Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for July 14, 2019

“Marching Orders”   2 Timothy 1:1-14   Bible Study   07/14/19

Because of the matchless worth of the Gospel, stand firm in it and steward it faithfully.

I. Introduction

• date/place: 66-67 from Rome
• author: Paul in his second imprisonment and near the end of his life
• recipient: Timothy the young pastor in Ephesus
• overview: hold on to it (1), teach it (2), abide in it (3) and preach it (4)

II. Paul’s opening remarks 1:1-5

• identification
• greeting
• affection
• affirmation

III. Fan the flame 1:6

• gift of God
• laying on of hands

IV. Remember your resource 1:7

• given by God
• not fear
• power, love and self-control

V. Embrace suffering for the sake of the Gospel 1:8-12a

• therefore…
• don’t be ashamed
• saved and called…
• death abolished and life brought…

VI. Rely on God’s faithfulness 1:12b

• Paul’s settled conviction
• supernatural security

VII. Guard the deposit 1:13-14

• follow “healthy” words
• Spirit-driven stewardship

VIII. So What?

• Assess your source of security
• Evaluate the stewardship of your gift
• Adjust your perspective on suffering
• Treasure the truth

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for June 30, 2019

Guest Speaker: Timothy Jeffress

Mr. Jeffress is a retired, 30-year veteran of the Dallas police department and brother of our pastor.

Creating a truth-conforming church environment
1 Timothy 4:1–16

I. Book Theme: Creating a church environment so that false teaching cannot flourish

II. Review Chapters 1-3: Fight, Paul’s testimony, hold to faith/conscience, pray, ordered worship, leaders, personal conduct, doxology

III. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 False Teaching

a. Casualties/Apostasy
b. False Doctrine in other Epistles: “proto-Gnosticism”/proselytizers
c. False Doctrine in 1 Timothy
d. Rebuttal: “Everything created by God is good”
e. Application: 2 Timothy 2:23–26 (ESV)

²³Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. ²⁴And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

IV. 1 Timothy 4:6-16 Ministry Instruction:

1. V6 Rely on Scripture
2. V7,8 Train for godliness

a. Knowing ABOUT God through His Word
b. KNOWING God through means of grace (word, sacrament, prayer)
c. Expressing consequence to world
(head> heart> hands)

3. V11 Command and teach
4. V12 Set Example
5. V13 Devotion to Scripture
6. V14 Rest Assured
7. V16 Consistency

V. Application: pursue godliness

“In former centuries, the period between the Reformation and our fathers’ time, the tendency of the Protestant Church was very largely to let the conception of religion as a body of truths overshadow everything else. And nowadays, amongst a great many people, the temptation is to take the second story for the main one, and to think that if a man loves, and has the glow at his heart of the conscious reception of God’s love, and has longings and yearnings, and Christian hopes and desires, and passes into the sweetnesses of communion with God, in his solitary moments, and plunges deep into the truths of God’s Word, that is godliness. But the true exhortation to us is—Do not stop with putting in the foundations of a correct creed, nor at the second stage of an emotional religion. Both are needful.”
– Alexander MacLaren ¹

¹ MacLaren, A. (2009). Expositions of Holy Scripture: Philippians 4, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 Timothy (p. 364). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for June 23, 2019

“The Mystery of Godliness”   1 Timothy 3:14-16   Bible Study   06/23/19

-Because the church is a supernatural entity with a supreme Head, communicate the truth accurately and cling to it tenaciously.

-Background/Context

* connection to 2:1-3:13
* conception of the church
* confession of the mystery’s greatness
* chiastic structure and cumulative parallelism

1. Jesus: revealed and confirmed

• implied pre-existence
• unfathomable condescension
• acknowledged deity

2. Jesus: attended and extended

• presence of angels
• proclamation to peoples
• near and far

3. Jesus: believed and received

• trusted in the world below
• taken into glory above

-So What?

* “Lord, forbid that we would add to the avalanche of error spoken about Christ in the world.” (Piper)
* Hold fast to Jesus and abhor everything that dishonors Him.
* The truth: digest it, defend it, disseminate it, demonstrate it (Hendriksen)
* Determine to know Jesus better and to enjoy Him more.

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for June 16, 2019

Guest Speaker: Sherry Forester

CHRISTIAN CONDUCT
1 Timothy 2

I. PRAYER INSTRUCTIONS (v.1-7)

A. Priority of prayer (v.1a)
B. Variety of prayer (v.1b)
C. Objects of prayer (v.1c-2)
D. Reasons for prayer (v.3-4)
E. Basis for prayer (v.5-7)
F. Prayer is good and pleases God.

II. PERSONAL INSTRUCTIONS (v.8-15)

A. Men are to pray. (v.8)
B. Women are to dress modestly and serve others. (v.9-10)
C. Women are to be humble. (v.11-15)
D. Our attitudes and actions matter to God.

