Who We Are, Part 1

And I want you to know, if you're wondering where I'm going to come from and my perspective, I want you to know I'm absolutely thrilled to be living in this generation at this particular point in time. What a great opportunity for us. It isn't so much the opposition to the Gospel that excites me. It is the opportunity of the Gospel that excites me. What a great time to be a lighthouse of truth.

And let me just say the obvious. We are going to stand on the clear Word of God. We live in a time when our culture is changing rapidly. As we evaluate that change from a Christian perspective, we would most often conclude that things are changing for the worse. Our society is trying to develop moral standards apart from God. Many in our culture are quick to declare things to be right that God declares to be wrong.

How does the church respond? Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. With today's lesson, Stephen begins a series called, Upon This Rock. We're going to spend the next few weeks looking at what it means for the church to be the church in the way that God intended. Stephen's calling the lesson that you're about to hear, Who We Are.

Stay with us. I've heard it said before, and it's true that for young people, little people, time crawls. It just doesn't happen quick enough. You can't wait to turn 13. You can't wait to get your driver's permit.

You just can't wait until the day you get your license. And you graduate, it just crawls along. And for those of us who are older, those of us who are over 29 years of age, time flies, doesn't it?

It just flies. I can't believe. I got to add, though, that it seems like just in the last year, years worth of things have changed. And there have been some seismic shifts this past year in our culture and in the consciousness of this nation.

In fact, between the last time I preached and today, seismic tectonic shifts have been codified. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled by a five to four vote that marriage between a man and a man was as fundamentally a right as the marriage of a man to a woman. To me, the tragedy of this decision is really not so much in the decision, this world will do what this world wants to do, or even the issue, or even redefining marriage. The tragedy is that we have arrived at a point where the argument before that court, if you listened or read about it, any kind of moral judgment, any kind of moral standing was considered inadmissible and irrelevant. Certainly the tragedy of our culture is, along with what now the court has decided, as it openly, intentionally defied the created order of God for marriage. In fact, Jesus will pick it up and as the Son of God will repeat it, what God created in Genesis 1 and 2, he will say in his sermon in Matthew 19, God created them male and female. And then he goes on to say, and for this cause, a man will leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. In fact, what's really interesting now in light of all this happened is he goes on and he adds a little disclaimer that you've probably heard at a wedding.

He says this, and what? Therefore, God has joined together. Let no man put asunder. Don't divide what God intended to unite. When any nation, any generation, we just happen to be living in one of them, abandons the intuitive knowledge of a creator God and sets aside God-breathed instructions called scripture. That generation effectively opens Pandora's box and in the meantime, it throws away its oars, it throws away its rudder, it throws away its compass, and it throws away its life jacket.

The danger is it will be unable to navigate the rough water that it has created. Confusion like we have perhaps never seen before is going to now grow exponentially. Even now, there are bathrooms in California elementary schools where children can use whichever one they want.

If they can't figure out, they are a boy or a girl. The marginalization and hostility of Christianity is just going to be a residual effect. It's going to follow as we remind our world of a creator God, as we remind our world of a created order of things. In fact, the Supreme Court justice who dissented wrote, and I quote, this will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy. The implications of this analogy to human rights will now be exploited by those who are determined to stamp out every vestige of dissent.

Dissent will become criminal. Let me tell you, every pastor I've talked to this summer has kind of hit the blogosphere and the journals and pulpits and everybody I talk to. In fact, as I did a little tour this summer to the ABFs, was able to get to about 12 or 13 of them, they all asked the same question as well.

In fact, it may be on your mind as well as mine. What do we do now? What do we do now? We begin our worship services in the evenings here in the chapel at 6 p.m., which is over in that corner of the campus. And I'm going to begin another series through the Psalms of David, and the Psalm that I have prayerfully selected for tonight has within it that classic question. What do the righteous do when the foundations are destroyed? That's not a new question. What do you do when the foundations are run away and they're gone?

What do you do? That word, by the way, for foundations is rare. I dare not begin to preach my Sunday night sermon this morning. We'll never get through this morning's, but it doesn't matter the third hour.

We can go as long as we want to go, right? But I will say this much. It's a rare word. It only occurs twice in the Old Testament. It means the settled order of things, the rightly ordered things. What do you do when the rightly ordered things are done away? What do the righteous do?

