Paul’s Blueprint for a Working Church

It is a glorious sight to see a church where the people work willingly to press forward the Gospel and to keep the coals of the testimony glowing hot. Pastors and elders will need to enthuse God’s people and implement the work. Let us build working churches, for these are growing churches.

---

Ask, Seek, Knock

‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.’ We usually consider these famous words in an evangelistic context, urging seekers to come to Christ. But we realise they are made equally for all believers, because Christ spoke of the Father’s readiness to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.

---

Does the Lord Really Guide?

The great decline of the quality of Bible teaching in the last few decades has brought with it the rejection of this precious and fundamental principle – that God has a specific plan and purpose for the life of each of his children, and that they should seek his direction in all the great issues of life.

---

Paul’s Blueprint For A Loving Church

Love for our fellow believers is one of the proofs of conversion, and it is certainly essential for pleasing the Lord. Six times in the New Testament love is described as ‘philadelphia’, meaning ‘brotherly love’. Internal clashes and divisions must go, and ‘philadelphia’ love must be cultivated.

---

The Holy War – Do we dodge enlistment?

The devil’s self-assumed task is to bring down the human race. He has brought about the Fall by his lies, and if he can keep all people in rebellion against God’s standards and desires, then the Lord will appear to have failed. Of course this is impossible, but Satan, in blind hatred, seeks to score over God and wreck his handiwork.

---

The Doctrine of Biblical Separation

The loss of separation has already led to a weakened, worldly, psychological evangelicalism in Britain, and the situation will grow worse still without a return to former standards of loyalty to Christ and his Word. But the commands to stand clear of false doctrine, immorality and worldliness are still in the Bible.

---

Recent Race Demonstrations

In the light of recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations might I offer these comments.  All manifestations of racial disrespect are disgraceful to sincere Christian people. They flow obviously from the Fall of man. All hatred, all superiority, all disdain, all persecution of ‘other’ ethnic groups and religions, together with all ideological persecution (which is the greatest killer in modern times), and all class prejudice is forbidden by the sixth…

---

Should churches comply with government instructions about coronavirus?

Current coronavirus restrictions deeply affect our worship, our fellowship, our Sunday Schools and our outreach. No one likes them or wants them. Recently, a British evangelical periodical asked the question – Should we have a debate about this? Are we doing the right thing? Should the churches, ruled by Christ, surrender so easily to the state – the kingdom of this world?

---

The ‘Evangelical Covenant’ of Moses

This article will sweep through Deuteronomy 29 – 30 to demonstrate that it records how Moses presented an ‘evangelical covenant’ which was set beside and distinct from the covenant of Sinai, the latter being a ‘works’ covenant that could only condemn. (This is how Paul expounds it in Romans 10.) Chapter 29 verse 1: ‘These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the…

---

Features of Apostate Behaviour

In Paul’s prophecy in 2 Timothy 3, he identifies nineteen prominent sins which will take over society, with the first five being about self. People will unashamedly focus their attention on themselves, being ‘lovers of their own selves’, so that self-service will become the approved goal for all people.

---

The Dissolving of Doubts

‘These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe…’ (1 John 5.13). This verse is written for those who doubt whether they have been forgiven and saved by God, and struggle with assurance.

---

The Value of Covenants

‘This covenant [grace] is the only city of refuge for a distressed soul to fly to for sanctuary, when all the billows and waves of temptation run over him, or Satan doth furiously assault him. If we fly to this armoury, we can never want weapons to resist the devil.’ – Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)

---

All articles by Dr Masters

The Sword & Trowel Magazine

Current Issue
Sword & Trowel 2024 No. 1

With booklet:
Earth’s Morning
by Dr Peter Masters

Subscribe/Renew

e-Subscriptions

Previous Sword & Trowel editions

Article excerpts by Dr. Peter Masters

From Regeneration and Gospel Persuasion

WE BEGIN with Paul disputing with people at Athens (Acts 17), meaning that he laid out his case to convince people of their need of Christ. He presented arguments and reasoned with them. At Corinth also he reasoned and persuaded constantly (Acts 18.4), eventually being charged with persuading people to worship God (Acts 18.13). Apollos also mightily convinced people (lit: with well-stretched arguments, utterly proving his case).

