S.E.R.V.E. God - P2 - Emphasize Faithfulness

Ephesians 6:21 But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.

Yesterday I began a new blog series on the subject of serving God.  We are using the acrostic S.E.R.V.E to aid us in unfolding Paul's comments about one of his faithful ministry partners Tychicus.  We noted yesterday that a servant of God first and foremost "Seeks God first" in all things.  Isaiah 55:6 tells us: "Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near."  Then of course Jesus states in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Seeking the Lord first in all things regulates the motivation and vision of the servant of God.  With that review, we now move onto the second aim of a servant of God, as exemplified here in Tychicus: Emphasizing faithfulness. 

What is faithfulness?
When Tychicus is described in Ephesians 6:21 as a "faithful minister", its not that faithfulness is merely one of his many characteristics, rather it is the essence of who he is.  Faithfulness is when we exhibit faith from one moment to the next.  Think of a string of pearls, wherein each pearl is a response of faith, and the string is the obedience connecting one response of faith to the next.  We know from scripture that obedience from the heart is the chief fruit of genuine faith. (James 2) 

A Faithful servant needs to be operating in the love of God
Tychicus is called a faithful ministry both here and in Colossians 4:7.  We could say that a faithful person in the Lord is one who exhibits not only faith and obedience from faith but also love for God and His people.  Why?  Because in Ephesians 6:21 Tychicus is called "a beloved brother".  Before he is called "faithful", Tychicus is first and foremost a "beloved brother".  Like the term "faithful", belovedness is not one trait among many but rather defines the essence of the man.  If we are to be faithful people, the love of God must flow ever through us like a river through a dry river bed.  Jude 20-21 summarizes this idea best: "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. "

Love motivating duty leads to faithfulness
Faithfulness without the love of God is nothing more than an "exercise of going through the motions".  Faithfulness is not merely doing more and trying harder.  So many Christians and churches have crammed their schedules full of activities, thinking that doing more and trying harder will yield a faithful people.  Yet so often, people get burned out.  1 John 5:19-20 connects the love of God to love of others: "We love, because He first loved us. 20If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."  

As you and I aim to serve God, may we seek God first, so that we can then emphasize faithfulness. 

S.E.R.V.E God - P1 Seek the Lord First

Ephesians 6:21 But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.

Over the next several days I would like us to think about what it means to serve the Lord.  You may have noticed in the title of this blog that the word "serve" is spelled "S.E.R.V.E".  Why? Because my aim in this series of posts is to unfold, by the Spirit's illumination of the scripture, what it means to serve the Lord.  My main text will be Ephesians 6:21-22, since therein is found a faithful servant of God by the name of Tychicus - more on him in a moment.  For now let us consider the five main ideas we aim to explore in this concept of serving God:

Seek the Lord first.               Ephesians 6:21a

Emphasize Faithfulness       Ephesians 6:21b

Reinforce thhe ministry        Ephesians 6:22a

Validate God's people          Ephesians 6:22b

Exemplify Christ                   2 Timothy 4:12

Tychicus, a servant of God who "hit the mark" for Jesus Christ
Tychicus' (ti-kick-us) name in the original language means: "to hit the mark, to obtain, to master". No doubt the Apostle Paul thought very highly of Tychicus, calling him a "beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord".  This man's track record as a faithful servant of God shines brightly in the New Testament. 

1. In Acts 20:4 we read "And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia." This man, along with other companions of the Apostle Paul, traveled with Paul to Asia from Ephesus some seven years prior to the writing of this letter to the Ephesians.  Thus we see that Tychicus was with the work of God at Ephesus from its inception.

2. In Titus 3:12 we discover this about Tychicus: "When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there." Tychicus was of such caliber that Paul proposed him to possibly come and take Titus' place, so that Titus could join Paul at Nicopolis. 

3. In 2 Timothy 4:12  we read of Tychicus: "Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus."  This is all we read of Tychicus in what is likely Paul's final words.  For over ten years Tychicus had been with the Apostle Paul every step of the way.

The servant of God must seek the Lord first, like Tychicus did
If you and I are to be a people who serve God effectively, we must seek the Lord first.  Making known what was happening to Paul in prison was a matter of updating the Ephesian church on what God's purposes and activities.  Paul states in Ephesians 6:21 "But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you." 




