Session 7: Godly Living in the Present Age

Knowing what it is we here at Hickory Corners Bible Church believe and how it is we operate is important. HCBC Basics is a condensed class to look at our statement of faith, and how it is we apply what we believe to our church life. This session will focus on Godly living in this present age.

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As we continue considering how it is that we are to live our life in Christ Jesus at the present time, there are three more doctrinal pieces that we must consider in addition to the ordinances given by God for believers, first the doctrine regarding Spiritual Gifts, especially, then the doctrine regarding the 2 natures of those who are now in Christ, and then the doctrine related to our understanding of Civil Government.

Let’s pray before we begin:

O Lord our God, eternal giver of all that is good, Author of all the blessings we enjoy, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus our Lord, who chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, who predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of Your will. Your great and abundant grace has been poured out upon we who You have called according to Your purpose; for that part we know and perceive exceeds all praise. We pray that as we consider these gifts you have lavished upon us and how we are to use them in this present age, we would use them mightily for the glory and honor of Your blessed Son. Amen!

Spiritual Gifts

There are few subject which seem to cause greater angst, excitement, or even hatred between Christians than the subject of spiritual gifts. And though I think there are several causes for that, I believe the greatest single cause is a failure to look to the totality of what Scripture says regarding the subject. And if we don’t look at the totality of Scripture, if we don’t accurately handle the word of truth in a manner that “cuts straight”, lining up each thing we think we see with the totality of scripture regarding the subject, it can be both confusing, and we can easily be led astray from the truth. This is one area where our commitment to the regulative principle, that our belief and practice must be based upon precepts or examples taken from the rightly and accurately handled Word of God, is of extraordinary value within the church. It is the inaccurate and loose handling of the word of God in this matter of spiritual gifts that causes such great confusion. And this thing should not be, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:33, “for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

As we begin to carefully consider how it is we are to live in this present age, it is vital that we understand what it is we are referring to, for we believe that God, in His sovereignty, has granted extra-ordinary powers to each and every Christian, which enable them to serve the church of Christ Jesus in a particular manner. And we ought to be clear, that these gifts are not natural gifts, nor even a heightening of a natural gift. A spiritual gift is something new and different altogether.

In the broadest sense, we see the grand brush-strokes of this doctrine in 1 Corinthians 12, so turn there with me in your Bibles, and let’s read together:

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 LSB

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of workings, but the same God who works everything in everyone.

1 Corinthians 12:6–7 LSB

And there are varieties of workings, but the same God who works everything in everyone. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable.

1 Corinthians 12:8–10 LSB

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to someone else faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to someone else various kinds of tongues, and to another the translation of tongues.

1 Corinthians 12:11 LSB

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Now, you will note especially in this 11th verse, but also back in the 7th verse, that these gifts are given in a sovereign manner by the Holy Spirit – it is His prerogative to decide who He will give each particular gift to.

Further, we must not fail to see that every Christian is indeed given some gift, you see him say “to each one” in verse 7, and “distributing to each one individually just as He wills” in verse 11.

The most perfect way for us to understand this is to simply continue reading.

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 LSB

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For also by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For also the body is not one member, but many.

This is the perfect way for us to understand the way these spiritual gifts are distributed. Paul will go on to talk about difference between the foot, the hand, the ear, and the eye, reminding us that each is absolutely vital to the functioning of the body, and that there is a limit to the need for each particular part. Yet, a body without an eye, an ear, a hand, or a foot is severely handicapped, facing unusual challenges not experienced by bodies which are whole and in good health. Each and every part of a body is necessary for it to function as it ought, and Paul is explaining in verses 15 through 25 that this is the same for the church – if you are not exercising your spiritual gift, the church is likewise handicapped, it is likewise unable to operate as it should.

And so, when it comes to welcoming a person into membership, we do try to see where that perspective member has particular interests or gifts, that we may help that person to exercise their spiritual gifts rightly.

Why?

