THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of The Chronicles: God's Preservation Of His Davidic And Levitical Covenants

VIII. Practicing A True Ministry

(1 Chronicles 15:1-29 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

We have reached a watershed moment in our Church's history on practicing a true ministry. We explain:

(1) In recent weeks, we have heard of two Bible teaching churches in our area that have removed pastors from office due to immorality or plagiarizing a nationally known pastor's sermons, creating a lot of pain in their people.

(2) Also, many evangelical churches in our area hold to significant error or do not teach from Scripture.

(3) If we look to historically conservative seminaries, we see (a) schools that once trained men to be pastors often letting women get the same training, opening the door for them to pastor opposite 1 Timothy 2:12-15. (b) My alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary, endorses "progressive dispensationalism" that interprets Scripture partly figuratively to compromise the classic dispensationalism I was taught with Reformed Theology's figurative view of prophecy, opening the door for reconstructionism and Marxist social justice! (c) "Progressive dispensationalism" has now spread to Talbot School of Theology and Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary, and possibly others. (George Zeller, "Progressive Dispensationalism," 1/2004; middletownbiblechurch.org) (d) Then there is the world's largest reputably conservative evangelical seminary, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, with the motto, "Trusted for Truth" (https://www.sbts.edu/about-2019/). Its president, Al Mohler, known for upholding Scripture's inerrancy, encourages "his . . . students to participate in Acton University . . . whose president is a Roman Catholic priest who came out as a homosexual in the 1970s and now promotes the Jesuits and social justice." (Brannon S. Howse, Marxianity, 2018, p. 153-154, 164-165) "One of the . . . faculty members of the Acton Institute" that conducts the Acton University conference "is Peter Kreeft, the Roman Catholic theologian best known for the book, Ecumenical Jihad" where "he claims to have gone to heaven where he saw . . . Mohammed, Jesus" and "Buddha sitting together in a circle. They all made it to heaven, and he writes in Ecumenical Jihad" of such "universalism" as "truth." (Ibid., p. 166)

(4) If we turn to renowned pastor and Bible teacher John MacArthur, we face a dilemma over "his ministry's defense of James White's interfaith dialogue with a Jew-hating, holocaust-denying, Hitler-defending, Jihadi-preaching Imam," Yasir Qadhi, and "White claimed that he sensed a 'kindred spirit' with the man," Ibid., p. 49, 77.

Need: So, we ask, "If big spiritual problems abound all over evangelicalism, how do we practice a true ministry?!"

I. In heeding Scripture, David conducted a true spiritual ministry that God blessed, 1 Chronicles 15:1-28:

A. David heeded Scripture in how to transport the ark, enjoying God's blessing, 1 Chronicles 15:1-26:

1. Following Uzzah's death for errantly touching the ark, David read from Scripture that the Levites were to transport the ark by carrying it with poles on their shoulders, 1 Chronicles 13:1-12 with 15:1-2, 15.

2. David then planned to finish bringing the ark to Jerusalem in a Biblical way, 1 Chron. 13:12-14; 15:3-25:

a. He gathered all Israel to Jerusalem to celebrate the moving of the ark to Jerusalem, 1 Chron. 15:3.

b. He assigned the priests and Levites to their rightful roles, with some carrying the ark and others singing in worship unto the Lord, to take the ark from Obed-edom's home to Jerusalem, 1 Chr. 13:12-14; 15:4-24.

c. David with Israel's elders and military leaders then joined in the procession, 1 Chronicles 15:25.

3. When God demonstrated His approval of how the ark was being carried by helping and not hurting the Levites, David and the people joyfully sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams to the Lord, 1 Chron. 15:26.

B. David obeyed Scripture in how to worship God, enjoying His blessing, 1 Chron. 15:27-28; 2 Sam. 6:14-19:

1. In line with God's Deuteronomy 17:20a call that Israel's king view himself humbly as an equal with his subjects, David did the very unusual deed as a king in laying aside his royal robe to "dress down" and put on a regular priest's linen ephod and dance before the Lord with all his might, 1 Chron. 15:27; 2 Sam. 6:14.

2. After the ark had been moved with much worship, David blessed the people in God's name and gave each one a "cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins," 1 Chronicles 15:28; 2 Samuel 6:18-19 ESV.

II. However, David's wife Michal despised her husband's dressing down before the people and severely criticized him for it, 1 Chronicles 15:29; 2 Samuel 6:20. She had adopted her father king Saul's false spirituality, rejecting David's humble attire and act of worship as that of an offensively vulgar man.

