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Apostolic Authority and Christian Hope (1 Timothy 1:1) · Reformed Thinking

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So imagine a royal Courier riding into your town.
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He walks up to your front door, right?
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And he hands you this heavy parchment.
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It's sealed with thick Crimson wax, and it bears the Crest of
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an absolute monarch. Right, a king.
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Yeah, a sovereign king. And when you break that seal and
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read the words inside, you don't offer critiques on the King's
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font choice. No, you wouldn't do.
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That you don't suggest edits to the margins or, you know, form a
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committee to discuss whether or not you agree with the direct.
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That would be treason, essentially.
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Spot on. You recognize that the document
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carries the full weight of the throne.
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Your only proper response is total submission.
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Welcome to Reform Thinking. Today we are taking a deep dive
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into First Timothy chapter one, verse one.
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It is a massive verse to tackle. It really is.
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We are analyzing the single staggering sentence through the
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strict lens of Reformed theology and the Westminster Standards.
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And the sources we are referencing today consist of two
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extensive theological and homiletical commentaries.
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Right, we are going to slow down and unpack the massive
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theological weight contained in Paul's opening greeting.
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Because, I mean, modern culture looks at the concept of
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authority with intense suspicion.
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Absolutely. In our secular age, authority is
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viewed as something inherently oppressive.
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Yeah, like it's something that must be questioned, dismantled,
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or at least mitigated by Democratic consensus.
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And tragically, the modern church often falls into this
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very same trap. We see a landscape where
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pastoral ministry is treated like a corporate career.
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It's managed by focus groups, driven by marketing strategies,
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and evaluated by user engagement metrics.
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Which is completely foreign to the New Testament. 100% So our
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mission today is to counteract that completely by showing how
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Paul establishes an absolute, non negotiable divine mandate
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right out of the gate. The stakes could not be higher
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for you, the listener, or for the church at large.
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Else why? Well, this opening verse is not
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a polite cultural greeting. It functions as an authoritative
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theological threshold for the entire letter.
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Like a gateway? Precisely if the Church
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misinterprets or ignores the gravity of this single verse, it
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loses its footing entirely. That is a heavy statement.
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It is, but it's true. The moment a congregation
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forgets that its existence and its order are mandated by
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heaven, it slides inevitably into human pragmatism.
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So it becomes just another human organization.
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Yes, when we look at First Timothy, we are looking at a
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text written into a context of doctrinal confusion and
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ecclesiastical disorder. Timothy had a huge mess on his
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hands. He really did.
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He is receiving instructions for the government, the purity and
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the doctrinal stability of the household of God.
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So everything that comes after verse one is built on verse one.
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That is right. Everything that follows in this
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letter, the qualifications for elders and deacons, the conduct
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of public worship, the role of men and women, must be heard
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under the weight of the divine authority established right
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here. We are stepping into a sphere
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where human opinion carries 0 weight.
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Zero and the decrees of the Creator dictate every facet of
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how the church operates. This is about acknowledging that
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God rules His Church by truth. And any deviation from that
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truth is a rebellion against the King.
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That is the only way to read it. So to truly grasp why Paul opens
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his letter with such strict, unyielding authority, we need to
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transport ourselves back to the specific historical crisis that
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provoked this letter in the 1st place.
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The. Context is everything here.
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Right, so this was written somewhere between 8062 and 64.
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That places it between Paul's first Roman imprisonment and his
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eventual martyrdom, Nero. A very dark, intense period for
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the early believers. Yeah, and the setting is the
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city of Ephesus. For context, Ephesus was a
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massive Roman metropolis. It was a booming hub of
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commerce. It was essentially the jewel of
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Asia Minor. Right.
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But more significantly, it was entirely dominated by the
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idolatrous cult of Artemis. The Temple of Artemis was one of
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the wonders of the ancient world.
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I read it was a massive imposing structure that physically and
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economically dominated the entire region.
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Oh absolutely. The silversmiths made their
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living selling idols. The banking system was tied to
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the temple treasury. So it was a suffocating,
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immersive Pagan culture. You couldn't buy a loaf of bread
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in the marketplace without bumping into a shrine or a
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festival dedicated to a false goddess.
