Presenter Notes for slide show UNDER HIS FEET

PPT Slide-Show: Under His Feet [Presenter Notes]

Angelology, Anthropology & Sin

Dr. Scott Horrell

Dallas Theological Seminary

Fall 2005

A Biblical Theology of Authority

By Maud G. Lew 3rd Rev. & Exp. ed. 2006

Slide 1: Under His Feet

This slide-show is a foundation for a bible study series supplemented by videos and short group discussions.

It is especially useful for Bible study groups, discipleship training, and youth groups with teens and parents

Most readings are from the Bible though a selected bibliography follows.

The Parental-teen section is in the 2nd section sandwiched between biblical sections.

The plan for group discussions is not outlined in detail.

Group leaders can make up their own scenarios and illustrations to stimulate discussion.

Some discussions may be appropriate between parents and teens (cross-generation),

We recommend trying first separate parent and peer groups (peer groups), and a possible final cross-generation shorter discussion.

Rebellious teens should not be forced to participate

Follow-up application is encouraged at home

Slide 2: Outline

Bible Study Program: Each session can cover a few slides according to group

Possible Retreat schedule:

Title & Outline – 2 slides (1-2)

Session 1 (Morning) Authority at the Dawn of History – 14 slides (3-16)

The Lord of the Universe  The World

Session 2: (Afternoon) The World & the Youth – 14 slides (16-30)

God, the Great King  Turning the Heart of a Rebel

Session 3: (Evening) Authority for the Mature – 14 slides (31-43)

When your authority fails  Order in the House of God

Session 4: (Morning) Inside the Church & The Future of Authority – 14 slides (44-58)

Feed My Sheep  My Portion is in My people

Bibliography & Web Resources– 2 slides (56-57)

Slide 3: The Lord of the Universe

INTRODUCTION

The concept of “authority” presupposes a system or hierarchical structure of relationships

Biblical Authority cannot be understood outside of the Biblical worldview revealed in Scripture:

In the eyes of YHWH… (i.e. from the perspective of the Creator)

The biblical expression of the hierarchical system of human relationships is reflected in all of creation itself

How does God exercise His authority? (Because He is Good, He desires the best for his creation)

Why not absolute capricious power? Why moral authority? Why Free choice? (Because He is Just & merciful)

Does God’s means justify his ends? (His means are Himself = Life, Light, Truth, Good. He alone can set free)

Human authority systems through human government and institutions (especially family, political, ecclesiastical deviations) are best evaluated in the light of the biblical authority model which this slide-show aims to describe

Sovereign Zec 14:9; Rom 9:21

Darkness & light in the Bible Is 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Ps 18:28; Ps 112:4; Ps 139:11-12; Ecc 2:13; Is 42:16; Is 58:10; Micah 7:8; Matt 6:23; John 1:5; John 8:12; John 12:46; John 3:19-20; 2 Cor 6:14; Eph 5:8; Rev 22:5

No evil in heaven Rev 21:7-8, 27

Slide 4: Angels & the Devil Powers and Principalities

Give examples from your experience of:

Unbiblical imbalanced view of spiritual world (Satan perceived or portrayed as equal to God)

Demonic indwelling made responsible for every sin instead of human heart

“Devil made me do it” excuse

Gen 3:1-15 Powers of evil subordinate to the Lord, not equal to God

1 Sam 16:13-23 Spirit from the Lord as punishment from rebellion = as sin of divination and idolatry (Saul) David’s music therapy cures it, not EMM

1 Sam 28:3-25 Spiritism = abomination  God’s wrath, not demonization

1 Kings 22:6-28 Lord puts lying spirit in Ahab’s prophets to achieve His purpose even if

Habakuk 1:13 His “eyes are too pure to look on evil and [He] cannot tolerate wrong”

Job 1:6-2:10 Satan can tempt and afflict believers, but it is a moral, not demonological drama. Job never mentions Satan and is delivered through repentance only.

Zechariah 3 Satan as accuser of brethren (Joshua) is totally silenced with promises of forgiveness & cleansing of sins

Powlison, David. Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare. Grand Rapids, MI : Baker Books, 1995.

Slide 5: Dominion and the Family of Man

Possible discussion topics for peer groups:

What do gender differences mean to you? Why is Gaia (Earth) not a goddess?

Why marriage covenants? Can premarital cohabitation make increase chances of a better marriage?

Is parental authority as a biblical mandate culturally relevant today? (see debate question below)

Recommend readings:

Piper, John. & Wayne Grudem. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 1991. Ch. 1. http://www.cbmw.org/rbmw/rbmw.pdf (gender)

Stanton, Glenn T. Why Marriage Matters. Colorado Springs: Pinon Press, 1997: premarital cohabitation leads to elevated risk of divorce 50% more disruption, 50-100% higher divorce rate for those who marry afterwards. Cohabitation fails to lead to lasting relationships as marriage contracts or covenants: increase in aggression due to jealous protection of autonomy and lack of commitment, more domestic violence twice as high, 5x as severe, 65% crimes by ex-boyfriend v. 9% by husbands in National Crime Victimization Survey, battering of pregnant partners, 3 in 4 were not married, children become a wedge in relationship between cohabiting partners and are at greater risk of abuse especially if neither is a biological parent, boyfriends provide only 2% of non-parental care, 64% non-parents abuse child, 84% in single-parenting home, less satisfaction due to lower commitment, less economic & emotional security, lowered sexual exclusivity leads to less sexual satisfaction (sexual monogamy linked to more sexual satisfaction. Similarly depression and moral illness increase with abortion, cohabitation & divorce)