In Acts 19.8-9 there are two references to disputing and one to persuading, showing the degree of reasoned convincing and remonstrating carried out by Paul at Ephesus. Before Felix, Paul famously ‘reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come’, until Felix trembled (Acts 24.25). This was typical apostolic preaching. Even when a prisoner, Paul turned the dock into a pulpit and persuaded his hearers. At the very close of Acts (28.23), Paul was still persuading and reasoning – to the very end.

Are we preachers? Have we cultivated our skill in reasoning? Paul goes so far as to say – ‘Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men’ (2 Corinthians 5.11). We are called to make a persuasive presentation of the Gospel because it is God’s way of bringing the redeemed into his kingdom. When we are gathered into eternal glory, our cry of gratitude will be, ‘I was humbled to the dust; I felt my spiritual emptiness and need; I saw my desperately sinful state; I grasped how evil and foolish I was; I saw the Christ of Calvary, and I came to him longingly, willingly and freely for salvation.’

It is the will of God that preachers, witnessing believers, and the printed page, should be instrumental in this. Of course, the vital work is performed by the Lord, so the apostle rises no higher than saying, ‘we are labourers together with God.’ But we are his spokespeople.

Do you wrestle with souls as a preacher? It is a wonderful calling to search the Scripture, foraging for evangelistic arguments and parallels to salvation in both Testaments.

The hallmark of the Reformation was evangelistic preaching. And soon afterward the Puritans  reasoned with, appealed to and expostulated with souls. Evangelistic preaching was a defining characteristic of the rise of the Baptists, particularly through the golden age of Baptist expansion. We may read the classic sermons of John Bunyan to see the tender affection for souls, and the striving to gain them.

It was also the hallmark of preaching in the 18th-century Great Awakening (read the sermons of George Whitefield), not to mention the revivals of the 19th century and the high era of the Victorian pulpit, with all its persuasiveness.

From Expository Preaching – Benefits and Pitfalls

WHAT EXACTLY is ­expository preaching? It is preaching that draws the message from the biblical text, clearly and methodically, honouring the sense of the text, and the style of communication employed. Before looking at classic examples from sermons of C H Spurgeon, here are some of the benefits and common mistakes of consecutive expository preaching.

Firstly, if the preacher works through a book of the Bible week by week it becomes obvious to everyone that the Word of God is the supreme authority for all that is taught. The preacher is clearly in captivity to the Bible. Consecutive expository preaching is the greatest witness to biblical ­authority.

A second virtue of consecutive expository preaching is that it helps the preacher to suppress his personal opinions. Because he is dominated by the Scripture, and bound to follow its presentation of information and its arguments, the preacher’s personal style of reasoning should be helpfully subordinated to that of God’s Word.

A third virtue of consecutive expository preaching is that it obliges the preacher to present ­everything that is in the Scripture. By nature, most preachers will tend to emphasise a certain group of subjects and to neglect others. But by proceeding through a book they are bound to address every topic that presents itself, and so preach on a comprehensive range of vital themes.

A fourth virtue of consecutive expository preaching is that it shows the people of God the plan and the purpose of a whole Bible book, which would probably not happen if the preacher darted from book to book selecting individual sermon texts. Think of the immense advantage to the people of God of becoming familiar with the overall scheme of entire books of the Bible. It is a very great help to private study.

Fifthly, consecutive expository preaching also enables the preacher to bring out the themes that often run through one or more chapters. He pays more attention to the context, and this delivers him from many mistakes. Would the so-called ‘holiness movement’ have developed if its proponents had been consecutive preachers? Would they not have hesitated to preach sanctification-by-faith when they saw that the whole chapter or passage was speaking about justification?