Because without that person, we would be only harming the body that Christ gave Himself up for, for 1 Corinthians 12:27 reminds us, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” We are not given these gifts for our own sake, but for the sake of the entire body, Peter likewise making this clear in 1 Peter 4, where he writes,

1 Peter 4:10–11 LSB

As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God— whoever speaks, as one speaking the oracles of God; whoever serves, as one serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever. Amen.

And there is something of an order given to some of the gifts, gifts that men perceive as being greater, which Paul continuing on writing to call out that…

1 Corinthians 12:28 LSB

And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.

We also read in

But the Corinthian church had a very great problem with this, which Paul called out to them in the following verses, 1 Corinthians 12:29–30, asking “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all translate?” The implied answer here, is a resounding “no!”

Elsewhere, we read more of these spiritual gifts given in Romans 12:4-8, reading…

Romans 12:4–5 LSB

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another,

Romans 12:6–8 LSB

but having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: whether prophecy, in agreement with the faith; or service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with generosity; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

But let’s turn over to Ephesians to help us understand this a little bit better, because although it is clear that all spiritual gifts that are given, are given by God as He sees fit to His church to build them up; although it is clear that each and every Christian has been given some spiritual gift, and although it is clear that there is no singular gift which must be given for a person to be a Christian, we’ve not yet addressed whether these gifts are given at all times in the history of the church – in other words, whether there are some which are temporary rather than permanent.

And I think that the easiest way to think through this question is to be found in Ephesians 2, where the apostle Paul writes that the saints of God’s household…

Ephesians 2:20–21 LSB

having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord,

Do you catch this? The apostles and the prophets are the foundation, with our Lord being the chief corner stone. A foundation is not something that continues, but is laid once, and then the building erected over the foundation.

In other words, these apostles and prophets were special men appointed at a special time in the church of God; they were there to teach, to preach, to instruct the people of Christ in the time before the books and letters making up the New Testament came to be written and recognized (which, as a side note, every book in our New Testament was firmly accepted by the majority of churches by the end of the first century, shortly after the book of Revelation was written).

And then the purpose for those sign and wonder gifts is made clear in Hebrews 2:3-4,

Hebrews 2:3–4 LSB

how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? That salvation, first spoken by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

These spectacular gifts, things like speaking in tongues, or like miraculous healing, like the gift of apostleship, of prophecy in the sense of foretelling the future or a new revelation from God, were in place to support that foundation of the apostles and prophets laid down once for all, “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints”, is what Jude called it in the third verse of that epistle.

So, we believe that many of these more spectacular gifts were in place temporarily, their function being to affirm the foundation given by the apostles and prophets. Now this is not to say that the miracles themselves have ceased altogether – for surely in the history of the church, and even in recent times, we do see that miracles have occurred. For example, we must, if we acknowledge our doctrine rightly, absolutely affirm that a miracle occurs each and every time a person is saved, for we have already established in the doctrines of man and salvation that man in unable to save himself in a natural sense, but rather it takes a supernatural act of God to open their eyes and bring them to the saving knowledge of the gospel, and provide them the grace and faith necessary for salvation. And, of course, we have all witnessed or heard of instances of answers to prayer, of miraculous escapes, of healing, and even at times understanding coming to a person despite the language barriers of natural men and women. So God can, and does, work miracles today at His own pleasure and for His own purposes.

And lastly, let us consider those gifts necessary to bring believers to maturity, for we read in Ephesians 4, namely…

Ephesians 4:11 LSB

And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

Ephesians 4:12–13 LSB

for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ,

Ephesians 4:14 LSB

so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming,

So, in order to not be children, in order to not be subject to trickery and deceit, in order to be mature in Christ Jesus. in order to be fully and properly equipped, we see that Christ has given to His church “some as apostles, and some as prophets” – those foundational gifts already mentioned in Ephesians 2 – and then the continuing gifts of some evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers.