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Wow. It would be incredibly
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intimidating for a small community of Christians to live
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there. It would be terrifying, but the
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fascinating thing here is that the real threat to the Ephesian
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church was not the paganism outside the walls.
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The crisis was internal, yes. That internal threat is
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precisely what makes Paul's tone so urgent.
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Because years earlier in Acts chapter 20, Paul had spoken
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directly to the Ephesian elders, he.
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Prophesied to them, weeping, that fierce wolves would rise up
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from among their own ranks to speak twisted things and draw
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disciples away. And by the time First Timothy is
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written, that prophecy had materialized as a devastating
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reality. It came true.
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Unauthorized teachers, people who likely held recognized
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positions within the congregation, were corrupting
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the church. So these were leaders, people
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they trusted. That is the tragedy of it.
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They were introducing myths, endless genealogies and a highly
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legalistic mishandling of the Mosaic Law.
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So these were not atheists attacking the church from the
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outside. No, these were insiders using
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religious vocabulary to drag the congregation away from the
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Gospel of grace. They were substituting the
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objective truth of Christ with theology and human philosophy.
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And when elders turn into wolves, the damage is
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catastrophic. Because they use their position
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of trust to feed their own pride and gather a personal following.
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Yes, and that creates A terrifying environment for a
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young pastor like Timothy. I mean, he is tasked with
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cleaning up a mess created by men who were probably older and
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more established in the community than he was.
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Which is a daunting task for anyone.
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That dynamic creates a massive logistical question that I think
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anyone would ask ask upon reading this greeting.
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What is that? Well Timothy was Pauls protege.
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Paul literally calls him his true child in the faith.
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They were very close. Right.
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They had an incredibly close, affectionate relationship.
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They traveled together, suffered together and ministered together
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for years. They were family, essentially.
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So why pull rank? Why write such a stiff, formal
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institutional opening to a close friend when he could have just
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written a warm personal note of encouragement?
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That is a great question. I mean, if my mentor sent me a
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letter and opened it by citing his official job title and
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demanding my compliance, I would be incredibly confused.
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You would be confused if you assumed the letter was met only
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for your eyes. I see.
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That question cuts to the heart of what this document actually
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is. This was never intended to be a
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private personal note between two friends reading by
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candlelight. It was a public church manual.
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Precisely. It was meant to be read aloud to
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the entire Ephesian congregation on the Lord's Day.
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So the whole church is listening to this.
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When the believers gathered, this letter would be proclaimed
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publicly. And remember, Timothy was facing
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severe opposition from those aggressive self appointed
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teachers we just discussed. He needed backup.
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He needed the public backing of Apostolic authority to silence
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them. So by opening with a declaration
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of his official office, Paul is actively providing Timothy with
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the ammunition he needs to enforce church discipline.
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He is drawing a hard line in the sand for the whole congregation
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to hear. This establishes that true
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doctrine rests exclusively on heavenly revelation.
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It does not rest on human novelty.
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It does not rest on a teacher's charisma, and it certainly does
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not rest on the shifting sands of cultural approval.
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Because false teaching always destabilizes the Church, right
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doctrine is never an isolated matter.
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That is a crucial point. What a congregation believes
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about God and grace dictates how they worship and how they live.
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So Paul is equipping Timothy to guard the truth, not manage a
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religious club. Therefore, the assertion of his
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Apostolic office prepares every hearer in that Ephesian room to
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recognize that Timothy's subsequent actions of discipline
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and structural reform are not his own arbitrary choices.
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They are the execution of a divine order.
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Yes, understanding that this is a public corrective document
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leads us directly to the specific way Paul identifies his
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right to correct them. Right, he invokes his
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apostleship, but he does it with a very specific vocabulary.
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Let us look at the phrasing he uses in the Greek.
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He says he is an apostle cat epitagon, which translates to by
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command. It is fascinating when you look
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at the other letters Paul wrote. Yeah, he typically introduces
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himself as an apostle by the will of God, using the Greek
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word thaloma. But here he switches his
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vocabulary and uses epitage. Which is a highly technical
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Greco Roman term. You would see this word used for
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an imperial edict from Caesar. It is a royal non negotiable
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decree. Yes, this makes me think of the
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concept of a military draft. That is a great way to picture
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it. When a nation institutes a draft
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during wartime, you don't submit a resume to a selection board
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highlighting your qualifications for the infantry.