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for May 26, 2019

“To Nourish and Sustain”   Mark 14:22-25   Bible Study   05/26/19

1. Contextual/Background Considerations

• Passover preparation precedes
• forecast of denial and prayer in Gethsemane follows
• key text on the Lord’s Supper: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
• Lord’s Supper: ordained and instituted by Christ

2. The Bread (22)

• unleavened bread and its significance
• Christ’s body as a sacrificial offering
• purity of the offering
• take/eat

3. The Cup (23-24)

• shared cup
• new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34)
• apostles: appointed leadership of the “remnant”
• expression of “communion”
• shedding of blood

4. The Continuation (25)

• when I drink it new…
• resurrection: implicit in the Lord’s Supper
• until then: remember and proclaim

5. So What?

• Because the Lord’s Supper portrays the supreme purity and substitutionary power of Jesus, pursue the nourishment and sustenance it provides.
• “Jesus’ sacrifice is the means by which God binds sinners to Himself and brings them deliverance from bondage in sin.” (S. Ferguson)
• “His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay…” (E. Mote)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for May 19, 2019

“A Beautiful Thing”   Mark 14:1-11   Bible Study   05/19/19

With Mark 14, we enter the closing section of Mark’s gospel. As Jesus moves ever closer to the cross, we find here a distinct contrast in responses to Him: conniving hatred and complete devotion.

1. Conspiracy against Jesus (1-2)

• intent to kill
• aiming to avoid a commotion

2. Anointing at Bethany (3-9)

• a contrasting pause
• action: a woman pours
• reaction: indignant about “waste”
• commendation: a beautiful thing (2 Cor. 8:9)

3. Betrayal by Judas (10-11)

• bargaining with religious leaders
• intolerance of complete devotion to Jesus

4. So What?

• Because Jesus poured Himself out for you, pour yourself out in love to Him.
• “It’s beautiful when the worth of Jesus and the love of His followers match…when the value of His perfections and the intensity of our affections correspond.” (J. Piper)
• no turning back or holding back

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for May 12, 2019

“A Much-Married Wife and the Resurrection Life”   Mark 12:18-27   Bible Study   05/12/19  

I. Contextual Insights 18

• in Mark and Matthew preceded by taxes to Caesar and followed by great commandment.
• the context of Pharisee/Sadducee competition to undermine Jesus
• note the significant amount of dialogue/exchange in the text
• the Sadducees: wealthy, fewer, aristocratic, theologically liberal, materialistic
• note the dramatic present of verse 18: “There come to Him Sadducees.”

II. Concocted Illustration 19-23

• the illustration of a woman with 7 husbands
• a concocted story to ridicule faith in the resurrection of the dead
• this absurd account springs from Deuteronomy 25:5-6 and the concept of levirate marriage
• the Sadducees were selective inspirationists who valued the Pentateuch most

III. Convicting Illumination 24-27

• Interrogation: Is this…mistaken/deceive yourselves? planaomai-wander
• Observation: Deficient because you don’t know Scriptures or power of God
• Obliteration: Jesus obliterates their false assumptions

A. verse 25-not if but when
B. like angels not as angels
C. Jesus appeals to Moses-Exodus 3:3-6
D. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob live!
E. You blunder-verse 27

IV. Concrete Application

• Because God is the God of the living who testifies of Himself in inerrant Scripture, relish the reality of resurrection life.

1. A right knowledge of God’s Word preserves/protects against error.
2. Refuse to separate what the Bible holds together.
3. Both scoffing infidels and superficial exegetes dishonor God.
4. Affirm that you are not left to worms but to a glorious resurrection.
5. “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.” (John Paton)

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for May 5, 2019

Guest Speaker: Dr. Barry McCarty

“A Prayer I Wish You’d Pray for Me”   – Colossians 1:9-14

Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for April 28, 2019

“But It Shall Not Be So Among You”   Mark 10:32-45   Bible Study   04/28/19

This morning’s text is, in many ways, the key to understanding Mark’s gospel. As Jesus moves towards Jerusalem and the cross, He articulates clearly the nature of His mission and calls His disciples to follow Him in it.

1. Contextual Considerations

• little children in 10:13-16
• rich young man in 10:17-31

2. A Repeated Prophecy (32-34)

• Judea by Jordan (10:1)
• first prophecy in 8:31-34 and reaction
• second prophecy of 9:31-32 and reaction
• moving towards Jerusalem and the intrepid leadership of Jesus
• “The Saviour, what a noble flame was kindled in His breast, when, hasting to Jerusalem, He marched before the rest!” (Cowper)
• third prophecy of 10:32-34 and reaction

3. A Selfish Request (35-37)

• what James and John got right
• staking a claim for the place of honor (Matt. 19:28, 20:20)

4. The Cup and the Baptism of Jesus (38-40)

• taken to task by the Master
• drink cup: get one’s fill of suffering (Psa. 75:8, Mark 14:36, John 18:11)
• baptized with baptism: immersion in suffering (Psa. 42:7, Luke 12:50)
• adjudication and qualification (Matt. 20:23)

5. Reaction and Response (41-45)

• indignant disciples
• reference to Gentile “lording”
• different measurement of true greatness
• deacon and bondslave
• grounding principle: service and sacrifice of Jesus

6. So What?

• Only as you are served by Jesus can you serve others in His name.
• Move beyond the idea of inspiring example to enabling sacrifice.
• Let the direction of your life be determined by the destined glory of Jesus.
• Grasp the principle of gospel humility: “…not about feeding my ego but feeding the faith of others.” (Piper)