Why would Paul want his readers to know about his circumstances? In another letter of Paul written at about the same time and from the same prison, we read these words in Colossians 2:1-2 "For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself".

A man was needed who could communicate Paul's circumstances in such a way as to not solicit sympathy, but celebration and prayer for Paul and the work that God was doing.  As a servant of God, seeking the Lord first enabled Tychicus to have a God's-eye perspective on what otherwise looked like bad circumstances. 

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."  We also read in Galatians 1:10 "For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ."

As we conclude today's post, let us remember that if we are going to serve God faithfully and effectively, we must seek Him first in all things. 

Dr. R.G Lee on Jesus' prayer example

Luke 11:1 "It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

I'm always thrilled when I run across incredible thoughts from wonderful Christian thinkers, preachers and theologians.  It is important to read what other, more mature persons have written to keep yourself refreshed and strengthened in the Lord.  As a blogger and a pastor, whenever I find such material, I feel it necessary to share it with others, so that they too can get the blessing.  Years ago the great Southern Baptist minister and statesman Dr. R.G Lee wrote a book entitled: "The Bible and Prayer".1   In this book Dr. Lee writes some of the richest words about the Bible and prayer.  May today's post edify you and may you be blessed on this Lord's day.

Note to the reader: If you would like to read a brief bio of Dr. Lee, I have included it at the end of today's post for your reference to give you an idea of what kind of man wrote the words and thoughts your about to read.

Jesus' Prayer Example - by Dr. R.G Lee

Dr. R.G Lee begins with these words about Jesus' use of words: "These are some of the many verbs Jesus used.  But among them all, one word, pray, stands out with unusual significance and beauty. Some of the words Jesus used were mountains in weight, some were suns in brightness, some were rivers in reach, some were music in sweetness, some were storms in terror, some were oceans in depth, some were lullibies in tenderness.  But let us examine outselves around this one sentence of Jesus: 'I pray'....."

 

To summarize Dr. Lee's observations in this chapter of his book, I will list in outline form the verses and headings he used to unfold Jesus' prayer example:

 

1. Jesus spent much time in prayer in secret.  Matt 14:23, 26:36; Mk 1:35, 5:16; Luke 6:12, 9:18

 

2. Jesus prayed in public.  Matt 11:25, 26:26; Luke 11:1; John 11:41, 17:1

 

3. Privately Jesus prayed before eating. Matt 14:19

 

4. Privately Jesus prayed before eating. Mark 6:41

 

5. Jesus prayed a long prayer. John 17

 

6. Jesus prayed at morning. Mark 1:35

 

7. Jesus prayed at night. Luke 6:12

 

8. Jesus prayed short, sudden prayers.  Matt 27:46

 

9. Jesus prayed for His friends. John 11:41-42, 12:27-28

 

10. Jesus prayed for His enemies. Luke 23:34

 

11. Jesus prayed for Himself. Matthew 26:39; John 17:1-2

 

How you can apply Dr. Lee's observations of Jesus' prayer example

I would encourage the reader to look up the above verses over the course of this upcoming week.  They will enrich your prayer life.  May God bless you as you go to the Lord's house to hear His word, worship with His people and become equipped to reach the world for Jesus' sake.  To God be the glory. 

 

Brief Bio of Dr. R.G Lee

For many years Dr. R.G Lee was one of the leading pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention in the early twentieth century. Among many of his accomplishments, he was president of the SBC three times. At Bellvue Baptist Church in Memphis Tennesee he had pastored, preceeding his successor, Dr. Adrian Rogers, another late famous Southern Baptist Preacher and pastor of that church for many years. His famous sermon "Payday Someday" (which is now available on You-Tube) was his most famous sermon, preached over 1,000 times.

