Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20061008.htm
JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD Part XLVII: Heeding Christ's Call With ACCURATE Bible Exposition (John 21:15-25)
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Last Sunday, we learned from John 21:1-19 that the ministry that our risen Lord wants us to promote is the exposition of Scripture in the local church and its application to our lives.

Yet, Christians and Christian leaders can DIFFER as to their beliefs of what the Bible teaches and/ or how to apply it, and that can cause US to come to doubt what WE have believed and practice!

For example, an August 5, 2006 e-mail from a missionary couple we support reports that one of their adult children would soon begin her "study at Duke Divinity School" and that another has been asked "to consider working with the Rick Warrens of Rwanda."

Now, both ventures strain against what we have come to hold the Bible teaches we should believe and/or do: (1) Duke Divinity School's web page claims it trains ministers for the United Methodist Church, a denomination that denies the eternal security of the believer in contrast to our Church's Statement of Faith at Article III, Section 5!

(2) As for Rick Warren's ministries, he told reporter, Paul Nussbaum of the Philadephia Enquirer in January of 2006 that "fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be 'one of the big enemies of the 21st century'"! This is an astonishing statement for Warren to make in view of the fact that the earliest fundamentalists were godly Christian leaders. Also, the Wall Street Journal reported on September 5, 2006 in an article by Suzanne Sataline that the application of Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven program to other churches has split a number of them, and that Warren responds to this, claiming such changes are painful but to be expected. Warren's response, however, contrasts with what we see Ephesians 4:3 admonishing us: there God urges us to seek to preserve the unity that the Holy Spirit has created in the Church!

In our own effort to preserve such unity, our Church Board has decided that since the parents of these adult children who are involved in these efforts of concern are the parties we support, we can continue supporting these parents regardless of these activities by their children.

However, in seeing OTHER such reputable Christians or Christian leaders BELIEVE or PRACTICE or TOLERATE what WE have become convinced is right to believe or do, how are WE to be SURE just WHAT to BELIEVE and DO OURSELVES?!



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "If Christ calls us to have a church ministry that promotes two-thirds Bible exposition and one-third its application, but varying IDEAS arise by notable Christians on what IS the Bible's TRUTH and its APPLICATION to life, HOW are we to RESPOND to it?!"

1. As we learned in our previous message on John 21:15-19, Jesus called Peter out of love for Him at ALL costs to use TWO-THIRDS of his efforts EXPOUNDING SCRIPTURE to ALL BELIEVERS and ONE-THIRD of his efforts showing them HOW to APPLY it, a call describing BIBLE EXPOSITION in the LOCAL CHURCH.
2. Yet, to DO this WELL, Peter and all who disciple had to FOCUS on GOD and SCRIPTURE, not OTHER BELIEVERS, John 21:20-25:
1. Peter was to focus on following CHRIST versus giving his attention to what OTHERS did to be effective in his Bible exposition efforts:
1. Upon hearing that he would be crucified in performing his Bible exposition ministry (John 21:15-17, 18), Peter asked the risen Lord what John would suffer for Christ in his life, cf. John 21:20-21.
2. Jesus responded, saying, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." (Jn. 21:22 NIV)
3. In other words, the Bible expositor in the local church was not to be concerned about what others in the ministry did, but to heed the LORD'S will in his OWN life and ministry efforts!
2. Peter and any other Bible expositor was also to follow SCRIPTURE CONTEXT and LANGUAGE versus the INTERPRETATIONS of OTHER BELIEVERS to be effective in his Bible exposition work:
1. John 21:22-23a reports that Jesus' statement in John 21:22 about the possibility of John's remaining alive until He returned was interpreted by some believers to mean that John would NOT die.
2. If left unchecked, this errant rumor could have done much harm: when John actually did die, the words of Jesus and the Christian faith would seem errant for by those who had held to the rumor!
3. However, the Scripture at John 21:22-23 actually counters this errant rumor via Scripture CONTEXT and LANGUAGE:
1. The Scripture at John 21:22-23 counters this false rumor by way of the context: (1) When Jesus mentioned what might happen to John in John 21:22, He did so to keep Peter from focusing on John's destiny, but on his own need to follow Christ, 21:21-22! (2) Thus, for believers to believe and circulate an interpretation of Jesus' statement that John would not die was to violate the context of Jesus' statement that they with Peter not become preoccupied with John's destiny instead of following the Lord!
2. The Scripture also counters this rumor in the Greek language: (1) When Jesus used the "if" clause in John 21:22 to describe what might occur to John, his Gospel records Jesus as having used ean for the word translated "if," cf. U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966 ed., p. 412. (2) This spelling for "if" means "uncertainty is implied" in the idea introduced by it, so the idea that John would stay alive until Jesus returned was ONLY an idea, NOT a prophecy! (3) Otherwise, had John meant to convey that Jesus prophesied he would not die, he would have spelled the word "if" as ei, NOT as ean, cf. Dana and Mantey, Man. Gram. of the Grk. N. T., 1957, p. 289f! (3) Then, to stress how erroneous was the rumor itself, John gave two more emphases the Greek language at John 21:23: (a) he began his rebuttal to the rumor with the word, 'alla, a strong adversative that means "but rather" to show he opposed the rumor itself, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T., p. 413; Arndt & Ging., A Grk.-Engl. Lex. of the N. T., p. 37. (b) Second, John repeated Jesus' initial remark on the subject, showing by his repeat use of ean instead of ei that Jesus had not predicted John would not die, but mentioned it as a mere possibility, Ibid., U. B. S. Greek N. T. , p. 413!
3. In summary, John 21:24 claims that John who wrote this Gospel told the truth versus the rumor! John supported the words of Christ and the Christian faith SO THAT even were he to die, since Jesus had NOT predicted John would NOT die, the truthfulness of Jesus and Christianity still stood FIRM!

