2005 issue 4 - the model for witness: the person of christ - counsel of chalcedon
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/12/2019 2005 Issue 4 - The Model for Witness: The Person of Christ - Counsel of Chalcedon
1/5
THE MODEL
FOR
WITNESS
THE
PERSON OF
CHRIST
philippians :
1 30
Joe
Morecraft
III
Jesus
Christ carne not only
to die for our sins, He
carne to preach
and
teach
and
bear
witness
to the gospel,
and in so doing to
draw people
to Himself as their Lord
and Savior.
He was
moved
by an all-consuming
desire
to glorify His Father
and
by a deep compassion for lost
sinners that
moved him
not only to want
to reach
them by
His words but to
shed
His own
blood
for
them
that
they
might be
saved from everything tha t
was
separating
them
from God and life
and joy. He
had the
world on
His heart
and so He sacrificed Himself for the life of the world,
John 6:51, becoming
obedient
to the point
of
death,
even
death on a cross, philippians 2:8, to purchase for God
with
(His)
blood people from every
tribe
and
tongue and
people and nation,
Revelation 5:9.
When Jesus saw multi tudes of people lost in sin, He
felt compassion
on them because
they were like
sheep
without
a shepherd, Mark 6:34. He taught His
disciples
that compassion ought to
be
extended to
everybody,
even our enemies,
Matthew
5:43-48,
Luke
10:30-37.
The
word compassion, splangna, literally refers to the
upper viscera: lungs,
heart, liver,
denoting warm
tender
affections and concern. Jesus felt compassion when
He
saw
people distressed, oppressed, downcast,
hurting,
hungry,
ignorant, blind, leprous, demon-possessed, in
debt, grieving,
guilt-ridden,
abusing themselves.
All
kinds of human
suffering, physical and
spiritual, caused
by human sin,
drew
out Jesus' compassion; and His
compassioh
always
moved
Him
to action, to
do what
He
could to
relieve
their
need
and to save them from sin and
all its consequences.
For
instance, when He
saw
a
woman
grieving
over her
dead son, He did
not wait for her
to
ask
for His help, He was moved
in
His great
heart by
her grief
to turn
her darlmess
into light and
her sorrow
into joy by
raising her son from the dead.
Because
of His compassion
for
poor, lost sinners,
He
carne
to seeb
and
to save those
who
are lost, Luke
19:10. The Gospel of Luke especially
highlights Christ 's
compassion by pointing
out
tha t Jesus is
concerned
for lost
people, for l i t t le people, for
people
insignificant in the
eyes of the world, for women like Mary, Elizabeth, Anna,
9
the
COUNSEL
of
CH LCEDON
Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susan
the
widow
of
N ain,
the little elderly crippled woman,
widow
who gave all she
had,
the daughters of Jerusa
who wept for Jesus as
He
went
to the cross, for chi ld
for the poor, for the disreputable. And
He
told
them
parable saying, "What man among
you,
if
he has
a
hund
sheep
and has
lost
one
of them, does not leave the nin
nine
in
the open pasture,
and
go
after the one
whic
lost, until
he
finds it? And
when
he
has found
it, he
it
on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And
when he comes ho
he calls
together
his friends and his
neighbors,
sayin
them,
'Rejoice
with
me,
for
I
have found my sheep w
was
lost ' I
tell you that
in
the
same way there
wil
more joy in heaven over
one
sinner who
repents,
than
ninety-nine righteous persons
who
need no repentan
Lube 15:3-7.
In
this
way
the
life
of Jesus Christ is the model
for
witness in this
world: because of his compassion for sinn
he
totally
consecrated Himself
to
the accomplishmen
their salvation. Christ 's life was one of
self-sacrific
dedication to the
salvation
of
s inners The
Son
of M
carne
not
to be served but to serve, and to
give
His li
ransom
for
many,
Marl,
10:45.