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No, you do not. You don't get a polite
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invitation in the mail with an RSVP card that you can decline
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if it doesn't fit your current career goals.
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You are drafted by the sovereign authority of the state and your
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compliance is mandatory. Your life is is entirely
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redirected by a decree from above.
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Paul is essentially saying he was drafted by the sovereign
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king of the universe. Because he was a persecutor of
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the Church, violently opposing the gospel, and Christ arrested
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him on the road to Damascus by sovereign grace.
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His apostleship is not a career path he selected, it is a
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mandate he received. And that word epitague,
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absolutely highlights the necessity, appointment and
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legitimacy of his office. Your analogy of the military
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draft is highly accurate because it removes all illusion of self
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appointment. And this specific linguistic
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choice aligns seamlessly with the Westminster Confessions
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teaching on God's eternal decree.
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It really does. The confession states that God
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from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own
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will, did freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever
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comes to pass. So Paul's calling was decreed
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before the foundation of the world.
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This contrasts sharply and decisively with the Armenian
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error of self determined service.
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Break that down for us. What is the Armenian error here?
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Well, in Armenian theology, there is a pervasive assumption
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that human free will is the decisive factor in salvation and
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ministry. It suggests that God offers
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opportunities that man autonomously accepts or rejects
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based on his own innate wisdom or goodness.
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Right. Paul's use of command shatters
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that illusion. His office is rooted entirely in
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divine appointment, not human volition.
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He didn't cooperate with Grace on the Damascus Rd.
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Grace conquered him. Yes, when the Ephesian church
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hears the word epitaga, they are being told that Paul's authority
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is not derived from a popular vote, a committee consensus, or
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his own personal ambition. It descends vertically from the
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throne of God. Absolutely.
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I think we need to pause and offer a breakdown of what that
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Armenian air looks like in a typical modern church setting,
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because it is incredibly pervasive today.
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It is everywhere. Let's say you walk into an
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average evangelical church this Sunday.
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You might hear a pastor talk about ministry or salvation as
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if God is nervously wringing his hands in heaven.
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And we will choose to partner with him to accomplish his
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goals. Yeah, the language often used
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makes God sound like a recruiter at a job fair handing out Flyers
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and hoping people sign up for the.
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Team It diminishes the sovereignty of God entirely.
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But if we apply Paul's concept of the divine mandate to the
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modern church, the implications are staggering.
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We see a massive proliferation of seeker sensitive church
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models where pulpits become stages for human ideas.
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Pastors often act like religious entrepreneurs, brand managers or
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entertainers seeking to capture a larger market share in their
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city. They survey the community to
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find out what kind of church people want, and then they build
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it. They are operating entirely
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outside this divine mandate. Legitimate ministry is wholly
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derivative. Meaning the pastor has no
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inherent authority whatsoever. He only possesses authority when
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he is faithfully speaking the objective word of God.
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So the moment he relies on his own creative, therapeutic speech
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or pragmatic business methods, he abandons his Commission.
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The Church is a receiving body. It is built upon the foundation
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of the apostles and prophets. And it is never free to invent
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its own truth. That is a vital application.
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The moment a minister views himself as an innovator rather
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than a herald, he has compromised the pulpit.
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A herald simply delivers the message of the king, he doesn't
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edit it to make it more palatable to the rebellious
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citizens. This brings us back to the stark
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reality of the word command. When false teachers in Ephesus
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were spinning their creative myths, they were acting as
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religious entrepreneurs. They were innovating.
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And Paul counters this by appealing to the unalterable
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decree. Human nature violently opposes
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this concept because we want to maintain control.
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We want a religion we can manage, a deity we can negotiate
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with, and a church structure we can customize to our
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preferences. The decree of God strips away
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all of that autonomy it. Forces the creature into a
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position of absolute dependency. See and submission before the
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creator. This was true in the 1st century
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and it remains true today. The faithful pastor does not
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survey the culture to see what will be well received.