We'll begin to explore that answer tonight. One of my projects this summer was to finish editing my commentary on the book of Titus. For those of you who write, and I know we have a number of authors in our congregation, it's tedious.

Editing is no fun at all. It's a chore. This is the fifth commentary in the series, by far the largest, over 300 pages. I was actually wanting to go back in and take one more look, review it anyway, because it occurred to me, what didn't occur to me when I preached it a couple of years ago here in this assembly, it was the repeated qualification of Paul through Titus to the elders and the requirement that if the elder is married, he must be married to one wife. Now, typically, and this is where the debate has been for several centuries, is he talking about divorce? Is he talking about polygamy? It really is difficult to tell which it is, and every church has to sort of decide where they're going to land on that subject. But it occurred to me, we're at a stage that may more mirror Paul's day, which gives a different nuance to that qualification. When Paul was living in the first century, homosexuality was rampant. We know from history that bisexuality was the norm. In fact, in the first century, if you told somebody you were a heterosexual, they would have considered you prudish, somewhat dogmatic.

You ought to experiment. How do you know? And this was Paul's day. And yet Paul makes this declaration inspired by the Holy Spirit that an elder must be, literally, the Greek text reads, a one woman man.

Sounds like a country gospel sort of Western song, doesn't it? One woman man, you can hear the twang in that. In other words, if he is married, he must demonstrate openly and faithfully his commitment to his woman, 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. That has new meaning for us today, doesn't it? We don't really know that that may very well have been in the mind of Paul when he said he has to be a one woman man. And as elders, they would then effectively become the last people on the planet to put asunder what God had decided and created to join together. By the way, that qualification, which has really been ignored in this entire discussion in churches that are now sort of opening the doors, and we heard of one in South Carolina that used to be pastored by the president of the Southern Baptist Convention years ago. Now, they're going to ordain openly non-celibate homosexuals.

It gives new meaning to those pastors who are also now openly defying God's intended order for marriage and its clear qualification for those who will shepherd his flock. Some of you are old enough to remember the ministry of Francis Schaeffer. Francis Schaeffer was a philosopher and apologist who was a Presbyterian pastor in the States and eventually moved to Switzerland and he opened a retreat for apologetics and discipleship and sort of a think tank. When he would come back to visit the States and Great Britain, he would most often criticize the church and attempt to challenge and awaken the church back in the 60s and 70s. I remember as a little boy, I don't know if I was five or six, but Francis Schaeffer actually came to my home church.

I was raised in a non-denominational, rather traditional church in Virginia. Everybody kind of wore robes and he came. I remember enough about that event to know that that church was packed, sat about a thousand people. And I remember, I can still feel it, there was an air of excitement. And then I saw him, I can still see him in my memory, standing on the stage and he was wearing his traditional gray woolen knickers and white socks. I don't remember anything he said, I just remember the knickers, which means I missed that moment in church history.

But at any rate, he was fond of saying this. He was fond of saying that someday the church in America will wake up and find out that the America we once knew was gone. I agree with Erwin Lutzer's recent assessment where he wrote, that day is here. If there's any question, when the highest court of the land codifies that which defies the creation of God, that day is here. And I want you to know, if you're wondering where I'm going to come from and my perspective, I want you to know I'm absolutely thrilled to be living in this generation at this particular point in time. What a great opportunity for us. I'm not looking for trouble, it'll find me, but I'm not looking for it. It isn't so much the opposition to the gospel that excites me, it is the opportunity of the gospel that excites me. What a great time to be a lighthouse of truth.

And let me just say the obvious. We're not going to change our view of marriage. We're not going to form a committee to explore the changing sexual ethics in light of an evolving culture. We are going to stand on the clear word of God. There's never, however, been more important of a time for us to clarify our role, our doctrine, our character, our tradition than today because that day is here. We as an elder team have spent months talking about this and have decided with the coming back of this fall and my return to the pulpit that we would interrupt our normal study where in the book of Philippians, if you're new around here, we'll be in it for decades, maybe before the tribulation, we'll get back to an end, I don't know.

