July 2019 – Berean Baptist Church

PUNY PREACHERS AND POLITICS

Berean Baptist on July 29, 2019

Proverbs 21:1: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”

This scripture is both appropriate and comforting in these days of political turmoil. Everyday there is a news story of mostly complaints about the activities of the president. In my lifetime, I have never seen the amount of sour scrutiny of every action in negative reporting of everything he does. It is as if the right action is always the opposite action of what he does no matter the subject. You can be the judge of that but notice those who clamored most before the election that we should accept the results of the election when they thought their candidate would win, are the loudest in their protests we should not. Those who live to defend free speech die when the speech does not agree with them. Such is the hypocrisy of America politics.

This political unrest engages many pastors, and I do not want to ride on that bandwagon. As one author said, “I am concerned when I see pastors throw their weight behind causes good Christians might disagree on. There are many reasons one might be cheered by Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, but there is nothing in the Bible that says Christians must be originalists when it comes to the Constitution.” I certainly have my viewpoint on how the Supreme Court should be constructed, but I agree with this author. The pastor’s position is not to be an interpreter of the Constitution. Our calling is to interpret the Word of God. I do not need to inject controversies that have no bearing on the eternal destiny of the soul, nor if they do not speak of the virtues of the Saviour.

I will speak from the pulpit on moral issues that face us because those are addressed in the scriptures. We have an obligation to the people to engage them because they bear on righteousness. Other matters I do not care to address. A few months ago, I steadfastly refused to fight a battle over the Internal Revenue 501(c) 3 issue. It will neither help nor hinder me from preaching the truth from the Berean pulpit.

There is something that seriously irks me about political commentary. It is the strange media concern over Hollywood’s opinions of governmental policies. I tend to believe much less attention is paid to their opinions than they think. Mostly they are insipid people supported by other insipid Hollywood people just like them. I care nothing at all what George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio or Jon Stewart say. How they get to congressional hearings is beyond my capacity to understand. I have never voted for or considered for three seconds whether Robert De Niro supports a candidate. I’ve read he still wants to punch Donald Trump in the face. I wish he would, then we would never hear of Robert De Niro again. These people have no policy expertise that compels any reasonable person to listen to their advice.

Ah, but here is the rub. Neither do preachers have any policy expertise. What makes a preacher any more a reliable guide than a Hollywood starlet? When he strays away from the field he knows, he is dumber than De Niro. At least, he ought to know better. Quite hypocritical, me thinks! Another quote strikes me: “I am concerned when I see pastors making extravagant, unqualified statements on issues that require some level of nuance and expertise.” Seems running the United States government might have a small requirement for that, doesn’t it?

I am content to leave the king’s heart in the hand of the Lord. Nothing he does or does not do will affect the church. The preacher who says it will needs to sit down and shut up. For most of Christian history, the government never favored the true church. It did not stop us then and it will not stop us now. We need to stick to the Lord’s business. On the individual level, go at it with all the vigor and vim you please. This pulpit will stay out of it. Do not expect to be ratified by the Word of God when God does not speak.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Photobombing Jesus

Berean Baptist on July 25, 2019

Recently I read an article intitled, Photobombing Jesus. The article began with a definition of photobomb. It means, “to spoil a photograph by appearing in the camera’s field of view as a picture is taken.” If you still don’t understand the meaning, ask any teenager with a cell phone. They will be happy to demonstrate for your education.

The article was about a pastor who lamented the beginning of his ministry. He attempted to outshine Jesus. It started with his testimony. God saved him out of a life of drugs, parties, gambling, and women. Everyone knows this testimony is much more interesting than one like mine. I was a preacher’s kid who grew up in church and saved at an early age. No wild parties for me. A testimony like this man’s will help catapult a person to the top 40 on the evangelistic circuit. In his words, the author was ushered on the stage of churches and campus ministries to tell what Jesus had done for him.

With his experiences, he thought a good place for God to use him was in a large campus ministry, and soon he was involved in one. To his dismay, he wasn’t put up front. Instead, his job was to raise and lower the curtain for people who were on stage. He was upset at the turn of events because he thought his ministry was more valuable to God than being a backstage hand. It was then the Lord convicted him. He recognized this as his attempt to photobomb Jesus.