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He opens the scriptures and declares what God has commanded,
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trusting that the Spirit will use the Word to gather and
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perfect the elect. Now receiving a non negotiable
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royal decree from an absolute sovereign could sound terrifying
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to you. It is a heavy reality.
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If the creator of the universe issues a command that strips
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away all your autonomy, that is a crushing weight.
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The natural human reaction is fear.
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However, the tone shifts entirely when we look at the
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specific title of the king who is issuing this command.
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Paul writes by command of God our Savior.
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In the Greek, that is the Usuchar's homan.
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This is a brilliant historical subversion that would have
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resonated loudly in Ephesus. Because in the 1st century,
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Roman emperors like Nero frequently claimed the title of
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savior. They promised peace, security
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and economic prosperity to the citizens of the Empire in
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exchange for absolute loyalty. And Paul reclaims this title and
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gives it exclusively to God. By doing so, he is exposing the
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idolatry of relying on worldly security, government structures
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or human institutions for deliverance.
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He is declaring that the Triune God is the only true deliverer
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from the wrath to come. But this phrase also introduces
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A theological framework that is central to Reformed thought, the
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distinction between the law and the gospel.
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The command aspect functions as the law while God our Savior
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announces the gospel. How did the early church react
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to hearing those two concepts jammed together in the very
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first sentence? Well, the early believers would
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have experienced an immediate psychological and spiritual
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recalibration. The Law gospel distinction is
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crucial for ensuring the pulpit remains a place of both
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conviction and consolation. We see two different functions
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of the word working in perfect harmony here. 1st the command
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functions as the law. In Reformed theology, we speak
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of the 1st and 2nd uses of the law.
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The law acts as a divine mirror. Right.
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It exposes human rebellion, our deep seated desire for spiritual
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autonomy, and our total inability to achieve
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righteousness on our own. It crushes man centered religion
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and the arrogance of self governance.
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When false teachers attempt to establish their own authority
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based on moral performance, the law of the divine command
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exposes their sin. It humbles the center, stripping
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away the false refuges of self righteousness.
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Then, once the law is performed its pedagogical function of
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driving us to despair of ourselves, the gospel is
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announced in the title God our Savior.
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This title reveals that salvation initiates entirely
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with God's sovereign grace. It flows from His gracious
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purpose and is accomplished according to His will alone.
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God does not simply assist sinners in saving themselves.
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He is the author and accomplisher of Redemption.
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This thoroughly refutes moralism, which suggests we can
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earn favor through behavior. And it refutes the prosperity
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gospel, which treats God as a cosmic vending machine.
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The gospel declares that the righteousness the law demands is
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freely provided through the imputed merit of Christ.
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But wait, if the law is meant to crush our autonomy and point us
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to Christ, what happens on a Tuesday morning when I have
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pretty accepted Christ? That brings up a massive point
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of friction for the daily life of a Christian.
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If we are completely saved by God's sovereign grace and our
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salvation is an accomplished fact through the gospel, how
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does the command aspect apply to you right now?
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Am I still being crushed by this command?
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Does God's command still carry a threatening condemning weight
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for the believer? Because if the law crushes human
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autonomy, what happens to the person who has already been
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driven to Christ and received the grace of God our Savior?
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Does the law simply disappear, or does its function change in
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the life of the regenerate person?
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Because if it disappears entirely, we run into the
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antinomian error. The idea that we can just live
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however we want because Grace covers it all.
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You have pinpointed the exact tension that the Westminster
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divines addressed with profound way with incredible clarity.
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This is precisely where we must look to the third use of the
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law. Known in Reformed theology as
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the Tertius usus ligius. This is beautifully articulated
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in Chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
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For the regenerate believer, the person who has been saved by
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grace and united to Christ, the law no longer functions as a
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covenant of works to be justified or condemned by.
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The command loses its terrifying voice of condemnation because
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Christ has absorbed the curse of the law on our behalf.
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Instead, its function changes. It acts as a fatherly
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instruction. It becomes a perfect rule of
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righteousness that guides the believer in how to walk in a
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manner pleasing to the Lord. We don't obey the command to
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become saved, we obey it out of intense gratitude because we
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have already been saved by God our Savior.