That
is
what
heart-
compassion does to
a
believer: it moves him or he
become totally dedicated to
the
salvation of sinners
be consumed
with the desire to
be
used
by God
to
somebody from their sins, anybody
Our
children
neighbors
Our
husband or wife
Our parents
Our
fam
members
Our
fellow
employees or
students
or teach
Anybody
1
(Phil ippians
2:5-11)
THE SUPREME MODEL
O
CHRIST
A. (2:1-4)
THE APPEAL FOR CHRISTLIKE
WITNESS
If you are to be effective in
the
spread of the gospel
must live a
Christlike
life of
love, putting the
intere
welfare and
eternal destinies
of others above your
interests
and
welfare.
-
8/12/2019 2005 Issue 4 - The Model for Witness: The Person of Christ - Counsel of Chalcedon
2/5
Rev Joe Morecraft
Paul roots his
appeal
in four things: encouragement
in
Christ through the apostolic word, the comfort of
mutual
love
and of Christ's
love
'for us, fellowship in the
Holy Spirit, i.e., the
believer's
conscious
experience
of
the Spirit's indwelling and activity in his life and in the
church, and
affectionate
sympathy and deep
feelings
of
compassionate yearning and action grounded
in
the
Lord's
sympathy for His church.
This
fourfold
appeal
leads
to
a
fourfold result in the
church: being likeminded, having
the
same love, being of
one accord, of
one mind. Thus undesirable features in the
life of the church
will be removed and
unity and harmony
will
prevail in an otherwise fragmented church unprep ared
to
be Christ's witness
in this world. If evil
tendencies
and
divisions in the church are to
be
avoided, we must possess
lowliness of mind
and
humility toward
God and
each other,
the recognition of our
total
dependence upon
Him
and
to
place
the interests
of others above our own
interest.
We
are
not to
be
so preoccupied with our own concerns
that
we
fail to see the Christian virtues in others, avoiding on
the
one
hand
pride
in
our
own
moral attainments,
and on
the other hand, unmerciful fault-finding
in
the
lives
of
others.
B
(Philippians 2:5) THE EXHORTATION TO
CHRISTLIKE
WITNESS
Let this
mind be in you which is also in
Christ Jesus.
Think about things the way Christ thinks about things.
Let
your
whole
inner
life be shaped and filled
y
those
ideas, thoughts,
motives
and priorities that fill the inner
life
of
Christ in His humanity.
Love
what He
loves,
hate
what He hates. Be as focused
and
as
consumed
and as
devoted as He was and is to
the
salvation of a world of
sinners
from
sin
and
death.
Be willing to
humble
yourself
as Christ
did
and to sacrifice yourself as Christ did
in
order to be used of God to save those who are lost. Be
one
with
Christ
in the
great
work
of
salvation.
Display in
your church fellowship in an unforgettable and convincing
manner
that you
share
Christ's
spirit and attitude
and are
controlled y the pattern of self-effacement and humility
which His incarnation and cross
supremely
exemplify.
Ralph Martin, PHILIPPIANS, Tyndale.
C
(Philippians
2:6-11) THE
EXAMPLE
OF
CHRIST
Jesus' entire life was
one of self-sacrificing
dev.otion
to
the
salvation of lost people. He humiliated Himself
for
our salvation,
2:6-8, because it was required if He was
to bear away the full weight of sin and its consequences
from His people. God highly
exalted
Him so that He
could administer this accomplished
salvation
leading to
the
whole world bowing before Him and confessing His
lordship, 2:9-11.
1. Christ existed in the form of God,
i.e.,
He continue
in
His
existence
from
eternity to eternity. God's
form
is
that
which m l ~ e s Him unique. In His Essence He i
incomparable.
The point is that
before and after
Hi
incarnation, Christ
is everything
God
is To
say
that
Chris
is in
the
form of God is to say
that
He was God before
Hi
incarnation, remains
God
after His
incarnation, and
wil
always be God throughout eternity. He who is in the form
of
God
is
God and
only God,
in
full possession
of
all o
God's perfections.
2.
Christ did not regard equality with God a
thing
to
be grasped.
This does
not
mean
that
Christ
surrendered
equality
with
God when He became a
man.