Jackson, Wayne. “The Destiny of our Children: Nature or Nurture?” Christian Courier, May 1, 1999. (parent-youth) http://www.topical-bible-studies.org/18-0005.htm. Excerpts for possible debate between teens and parents: “Do children have any important long-term effects on the development of their children? That was the question raised by the Psychiatrist Judith Rich Harris, author of the controversial book, The Nurture Assumption (The Free Press, 1998). Her answer was a boisterous, “No!” Harris’ book is subtitled: Why Children Turn Out The Way They Do and Parents Matter Less Than You Think And Peers Matter More.” Wayne Jackson thinks this dogma that children socialize children accomodates parental deliquency. Dr. Jerome Kagan of Harvard University, a pioneer in developmental psychology, and author of the book The Power of Parents (Peregrine Publishers, 1998) concluded after a negative review of Harris’ book: “Telling parents that they have little influence on their children, in light of scientific evidence and their daily encounters, is a little like declaring on a foggy September morning that the trees have disappeared because you cannot see them.” Compare with these old sayings and quotes: “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree” “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” Shakespeare called parents “heaven’s lieutenants” and John Locke said, “Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain.” But there is also biblical precedent for the reality of peer pressure: 1 Cor 15:33. An old proverb says, “Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.” Debate Question: How much credit do parents deserve when their children turn out well? How much blame when they turn out badly? (contrast your experience with Biblical examples if possible)

Slide 6: Evil & the Fall The Perversion of Authority

Disobedience / Rebellion originates in the heart: James 1:14-15: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Ecclesiastes 7:20-24 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you- for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others. … Adam & Eve: Eve was deceived. Adam sinned deliberately. Adam was the first sinner by purposely taking the fruit from her. But she is in the transgression, being deceived & is the 2nd sinner. Hence the sin nature is passed through the man by means of childrearing.

She heard second-hand of the curse and misrepresented it as ‘touch it and you will die’ (easy for Satan to fool her – he touches it, yet lives). Satan can then deny the connection between the doing of the sin and the dying (its penalty). Then he replaces his own interpretation (lie) “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:5). She trusts Satan & interprets that as ‘God is afraid you’ll be as wise as He is’ (rationalization of desire)

Under divine interrogation, Adam blames God and the woman v. 12. Eve claims she was deceived by the serpent. Judgment begins with the serpent (v. 14) who is not asked what he has done (God knows his guilt)

Next Eve is judged (v.16) with pain in childbirth and desire (i.e. weakness) for her husband (right man). A woman in aligning rightly to the “rightly aligned man” under God’s authority finds how wonderful her feminity is

Adam is judged for transgressing the commandment which he heard (God repeats it to him) by equivalent curse, food access through toil until death (physical death described as dust to dust)

But grace before judgment, before cursing Eve the promise of a savior is given in v. 15 in the context of great enmity between Satan and woman (the weakness of man). Her seed will finally destroy him.

1 Tim 2:15 Notwithstanding, she shall be delivered by means of childrearing (virgin birth as means of bringing the Seed. The woman was the means of the Savior’s coming into the world

The seed of Satan includes unregenerate man as the sin nature transfers to the children through weakness of the flesh and the propensity to surrender the will power to do evil rather than good.

Adam calls Eve “chavah” the mother of all the living (v. 20), because He believed the prophecy that she would be the mother of the Living One.

If Messiah came through woman, He must be a man to redeem man, the deliberate sinner and not just woman, his deceived weaker counterpart. God must bypass man in the process of conception so the sin nature be replaced by the holy nature of the Messiah – hence the virgin birth

If Messiah had been a woman, born of a woman, God’s plan of redemption would have been neither fair nor effective as it humiliates the man and severely limits salvation access to the woman whose quest for the right “man” ends in the Savior.

Man cannot submit his will to God by submitting his will to a woman Messiah, since he was created first & designed to rule over her (i.e. protect her) – The Savior is then a man, the perfect man not just undeceived but who does the will of God, His Father.

Slide 7: Each and All are Accountable

Our final destiny is a mystery to us, therefore it is an issue of trust not a matter of rights or dues:

Whose will? Mine or God’s?

No one is willing to follow where trust is not first established

Faith is therefore a choice: Who will I trust (who am I willing to trust most)?

Faith does not go against reason but works with reason

Faith cannot be proven as fact but rests on hope, and it is tested daily

Rom 2:14-16 Exercise of conscience is proof that law is written on the heart

“(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”

Heb 11:1-3,6 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible … And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Slide 8: “Thy Will Be Done”Submission & Dependence or Rebellion & Autonomy?

Those to whom God says: Thy will be done are most unfortunate.

God releases them into their own cycle of self-deception and self-destruction

Those who say: Thy will be done do not give up hope or the fight of faith without a blessing

God releases the blessing of face to face truth encounter with them so they may overcome temptation

1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

"Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants." --William Penn

Slide 9: The Power of A Lie Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil

A lie repeated often enough is believed as truth…

Slide 10: Authority & Freedom

The power of a lies when believed lead to the perversion of conscience (ex: Hitler and the German people)