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For Timothy in the Ephesian church, the command to uphold
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sound doctrine, to silence false teachers, and to order the
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church biblically was not a burden of legalism.
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It was the pathway of joyful obedience.
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The law is a lamp unto the feet of the redeemed.
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Therefore, the believer delights in the law of God in their inner
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being. We reject the antinomian error
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you mentioned, which claims that since we are under grace, the
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moral law has no bearing on our conduct.
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The same God who saves us commands our holiness.
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And his spirit actually grants us the ability to keep His
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commands out of love. That distinction provides such
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massive psychological relief. It really does.
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You realize your performance doesn't dictate your
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justification. Yet you still have a clear,
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objective standard for how to live a life that honors the
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king. Now, since God the Father
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initiates this massive sovereign plan of salvation, the mechanism
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and the absolute guarantee of that salvation rest on the final
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phrase of Paul's greeting. Christ Jesus, our hope.
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Let us look at the syntax here, because the Greek uses the
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definite article. It doesn't say Christ is a hope,
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or that he provides hope, or that he teaches us how to be
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hopeful. He is the objective substance of
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hope. He is hope personified.
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I think about how the world defines hope.
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Worldly hope is entirely subjective and anxious.
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It is like sitting in a massive sports stadium in the fourth
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quarter, hoping your team pulls off a miracle to win the
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championship. You are biting your nails, your
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heart is racing and the outcome is completely uncertain.
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That is how the world views the future.
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But Christian hope is fundamentally different.
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Christian hope is like standing in that same stadium but holding
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a verified, authenticated winning ticket after the game
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has already been played and the victory is secured.
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You are still in the stadium, you are still watching the
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events unfold, but the outcome is fixed.
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We place our hope in a historical reality that has
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already been accomplished by Christ and a future reality that
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is guaranteed by His promises. The stadium analogy perfectly
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illustrates the tension of eschatology.
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What theologians call the yet the fan with the.
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Winning Ticket still watches the rest of the game unfold because
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he lives in the reality of time, but his internal.
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State is completely devoid of anxiety regarding the final
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result to understand the. Magnitude of Christ Jesus our
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hope. We must view him through his
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threefold office as prophet, priest and king, as prophet.
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He reveals to us the absolute truth of God, dispelling the
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myths and genealogies of the false teachers that were
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plaguing Ephesus as priest. He offered himself as the
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perfect once for all sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and
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reconcile us to God as King. He.
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Currently rules over his church and soverely subdues all his
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enemies. This objective.
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Christological Center stands in complete opposition to the
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social gospel or liberal theology, those frameworks.
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Place their hope in human progress, political
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reformations, social activism, or the gradual perfection of
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society through education. They look inward.
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Or horizontally for salvation, which inevitably leads.
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To despair because human nature is totally depraved.
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The Reformed faith. Looks vertically and
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eschatologically. The church's specific.
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Hope is anchored in the imminent return of the King, which
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Scripture calls the Blessed hope, our confidence.
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For perseverance, bodily resurrection, and eternal glory
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is found holy in Him. We are not hoping.
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For a better political cycle, we are hoping for the consummation
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of the ages when Christ returns to judge the living and the
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dead. Let us expand on the.
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Mechanics of that priestly role, specifically regarding active
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and passive obedience in Reformed theology.
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We talk a lot about these terms, but they can sound like.
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Academic jargon if we don't break them down.
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Can you explain? How his act of obedience, his
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passive obedience, and his current intercession actually
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anchor a believer's conscience outside of themselves when a
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listener. Is going through a season of
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massive church instability watching leaders fail?
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Or when they're dealing with their own personal, crushing
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moral failures? How does understanding, imputed
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merit, and objective hope keep them from spiraling into
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despair? It anchors the.
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Conscience outside of oneself precisely because it removes
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human performance from the equation of justification
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entirely. This is the.
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Bedrock of Reformed soteriology. Christ's active.
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Obedience refers to his perfect lifelong submission to the moral
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law of God on behalf of His people.
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He lived the flawless. Life that we failed to live,
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fulfilling every righteous requirement from his birth to
22:45
his death. His passive obedience.
