Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 24/7/2011 Abraham Kuyper begins his massive work on the Holy Spirit by saying that ‘the need of divine guidance is never more deeply felt than when one undertakes to give instruction in the work of the Holy Spirit – so unspeakably tender is the subject, touching the inmost secrets of God and the soul’s deepest mysteries.’ And if there is one area of the spiritual life in which this is especially the case, it is in the way believers have fellowship with the Spirit. As far as I know, there are two biblical passages which use the phrase ‘fellowship of the Spirit’ or ‘the communion of the Holy Spirit’. One is Philippians 2:1-2, where Paul writes: ‘So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.’ The other is the benediction found at the close of 2 Corinthians: ‘The grace of the Lo...

This sermon was preached on 28/7/2011 Sometimes we tend to read lists of names in the Bible in a manner similar to how we use the telephone directory – we only read them if we have to. Yet such an attitude will mean missing out on information that the Lord wants us to have because, for example here, we often find little details about church life in the lists of names that Paul mentions. We can see that is the case in the list in Colossians 4. From the list we can also deduce that Paul was a people’s person, who clearly wanted to say something good about his companions (we should note that he has nothing much to say about Demas (v. 14), which may be a hint that even then, several years before he apostatised, Demas was giving signs that all was not well. The companions of Paul (vv. 9-14) What I want to do in this study is look briefly at what Paul says about the various individuals he mentions. We will begin with Onesimus (we looked at Tychicus in a previous study). Onesimus had been s...

This sermon was preached on 21/7/2011 In the Bible, there are many unsung heroes who are mentioned briefly in different places. Almost every prominent Bible character has several other persons mentioned as his companions in particular periods of his life. Paul had several such persons. Concerning some of them, such as Barnabas and Silas, a great deal is said in the Book of Acts. Others, such as Epaphroditus or Epaphrus, are only mentioned briefly. Epaphroditus, who brought a gift to Paul from the church in Philippi, is described by Paul as his ‘brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier’, one whom his church should ‘receive in the Lord with all joy, and honour’ (Phil. 2:25-30; 4:18). Epaphrus was a prisoner along with Paul at this time (Phil. 23); he had brought the gospel to Colosse, and although he was presently absent from the church there, Paul assures them that Epaphrus was ‘always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the ...

This sermon was preached on 14/7/2011 In these verses, Paul describes the witness of Christians to non-Christians, whom he describes here as outsiders. The witness is twofold: in verse 5, he refers to life in general and in verse 6 he refers to our speech. It is likely that there is an evangelistic thrust in this witness because Paul has just asked for prayer for his own evangelistic activities. Now he turns and addresses the form of witness that the Colossians should engaged in. The meaning of ‘outsiders’ This word does not sound a friendly word, but Paul does not suggest that Christians should be unfriendly. Instead it is a word that highlights several features. First, it is a word that reminds us that most people do not belong to the visible church, that is, the organised church in a community. The mark of the visible church is baptism, which is given to those who profess the Christian religion. Until a person has been baptised he is obviously an outsider from its public functions...

This sermon was preached on 10/7/2011 Last Sunday, we thought about what Paul intended by his idea of ‘the sealing of the Spirit’ and noticed that it means that every Christian has been marked as belonging to God, with the Spirit himself being the indelible proof that this will always be the case. Today we will look at another Pauline description of the work of the Spirit, that is ‘the filling of the Spirit’ (Eph. 5:18), which he only mentions in this verse in his letters. The description, however, is also found in the writings of Luke, both in his Gospel and in the Book of Acts, and there it is used to describe several individuals who were engaged in serving the Lord. Here is a brief summary of where the phenomenon occurs and of the variety of situations in which it was found. Concerning John the Baptist, it was stated by the angel Gabriel that he would ‘be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb’ (Luke 1:15). Both parents of John spoke prophetic statements of prai...

This sermon was preached on 10/7/11 Peter has described for Christians something of the great dignity that had been given to them by God (1 Pet. 2:9-10). Of course, privileges carry responsibilities and the responsibility that Peter now stresses is that of holiness of life. Yet he does not present holiness as if it was a chore without any positive aspects, which sadly is the way many think of holiness. Instead Peter says that it is a way of living that has great benefits. Brotherly affection The first detail to notice is the brotherly love that Peter shows here by his use of the word ‘beloved’. This expression is remarkable because many of the ones to whom he was writing were Gentiles – and Peter was a Jew. The point of this distinction is not merely that of different racial identities; in addition, Peter at one time had a spiritual dimension to the racial distinction because he had regarded Gentiles as separated from God. Yet here he is using this most endearing word to desc...

This sermon was preached on 22/5/2011 The Bible contains the accounts of several believers who fell from their good standing because of a sin. The falls of Peter, which we will consider in this chapter, and of David, when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then arranged for the death of her husband Uriah, are probably the best-known. Others who fell into sinful practices include Abraham (who twice was prepared to compromise the safety of his wife Sarah), Lot (who became too involved with the life of Sodom and Gomorrah and ended up committing incest), Aaron (who made a golden calf for the Israelites to worship), and Solomon (whose heart devotion to God was affected badly by his pagan wives). The stories of all these individuals tell us, ‘Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall’ (1 Cor. 10:12). What happened to them can happen to us. I suppose we wonder why so many of their details are recorded in the Scriptures. One answer to that question is to tea...

This sermon was preached on 7/7/2011 Paul has highlighted several crucial aspects of the Christian faith in his letter to the Colossians. He has provided important reminders of who Jesus is, what he did when he was here on earth, and what his position is as the risen, ascended Saviour. Further he explained to the Colossians how they were to show that they belonged to the new humanity, whether in life in general or in the specific area of household life. We can imagine the Colossians, as they listened to the letter being read to them, responding at least to themselves, ‘How can we retain correct thinking about all these issues in our minds?’ If they were thinking in that way as they heard Colossians 4:1 being read, they received the answer in verse 2: ‘Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.’ Further, they may have said to themselves, ‘In addition to demands connected to life in the church, it is also the case that we have to face pressures fro...