Stewardships

Good morning. When either Roger or myself are up here teaching, we have been following along for a couple of years now in the doctrinal statement at Holly Hills, and so the next issue in the doctrinal statement is the dispensational interpretation of the Bible.

I'm going to read what the doctrinal statement says and then maybe we'll try to understand what it means. The doctrinal statement says, We believe that Scripture is to be interpreted according to its grammatical and historical context, including that God, who does not change, deals in a different manner with the Gentile nations, the people of Israel, and that God created a body of heavenly saints called the Church. We believe that all who are saved, of all time, are saved entirely by the faith in Christ, either looking forward or back to the cross. So the first point is that the interpretation of the Bible is to be according to the rules of good grammar and in its historical or chronological context.

The second point is that God doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. The third point is that God as a Creator has the flexibility to deal in a diverse manner with mankind according as He determines. The Bible speaks of three basic people groups, Gentiles, Jews, and the Church. And the fifth point is that we believe that all who are saved of all time are saved entirely by faith in Christ, either looking forward to the cross or backward to the cross.

The Lord Jesus said in John 14.6 that I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

And in Acts 4.12, Luke says, And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. So for all eternity, Salvation is by faith in what God has revealed in Christ.

So, the first point is that the interpretation of the Bible is according to the rules of good grammar in its historical and chronological index. If scripture is to be interpreted by its grammatical and historical context, it has to be a literal translation. A literal translation seeks to understand the Bible in its plain, natural, normal sense. It looks for clear and obvious meaning of the text. God does not want to hide his truth from us. He wants to communicate his truth to his own in a very clear way. The believer's responsibility is to simply take God at his word. God means what he says, and he says what he means.

A literal interpretation is the normal way in which we interpret any piece of literature. It seeks to discover the obvious and plain truth to its text. Dr. David L. Cooper, founder of the Biblical Research Society, is known for the golden rule of interpretation. Here's what he said.

When the plain sense of scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense. Therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, and literal meaning. Unless the facts of immediate context studied in the light of related passages, and axiomatic and fundamental truths indicate clearly otherwise. If I wanted to shorten that up, I could say it this way. If the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest the result in nonsense.

Charles Ryrie said, normal interpretation leads to clear distinction between words, concepts, peoples, and economies. So we interpret the Bible as simply and clearly as we can. The second point is that God doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In Hebrews 13.8, Jesus Christ is the same. The Word says He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In James 1.17, James says, Every good thing and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. He is all-knowing, He is all-powerful, He is omnipresent, He is loving, He is righteous, He is gracious, and He never changes.

The third point is that God as a creator has the flexibility to deal in diverse manners with mankind according to His own determination. God was the originator of diversity, believe it or not. And in Scripture, there are many references to a great many people groups beginning with the early chapters of Genesis. As the revelation of God through Scripture progresses, we find that there are three primary and enduring groups which define the manner in which God deals with mankind on the present earth and even into the heavens and the new earth.

1 Corinthians 10.32 says, give no offense either to the Jews or the Greeks, and the Greeks are the Gentiles, or to the Church of God. So here, as in other scriptures, the Holy Spirit makes a difference in the three companies of people.

By the term Jews, what we mean is Israel as a nation. We don't mean the individual Jew in the present time. We mean Jews as a nation. As Gentiles or Greeks, we mean all those of all races and tongues, other than Jews, who have not been regenerated by the new birth.

And the church is God's elect company in the present dispensation or stewardship and is composed of all those who are born again. Of these three divisions of humanity which are given by the Apostle Paul, the first and the third represent the two major purposes of God, the Jews and the church. The Jews represent the earthly purposes centered in them. The heavenly purposes are centered in the church, and that's a really important distinction. The purposes of God are centered in the Jews when it comes to earthly things. The purposes of God are centered in the church when it comes to heavenly things.

The Gentiles, on the other hand, though they are in evidence from the beginning of human history, And although privileged as individuals to respond to the message of saving grace and to be included in the church, and though some of them are to share with Israel the unending kingdom glory, the Gentiles represent no specific and independent divine purpose. Yet their distinctive identity as Gentiles is preserved, and their future can be traced into eternity.