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Refers to his willing submission to the penalty of the law on the
22:50
cross. He passively.
22:51
Endured the wrath of God to atone for our specific sins when
22:55
you are with. Your own moral failure, your
22:57
natural instinct, is to try to find hope in your own resolve to
23:00
do better next time you make promises.
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To God you try to govern yourself that is a fragile.
23:06
Terrifying place to be because the law will always demand
23:08
perfection, but when Christ is. Your hope, your conscience,
23:11
relies entirely on his alien righteousness imputed to you,
23:15
His perfect record. Is credited to your account
23:19
furthermore. He is currently seated at the
23:21
right hand of the Father, making unceasing intercession for us
23:24
when the Church feels. Unstable, or when false teaching
23:28
threatens to overwhelm the truth, we remember that Christ
23:32
is actively governing his Church.
23:34
He has not. Abandoned his bride.
23:36
Our hope is not. In the competence of local
23:39
church leaders, nor in our own spiritual fortitude, it is
23:42
locked. Securely in the person of Jesus,
23:45
when your conscience. Accuses you.
23:46
You don't point to your own works, you point to the finished
23:49
work of the Savior that is the only.
23:51
Mechanism that provides a peace that surpasses all understanding
23:55
if Christ is our. Objective hope and God's
23:57
sovereign decree governs the existence of the church.
24:00
We have to talk about how a local congregation must operate
24:03
today based on the weight of this single verse applying this.
24:07
Mandate to the modern church requires A willingness to stand
24:10
against the cultural tide. The commentaries we.
24:12
Are referencing explicitly detail how this verse demands
24:16
the maintenance of strict biblical structures.
24:19
This is not an. Optional suggestion It involved
24:22
upholding. Complementarian roles
24:24
recognizing that God has ordained specific, distinct
24:27
roles for men and women in the home and in church leadership,
24:31
it also means. Actively rejecting secular
24:34
sociological trends, the sources give.
24:36
Stark warnings against integrating frameworks like
24:39
critical race theory or seeker sensitive pragmatism into the
24:42
body of Christ when a church. Integrates these secular
24:45
philosophies it is substituting human sociology for divine
24:49
revelation. It is an attempt to.
24:51
Rewrite the King's edict, but I need to play devil's.
24:53
Advocate here because this is where the cultural friction is
24:56
hottest for a modern listener. Our modern culture.
24:59
Places its highest value on inclusivity, flexibility, and
25:02
meeting people where they are. It feels incredibly.
25:05
Jarring to hear that we must hold such strict lines, doesn't
25:08
the biblical. Command to love our neighbors
25:10
require a bit of doctrinal flexibility if we hold to.
25:13
Such rigid, uncompromising structures.
25:16
Aren't we going to alienate people and put unnecessary
25:19
stumbling blocks in front of the gospel?
25:21
That is the exact. Argument advanced by theological
25:24
liberalism and pragmatic church growth experts and it is a point
25:27
of. Massive friction for the modern
25:29
mind. We must address this.
25:31
Empathetically but firmly true love for.
25:33
Christ's people requires absolute clarity about Christ's
25:37
word vagueness. Is the enemy of the Church to
25:39
alter the divine? Mandate under the guise of
25:42
cultural inclusivity is not an act of love, it is an act of
25:45
spiritual treason, the modern mind insists.
25:48
That certainty is arrogance and conviction is divisive,
25:51
suggesting that love. Necessitates softening the edges
25:53
of doctrine so that no one feels excluded.
25:56
However, a congregation. That abandoned sound doctrine to
26:00
accommodate secular sensibilities will soon lose its
26:03
holiness, its proper worship, and the gospel itself.
26:06
You cannot offer True. Pastoral comfort without divine
26:09
authority if you remove the. Authority of the King.
26:11
You possess nothing but subjective life advice which has
26:15
no ability to save of a soul from hell or comfort a grieving
26:18
heart. The Church is not.
26:20
A social club designed to mirror the demographics or the
26:23
ideological trends of the surrounding culture.
26:26
It is a covenant. Community called out of the
26:28
world and ordered by the command of God.