We'll see. But to just preach on a different subject. And this is going to be more personal. I'm aware when I preach that it is primarily for this congregation and God has me for you and you for me. But we are, even though we're listened to, we're streamed, we estimate because of radio, probably two to three hundred thousand people listen to any sermon, that really is not in my mind.

I really don't care. This is us. It's time to cover issues that are important to us as a local New Testament church. About six years ago, the elder team began working on refining and adapting our constitution, which was the original constitution that came twenty nine years ago in my hip pocket, clarifying the documentation to match who we are and what we do as we've clarified the role of deacons and the role of elders, especially over the last ten years. We originally six years ago began to write this, these bylaws primarily and really the only thing in our mind was to deal with the nature of church discipline and our need to clarify those documents and how we did it and why. It ended up being perfect timing because over the last couple of years, we've sort of seen the tsunami coming and we've been able to now clarify in these documents where we stand on moral and sexual issues as well as clarify the role of elder and deacon. Over the next several weeks, we're going to roll out to you those documents are still being proofed and fine-tuned.

We've handed them out to deacons and ABF leaders and we've asked them for their thoughts on how to say things as clearly as possible. Our constitution is effectively our doctrinal statement. We haven't changed that. We're just trying to clarify that but our bylaws which are related to how we function over the last ten years especially has shifted to leadership by a plurality of elders. So this seemed to be the perfect time to not only roll that out, we'll have some Q&A discussion.

You'll have plenty of opportunity to see them and to ask questions about them. We'll gather as a church on a couple of Sunday evenings later on in the fall when I finish this series and then together ratify and take our stand together. So what I'm going to do at the request of the entire elder team, we've decided to just sort of stop the series in Philippians and preach on the church. Who we are, what we believe, why we belong, how we operate, why we're accountable and to what, what we don't believe, why and how we discipline and disciple two words by the way from the same Greek word. And finally, if we get to it, what we're looking forward to.

And I want you to know, beloved, that I'm absolutely thrilled to be living in this day and time. To be with you, a lighthouse demonstrating to our darkening culture the light, the freeing, forgiving, gracious, liberating gospel of Jesus Christ. For we are all sinners. We all entirely need the atoning work of Christ. We are bathed as it were daily by the blood of Christ. This is our gospel message and I'm excited to be here at this point and I'm praying you pray with us that God will purify us and cause us to refocus our sights on what really matters as we demonstrate and deliver the gospel to our wandering world that is basing everything that it believes and does on man's opinion and the confusion now that we're already beginning to see as a result. Well let's begin with who we are. Turn in your Bibles to the gospel by Matthew and specifically chapter 16.

I'm going to give you two points I had planned in my outline to give you four, ran out of time so we'll give you two. First it's this, we are mastered by an unrivaled master. We as a church are mastered by an unrivaled master. We are the slaves to our creator God. We are his servants, he is not ours. Now in this classic text in chapter 16, Jesus is going to start asking his disciples about opinions related to who he is.

This is more significant now than ever. Who is Jesus Christ? And Jesus comes into this district, we're told in verse 13, of Caesarea Philippi.

Now I don't want to get boiled down here but let me at least set the stage. He's asking this in an area where there are 14 temples, some of them dating back to the worship of Baal. They're all around. Nearby Caesarea Philippi is a hill and in that hill a deep cavern from which the Romans believed the god Pan, P-A-N, was born and he was viewed as the god of nature. In addition, in this city was a magnificent white marble temple built by Herod the Great for the deity, the glorification of Caesar. So I find it very interesting and no doubt not a coincidence that Jesus is going to ask the question to his disciples about who he is against the backdrop of every evidence you can imagine that he is nothing, that the gospel is nothing, that there is no such thing as one god. With that as the backdrop, he asked them here in verse 13, who do people say that the son of man is? That's a title given to him. And so they begin to give him all the opinions.

They leave out the mean stuff, but they give him some of the nicer rumors. Some say John the Baptist, verse 14. Others, Elijah. Still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. It's interesting to me to consider Jeremiah, the Jews of Jesus' day were holding to the legend that Israel would be restored to great glory after Jeremiah rises from the dead and they had a legend to believe that he would rise from the dead, that he had hidden the ark and the coverings for the tabernacle and the altar in a cave and that he would rise from the dead, reveal the location, bring these elements out and the glory of Israel would return. Maybe he's the man that's going to bring back the glory of Israel. They go on, one of the prophets and in other words, just one of many prophets in line. Now verse 15, here's the crucial question. Every one of us need to know the answer to this, by the way. Who do you say that I am? See, he really didn't care about the earlier stuff. He knew the rumors.