Application: (1) If we have not yet done so, may we TRUST the truthfulness of the GOSPEL, and believe in Jesus Christ to receive eternal life, John 3:16. (2) As we serve God, may we be EFFECTIVE for Him (a) in following Christ's lead in our personal lives and (b) in following Scripture's context and language (c) VERSUS what OTHER believers believe or do as our FINAL directive for life and service!

Lesson: For EFFECTIVENESS in a Bible exposition ministry, Peter and all other expositors in Church History were to (1) follow CHRIST in life and (2) heed what Scripture's (a) context and (b) language taught (3) opposite what other believers believed and did when they DIFFERED from God's leading and Scripture's context and language!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

Applying this message leads us to contrast at times with what is believed by even the reputable seminary professors who trained me!

For example, in our Prayer Meeting services, we found that the 9th plague God used to deliver Israel from Egypt was that of darkness.

Well, the Ryrie Study Bible, KJV and The Bible Knowledge Commentary, works by reputable Christian men who trained me while a student at the Dallas Theological Seminary, claim a sandstorm was possibly involved to create this plague's darkness!

However, the sandstorm idea for this plague began in 1957 with Greta Hort, a scholar of medieval English literature and religion, when she offered naturalistic explanations for the plagues to deny they were miracles! She held a sandstorm threw up the dust that had allegedly settled on the land from the 1st plague to form this darkness. The 1st plague (turning the Nile to blood) supposedly came from red algae and mud that washed into the Nile upstream, and that the river then flooded the land, leaving silt when the flood waters receded. (Russell Grigg, "The Ten Plagues of Egypt," Creation (v. 27, no. 1) Dec.-Feb. 2005.

In reality, the two kinds of algae Hort held turned the Nile red, Haematococcus pluvialis and Euglena sanguinea, are green when present in "turbid, flowing water" like the Nile, and they exist only in sub-arctic climates, not in the warm Nile region, Ibid., p. 35!

Even so, were such silt to be stirred up by a sandstorm to form the 9th plague, the land of Goshen would not have had light for 3 days while the rest of Egypt sat in thick darkness as Exodus 10:23 reports -- UNLESS God used a miraculous sandstorm! But, why a miraculous sandstorm? If God wanted to demean Egypt's sun god via a miracle (as Exodus 12:12 reveals) -- why not simply make it miraculously dark without having to resort to the use of a miraculous sandstorm?

I must deny the sandstorm idea even if my seminary professors suggest it, for it arose from a scholar of medieval English literature and religion who was not even a physical scientist, and that in her effort to deny the miraculous and thus the divine inspiration of Scripture!

May we then heed GOD' S leading and SCRIPTURE'S context and language to uphold the truth in Bible exposition, and that without relying on what OTHER Christians and Christian leaders think and do, all to be effectively used by the Lord!