Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

John Stott points out that in the Sermon on the Mount we have depicted the life of repentance that Jesus had already called his listeners towards. Throughout the sermon Jesus will contrast his followers from those who adopt the outlook of the Pharisees and those who follow the ideas of pagan philosophers, both of which were common at that time. Similarly, his teachings in this sermon can be contrasted with all religious and psychological ideas for self-improvement that abound in our culture. We are familiar with the Beatitudes, although sometimes familiarity can hide from us the radical nature of what Jesus says about his followers. Yet it is obvious from what he says that it should be easy to identify his followers because they will be very different from everyone else. Moreover we can see that they are also rich with regard to the future. It is also the case that Jesus, when he preached this sermon, merely listed the different details, which points to the fact that they can be und...

The city was located about thirty-five miles from Ephesus (today, it is known as Ismir). It was a famous city in ancient times, highly regarded by the Roman authorities for its devotion to the Emperor. In later times, it retained its prominence. The author of the comments on Revelation in the Matthew Henry commentary says that in his day it was well-known to merchants. The origins of the church in Smyrna are unknown. It is not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament. Paul says that when he was in Ephesus all of Asia heard the word of God (Acts 19:10), so it is likely that the gospel was taken from Ephesus to the surrounding locations. What we have here may be a letter to a daughter church, a church that unlike its mother receives no condemnation from Jesus. The city of Smyrna had undergone a kind of resurrection. Old Smyrna had been destroyed in 580BC, but the city had been rebuilt in 290BC. The name of the city means myrrh and it is often pointed out that myrrh has to be crus...

Each of the three years of Jesus’ public ministry has been given a name. Year 1 is called The Year of Obscurity; year 2 is called The Year of Popularity; and Year 3 is called The Year of Increasing Opposition. Matthew passes over The Year of Obscurity, the details of which are recorded by John in the first four chapters of his Gospel. Matthew begins here with The Year of Popularity (as we can see with his description of great crowds following Jesus). What happened in The Year of Obscurity? We read those details in John. He mentions how he, Andrew and Peter had met Jesus for the first time in Judaea. He also describes their return to Galilee and the way Jesus found Philip and Nathaniel. At that time, the miracle of turning water into wine occurred, and we can see from that incident that at that time Jesus did not want publicity. John then mentions a trip back to Judaea for a Passover, where he cleared the temple, met with Nicodemus and then spoke to the woman from Sychar on the w...

This statement by Paul is one of five faithful sayings contained in the Pastoral epistles. These statements may have been sayings that the early Christians used to summarise what they believed about important doctrines. They cover a variety of important concerns of the Christian faith. Paul here is giving his testimony to his friend Timothy. Timothy had been sent to Ephesus by Paul to deal with some issues in the church there. Part of the problem there was false teaching connected to wrong uses of the law. The law is designed to show that we are sinners, unable to keep it. But merely preaching the law in such a way is pointless unless it is also accompanied by the gospel. The Law at Work What kind of person is produced by preaching the law without the gospel? Paul would say that he, before his conversion, was such a person. His attempts to keep the law had turned him into a self-righteous Pharisee, and in his case had led him into opposing the kingdom of Jesus. Although ...

Matthew has described the anointing of the King with the Holy Spirit when he was baptised by John in the River Jordan. The anointing with the Spirit was required for the next stage in the earthly life of the Saviour, which was the three years of his public ministry when he would show by his word and actions that he was the promised Messiah. Before the anointing took place, Jesus had experienced the blessing of the Spirit in other ways as we can see from the way Luke, in his Gospel, describes how Jesus grew in favour with God and man. The anointing of Jesus with the Holy Spirit, we can say, was predicted, personal, peaceful and powerful. It had been predicted in the Old Testament, in a passage such as Isaiah 11 that describes how the Spirit would function in the ministry of the Saviour; it was obviously a personal experience for Jesus, and that in many ways – assurance from the Father, equipping for the task, and other ways; the effect of the anointing would be peace, illustrated by ...