 

End Notes______________

1 Dr. R.G Lee. The Bible and Prayer.  Broadman Press





Ten comparisons between Matthew and Luke's Geneaologies

Matthew 1:1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham

Luke 3:23 When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli

As we look at the records of Jesus' birth, one will immediately notice a difference in the geneaologies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke.  Why is this important?  2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that every Word of scripture, having been God breathed, is profitable.  Furthermore, knowing the reasons for certain scriptures can yield richer understandings of Christ, His purposes and our identity in Him.  With that said, let me just list ten comparisons between these two genealogies.  May you find them interesting and edifying for your Christian walk today:

Matthew's Geneaology                                   Luke's Geneaology
1. Ascending Geneaology - from               1. Descending Geneaology
Abraham to Jesus                                      from Jesus back to Adam

2. Purpose: Legal, to show Jesus             2. Biological, to show
as rightful heir to David's throne               Jesus as a true human
                                                                  being like Adam was

3. Focus: names descended from            3. Focus: names connected
Joseph's side of the Geneaology             to Mary's side of 
                                                                  the Geneaology

4. First mentioned before Jesus'              4. Mentioned after Jesus
public ministry                                          public ministry in Luke

5. 52 names, divided into 3 sets of 14     5. Over 70 names,
                                                                 sequential in order

6. David and Abraham are main names  6. Adam and Christ are
to show Jesus as fulfillment of both         main names to show Jesus
their covenants                                        as the New Adam

7. The geneaology is written for a           7. Written for a Gentile
Jewish audience                                     audience

8. The Holy Spirit is mentioned as          8. Holy Spirit mentioned as
the Agent of virgin birth conception        sign of His Messianic identity
fulfilling Messianic prophecy                   and Agent of virgin birth

9. He is God with us, who became man 9. He is fully man, who never
                                                                ceased being God

10. He is the True King who came to    10. He is the perfect man who
die for the sins of the people                 came to seek and save that
                                                               which was lost

Great Christmas Miracles P4: The Holy Spirit's Infinite Providence

Luke 2:1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David

For the past several days we have been focusing on how the Holy Spirit worked the miracles necessary to make the arrival of God the Son into this world a reality.  We've noted four miracles:

1. Inspiration of the Scriptures
2. Incarnation
3. Virgin Birth
4. Hypostatic Union (uniting the Divine and human natures to and in the Person of God the Son)

In today's post we will look at how the Holy Spirit used His infinite Providence to orchestrate all of the events of Christmas. 

The Holy Spirit and Providence
God's Sovereignty is His right to Eternally reign, with Providence is the excercise of His Sovereignty or His Ruling reign.  Scripture speaks volumes of the Trinity's Providential control over the affairs of creation, governments and human hearts.  God the Father for instance planned all things, and thus is the Planner in Providence. (Psalm 90; Ecclesiastes 3:15; Romans 11:36)  God the Son is ascribed the same ability of excercising Providence, since He Powerfully executes the Father's plans.  It is through the Son that all things come and have their being. (Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:4-10) 

One chapter in the Bible will suffice to demonstrate how all three Persons of the Trinity have equally but distinctly designed salvation. God the Father planned it (Ephesians 1:1-6); God the Son Powerfully executed it (Ephesians 1:7-11) and God the Holy Spirit applies the affects to all who believe. (Ephesians 1:12-14).

Quick reminder on who the Holy Spirit is
When we speak of the Holy Spirit, since He shares in the same nature as the Father and the Son, it is He who produces the affects powerfully executed by the Son and planned by the Father. (Ephesians 1:12-14; Romans 8:26-28; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23) 
Let the reader be quickly reminded that the Holy Spirit is a person (John 14:17, 15:26-27, 16:7-8; Acts 5:3) who is God (Acts 5:4; 2 Corinthians 3:16-17) and who shares in the same undivided, unified nature with the Father and the Son. (Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 2:18) 

The Spirit's Providence in the first Christmas
The entire Trinity worked together as One God to make Christ's first advent a reality.  It was the Father who planned from all eternity to send the Son into the world and to become a human being through a particular bloodline which he orchestrated and arranged. (John 3:16; Galatians 4:4; Matthew 1:1-17)  God the Son is also credited with having a part in His own incarnation, mainly from the standpoint of willingly entering from Eternity into time and gladly taking on the nature of the very ones He came to redeem. (Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 2:14-15; Hebrews 10:4-9)  

God the Holy Spirit handled the miraculous side of things, which we just witnessed over these past several days.  It was he who inspired the scriptures and revealed the over 100 prophecies concerning the Lord's first coming. (1 Peter 1:10; 2 Peter 1:21)  In the geneaology of Luke 3, we find over 70 names stretching from Adam to Mary, indicating that not only the Father, but the Spirit Himself working in conjunction with the Father to guide history and lives to be a part of Christ's human ancestory. 