He's focusing on the lens out. Now, who do you say? Have you caught it yet? Do you know who I am? Am I just another prophet in line? Am I just a good man? Am I a little miracle worker?

Am I a motivational speaker delivering the golden rule, never judging anybody? There is no more important question for you to ask and answer than this one. Who do you say Jesus is? Peter responds in verse 16, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. His response declares two things. First, that Jesus was the Christos, the Messiah. And secondly, that Jesus Christ was nothing short of less than deity, God the Son. Now in the original language, this phrase is only 10 words long, but there are four times this definite article appears for emphasis.

I could render it for you rather woodenly. It would say this, you are the Christ, the son of the God, the living one. In other words, there isn't any other.

You're it. God the Son, God incarnate, the Messiah, you are unrivaled. Now I'd really like to stop here and expound on all this means, but I'm really trying to get to verse 18.

But let me at least say this on this declaration. Jesus is not just another prophet. He is the subject of, he is the glorious consummation of prophecy.

He isn't just a teacher. He is the eternal word. He is the Lagos, Paul said to us and to the Colossians. He spoke, he was the word that spoke the universe into existence.

Here's what I want to get. What I say to you, that you are Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church. I say to you that you are Peter.

To the English reader, we missed this pun. He says, you are a small stone, but upon this immovable boulder, I'm going to build my church and you, the stone fits into this. In fact, Peter got it because later he'll write in one of his letters that we are all stones built together to form the house of God. We're built upon the foundation of Christ himself. And when Jesus said this, by the way, because his disciples had grown up hearing the Torah, they wouldn't have missed it in the Old Testament. This is an attribute and it belongs to God.

He is the rock and his work is perfect. Deuteronomy 32 verse four, the Lord is my rock and my fortress. Second Samuel 22 verse two for who is God, but Yahweh the Lord and who is a rock, but our God.

So I'm 1831. Jesus is basically calling himself God and upon me, the bedrock of who I am, I will build who you will be. Jesus delivers this wonderful prophecy.

As you can imagine, it's one of my all time favorites. I don't know many texts that I have often gone to in my mind over these very fast 29 years, and it has given me wonderful peace of mind. Jesus said on this bedrock, I will build my church, his church, his church. That's the promise that we pin our hopes on as we seek to serve God faithfully. Today's lesson is not quite done, but our time is.

We're going to pause right here for now and we'll bring you the conclusion to this lesson on tomorrow's broadcast. You've tuned in to Wisdom for the Heart. Wisdom for the Heart is the Bible teaching ministry of pastor and author Stephen Davey. Stephen is the pastor of Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, North Carolina. You could learn more about Stephen and our ministry by visiting our website. You'll find us online at wisdomonline.org. Once you get to that site, you'll be able to explore the information that's there.

Learn about us and interact with us if you'd like. For example, we have an extensive collection of resources that Stephen has developed over his 34 years of ministry. The complete archive of his Bible teaching ministry is posted there, as well as all of his books, Bible study guides, commentaries, and more. All of these resources are designed to equip and encourage you as you seek to live for Christ in the place where God has you. Once again, that website is wisdomonline.org.

I encourage you to visit there often. If you have a smartphone or tablet, I encourage you to install the Wisdom app. Our organization is entitled Wisdom International and you'll find the Wisdom International app in the iTunes or the Google Play stores. This broadcast, Wisdom for the Heart, is available each day on that app.

But you'll also find all of the information that's on the website. So the complete archive of Stephen's teaching ministry and access to all of our resources is available on either our website or the smartphone app. In addition to all of that, you can join Stephen live online each Sunday morning. If for some reason you're not able to attend your home church, you can go to our website or the Wisdom International app and join Stephen live online Sunday mornings at 930 a.m. or 11 o'clock a.m. Thanks for joining us today. Be back at this same time tomorrow for more wisdom for the heart. We'll see you next time.