Grace, Glory, and Gospel Endeavor: Theology On Mission

Moving This Blog to New Host...

2008-07-26T03:05:00.003-04:00

Well, I have been persuaded. After visiting Mr. Barley's new host site, I decided to do some investigation of my own. After much deliberation and effort I have agreed with his conclusions. I have imported all of my posts to my new site. From this point moving forward, I invite everyone who has stumbled across this humble site to please visit this one. It is the same up and down in terms of title, content, and burden, - the edification of the Church and the conversion of sinners to the glory of God in Jesus' name. To go there, click here....

And thank you for your visitations. I hope and pray that they will continue at the new site.

The Sinfulness of the Sin of Silence, Part 4: Be a Watchman!

2008-07-24T12:01:00.004-04:00

"And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: 'Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul,'" Ezekiel 3:16-18.

Granted, God has called pastors, and evangelists, and men to teach and preach His Word, and to warn sinners of their wicked way, pleading with them to turn from their sin and to trust in Christ for righteousness and salvation. But I am convinced by Scripture that every member of the body of Christ has been saved such that they can then become a vessel of mercy to a merciless world. Every Christian is a watchman of God in the sense that we all have been commissioned to make disciples of the nations.

We know that judgment is coming and that it is not a far off reality. No, unbelievers are condemned already, and the reality of it is coming quickly and nothing can stay Christ's hand. As Christians we ought to be intimate with the realities of sin, death, hell, and the eternality of torment, and we ought to stand on these things as essential doctrines of the faith which serve to prod unbelievers towards Christ and believers towards a more consistent movement of biblical evangelism.

The world is like the people of Israel hidden behind a wall of security ignorant of impending and sovereign judgment and terror. God likens Ezekiel to the watchman who would keep watch day and night for rival armies and onslaughts. By God's Word, Ezekiel is privy to His judgment against sin. He knows that it is coming and that when it does the sinner will die. But whose hands will be dirty of the sinner's blood? Will Ezekiel be silent even though he knows that God is coming in wrath against sin? If he does, he is guilty of that sinner's blood. Do you see the sinfulness of the sin of our silence? They don't know what is coming, we do by the grace of God; we can blow the trumpet and warn them; we can offer them the way of salvation, - a salvation designed and purposed by God to save sinners from God. And this we must do lest we commit such a grievous sin, - that we would let the sinner walk into the eternal fires unwarned, - all the while watching them and saying nothing!

Paul remembered this text in Acts 20:26. What he says has always amazed me, -

"I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, (why?) for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Is this our testimony today? Have you been a faithful watchman boldly declaring the whole counsel of God? This is the only means of new life in the dead heart. "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ," Romans 10:17. No one will be saved without hearing the Gospel of the grace of God in Christ. And they will only hear when we, being faithful to our post, "speak to warn the wicked from his way." Oh, that every Christian might declare, "I am innocent of the blood of all of you," no matter if the "all of you" includes a congregation, or your co-workers, or your colleagues at school, or your family members and friends, or the unbeliever on the other side of the intercom at the fast food line. Let us speak up and not be silent. Let us fulfill the duty and the delight of the watchman of God in Christ. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The Sinfulness of the Sin of Silence, Part 3: Whatever Happened to the Holy Spirit?

2008-07-11T11:16:00.002-04:00

"The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you," John 14:26, -

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning," John 15:26-27, -

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth," Acts 1:8, -

The Holy Spirit is the forgotten Person in the Trinity. Many, it seems, are afraid of Him. Others have confused the purpose and goal of His ministry. This may be an oversimplification, but the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to transform sinners into disciples of Jesus who daily pursue Christ-likeness and an identification with Christ in His resurrection ministry. By Him we are inclined towards the means of grace and personal sanctification. The Holy Spirit regenerates and quickens dead sinners, and energizes the dynamic of God's Word. And among these and many other things, the Spirit of Jesus Christ works in us to testify of Jesus Christ, - to speak up concerning the Gospel.

It is this particular aspect of His ministry that I'm concerned with in this blog. Many of us who have been indwelt by Him have experienced that powerful tug upon our hearts to open our mouths and share the Gospel of Christ with the unbeliever nearby. Perhaps we have begun a conversation with them, - we shoot the breeze with them about sports, food, drink, and then we go deeper towards more offensive things like politics and objective morality, and then there comes the tug (will I or will I not - what will I say - how will I do this exactly - how will they respond - this is the spiritual warfare of the moment when eternal consequences hang in the balance!)

It is a worrisome thing not to feel this tug; it is a blessed reality to know it; it is more blessed to act upon it in the power of God's Spirit. But how many of us are so full of God's Holy Spirit that when that occasion of witness comes we will quite supernaturally overflow with the words of grace and mercy, of the Law and Gospel of Christ, and these things with all boldness?

Any amount of time spent in Acts reveals a power working within the converts that compelled them to bear witness of Christ before all men, even at the inevitable prospect of suffering persecution or death. John the Baptist prepared the way and Jesus Christ our Lord came saying, "I am the Way," and that exclusively. Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the coming of the kingdom of heaven. But when Christ had finally been taking up into heaven and was seated at the right hand of power above all rule and authority and name, He sent the Holy Spirit, and the immediate effect was an outbreak of Christian testimony. This is the great consequence of really knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection, that we are filled with the Holy Spirit of Christ and set free to serve all in the proclamation of the Gospel at all costs.

Allow me an example to conclude with, - "deacon Stephen!" Three times the Bible says that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit:

1. The first mention of this fullness stands as a qualification of his being chosen as a deacon and of that example that we ought to imitate, - "they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit," Acts 6:5.

2. The second mention of this fullness pertains to his apologetics, - "then some...rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking," Acts 6:9-10. Notice that he was speaking!

3. The third mention of this fullness comes after he has been falsely accused and seized. Standing trial the high priest asks him if the things that he had been falsely accused of were true. Being full of the Holy Spirit, Stephen took the opportunity to (you guessed it!) open up the Scriptures concerning Jesus Christ (I recommend you reading it!) They didn't like being told that they resisted the Holy Spirit and murdered the Messiah. Because of these things they became enraged and ground their teeth at him, intending to kill him. Impending martyrdom is the context where we find the Bible saying of Stephen, "But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God," Acts 7:55. And full of the Holy Spirit, Stephen proclaimed to them, - in the face of death for it, - exactly what he had seen, - Jesus at the right hand of God! Again, he spoke!

I mention these things because they prove a wonderfully biblical point and offer a penetrating challenge: The point is this, - If God has filled us with His Holy Spirit He intends for us to speak by Him, in Him, of Christ to all with every opportunity at all costs. Stephen was so full of the Holy Spirit that he delightfully succombed to that which is most natural for the Holy Spirit to do, namely, bear witness of Jesus Christ! The challenge is this, - are you so full of the Holy Spirit? For it is only by that fullness that we, like Stephen, will shun silence and herald Christ! And although it is true that God has given the Holy Spirit to believers in such a way that He could not give any more of Him, yet at the same time we need to be practically, daily, devotionally, passionately filled with Christ's Holy Spirit. The principle is given, and the practice is on that basis commanded.

My encouragement then is to go and get so drenched with the Holy Spirit that when the opportunity arises to speak up for Christ and for the sake of the lost you will not shy away from it and keep silent but rather overflow with the testimony, wisdom, and power of nothing less than the Holy Spirit Himself which no man can withstand, - in Jesus' name.

The Sinfulness of the Sin of Silence, Part 2: Disassociations and Disobedience

2008-07-09T20:58:00.004-04:00

My intention in this blog is to examine the disassociations from and disobedience to the Word of God in relation to Gospel endeavor. I cannot find a text in Scripture that leads me to believe that a person born of God may disassociate themselves from the clear commands of Christ to share the Gospel on the basis of extenuating circumstance, preference, or opinion.

Our disassociations seem to come on the basis of human distinctions and personal disobedience. We will talk about Christ and have Gospel conversation with those like us. But the tattered beggar at the McDonald's asking for change, or the tattoed trucker at the gas station; the person whose flesh is of a different color, whose ethnicity is distinctive from our own, whose political slants are insulting to us, whose bank accounts are too high or too needy; the co-worker who cusses too much, whose gluttony disturbs you, whose character is...well, they have nothing good going for them, - they are too sinful to talk to about salvation. They are different. Let us go to our own neighborhoods, our own people, our own kind. We have disassociated from some basic biblical realities, -

1. We were them, - sinners at enmity with God, - and yet God graciously saved us. We are sinners saved by grace. Have we forgotten this so quickly? We are sinners. We are in pursuit of Christ-likeness, but we are nevertheless sinners, and by that reality we ought to endeavor to share the Gospel with other sinners. And we are sinners saved by grace, that is, God was not obligated to save us apart from Christ but He set us in Christ, and that not due to anything in us (we are sinners) but due to everything in Christ and on that basis alone God freely bestowed salvation upon sinners. We didn't earn it and we aren't worthy of it, but for Christ's grace. I often think, - "If God saved me, what reason do I have to doubt that He will save these, and by that reckoning, why have I persisted in withholding Christ from them?"

2. The Gospel implores us to see beyond external distinctions to the internal, spiritual need of all people without distinction. In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free; but Christ is all, and in all, Colossians 3:11. Because of the binding power of the Gospel, Euodia (a Jew) and Syntyche (a Gentile) are sisters in Christ whom Paul entreats to agree, - on what basis? - that they are in the Lord, Philippians 4:2. The cross-work of Christ knows no distinction but sinner in need of salvation, and we are all him or her. So it is our aim to evangelize the world knowing that the everyone in the world, regardless of human distinction, have at least one thing in common, - we are all sinners in need of Christ. Like Christ let us see the great need of the people we converse with tomorrow and take aim at offering the Lord to them.

3. Then there is always that Great Commission! "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age," Matthew 28:18-20. Why then are the laborers few (Matthew 9:37-38)? A lack of prayer to the Lord of the harvest for sure, but also a disassociation from the authority of Scripture and its infallible binding upon the very life of Christ's disciples. In so far as we move away from the Bible, we move away from our Lord Himself, and His exhortations for godly living. Christ commissioned us to be active in making disciples and teaching them to observe all that He has commanded. How are we to teach others if we are unwilling ourselves to obey the authoritative commission and rule of our Lord to advance the Gospel at all costs.

4. We have disassociated ourselves from the cost of advancing the Gospel of Christ and the gracious privilege of sharing in His sufferings. Many of us upon our conversions simply did not count the cost of following Jesus Christ. We did not count all things loss for His sake so that on the occasion of actually losing them for His sake we would not be sidelined from sharing Christ but emboldened to advance the Gospel all the more courageously knowing more intimately the Treasure that is our Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:7-9; Acts 9:15-16; Luke 14:26-33). We are all too comfortable. At the slightest hint of persecution or suffering, - of which by and large we know nothing of, - do you recant and recoil or like the apostles, do you rejoice at being counted worthy of suffering for the sake of Christ and the advancement of His Gospel (Acts 5:41, 16:25).

5. We have disassociated ourselves from eternal musing or meditation. Take time to think about the worst of temporal diseases, those that have no known cure. Think about the worst possible thing that these diseases can do to a person. Answer: Take their life. And then comes judgment and an eternal verdict! What disease can ravage the soul, the mind, and the body so as to take a person to hell? What is the consequence of this disease? Answers: Sin and a second death, that is, eternal torment in hell consequent of a personal and eternal rejection of and transgression against the Eternal God. And because these things are eternal and can capture your soul into hell, this disease, and its consequences are infinitely greater than anything that ravages the body alone unto the first death. But the Eternal God has given, offered, and commanded a Gospel, a cure, - Jesus Christ stepping out of heaven, into flesh, and on a cross, becoming sin for us who knew no sin so that we, the sinner, might become in Jesus the very righteousness of God before God who demands that we are so savingly clothed. This Gospel, beloved, we carry around with us. Every person that we pass is condemned already, embodying sin. Of the deepest sinfulness, then, is this sin of silence when we withhold the only means of eternal salvation and reconciliation to God through faith in the truth as it is in Jesus alone.

These are just some thoughts concerning my personal disassociations and disobedience in Gospel endeavor. There are, undoubtedly, many more reasons for my silence. I would hope to encourage you in this, however, - that the only true failure in Gospel endeavor is to say nothing at all. Every attempt that is made God is pleased to plant. These disassociations are my attempt at getting beneath that singular failure of silence to the "why" have I neglected so great a commission, privilege, and interest in the greatest need of human beings (sinners in need of Christ for righteousness). I hope that this strikes an edifying cord with you, as it does a convicting and repentant one in me. I pray that God might challenge us all, daily, to associate with and acquaint ourselves with Christ, His Gospel, and the condition of the lost, so as to overflow our spirits with an urgent desire to speak to all men, in all places, at all times of repentance towards and faith in Jesus Christ.

Your additional comments to these things are greatly desired by this bondservant who is in such great need of daily reminders to make the main thing the main thing.

The Sinfulness of the Sin of Silence, Part 1

2008-07-02T14:54:00.003-04:00

I want it to be known that this series will be blogged due in large part to my own evangelical apathy and the burden and conviction that I have personally felt as time and time again I continue to fail in "setting the Pearl of greatest price" before all men. Accountability is another reason for this series. It is my hope that we will be encouraged by the posts that follow. Much of what is offered is a remembrance of and a thinking upon the many times that I have clipped my lip or bit my tongue even though God's Spirit was compelling me to speak up. I'd like to address the questions like, "What do I say?" or "How can I get it off my tongue?" or maybe even "Why don't I have a passion to do this?" and "Where does it come from?"

My aim is to display a universal guilt in the multiplicity of Gospel shortcomings, - everyone has failed in a variety of ways and arenas, and therefore, all must repent towards a more Christ-like means of evangelism. I will attempt at rectifying biblically and logically the sinfulness of this sin of silence, and thereby, to encourage all believers practically in Gospel endeavor, - that we may know the privilege of being the Divine means, a.k.a., the role of human responsibility in God's end of evangelizing the world for the sake of His name. Let us aspire to that triumphant sentence - "I have warned everyone; I am clean of the blood of all men."

I have entitled the series The Sinfulness of the Sin of Silence to bring about a deep realization of the nature of that evil that becomes us when we shut up from the world that exclusive and most urgent cure which is able to alleviate the fallen nature of man, the ultimate disease of humanity, and reconcile them to God. But this is necessary, for if we do not feel this, we will not feel a burden for the lost or the great assurance that comes from walking in Christ's command.

May God bless you - whoever you are - as you read, and me as I blog, that we might all become more passionate and intense for the salvation of sinners. Please dialogue with me on these things that God's Spirit might be glorified in the edification of His Body. In Jesus' name, Amen.

In A 2004 Article by Jeff Robinson...

2008-07-01T18:45:00.004-04:00

Robinson quotes Gary Knapp, and although the circumstances of such a quote saddens me, the quote itself I find encouraging and worthy of reflection in light of postmodernism and the churches taken captive by the waves of culture and individual subjectivism as the basis of reality and truth. The Resurgence website supplied Robinson's article. I would encourage you to read the whole article, for it concerns the compromise of a popular megachurch.

In the article Knapp says (though the italics belong to me),

"Despite how [some] might define and understand postmodernism and the church, I think the classic definitions apply to Mars Hill and churches like it..."

"Truth for them seems to be more subjective and experiential than a product of a worldview developed by means of an interaction with God's Word, an interaction that often requires rigorous exegetical study and a measured reflection upon the results of that study."

