Upper Room Christian Assembly

The King of Glory – 02

The Categorical Declaration Versus The Categorical Denial – 01

Major historical events such as the Entrance of Sin, the Redemptive Work of Jesus, and the Sending of the Holy Spirit are not included in Psalm Twenty-Four’s sweeping survey of Redemptive History. We will call this phenomenon, Event Ellipsis. 

The reader must supply the missing events in order to appreciate the fullness of God’s Eternal Plan.  The Creation Account is linked to the Temple Account which in turn is linked to the Kingdom Account; but the actions that link these accounts must be supplied by the reader.

If any one of these links is ignored or broken, the glorious chain of events presented in Psalm Twenty-Four lose their impact and the Gospel of the Kingdom falls apart.

The King of Glory – 01

The Outline

A sweeping survey of salvation history is sung in Psalm 24, providing the student of Scripture with an outline of God’s plan from Creation, through Confusion, and unto Coronation.  Following the entrance of sin, the Genesis Account moves to the Temple Account on its way to the Kingdom Account.   

The Great Creator, in mercy toward his fallen creatures, is also the Great Redeemer.  The Creator-at-rest rises as the Warrior King to overcome all opposition, conquering many hearts by grace, and casting out the residue of evil.  The Great Redeemer will return as the Great King, filling the earth with His presence and fulfilling His story.  Who is this One?  He is the King of Glory!

Calling All Timothys

“I am growing old myself, but there are few things I remember so well as the days of my youth. I have a most distinct recollection of the joys and the sorrows, the hopes and the fears, the temptations and the difficulties, the mistaken judgments and the misplaced affections, the errors, and the aspirations, which surround and accompany a young man’s life. If I can only say something to keep some young man in the right way, and preserve him from faults and sins, which may mar his prospects both for time and eternity, I shall be very thankful.”  - Ryle, J. C. (1888). The Upper Room (p. 365). William Hunt and Company.

In this message you will hear a Pastor’s call to the young men of this generation to make their walk with Jesus, the pursuit of godliness, and the strengthening of His Churches the primary purpose of their lives.

Remembering Brokenness – Anticipating Glory

This Communion study explores the application of Jesus’ injunction to Remember Him when we partake of the bread and cup.  Certainly, Jesus is a worthy “end point” of the remembering exercise. The believer does well to focus exclusively on the great acts of redemption that Jesus accomplished.  But the believer does better when the remembering exercise includes the element of personal application.

As Jesus said during the night in which He was betrayed: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.”  (John 13:16) “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20)

The steps that Jesus took become footprints for the feet of every Christian to follow. The servant of the Saviour will suffer too.  The sheep will not escape the experience of the Lamb.  Remember this when you partake of the symbols of Jesus’ broken body and poured out blood, but always do so in the full light of Christ’s Two-Fold State.  If you do, you will remember brokenness and anticipate glory.

Looking For Unity – 14

Out-of-Balance or Out-of-Bounds – 04 

Some churches, ministries, and individuals are to be marked and avoided (Rom 16:17): the demonstrably False, the mere Formalists, and the Frozen. They are out-of-bounds.  Others are out-of-balance. They too are to be noted, but as the relatively week and for the sake of loving ministry and careful handling.

The quest for unity requires the ability to make distinctions between Essential and Non-Essential issues. Jonathan Edwards expresses this need with the following words:

“We have shown how the godly differ from the ungodly. They differ specifically and essentially.  [But] even the godly themselves [are not] without their differences one from another, but it is only a gradual difference. They all agree in essentials and are all exceedingly and essentially distinguished from the ungodly. They differ from the ungodly as the living differ from the dead. They differ one from another as the living differ among themselves in degrees of health and strength and stature.”  Edwards, J. (1728–1729). Profitable Hearers of the Word. In W. H. Kimnach (Ed.), Jonathan Edwards Sermons (Mt 13:23). New Haven, CT: The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University.

Looking For Unity – 13

Out-of-Balance or Out-of-Bounds – 03

The ancient motto: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity" reflects the admonition of Jesus found in Matthew 23:23-24.  Demanding the mint tithe while failing to weigh out the importance of mercy is to strain at a gnat while swallowing a camel. There are “gnat” issues and there are “camel” issues, and we must distinguish between the two.