By way of summary, we say it this way doctrinally:

We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts; the gifts of evangelist, pastor, and teachers are sufficient for the perfection of the saints today; and, that speaking in tongues, foretelling of the future and the working of miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament books were completed and their authority became established. This in no way takes away from the power of God, or the working of miracles, which God can and does do, according to His divine will; however, we reject faith healers and tongues for this age. I Corinthians 12:4-11; 13:8-10; Ephesians 4:11-13; Romans 12:3-8; I Peter 4:10-11

Now, I know that I have spent the vast majority of our time today on this doctrine of spiritual gifts, but as I think I said earlier it is very much related to the doctrine of the church, and in fact these gifts are all centered around the church, rather than around individual persons or denominations. But in the current time we live, there is so much confusion around spiritual gifts and such a lack of true biblical literacy and biblically minded thinking on the subject, that it is warranted and necessary that we deal with it more fully than a simple, brief statement.

Questions:

Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-13. Who has been given spiritual gifts? Who is the one who decides who gets what spiritual gift? What is the implication if a person desires the gift that was given to someone else?

Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 and Romans 12:9-13. What is the character and the mindset that we ought to have as we exercise our spiritual gifts within the body of Christ. How should that modify the way we receive and benefit from others’ exercising their spiritual gifts?

Read Ephesians 4:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 and Romans 12:3-8. Describe the focus and valid use of spiritual gifts. With that in mind, what would you say to the person who wants to say they are a Christian, but only attend a Sunday morning service, even if they attend every week, and occasionally give an offering?

Considering 1 Corinthians 12:14-30, why is it unscriptural to teach that a person must have one particular gift in order to be a Christian?

Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-7. When is using a spiritual gift an abuse of that gift? Describe from these verses the several guidelines to help you use your spiritual gifts rightly?

But as we go on to think about how we live our everyday lives in Christ Jesus, it is absolutely necessary that we consider the two natures of the believer.

The Two Natures

Now, I want you to consider the implication of that doctrine of spiritual gifts as we move into this question of the two natures, because there’s an important linkage we must not fail to understand, related to this question: when a person is saved, is that it? Is it a one-time event that completely eradicates sin and a person never has to do anything else, but to have prayed a prayer and then God will just give them eternity, give them joy and happiness, and they can go on doing whatever pleases them knowing they they and God are “good”?

Obviously, if you have been paying attention as we have worked through these doctrines, you will agree that is not what we believe. For if our sin were eradicated entirely at salvation, we would not have needed gifts to be given to the church other than the apostles, the prophets, and the evangelists. We wouldn’t have needed pastors and teachers in order to become mature in Christ Jesus.

Why is it that we need these gifts to help us mature? Because although we have been removed from the kingdom of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of grace in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we still have what Paul calls in Romans 6, a “body of flesh”. Let’s turn there now, and pick it up in verse 5:

Romans 6:5–7 LSB

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died has been justified from sin.

Now this is talking about what is true of all who are in Christ Jesus – and we went through this in great detail a year ago in our study “We Who Died to Sin”, available on our YouTube channel. But if you are in Christ Jesus, this is true of you – our old man, our old else, was crucified with Him, that our body of sin would be done away with. Paul summarizes this teaching in verse 11,

Romans 6:11 LSB

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

But then he does something weird, if he were to be teaching that sin was totally eradicated, when he turns a corner and gives us the command…

Romans 6:12–13 LSB

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Why? Because what He is saying that although our ownership has changed, although our allegiance has changed, although our master has changed, our old self still remains. But unlike before, when we were entirely under the realm and rule of sin, now we have not only the ability, but also the duty, to restrain our members – not just our physical flesh, but also our faculties such as reason and emotion – from reigning over our bodies.

So here is our doctrine:

We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provisions made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit; and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural. Romans 6:12-14 7:14ff; 8:12-15; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:9-10; I Peter 1:14-16.

It is a foregone conclusion that we will see sin fully eradicated, for God has begun a good work in all true Christians, and promises that He will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus in Philippians 1, He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son in Romans 8.

But the redemption of our bodies has not yet occurred. And so, in the meantime though we have the promise of that glorious state, we will have the responsibility to restrain sin in our mortal bodies.