A Farewell Thought to June of 2008

2008-06-30T19:49:00.006-04:00

In God's providence, He has allowed me to spend this month largely in Philippians 2:5-11 and Philippians 3:1-11. These texts have truly been a blessing to my soul, as God has granted to me from them a greater treasuring of Jesus Christ above all things. Christ's self-humiliation has astounded me, while His recommendation to follow His mindset has, in itself, served to bring me low quite often in the past 30 days as I continue to battle with sin, selfishness, and evangelical apathy. His super-exaltation has become my battle cry - my Jesus is the Great "I AM"! He is Sovereign Savior and Lord (cf. Isaiah 45). It has also served to give me an earnest anticipation of His future exaltation when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord - to the glory of God the Father. But I am also exceedingly thankful that in His majestic grace and mercy, He has bent my knee and clothed my tongue with His praises, and not left me to myself like many who will do the same with much bitterness and horror at the revelation of His mighty wrath - though this has also tenderized my heart and mind towards the lost who currently stand in such a position.

Philippians 3:1-11 has simply forced me, wonderfully forced me, to gaze longingly and musingly at the supremacy of Christ - how treasuring Jesus helps us to endure the toughest of trials, for in Him exists a triumphant joy that serves to strengthen us in the midst of our deepest loss and greatest sufferings for His sake. His Gospel stands supreme against all contemporary "Judaizers" - Jesus is completely sufficient to save. Paul has defined for me a wonderful caricature of the Christian as one who (1) worships by the Spirit of God, (2a) glories in Christ Jesus, (2b) puts no confidence in the flesh, (3) counts all things loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, (4) whose great passion is to "gain Christ and be found in Him," - which means to forfeit the righteousness of works that we so earnestly contend for as the basis of salvation before Christ, and instead, to trust in the righteousness from God that depends on faith in Christ, a.k.a., a perfect imputed (alien) righteousness given on the basis of faith alone! (5) But also one who in contemplation of the supremacy of Christ - Savior, Lord, Righteousness, Treasure - and the faith that binds one to Him, yearns - yearns! - to know and be transformed by the sanctifying power of Christ's resurrection - an earnest knowing, sharing, conforming, and attaining! - to know Him, to know Jesus Christ - with increasing intimacy! This will help us suffer the loss of all things for His sake - and we must!

Lastly, my wife and I have been given over to the consideration of "counting all things loss" - not just confidence in the flesh for salvation, but quite literally, the adding up and counting of all things as LOSS for the sake of Christ. It is as John Piper is well-known to have said in that wonderful dialogue on the prosperity gospel - that when one suffers the loss of all things, even and especially those things most dear to them, and he or she can still say that Christ is enough, Jesus is all-satisfying, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever - this makes Jesus look beautiful! I don't know about you, but I want to make Jesus look beautiful, because He is supremely beautiful. I have thought - what is most dear to me in this life - my wife - the prospect of children with her - family - friends - my own life - these we must hate, these we must consider rubbish in so far as they hinder us from gaining Christ (Luke 14:26 cf. Philippians 3:8-9), for in themselves they are of the sweetest blessings of God. To write LOSS over everything in this life, so that when and if we are to suffer the loss of it, it will not sideline us for Christ, but though we grieve, it will strengthen our dependency upon and delight in and propagation of Him - Jesus, the Lord, to the glory of God.

I will, therefore, leave you and this month now passed in history with a parable and a thought to sum up God's work in me:

Parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it," Matthew 13:45-46.

Thought: If God were to require your life from you this very hour, what would you want Him to find you supremely treasuring? And thus, what are you supremely treasuring? Kingdoms that an hour in hell will cause you to quickly forget? Or Jesus Christ, the Pearl of Glory? And, ah, that we would endeavor at all costs to set this Pearl before all men!

For us all, may it be the latter in Jesus' beautiful name. Amen.

Concerning Moral Free Will and Irresistable Grace/ Effectual Calling: A Definition for Any Inquirers

2008-06-28T20:52:00.004-04:00

Here are some definitions/ discussions that I find in keeping with the Scriptures and, thus, the doctrine of Christ concerning the will of human beings. This I provide in light of the blog I posted on Daniel Akin's article concerning Divine Sovereignty and human responsibility, where it was made clear that I love what Akin addresses and clarifies. These links I offer, however, to make plain a better definition or discussion of the ideas of human moral agency and omnipotent grace:

The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter IX.
From Desiring God

And a definition from the Canons of Dort:

Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work
And this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us without our help. But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God has done his work, it remains in man's power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not lesser than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches. As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will, now renewed, is not only activated and motivated by God but in being activated by God is also itself active. For this reason, man himself, by that grace which he has received, is also rightly said to believe and to repent.

Counting All Things Loss in View of Our Treasury, Jesus Christ

2008-06-28T13:36:00.004-04:00

Something every Christian ought to do - and I would say immediately upon conversion - is count the cost of following Jesus Christ. In Philippians 3 Paul defines the Christian as one who worships by the Spirit of God, glories in Christ Jesus, puts no confidence in the flesh, and as one who considers the cost of knowing Christ, counting all things loss in order to gain Him. Our Lord said as much, and the apostle Paul was certainly convinced. Jesus said,

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me...whoever loses his life for my sake will save it," Luke 9:23.

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish,'" Luke 14:26-30.

These things our Lord said when great crowds accompanied him. Does this not seem to contrast in a great way the methodology of today designed to bring masses of people in to the church? He does not comfort them with worldly pleasantries - no, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ you had to write LOSS over those things that are most dear to you in this world - your wife, your children, your family and friends, etc. But there is good reason: Jesus is the Treasure; Jesus is to be our dearest delight. He comforts us rather with the prospect of Himself - Jesus is our only GAIN. This is (but by grace) a nearly unbearable word - when a child comes forth from the womb, a climactic moment in this life, we write "loss" over them for the sake of Christ so that if we actually suffered the loss of them (although we will rightly grieve with many tears and sorrows and wailings) we will not be sidelined for the cause of Christ, but rather we will know Christ more intimately, extol Him more passionately, describe Him to the lost more all-satisfyingly - Christ is the Treasure, and He is our portion...forever.

If we treasure Jesus above all else, then "all else" becomes expendable for His sake. If Christ is most dear to us, and we suffer the loss of those things beneath Him, then we maintain that no matter the loss, Christ we still have. What is it to suffer the loss of those things which we have already considered loss...that we may gain Christ and be found in Him? I find this extremely heavy but a necessary meditation. Have I..have you counted the cost of following Christ, and thus, written LOSS over everything because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord? Not only our pre-Christian confidence in the flesh as the basis of salvation, although this is essential to salvation; but everything that in any circumstance would hinder us from knowing, gaining, and treasuring Christ above all else!

Our Lord told Ananias of Paul, "For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name," - a name that Christ chose Paul to carry to the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, - and why is suffering for carrying this name essentially linked, - because, "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved," Acts 4:12. That is, to the exclusion of every other name - Buddha, Muhammad, or Brian. This will cause us to suffer - carrying the name in which lies the Person and Work unto an exclusive salvation. But do we not, like Paul, carry that name as Christians?

What was Paul doing after his encounter with Christ - we find him praying, spending time with the disciples for "some days", stowing away into Arabia for three years, staying with Peter for 15 days, - why? Why all of this spiritual discipline, all of this musing? In part, I think, Paul was counting the cost of following Jesus Christ, - Christ was "(showing) him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." And one by one, Paul wrote LOSS over everything - everything - on purpose - that he might gain Christ and be found in Him, that he would know Him and the power of His resurrection.

In view of the supremacy of Christ have I...have you counted the cost and found all things LOST for His sake? What things have you counted LOSS? What things must you reckon still that you have not yet? "If anyone comes to me and does not hate...his own life, he cannot be my disciple." May we all count the cost in view of the indescribable beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ and the promise that we have in Him, for if we have Him we have all things pertaining to life and godliness and glory.

From "IX Marks: Church Matters"

2008-06-26T20:03:00.002-04:00

A help on church leadership and congregationalism. Go here...

John Piper on Returning to Doctrinally Focused Local Church Planting

2008-06-26T19:45:00.005-04:00

This quote comes from his 2002 book "Counted Righteous in Christ: Should We Abandon the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness?" Here (pg. 33-34) he considers the centrality of doctrine in local church planting in contrast with the contemporary marketing schemes of many plants. He sets the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ as the doctrinal cornerstone of fervently biblical church planting -

"If I want to see churches planted out from our church and others, why invest so much time and energy in defending and explaining the historic Protestant vision of justification as the imputation of Christ's righteousness? I have answered this already but will say again, I think we have enough churches being planted by means of music, drama, creative scheduling, sprightly narrative, and marketing savvy. And there are too few that are God-centered, truth-treasuring, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting, cross-focused, Spirit-dependent, prayer-soaked, soul-winning, justice-pursuing congregations with a wartime mindset ready to lay down their lives for the salvation of the nations and the neighborhoods. There is a blood-earnest joy that sustains a church like this, and it comes only by embracing Christ-crucified as our righteousness."

Daniel Akin on "Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility"

2008-06-24T12:31:00.004-04:00

This is an edifying article on Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility from the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In it he addresses how should Southern Baptists respond to the issue of Calvinism as the subtitle indicates. Read it here...

A few thoughts...

1. As is well known, Calvin did not codify the five points of Calvinism. Akin is absolutely right in pointing this out. They were codified by his closest associates, students, and colleagues who lived in that historical setting - as a response to the disciples of Arminius at the Synod of Dort.

2. In reading some of Calvin's commentary on key passages where the systematized version of Calvinism is at stake, I would argue that Calvin was in fact a Calvinist. Regardless, Calvin was not the first Calvinist, nor is he the first to identify in fetal form the "doctrines of grace". Calvin was fond doctrinally of Augustine.

3. Calvin had no historical reason for codifying or expounding exhaustively the doctrines of grace and, hence, he did not attend to them extensively in his writing. He dealt more with buffeting the Church against the heresies of the papacy, than writing treatises on definite atonement, for example. This, in part, may explain the lack of written evidence concerning Calvin's Calvinism.

4. But we would also be wise to give attention to the codifying of his thought by those who were closest to him, so long as it is in accord with the doctrine of Christ and, thus, biblically balanced as Akin ably states.

5. Beyond these points, I find Akin's assessment of the "five points" well and good, and his pastoral and practical considerations concerning "biblical balance" necessary, edifying, and encouraging. In particular, I wholeheartedly agree with and admire his admonition towards a Godwardness (Point 1), Christ-centeredness, Biblicist position (Point 7), and, as somewhat of an overflow of these things, a fiery evangelical heart and prowess for sinners in this world.

6. I also "Amen!" his call to address these issues with discernment in teaching our congregations. I long to implement a Christian learning/ training center in the mainstream ministry of any church that God would providentially lead me towards. He gets a "Hallelujah!" for making mention of it in the context of youth ministry in order to prepare them for the secular bombardment that awaits most of them. My agreement in these areas is most especially an agreement with God's Word and the injunction to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

7. Lastly, to quote Akin, "Is there a place for differing positions on the issues of election, the extent of the atonement and calling, as well as how we do missions, evangelism, and give the invitation? I am convinced that the answer is yes. Further, I believe we will be the better for it theologically and practically as we engage each other in respectful and serious conversation." I concure with great expectation of further discussion.

8. And in keeping with my nature, I'll add something else after I've written, "Lastly...": Read Spurgeon's quote! In the words of Lloyd off of "Dumb and Dumber" - "It's a good one!" And may God be glorified in Jesus Christ - the J. C.!

Excerpt From "A Narrative of Surprising Conversions," by Jonathan Edwards

2008-06-23T15:47:00.002-04:00

This excerpt comes from Edwards treatise on "A Narrative of Surprising Conversions" in "Jonathan Edwards on Revival," pages 30-31. As he recounts the outpouring of the mercy and grace of God in the multiplicity of conversions in that day, he admonishes other ministers to preach and counsel with doctrines that in the contemporary methodology of preaching and counseling might seem contrary, self-defeating, and, at best, paradoxical, but to Edwards bore the pastorally enjoyable fruit of authenticity of conversion. I have interposed breaks in this lengthy paragraph and the parenthesis belong to me as a means of explanation, as well as any italics. He writes:

"Whatever minister has a like occasion to deal with souls, in a flock under such circumstances, as this was in the last year, I cannot but think he will soon find himself under a necessity, greatly to insist upon it with them, that God is under no manner of obligation to show mercy to any natural man, whose heart is not turned to God: and that a man can challenge nothing either in absolute justice, or by free promise, from any thing he does before he has believed on Jesus Christ, or has true repentance begun in him. (This being the case) It appears to me, that if I had taught those who came to me under trouble any other doctrine (than the absolute sovereignty of God in life, death, and salvation, etc.), I should have taken a direct course utterly to undo them (from what the Spirit of God was doing in them, that is, extending to them the grace of fear and spiritual examination leading to conversion. In other words, he did not pamper their presumptions that they were saved, and therefore he continues...) I should have directly crossed what was plainly the drift of the Spirit of God in his influences upon them; for if they had believed what I said, it would either have promoted self-flattery and carelessness, and so put an end to their awakenings (see parenthesis above); or cherished and established their contention and stife with God, concerning his dealings with them and others, and blocked up their way to that humiliation before the Sovereign Disposer of life and death, whereby God is wont to prepare them for his consolations.

And yet those who have been under awakenings have oftentimes plainly stood in need of being encouraged, by being told of the infinite and all-sufficient mercy of God in Christ; and (also being told) that it is God's manner to succeed diligence, and to bless his own means, that so awakenings and encouragements, fear and hope, may be duly mixed and proportioned to preserve their minds in a just medium (middle place) between the two extremes of self-flattery and despondence, both which tend to slackness and negligence, and in the end to (a false sense of)security.

I think I have found that no discourses have been more remarkably blessed, than those in which the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty with regard to the salvation of sinners, and his just liberty with regard to answering the prayers, or succeeding the pains, of natural men, continuing such, have been insisted on. I never found so much immediate saving fruit, in any measure, of any discourses I have offered to my congregation, as some from these words, Rom. iii. 19. 'That every mouth may be stopped'; endeavoring to show from thence (that text), that it would be just with God for ever to reject and cast off mere natural men."

Treasuring Christ in the Midst of Trials: Philippians 3:1-4:1

2008-06-17T11:43:00.005-04:00

Over the past few weeks God has brought me to Philippians 3:1-4:1. Reading it as an entire unit, seeing its focus, and knowing what Paul meant to attend to in it has been extremely pleasant to my own soul. I thought in this blog that I would give a quick glance at this church's circumstances, and the matter that Paul sets before them to strengthen them in the midst of them.

In this letter, one thing becomes apparent: anyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (alright, so that is in 2 Timothy 3:12) - but this is the standard of the Philippian church. They are not perfect as is evident by Paul's prayer for their sanctification and spiritual progression (1:9-11) and chapter 4. But they are not confronted by the apostle concerning anything close to those problems in Corinth, Colossae, Galatia, etc. They have partnered in the Gospel of Christ, praying, giving, and testifying to the grace of God. They herald Christ as Lord as opposed to Caesar. Because of these things, they have enemies, or opponents (1:28), in the face of whom they are not to tremble but be emboldened. They were a persecuted church precisely because they desired to advance the Gospel at all costs.

In chapter 3, Paul puts a face on their opponents: Judaizers (Jewish Christians who asserted that one had to be circumcised and obey the law of Moses plus believe in Christ to be saved; cf. Acts 15:1, 5), and pleasure-seekers or sensualists (3:17-19). And these two groups remain stumbling blocks to this day - the Judaizers are those divisive legalists in your church who would in any way maintain that Christ is deficient to save; the sensualists are those who belong to the world, or are perhaps those who sit amongst you in corporate worship but beyond the church worlds perceive grace as a license to sin.

