WWUTT 380 Q&A Qualified Cremation Angels?

What are the specifics that we need to know when it comes to understanding the qualifications for an overseer? What does the Bible say about cremation? And do we become angels when we die? The answers to these questions and more when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. And greetings, everybody.

It is Friday. And on the Friday edition of the broadcast, we take questions from the listeners. You can submit a question to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. That's our email address. I've mentioned over the last several weeks, probably since Christmas, I've been talking about this.

We've been putting together a small library in our church, but we have some bare shelves. And so if you have tried to think of ways to support when we understand the text, donating books is one way that you can do that.

Our address is 1st Southern Baptist Church, 1220 West 8th Street, Junction City, Kansas 66441. Now we have received books from listeners and we thank you so much for your book donations. I have to put a stop, though, on John MacArthur books.

We now have so many John MacArthur books that we're starting to get duplicates. So no more John MacArthur books. But R .C. Sproul, I think we only have one or two of his. Sinclair Ferguson. You can go classics like John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards.

We did get a John Edwards book. It was one of his sermons, but I can't remember. On justification. That's what it was. Somebody sent us a book of Jonathan Edwards justification sermon. I don't know. You could probably think of some good authors.

In fact, you have been thinking of good authors. We haven't received anything where I've gone, you know what? Not going to put that on my shelf. If you would love to send us books or love to contribute to the ministry in that way, our church would appreciate it.

And one of our high school students, actually a junior in high school, is taking it upon herself to catalog all the books and run the library. So even giving her a project to do. So so again, I mentioned the address.

You can rewind, pick up the address again, get books through Amazon, or maybe you've got something on your shelf that's used that you want to send to us. We'll take that too, as long as you haven't marked it up so much that it's no longer legible.

Next week is the Shepherds Conference in Sun Valley, California. Grace Community Church, which of course is John MacArthur's church. Al Mohler, H .B. Charles Jr., Conrad and Bayway, if that's how you pronounce his name.

I don't think I've ever known how you pronounce Conrad's name. Phil Johnson, Steve Lawson and many other great speakers. This is going to be my first Shepherds Conference in the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

So if there's any time I'm going to take in a Shepherds Conference, why not this year? Preaching Christ is the theme, and I'm so looking forward to it. Those of you who are planning on attending, please try to find me somehow, because I'd love to meet some of the folks that listen, actually be able to get out of Junction City, Kansas and meet some people that listen to and watch when we understand the text.

So I'm going to be doing that next week. That means I'm going to do something a little bit different with the podcast. We're not going to jump right into a new Bible study, having just finished up 2 Peter.

I'm going to wait until the next week to do 1 John. So next week is going to contain two reruns and two fresh episodes. The reruns are going to be when I critiqued Adrian Rogers' sermon entitled, Predestined for Hell, Absolutely Not.

That was done in two parts. Those two parts are going to air Monday and Tuesday, and then on Wednesday and Thursday, I'm going to critique a sermon that is done by Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines on the same topic, talking about predestination.

So you haven't heard those episodes. If you've been listening to the broadcast for a long time, then you have heard me do the critique of Adrian Rogers' sermon. Both of these critiques are going to be in a book entitled, Predestined for Hell, A Gracious Response to Dr. Adrian Rogers and Steve Gaines, and that book is going to be available from when we understand the text soon.

It will be available on Kindle before it's available in print, and so I'll give you the details about how you can grab a copy of that book, responding to common arguments that are raised against the doctrine of predestination.

Those arguments as presented by Drs. Adrian Rogers and Steve Gaines. So anyway, that's what next week's podcast is going to sound like, and if I can work it out well, I'm going to try to do some interviews and things like that on the Friday edition of the podcast, do kind of a wrap-up of the Shepherds Conference.

You can watch the sermons, the live stream of the Shepherds Conference, by going to shepherdsconference .org. All righty, let's get to some questions here. I don't foresee myself taking up the whole 20 minutes.

I'm tired. Becky and I have both been sick this week, and we also stay up late with a baby, so I may just make this brief, but still wanted to provide for you a Q &A on Friday. This first question comes from Aaron in Georgia, sent me this question via Twitter.

He says, hey Gabe, just wondering if you may be able to do a little exegesis, maybe even a what, on the qualifications of elders' texts. I've been studying it here and there for the past couple of years, and there seems to be a lot of confusion as to whether the qualifications are absolutes or general reference points to look for in an elder's life.

Could it be a both and? My confusion is that I've concluded that Paul was giving Timothy and Titus general signs to look for in a man to determine their qualifications, as in, are they generally hospitable?

Are they generally humble? Because everyone obviously still has moments of pride or selfishness. But then there is the husband of one wife qualification that I believe is an absolute. So is it a both and?