So let's talk about the issue, dispensational interpretation. Clarence Mason, who wrote a really terrific booklet called Dispensationalism Made Simple, said this. One of the most amazing situations in all of church history of doctrine is the stubborn persistence and almost fanatical fear with which large groups of Christendom in the present day view dispensationalism. This runs all the way from suspicion that something is wrong with us to extreme loudmouth and unreasoning rejection of our position. I would say that in our present Christian world, which is pretty much dominated by covenant or reformed theology, dispensationalism is considered almost heresy. And from their viewpoint, if there was to be a Christian curse word, it would be dispensationalism.

So what does it mean? The word dispensational comes from the Greek word oikonomia. If you divide the word up into oikos and namos, you'll find that oikos means house and namos really means to parcel out in the house. So if you put them together, it really means a house distributor or another way to say it. It's an employee in that capacity by the extension of an agreement. He's a governor. He's a steward. He's an administrator.

Specifically, we could call it a steward or stewardship. That's what it literally means. The word dispensation means stewardship. Now, if we were to use stewardship in contemporary language, we can say, well, it can be a person. We have stewards of the environment. We're not supposed to pollute our environment because we are stewards.

If you, we went on a cruise last summer and there were these men on the ship that were called stewards. And what they did is they attended to the needs of the passengers and they managed the provisions and the dining and everything that went on. A property manager in real estate is considered a steward because he manages somebody else's property, his finances, or even his household. Sometimes in hotels and clubs and places like that, there are people that are stewards that they make arrangements concerning the meals and the lodging. Even in unions, there is a guy called a shop steward, and he's in charge of making sure things get done. So a steward can be defined as a person who manages another's property or financial affairs, one who administers anything as an agent for another.

And as this verse that we had up there, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Dispensationalism is the stewardship. The one who is involved in the dispensational dispensation is a steward.

The word steward, the word steward itself is oikonomos, a person who has the overseeing. OK. Stewardships are given by God. And let me give you some examples. When God created heaven and earth and created the garden and he put Adam in it, he gave Adam a stewardship. He was in charge of the garden. He was entrusted by God to take care of it. He was entrusted by God to name the animals. He was entrusted by God to take care of all the details in that creation. The Apostle Paul says that he was a steward.

Ephesians 1.3, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace, which was given to me for you. So, in God's economy, there is different stewardships and stewards involved in that. 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says, for if I do this voluntarily, I have reward, but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. So, let's say that we decide that Paul is not the steward of the church. He's not the one that God gave to us and gave him understanding so that we could understand what it meant to be a member of the church. So let's take his 13 epistles out of the body of Christ.

What do you miss? You can't find anything about the church. You can't find anything about the body of Christ. For none of the other apostles ever mentioned the body of Christ. You can't find one of the great mysteries such as the rapture of the church. You can't find the hardening of Israel. You can't find mysteries that Paul reveals that others don't. You can't find the exact meaning of any of the great doctrines of propitiation, reconciliation, justification, identification, redemption, and sanctification. You take Paul out of the epistles, you don't find any explanations. Lots of people have said that John says things and Paul explains them. So you read the Gospel of John, but you've got to go over to Paul to figure out what he meant.

You can't find what is perhaps the most tremendous fact of every Christian life, and that is personal union with the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. Paul alone is divinely chosen to open those truths for us in this stewardship. Colossians 1, 24 and 25, the church of which I made a minister according to the stewardship of God. Your Bible probably says dispensation. which is given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God, even the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints." So, when we speak of a dispensational interpretation of the Word of God, what do we mean? It's really pretty simple. We mean a grammatically correct interpretation, a historically accurate interpretation, and a literally translated and interpreted From the beginning to the end, Scripture presents a number of these relationships that are called and can be characterized as stewardships. The ability to identify and understand the various stewardships in Scripture is valuable to you and I as believers because Scripture itself says that this understanding is profitable for us.

Second Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable. for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Now, within the dispensational interpretation of the Bible, there are two main principles on which it rests. The first one is that God's revelation to man is gradual.

He didn't give everything to Adam. He didn't give everything to Abraham. He didn't give everything to Moses. So the best example I could find was in John 16 when the Lord Jesus was talking to his disciples and he said to them, I have many more things to say to you, but you can't bear them now. You can't understand them now.

But when he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth for he shall speak not of his own initiative, but whatever he hears he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify me for he will take of mine and he will disclose it unto you." It shows that there was a gradual revelation by God over time of his mystery and truth. The second basic principle that dispensational or stewardship theology translation is based on is that there's a transition in eras or time frames as God deals with mankind.