Paul means to help them endure suffering - notice, he does not tell them to avoid suffering! He has already mentioned it as a grace of God (1:29) and will soon mention it as a worthy consequence of knowing Jesus Christ (3:7-11). He does not mean for them to aim for temporal comfort, but to give them sustenance that will enable them to endure suffering with joy. And what does he recommend to them? The supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things and above all things! This, he says, rightly considered and taken unto sanctification will help you to live and suffer and die - in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ (1:27). Hence the title that I've given to this chapter: Treasuring Christ in the Midst of Trials.

I've broken it down into 5 divisions concentrated on the supremacy of Christ and the meditations that come from it that have served to make my soul exceedingly glad. I offer them to you in hopes of the same outcome -

1. The Supremacy of Christ's Gospel as a meditation on Christ's absolute sufficiency in salvation (3:2-7).

2. The Supremacy of Knowing Christ as a meditation on the gift of faith and Christ's perfect righteousness imputed on that basis - and of the supremacy of this satisfying knowledge that enables us to endure the loss of all worldly things (3:2-9).

3. The Supremacy of Christ's Person and Work as a meditation on counting all things as loss in this material world that we may become less hindered and more intimate in knowing Him - whom by grace we already know, i.e., the sanctifying power of treasuring Christ (3:2-11).

4. The Supremacy of Pursuing Christ Above All Else as a meditation of the ultimate goal of the Christian life and the freeing power inherent in it that enables us to be emboldened with the Gospel and perseverant in persecution (3:2-16).

5. The Supremacy of Christ's Triumphant Power as a meditation upon the supremacy of Christ's sovereign kingdom and end as the source of triumphant living in the midst of trials (3:2-4:1).

With these divisions, I would leave you with what has been an encouraging set of brackets around this incredible text: Chapter 3:1 in conjunction with 4:1 provide an awesome tandem of commands to introduce and close Paul's words. "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord ," introduces this text and the text explains the command so well - why should we rejoice in the Lord in the midst of suffering? Because Jesus Christ is sovereignly and savingly preeminent in and over all things, strengthening His Church to endure with triumphant joy the experiential pain that comes at the hands of men for the sake of the Gospel. And having expounded the supremacy of Christ and how it prepares us to live and suffer and die well, he concludes with another command of encouragement - "Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved." "Rejoice" and "stand firm in the Lord" offer us a solid battle cry in view of the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

I hope these provide you with some edifying thoughts. If so, feel free to comment as always.

From the "New Attitude Blog" ->

2008-06-13T00:06:00.004-04:00

Al Mohler on Personal Bible Reading.

I found it light and encouraging; a challenge to examine my daily reading and my motives. You can click on the New Attitude Blog in the right hand column under "Blogs", or click here.

1 John 2:2: Thoughts on Definite Atonement

2008-06-12T16:04:00.014-04:00

Here is another offering of a text typically used by those who defend an indefinite atonement. Once more, I am not trying to stir a theological boiler, but rather engage in edifying discussion. After all, in my estimation, what can be more edifying than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ - and let us type or read that lightly, - that Jesus is our (the sinners) Lord and Savior! His person and work are our exclusive glory and boast (Philippians 3:1-11).

The atonement itself is the crisis of Christ central to the ministry of God's Church. It ought not to be a doctrine of divide, but of great rejoicing. And so I am grateful for the unity found in recent debates between Calvinists and Arminians. Every biblical Christian, by that title, must hold that Christ's cross-work was and is and will always be a perfectly appeasing, penal, substitutionary sacrifice, that is sufficient for all of the sins of the entire history of mankind, in the sight of the Father in heaven. It was rendered in perfect humble obedience to the Father and is the basis from which Christ was super-exalted in His resurrection, ascension, and coronation to the right hand of Power, far above the heavens. And, the eschatalogical judgment will thus be a moral one based upon the sinless righteousness of God offered in Christ that depends on faith in Him - every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh (Lord) to the glory of God the Father! Oh, the rivers that flow from the service of Jesus Christ, and that to God and for sinners like me and you.

But how is this atonement applied? We looked briefly at 2 Peter 2:1 in order to deal with the term "bought" there and its meaning in relation to the "deniers". Today, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on 1 John 2:2, - "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

1. This verse must be read with the entirety of John's gospel. In his gospel, we find several statements which speak of an indefinite view of the atonement at face value (1:29; 3:16; 12:32, etc.); but we also find several which speak of a definitive view of the atonement (3:16?; 6:36-40 cf. 6:44, 65; 10:3, 11; 17:2, etc.). But there is not much reference to sin or of repentance (see Nathaniel, Nicodemus, the blind man healed, etc.) - John's treatment of Christ's dealing with them is quiet concerning their sin, although, the biblical witness verifies what we hold, namely, that they were in fact sinners, and needed to be reconciled to God. John's gospel is quite silent and generic concerning the atonement landscape and its inherent sacrificial language. But when it is mentioned, it is mentioned broadly, to the world - but often restricted to those who believe out of the world. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life," and thus, God loved the world - the gift of His Son was for the world in many ways - but it is quickly narrowed by the continuation of "whoever believes" - that it is those who believe in this Gift out of the world who will not perish but have eternal life. And not to be one-sided, faith is absolutely something that sinners must do. The work of God is for us to believe in the one whom He has sent (John 6:29). If they don't do it, they will perish. They just won't do it without God enabling them to do it. Faith is God's gift in accordance with His will (Ephesians 1; 2:8).

2. I make that long point to show that when one arrives at 1 John they survey the scene from within the church and not the greater part of the ancient world. He writes, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin," 2:1. He then means to exhort us to holiness and solemn gratitude by the mention of Christ our Advocate with the Father - a picture of Christ's intercessory conquest on behalf of the Church. And then we come to our verse:

"He is the propitiation for our sins..."

That is, Christ is the propitiation (and expiation) for the sins of the church in John's address, as well as, universally. By His sacrifice, Jesus both reconciled sinners to God and satisfied God's holy anger against our sin. Food for thought: did Jesus do this for every sinner in the history of the world? It puzzles me greatly! How can we say that He has actually done this for every sinner - reconciled them to God and given them the status of a child before His majesty in heaven? We can't! If we continue in this interpretive path, then we either say that Christ actually did this for every sinner but that His atonement wasn't powerful enough to sway the wills of men; or we recant such actuality, and settle for this - that Christ's sacrifice didn't actually do this for the whole world, but only possibly (He made this possible for the whole world); but if we hold to the actuality of His sacrifice, then what do we make of those who die in their unbelief, whom Christ actually died for, reconciled to God and gave a favorable status with the Father by appeasing His wrath against them? What sin will they be condemned for? This leaves us in a great quandry - one that I am unwilling to stay in with better interpretations and God-honoring solutions available.

"...and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

This reads very conclusively. There it is - not the church's only but for the whole world! At this point I will not shift gears and turn to that often used argument that John is referring to Jewish believers in the first half of the text and Gentiles in the second half, although it carries some merit (and I also held on to it for a time).

But the attention in this verse is a carry over from what precedes it - Christ our Advocate with the Father when we, the church, sin. He, Christ our Advocate, is also "the propitiation for our sins." Running parallel with this is 1 John 4:10 - "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Two things of note: first, we have God the Father specifically commissioning His Son to be the propitiation for our sins - God sent Jesus to propitiate the sins of the Church! Ah, but what of John 3:17 - "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." You might say, see there...! But what of John 3:18, where we have that remarkable narrowing again - "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned," - so that it appears that in 1 John 4:10, the apostle simply shorthands the intention of John 3:17-18.

Secondly, there is no mention of "and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" in 1 John 4:10 as there is in 1 John 2:2. Why? Because when he mentioned it in 2:2, it was simply an afterthought for clarification, and he did not need to attend to it again. Why is this important? Because 2:2 is focused on the "propitiation for our sins," - those sins that we commit after we have repented and believed in Christ and been baptized, etc. - and its continuation, therefore, is a statement made with regards to the way in which God forgives sin in general. In other words, there are not a half dozen ways in which God makes propitiation for sin, but only one way - by the Lord Jesus Christ - and that at all times towards all sinners in all places forever. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not only ours, but this is how he reconciles sinners to God in general, always and everywhere.

J. Ramsey Michaels writes:

"But having introduced an explicit theology of atonement to deal with the specific problem of 'our' sins now, after conversion and baptism, the author adds, almost as an afterthought, that of course this is God's way of dealing with sin always and everywhere: 'and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.' There is not one 'propitiation' for us and another for the rest of the world, but Jesus...is the only sacrifice, and the only way of salvation for all. The point is not the Jesus died for everyone indiscriminately so that everyone is the world is in principle forgiven, but that all those forgiven are forgiven on the basis of Christ's sacrifice and in no other way." (*1)

I think that this best reflects the meaning of the Bible, of the author, of the epistle itself, and of the text under consideration. Above all, I think it most glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ, and serves to encourage us in view of His sacrifice to advance that Gospel at all costs. Your comments are, as always, welcome...

*1. Michaels, J. Ramsey; Atonement in John's Gospel and Epistles; an essay in The Glory of the Atonement; pg. 117.

Encouragement from John Owen

2008-06-10T12:33:00.003-04:00

From the header of the site dedicated to him:

"When the heart is cast indeed into the mould of the doctrine that the mind embraceth, - when the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us, - when not the sense of the words only is in our heads, but the sense of the thing abides in our hearts - when we have communion with God in the doctrine that we contend for - then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men."

The Supremacy of Christ for Righteousness: A Look at Philippians 3:4-7

2008-06-09T20:13:00.003-04:00

Upon reading Philippians 3:4-6 one might wonder why Paul so engages in what he deems foolish boasting. But much can be said of his tactic when fully thought out. For it appears that Judaizers (Jewish Christians who insisted that Gentile Christians submit to the law of Moses and the rite of circumcision *1) had crept into the church at Philippi heralding a false gospel much like that of those in Galatians. Their gospel was that of an insufficient Christ. It was Jesus plus something, or better yet, circumcision and law with a side of Jesus.

But why does Paul then seemingly join them? Perhaps they would say much of themselves and then retort to claiming the insufficiency of Paul in accordance with their human standards. In conjunction with that, Paul certainly wanted to show them that there was no saving value in mere external inheritance or religious accolade. Therefore, instead of shying away, he meets them head on. He confronts their arrogance and foolish boasting on the basis of a hypothetical - if (and I reiterate, if) there is any saving value in what you say or standardize or lay as yokes upon mens necks, and you boast in those things as your ticket to heaven, I have more to boast in than you - though such boasting is foolishness!

It is an oddly awesome tactic of retort and witness of Christ. In explanation of this Calvin writes:

"He does not speak of the disposition exercised by him, but he intimates, that he has also ground of glorying, if he were inclined to imitate their folly. The meaning therefore is, 'My glorying, indeed, is placed in Christ, but, were it warrantable to glory in the flesh, I have also no want of materials.' And from this we learn in what manner to reprove the arrogance of those who glory in something apart from Christ. If we are ourselves in possession of those very things in which they glory, let us not allow them to triumph ove Christ by an unseemly boasting, without retorting upon them also our grounds of glorying, that they may understand that it is not through envy that we reckon of no value, nay, even voluntarily renounce those things on which they set the highest value. Let, however, the conclusion be always of this nature - that all confidence in the flesh is vain and preposterous." (*2)

I find his words helpful. That if Christians have lived such exemplary external lives prior to knowing Christ, then it is leverage to be used in sharing the Gospel, so that when an unbeliever confronts us with his outward heritage and fleshly accolades as a defense against condemnation and an advantage or basis of salvation and self-glorying, we may with confidence reply, "this is a foolish thing to boast in, but on the hypothetical argument that the externalities of religion are the basis of salvation, then I have more reason to boast in the flesh than you (if in fact we do!): "I was born into a religous home, professedly Christian; I was baptized as an infant; I was confirmed at the age of 13; I partook of the sacraments regularly; as to my life, I was not the prototypical teenager - I never partied, had sex, or gave my parents mental breakdowns, etc." And then having triumphed (albeit foolishly), humbly and adamantly state, "but whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the sake of Christ," that is, every fleshly advantage I had, I forfeited that I might have Christ, for what is a man's righteousness before God's righteousness? What, indeed, would be the reason for me to hold on to an approximation, which is external only, when in the Gospel, perfection is offered me through faith in Christ, and perfection, internally and externally, before God and men is what is required; and this Christ is for me! He alone was pleasing to the Father in Himself, and no man could condemn Him of sin either.

My fleshly advantages were (in truth) hindrances to me in coming to that which God required of me, when I made those advantages my boast and the basis of my eternal security. Christ's rightousness does not fall short. So let us say to them that our pre-Christian lives were more exemplary, if in fact they were, but that such boasting is foolishness, for no man attains to the righteousness of God but through faith in Christ - therefore, all that I considered gain (and if you are witnessing - "all that you right now consider gain for yourself unto eternal life") I count as loss! Why? For the sake of gaining Christ, the righteousness of God for me, the sinner. May the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ's person and work ever be our solid foundation, hope, and boast.

*1: Hughes, R. Kent; Preaching the Word Commentary on Philippians; pg. 123.

*2: Calvin, John; Calvin's Commentaries; Philippians; pgs. 89-90.

All Violence and No Compassion: Bystander Syndrome or Indwelling Sin?

2008-06-06T19:00:00.008-04:00

In the course of the last couple of months, I have seen a rash of violence and a lack of compassion like I have yet to witness in my life. Perhaps, I have been hidden from it. But our country has become that wicked land numbered with Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, who having witnessed the mighty works of God revealed in and through Jesus Christ, did not repent because of them. But have we not also witnessed the glory of God in the face of Christ as given to us in the Word of God; and do not men preach the pure Gospel in almost every corner of this nation?

But in these past months, I have seen an overflow of indwelling sin in a manner most disturbing and burdening to me:

1. In Florida, eight young teenagers, six of them young girls attack one girl, taking turns throwing haymakers, leaving the girl partially blind, deaf, and broken - and the videotaped it for public viewing! No compassion became them.

2. On the campuses of Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois, gunmen took lives without remorse.

3. Members of an FLDS sect are vindicated despite evidence that young girls, even to the age of 13, had been married to much older men, and slept with, while other children were found to have untreated broken bones.

4. A couple of days ago, I came unto a story of a mother, who having murdered her three year-old daughter in 1979, had kept the deceased child in her closet at home for over twenty years!

5. And then yesterday, a 78 year old man was the unfortunate recipient of this hit and run (continue with caution; this is extremely graphic, but a shocking portrayal of the inward reality of the fruit of indwelling sin; here the fruit is violence and a complete lack of love and compassion or moral compass involving severl people). For those of you just interested in the story (and my take on the news affiliates commentary) continue reading:

First, that the car committing the crime was crossing a double yellow line; second, that he sped off without hesitating; thirdly, how many cars continue to pass him by while he lies motionless on the street; fourthly, how many people stand idly by; fifthly, that one car coming his way stops in the road, reverses and goes the other way without a care; sixthly, a man on a moped circles the man and then leaves the scene. Absolutely no concern for human life, and of course, this is where we are today in America. This is not shocking to me, but affirming to me what I read in the Bible. How do news affiliates deal with our lack of compassion in this video? They call it "Bystander Syndrome." Bystander Syndrome? They even gave a three step process that everyone goes through when they witness something like this: First, they assimilate what they've witnessed, then they go through the "diffusion of responsibility", and lastly, they decide that they are not able to help due to lack of training! What they deem "bystander syndrome", I deem indwelling sin! I think this is a more accurate portrayal of the inward case, though not an intense one. This picture comes courtesy of bible.org:

This is the perfect portrayal:

"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness...All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one...Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes," Romans 1:28-29, 3:12, 15-18.

And this is a call to Gospel mobilization. How can we who so often sit lazily and comfortably in our pews continue to do so without the slightest hint of burden for people who are dead in trespasses and sins, knowing that God is willing and able (and Him alone) to raise sinners from the miry clay? Did he not do this for you also? Oh, that "Christians" in America would stop telling themselves that everything is "fine", that we are "so blessed spiritually in this nation", and the true Church would again take up its Cross - in America! That this nation would be ground zero of a God-Awakening!