Equality
wit
God does
not
refer to His essential
equality
with
God
but to His equality as far as His being publicly treate
and
honored
and praised as God's equal. Christ did no
consider
this something to
cling
to, but He could an
did give it up to
humiliate
Himself to become a huma
being
for our
salvation. For you know
the
grace
of
ou
Lord
Jesus,
that
though
He
was
rich,
yet
for your
sak
He became poor, so that you
through
His poverty migh
become
rich, Corinthians
8:9.
This
speaks of a
spiri
of pure unselfishness and self-sacrifice. This was th
state
of mind
that led Jesus to give up all
this:
simple
selfless, self-sacrificing love.
l
3. Christ made Himself of no
reputation.
Som
translations
have he
emptied
himself, which
expressio
is
not
only the root from which most heresies regarding
the
incarnation have grown, it is a
mistranslation of
th
Greek
word,
ekenosen:
(See
Benjamin B
Warfield'
book,
THE
PERSON AND WORK OF
CHRIST,
pp
569.) In
the four
other
instances
when
the
word
is
use
in the NT, Rom. 4:14, I
Cor.
1:17 9 :15 and
Cor.
9:3
ekenosen is used
figuratively meaning
to
make of
no
account or
to
make of no reputation. If we translate
the
word
in phil. 2: 7
according
to its usage in the NT
the
word
here
simply means that Christ made Himsel
of no account, of no
reputation,
not asserting His divin
prerogative, but took
the
form of
a servant: The
fac
that Christ took the form of a servant
does
not in any wa
involve a laying aside of the form of
God. And
He di
this for our salvation.
4
Christ
humbled or
humiliated
Himself.
He
humiliate
Himself
y becoming
subject
to the demands and
curses
o
His own law and y being
obedient
His
whole life on eart
to that
law
in
all
His
thoughts, actions and
suffering,
eve
to the very limit of the shameful death
on
the cross fo
our salvation. The lowest point of His
humiliation,
Hi
death and burial, was at the same time the highest poin
of
His saving work along with His resurrection from
th
dead.
theCOUNSELofCH LCEDON
3
-
8/12/2019 2005 Issue 4 - The Model for Witness: The Person of Christ - Counsel of Chalcedon
3/5
be
MOdel
for Witne.J J
6.
Christ
became obedient unto death even the death of
the
cross. This
obedience is a
certain
evidence of
His
deity,
for
only a divine being can accept death as obedience;
for ordinary
men
it is a necessity. As the obedient
Son
of God,
Christ chose death
because of
His
love for
the
Father's
redeeming
purpose and for the world which He
came to save. His death is
the outward
and
visible sign
of
the inward and
spiritual
devotion
to
God's
purpose
which
had characterized His
whole
earthly
life,
(Martin,
p.
103),
and of
His
dedication to saving poor lost sinners
who
cannot
save themselves
and
who not worthy of such
dedication. The
cross is the
most
hideous
and cruel
form of
execution.
But
Christ voluntarily chose the cross
for
our
salvation. This sinless Savior
endured the curse
of
separation from God in the place
of
His people that
they
might
be reconciled
to
God
and
welcomed back
into
fellowship
with
God on the basis
of
His atoning death.
Christ's self-sacrificing dedication
to
the salvation
of
sinners
is
our
supreme
model
for
life and mission and
witness. He calls us and empowers us
to
have
as
our goal
being as
dedicated to
saving people
(individuals,
families,
cultures) from sin as
Jesus
was.
D. (Philippians 2:12-13)
THE POWER
FOR
FOLLOWING OUR MODEL
Our
ability to
follow Christ's example is from God
alone.
The
indwelling
Spirit
of
Christ
fully
equips
and empowers us for doing God's will in life and in the
fellowship of the
gospel. We work
out in our daily
lives
what the Spirit
works
in us: the will and the ability to do
what
pleases God.
II. (Philippians
2: 14-16)
THE SPECIFICS REQUIRED
IN FOLLOWING
OUR MODEL
Our mission, like Christ's, is 1:0
shine
like stars in the
midst of a
d r l ~ and
depraved generation:
1).
