His Word Today

¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17:16 (ESV)

Do believers in Christ have a biblical example that recounts the preaching of the Gospel in a postmodern context? Even though proponents of Postmodernism proclaim it began in the late 20^th century, its characteristics can be found in the ancient world; particularly Athens, Greece. The biblical example of Gospel preaching in a postmodern culture is found in Acts 17:16-33. It is Luke’s account of the Apostle Paul in the city of Athens at Mars Hill.

Athens, Greece was the intellectual and cultural epicenter of the first-century world. Paul would have been comfortable in this setting. He grew up in the educational center of Tarsus. The leading Jewish thinkers and scholars in Jerusalem had taught him as a young student. Although Athens was no longer the political and commercial center since Rome conquered it in 146 B.C., it remained the center of art, literature and Greek philosophy.  

“Athens began its rise to glory in the sixth century bc, first under the leadership of Solon (d. 559 bc), who established democratic forms of government, and later under Pericles (d. 429 bc), when the magnificent buildings of the Acropolis took form. In this golden age, Athens became the center of philosophy, art, architecture, and drama,” explains The Tyndale Bible Commentary.

“By the time Paul brought the Christian message to Athens (Acts 17:15–34), the city had only a portion of its former glory and prestige. Roman emperors continued to extend patronage by providing for new buildings and the restoration of the Agora (marketplace). Athens continued to be the home of the most prominent university in the Greek world. Both Epicurean and Stoic philosophy had worthy representatives in the city.”

However, Paul’s spirit (mind, emotions and will) was provoked within him as he travelled in the city. He was angered, irritated and distressed. Why? Paul saw that Athens was full of idols. The city was dominated with images to false gods. While Luke does not say exactly how many idols there were in the city, they dominated the landscape. All forms of philosophical and religious truth claims could be found in Athens. There was no singular meta-narrative for life and living except that there was no singular meta-narrative for life and living. Athenians had their own personal truth claims. You could believe whatever you wanted. There was no absolute truth.

When the Apostle Paul witnessed the postmodern philosophy before him, Luke records that he was provoked. To be provoked (παροξύνω; paroxyno) means to be upset, irritated and angered. In other words, Paul was mad (Eph. 4:36-37). He observed that Athens was filled with lies and false worship.

What was the apostle’s response to the postmodern philosophy he encountered in Athens? This is what we will observe in Acts 17 when next we meet. I encourage to read the text.

Have a blessed day as you serve, honor and worship the one, true God of the Bible. May each of us adhere to the command found in I John 5:21: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Soli deo Gloria!

³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3–4 ESV)

To be living in a postmodern world or culture literally means to be after the modern. Postmodernism is the worldview that follows Modernity.

Modernism promised unlimited human progress; not on the basis of God but rather on the basis of science without God. Modernity promised a New Deal and a Great Society in the 20^th century. However, Modernity did not bring the about the human progress that it promised.

Therefore, Postmodernism has replaced Modernity. Objective truth, whether in God or science, is deconstructed. It is no longer valid. The postmodern believes that truth is personally made rather than found. Truth, for the postmodern, is based on subjective feelings rather than objective facts. This is why politicians say that the United States Southern Border is closed even though thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants cross the border from Mexico into the U.S. every day. A politician’s inner feelings become the basis for truth rather than documented facts.

Any claim to objective truth is evidence that the minority is seeking to oppress the majority says the postmodern philosopher. Truth is socially constructed. Truth is relative.

Postmodernism results in the death of the meta-narrative. The big story. E.g. Marxism. Capitalism. Socialism. Communism. Christianity. Western confidence of progress. Technology. Postmodernism is incredulous toward the meta-narrative.

Therefore, Postmodernism offers micro-narratives. Everyone has their own truth. You have your truth. I have my truth. For example, you may believe that marriage is until death do you part, while others believe that it can end at a moment’s notice for any reason. Therefore, extra-marital affairs are no big deal and anyone can determine what kind of marriage they want to have and what gender they want to be. Marriage, gender, and anything else is all up for grabs.

Postmodernism results in the decline of authority. Socially as well as religiously. No longer in the church do we ask what the text means. Rather, we ask what does the text mean to me, or why do we even need a biblical text. I’ll do what I want when I want because I want. I’ve prayed about it and regardless of what the Bible says, I am going to do what I want to do.

As the church, and church leaders, have sought for decades to reach out to postmodernists, it resulted in the demise of the biblical text; not only in the forsaking of expositional preaching of the biblical text, but also in faithful obedience to the biblical text. Many Christians believe the biblical text possesses subjective meaning. In other words, the reader controls the meaning. This results in the death of the author’s intended meaning. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is no longer the author of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21), the individual reader is. Therefore, you can make the Bible mean or say whatever you want.