Let the Church, then, take up their Sword. Let us slay men and this nation with the Gospel; that is, let us, by the grace of God, preach the Gospel of Christ, of repentance towards God and of faith in Jesus Christ. Let our obedience be full and missionary in its activity. Let us not rely on stupid psychological babble as a means of explaining away plain sin, but instead, let us expose sin for what it is, and the eternal consequences of it, in the heralding of a pure Gospel, and then, let us turn them to the love and comfort of Christ who, Himself, we viciously crucified because, in part, He wasn't like us in our sinful ways, though He became us, and our sinful ways on the cross of His passion. May God help us in our endeavor, for nothing will be accomplished lest He grant it, and let us pray to the Lord of the harvest for this nation and its state of depravity, that God will not forsake us in holy wrath but be that which He is continuously as well- gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Brothers, today, bear Gospel arms; arise, preach the Gospel, love one another, love unbelievers, push forward for the faith of the Gospel. Our state is not one to discourage us, for Christ has already won - He is Christus Victor! Therefore, in view of God's grace upon our own previous rebellion, His love for us in Christ, His mercy cast upon us in the laver of regeneration while we all were yet sinners, let us all the more go with the Gospel in the authority of Christ, for perhaps God will relent and bear spiritual children for Christ's sake and for His glory. May it be so in Christ's name, Amen.

Luther on Substitutionary Atonement

2008-06-05T20:38:00.005-04:00

This excerpt comes from an essay by Timothy George on The Atonement in Martin Luther's Theology in the book The Glory of the Atonement, pp. 274-275. It is quoted by George from Luther's Works 26:280:

"When the merciful Father saw that we were being oppressed through the Law, that we were being held under a curse, and that we could not be liberated from it by anything, he sent his Son into the world, heaped all the sins of all men upon him, and said to him: 'Be Peter the denier; Paul the persecutor, blasphemer, and assaulter; David the adulterer; the sinner who ate the apple in Paradise; the thief on the cross. In short, be the person of all men, the one who has committed the sins of all men. And see to it that you pay and make satisfaction for them.' Now the Law comes and says: 'I find him a sinner, who takes upon himself the sins of all men. I do not see any other sins than those in him. Therefore let him die on the cross!' And so it attacks him and kills him. By this deed the whole world is purged and expiated from all sins, and thus it is set free from death and from every evil."

Thoughts on Grace

2008-06-05T08:20:00.005-04:00

...anyone who thinks that God's full grace is a detractor or hindrance to Christian work, obedience, and responsibility has not thought long or well concerning it. For by God's grace we are enabled to do things which formerly we could not and would not, and therefore, we are exhorted to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It is precisely because of God's gracious working in us that (1) we have a salvation to work out and (2) that we will in fact work it out and (3) that we will work it out with fear and trembling (for even the fear is given to us by God - Jeremiah 32:40 - and for to what end but that we will not turn from Him). Simply, it is a fallacious accusation that is laid upon those who attend well to the grace of God, when that accusation is that it makes us slothful in Christian living; if anyone has made such a poor appropriation of the grace of God let it be a shameful thing to him, but as for those who understand grace aright, it is known that the grace of God is both the enabling principle and the teacher that educates us to deny ungodliness; we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling precisely because God graciously works in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure...

...let it be known that the grace of God is the far greater motivation to take up our personal cross, to engage in Christian practice and responsibility, to obey our Lord Jesus Christ, to live as responsible Christians, than that human motivation alone; for by the human motivation one may attend to human things or to spiritual things in their own strength (and therefore ineffectually and incompletely), and if they do attend to them, they attend to them with an incomplete obedience (which is no obedience), for they do them with a rotten attitude that stinks in light of God. But that grace which is Divine, when it comes to us in effectual power, it masters us and by mastering us it frees us to do those things that are most pleasing to God. And our doing of them is an obedience pleasing to God, for it comes from Him, and we dare not grumble or complain in the doing of those things that glorify Him, but due to grace we rejoice even if the doing results in our dying, for by grace we know with certainty that the Gospel will advance and the Church will be edified even in the event of one's persecution and suffering for the sake of Christ. Yes, effectual grace must be our daily plea before God, so that we may do what God would have us do...

...comments...

Desiring God Staff on 2 Peter 2:1

2008-06-03T13:36:00.006-04:00

Much has been made of 2 Peter 2:1 -

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction."
- and whether or not it defends an indefinite atonement (or that it opposes the view of definite atonement). An article was posted on the issue of this verse at the Desiring God website on January 1, 2007 - "Does 2 Peter 2:1 Deny Effectual Atonement?" I find it helpful and challenging. My aim is to engage in edifying discussion over key texts, as it is my hope that in your reading of this article you will feel compelled to comment and converse. The first issue in the article seems to concern the context; the second issue stems from Grudem's cross reference between 2 Peter 2:1 and Exodus 2:1, that Peter is pointing his audience to the Exodus of Israel; the third issue is that of language - is "the Lord who bought them" referring to Jesus or to God the Father in reference to Deut. 32:6; the fourth issue arises out of the question of reality vs. appearance in relation to those who deny the Master.

Beyond this, however, I find something more compelling. If you hold that this text denies definite atonement, I would lay the burden of explanation upon you. What does this text really mean by the term "bought". Do you really think that what "bought" means in this text is that those who deny the Master, when they die, will be saved if they die in their denial? Of course not - I hope! If those who deny Christhave been bought by Christ, but they are not saved in the last day, what does "bought" mean? Do you think that what this text means is that those who were bought will be in heaven if they do not believe in Christ? Again, of course not! Then what does bought mean? It means that He made a sufficient payment for those who deny, but not an effectual payment for them - unless they turn and believe, in which case Christ effectually bought them - His atonement really paid for them. If you would say that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient for all but effecient towards those who believe in Him, then (being reformed) I have no problems with that interpretation - we agree! It is not what the proponents of the contrary position affirm that I have a problem with, but what they deny (and what I happen to find taught in Scripture). In other words, every one is stuck with a limited atonement unless you are a universalist (and completely unbiblical) - it just depends on how you limit it; either in number or actuality, scope or power, etc. Regardless, the real issue hangs not on the atonement but on election - how is the atonement applied or where does faith come from? What makes the difference between those who deny and those who believe? 2 Peter 2:1 in no way denies the effecting of the sacrifice of Christ, but concerns its sufficiency. It term bought here does not negate what the reformed view calls for - please offer your thoughts...

11 Lectures From John Piper on TULIP

2008-06-02T08:36:00.005-04:00

It is a thing noted that reformed theology is experiencing a revival within evangelical Christianity. It is not my aim here to fan the flame, but only to give food for thought. My hope is that these lectures (provided by biblicaltraining.org) will prove edifying to you just as they have been for me. Lastly, I would challenge you to set aside re-runs of Seinfeld, prop open your Bible, and listen to these lectures, praying that God will build up your biblical foundations with the doctrines of grace, or at least, that you will be opened up to them. I particularly like the 5th lecture (4b) where he attends to the difficult texts like 2 Peter 2:1, etc. You will find them amidst other Piper lectures on pastoral theology - these are under the title: T.U.L.I.P. To listen to them, go here - in the grace of God.

Confessions and Resolutions: Encouraged by Jonathan Edwards - Part 3

2008-05-29T10:49:00.007-04:00

Part 3: Promoting God's Glory in Ministry and Personal Life (Resolutions 2-4)

Even in these early stages of thinking on Edwards' Resolutions, I find that I cannot speak for Edwards himself. His thoughts and writing come from a different era, cultureI cannot enter into the spirit of his mind. I might be able to read the output of his thoughts, and thereby, draw much from them of the man and for my own soul. But I cannot see his soul or spirit like I could his body. Only Edwards' own spirit can know the essence of Edwards' thought (2 Corinthians 2:11) - and of course, God who knew them before he had them. But I am grateful that he has given them and that God has retained them for us all in His providence, that we might be encouraged by them. I write all that to write this - I can only comment on what I hope to be in some accordance with the original meaning and purpose of his soul, and beyond that, I will write only with regards to my own reflections upon his words, attempting to add for you any biblical insight that I am inclined to see reflected in Edwards' Resolutions. With that set forth, let us comment on resolutions 2, 3, and 4.

Resolution #2: Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the fore-mentioned things.

I take this to mean that he intended to be tireless in endeavoring in those things that most glorified God and pleased Him, which glorification obviously implies that advantage for his own soul and that of others. In terms of Gospel endeavor, it seems that he was of the mind to always be finding points of reference with men to advance it; and since contrivances and inventions are intended to make difficult tasks more simple (though not without mature thinking), it appears that he intended by such inventions to make plain the glory of God in Christ to men so as to win some. But this resolve is relative to personal life also. For how does one promote the glory of God and the profit of souls without an intimate striving after holiness and satisfaction in Him who is most satisfying? By endeavoring in these inventions and contrivances, I find an echo of Paul's words in Romans 13:14, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ (apostolic shorthand for the Gospel), and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." By contrivances, we may also talk of keeping oneself out of situations in which our fleshly desires are sure to meet that attractive temptation out which wedding comes sin. By inventions, let us know ourselves and stay ahead of ourselves with the help of God's Spirit that by purity and growth in restraint we might not give ourselves occasion to sin - this is most glorifying to God and most beneficial for us and our witness to that greatest need in others. But positively, it is a call (having put off sin) to be satisfied in God and to contrive of ways in which to do this: take a walk with God as Edwards often did in the woods for prayer; in the ways that we might think of spending time with our wives, let us think likewise towards God. With the pslamist let us pant for God and so endeavor to be satisfied in Him: "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you (ah, there it is - he is earnest in his invention for seeking); my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you...so I have looked for you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory...(and you want to talk about contrivances and inventions?)...My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night," Psalm 63:1, 2, and 5.

Resolution #3: Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

Here we find encouragement to have our own biblical resolutions - personal accountability, that accountability with ourselves. By writing such resolutions that are the outpouring of our souls, we will in reading them be confronted with ourselves, and with that soulish resolve. Therefore, we will be reminded and held accountable, and if we have forsaken a resolve that was in accord with the Bible, then we will immediately repent of every shortcoming that He brings to mind. It is a thing worth noting that our initial repentance towards God results in an inward principle of repentance by which we continually repent towards God so long as we live. Sometimes it is comforting to know that Paul battled sin, or that Edwards battled sin, or that any modern spiritual hero battles with sin, so we are assured to have examples of them who overcame them in Christ in our own battles. How this is a humbling thing - our resolutions are often greater than our obedience! Let us then cling to Christ, and thank God for Him who was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin! Allow me to leave this resolution with a practical thought:

Have you ever awakened (as I often do) without the slightest inclination to pursue those things that most glorify God and are most to your spiritual advantage? Yes! But we should not be surprised or angry at God for this seeing He is the One who supplies even our daily rations of faith. For if we arise in complacency, it is because we have awakened in ourselves, and thus, it ought to be our humble plea to God for mercy and grace that day! It is an amazing meditation - our absolute dependency upon God!

Resolution #4: Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

When we think of soul, we think of mind or will, or the immaterial aspect of our person. When we think of body, we think of our substance or matter. The resolve then seems to be never to do any manner of thing in one's thought life or practice, never to be any manner of thing in one's thought life or practice, and never to suffer any manner of thing in one's thought life or practice that does not serve the glory of God. Positively, in thought and deed, principle and practice, affection and activity, will and work, our chief attendance is to the glory of God. What an example of right striving! Let every aspect of our person be fueled by and funneled towards the glory of God. Since, in Edwards thought, and in my own, God's greatest passion is His own glory, this resolve is a resolve to will and work in accordance with God. So he sets his sights on God's glory and aims to let nothing detour him from attaining his resolve. May God help us also to propose to our own souls and bodies a like proposal to join with God in glorifying Him.

Confession and Resolution. I have often put myself in situations that I know are not ideal for glorifying God or profiting another, much less my own soul, and this in outright defiance of God's convicting Spirit. Resolved, to pursue personal and biblical creativity, sensitivity, and accountability in life and ministry chiefly aimed at maintaing my witness, advancing the Gospel, and agreeing with my Lord in promoting and attending to, with unceasing fervency, the Glory of God.

Confessions and Resolutions: Encouraged by Jonathan Edwards - Part 2

2008-05-27T10:27:00.003-04:00

Part 2: One Resolution, Three Links! (Resolution #1)

"1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever."

Commentary. It is a humility worthy of our imitation that he introduces his resolutions with a plea for God's help. I offered that introduction to you in the last blog. Simply, Edwards is of the biblical mind that his success in keeping these resolutions is wholly dependent upon God's gracious help, so far as these resolutions accord with God's will.

This first resolution seems to bring about the matter of decision-making in his life and the basis of those decisions. It appears from the phrase, "that I will do whatsoever", introduces the idea of selection - that in the course of our day we are confronted with multiple things that we may do, and that the objects of these decisions may be good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, moral vs. sinful, or perhaps, optimum good vs. lesser goods. But out of the many things that we may think, say, or do, what are the things that we actually will think, say, or do? And what is the basis of those decisions? (I believe the biblical passage that he is most accurately attempting to resolve is that of 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1.) But for his own answer, let us continue -

The basis of those decisions is, he answers, "whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit, and pleasure." So we infer, not just to God's glory or our own good, profit, and pleasure, but that which is most participative in those ideas. In other words, we will often be confronted with many things that are lawful for us and that glorify God, but may not be the most helpful to others, and therefore, may not be the most God glorifying. This requires our greatest consideration. It is enough in this commentary to state that Edwards' resolution encourages us to base our daily "doings" upon what most glorifies God and what is most to our own good, profit, and pleasure - these two considerations appear to be the basis of decisiveness. And this will be his course during his life, for it appears that this will be his course in eternity, yet without hindrance. Thus, by the mention of "time", he means never to excuse himself from the consideration of what most glorifies God and what most fulfills his own others-oriented pleasures.

But I would also interject from reading Edwards that the personal good, profit, and pleasure that he speaks of is not a good, profit, and pleasure that is confined to himself, for that would be self-centered, and unbiblical. From Scripture we may deduce that there is a kind of personal gain that is godly - that is, the gain that we seek in the gain of others. So long as our good, profit, and pleasure is most occupied with the good of others and seeks their good as an end servant to the ultimate end of glorifying God, then that personal good, profit, and pleasure is a righteous pursuit. In other words, I do not think that Edwards is here referring to a self-confined pursuit, but a personal pleasure in the good and profit of another to the glory of God. I believe that I am right to conclude this because of the next link in his resolution -

"Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general." From this I would draw that he sees his duty as that conformity to the Scriptures, the golden rule of Christ, and in connection to the aforementioned resolution - simply, that this aspect of his resolution is the overflow of the prior resolution. As he (we) does (do) what is most God-glorifying in every situation, with the pursuit of his own good, profit, and pleasure, the overflow will be the resolve to do whatever is to the "good and advantage of mankind in general." This is much like that overflow that we find often in Paul, who makes his own subjective desires to be with Christ in glory the source of and servant to the objective needs of the Church, that by continuing with them he might work with them for their progression and joy in the faith (Philippians 1:21-26).

Now we must ask, what is that good and advantage which is "most" good and advantageous for mankind? The resolve towards this end in and of itself agrees with that sentiment of the Holy Spirit when through Paul He inspired, "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others," Philippians 2:4. Directly following is the example of Christ's humiliation, and thus, it figures that that greatest good and advantage for mankind is that which comes through faith in Christ, or by the testimony of the Gospel. That which is most good and advantageous is their salvation. Edwards resolved to make this an end in his life and ministry, and so should we.