26:30
When we reject. The biblical order, such as
26:33
complementarianism, or when we adopt secular analytical tools
26:37
to understand human relationships, we are telling
26:40
God that his revelation is insufficient, we are implying.
26:44
That the culture possesses higher wisdom than the
26:47
Scriptures to stand. Firm on the decree of God, our
26:50
Savior is the most loving action a church can take because it
26:53
preserves. The only truth that can actually
26:55
set people free. We do not edit the.
26:57
Medicine just because the patient dislikes the taste that
27:00
uncompromising. Stance on truth extends directly
27:03
into the Sacramento life of the church, particularly in
27:06
corporate worship. We move from the.
27:08
Audible word of the sermon where the decree is preached to the
27:11
visible word of the sacrament in the the Lord's supper in a
27:14
reformed. Context The communion table is
27:16
not treated casually. Fencing the table is.
27:19
A practice that embodies the Apostolic gravity.
27:21
We have been discussing fencing the table.
27:23
Means the elders explicitly state who is invited to partake
27:28
and who is warned to abstain. It ensures that.
27:30
Only those who are trusting in Christ, who have been baptized,
27:34
and who are living in submission to the King's command come
27:36
forward now to. A visitor.
27:39
This can sound harsh. It sounds like we're.
27:41
Setting up bouncers at the communion table, but it is.
27:44
Actually, a physical demonstration that the hope of
27:48
Christ is reserved for those who submit to His authority, you
27:51
cannot reject. The King's edict in your daily
27:54
life and then comfortably eat at his banquet table on Sunday
27:57
explain how fencing. The table acts as a protection
28:01
rather than just a restriction. Fencing the table is.
28:03
The necessary pastoral application of First Timothy
28:06
chapter one, verse one is a massive.
28:08
Act of spiritual care the sacrament of the.
28:10
Lord's Supper is a covenantal meal, it confirms.
28:14
The promise of the gospel physically sealing the spiritual
28:16
reality of our union with Christ when the elders.
28:19
Fence the table. They are exercising the keys of
28:22
the Kingdom. They are protecting the.
28:24
Purity of the Church, But more importantly, they're protecting
28:27
individuals from eating and drinking judgement upon
28:30
themselves. As Paul warns explicitly in
28:33
First Corinthians 11. The table is reserved.
28:35
For those who acknowledge that their only hope is the broken
28:38
body and shed blood of Christ if a person is.
28:41
Relying on their own moral performance, or if they are
28:44
living in unrepentant rebellion against God's commands,
28:48
partaking in the sacrament, is a mockery of the divine mandate.
28:52
They're lying with their. Bodies, the visible word of.
28:54
The sacrament must perfectly align with the audible word of
28:57
the Gospel, both the preaching. And the sacraments are means of
29:00
grace instituted by the command of God, designed to fortify the
29:04
faith of the elect by maintaining these.
29:06
Strict biblical guardrails around worship.
29:09
The church visibly testifies to the world that it operates under
29:13
a heavenly jurisdiction. It reminds everyone.
29:15
Present that the Church belongs to Christ and we approach Him on
29:18
His terms, not our own. To recap the sheer.
29:21
Density of what we have covered today first time see chapter one
29:24
verse one is clearly not a throwaway greeting in just a
29:27
handful of. Grief words.
29:28
Paul establishes the total authority of divine revelation,
29:31
the sovereign grace of God. The Savior and the objective.
29:34
Security of Christ the hope this single.
29:36
Verse effectively crushes all human autonomy within the
29:40
church. It strips away our.
29:41
Desire to govern ourselves, to invent our own religion, or to
29:45
find hope in our own performance forces us to.
29:49
Look entirely to the Triune God, recognizing that our salvation
29:53
and our church structures are handed down to us by royal
29:56
decree. I want to leave you with.
29:58
A specific challenge as we conclude this deep dive.
30:01
A challenge for the listener. Yes, the next.
30:03
Time you walk into a Sunday service, check your expectations
30:06
at the door, ask yourself a very.
30:08
Hard question, are you walking into?
30:10
A building hoping to hear an entertaining speaker offer
30:12
subjective life advice to help you manage your week?
30:15
Or are you preparing? Your heart to submit to a royal
30:19
edict from the Creator of the universe.