My church is getting ready to vote on a couple of men who have been nominated by members already. I feel like I have a decent grasp on the text, but was wondering if you may have some insight. Well, brother, always a great thing to refresh our memory on these things.

So let's go to First Timothy, chapter three, verses one through seven, and I'm primarily going to draw from this text, not the one in Titus one. So let's just stick with this one here. Paul says the saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, which would include pastor, bishop, elder, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, sober minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. So all of these qualifications of an elder, an overseer that we're looking for begins with this instruction.

An overseer must be above reproach. So everything else that follows flows from that first general command. An overseer must be above reproach. That means that no kind of criticism can be made against that person.

To be above reproach basically means to be perfect. Well, an overseer can't be perfect. Well, right, but that should be his pursuit. And that's what we see in that person's life is the desire to be like his savior.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And that should be what we pursue. So in the overseer who is supposed to set an example for his entire congregation, do you see a man who is pursuing holiness and righteousness and living it out in his life in such a way that his character displays a life that is above reproach?

Nobody can bring any blame or accusation against that man that would tarnish his character or would reveal some sort of stain on his character and thus bring reproach against the church and malign the gospel because this man does not live out the gospel in his pursuit of godliness.

So first of all, the overseer must be above reproach. No criticism can be made of this person regarding the qualities then that follow. He must be the husband of one wife. So in his marriage, does he display the character of a godly husband, loving his wife as Christ loved the church and laid his life down for her?

He must be sober minded. So he's not a person who gives himself over to wild ideas or speculative thinking or myths. He teaches according to what the scriptures say. And he is quite confident in the viewpoints of the doctrines that he holds.

Let me be a little bit more specific. Like for example, if you are in a Baptist church and you're hiring a Baptist minister, he is so certain and confident in his Baptist doctrines that a few months from now, he's not suddenly going to be going, you know, I think we need to be baptizing infants.

That would be a person who is not sober minded. He's still being tossed to and fro by every shifting wind of doctrine. Some new doctrine comes his way, starts to convict his heart. It's like, oh, I don't know.

I guess I haven't thought about this well enough. I might need to consider these beliefs instead. So this is a person who has committed his thinking, trained his mind on the doctrine that he teaches enough that he's not going to be shifting back and forth between secondary issues, even secondary issues.

So he is sober minded. He is self-controlled, not a person who flies off the handle at things or is easily given into passions of the flesh or worldly desires. He is able to train his mind to be steadfast and straightforward.

He is respectable and hospitable. In other words, you would not be able to say of the man that he's not respectable and not hospitable. He is a person who has respect for other people and he opens up his home to others.

You can actually see the way that he lives and and treats his wife and his children because you've been in his home to observe that. And he'll treat you as a guest and break bread with you at his table.

The things that the Lord has given him, he uses to bless others. So that's being hospitable. He is able to teach. That is the skill that an elder or an overseer must have. He is not a drunkard. That one's pretty self-explanatory, not violent, but gentle.

Not quarrelsome. So when you disagree with him, he is open to hear your disagreement and will calmly and respectfully help you to understand his perspective or what he has to teach on that particular subject.

He doesn't take offense whenever you come to him and say, you know, I heard you preach on this and I just don't know that I agree with that. Or he doesn't stand in the pulpit and say things like, don't you dare email me about this or try to disagree with me in this in some way, like putting up an affront to not allow any kind of further dialogue or discussion on the issues or the things that he is presenting.

But he is open to having a person disagree with him so that he might have an opportunity to more directly train or help them understand the matter in which he was teaching on. Okay. He is not a lover of money.

Do you see the way that he handles his finances in such a way that he gives in the service of God, at the service of the ministry? He must manage his own household well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.

For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? I was just talking about this with my congregation. It was either this past Sunday or it was the Sunday before.

I've been preaching out of First Corinthians four, and there Paul says, join in imitating me. And I said, when it comes to a church hiring a pastor, we'll assemble our pastor search committees and they will read the resume and they'll watch or listen to sermons.

And they'll go, you know, that guy presents real well. I'm not falling asleep while I'm listening to him. I agree with everything that he believes. Let's hire him. Let's make him a pastor here at our church.

But has anybody in the vetting process actually talked to that man's wife or to his children? Because that's where they're going to see if that man is going to be able to care for God's church. Does he love his wife as he is supposed to?

Is he discipling his wife and his children? Do they see in the man's family conduct that displays the fruit of the skills he is supposed to be able to have as an overseer in the church? So that's something that you should consider when it comes to evaluating an elder for a church is interviewing his wife and his children.

Verse six, he must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now, this doesn't mean that he can't be young, plenty of young pastors, nothing wrong with that.

