Woes for the Hypocrites (Matthew 23:13-39)

Wow, hard to believe it's almost halfway through June. Where has the time gone? As I get older, it seems that the time goes by faster. And I think there's some truth to that. I was telling someone today that it seems like we were just at General Assembly (GA) and yet here I am flying out Sunday night for another General Assembly. This year we're meeting in Houston, Texas (because Houston's always cool in June!) and there's some big issues on the agenda. Tom Rubino and I will be there and need your prayers as we consider all the issues (which I'll talk about more on Sunday). Tom will be serving on the Committee of Commissioners for MIssion to the World (MTW) and I'll be serving on the Committee of Commissioners for the Administrative Committee (AC - the committee I chaired last year).

The structure of the PCA is that there's three layers of oversight for all work of the denominational agencies. For example, Covenant Theological Seminary has a President and Staff to run the seminary; there's a Permanent Committee, which functions like a Board of Directors and usually meets quarterly, to oversee the work of the President and Staff; and then there's a Committee of Commissioners, who meet once a year at GA, and they oversee the work of the Permanent Committee. Sounds inefficient, doesn't it? Actually it was designed to keep the denomination from becoming theologically liberal by giving final authority to the members of the General Assembly (all the Teaching Elders and at least two Ruling Elders from each church) and not to the denominational staff. So, in the end, it may be inefficient, but it's very effective, and that's a good thing ... but it still takes a lot of work and still needs a lot of prayer!

I'll be preaching this week on Matthew 23:13-39. This passage contains some of the harshest words ever spoken by Jesus! And you can't read them without wondering why Jesus is so upset? Are people committing "the really big sins"? Doesn't seem that way. Are people breaking all of the commandments? That's not it either. So ... what do you have to do to tick Jesus off? Well, He gave us a big clue in the last chapter, but you're just going to have to come on Sunday to find out more. I'll see you then! Dr. Dave