From this point, he ended the article with “six glory-stealing confessions.” The first one caught my eye relating to a sermon I preached. He confessed, “I want Jesus to be glorified, but I want glory too.” Nothing better describes a photobombing pastor. He wants applause as a way of getting into the picture with Jesus. It is fine if Jesus is in the picture too, but he must be sure he isn’t left out and gets the recognition he needs. His bio will read about how the church has grown since he became the pastor. The numbers in attendance are noted, the value of the buildings is announced, and don’t forget how many books he’s authored. He is a jack of all trades but master of none. He expects the congregation to applaud as he enters the sanctuary with his entourage in tow.

In a similar way, there are preachers such as I who pastor smaller less prominent ministries. We do not expect applause for good reason. If you have heard our attempts, they are too weak to be anything but embarrassing. We seek recognition in other ways. Ours is to photobomb Jesus by seeking compliments. We love to hear someone at the door tell us how great the sermon was that day. We need at least one of these to remind us who is the most important around here. If we get two, there is no doubt Spurgeon was in the building. If there are no compliments, we are grossly under appreciated.

Do we need this affirmation to be successful preaching God’s word? If it bothers us, we need to step back and remember who should receive glory. This author said, “A servant who seeks affirmation steals something that does not belong to them…A preacher who preaches to gain glory for himself is flirting with Christ’s bride for whom he died to have for His own.” Let Christ be the only one framed in the picture. This is His church not mine.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

The Lord’s Supper

Berean Baptist on July 15, 2019

The Lord’s Supper is a solemn occasion which we labor to maintain through its observance as a sanctified, holy remembrance of our Lord. The Lord’s Supper was given as a memorial ordinance to remind the church of Christ’s death. It is to be observed until He returns to receive the church to Himself. The Bible does not tell us how often we should observe the Supper, only that we should do it. The timing is left for individual churches to decide.

From my fifty-eight years of experience as a Christian, I have reached the conclusion the Supper should not be observed too often to the point it begins to lose its special sense of significance. Though we may claim it is always special, we note that members’ frequent absences to attend its observance obviates their claims. We must confess that reducing the frequency will do as the adage says, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

For years, our church celebrated the Supper at the begging of each month and was usually little more than an extra function tacked on at the end of the service. I believed we should change this and reduce the frequency to the beginning of each quarter. This enabled us to separate it from the other services and to concentrate on the Supper as our main theme. Does this mean there are no other times we speak of the Lord’s death? Certainly not, for every sermon in every service will find its way to the cross, and all preaching is tied to Christ’s sacrifice for our sins.

Some years ago, I had an encounter with a Christian couple who claimed their church was very disappointing in its celebration of this blessed memorial. Their complaint was that in their two-year membership in the church, the Supper had not been observed. The excuse according to the pastor was the church was not ready for it. He did not believe the church was spiritual enough to satisfy the Lord that they were worthy to take of His body and blood. This is very unfortunate for every child of God has been made worthy by the blood of the Lamb. Our sins are forgiven, and we stand in the righteousness of Christ, not in the merits of our supposed earned holiness. This is not to say there are no restrictions. We are clearly told not to tempt the Lord, and we should not come to His table with unconfessed sins.

Confession of sin does not require penance as taught by Catholicism. Therefore, there is no time lapse between repentance and forgiveness. As soon as we repent, we are ready for fellowship. This interdicts the pastor’s objection. It is removed with a singular encouragement—a plea for the people to repent. When this is done, the Supper may proceed. The faithful are blessed, and if some will not repent, they are judged by God and not by man.

After observing our night of the Supper, after the prayers and the singing of hymns; after the message preached from the word; after the visuals of breaking bread and pouring cups; after witnessing the members united and partaking of the elements, the visiting couple were saddened for the blessings they had missed.

I encourage all members of Berean to be here and not miss our few opportunities each year when we place our focus entirely on this ordinance. Our practice is not intended to be critical of churches and their frequency of observing the ordinance. We do what is best for this body to solidify the solemnity of the occasion.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Resolved to be Righteous

Berean Baptist on July 8, 2019

(This article was written for the church at the beginning of 2017)

Is there a better way to begin the New Year than to begin by worshipping the Lord with your church? Perhaps we should redouble our efforts to make this year the year of worship. Here today, right now, all together, we should resolve to be faithful in our attendance to the services of our church.

Today’s message is entitled Resolved to Be Righteous. This is based on resolutions made by Jonathan Edwards, but more importantly on Paul’s words of encouragement in Philippians. He challenged Christians to press on to claim the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. If I may, please take a look back at the past for a moment. The following is the text of a bulletin article I wrote on Jonathan Edwards a few years ago. I hope it will be helpful in light of today’s message.