An example in Genesis 3.7, when Adam sinned, there was a radical change. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figs together and made themselves loin coverings. And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Huge change. Huge change when Adam sinned.

So, how many of them are there? How many stewardships are there? Well, it's a huge debate within the dispensational community as to how many they are. The father of dispensationalism, Schofield, says there are seven. Others say there are eight. Some say there are four. Some say, Hal Malloy said, well, there's only three because there's Jews, Gentiles in the church.

So, for our purposes, let's just take a look at a couple. We look at Adam before the fall and Adam after the fall. It's a major transition in the career of mankind. How about Christ before Christ shows up on the planet and after Christ is here? Before that time, sins were only covered. After he was here and did his work, your sins were taken away. That's different than being covered.

In Hebrews 10.4, the author says it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. In verse 10, 11, and 12, every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifice which can never take away sins. Talking about the Old Testament priests. But having been offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, talking about the Lord Jesus and his sacrifice.

Abraham and Moses are contrasting men of stewardship. Promises were given to Abraham. The law was given to Moses. Galatians 3.16 says, Now the promise were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say to seeds as referring to many, but to one. As to your seed, that is Christ. And what am I saying in this?

The law which came 430 years later does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on promise. But God has granted to Abraham by means of promise. The two biggest distinguishing characteristics of understanding the Bible is understanding the difference between law and grace. They are the two operating systems, that's probably the best phrase I could come up with, or reigning principles in which all of history of mankind has been. There's the operating principle of law, which most of history has been under, and then the operating principle of grace. which was when promises were made to Abraham, those were under grace. And we, because we live in the church age, live totally in the principle of grace.

Under the rule of law, the responsibility falls on a man or mankind to do or not to do specific acts and to carry out specific accomplishments. And failure results in a negative consequence. The principle of law was in place for both Adam and his stewardship in the Garden of Eden and under law was instituted in Israel by Moses and afterwards carried on by Joshua and subsequent stewards, judges, kings, prophets, priests. Under the standard or the stewardship or the rule of grace, God himself takes the responsibility and the responsibility of each man under the principle of grace is to believe, to believe God. Under the principle of grace, believing in God's person and work is the means of seeing the promised positive consequences come about, and God doesn't fail. Abraham and Paul are examples. They were key stewards under the principle of grace.

If you look at Romans 5, 15 through 21, I'm not going to read it to you, but that's a very good passage for you to see the difference in what Adam brought to the table and what Christ brought to the table as representative men. Adam, because of his sin, brought death and separation from God. The Lord Jesus Christ brings grace and life.

So, you could say from the beginning of this present earth until the end of this present earth, the principle of law is always and has and will continue to have a place in God's dealing with mankind. Let me give you an example. When Noah was given the responsibility of government, government has continued from that time until now. When conscience came into play after the fall, conscience is still a big issue. But when you get to Abraham and God makes some promises to Abraham, there 430 years before the law is put in, the law comes in at Moses' time.

But when Christ shows up on the planet and when he dies on the cross, the law system is set aside and now we live in grace. But when the millennial kingdom begins, it will be back under law again. So the principle of grace, which has always been shown in salvation by personal faith in Christ, was likewise shown in God's promises to Abraham and established in the church. Only those who are saved by faith and who are saved and blessed under the principle of grace will have any part in the new creation. Of itself, the principle of law, even when implemented with elements of grace, can only serve to condemn.

2 Corinthians 3.9 says, for if the ministry of condemnation has glory, which is the law, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory, which is grace. Notice that the beginning of another stewardship, commonly known as a dispensation, on the present earth doesn't necessarily indicate the end of a previous one. It may carry on, which carries on a primary aspect, the continuing principle of that stewardship.

The single greatest issue, though, that we need to understand about this discussion is the separation between Israel and the Church. We are to keep Israel and the church totally separated in our minds, in our teaching, in our lives. Charles Ryrie said that there are three essential principles that would be characteristic of those holding the traditional dispensational or stewardship teaching. And they are a constant distinction between the purposes, the promises, the identity of Israel and the church throughout scripture. The second point, he says, a consistent system of literal and grammatical and historical interpretation of the Word of God. And three, the main purpose of God in the world is to glorify himself.

