people are indwelt by the Spirit is displayed in Acts 2:41-47, the portion that immediately follows the periscope of Acts 2:14-41. They are in fellowship devoted to the apostle’s teaching (v.42) which was teaching of Christ (Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20), sacraments (1 Cor 11). They are blessed with miracles and are in reverential awe of God. They are in koinonia and are divesting themselves of earthly goods to help the poor as they are in need (v.45). They are blessed and filled with contentment and joy (v.46-47). People continue to be saved (v.48).

Genre

Acts is primarily narrative (Longenecker 21). Kistemaker goes as far as to indirectly allude to the fact that it is historical narrative. He also says that at certain points the parallels between Luke and Acts are so similar they show inherent interrelation. So much so that Acts therefore is a continuation of the Gospel (of Luke) (Kistemaker-Introduction 29). If Kistemaker is correct that would put Acts in the Gospel genre which is its own unique genre that is neither strictly historical nor chronological. This narrative at times is disjointed but is usually chronological and is interspersed with speeches/sermons by Apostles of Christ. It is the second part of a two volume work. The Gospel of Luke being the first half and Acts of the Apostles being the second half. The primary purpose of this narrative is to propagate the Gospel or for kerygmatic purposes (Kistemaker 29; Longenecker 21, 29).

Grammar / Structure

As noted above in Limits of Passage, Peter starts with an apologetic (Acts 2:14-21) intended to defend against demeaning accusations and misunderstanding of what has occurred at Pentecost. The first thing that should be noted in the apologetic section is that he addresses the “men of Judea/Israel” or Jews and uses this moment to present the message of Christ.  This is significant because Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) is a Jewish feast and there are no Gentiles involved (including Luke as this appears to be a second-hand eyewitness account) (Wiersbe 409).

Peter notes then in Acts 2:17-21 that the Spirit that has caused these people to speak in tongues is the same Spirit spoken of in Joel 2:28-32 and quotes said passage. There is a 1:1 correlation: Acts 2:17-21  =  Joel 2:28-32. It is also extremely important to note that Peter never says that this is an actual fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy.

This is because the true full fulfillment Joel’s prophecy is not to occur until the Great Day of The Lord or when Christ returns, it is only partially fulfilled here (Wiersbe 409). Again, we see the “Now But Not Yet” of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom has come in part and the indwelling of the Spirit and the way it has manifested itself this day are the sign of that. God is here among us! He is in us! The fullness of the coming of the Kingdom though will need to wait until Christ returns in the Second Advent and with Him will come the Kingdom in full force and power. The Spirit coming to indwell all who will believe is a tremendous revelation to the Jews, even though they were told this would happen in the Old Testament (Joel 2). They are a people who have been only familiar with the Spirit coming on people at specific times, but even Moses told Joshua that things would eventually be otherwise in Numbers 11:28-29.

Peter then goes on after his apologetic based in the Old Testament to preach the Gospel (2:22-36). The thing to note here is…

Peter’s cross reference of Old Testament Scripture continues here. There is a correlation of Psalm (David) and Acts: Psalm 16:8-11 = Acts 2:25-31. He shows that Christ being resurrected from the dead proves that Jesus is indeed the Messiah promised in the OT (v.22-24). Instead of saying the prophecy of Joel is fulfilled here, Peter instead uses the coming of the Spirit as proof Jesus is alive and is now seated at the right hand of the Father (v.33). Why? Because a dead Jesus could not have possibly sent the Spirit He promised in John 14:26, 15:26, Acts 1:4 (Wiersbe 410).

The implied result of Peter having preached the Gospel/Kerygma is repentance of 3000 present (2:27-41). 

The things to note here are…

Other Grammatical Items of Note:

In Portion #2: Peter’s Sermon (v.23’s) “…this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of wicked/godless men and put Him to death.” The “you/ye” here in the declension/conjugation for “put to death” is plural aorist (past tense) and shows the people’s guilt in Christ’s Crucifixion (ours also by default). This is the point of conviction for all sinners. We (through our sin) are all guilty of putting Jesus on the Cross, but even in our wickedness God works through it to fulfill His sovereign and foreknown plans (a la Genesis 50:20).

Theologically, a plan suggests a clear purpose…set by God Himself, it points to God’s Omnipotence. The word foreknowledge points to God’s Omniscience. Men’s responsibility in this points to men’s freewill and therefore their guilt.

It is God Himself who hands Jesus over to the Jews, but it is men’s wickedness that perpetrates the deed of Crucifixion. There is a tension here (Kistemaker 94).

[More on my study in a day or two. Next up in Part II: Greek word study, summary of what the passage means and what the text means to Peter's audience and us today! Part III: The Sermon]