Postmodernism results in the decline of spirituality. We now live in a religious environment of moralistic, therapeutic deism. We want to feel good, at any given moment regardless of the consequences. Everything becomes reduced to the therapeutic. What makes me feel right? What makes me feel good? Everybody is sick but nobody is a sinner.

Postmodernism results in the decline of morality. It is all relative. When morality, or doing what is right, becomes relative the result is total anarchy, chaos and lawlessness. This mayhem extends to the individual, the family, the neighborhood, the city, the state and the country. It is found in the home, in school, at work, in the community and in the church. Teens can run rampant on the streets of any major city and the politicians say the teens are doing nothing wrong even as they terrorize pedestrians, smash store owner’s windows and obstruct traffic.

What is the answer? There is only one answer. This is what is to be addressed when next we meet?

Soli deo Gloria!

³⁵ “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:35–36 (ESV)

¹¹ This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. ¹² And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11–12 ESV)

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5 ESV)

¹¹ And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11–12 (ESV)

The aforementioned biblical texts are examples of exclusive truth claims concerning the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. These biblical truths are antithetical to the presupposition of Postmodernism; that there is no absolute, object and universal truth.

Perhaps someone has said to you regarding the Bible’s meaning, “Isn’t it all a matter of interpretation?”  It sounds like a question, but it really isn’t. It is an accusation. It is a postmodern truth claim that attacks the objective truth claim of Scripture.

“It is a claim that there is not one truth, no one clear message. Thus, even when we come to a so-called revealed or inspired text, like the Bible, the claim is that there are many varied interpretations of a given text, hence, absolute truth eludes us again,” explains Amy Orr-Ewing.

Or what this common postmodern challenge: “You don’t mean to say that you take the Bible literally, do you?” Taking the Bible literally, or understanding it is a piece of literature containing many genre’s, does not mean we teach that King Herod was literally a fox (Luke 13:32), or that Jesus was literally a door (John 10:1-7). Bible interpretation understands figures of speech, such as similia and metaphor.

Language and words have clear meanings. If not, then there is no way to communicate. Believers in Christ must strive to correctly understand the specific meanings of God’s Word (2 Tim. 2:15).

“Postmodernism’s influence has clearly infected the church. It’s the very reason so many churches want to tone down their message so that the Gospel’s stark truth claims don’t sound so jarring to the postmodern ear,” explains Dr. John MacArthur.

“It’s why evangelicals now shy away from stating unequivocally that the Bible is true and all other religious systems and worshippers are false. It’s why some who call themselves Christians have gone even further purposefully denying the exclusivity of Christ and openly questioning His claim that He is the only way to God.”

The American church’s postmodern shift has occurred. Prominent pastors suggest that individuals can be saved from the penalty, power and eventual presence of sin apart from grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.  Or, there is the postmodern tolerance that accepts individuals who hold to eternal security while others believe you can lose your salvation. No effort is made to understand what the Bible says and means about the perseverance of the saints.

What may be done to counteract the postmodern influence in today’s evangelical church? That is what will be discussed when next we meet.

Soli deo Gloria!  

A postmodern perspective is skeptical of any grounded theoretical perspectives. It rejects the certainties of modernism and approaches art, science, literature and philosophy with a pessimistic, disillusioned outlook. – Amy Orr-Ewing.    

For the next several days, we will take a sabbatical from our study of The Gospel of Matthew. Instead, the focus will be on the doctrine of objective truth and postmodernism’s attack upon objective truth; God’s truth.

We live in a world in which objective truth is under attack. Any overall, objective truth claim made by anyone faces ridicule because of the presumption that there is no objective truth applicable to all. In other words, there is no meta-narrative, except the contradictory claim that there is no meta-narrative. For in saying there is no meta-narrative, those who say this are in effect making an objective, meta-narrative truth claim. Think about it!

Modernism’s recent attack against truth began in the 17^th – 19^th centuries. During the 20^th century, Modernism beset the evangelical, Protestant church. Modernism taught that only science could explain reality. Modernism’s basic presupposition was that nothing supernatural was real. See J. Gresham Machen’s, Christianity and Liberalism.

Since the beginning of the 21^st century, Postmodernism has eclipsed Modernism as the dominant, secular worldview. Postmodernists reject Modernism’s trust in science and the gateway to truth. Postmodernism says that it is impossible to be certain of any absolute, objective, or universal truth.

The postmodernist view of truth is rotted in subjectivity. All truth claims are to be founded upon the perspectives within the human individual. Human feelings reign supreme. Postmodernism states that objectivity of anything and anyone must be discarded because ultimately it oppresses groups, females, ethnics, third-world peoples and ethics. A postmodern worldview states that the universe is in a state of continual flux and change.