Now, some who claim to be dispensationalists today have managed to knit the church and Israel back together in some way or another. For instance, they will say that the Sermon on the Mount And to some degree, they say the Sermon on the Mount is primarily for the nation of Israel. We don't have a problem with that. But then they will say that the Sermon on the Mount is primarily for the nation of Israel, but then will vacillate and insist that Israel's Sermon on the Mount has secondary application to the heavenly church. No, it doesn't. Or they will say that Israel's new covenant in Jeremiah and Ezekiel applies solely to the house of Israel and Judah. but that the church now benefits from its spiritual blessing. No, it doesn't.

Louis Perry Chaffer wrote, only those portions of scripture which are directly addressed to the members of the body of Christ under grace are to be given a personal or primary application. It does not follow that the Christian is appointed by God to conform to those governing principles which were his will for people in other dispensations. As for the primary and secondary application that covenant people would have us be involved in, the church is not second to anybody.

We are primary. We are primo. She is to have the primary position over Israel and the nations in the millennial kingdom and on into eternity. All that the glorified Lord Jesus Christ has done on the cross and is doing for his glory now is primarily for his bride, which is you and me. And there is nothing secondary about it. Ephesians 2, 6 and 7 says that we were raised up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. The Beloved Bride of Christ is second to none. In the entire universe and in all eternity, God highly exalted Christ and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, and we are in him and he is our life.

Courtney read Ephesians 1, 19-23. And I want to point out one little part at the end. In verse 22, Paul says, and he put all things in subjection under his feet, talking about the Lord Jesus, and he gave him his head over all things to the church. You notice that little word to there? He didn't say that he was head over all things above the church. It's to the church. are in Christ so he has been given to us and we have been given to him in that position.

Dr. Luce Berry Chaffer contrasted the church in Israel. I'm going to go through some of the contrasts. The extent of the Bible revelation. Israel occupies nearly four-fifths of the context or the text of the Bible as to primary application. The Church occupies slightly more than one-fifth of the Word.

Under the divine purpose, every covenant, promise, and provision for Israel is earthly, and they continue as a nation on the earth when it is created anew. Every covenant or promise for the Church is heavenly, is a heavenly reality, and she continues in heavenly citizenship when the heavens are recreated.

Israel becomes what they are by physical birth. Each one is begotten of human parents and their inheritance is transmitted by human generation. Christians become what they are by spiritual birth. They are begotten directly by God and are therefore his legitimate offspring. Their inheritance is immediate in that each is a child of God.

Nationality, Israel belongs to the earth and to the world system. Though above all nations in Jehovah's reckoning, they are still in the world as one of its nations. The church is composed of all nations, including Israelites, and sustains no citizenship here. But instead, the believers are strangers and pilgrims on this planet. How about our ministries?

Israel was appointed to exercise an influence over the nations of the earth, and this she will do perfectly in the coming kingdom age. Previously, she undertook no missionary work or proclaimed no gospel. She maintained her self-centered worship. She faced inwards towards the tabernacle or temple, and all her benevolence was consumed by her own worship. Immediately upon her formation, the Church was constituted a foreign missionary society. It is her obligation to face outward, and to those of her company is given the task of evangelizing the people of the world in each generation.

How does the death of Christ relate to each one? The nation which demanded the death of Christ, which said by their officials, His blood be on us and on our children, is guilty of that death, yet they will be saved as a nation on the ground of that sacrifice. The present and perfect salvation to the praise of God is the portion of the Church through the offering of the Lamb of God.

To Israel, God is known by his primary titles, but not so much as Father of the individual Israelite. The Christian is actually begotten of God and has every right to address God as Father. Christ to Israel is Messiah, Emmanuel, and King. To the Church, Christ is Savior, Lord, Bridegroom, Head, and Life. The Holy Spirit, in relation to Israel, in exceptional instances and for unusual service, the Holy Spirit came upon the Israelites and He withdrew as freely as He came and when the purpose was accomplished. permanently indwelt by the Spirit, and actually he is not saved apart from that relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Governing principles. For 15 centuries, the law of Moses was Israel's rule for daily life. Believers, members of the body of Christ being wholly perfected in him, are under the beseechings and the directions which grace provides. The law system provided no enabling power for its achievement to a Jew. There was constant failure because of the weakness of the flesh to which it was addressed. Contrasted with that, the church is provided by the indwelling spirit enablements for every requirement. Paul could say, sin shall not have dominion over you, and he'd give you the reason why. Because you're not under law, you're under grace. When Christ returns, he will be king to gather Israel into the land. When he returns for us, he returns for his bride, and he takes us with him into heavenly glory. John 14.