Clearly it was the Holy Spirit who brought together the human DNA of Mary to be brought in contact with the Person of the Son who already, from all eternity, shared the same nature with God the Father.  How it was done, no one can know.  The outcome yielded forth the God-man who, in His hypostatic union, would ever exist as fully God and fully man.  The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message states:  "Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary."  Thus in His Deity, Christ has God the Father as His Father Eternally, while as man Mary is His mother touching His humanity.  1 Timothy 3:16a in the NKJV describes this most clearly: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh....".

Conclusion
As we draw this particular study to as close, let me remind you of the Christmas miracles we have discovered as being connected to the Holy Spirit:

1. Inspiration of Scripture
2. Incarnation of Jesus Christ
3. Virgin Birth
4. Hypostatic Union
5. Infinite Providence

May you and I, through these studies, be caused to have a God-centered, Christ exalting focus this Christmas, which is the will of the Holy Spirit in every season of our life.

 

Great Christmas Miracles P3: The Hypostatic Union

Luke 1:35  34Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

In yesterday's post we looked at the Holy Spirit's miracles of the incarnation and virgin (conception) birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two days ago we considered the Spirit's Divine inspiration of the scriptures as the miracle needed to get ready for the first Christmas.  With these three miracles we turn our attention today to a fourth Christmas miracle: namely the hypostatic union. 

Hypostatic Union - What the Holy Spirit actually did in connecting and uniting a complete, sinless human nature to the One Person Jesus Christ who already had an eternal Divine nature

If the incarnation describes what the Spirit did in making it possible for Christ to come into this world, and the virgin birth describes the means by which He did the incarnation, then the hypostatic union tries to explain the details of what took place.  This rather strange sounding phrase "hypostatic union" can be broken down in the following way. First, "hypostatic" comes from a Greek word "hypostasis" meaning "substance, nature, expression of one's existence". The second term "union" refers to how the already pre-existing Divine nature and the newly conceived human nature would function "united" to the Person of God the Son. A brilliant conservative Christian Theologian, W.G.T Shedd, writes the clearest explanation I have found on this point: "A common illustration....is the union of the human soul and body in one person, and the union of heat and iron, neither of which loses its properties."1

God the Father planned and The Holy Spirit prepared the womb of Mary to receive the Divine nature of the Person of God the Son. (Hebrews 10:4-7) The Son in turn worked as well in the uniting of Himself to the Holy Spirit conceived humanity in Mary's womb. (Hebrews 2:14) Fully and completely, from beginning to end, the Holy Spirit is credited with the process of bring both human and Divine natures to function equally but distinctly in the One Person of the Son. Thus Christ has a human will and divine will, a human mind and Divine mind and human qualities like weakness and tiredness while retaining His Divine qualities of omnipotence and the like. The only thing being of course that while on earth, Christ chose mostly not to exercise many of His Divine attributes, but rather, by the Holy Spirit, chose to function primarily through his humanity.

Application
The point of this discussion was to show the great lengths that God the Holy Spirit went to in order to bring God the Son into this world. Christ's hypostatic union was crucial, since He could now experience what it was like to be fully human and to empathize with us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15) The Virgin conception meant that He could be fully human without sin, qualifying Him to be our Savior and to intercede for every Christian before the throne of God. (Hebrews 7:24-25) Finally, without the incarnation - salvation, the fabric of sacred scripture, Christ's death, resurrection and Second coming would all be jeopardized. Let us praise God for the Holy Spirit's work in the Scriptures, incarnation, virgin birth and hypostatic union - since He points us to Jesus.

Endnotes;
1. W.G.T Shedd. Systematic Theology Volume 2. Pages 327-328

Great Christmas Miracles P2: The Incarnation & Virgin Birth

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

Yesterday we considered at length the first great miracle that led up to Christmas: The Spirit's work of Divine inspiration of the scriptures.  We considered the meaning of inspiration, as well as its attendant doctrines of inerrancy, infallibility, clarity, sufficiency and Unity.  We concluded that without a Bible like this, the Holy Spirit could not had prepared for nor explained the otherwise inaccessible truth of the Divine identity of the baby in the manger.  Today we turn our attention to two more Christmas miracles wrought by the Holy Spirit: namely the incarnation and virgin birth.

