2. The Martyrdom Of Polycarp (c. 155 AD)

"Fourscore and six years have I served Him, and he has done me no harm. How then can I curse my King that saved me." This quote of the aged Polycarp was made to the Roman Proconsul who urged him to curse Christ and live. Polycarp was burned alive, apparently because it was too late to throw him to the wild animals because the “sports” were closed. Polycarp was a Christian minister in Smyrna, who had ties to eyewitnesses of Christ, and himself instructed Irenaeus (c. 130-202).

1. The Muratorian Fragment (170 AD)

In about the year 170 we have evidence of a list of the books of Scripture in what is called the Muratorian Fragment. While the list does not mention Hebrews and James, it is clear that very early on in the history of the New Testament church the books that are in the New Testament today were in wide use throughout many churches. The only books in the New Testament about which there was some controversy concerning their inclusion in the word of God were Hebrews, James, Second and Third John, Second Peter, Jude, and Revelation. By the year 367 the influential early church leader Athanasius lists all of the New Testament Books just as we have them today. Our earliest manuscript evidence is a fragment of John's gospel that is dated at 125 AD. By the standards of ancient texts copied by hand, the New Testament is extremely reliable.

Things Everyone Should Know

During the next week or so I am planning on writing in this space concerning 5-10 church history facts that everyone should know.

In our world, and even within our church, there is a great need for more basic awareness of facts in the following areas:

1. Bible Content
2. The Creeds of the Church
3. Church History
4. Practical Christianity

We are attempting to address these needs by preparing clear teaching materials in each of these four areas. You will be hearing more about those efforts in the weeks ahead. For the coming week it seems very timely to note some basics of church history that you and I need to know.

Someone sent me this quote by CS Lewis yesterday:
"I do not wish to reduce the skeptical element in your minds. I am only suggesting that it need not be reserved exclusively for the New Testament and the Creeds. Try doubting something else."

By the way, as an illustration of the point that Lewis referred to in the quote above, last night I saw the last few minutes of a "scientific" TV program making amazing assertions regarding ancient human behavior and human origins based on chimps using tools to have a snack on some living ants.

I actually enjoy learning about animals using tools. As an aside, they had an amazing shot of some birds fishing with bait, catching a fish, and then swallowing the prey whole! I digress.

Back to the interesting pictures of chimps eating ants. Does this really prove anything about the behavior of our ancesters? Will anyone be willing to join me here in appreciating new data on animal behavior, yet with at least a little bit of Lewisian skepticism for how this proves "facts" about evolution?

Thankful

Candy and I are very happy to have Sam and Jeff safely home for the summer. We have been blessed in so many ways. Thankfulness for the good gifts of God is a pleasant duty.

Thirst for the Word

Thought for the day: The young child who truly wants to hear the Word of God has more hope for his growth in grace than the accomplished Christian adult who has learned through practice how to keep his hearing of the reading and preaching of the Scriptures within some acceptable limits of common Christian decency.

Every Blessing in Christ,
Steve Magee

Milestone

Beloved Children of God,

This morning we concluded I Samuel in Morning Worship. Matt mentioned that he thought we were almost half way through the chapters in the Bible. I went back and calculated all of the expository sermon series I have done. By preaching I Samuel 31 I have now preached through 595 chapters of the Bible. That is the exact 50% mark! Funny how the Lord providentially brought that to my attention today.

I was recently reading a mild criticism of expository preaching on the grounds that it is designed to give the whole counsel of God to people, but almost never delivers on the promise, since preachers so rarely get through the whole Bible over the course of their entire preaching ministries. That is true. One of the reasons for that lack: We do not have the pattern of daily preaching in our day that we find in Acts 2 or in the ministry of men like Calvin and Whitefield.

If you are committed to preaching through books of the Bible and you preach 1 chapter per day for about 40 weeks per year, you can preach through the Bible in six years.

One other thought: After preaching through exactly half of the Bible, I have such a settled conviction that it is all about Christ, the cross, and the resurrection. I am grateful to God for the cross of Jesus, and for His righteousness alone that saves sinners - displayed so convincingly in his rising from the dead. Books like the Psalms make no sense unless we understand about the imputed righteousness of Christ alone that Paul so clearly speaks of in Romans.

Every Blessing in Christ,
Pastor Magee

Why we should attend weddings, funerals of our church family members

It is hard to move away from the consumer mindset that has so infected the American church. We go to a church because we like their offering as consumers when we compare it to the offerings of the competition in our area. We may have some awareness that God commands us to be involved in a local church, but which one we choose is our business. Unfortunately the way that we make this choice, and even the way that we live within a church can be very much like the way that we choose many other products or services that we consume. Supermarkets, schools, entertainment activities, ... How different is the church of Jesus Christ to us?