As to the third link, it is the link of expectancy - that when one resolves to do what most glorifies God, and what is most profitable to himself, which is his own growth in Christ and the salvation and profit of others, that difficulties will follow. Simply, that to meet the prior resolutions will result in affliction and difficulties, but as he also resolves to do these things no matter the degree or amount of the difficulties which attend to it, so we may rightly infer and find remarkable encouragement from him in that he considers the two former resolves greater than the difficulties that will attend to them and so comes the third link! For when he resolves to do the first two links of the resolution in spite of the expected difficulties that will follow them, he concludes that to glorify God supremely and to be concentrated on one's own pleasure (when that pleasure is another person's pleasure in Jesus Christ) are two resolutions whose reward is greater than the difficulties that come with the pursuit of them and, therefore, he gives a greater weight to God's glory and the advance of the Gospel than he does to affliction for the sake of them. This is truly encouraging - he resolves to glorify God and advance the Gospel (personally and publicly) despite the greatest of trials and tribulations.

My Own Confession and Resolution. First, that this commentary has been longer than the rest will be, but hey, it's an awesome resolution worthy of our consideration and imitation in so far as it aligns with Scripture, which I hold that it does. I confess that I often think, do, and say many things in any given hour that do not hold up to such a resolution. I often do not even consider what most glorifies God in a given moment with given possibilities. And I often confine my pleasure to those things that do not in any way build up others.

I resolve, therefore, with God's help, to pursue the servitude that I find in Christ with the intention of setting before all men the Gospel of Christ to the glory of God, that this might be the thing that most enthralls my affection. Moreover, that I might always, in every place, under any trial, seek and do that which most glorifies God, knowing that that will be my greatest good, profit, and pleasure both now and in eternity.

Confessions and Resolutions: Encouraged by Jonathan Edwards - Part 1

2008-05-23T12:20:00.010-04:00

Part 1: A Brief Introduction (And My Hope For the One or Two of You That Read This Blog)

Jonathan Edwards was born October 5, 1703. By August 17, 1723 the young man had penned his famous Resolutions at the ripe old age of 19. To read the seventy of them as if they were felt and written by a well-advanced theological scholar is delightful enough, but the knowledge of these things scribed by a 19 year old pastor in New York, shortly before he earned his Master's degree in September of the same year at the age of 20, and that he, though not long on years, was of such an advanced mind and affection that we may only ascribe his theological and pastoral supremacy to the blessed grace of God, is more than delightful, it is challengingly encouraging.

My aim is to offer his Resolutions, first to my own consideration, and then to yours, with brief biblical commentary, and my own resolutions (though these may or may not be necessarily reflective of Edwards' own resolutions in each blog). Along with these, I would like to add (pastorally) my own confessions also, that my resolutions might be a matter of repentance as well as a source of accountability. I want to encourage you to take the time to meditate through the resolutions of Edwards that you might have a foundation for your own and that they will be in accord with the doctrine of Christ. To help you get started, I want to provide for you an exerpt from George Claghorn's introduction to Edwards' Resolutions. I have also added a link to Edwards' web page at the site that Yale has dedicated to him under "Educational Tools" down in the far right column. Please offer your thoughts also!

And just to wet your confessional whistle I will leave you with Edward's own introduction to his Resolutions, his humble and Christ-centered confession of his personal need of God's help in keeping such resolve:

"Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake."

Amen.

The Presidency: An Imperfect Representation - Who Will You Vote For? (Thanking God For Jesus Christ!)

2008-05-20T09:51:00.008-04:00

Will it be Obama? McCain? Clinton? So the presidential carousel goes! Several times in the past weeks I have been asked something like the following:

"If the race for the presidency came down between Obama and Clinton who would you vote for?"

Now this is a hypothetical situation, the assumption obviously being that whomever prevails between these two will reign supreme over McCain as well, thus the race between the two Democrats is the real ordeal. And though it is a hypothetical, it is worthy of a short, and slight, and light consideration. Who would you vote for as the representative head of America, and by default, your own?

Some quick thoughts of my own concerning this election, and then, as I prefer to do, a quick reference to the Church's (and praise God, my own) sinless representative Head, Jesus Christ; and then I will turn the consideration of these things over to you. Obviously, this will be very minimalistic and reductionistic by nature, but -

Thoughts on the Presidential Election

1. I'm glad that it won't come down to Obama and/or Clinton; but my gladness subsides quickly at the realization that it will come down to Obama or Clinton vs. McCain, for though I suppose that I would prefer him over the other two for various reasons that I am more ignorant of than anything else, I am quite disagreeable to him also. It is a burdensome thing to me that these three possible representatives are in fact the 'cream that has risen to the top' in the minds of the American people - but I suppose that it is to be expected and not a thing to be surprised about.

2. That this election is paradoxical - it is all about "change that matters", but the change that most Americans seem to want would place (more than likely) Clinton or Obama as our representative - one of which stood "curiously" by while her husband committed sexual immorality and gross adultery while in the White House, biding her time to make her own run at the oval office, who even in the course of her own running has been proven a "liar" - though admitting such, she tip-toed around using the actual term "liar" to describe herself! Hmmm? The other has tapped danced around so many irrational and socially irritable statements and associations that one has to wonder - "who is Barack Obama and what does he stand for - really?" But, hey, just hold up your arms, two fingers waving in the air and say, "I'm about change that matters," and apparently you can be the president of the United States even if the people have no idea what you mean seeing as you have no idea what you mean.

3. That regardless, the presidential election is an imperfect one, and thus, whoever is elected will be an imperfect representative, not only because he or she is a sinner like the rest of fallen humanity, but because 49.9% of Americans can vote against you and you can still become the representative of America. That means that 151,760,436.36 Americans can disapprove of you and you can still represent those very people. At least we are sensible enough never to title the President infallible, like the Roman Church declares the pope to be - how can one be infallible when almost half of the electoral committee says he ought to be the pope and therefore he is infallible (although he was not infallible seconds before he was chosen), and the other half says that he ought not to be pope and that he is not infallible - but if we elect him, then he is infallible! You cannot have a split decision on infallibility, for that is not infallible (this is another issue!) Suffice it to mention that whoever is elected President of the United States will not be a perfect representative of the people, though he stands in that representative position; I suppose he is best described as the representative of the slight majority?

4. All of this taken into consideration, I would advise much prayer, counsel, reflection on the sovereignty of God in these elections, and upon that which is most in keeping with His character, word, and will, though I'm sure that in keeping with our natural character we will disagree on these things also without being disagreeable.

Thoughts on God's election

1. God was not confused. Though He is three Persons, He is One God, and He agrees with Himself supremely. When he created the first Adam to be mankind's representative head, He elected perfectly without division. None of Him disagreed! In other words, Adam was the perfect representation of you and me. Practically, we would have acted no different than Adam when he transgressed God's command, though we often think of ourselves that we would have obeyed instead. Nope! Think again - you were perfectly represented; you were in Adam's loins, his seed. As he did, even in the midst of God's perfect creation and the infinite benefits attributed to it, so we, had we actually been in the same atmosphere, would have sinned against God. Thus, we all fell in Adam by his sin, for it was ours in principle, and were separated from God because of the heinous transgression of our representative.

2. God had His redemptive plan in mind from eternity past. As Adam was our representative, and we fell in him, so God's only Son, born of a virgin in the likeness of sinful flesh, being tempted as we are by infinitely more cunning and intense measures by Satan and the human flesh, yet He perfectly, sinlessly prevailed in His life and then died a penal, substitutionary death on the cross as a satisfaction of the righteous requirements of God's holiness upon us and wrath against our sin, which satisfaction God approved by raising Him up from the dead in the glory of His power, that through repentance and faith in Him we are (individually and corporately) brought into His covenant, Jesus being our representative Head before both God and man. Just as in Adam, the first representative, we fell from God though we did not actually commit the crime (it was imputed to us from our representative), so in Christ, the Head of the Church, we are made righteous and reconciled to God through faith in Him, though we were not actually sinless or perfectly righteous (it is imputed to us by the grace of God through faith in Christ). Thank God for Christ, our Representative Head!

3. I am thankful and I rejoice that God has His elect - that the Church is dubbed "elect exiles." By "elect" the reference is to our adoption into Christ, our perfect and sinless Head, Who honors God as God, Jesus who was God's representative for our salvation. An amazing thing it is that God offers Himself to be our Representative before Himself (think about it!) By "exile" the reference is to the appropriation of our heavenly citizenship in the midst of our earthly citizenship. I am glad that by God's electing love He has wrought in me a "change that matters for eternity in the midst of our temporal life."

For the Sake of Comments

1. Concerning the imperfect representation of the American presidency, who will you vote for, why, and (if you will) provide some Christian counsel and insight for many of us (myself included) who need it?

2. Concerning God's perfect representation of us, first, Adam, and for us, secondly, God in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ through whom and for whom He has individually elected sinners from eternity past to know Him in the covenant of salvation; share your considerations and thoughts.

Are Covert Christian Converts...Converts?

2008-05-15T13:47:00.015-04:00

As I scanned a recent U.S. News magazine I came across an article entitled "Covert Christian Converts." It seemed fascinated by the lifestyle of a young man and his family in Iran who had converted to Christianity from Islam. Apparently, in Iran there have been discussions concerning the penalty of apostasy from the Islam religion. The inevitable punishment is death. Because of this, and other harsh persecutions that would daily present themselves to these converts, they live a dualistic lifestyle - a private life and a public life of equally dual devotions.

In private, this family, who apparently received Christ via Christian television programming in Iran, whereby they contacted the hotline and prayed with a counselor standing by, leads a life devoted to Christ, praying and humming hymns to Him, while enjoying Bible study.

In public, however, they are of the strictest devotion to Islam, attending to their rituals with as much tenacity as any other Muslim. The testimony of the article leads us to believe that this other life is lived in fear of death.

I'd like to give a few considerations and then ask for your biblical and thoughtful insights:

1. Living in America, one thing that becomes clear to me is that I have no experience or idea of suffering and persecution, much less the threat of my life for the sake of Christ. The closest I have come is in the reading of the Bible, Foxes Book of Martyrs, and three days with an underground church in Israel. Though America is growing intolerant with evangelical Christianity (which is to be expected), it is still a country that largely celebrates its multi-faceted diversity even in the things of religion, even in the way of biblical Christianity. Therefore, I admit beforehand, that I am not as sympathetic towards this family as perhaps I ought to be, or at least, I am not as associated with the reality of their circumstances. I also understand that they may not have met another Christian in the whole country, much less had any biblical discipleship, encouragement, or accountability. All of this taken into consideration (which is alot):

2. There is no such thing as covert Christianity. Our Lord declared that if we confess Him before men that He would confess us before the Father, but that if we denied Him before men that He would deny us before the Father. To Christ, and to the apostle Paul, to believe in Christ was to lose one's life for the gain of eternal life, it was to deny oneself, and to take up our personal instrument of death every day for His sake and the advanement of the Gospel. In Paul's mind, believing in Christ and suffering for His sake were inseparably linked as dual graces of God and by a life lived in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ (which is the sure sign of true faith and of our ultimate salvation; cf. Philippians 1:27-30). Jesus literally lived the Gospel into operation, and He both suffered and died for it (through which death the Gospel offer was codified and made available to every sinner). Christ was constantly on mission; Christians are constantly on mission - and suffering is the expectation not the surprise. If you are a Christian, you are a Christian outloud! It is not a life of ease that we live for, but rather a life eternal!

3. We are either with Christ or against Christ. We either gather with Him or we scatter. Our Lord was black and white without a hint of gray. There is no dual citizenship for the Christian in terms of devotion. Although we belong to a heavenly citizenship and exist in an earthly realm (see Augustine's 800+ pages in The City of God), the object of our devotion, love, priority, and allegiance is God and our purpose to glorify Him by loving sinners with the truth of His reign in Christ - in the midst of the world of unbelievers who are immersed in the culture, and largely, anti-God, and in opposition to the Gospel of Christ. We ought never to feel at home in the world! In attempting to come up with a comparable situation of an American convert to Christ who continues to live in religious compromise, the closest that I can come up with is an antinomian life, one who professes Christ as Savior but denies Him as Lord, who abuses the freedom of grace to the negation of obedience of God's Word...but to me, I think the Word of God is clear that we ought not be to quick to receive such into the kingdom of God's eternal glory in Christ! It seems to me that at the heart of this situation there is too great a care given to their own temporal life and lifestyle, and not enough care given to the name of Christ and the advancement of the Gospel in Iran by that testimony. The main reason for their conversion by the testimony of the young man was that Christianity offered them a more free religion. But have they mistaken the paradigm of Christian freedom: we are free from all to be servants of all (See Luther's Christian Liberty)!

4. Within the same article, testimony was given of a man who having been converted to Christianity from Islam refused to deny his Lord and was imprisoned for it for ten years. Another Christian pastor in Iran managed to make enough of a stink about this man's situation, that he was released. However, not long after, both, the convert and the pastor were found slain because of their testimony, the pastor being stabbed 26 times. Are we to make no distinction between these men and this family? I would say that there was something imputed to them by God that was principally different than in this recently converted family. The question is what? Was it a true faith? Or was it just a greater knowledge of the grace and the glory of the name of Christ? The answer is an eternal one. In other words:

5. What do we make of such conversions in countries where the threat of one's life for the sake of Christ is a probability rather than a possibility, if with their lives they deny their Master so as not to suffer persecution for His name's sake? I think that this question is an important one, for it concerns the theology of missionaries, as well as the depths with which a missionary needs to go in discipleship to secure a firm understanding that the converts are actually Christians, for what does it do for a missionary to secure a decision for Christ when the convert will not confess Him publicly at the expense of his life? Is not to die gain?

Moreover, it is a worthy meditation for the pastors of local churches in America who have members of that body serving in the Gospel in foreign countries and at home- what do we make of their reports concerning conversions? What do we consider missionary activity, or missionary endeavor? How should we pray for converts in such places? How do we communicate to our stewardship the authenticity of a God-work (cf. Philippians 1:6)?

But it also concerns the essential fortitude and disposition of believing in Christ, for as Christ taught, and as the apostles knew, and as the church father's knew, and as many today are knowing, and as I pray that we will come to know, that to be raised from the dead through faith in Christ by the grace of God means not only to live for Christ, but to share in His sufferings becoming like Him in His death that by any means possible we may attain the resurrection from the dead! Let us therefore become courageous in the face of persecution knowing that this is the cost and gain of faith in Christ and that the Gospel will progress through the grace of suffering for His name. We must remember that the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

What do you make of such situations? What conclusions do you come to? What biblical thoughtfulness might you add to these things? What themes, or practical insights? What might you subtract or revise? Thoughts welcomed!

Paul Washer Confronts American Christianity

2008-05-14T12:52:00.001-04:00

A reality check for the American church culture. Shocking, dramatic, needed - sharing the truth in love - at a youth conference!

RADICAL or just REAL?

2008-05-08T16:04:00.007-04:00

I have been a proponent of what I now would like to write against. It may seem as something small and inconsequential, but it is nevertheless an inaccuracy. The aim is honest, and I honestly portrayed such an aim, but it can serve to deceive. It is the idea of the "radical Christian." I have used the phrase in preaching, and I see it alot now concerning things like "radical womanhood" and "radical manhood", by which is meant a biblical portrayal of manhood and womanhood, and an aim at striving to model that as one pursues the likeness of our Lord.

But in the usage of such a phrase certain problems arise.

1. It is like the polarity of the philosophy of the "carnal Christian." That is that there are those people who are Christians - there just carnal or more fleshly than others. Think what you want about Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 3 - there is no such thing as a "carnal Christian." It becomes an excuse to those who taking the name of Christ continue to live like devils. Those who are not carnal are dubbed as being further advanced - they actually strive for holiness, but they are no more Christian than those that deny Christ by their fruit.