How about our position in Christ? Though individuals in Israel attain great usefulness, as did the prophets, priests, and kings, yet they never reached a higher distinction than that they were the servants of Jehovah. Christians compose a church forever in Christ as members of his body. When it comes to Christ's earthly reign, Israelites are appointed to be subjects of the king in his earthly kingdom. Contrasted with that, members of the body of Christ are to reign with the king as his consort in his kingdom. Israel has a priesthood The church is a priesthood. So, to begin to sum up, the beloved bride is hidden with Christ in God.

That's us. She is in spirit, resting in his arms at the right hand of a loving father. She only has eyes for him, and he only has eyes for her, for whom he gave his all. My beloved spoke and said to me, rise up, my fair one, and come away. I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me. The bridegroom, whether as God the eternal Son, head and life of his body, the church, or king of Israel, is the center and he's the glory of the universe. And his bride, you and me, is the center of his love and affection.

The bride is a totally unique, recreated race and family of people. She has all in her bridegroom, forever in need of nothing. She is exceedingly abundantly blessed to share with all the world with enough running over to provoke Israel to jealousy. And the half has not been told.

So why does it matter then that dispensation or stewardship interpretation method be used in the Word of God in translating? The first issue is because it's literal, it's plain and it makes sense. It seeks no other sense, lest it be nonsense. As you and I have studied the Word of God, If you came out of an environment where you were in a religious hold and you had some or a lot of legal principles holding you and you began to study the word of God as a believer, you had to come to a conclusion in short order that you didn't really fit anywhere.

When you look on the chart of a dispensational chart of the seven dispensations, when the Lord Jesus was resurrected, where does he fit? He doesn't fit under Moses. He doesn't fit under Abraham. He doesn't fit under David. He doesn't fit under Adam. He's an entirely new creature. So where does he go when you're resurrected in Christ? Where do you fit? You don't fit under Abraham. You don't fit under Adam. You don't fit under Moses. You only fit in Christ.

So you have to make a distinction. You have to. You're almost forced to say, wait a minute, if I'm going to be literal, and I'm going to make this as simple as I possibly can, then I have to adopt the thing that makes the most sense. And if I'm a scholar like Hal Malloy, I implement the rules of grammar, I start diagramming sentences, it starts to say only one thing to me, that I do live under this thing, grace.

I do not live under a law system. It makes the most sense in discovering to discover where every creature fits in the plan of God. Haven't you ever wondered where you fit? What is God going to do with me? Where am I going? I mean, we get all nervous about political issues and worldly issues. Where do I fit? I'm a heavenly person. I'm a sojourner on the planet. It's their world. I'm not of it anymore. I'm not here to carry out the purposes of CNN.

The fourth issue is, why should I interpret the Bible in a dispensational sense, is that it's the only method by which I translate the Word of God and I understand grace. I can't understand it any other way. If I adopt a non-stewardship basis, then I'm going to take a little bit of Israel and a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and I am not going to be able to live freely under grace.

The reader can trust the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to him simply and understandably without the need of any secondary input. Believe it or not, we don't need all those commentaries. The Holy Spirit of God indwells every one of us and has given us his word to reveal Christ to us as his sons.

It allows for a continual spiritual growth of the believer in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Knowledge and grace is the system that we live in, and we don't grow into grace. We are already in it and growing inside of it. And inside of grace, we grow in intimacy and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are thereby conformed to his very image. And we begin to abide and rest in the grace that we have on a continual basis.

We are not given some laws so that we can obey them so that God will bless us. We are in a system whereby we are already blessed way beyond anything we could imagine or conceive. Yet God, in his word, begins to reveal to us the blessings that we have, and it causes us to respond graciously and kind. Lastly, I would say that our job as those who are literal interpreters of the Bible who have followed the rules of grammar, who have come to a very simple sense of what it means.

Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.6, in pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. And that word servant is steward. constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of sound doctrine which you have been following.

Let's pray. Dear Father, how we thank you today for the grace in which we live. It's overwhelming to us to understand that what you've done in this particular stewardship that we live in, that we are, in fact, your legitimate offsprings, that we are, in fact, your sons, and that we do, in fact, live only under grace. Father, that we may realize on a daily moment-by-moment basis the blessings that we have that are unlimited and unmerited and that we may behold the glory of the Lord Jesus and just abide in him. Father, we thank you. We pray in his precious name. Amen.