By living
as
blameless
and
pure
children
of God, vs. 16;
(2). By
holding out the word of life to this generation, vs. 16; and
3). By giving this
mission top priority in our
lives,
just
as Christ did, vs. 17.
A.
(2:
14) In
the life
and mission
of
the
church beware
of grumbling
and
disputing,
i.e.,
rebellion against God
as
Israel of the
OT
did
in
the Wilderness
and dissensions
among the
members
of
the
church rooted in pride and
envy. Such petty
rivalry
reveals that those involved
are
more
concerned
with
themselves than
they are with the
mission and glory of Christ.
B. (2:16)
The Corinthian
church is
called upon to set
its own house in order so that God's mission for them as
a witnessing community, a fellowship of the gospel, may
3
the
COUNSEL of CH LCEDON
be fulfilled. They must show themselves irreproach
living a life at which no
finger of
criticism may
be poin
M ~ r t i n , p. 114) and simple, unmixed and pure with re
to
evil.
In
their character
and
conduct
there must
b
evil
blotch which could
be
criticized y an outsider
there must be no non Christian trait in their
lives
by w
they have been
contaminated y
the world. Rather
are to
live
and act as sons and daughters
of
the living
in
the midst
of
a
c r o o l ~ e d
and
perverse
generation,
i.e
world surrounding the church
in
which the church
and witnesses is a society morally warped
and
spirit
perverted.
Yet
we
are to live
and
witness
in
the
mid
this world, for t is only
there
that
true
Christian wi
can
be borne
and
influence for
Christ effectively
exe
The church's
influence as a witnessing
communi
described in the language of the influence of
light
dark place. Martin,
p.
116. We are
to light-bear
Matthew
6: 14-16. We are the light of the world in
sense that
we
are the vessels in which
THE
Light o
world
shines
forth, John 8:
12.
C. (2:
16)
We are
lights
in
this
dark world
only
as
we
fast and hold forth
the
word of
life.
We
are to
re
firm in (our) adherence to the trutll of the gospel, to
it fast as
a
torch-bearer
would grasp securely
the
he carries, and to let no o]Jposition daunt (our)
spir
Only
as we
firmly 'hold
fast '
to
the
gospel
truth ca
effectively
'hold t
forth.'
-Martin, p. 117. If we do
hold fast and hold
forth
the
word
of God, on the fina
of judgment we
will
find
that
we
have
run the race o
In vaIn.
III. (Philippians
2:17-18)
THE MODEL
OF
APOSTLE
PAUL
God has graciously given, us
in the
rest of this cha
three secondary models
to
help us see the exact
n
of our devotion to Christ, of
true C h r i s t l i l ~ e n e s s
and
participation in the
spread of the gospel: Paul,
Tim
and Epaphroditus.
Paul's life was a joyful
and continual pouring
and sacrifice of himself in the advance of the
go
Everything
was second
to that.
Paullqngs
to
be
us
God in the salvation and sanctification of
sinners
the
return
of
Christ,
he does
not
want to
have
appe
to
have
run and
w o r l ~ e d
in
vain.
In fact, in this
P
most personal reference in the entire epistle, he see
probability of
his
martyrdom
for
Christ and
the go
He speaks of himself as being poured
out
as a d
offering
upon the
sacrifice and
service of your
faith,
yet his
words
about the pouring out of
his
life's bloo
the
altar
of
sacrifice in
the service of
Christ
are
full
o
-
8/12/2019 2005 Issue 4 - The Model for Witness: The Person of Christ - Counsel of Chalcedon
4/5
Rev Joe Morecraft
based on his glad submission to God's will for his life. He
wants his readers to share
that
joy in suffering for Christ
as a
privilege not
a
burden.
To be pouted out as a drink
offering
denotes, in
sacrificial terms, a violent and bloody death. He compares
his life-blood shed
in
death to the libation of wine or
perfume which
was
poured
out in the ... rites
of
a sacrifice
to a
pagan deity:
- Martin, p. 119.