III. David then RESISTED EVEN his OWN WIFE'S criticism due to its FALSE SPIRITUAL VIEWPOINT in DEFENDING his ACTIONS that were BIBLICALLY performed in TRUE SPIRITUALITY (as follows):

A. David told his wife that he had "dressed down" and danced in worship for the Lord, not for man, 2 Sam. 6:21a.

B. He explained that the Lord had graciously chosen him above Michal's father and all of her father's household, what included Michal herself, to appoint David as prince over God's people Israel, 2 Samuel 6:21b.

C. Thus, David defended his worship actions before his wife as a humble thanksgiving to the Lord, 2 Sam. 6:21c.

D. David added that he would humble himself even more, debasing himself even more in Michal's view though he would be honored by the women before whom Michal had said David had debased himself, 2 Samuel 6:22.

E. In divine discipline for critiquing her husband's Biblically true, humble spiritual worship, Michal remained childless until death (2 Samuel 6:23), a humiliating and thus a fitting fate in this case for a woman in her era.

Lesson: David Biblically and devoutly worshipped God and defended his worship action when even his wife Michal in false pride and artificial externalism critiqued him for it. God thus blessed David while disciplining Michal.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ to be saved, John 3:16. (2) May we Biblically and devoutly practice true spiritual ministry even if not supported by those who should be supportive of us, that God may indeed bless us.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

We apply this message to the trial of practicing a true spiritual ministry regardless of much that is false, both locally and nationally, in evangelical circles around us. We seek to heed God regardless what others might do:

(1) On the spiritual problems we note in historically theologically conservative seminaries, 1 Timothy 3:15 in its context claims that the local church (at Ephesus, 1 Timothy 1:3) is the "pillar and foundation of the truth." (NIV; Wm. Hendriksen, N. T. Com.: Exp. of The Past. Epistles, 1974, p. 136) If this be so, when any seminary departs from helping local churches adhere to Bible truth, it loses God's influence with His local churches. Thus, we must look to the Bible's truth for our nurture, not to seminaries themselves!

[This past week while doing research online, I found a conservative evangelical pastor in another state who had come to the same conclusion on this issue of seminaries, so I was encouraged that God was leading us both!]

(2) In doing so, we at the local church must handle the Bible correctly, what Jesus exampled in interpreting all Scripture, including prophecy, literally in Matthew 5:18. In contrast to Reformed Theology's figurative handling of prophecy that replaces Israel with the Church so as to view the Church's mission as gaining control of the secular world (reconstructionism), opening the door for Marxist "social justice" and opposite "progressive dispensationalism" that compromises classic dispensationalism with Reformed Theology and leads to Marxist ideology, Christ's application of the literal interpretation of all Scripture leads us to the classic dispensational, premillennial and pretribulational view. (John F. Walvoord, The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation, 1976, p. 12-13; Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, 1970, p. 86-109) I will keep hold of the consistently literal interpretation of all Scripture.

(3) On renowned pastors and Bible teachers who let unbiblical things occur in their ministries or who may teach one thing but fail to function in alignment with God's Word, Acts 5:29 teaches us to obey God over man, thus to follow God over man. We will follow God over men, regardless who they are and how many of them there are.

(4) On the issue of the temptation to commit immorality or any other sin, our leaders and congregation must rely on the Holy Spirit to avoid sin and stay upright, Galatians 5:16-23. We will keep emphasizing our need to rely on the Holy Spirit's power to boycott life by means of the sin nature and function rather in the power of the Lord.

(5) Also, in view of the increasing challenge of error and false spirituality we face even in evangelical literature, I urge all leaders involved in all Church ministries to check for the Biblical accuracy of all published materials they use to be sure those materials accurately present Scripture truth! If anyone needs help on an issue, please see me or one of our Church deacons with your question(s) and we will gladly provide guidance.

(6) In view of the waning theological and spiritual credibility and vitality of much in evangelical realms, to stay spiritually tuned to the Lord, I myself practice -- and I would recommend all teachers of Bible truth in our Church to do the same -- daily personal exposure of our mind and heart to Scripture. God directed Israel's kings to do this in Deuteronomy 17:18-20, and in today's world, it is incredibly important that we do likewise.

(7) Since the local church is the institution God has as His focus in discipling people, be assured that in my role as your pastor I will keep focused on ministering as your pastor VERSUS getting involved in some parachurch ministry like a Bible school, a seminary, a prison ministry, etc. that takes my attention elsewhere. God has often signaled His will that I focus on expounding His Word here at this Church in an era when precious little of it occurs.

Our messages are posted on our web site for anyone to use, and we are happy to have that outreach since it does not conflict with our ministry in this body. Yet, my focus will stay here in this local church -- not elsewhere!

May we trust in Christ for salvation and eternal life. Then, may we resist conforming to false spiritual views and actions we see in evangelicalism by Biblically, wholeheartedly ministering in Scriptural truth.