He just can't have recently come to the faith. So if you've got a person who is applying for an elder position who became a Christian two years ago, that's probably not enough time for him to have studied doctrine enough to be steadfast on the things that he believes and teaches.

So you need to be able to be discerning about whether or not that man has enough experience or has enough background to be able to evaluate and test that he is steadfast in the things that he believes.

Verse seven, moreover, he must be thought he must be thought of by outsiders, well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. Does this man treat even unbelievers respectfully?

Does he have a reputation in his community as one who is a man of good character, even though there are people out there who are not believers and disagree with the things that he believes? Nonetheless, he has a respectable character that is thought of well by those who are outside the church.

So anyway, I hope that that kind of clarifies what it was you were asking about, Aaron, and God bless you and your church as you are evaluating these couple of men for the elder positions that you have.

The Qualifications for Overseers in 1 Timothy 3

This next question comes from Edgar in Arizona. He says, what does the Bible say about cremation? Well, actually nothing. There's nothing in the Bible about cremation. There's nothing in the Bible that says that we have to be buried in coffins six feet underground.

The reason why that's so traditional, full body entombment and not just among a Judeo-Christian ethic, but all kinds of religions all throughout human history. The reason why that's so traditional is because of a belief in some kind of afterlife where the body will eventually rise up and live again.

You think about the ancient Egyptians and the mummification process, the big pyramids that they would build, which were huge tombs and the kings would be buried underneath. Their organs would even be in these little jars because there was this idea that they were going to rise up again and they would need their organs again.

So there's always been this kind of understanding of some kind of afterlife. So we want to preserve the body because that body is going to rise again. Even we as Christians believe that, that our bodies are going to rise again, that at the return of Christ, the dead in Christ will rise first.

Our bodies will be transformed and become imperishable. Our souls will be reunited with our bodies on that day of the Lord's return. That doesn't mean though that a proper burial procedure means that we have to be buried in the ground.

We can't cremate the body. There's nothing in the Bible that says that. In fact, I just spoke at a service this past Saturday for somebody who had been cremated. We went to a graveside because her husband had passed years ago.

So they were going to sprinkle her ashes there at her husband's graveside. So I went there and they asked me to come share a few words and I preached out of 1 Corinthians 15. One of the things that I mentioned was even though our sister has been cremated, we still understand the words of the apostle in Philippians chapter 3 that our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

So it doesn't matter whether a body is buried in the ground or it has been burned to ashes. One way or the other it still becomes dust and Christ upon his return is going to bring those bodies back up and is going to make them to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to do that very thing.

So it doesn't matter whether the body has been buried or cremated, we still are going to have these glorified bodies. Christ has the power to be able to do that for us, to raise up our bodies from the dust and make them perfect just as he is perfect.

So I hope that answers your question, Edgar. Next question comes from Taze. He says, hello, I enjoy very much your videos and would like you to consider one on the prevalent myth that when somebody dies, heaven gets a new angel.

Ah, yes, you've heard that one before too, haven't you? As a former Jehovah's Witness who has since repented from that and come to know the true Christ, I continue to reach out to current JWs and ones who have left and are searching for truth.

One of the many stumbling blocks that are put before a JW is the organization will paint most of Christianity as ascribing to false views such as our hope is being an angel in heaven as sweet as that may sound.

Well, one of the places that I would tell you to go, Taze, when it comes to sharing with somebody that we don't become angels when we die, 1 Peter 1, 10 through 12, concerning this salvation, the salvation in Christ that we have received, the prophets who prophesied about that grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

So the grace of God that has been given to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord, is so amazing that not even the angels get to experience that kind of grace. And they wish that they could understand it or fathom it.

But it is a grace that God has reserved only for those who have been made in his image. And that is mankind. We are the image bearers of God. We also have it said for us in Hebrews 1, 14, are not angels all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation?

So the angels don't inherit salvation. God has no plan to redeem the angels, but he has a plan to redeem fallen man through the person and work of Jesus Christ. So there is there is the distinction between man and angels.

And that's what it is that I would recommend that you share with the person who thinks that when we die, we become angels. No, that's not the case. We become like our Savior because our body is made to be like his glorious body.

And as John talks about in 1 John 3, 2, Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.

Our Lord God, we thank you so much for the love that you have poured out upon us that we should be called the children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is because it does not know you.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness because sin is lawlessness. But we know that you appeared in order to take away sins and in you there is no sin. So forgive us our sins and lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.

Looking forward to that day when our Christ will return and our lowly bodies will be made to be like his glorious body and we will be forever with the Lord. Keep us focused on heaven, desiring the heavenly things and away from worldly temptations.

And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Cremation and the Resurrection of the Body

This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

Find a good, Gospel-teaching, Christ-centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again Monday for more Bible study when we understand the text.