However it
was the philippians' faith
that
experienced
the sacrifice
in behalf
of Paul. Paul's sacrifice of
himself
in their
behalf
would not
have
been complete
without
the offering of their faith in their closeness with him
by
their active
financial
support
of
his
ministry of
the
gospel.
They
proved the genuineness of their faith in
their
sacrificial
contributions to Paul in his
ministry
and
suffering.
Therefore,
because
of the
knowledge of
the
philippians'
sacrificial
devotion to the spread of the gospel
and the salvation
of the lost, and
because
of
the
privilege
of suffering for
the
sake
of
Christ and the salvation
of
the
lost, and
the
prospects of
a
martyr's crown, Paul is
full
not
of
anxiety
but of joy.
As
Ignatius
prayed,
Grant
me nothing more than that I be
poured
out to G od: For
Paul, to
live is Christ and to die is gain,
1:21,
because
by it Christ is magnified and the
gospel
proclaimed:
Martin, p.
121
A. (Philippians 1:19-26)
Paul
glorifies
Christ
by being
so
devoted
to
Him
and
to the spreading of His gospel
that
he
is
willing to go to
any
length
to please
Him
and
to
advance His
kingdom
whether
life or
death.
Paul
summarized his
entire life
in one word-Christ . He was the source, goal, content,
sustenance,
motive and joy of
his life. Without
Him
life
meant nothing. Is there anything in your life
that
you
desire
with a
greater intensity than to know Christ
and
to
serve
Him?
B
(I
Corinthians 9:16-23)
For if I
preach
the
gospel,
I have nothing
to
boast of, for I
am
under
compulsion;
for woe is
me
if I
do
not preach the gospel. For if I do
this
voluntarily,
I
have
a
reward;
but if against my will,
I have a
stewardship
entrusted to me. What then is my
reward?
That,
when
I
preach
the
gospel,
I
may
offer
the
gospel without charge,
so as
not
to make full
use
of my
right in the gospel.
For though I
am free from all men,
I
have made myself
a
slave to all, that
I
miiht
win the
more.
And to the Jews I
became
as a Jew,
that
I miiht win Iews:
to those
who
are
under
the Law as
under
the
Law, though
not being myself
under
the law, that I might win those
who
are under the law; to
those who
are
without
the law,
as
without law, though not being without the law of
God
but
under
the
law
of
Christ,
that
I might
win those who
are without law. To
the weak
I became
weak, that
I might
win the weak; I have become all things to all men.
that
may
by
all means
save
some.
And I do
all
things for th
sake of the gospel,
that I
may
become
a fellow partaker
o
it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run
but only one receives
the
prize? Run in
such
a way
tha
you
may win.
IV.
(Philippians
2:19-24) THE
MODEL
OF
TIMOTHY
A.
(2:19-20)
Paul tells the philippian
church that
he intends
to sen
Timothy
to
them so
that
Paul can
be
encouraged
about
th
true condition
of
the church.
He sends
Timothy
as hi
trusted friend,
companion and
representative.
Paul sends Timothy
because he
can
trust
Timothy
because I have no one else of
kindred
spirit who
wi
genuinely
be concerned
for your
welfare.
I have no on
else
who is heart
and soul with me.
He
has a genuine an
anxious
concern
for your
spiritual
condit ion: Other
are
anxious
about
their own welfare,
Timothy's anxiet
was for the welfare of others. His large heart was trul
burdened with
the burdens
of
others.
B.
(2:21)
There was no other
person that
Paul could count on a
this point in time but Timothy,
for
they all seek after thei
own
interests,
not those
of
Christ
Jesus.
... in
a
world o
selfishness and self-seeking, Mat. 6:32, i t is
such
a rar
thing
to
find
a
man like
Timothy
who is
really
anxious t
promote the
welfare
of other
people,
and to give himsel
to
a
fatiguing journey and to the resolving of persona
quarrels
in
the philippian church:
- Martin, p.
125.
C.