Questions:

Read Romans 8:1-13. Verse 4 indicates that we can fulfill the Law of God if we are in Christ Jesus, and verse 5 promises that we will fulfill the Law of God. But what do verses 12 and 13 indicate about this relationship we have with fulfilling the Law of God? Why is this important if we already can and know that one day we will fulfill it?

Read Colossians 3:8-15. These statements are commands rather than descriptions; what does that fact tell us about our current nature? Since we are in Christ and therefore able to carry out these commands, how should we be living our lives here and now?

Read Romans 6:1-14. Consider that up through verse 12 is a description of what is true of all believers, what do verses 12-14 tell us about our nature? What are we commanded to do? Why are we commanded to do that?

So now we have considered how we are to live life in the church by exercising the spiritual gifts we have been given through adhering to the foundation laid by the prophets and the apostles, with Christ Himself as the chief cornerstone, and then using the particular gifts given to each Christian for the benefit and building up of the whole body of Christ with a particular emphasis on the local body. We’ve considered how we are to live our own lives, restraining ourselves from doing the sin that our mortal bodies desire to do. But now, we ought to consider how it is we interact with the society outside the church we find ourselves in, so we turn to the question of the civil government.

Civil Government

For there are many people whose “christianity” seems to be defined by, and there for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a particular form of government. We categorically reject that notion – the true Church of Jesus Christ transcends any nationalism or form of civil government. You can find evidence of it flourishing under any governmental form, many unlike our own government in this present day.

But that doesn’t mean that Scripture is silent on the matter. God established the foundation of a civil government following the flood, declaring to Noah in Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience. Genesis 9:5-7; Exodus 18:17-27; II Samuel 23:3; Proverbs 16:12; Daniel 3:17-18; 5:21; Acts 4:18-20; 5:27-29; 23:5; 25:10-11; Romans 13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-17.

Peter writes in his first epistle,

1 Peter 2:13–14 LSB

Be subject for the sake of the Lord to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do good.

Why? Peter explains the purpose in the next verse, saying

1 Peter 2:15 LSB

For such is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Instead of railing against our earthly leaders, the human institutions placed over us by God as “a minister of God to you for good”, Paul writes in Romans 13, we instead ought to obey and to honour them, the sole exception being when those authorities are commanding things which contradict the express will of God, as was the case of Peter and John before the rulers of the Jews who tried to silence them from speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus Christ. The command of Christ Jesus in Matthew 22:21 to “…render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s” is a positive command in both regards. They each have their place.

Questions:

Read Romans 13:1-7. What is the purpose of the civil governments God has placed over us? How are we called to treat the civil government? In light of the many atrocities committed by the Roman Empire, especially against Christians, what does that tell us about how we ought to treat our own government today?

Read Titus 3:1-3. In your own words, describe what our relationship with civil authorities ought to be. What are the implications of verse 3, being that it is an explanation for the commands of verses 1 and 2? Does it matter if we like or personally agree with those civil authorities over us?

Read Acts 4:5-31 and 5:25-33, 40-42, and 16:19-25. For each of these three cases, list out why the apostles were punished by the civil authorities. Were the apostles willing to suffer those punishments? When the apostles were punished by the civil leaders, all three cases show a singular trend in their attitude toward those civil leaders – what is that common response?

Read Matthew 22:17-21. Is there a limit to the authority of the civil government? Now, consider the 3 cases of the prior question. How did the apostles respond to the authorities mixing the religious and civil realms?

Very well, then. I think we have appropriately covered these remaining doctrines from our statement of faith regarding Godly Living in this present age. In our next session, the eighth and final major teaching session of this 9-part series, we will, if the Lord is willing and yet tarries, consider the doctrines of the end times. And after that, we will after our Easter break address any of your questions raised in this series, and I remind you that if you do have a question we would appreciate it if you get your question to me before that week, if possible, in order for Jeff, Rich, Brian, and myself to be better prepared with a fuller answer.