The phraseology of the "radical Christian", though it is the polarity of the "carnal Christian", has much of the same danger for people who actually are Christians, and a deceptive quality for those who have been deceived by someone telling them that if they have prayed a prayer, walked the aisle, been baptized, danced and shouted, etc. that they are saved. Although it is well-meaning, it inevitably - in the human mind - creates two kinds of Christians: radical Christians and regular Christians; and although it is meant to engage people and set a passionate goal for them to take aim at, it also has the potential to backlash in the minds of saints (sinners saved by grace) thereby bringing about complacency instead; for they look at Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Peter, John, Paul, Timothy, Epaphroditus, or Sarah, Miriam, Ruth, Esther, Mary, Lydia, Phoebe, or contemporarily, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Owen, Spurgeon, Tozer, Jones, MacArthur, Piper, Mohler, Driscoll, or any missionary, pastor, evangelist, or really passionate lay member of their home church, as the exception rather than the rule. "These," they may begin to think, "are just more radical than I am!" This reinvents the idea of the "super-spiritual."

2. Before long, the "radical Christian" will become an excuse rather than the aim. For many, after they discover that they continue to struggle with sin after conversion (who knew?) will settle in and play it off by saying, "well, I'm just not a radical Christian - just a regular 'ole Christian here!"

3. Those poor souls that have been deceived into thinking that they are a Christian when they are not, will be further deceived by the notion of the "radical Christian" - the one who does all of the evangelism, bears all the fruit, attends all the prayer meetings, disciples the whole congregation, talks about and lives out a passion for Jesus Christ incessantly and irritatingly - for then the testing of their faith (2 Corinthians 13:5) which stands to awaken such people from deception, to show them that they are not in fact saved if their lives have never been changed, if they have never borne any fruit, if they have never had one iota of affection for Jesus and His Gospel, will no longer have the same effect, because those who bear fruit are "radical Christians" and those who do not are just "regular Christians", and if I'm not radically reflecting and pursuing Jesus its not because I was never saved, it is just because I'm not radical! Thus, we lose the basis of witnessing to those in the church who were never of the church.

Shall we attribute the advanced nature of some Christians to the grace of God? Most certainly! And what of the obedience of the Christian themselves? Yes, that is greatly involved too! But is not the distinction we see between "regular Christians" and "radical Christians" something a bit more involved, more serious? Could it be that the "regular Christians" face two important scenario's - that they are either Christians in need of repentance and restoration or that they have never been Christians at all? I think this is the case! Could it also be that those who we might "dub" as "radical" are just really Christians? I think this is also true!

In other words, when we initially read of Paul's accounts of Timothy and Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:19-30, we are met with a record of two men who serve in the Gospel, love Jesus Christ, love the apostle, and would readily and with great passion die for the sake of Christ. Are we to teach that these men were "radical Christians" and that we ought to endeavor by all means to heed their radical example - and in so doing make a clear distinction between them and the ones in our home pews? I do not think that Timothy and Epaphroditus would call themselves radical Christians, I do not think that we ought to call them that either, but rather, it should suffice us to say that they were real Christians!

Real Christians bear the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ; real Christians seek the interests of Jesus Christ and not their own self-confined interests; real Christians love Jesus Christ, pursue Jesus Christ, are passionate for Jesus Christ, are weary with holding in the Gospel of Christ; real Christians partner in the Gospel for its advancement to all nations; real Christians count real suffering for the sake of Christ as a grace of God, not a complaint to Him; real Christians strain towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus; real Christians are heavenly minded in contrast to the world; real Christians live for Christ and consider death to usher them to their greatest delight; real Christians fight from victory and not for victory; real Christians obey the word of God, exalt the name of Christ, take everything captive and subject it to Jesus Christ; real Christians pray for one another and for the suffering Church and for the lost; real Christians actually read their Bible and talk with others about Jesus; real Christians bear fruit, because real Christians actually know God in Christ and you cannot not be changed if this is true in the biblical sense of the term "salvation"!

No, beloved, these two men were not radicals, they were REAL! These men were sinners, humans, like you and me, who by God's grace came to know Him in Christ, and by the power that exists in that salvation, they lost their life for the surpassing worth of this knowledge. Real Christians do this! The reality is that most of us who do not look a thing like these men, do not resemble them precisely because we have never been born of God, or if we have, we are in a great need for repentance and restoration Godwards! I guess that if I must use the term "radical" I would now use it in this way - that all REAL Christians are "radical" Christians, and if you are not a "radical" Christian, then in all probability you are not a REAL Christian!

At least test yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, examine yourselves, or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you - unless you fail to meet the test (2 Corinthians 13:5)! My follow up to Paul's admonition would be - how can you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you - unless He's not! You see, we need to spend less time honoring such men as radical Christians, and more time honoring them as real Christians - and before and in between and after that let us give glory and praise to God in Jesus' name.

I suppose it best to end with a question, setting radical-ness aside, and simply asking:
ARE YOU REAL?

Reflections on the Providence of God

2008-05-07T12:57:00.006-04:00

In studying the epistle to the Philippians God has amazed me with the incomprehensible grandeur of His providential workings in the salvation of His elect and the begetting of the church. There was a point in time on the "finished" side of the cross and resurrection when men and women who would be involved in the Philippian church were as of yet completely ignorant and unsuspecting of God's gracious intervention. They slept, arose, learned, played, ate, drank, and breathed in the normalities and typical occurrences of life. None of them, however, did any of those things with the conscious awareness of God. None of them were awakened by the urgency of spending time with Jesus.

Saul spent his days in vigorous study and murderous threats against God's Church. In the same day, Lydia, perhaps, frequented the waters nearby seeking to fish out the shellfish for the purple dye found within its throat, and selling her goods to others. Meanwhile, a slave girl with a spirit of divination would sit in front of men and women to tell them their fortunes, bringing in the cash for her owners. At the same time, a jailer played the role of family man, while working the graveyard shift at the prison. And the inmates that he watched endured the same daily grind of survival, incarceration, and hopelessness. And what of the young man from Lystra, Timothy; what youthful endeavors did he day after day after day attend to?

Each of these persons, diverse in ethnicity, age, religion, presuppositions, backgrounds, and monetary class attended to their typical day, deeds, and conversations without the slightest bit of knowledge that God had in eternity past ordained and was now effecting the circumstances whereby within a short time all of them would come face to face with the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in the preaching of the Gospel. For God's providence is plain from the biblical account, that:

Accordingly, God met Saul on his way to Damascus to persecute the disciples there, but Christ converted him to defend what he formerly threatened, Acts 9:1-19.

God then called Saul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, to be His instrument to carry His name unto the Gentiles - and kings and the children of Israel, Acts 9:15.

Having called Saul as an instrument to the Gentile nations, God refined and glorified Himself in that calling in Antioch of Pisidia. For after he had preached the Gospel to the Jews there, and the next Sabbath had come, a great many Gentiles attended, to which the Jews became jealous and contradicted what Paul was saying; therefore, Paul responds by telling them their condemning fault and blindness, for the Gentiles were included, and thus, Paul sought it all the more eagerly, Acts 13.

God brought Paul to the habitation of Timothy on his second missionary journey, having apparently already converted the boy, and thus Paul was inclined to have Timothy accompany him, Acts 16:1-5.

God then directed their missionary endeavor. He, in infinite wisdom and purpose, forbid them from their own human endeavors and re-routed them to Macedonia, by which the Gospel was destined to enter Europe; and it must be believed that God's intention was thus to save those who were currently unsuspecting and presumably going about their daily order even still, unaware that the Gospel would soon be among them in effectual power, Acts 16:6-10.

And God's providence is especially seen here, once they arrive in Philippi, for many things happen here to advance the Gospel that can only be attributed to the grace and glory of God's providential workings; thus,

1. Paul seeking a synagogue on the Sabbath found none, but rather a congregation of Gentile women who being proselytes had gathered for prayer just outside the city gates. Hereby, God greeted Lydia in the Gospel, "(opening) her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul," Acts 16:14. Lydia believed and her household as well, being baptized and bearing immediate fruit, Acts 16:15.

2. That in the course of their ministry they attracted a demonic tag along, a slave girl who doubled as a fortune teller. For many days she did this, crying out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation," whereupon Paul, becoming annoyed of the correlation between God's kingdom and that of darkness, commanded the spirit to come out in the name of Jesus, and in a display of glory, the girl was healed, Acts 16:16-24.

3. But God's providence not yet being satisfied in the place made use of the previous occurrence to enrage her owners and eventually the greater crowd, so that Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten with rods, and imprisoned, whereby the Gospel now came face to face with the unsuspecting inmates and a third shift jailer.

a. Here the inmates, having no doubt caught wind of these missionaries and the beating that they had incurred, yet heard them praying and singing hymns to God (Acts 16:25) - they were listening to them! They exhibited by the exceeding grace of God the true joy of authentic believers, who with chains on their feet and wrists and lashes on their back yet rejoice in the midst of suffering because of their love for and joy in Christ Jesus and His Gospel. So it must have been a convincing thing when by a prison shaking, shackle loosening earthquake God opened the prison doors and unfastened everyone's bonds, that He could and would do the same for them spiritually in Christ.

b. And now the jailer thinking himself under the death sentence and aiming to commit himself to an "honorable death", found that he need not, for Paul cried out to him that he had not lost the inmates presence. Thus having certainly witnessed much of their partnership in the Gospel, fell on his knees and asked with much earnestness, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Upon hearing the remedy of Christ, he believed, his household also, was baptized and bore fruit, Acts 16:25-34.

By these evidences, God's providence founded the church at Philippi - for God converted the means of the Gospel (Paul), and by the means, which He sovereignly directed to Philippi, and also by many providential workings and effectual grace, brought a host of people into the covenant of Christ, who until that glorious intervention neither sought Him nor desired Him nor considered Him for themselves.

And how this is the case of our own salvation! That God had set many things in motion that we were unaware of until they presented themselves in order to secure our salvation and, by our conversion, the salvation of others still, right now, unsuspecting!

What heights of grace and glory do these realities of God set before us? I did not awaken one morning and think to myself that today I will "give my life to the Lord." I attended to my typical days, my regular activities, my ordered vanities, the same conversations, all with not even a symblance of a thought or affection Godwards. I was dead in my sins and trespasses. But God, in His marvelous providence set many divers things in motion and at their fullness of time, the Gospel of God and the power of His effectual call found me, not vice versa! For I grew up in what cannot properly be titled a "church", though I did not know it; I attended youth service, but due to sin heard nothing; I slept, ate, and drank; I went to school, watched television, and played basketball with imaginary people guarding me; and I am certain that what God had ordained in eternity past was already being carried out, but of those innumerable things I cannot know, but I do know that He caused a young girls father to transfer from out of state, a girl that I would begin to date in high school, a girl who was a believer in Christ whom I had apparently fooled into thinking that I was as well, so that by her invitation I stepped out of my "church" for the first time and into her Southern Baptist affiliated church, whereupon I heard the Gospel for the first time, God's Spirit beating within my chest and opening up the eyes of my heart to see sin, judgment, its abiding principle, consequence, and the eternality of that consequence; two months later at that same church at a youth service, the Gospel was heralded once more by which God opened my heart to the comfort of Christ as the resolution to the conflict that I had internally been dealing with from the previous encounter - and then at somewhere between the two o'clock and three o'clock hour of the night God, Himself, re-created me in Christ! God did this work! God, in His gracious providence, saved me in and through my Lord Jesus Christ! God wonderfully intervened - and guess what (?) I didn't think that God had violated my right of free will either like so many today, and if He did, then thank God for that in Jesus' name!

Brothers and sisters, praise your God today for His providential work in your life. And know that if these things be so, and they are, that there are many even today whom you will come in contact with who are unsuspecting of God's intervention; that you are not only greeting them with yourself, but with the Gospel of Christ within you; by you God makes his appeal to the unsuspecting sinner. This is how He has decided to make use of His children - and it is glorious calling that we have to "proclaim the excellencies of Him who called (us) out of darkness into His marvelous light," 1 Peter 2:9. Let us beseech God that we might recognize the opportunities in a given day to come under the excellency of His providence and, by His will, be the providential means of Christ to the one who even now least suspects to meet the Lord of glory! In Jesus' name. Amen.

Whatever Happened to Holiness?

2008-04-30T16:42:00.007-04:00

I am becoming increasingly aware of the lack of consideration for this disposition called holiness. The name of Christ is constantly slandered by those who honor Him with their lips but trash Him with their lives. But, more than that, it seems as if those whose lives do not honor Him as Lord are completely ignorant of the dishonor; they do not tend to care, preferring to live their own lives by their own fleshly leadings without any attentiveness to the psalmist's proposition of setting Christ before us always - that is, that we might have our Lord before us, that every step we take may be evaluated in light and rememberance and reference to Him, that we might capture His mind, His affections, His aim and see and think and act as we look through that holy lens.

Perhaps it is thought that holiness is a bore, a drudgery, an ideal of the long since deceased saints of old. And the greater truth is that the one who does not practice Christian holiness is in point of fact not a Christian, for "by their fruits you shall know them." One thing certain is the thought of it as a purely human empowered thing and therefore when the reality of our unholiness hits time and time again we become vexed, discouraged, and morally complacent, giving in to the ease of the "old self". It is no doubt a complication of realities, for though holiness is a personal matter, it is a corporate matter too; and although holiness attends to the individual so that the accountability of one's own life will be the matter judged by God, yet certainly the pride of many pastors confounds the notion of internal progressive sanctity and its necessary root of Christ's holiness imputed and the precious gift of that holy principle of God's Spirit; and the sinful depravity of the world in which we live our apparently "unguarded and intoxicated" "Christian lives" attends to our corporate and personal insobriety and disciplinary laziness. It does not help that many in the church do not know exactly what holiness is, nor do they truly understand the Gospel of Christ, so that the thing called holiness is not at all a self-made disciplinary guide whereby we merit favor with God after we have "walked the aisle", but rather the overflow of the heart that has truly grasped the reality of the Gospel - that Christ fulfilled all demands of actual holiness for us so that we might rest from our self-righteous attempts through faith in Him and being infused with God's Spirit we are made alive to His principle of leadership designed to check us constantly and satisfy us both now and eternally in God preeminently, whereby, being satisfied in Him, the temptations of the world and of the flesh and of the devil, himself, are like a foul stinch that we endeavor by all means to be rid of. And if we be not rid of it then what assurance do we have that our tastes have been truly changed!? If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature! How is it possible that one can be filled with the God of the universe and not be changed by it - forever!?

But I find something else of mention - that God would call sinners holy! Have we gotten used to being called by this godly disposition? Have we grown to comfortable with the grace of this characteristic? For a sinner is a sinner and not at all a holy being. Our nature is to be unholy, opposed to God, murderous towards Christ and His saving work and testimony; we are born enemies of God, rebellious towards Him, angry fist-shakers in His glorious and patient Face; we harbor the seed of hell, of death; human beings breed sinners! We are worms, and lower than maggots in the light of His holy fire! If we were to enter His holy presence without the cloak of Christ, we would dissipate into nothing - this is why hell is a place separated from God, that our just punishment might last for all eternity! And this is our place, our wage, our very being!