(2:22-24)
Paul
reminds
the philippians
that
they
are fully awar
of Timothy's proven worth
that he
served with me in th
furtherance of
the
gospel like
a
child serving his
father
You know that Timothy has stood the test and show
himself
to be a
man of sound
character
and
worthiness. n
Martin,
p.
126.
Paul
loves
him
as
his
beloved
and faithfu
child
in
the Lord, I Cor. 4:17. He and Timothy
bot
served
as
slaves
of
Christ
in the
extension of the gospel.
V
(Philippians
2:25-30) THE MODEL OF
EPAPHRODITUS
A.
(2:25)
Paul also
informs the philippians
that he
is
als
sending Epaphroditus to them
to
minister
to
them
in
the COUNSEL
of
CH LCEDON
3
-
8/12/2019 2005 Issue 4 - The Model for Witness: The Person of Christ - Counsel of Chalcedon
5/5
The MOdelfor WitneJJ
Paul's absence. He recommends him highly to them as my
brother, i.e.,
fellow
believer
in
Christ,
my fellow
worker,
i.e., fellow worker in the cause
of
Christ and the
gospel,
my fellow soldier, i.e., my comrade in arms in
conflict
and
persecution
for
the
sake
of the gospel,
who
is also
your messenger and
minister
to my need.
He
is a
true
servant,
leitourgos, who
offers
his daily life
and calling
as a liturgy to God
for
the
benefit
of the church.
B. (2:26-27)
Paul is
sending
Epaphroditus because
he
was longing
for you all and was
distressed
because you had heard that
he was
sick. He had
an ardent
desire
to
the
point of
agony to
minister
to the
spiritual
wellbeing of the church
at
philippi.
The word, epipothon,
translated longing,
is the
same word
used of Jesus' agony in Gethsemane,
Mat. 26:37,
and denotes
great
and
painful mental
and
spiritual
agony:
He
had
such
compassion
for the
philippian Christians that he was
greatly
distressed when
he
found
out that
they
were
concerned about him
because
he
was
sick.
His
yearning for
the church in philippi as a
persecuted community,
takes
his yearning for his fellow
believers
as a
sign of
his
desire
to aid them in their
struggle
against the enemies of the gospel. - Martin, p. 131.
Although Paul
reassures the
philippians
that
his
sickness
is
over
by the mercy of God,
his
sickness was se r ious -he
was sick
to the point
of
death.
A similar phrase is used
in vs
30
which is used of Christ's death on the cross in
2:8 obedient
to
the
point
of
death, but
unlike Christ,
Epaphroditus' life was spared-God had mercy on
And
Paul
rejoices in
this for p a p h r o d i t u s ~ death
w
have
added grief to
his
imprisonment.
C. (2:28-30)
Epaphroditus is
to
be welcomed
in
the Lord wi
gladness,
i.e., with
unalloyed
joy
which
characteri
welcome in
the church of Christ. -Martin, p.
132.
to be welcolTled
and
highly valued because of his ste
Christlike character
and his total devotion to
the
of the
gospel-receive
him in the Lord with all joy
hold men
like
him in
high
regard. Why? Because he
close to death
for
the
work
of Christ, risking
his l
complete what was deficient in your service to me
hazarded
his
life
and exposed
himself to great dange
loving his
life
unto death, in the advance of the g
of
Christ.
Paraboleusamenos is a gambling
Epaphroditus staked his life
for
the
service
of Chr
the
interest
of the apostle
and
on behalf of the
philip
community
whose
lack of help
was
unavoidable
since
were many miles away. - Martin, p. 134.
Such a word brings its own challenge and rebuke to an eas
going Christianity which m a l ~ e s no stern demands, and calls fo
no limits of self-denying, self-effacing sacrifice. Here is a ma
who g ve little thought to personal comfort o r safety in order
t
discharge his responsibility.- Martin, p. 134
www JudyRogerJ com
~ u d y R o g e r ~ mUJic iJ one ofa kiniJ
ihlically concerneiJ
parentJ
JbouliJ ohtain i t
a t
all
COJtJ n
33
the
COUNSEL of CH LCEDON
Jay Adanu