It is helpful to remember that the church is an extended family. We need to care about each other in this family. We rejoice with those who rejoice and we mourn with those who mourn. If we are not there at these family occasions, we miss a lot. In addition, we are missed by others who need to know that we see them as a part of our family in Christ.

There will be a memorial service for Zelma Herrod tomorrow at Eventide Home in Exeter at 2:30pm. If you are able to be there, that would be great. We all understand if you can't be there. Hope to see you next Sunday.

First Samuel Sermon-Fest

We have been going through 1st Samuel in Sunday Evening Worship for some time now. We are almost ready to move on to 2nd Samuel. An interesting new twist for me is that our weekday morning worship schedule is now intersecting with Sunday evenings, although moving at a much faster pace. I will finish 1st Samuel next Tuesday morning (Lord willing). Within 1 week of that we will have left the Sunday night schedule way behind and before too long we will be in 1st Kings. Anyway, I appreciate going through these passages twice. They are rich, and sometimes challenging to interpret, but there is a lot there that demands frquent review.

Another thought on this: One criticism of preaching through books of the Bible is that you can spend years just going through one book. Very few pastors actually make it through the whole Bible if they preach every text in one book before moving on to another one. Reformers like Calvin preached daily sermons during the week. That makes a big difference. Because of the weekday morning worship exercises, I will preach through the whole Bible in just a few years if God allows. That is a great privilege, and good for my soul.

Why Preach from the Bible?

Adult Sunday School this week: Expository Bible preaching (and hearing) as a part of what it means to let Jesus Christ determine the ministry of the church.

Found this on wikipedia:
Expository preaching (also referred to as systematic exposition) is a form of preaching that expounds upon the meaning of a particular text or passage of Scripture. While the term could be used in connection with any religion that has organised worship that includes scriptural teaching, the term is most usually used in relation to Christianity, and is thus concerned with the exposition of the Bible. The practice probably originated from the Jewish tradition of the rabbi giving a "Dvar Torah", explaining a passage from the Torah, at the conclusion of prayer services.

Expository preaching differs from topical preaching in that the former concentrates on a specific text and discusses topics covered therein, whereas the latter concentrates on a specific topic and references texts covering the topic.

A Great Privilege

It is a great privilege to minister to people who are dying or who are suffering the loss of a loved one. Please pray for the following families who are going through a time of loss: Corsos, Motes, Rohrdanz, Parks, and Herrods.

Life is short. Sometimes when we face the end of a life (either our own or the life of someone we love) important things become so much clearer.

The Christian Ministry

We begin a new adult Sunday School tomorrow on The Christian Ministry. This study will investigate 15 issues that are important to a group of churches that is seeking to have the ministry of the church determined from the Scriptures alone. They are as follows:

1. Expository Bible Preaching
2. Biblical Worship
3. Inclusive Psalmody
4. Morning and Evening Worship
5. A Theology of Lord’s Day Experience
6. Family Worship
7. Biblical Theology (or Westminster Calvinism)
8. Shared Vision for Evangelism/Church Planting/Missions
9. Ministerial Piety
10. A Biblical Understanding of the Gospel and Evangelism
11. A Biblical Understanding of the Law and Sanctification
12. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion and Discipleship
13. A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership and Discipline
14. A Biblical Understanding of Church Government
15. A Reformed Worldview”

I am indebted to the work of Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III who developed this list. Tomorrow we begin with the first item on the list, Expository Preaching.

Met with Other NNEP Pastors in Exeter Today

I am so thankful to God for the servants of the Word that He has brought up to our Presbytery. We get together once per month with the following schedule:

1. Prayer
2. Teaching
3. Coaching

It was a great meeting. Andy Wilson, who led the teaching segment, presented some excellent materials on the concept of the temple - beginning in the garden and going all the way to the new heavens and the new earth. It really is a great story and it helped me in the afternoon bible class where we were considering God's instruction to Moses in the building of the tabernacle.

Bible Survey Continues... Exodus/Leviticus

Bible Survey Class – #13 – Sacrifice and the Old Covenanent Sanctuary

Law and Sacrifice
Exodus 24: The Blood of the Covenant
Exodus 32: A Day to Remember (Sadly)

The Tabernacle
Exodus 34-40 – note the spaces created and the furniture described
Exodus 40 considered

More on Sacrifice
Leviticus 1-7 The Offerings

Next Class – Leviticus 8-27: Levitical Holiness