It is a thing too wonderful for words that God who is transcendenly holy calls us holy, and as I see it, there is only one way in which this grace is possible - that God would dwell within the sinner! We are not holy because we are inherently holy, beloved! No, we are holy because God dwells in us, and God is Holy! 1 Peter 1:14-16 demands the Christian attention - "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy,'" - to which we ought to stand silent and amazed! God demands our holiness! But how are sinners to be holy? Sinners are to be holy in this way and for this reason - the God who called you is holy! Do not depend on yourselves for this, beloved! God makes you holy, and demands your holy obedience to the imperatives of Christ and the law of Christ precisely because in Christ God fulfilled all saving holiness for you and gave Him, Jesus Christ, to you, within you, in your mind, in your heart, in your will and mouth, so that by that principle of holiness given to you through your faith in Christ, you might actually practice holiness on a daily basis! Simply put, God has fulfilled in Christ what you could not do, and filled you with Christ's Spirit, and you are a holy person, and the church a holy nation precisely because God is holy and God is in us, not because you had a natural epiphany of internal transformation via therapeutic methods, etc. Or even more simply, "you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God," to which the apostle continues, "put to death therefore what is earthly in you...you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator," Colossians 3:3, 5, 9-10. That is, being hidden with Christ in God or accounted as perfectly holy, be growing in Christ's likness, i.e., holiness in a progressive manner.

The reality of God calling sinners holy, with the full knowledge that He alone is truly and transcendently holy, is a completely humbling truth. For as it was in Luther's mind that to be truly free in the will was to be as God is - literally that to entertain the notion of true freedom one would have to be free as God is free - so it is with the disposition of holiness; only God is truly holy! Our holiness, then, is not an inherent thing (oh, the folly of every other world religion that would boast in human works), a thing we are born with, or a thing that we grow up into with age and settling, for children and grandfathers alike are wretched apart from Christ. Beloved, your holiness is a thing alien to you, given to you by the grace of God who alone is truly holy and has at His disposal the ability and power to make holy any sinner at any time by the effectual call of that sinner to repent of sin and believe in the truth as it is in Jesus Christ to the praise of His glorious grace. Our "life is hidden with Christ in God."

Moreover, death to the elemental things of the world is to be alive to the eternal things of the kingdom of God. Our participation in the cross of Christ is the precursor and necessary thing to our resurrection life in Him. By the grace of God and faith in Christ, we have "died" to the world and the world to us (Galatians 6:14), though we live in the world, which is to say that we have been made "alive" to God having been "raised with Christ" (Colossians 3:1), the outcome being that we "seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God," (Colossians 3:1). In other words, holiness consists in our death to the world, by which is meant that we have become alive to the preeminent satisfaction and triumphant joy of who God is, and who God is for us and in us and through us for His glory. All the sensualities of the world become colorless and tasteless in comparison to the new passion and desires, colors and tastes that God has given to us in Christ. Holiness is not a negative thing, beloved, but an infinitely wonderful gift of God; it is not a drudgery but a thing altogether pleasing for us to honor Him with - though He, Himself has given it to us so that He owns it altogether (1 Chronicles 29:14)!

Therefore, let us say that holiness is a thing given by God apart from our own doing; that true holiness is a preeminent satisfaction and enjoyment of and rejoicing in God through Christ whereby the overflow of the heart is to drench everything and everybody with the reflection of our Lord unto the glory of God, as it is written, "You shall be holy, (because) I am holy." To mistake these things is detrimental to the authenticity of our profession of faith. To deny them with your lifestyle is to deny that you ever truly believed. And by that reckoning, let us be fearful if our lives do not reflect Christ, and humbled and enjoyably holy if by His grace we are by these things encouraged - in Jesus' name. Amen.

"Love Is Not Always Lenient"

2008-04-25T14:06:00.004-04:00

This phrase and the one that came after it ("love does not always let") come from the Nine Marks website, specifically in the section concerning the biblical understanding of church discipline, or mark #7 of a healthy church.

I found the information there quite helpful due to a circumstance of discipline currently in my own church by the providence of God. The truths related on this topic at the Nine Marks website served to reveal my own insobriety and carelessness in consideration of my disciplinary tactics. To this end, I highly recommend to all in the Christian vocation and laity to check out the site. You can read the "marks" by clicking on them at the top of the page.

As to the phrase that called my reflection to attention, that "love is not always lenient - love does not always let", I see uncovered an intolerable tolerance in the contemporary church, the allowance of a little leaven which leavens the whole lump, a disconnect and common sloth in the biblical injunction that the Church be a pure bride, and that we ought to endeavor by all means to carry out the multiplication of personal holiness within its members. Moreover, the disservice done to the identity of Christianity, the mindset of the many in the pews on Sunday mornings is that sin is not serious, that it is rather tolerable, that one may call himself a Christian and yet be the most miserable and wretched sinner without conviction or hesitation or repentance.

But God disciplines - and His discipline is deemed as love (Hebrews 12:5-11), the love of a Father towards a child, but when the discipline of sinning church members comes upon them, they deem it (and the disciplinary - God and the man/men of God/the Church) as unloving. As if a parent, seeing their child enjoying something that places them in grave danger and in the clutches of death, like playing in heavy traffic or being an amateur pyrotechnic, is unloving when they discipline their child not to do those things; but it is rather the opposite, that the discipline of the parent is the most loving thing that they could do in that instance and it serves to restore and save the child from certain destruction and to train them to love the obedience that brings them safely into the parents arms. This kind of discipline with this kind of intention is hardly unloving. If we are not experiencing the discipline of God, then we ought to begin to be fearful, wondering whether or not we are in fact His children, for God disciplines those whom He loves, namely, His children. But God does not let us continue in sin without correction. As Dever writes, "love is not always lenient - love does not always let."

It is a cultural ideal that love is that strict emotion by which we let others do their own thing without consideration of consequence, either temporal or eternal. This idea must not be that which drives the life of the Church. We are not to stand idly by while "brothers and sisters" in Christ "continue in sin" thinking that "grace will abound". The apostle says that this type of thinking ought not to exist in the affection of him who is rightly called "Christ-ian". "How can we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:2)" And how should we be tolerant of such things as the body of Christ - unless we are not truly in Jesus Christ!? Impenitence is not the mark of an authentic believer in Christ, no, bearing fruit in keeping with repentance is (Matt. 3:8)!

But the intention of the disciplinarian cannot be anger or control or condemnation, but rather restoration, and salvation (See James 1:20 cf. 1 Corinthians 5:5b). That is, Christ is not interested in the kind of discipline exercised by the world to bring about behavioral change, where physical force is used and abused along with various other methods of violent mental technique. And Christ is no more interested in the church's adaptation to the culture and its reflecting the values of the culture with respect to the tolerance of sin than what was previously mentioned. Christ is interested in the kind of discipline that confronts the sin of a person with an attitude of humility, gentleness, compassion, and love, but intolerance, with the intention of seeing that person restored to Christ through repentance or saved through Christ by grace through faith in Him. Severity to the body and self-made religion are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh though they may have the appearance of wisdom; rather, being made alive in Christ whereby one is clothed with His righteousness and equipped with His Holy Spirit is one empowered to overcome the indulgence of that mighty evil within us called "the flesh" (See Colossians 2:20-23).

In all church discipline, truly, in everything we undertake, this is to be the aim - that sinners put on Jesus Christ; if he be a Christian, then let him repent of his sin and be restored to Christ; if he be a sinner, then let him repent as well of his personal sin and believe in Christ for righteousness that he may be saved in the last day. Therefore, let us love one another rightly - with encouragement and rebuke - knowing that loving is not always synonymous with letting, with the earnest intention of bringing each other to our Lord Jesus Christ, for He alone is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us before the presence of His glory blamelessly and with great joy (Jude 24). God be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen.

A Christian Imperative: Bringing Children to Christ - Part 3 of 3

2008-04-23T17:36:00.005-04:00

Luke 18:15-17 reads,

"Now they were bringing even infants to Him that He might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him, saying, 'Let the children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.'"

In parts 1 and 2 we have addressed two kinds of people involved in the ministry of a church and specifically the youth within that church - parental figures and disciples. In this part, we will turn our attention to a third Person, our Lord Jesus Christ and His priorities for youth ministry.

Part 3: The Priorities of Youth Ministry

“But Jesus called them to Him, saying, ‘Let the children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’”

I have listed three priorities from this text that are simple staples to a successful youth ministry. And I am going to address them in reverse order. Therefore,

Priority #3: This church body must be made up of people who have received the kingdom of God like a child.

This is important in three facets;
One, we must be born again Christians. We live in a day and age when many who profess Christianity do not practice Christianity – and the authenticity of one’s faith is not in a mere profession but in the practice of Christ. Billy Graham has estimated that seventy-five to eighty percent of the people sitting in the pews on Sunday morning are lost. Have you attempted to force your way into God’s kingdom, or like a child receives a gift on Christmas morning, have you received the kingdom of God? By the one you will die lost and condemned; by the other you are fitted for glory.

Two, we must be born again Christians aimed at holiness. The kingdom of God implies the rule of God. When a person believes in Jesus Christ, they have believed in Jesus Christ as Lord over every aspect of their lives or not at all. Two-faced Christianity will serve to hinder a child from coming to Christ, but a true passion for holiness that glorifies Christ will serve to bring a child to Christ.

Three, we must be born again Christians aimed at holiness and humility, or who endeavor as servants of Christ to bring children to Christ. Jesus said in Luke 9:48, “whoever receives a child in my name receives me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” One characteristic of a child that Christ continually drew upon was the characteristic of humility. As such, children teach us a valuable lesson in bringing them to Christ – we must be humble servants.

Priority #2: We must give careful attention to our lives to avoid being a hindrance.

Christ said, “Do not hinder them.” This is an imperative of Christ, and as such, we would do well to obey Him. In Matthew 18:1-6, it is recorded that the disciples were arguing over “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And Jesus calls a young child to Himself and sets the child in the midst of them and says, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

In that day, the worst of criminals experienced this very punishment. If we in any way hinder children from coming to Christ, Christ says we are counted among the worst of them. We must give careful attention to our lives, to our doctrine, to our words, to our thoughts, and to our priorities, for by them a sponge-like child will either fill up with sin or the truth that leads to salvation.

Priority #1: Jesus said, “Let the children come to Me.”

I believe that there are at least two things wrapped up in the “Me” of this greatest imperative of Christ, “Let the children come to Me.”

First, Christ’s preeminence as the definitive priority or a matter of Christ's preeminence. When Jesus says, “Let the children come to Me,” He means that in contrast to anything else. Parents, it is good for you to set education as a priority for your child. It is good for you to set athletics as a priority for your child. It is good for you to set certain hobbies or friendships as priorities for your children. It is good for you to raise them with good manners and a solid moral foundation. But these all become sinful when they take preeminence over Jesus Christ as the definitive priority of your child’s life. When your child misses worship for a hobby, or Sunday school because of a spend the night party, or a family Bible study because of athletics, or a monumental discipleship weekend because of other forms of entertainment, then a sinful shift of priorities has occurred. Christ says, “Let the children come to Me.” When I misrepresent a text on Wednesday nights or teach them more about morals than the Gospel, or prefer that they follow me instead of Jesus Christ, I have hindered them from coming to Christ. And Christ says to me, “Let the children come to Me.” What good will it be, beloved, for a child to be well-educated if on the day of judgment he has not “come to Christ?” What good will athleticism be for a child when they stand before God in paralytic awe and horror that they had never “run to Christ?” What will there manners and morality be on the day when God requires of them the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, if they have not been “clothed with Christ?” God help us to honor Christ as the definitive priority in the life of this youth ministry. Jesus says, “Let the children come to Me.”

Secondly, Christ’s biblical Person and Work are revealed in His word “Me", or a matter of Christ's Person. We must bring the children to the biblical Jesus, the Jesus who reveals Himself even in our text as Prophet, Priest, and King. We must not fashion for ourselves an idol, beloved, and present “him” to the youth. No, we must speak of Him as He is in truth.

A well-known Christian publication recently sent out its Easter Sunday school study for children. In it they purposefully removed the crucifixion of Christ, His Priestly Work on our behalf, claiming that the crucifixion of Christ was too graphic for young children. I would ask them, “How can we celebrate Easter if we omit the substitutionary death of Christ?”

Beloved, in our living, loving, praying, serving, preaching, and teaching, we must hold up the biblical Christ as central to this youth ministry.

When He rebukes the disciples for their sin in our text, we see Christ the Prophet.

When Jesus speaks with the authority of God and gives the decree of the kingdom, we see Christ the King.

And when our Lord lovingly and compassionately calls the children to Himself in order to bless them, we see Christ our Priest and Intercessor before God.

In this youth ministry we must contend for the Christ who points out our sin, paid for our sin, and exercises Lordship over every aspect of our Christian lives. Anything less and we will hinder the children from coming to Christ. May it never be! Jesus says, “Let the children come to Me.” Let us, therefore, endeavor to bring them to Him. To God be the glory. Amen.

A Christian Imperative: Bringing Children to Christ - Part 2 of 3

2008-04-23T17:24:00.007-04:00

Luke 18:15-17 reads,

"Now they were bringing even infants to Him that He might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him, saying, 'Let the children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.'"

In Part 1 of this series we looked at the biblical makeup and ideal involvement of these parental figures in youth ministry (verse 15a). Now we turn our attention to the second part of verse 15.

Having addressed the issue of parents and youth ministry, let us now examine the problems of youth ministry within the confines of this text.

Part 2: The Problems of Youth Ministry

Notice again our text:

“And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them,” 18:15b.

The greatest assault on youth ministry is sin – the sin of the children, the sin of the parents, and the sin of the world. Sin is the greatest problem in youth ministry. But if you would look to your right and to your left, in front of you and behind you, and in your mirror tonight, then you will see the problem of youth ministry in this text – the problem is us!

It is not the Pharisees that rebuke the people from bringing their children to Christ, who so often rebuke Christ; it is not the Sadducees or the Hellenists or the pagans; and contemporarily, it is not the naturalist or the spiritualist or the postmodern man. These who would prevent children from coming to Christ are the disciples’ of Christ – those closest to Him.

The disciples, here, make a critical error in their understanding of Christ’s mission and their place in it. Christ came to seek and to save sinners, and the disciples were set free to be servants to all in bringing everyone to Christ!

Though this is not an exhaustive list, I have recognized four kinds of problematic disciples who stand in the pathway of children coming to Christ, starting with these disciples:

First, the elitist disciple; as Calvin rightly states, these disciples preferred to introduce to the world a “fancied Christ.” They rebuked the parents who would have their children blessed by Christ because they perceived Christ as a King to important to extend love and grace and compassion and time to infants and young children. These disciples had forgotten that they too were lost in sin, and that Christ sought each one of them out. They had forgotten that they were sinners saved by the grace of Christ. Because of this, they tended to be unevangelical and separatist. They thought of themselves like bodyguards to a famous individual. Under these disciples, children will grow in the shadows of legalism and partiality, while missing the compassion and love of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ – that is, if they can get past these disciples into the arms of Christ.

I would give these disciples credit, for at least they believed in a powerful Christ, and would, obviously, come to grow to know Him more intimately as time passed and the exaltation of our Lord occurred. Today, the problematic disciples are not of the kind that believe Christ to be too high and lofty to fool with infants. Rather, many disciples today follow a Christ who is much less than what He has revealed Himself to be.

Here are a few more problematic disciples:

Secondly, the hypocritical disciple who would witness of a “powerless Christ”. On Sunday morning, these disciples wear a smile and say their “amen’s”, but Monday through Saturday, fail to spend any meaningful time with Christ. They say they believe Him to be powerful, but they never pray for salvations, and they never expect much from the youth ministry of the church. They masquerade as one thing, and practice something else.

Thirdly, the shallow disciple who would witness of an “unentertaining Christ.” They prefer the youth to watch Christian videos, play Christian games, have Christian parties, and listen to sappy Christian music, but they stand to rebuke anyone, parents, pastors, or laity who rather bring the children to Christ through expositional preaching of God’s Word, and a seriousness about the realities of sin, Satan, death, hell, and Christ crucified and raised as victor over them all.