Postmodernism is opposed to any authority: theoretically, historically and existentially. The irony is that postmodern philosophers, educators, or politicians reject all authority except their own. They consistently seek to postulate and propagate their own authority as absolute, objective and universal.

“To the postmodernist, reality is whatever the individual imagines it to be. This means that what is ‘true’ is determined subjectively as a social construct and it is therefore subject to change,” explains Dr. John MacArthur. “According to the postmodern way of thinking, there can be no such thing as objective, authoritative truth that governs or applies to all humanity universally.”

“With every passing day, and in seemingly greater frequency, the world is not only ambivalent to the truth, but it hates the truth. The very concept of truth elicits severe mockery in favor of lies and half-truths that claim, “I will decide what my truth is!” This type of subtle deception stems directly from a shrewd serpent who began twisting the truth in the very beginning when he asked Eve, “Did God actually say. . ?” (Gen. 3:1),” explains Dr. Dustin W. Benge, associate professor of biblical spirituality and historical theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

How are you encountering the postmodern worldview?

Soli deo Gloria!

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,” (2 Timothy 4:1–3 ESV)

For the next several days, we will take a sabbatical from our study of The Gospel of Matthew. Instead, the focus will be on the doctrine of truth.

We live in a world in which objective truth is attacked. Any overall, objective truth claim made by anyone faces ridicule because of the presumption that there is no objective truth applicable to all. In other words, there is no meta-narrative, except the contradictory claim that there is no meta-narrative. For in saying there is no meta-narrative, those who say this are in effect making an objective, meta-narrative truth claim. Think about it!

King Solomon wrote that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11). All that is occurring in the contemporary world occurred in the ancient world. This is especially applicable to the attack upon truth. Pontius Pilate, when interrogating Jesus, cynically asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:33-38).

What is truth? Truth (ἀλήθεια; aletheia) refers to what is real or what actually happened. It is that which corresponds to reality. It is what is factual. In the secular world, life is random and truth is relative. The Bible sets forth that life is purposeful and truth is absolute.

“What is truth? It is defined as that which conforms to fact. It is genuineness, veracity, or actuality. In a word, truth is reality. It is how things actually are,” explains Dr. Steven J. Lawson.

“Theologically, truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory, and being of God. Truth is the self-disclosure of God Himself. It is what it is because God declares it so and made it so. All truth must be defined in terms of God, whose very nature is truth.”

God the Father is the “God of truth (Psalm 31:5; Isaiah 65:16). Jesus Christ “is full of truth” (John 1:14). Jesus Christ is the truth (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). The Apostle Paul called Scripture “the Word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

How has the fallen world reacted to this biblical definition of truth? Unfortunately, not very well. The fallen world, along with the Devil attacks, ridicules and dismisses truth. We will give examples as to how when next we meet.

Pray today that the Lord would sanctify you in His truth; His Word is truth (John 17:17). Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

⁴⁰ “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. ⁴¹ The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Matthew 10:40–42 ESV)

In today’s text, Jesus brought His instructions to the Twelve Apostles to a conclusion. In preparing them for service, He gave them authority over diseases (Matt. 10:1-4). He sent them out to minister to the Jews alone (10:5-15). He compared them to sheep in the midst of wolves (10:16-23). He warned them that people would malign them because they belonged to Him (10:24-25). He commanded them to have no fear (10:26-33). He prepared them for conflict among people caused by the Gospel (10:34-39).

Finally, Jesus taught His men three more truths. They concern the sender, the sent and the behavior by the recipients.

First, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” To receive (δέχομαι; dechomai) means to welcome, accept and believe. The logical flow in the text is that people who welcomed the apostles’ Gospel welcomed Jesus Christ who commissioned the apostles with the Gospel. By doing so, they also welcomed God the Father who sent the Gospel message by Jesus Christ.

Second, “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.” The principle here is that those who receive ambassadors, or emissaries, of another are in effect receiving the individual who sent them. To receive the disciples of Jesus Christ is to receive Jesus Christ who sent the disciples.

Third, “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Jesus pronounced an oracle of blessing upon those who received the messengers along with the message. Kindness shown to Jesus’ disciples by individuals will be kindness Jesus will show them in the future. Mercy shown will be mercy given.

“If anyone would receive [the disciples] in a friendly manner, and do them kind offices, [Jesus] would be as highly pleased as if their benevolence had been exercised towards his own person; and not only so, but that in such a sacrifice God the Father would smell a sweet savor,” explains John Calvin.

The relationship between Christ and His disciples is that what we do for a believer we do for the Savior. Even if we are not in full-time ministry, all believers in Christ serve Jesus Himself when we provide for the Gospel’s extension.

How may you serve the living Savior today by serving others?

Soli deo Gloria!