The significance of the Incarnation to Christianity and salvation
When we speak of the term "incarnation", we are referring to the event in which the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, came and assumed in the virgin Mary's womb a fully human nature.  Incarnate literally means "in the flesh" (Latin "en" (in) and "carne" (the flesh).  The incarnation, the event of God in human flesh, has along with it two other miracles: the virgin birth and the hypostatic union.  Though we are treating these other two as miracles unto themselves, they all fit under the main event of the incarnation.  As Bible believing Christians, we can certainly explained what happened: the incarnation.  We can also describe what God used to bring it about: the virgin birth.  We can even explain the outcome: the union of Divine and human natures in One Person (hypostatic union).  However no man can explain how the Holy Spirit did what He did.  The "how" part is enveloped in mystery, however this does not take away the fact that the miracle did take place and that we can communicate its details and outcomes to other people.  (1 Timothy 3:16)

Great Christian minds weigh in on the incarnation
Dr. B.B Warfield, a Bible believing, Conservative Theologian of the late nineteenth century had this to say about the foundations of Biblical Christianity and the incarnation: "Were I asked to name the three pillars on which the structure of Christianity, as taught in the New Testament in its entirety, especially rests, I do not know that I could do better than point to these three things: the supernatural, the incarnation and redemption."1 Warfield later concludes in page 165 of the same book: "The incarnation appears in (the New Testament), not for its own sake, but as a means of a further end - redemption."

In terms of explaining comprehensively what took place in this miracle, no man can say.  However what we can say is clear enough to show that the event of the incarnation was a real event, in time.  Another wonderful theological mind, the late Dr. John Walvoord in his book "The Holy Spirit", has this to say about the incarnation: "The inscrutable mystery can be stated then, that Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit; the life which was joined to humanity was that of the Second Person, and the First Person became the Father of the humanity of Christ."2

The Virgin (conception) birth - The significant means used by the Holy Spirit to bring Christ into this world
So we have already seen the miracle of the incarnation. The next miracle, a miracle which explains the way in which the Holy Spirit brought about the incarnation of God the Son into His humanity is the miracle of the virgin birth. Think of the Incarnation as the total event of Christ's arrival into this world, with the virgin birth describing more specifically the way He arrived. 

Mary was predicted by scripture to be the vessel used by God to bring into this world the Messiah - Jesus Christ. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23; Luke 1:35)  The virgin conception preserved the humanity of Jesus from being corrupted by the inherited sin nature of Adam, something of which is passed down the human father's side. (1 Peter 1:17-18)  The Southern Baptist Faith and Message 2000 makes the virgin birth of first priority in its article on Jesus Christ: "Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary."3 

Practical significance of the incarnation and virgin birth (conception)
To see the practical and theological significance of the Christian Faith, one only has to turn back the pages of history to the early twentieth century.  A century ago the Bible believing church affirmed the Virgin birth of Jesus as one of five fundamentals of biblical Christianity, meaning that if one were to be considered a true Christian, they had to affirm the Virgin birth.  Without the virgin birth, the other four fundamentals (biblical inerrancy, Christ's substitutionary death, Christ's resurrection and Christ's literal bodily return) would not had been possible.  No virgin birth would mean the Bible was in error when it predicted such an event.  That in turn would mean Christ would had been disqualified to be the Savior, thus leading to no forgiveness of sins to all who believe.  Furthermore, this would had led to no resurrection, of which Paul asserts would leave us as a Christian people most miserable and without hope, still lost in our sins. (1 Corinthians 15:19).  With all those doctrines, there would then be no hope in Christ's Visible bodily return, which functions to cleanse the Christian now and give hope for the age to come. (1 John 3:1-3)  The reality of these other doctrines demonstrate the reality of the virgin birth, without which we would have nothing upon which to base the Christian faith. 

More tomorrow.....


Endnotes;
1. B.B. Warfield. Biblical and Theological Studies. Page 160 
2. John Walvoord. The Holy Spirit. Page 84. 
3. Baptist Faith & Message 2000. Article 2 "God", Part B: "God The Son"