manthano

This is number 2 in a summary of the BJU Bible Conference messages.

The Sunday evening message was brought by Dr. Kevin Bauder, president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. He preached from John 1:1.

John 1:1 shows us three things about Jesus, the Word.

1. His Eternity - He is the eternal One (”in the beginning was the Word”)
   The word was does not mean “came to be,” it means “always existed.” Likewise, the word begetting does not and cannot mean “beginning.” (Acts 13:33). Also, the word beginning is indefinite; whatever point you consider “the beginning,” at that point the Word already was.
   This has a theololgical implicatation - The Word is self-existent. He doesn’t depend on anyone or anything; He is the source of all things. This then has a practical ramification: If He is the source of all things, including life, if we want that life we must get it from Him.
2. His Trinity - He is the other One (”and the Word was with God”)
   The Word is with God, there is something that is God that is not the Word. Our finite minds cannot grasp a three-person single being, but that’s what God is.
   What exactly does the word with mean? In Greek, the language of the New Testament, there are several words for with. The one used here is the most intimate one, pros (προς), it can literally mean, “face to face with.” What are the Father and the Word doing together? They are fellowshipping and enjoying one another’s presence. He is also resting from His creative work (Gen. 2:2-3).
   There is also a practical ramification of the Word being with the Father. He is our intercessor and advocate “with” God. He is Someone Who is God Who stands between us and God.
3. His Deity - He is God (”and the Word was God”)
   Dr. Bauder related a story of an oppotunity he had to witness to a Jehovah’s Witness (JW). JW’s believe, due to their theology that Jesus is not Jehovah, that the last phrase of John 1:1 should be translated “and the Word was a god” because the word God (theos) lacks the definite article (english: the) in the Greek. Dr. Bauder showed this JW three other instances in John 1 (John 1:6, 12, 18) where God (theos) lacks the article, and the JW agreed that these 3 places referred to Jehovah.
   The fact that there is no article, does not mean that God is indefinite (a god), but it instead means that the Word has all the qualities or essence of God, and obviously One Who has all the qualities or essence of God is God. It could not be a definite article because then it would mean that the Word and God are completely equivalent, and this is not the case because there is a part of God that is not the Word (the Father and the Holy Spirit).

Disclaimer: This is my unofficial summary of the message; it may or may not be entirely accurate as to what the speaker actually said. Any errors are almost certainly the fault of my summary, not what the speaker said.

This is the first of what I hope will be a summary of all the Bible Conference messages here at BJU. For those who don’t already know, Bible conference is special time of the semester that the school sets aside for spiritual refreshment. They bring in excellent preachers to give us, the students, and visiting graduates the opportunity to hear and learn from these men of God.  A recording of each of these messages (mp3, audio CD, tape cassette) is available from the BJU campus store.

The first message Sunday morning was by Dr. Bob, chancellor of the university. His topic was lukewarmness, using the illustration of the Laodicean church (Rev. 3:13-20). As he was reading this passage, the thought struck him that later became the title for his message - Jesus wouldn’t have attended the Laodicean church!

The letter to the Laodicean church was addressed to the messenger (trans. “angel” in the KJV) or pastor of the church. The letter came from One who refers to Himself as the Amen, the Faithful One, the True One, and the source of all things. And His certain, faithful,and true judgment had revealed the Laodicean church to be lukewarm, neither cold and hard to spiritual things or hot and on fire spiritually. How do we know when we are lukewarm, what are the warning signs? It can be hard to know when we are lukewarm, because part of being lukewarm is not being aware that there has been a change in our spirituality.

1. We boast in ourselves, not Christ. (v. 17) We says things like, “We have a great church / school / etc,” instead of, “We have a great God and Savior!” The only thing/one worth boasting in or about is Jesus Christ.
2. We have an absence of a sense of need for cleansing (v. 18)

He gave this quote:

To our grandfathers, Christianity was an experience; to our fathers, a heritage; to us, a convenience; and to our children, a nuisance.

But despite our lukewarmness, Jesus is still compassionate to us, and wants us to open to His knocking (v. 20).

Disclaimer: This is my unofficial summary of the message; it may or may not be entirely accurate as to what the speaker actually said. Any errors are almost certainly the fault of my summary, not what the speaker said.