³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34–39 ESV)

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” The figure of speech known as oxymoron is when apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction. For example, “old news,” “deafening silence,” or “organized chaos.” My favorite oxymoron is “jumbo shrimp.” Delicious!  

Jesus provided an apparent oxymoron in Matthew 10:39. To find life means to lose it? To lose one’s life means you will find it? What did Jesus mean by these statements?

To find life (εὑρίσκω; heurisko) means to actively attain life valued by the fallen world. To pursue such a life, and its lifestyle, is to eventually actively lose (ἀπόλλυμι; apollymi) eternal life that is solely found in Christ. It is better to lose the life the world offers for the sake of Christ in order to really find and possess eternal life.

“The ultimate purpose of life is to show that Jesus is more precious than life,” explains Pastor John Piper.

How often do we see people in the media who pursue with abandonment all that this life has to offer? Tragically, those who pursue life and living by the fallen world’s standards, end up either disillusioned or dead. Individuals are told to take a fentanyl pill to experience a rush they’ve never before experienced, only to forfeit their life for the promised thrill.

“Jesus does not praise heedless thrill-seekers over golfers and bowlers. He would have us remember that however we craft our lives, every heart eventually fails and everybody dies,” explains commentator Daniel M. Doriani.

“Those who live for self-die twice and may never even live once. Those who die to self, die once and live twice, now and forever.”

Be a living oxymoron today.

Soli deo Gloria!

³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34–39 ESV)

As the examination of today’s text continues, Jesus explained to the Twelve Apostles the significance of conflict within human relationships due to a sinner’s conversion to Christ. Conflict with friends and family because of an individual’s faith in Christ is because of their overwhelming love for Christ. This not only changes their relationship with God the Father, but also with fellow human beings.

Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), is to be the primary love in our lives. All other relationships are secondary to the believer’s love for God. This should not alarm us for to love God preeminently results in believers in Christ loving others appropriately.

“Whoever loves family or personal peace and prosperity more than Jesus is not fit to be His disciple. When forced to choose between Jesus and any other joy or pleasure, a disciple at least intends to choose Jesus. We may falter and fail, but it is our heart’s desire to take up our cross and follow Jesus,” explains commentator Daniel M. Doriani.

Family discord because of the Gospel is particularly referred to in this context as taking up one’s cross and following Jesus. It is a task which disciples must accept afresh each day. It is undertaking the task of serving the Lord with an attitude of self-renunciation and God glorification.

“Here is Jesus’ first mention of the word “cross” to his disciples. To them it would have evoked a picture of a violent, degrading death. He was demanding total commitment from them—even unto physical death—and making this call to full surrender a part of the message they were to proclaim to others. This same call to life-or-death devotion to Christ is repeated in 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; 14:27. For those who come to Christ with self-renouncing faith, there will be true and eternal life (Matt. 10:39),” explains Dr. John MacArthur.

What cross are you currently taking up as your follow and live for Christ? Have you been rejected by your unconverted friends? Are members of your family in conflict with you because of your faith in Christ? Have you encountered physical suffering and persecution due to your sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Soli deo Gloria!

³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34–39 ESV)

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Look upon a little child;
Pity my simplicity,
Suffer me to come to Thee. – Charles Wesley

Isn’t that how most of us think of Jesus. Gentle, meek and mild. Yet today’s text portrays a different impact Jesus would have upon not only individuals but also whole families.

Even though Jesus is identified as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), He clearly taught that He did not to come to bring peace to the earth. Rather, he came to bring a sword. The sword (μάχαιρα; machaira) literally means a dagger or large knife. Metaphorically, it refers to discord and the violence of war.

Jesus explained what He meant by this provocative statement. “³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

“Jesus did not deny that peace would result from His work. He inaugurated the rule and reign of the kingdom of God; it is characterized by lasting peace, resulting in the destruction of God’s enemies, eradication of sin and its effects, and the presence of the salvation of God. But the road to this peace is not marked with tranquility. Instead, it is filled with division and conflict. This is what is meant by the term “sword.” Luke’s account makes this even more explicit as “sword” is replaced with “division” (Luke 12:51). Division is inevitable because Jesus and His kingdom message demand a response. While some welcome Jesus, many reject Him and His message, sometimes passionately. Conflict is expected because with Jesus comes a new kingdom. Meanwhile, the prince of this world does not sit idly by,” explains Rev. Joel E. Kim.

“Jesus calls upon His disciples to persevere. He prepared them for inevitable rejection and hostility. The response of the world to Jesus and His message of peace was anything but peaceful, and we who are His disciples today should not expect anything different. While the way of the cross is far from easy or worry-free, Jesus reminds His disciples that by losing they gain, and by dying they will live.”

Soli deo Gloria!