In the year 1722, America’s greatest theologian, Jonathan Edwards, sat down to make a list of resolutions. Rather than concentrate on only a few goals he wished to achieve as we would when making our most important New Year’s resolutions, Edwards made a list of seventy items which he promised to read at least once each week. By doing this, he would not easily forget as we do but would be reminded each and every week to strive for these goals.

Edwards’ resolutions contained some of the same things we attempt such as not eating too much or drinking too much. He also included such standards as never speaking evil of others but to be humble and consider his own faults. His opening statement read thusly: “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.” With such sensitivity to God’s work in his life, his first resolution does not come as a surprise. He wrote, “Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.”

His twenty-eighth resolution is one of my favorites. He wrote: “Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.” If I were to put my finger on the one resolution that guaranteed the success of the other sixty-nine, this would be it. No one grows in scripture without application of it. The sacred scripture is the place to find God’s activities manifested in the life of Christ. If our lives are to be of the highest order, they must be conformed to His activities. What resolution is of any value if it is not one that would be kept by Christ?

This is the reason we plow the Bible at Berean Baptist Church. Solomon wrote in the Proverbs: “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee” (Prov. 3:1-2). Many promises such as this that associate success with the knowledge of scripture are found in the Bible. One of the most important is David’s statement, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). Sin is the crucial sticking point between us and God. If knowledge of the Word of God prevents sin, shouldn’t we resolve to study the scriptures steadily, constantly, and frequently?

This year you may not list seventy resolutions that you promise to read every week, but you should realize as Jonathan Edwards did that you must humbly entreat God for His help each day. Nothing you will do in any week this year will be as personally gratifying and enriching as spending time in God’s word. If you are faithful to it, all Christ-like activities will flow out of the knowledge you gain. This is your guarantee of success.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

A COMPLICATED COMMANDMENT

Berean Baptist on July 1, 2019

Exodus 20:12

I believe the fifth commandment may be the least understood of the ten. It seems direct without much room for interpretation—simply respect our father and mother. However, the commandment is much deeper than appears on the surface. A careful study of its placement as the hinge-pin connecting the first and second divisions of the law reveals the mystery of its complexity.

God is the father of all life which provides the strongest argument for the insistence of obedience to all the commandments, especially the first four which are revelations of His transcendence. Respect is due Him as He is God alone and worshipping Him because of His divine favor in granting us life flows from this. Providential wisdom juxtaposed this to the commandment to honor our parents who are secondarily responsible for giving us life. These two spheres are linked in the fifth commandment which produces a perpetual duty to respect the highest authorities in both spheres of influence.

Secondly, the commandment stands at the head of all human relationships. The next four commandments proceed with directions for the treatment of our fellow man. Thus, as Ezekiel Hopkins describes, we have the basis for handling all spheres of influence, that is the relationship to those in authority, the relationship of those in authority to their inferiors, and the lateral relationships with those who are our equals. The fifth commandment reflects the first sphere, namely, how do we respond to those in authority?

The command is more complex than imagined because it encompasses all authorities, not just the authority of parents. The scope is broad starting with God who gave the command, down to every relationship of every kind in which others are placed over us in the societal order. The command is difficult because of our natural resistance to authority. This begins with the resistance of man against God, as men do not like to retain God in their knowledge (Rom. 1:28). The rejection of God filters down into reluctant submission to all authorities. For this reason, children must be trained to respect their parents. If we fail here in the second greatest level of authority, there is no hope for the final commandments to be obeyed.

The fifth commandment produces an explosion of theological implications making the exposition of it a journey into some of the most important doctrinal concepts in scripture. This short list of statements caused Jesus to preach His most important sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, which relates the law of the Kingdom to the hope of eternal life.

Thomas Watson wrote, “By the first table, we walk religiously toward God; by the second, we walk religiously toward man. He cannot be good in the first table that is bad in the second.” This tells us there is no way to rest secure because we are through with the severity of disobedience to the first table. The way becomes harder now because of 1 John 4:20: “…he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Perhaps you thought you could escape extreme scrutiny because God is invisible leading us to subconsciously believe no one really knows if our heart is right towards Him. Oh, no—the image of God is in that person you just cursed and treated badly. The recesses of your heart are cracked open and made visible every day with your treatment of every human being. Learn these complications or miss obedience to all the commandments.

Pastor V. Mark Smith