Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

The preaching of the gospel had been blessed in Jerusalem and large numbers had been converted. Many of these converts were from other countries and eventually they would have returned home. It is not possible to know if any of them are included in the description of church life given in Acts 2:42, although the presence of such persons would require the practice of sharing meals in different homes which is mentioned in 2:46. In any case, eventually those from other countries would return home and the disciples would be mainly those who lived in the city. What did these disciples do? According to this verse, they went to church. These early disciples had certain features of their lives that are common to all disciples, and that is that each of them lived in three worlds. First, a disciple of Jesus in Jerusalem lived in a personal Christian world (for example, his private devotions and his personal witness to Jesus). Second, the disciple of Jesus lived he lives in a non-Christian wo...

Moses gives his readers some historical details as he describes the next incident in the life of Abram. The cities of the plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar) were in bondage to an alliance of rulers from cities further to the east (‘Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim’). This captivity had lasted for twelve years before an opportunity arose for them to throw off their oppressors. They enjoyed their new freedom for a year before their enemies came on a military campaign to recover their lost territory. It was a successful campaign, as verses 5-7 reveal: ‘In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness. Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of t...

We noticed in a previous study that Abram had begun his life in Canaan with spiritual confidence, expressed by his determination to indicate to the peoples of the land that from now on it belonged to him through a gift from God. This he had done by building altars to the true God in the vicinity of pagan shrines, an action that revealed both his courage for God and loyalty to God. Yet this period of spiritual progress had been stopped by his decision to go down to Egypt during the famine. His decision had been caused by a lack of trust in God, a response which can be made by the best of Christians when they face a new situation, never mind a spiritual novice which Abram was at that time. Nevertheless, Abram discovered that his God was still working on his behalf in providence, even if he was embarrassed to having his deception made public by Pharaoh who sent him back to his own land. In passing we can note that some of the most embarrassing words that a Christian can receive are f...

The writer of Genesis passes over the details of the journey by Abram from Haran to Canaan. All we are told is that a successful journey was made. The impression is given that nothing unusual happened during that period in Abram’s life. He left Haran and travelled to Canaan aware that the Lord had promised to guide him there. So although the author does not record any individual events, he does inform us of two details – one is that God keeps his word and the other is that some stages in the spiritual journey can be rather mundane. Every day Abram just had to keep going, and often this is the way with ourselves. His experience depicts the reality of the Christian life. Often nothing unusual happens, we engage in the same activities day by day, and we have to keep going. Yet our comfort from these stages all depends on our perspective. We can look at these times and say nothing is happening or we can look at them and say, ‘God is leading me onwards and keeping his word. One day he ...

The events in this chapter are the fourth stage in Saul’s inauguration as king of Israel. This is the last step in the handover of authority from Samuel as a God-appointed judge to Saul as a king. As we have noted previously, the desire of Israel to have a king was a sin because it indicated rejection of the Lord. So far Israel as a nation had not repented of this sin, and Samuel was aware of it. Therefore he preached this sermon to point out to the Israelites what they had done. Rejected a God-honouring leader The Israelites had concluded that their weakness was due to ineffective leadership, perhaps also that Samuel was old and not as physically capable as before, and with no suitable successor in his family. The first thing that Samuel does is to remind Israel that he, as God’s appointed leader, had functioned in an exemplary manner. This is what he means when he asks questions about his behaviour. In an everyday situation, for a leader to ask for verification from his people...

As we noticed on previous occasions, the inauguration of Saul marked a turning point in the way that Israel was governed, for it was the end of the period when she was ruled by judges and the beginning of the reign of kings. Secondly, the inauguration of Saul was a process involving four events: his private anointing by Samuel, his public identification, his testing in battle, and the coronation at Gilgal. Tonight we will consider stage 3. Third, we have to remember that in choosing a king the people were rejecting God. So the giving of Saul was an act of judgment. Nevertheless the Lord loved his people and still acted in mercy towards them, which is how he continues to act towards his people. So in this chapter the Lord gives victory to his people. The situation Israel faced (vv. 1-4) We remember that the reason the nation wanted a king was fear of invasion from its neighbours. Here is an example of such an attack, from the Ammonites, who wanted to enslave Israel by mak...

Saul had been identified as king but only he and Samuel were aware of it. In order to proceed with a public ceremony Samuel called for a meeting of the people in Mizpah. This is stage two in Saul’s rise to the throne; previously the Lord had identified Saul to Samuel as the next king; stage three would be victory over an enemy invasion (11:1-11) and stage four would be a further national gathering at Gilgal (11:12–12:25). The persistence of God in reminding the people of their sin In verses 18 and 19 Samuel addresses the people and once more reminds them of their sin in desiring a king. Note that he places their rebellion not against the perceived need of the times, which was what had motivated the desire for a king, but against the redemption from Egypt that they as a nation had known. This is a reminder that redemption is a lens through which we are to scan the situation we face. They had been slaves in Egypt and it was only the power of the Lord that could have rescued th...