John R. W. Stott expresses the genius of the ancient motto in these words:

In fundamentals [essentials], then, faith [doctrine] is primary, and we must not appeal to love as an excuse to deny essential faith [truths]. In non-fundamentals [non-essentials], however, love is primary, and we may not appeal to zeal for the faith as an excuse for failures in love. Faith instructs our own conscience; love respects the conscience of others. Faith gives liberty; love limits its exercise.  Stott, J. R. W. (2001). The message of Romans: God’s good news for the world (p. 375). InterVarsity Press. [The synonyms supplied in brackets are my own.]

Looking For Unity – 12

Out-of-Balance or Out-of-Bounds – 02

Apollos – A Case Study

The distance of history provides a buffer from the immediate pressures of real-time and allows us to consider a challenging situation less passionately than we might if the circumstances were right in front of us.  That is the value of an historic case-study. 

The first-century story which unfolded in the lives of Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila yields many principles that should guide our own hearts when we grapple with similar dynamics.

Had Aquilla and Priscilla placed Apollos in the category of Out-of-Bounds because he only knew the baptism of John, they would have lost the opportunity to bring Apollos into balance by explaining the way of the Lord more perfectly (Acts 18:24-28). 

Unnecessary division would have occurred, and the Churches of Christ would have lost the enriching ministry of a man mighty in the Scriptures but still lacking balance.  As it turned out, unity prevailed, Apollos evened out, and “greatly helped those who believed through grace.”  (Acts 18:27 NKJV)

Looking For Unity – 11

Out-of-Balance or Out-of-Bounds – 01

In this Age of Fallenness, nearly everything is out-of-balance until it is brought to equilibrium through the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. 

Church History is too often the story of unbalanced responses to existential imbalance – an overreaction against that which does not fit our too parochial narrative of orthodoxy.  The categories of Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy are Scriptural and critical; but our skill in separating that which is Out-of-Balance from that which is Out-of-Bounds may need to be refined.

Had Aquilla and Priscilla placed Apollos in the category of Out-of-Bounds because he only knew the baptism of John, they would have lost the opportunity to bring Apollos into balance by explaining the way of the Lord more perfectly (Acts 18:24-28). 

Unnecessary division would have occurred, and the Churches of Christ would have lost the enriching ministry of a man mighty in the Scriptures but still lacking balance.  As it turned out, unity prevailed, Apollos evened out and “greatly helped those who believed through grace.”  (Acts 18:27 NKJV)

In Greek, that is known as a “win-win”! ☺

Looking For Unity – 10

How Does It Flow? – 03

While teaching in the women’s court of the Temple, Jesus is confronted by Scribes and Pharisees with a woman in tow.  They reduce her to a prop to prove that the Friend of Publicans and Sinners could not be a man of God.

But their dark intentions are no match for the Light of the World.  Jesus manifests the place and power of mercy.  The sinning woman leaves the scene in repentance, uncondemned; while Jesus tells her captors that it is they, not she, who will die in their sins.

Many who take in this scene believe in Jesus. They open the door to becoming disciples of the Great Liberator but tragically drop out of school through a lack of interest in being fully liberated themselves.

This study begins to argue that if we would become disciples indeed of the Great Liberator, we must be open to all the Truths that the Light of the World would bring to our darkness. If we fail to open our hearts to this oil from our Aaron, then brotherly unity will never flow.

Looking For Unity – 09

How Does It Flow? – 02

The Knights of the Golden Rule, leading the charge by voice and volition against the powers of darkness, have often turned out to be Irreligious Reformers. Consequently, the “reformation” turns out to be a deformation which tends to harm more than it heals.

Wherever the Church constricts its heart and ministry, it also limits the flow of God’s Blessing. Inevitably, the irreligious will find a way to open things up and get a flow going. Into the desert of Christian indifference, an anointing will come from the head of a Humanist or from the heights of the latest secular theorist. A spring of tainted waters will start the flow toward the next seductive unity.

The right response to this sorry situation is not to leave the Bible and join Babylon. Nor is it to denounce the deeds of the non-Christian do-gooders while keeping one’s distance from doing anything oneself.

There should be balm in Gilead, salt in the streets, and light in the alleys if the Church serves a risen Christ. There should be a unified family of God walking in love toward their Father, one another, and their neighbor.

Ultimately, it will take Jesus’ bodily return to establish His Kingdom in the earth. But He has promised to command a blessing now into the place where Brethren dwell together in unity.