Fourthly, the lawless disciple who would witness of a “tolerant Christ.” These disciples cling to the love and grace and compassion of Christ and His authority to give these things to them, but they cannot fathom a Christ who is coming a second time to judge the world in His righteousness. To these, Christ does not speak about personal sin, nor does He demand fruit and holiness. They profess to know much about Christ, while practicing very little of Christ.

Lastly, the material disciple who would witness of a “prosperity Christ.” These disciples are very dangerous because they are entrenched deeply into the thinking of the world. Christ alone does not satisfy, they say, and God is unhappy with you if you are not prospering materially. This disciple is, perhaps, the most tempting for youth to follow, because many pass this garbage off as “The Gospel”, and it is not. God is the ultimate satisfaction; in Him shall we be truly satisfied.

Regardless, all of these problematic disciples have one thing in common. They disdained what they saw. We must ask ourselves from the text, “What did they see that they felt so strongly to rebuke?” And the answer is – passionate people who having truly tasted of the goodness of Christ endeavored with every ounce of their strength to bring the children to Jesus Christ! That’s it! They saw undeniable passion put to practice and the outcome was evangelism – the parents were bringing the children to Christ!

I pray that instead we would all unite as faithful disciples whose desire is to introduce not a fancied Christ, or a powerless Christ, or an unentertaining Christ, or a Christ who tolerates disobedience, but rather the biblical Christ, the Jesus who says, “Let the children come to Me, and do not hinder them.”

In Part 3 we will address the priorities in youth ministry as Christ identifies them in verses 16 and 17 of Luke 18.

No Groom? No Bride!: Emphatic About the Name!

2008-04-23T11:13:00.015-04:00

What would the union between a man and a woman be without the bridegroom? This is a ridiculous question, is it not? Obviously, it would not be a union at all, and the woman not a bride. There is no stand alone marriage where a woman may marry herself or a man himself and it rightly be called "marriage". This is not a relationship - or if it is, it is not a sane one or a logical one, no it is insane and illogical. It is a stupid and senseless thought!

But what of a Christless church? A church without Christ is no church! We are the church because we have believed in Christ by the grace of God, and we have thereby been united to God. Christ has wed us, sinners saved by grace, and therefore, we are not our own but His. Christ died for the church; His love demonstrated towards us as particular, separate from any other love - a love with the intentionality of God's purpose preeminent over the generic love with which God upholds a sinful world. And so we husbands understand that the love that we have for our brides is a particular love juxtaposed against our love for any other woman in the world - we chose her out of the mass, and so Christ called His bride out of the world.

It is a thing burdensome and alarming to me that many who would clothe themselves with the name of Christ are so quick to remain destitute of Him in their language, thoughts, actions, and opportunities. There was a time when we were much concerned over the ignorance of the Holy Spirit. But it seems now that we are oft to speak of God in general, and of the Spirit of God (albeit with much abuse), while being silent with the name of Jesus Christ. I wonder if many of us who would claim the name of Christ for our own have not fallen under the heading of Titus 1:16, "They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works." Nevertheless -

Christian musical groups are inclined these days to sing of many things, including the greatness and vastness and wonder of God, and of amazing grace, and the renewal of the Spirit of God, while these same albums are devoid of the mention of the name of Christ.

Christian pastors, counselors, and chaplains who are given public opportunities to bear witness to the name of Jesus Christ have dropped the proverbial ball and settled (compromised) to speak of God, and of spirituality, but not of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, lest by that name they might actually offend someone.

Christian family members are more and more adamant that their relative be silent about Christ; and they excuse it by means of danger; and when the relative holds true to the Scriptures and actually loves Christ preeminently to the exclusion of their families wishes, they are dubbed hard-headed, uncompromising, insane, and "different" - titles I would gladly wear for Christ.

And the Church - well, three out of one hundred share the name of Jesus Christ in a given day! Is this the church? What would the state of a marriage be if we only spoke passionately or kindly of our spouse three percent of the time? The fact of the matter is that this is not only a bad marriage in need of much repair, but hardly a marriage at all, and if it is a marriage, it is certainly not expected to be a very romantic covenant.

It is a terribly damning thing for we who comprise the church to be silent about our bridegroom, who loved us and chose us and redeemed us from sin and utter ruin! We would be worse than the whorish wife of the prophet Hosea, for at least, though she slept around, yet she bore him children, but we are childless - we not only whore against God, but we are silent about Him, about the name of Christ - that name wherein is embedded the salvific mission and purpose of God, that name by which we were called into His glorious light and love. Will we bear the children of another "god", speaking and living in such a way that bears the fruit of sinful adolescence and Christian immaturity? The fact of the matter is that if there is no Groom, then there is no bride!

The name of Christ concerning which we have grown seemingly silent is the only name in heaven or on earth by which a man may be saved. Only by being grafted into that name are we safe from God's holy fury against our sin. John the Baptist knew this name quite well and rejoiced in the bridegroom - "The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete," John 3:29.

John's joy was complete because the bridegroom had come to claim His bride - and he was part of her (the Church). Moreover, John, rejoicing in Him, did not conceal the name of Jesus Christ from the world - "He must increase but I must decrease," John 3:30.

Let us speak of God - Father, SON, and Holy Spirit! Let us rejoice in our bridegroom, being overwhelmed by the salvation in His name that we may overflow with the truth and praises of His name that every sinner may be overcome for the sake of His name. Let us not conceal the name of Jesus Christ, but like the Baptist cry out, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" In JESUS' NAME. Amen.

God's Immensity and the Omnipotence of the Consequential Power of God

2008-04-21T12:32:00.003-04:00

I had a conversation this morning with a seventy-something year old microbiologist with a slight English accent, named Malcolm. Having been a professor at UC-Davis and at Clemson University, the discussion was intriguing. Uncertain of his stance on creation, God, and the like, I decided to adapt the conversation to end up at those worldviews. I wasn't surprised that he believed in the Big Bang Theory - multiple one's at that - but that the immensity of the cosmos, of even a single human cell proved too much to be comprehended. Malcolm was of the mind that we cannot prove anything of that immensity with any kind of certainty in order to come to dogmatic conclusions about origin and life.

But it appeared that the reality of the vastness of the cosmos and of the amount of information in a single strand of DNA captured his wonder if not his interest. It turns out that God would give me a foothold with Malcolm upon which I could speak to him of the immensity of God.

During the summer session between my freshman and sophomore years at Clemson I took my biology requirement - it was the only other class besides a liberal Old Testament class that I made an "A" in! Malcolm knew my professor, and it was this professor with whom I had several discussions concerning the origin and meaning of life. This was the open door that I was graciously given to become what I needed to be in order to speak with Malcolm about God. And that was my endeavor in this particular meeting - to set God and God's immensity in relation to and demonstrated in the immensity of the creation that Malcolm studied and taught. By God's grace, next will come the reality of God in Christ!

So it was, that by means of creation and natural revelation that I set before Malcolm the Almighty, and the meaningfulness of life found in relation to Him and His creative work. And I found, also, my own affections and mind drawn up into the greatness of the infinite God whose habitation is eternity.

I recently heard by the providence of God the inherited instruction of a Christian cosmologist and apologist. This man uses his study and understanding of the universe to make the case for intelligent design and meaning. He shows slides of the universe, for example, a slide of nothing but stars, and says that if you were to count every star on that slide that it would take you 2800 years to finish; or a slide of a pillar of dust in the universe where we are looking at multiple galaxies; and after these things he places a white slide on the screen and hands someone a fine tipped pencil and asks them, with pencil in hand, to place any sized dot on that screen corresponding to your significance in the immensity of the universe - point being that even the slightest dot would seem to be an overstatement. However, as he begins to speak about carbon based life forms and all of the elements and aspects in the universe that had to be exactly right in order for their to be any kind of sustained carbon based life form, he mentions that the sphere in which we live for various reasons has to be about 15 million light years across to sustain life - and that the one in which we live is approximately 15 million light years across; and he concludes by saying, "now how significant are you in the universe?" And the answer is very significant, but I would add, and I think he would as well, how significant and valuable is God? If the universe is what it is, or if the amount of information in a single cell boggles the cleverest minds, then what of its infinite Creator - "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived , ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse," Romans 1:19-20.

More amazing is the conclusion of Jonathan Edwards about that which will consume our stay in eternal glory, that glory is in fact eternal because it will take eternity to comprehend in an ever-increasing way the infinite and unending glory of God and all that His glory encompasses. We will forever be growing in the knowledge and worship of Him because the knowledge and glory of Him is everlasting. God is eternally immense. The sheer thought of the volume of Him collapses the most brilliant human mind at once.

If this immense and eternal volume be placed upon God, indeed, a volume that we cannot measure, nor ever come to the end of, then what of the power of this Almighty God? What vast effulgence overflows from Him? If God declares that there is a power at His disposal, what in heaven or on earth or under the earth may equally rival Him and His power? But God has said through His apostle, "the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16)

The Gospel is the power of this eternally voluminous God to save wretched worms like us. The power of the President, or the Pope, or a King, or a tyrant is great and extends quite far, but has its limitations in all spheres of life. But all of these are inferior to the power of God and the throne of Christ in the culmination of the Gospel. No human will may stand before the power of God to save, which He calls the Gospel. What sinner can withstand the power of God in the Gospel? What degree of sinner can resist the Almighty's effectual Gospel call? What political party or religious group can redeem like God's Gospel of gracious salvation by the righteousness of Christ and not of man's works? God's Gospel delivers from Mormonism, Nihilism, Buddhism, Postmodernism, Hinduism, Islam, and any other world religion or spirituality - nothing stands in the way of the power of God's Gospel when in effectual grace He rips you out of darkness and sets you in the light of Christ! As former Muslim turned Christian Thabiti Anyabwile writes, "The Gospel triumphed where no other power had or could. The Gospel of Jesus Christ freed me from the clutches of sin and the darkness of Islam...The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...I've received and experienced that power myself through faith in Christ." (The Triumph of the Gospel in a Muslim's Life; thegospelcoalition.org/articles.php?a=51)

The consequential effulgence of the glorious immensity of God is manifest in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the revelation of the gift of God's righteousness for sinner's imputed through faith in Him. Therefore, the Gospel carries with it the effectual omnipotence of the God who saves sinners from any bondage and sets them securely in the invincible promise of faith in Christ. That this God would love sinners and deliver sinners from His wrath, and empower that message with the might of His Spirit, is the reality of what may be called the omnipotent Gospel - it is the power of God to save without distinction. What is microbiology when pitted against the Gospel of God, but the servant of it which inevitably witnesses to it. Praise God for the inherent, omnipotent power and call of the Gospel of Christ - that He who created the universe by the power of His Word, also creates Christians out of His enemies by the power of His Gospel, in Jesus' name.

A Christian Imperative: Bringing Children to Christ - Part 1 of 3

2008-04-18T14:07:00.009-04:00

In the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) Christ has given us the Divine imperative and preeminent endeavor in youth ministry: "Let the children come to Me, and do not hinder them." The text that I will use is predominantly Luke's account in Luke 18:15-17. I will address three important issues in youth ministry in three parts: first, the parental figures and youth ministry; secondly, the problems in youth ministry; and lastly, the priorities and Preeminent in youth ministry. I do not intend to exhaustively cover the issues concerning parents, problems, and the priorities in youth ministry, but, rather to allow Luke's account make up and shape the contours of what is written here. Simply put, I humbly intend this as an exposition of Luke 18:15-17.

PART 1: The Parental Figures and Youth Ministry

I use the term parental figures so as not to exclude grandparents and relatives in bringing their children to Christ. Some would desire to use that term because of the current state of thought concerning marriage, homosexuality, divorce, live-in relationships, etc. in the hopes of not offending anyone - I am not one of those people! By parental figures I mean, primarily, two adults within the bonds of heterosexual covenant with one another, so joined in the presence of God, and are the biological parents of their children, but not to the exclusion of those circumstances that arise where a child's parents have passed away so that the grandparent's or other relatives have taken over parental responsibilities, or in the instance of adoption into such a united couple, etc. Ideally, biological parents are the child's primary teacher and accountability in the things of God - though often times in the world we live, unideal situations arise.

Recently, as I was scanning Headline News, I became privy to a tragic story of nine teenagers in Polk County, Florida. Two of the teens were boys, the other seven were girls, ranging in age from fourteen to eighteen years young. One of the girls was kidnapped by the other eight; the two boys stood outside guarding the door so that the impending assault might transition uninterruptedly. In what transpired as an act of revenge, six girls took turns video taping and attacking another girl. After they had smashed her head into a wall, knocking her unconscious, they continued to pound on her body and face after she had been revived. At one point the girl holding the camera said, "There's only 17 seconds of battery left - make it good!" They continued to savagely beat this girl to the point where she now has no vision in her left eye or hearing in her left ear as well as severe swelling all over her body. The truth is that they might have murdered this girl and cared less. These girls were cheerleaders and honor roll students! Afterwards, one of the girls questioned a policeman asking if she was going to be out of custody in time to make it to cheerleading practice the next day! No remorse, no conviction, not even a hint of regret. There intention was to put the video of the beating on YouTube, a popular website for the younger generations.

At least three things come to mind: first, that these kids external accolades had no bearing upon their spiritual condition - no remorse or conviction about their murderous actions and intentions, often heard encouraging one another on in the assault. A question that arises from this consideration for a parent concerns the priorities of life that a parent takes with their child. After school activities? Intellectual studies? Condition of the eternal soul?
Secondly, though this was no doubt a great tragedy, it pales in comparison to the tragedy of a lost soul. What if in a moment any one of those girls had entered into eternity as swiftly as they appeared to be trying to send the one girl in murderous fashion? A fifteen year old honor roll student consigned to hell is an infinitely greater tragedy. We might be appalled at the sight of this video, but I wonder, how often are we silenced by the reality of hell and the lost condition of the young soul? Lastly, how great, then, is the responsibility of parents, pastors, and laity - the entire church - in youth ministry, in bringing children to Jesus Christ?

For our purposes, let us look at our text and point out at least four short principles with regards to the right dispositions of parents and youth ministry that arise from the 15th verse of Luke 18.

"Now they were bringing even infants to Him that He might touch them," Luke 18:15.

I find four principles concerning the right condition of parental figures and youth ministry.

First, that these parental figures had experienced the blessing and reality of Christ’s ministry themselves. John Calvin is right to note Luke’s use of the particle “also”, or as it is in my translation, “even”. That is to say that these figures, having been previously blessed by Christ’s ministry, now anticipated that He would bless their children as well. Perhaps the most important element of youth ministry is the spiritual condition of the parents. In other words, the biblical ideal is that the parents are themselves believers in Jesus Christ.

Secondly, having experienced the blessing of Christ themselves, their sole desire was that Christ might bless their children also. This is a mark of having truly tasted the grace of Christ, that you greatest desire is that others may taste of Him as well; and for parents, the foremost desire is that Christ may touch your child.

Thirdly, that these parents had obtained a right expectation of Christ’s ministry. They were bringing their children to Him “that He might touch them.” Again, the parents, having been blessed freely by Christ expected nothing less than that Jesus would bless their children too – that He would equally and freely confer blessing upon the children.
They expected that He would “touch them.” Matthew’s account secures the meaning of the parent’s expectation when he writes that Christ would “lay His hands on them and pray,” (19:13). Simply, they expected Jesus to bless their children.
In Jewish culture, to have someone bless you or bless your children was to honor that person with a superior status. Therefore, Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and Hebrews 7:7, giving the understanding of that Old Testament text, reveals, “It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.”
These parents honored Christ as the superior, and humbled themselves as the inferior. And out of this understanding came their great passion and expectation of Him. It is likely that they held out Christ to be of a high Prophetical office. Therefore, they expected rightly that Christ would bless them and pray for them, granting the children a participation in His grace.

Lastly, these parents were rightly aligned with the heart and will of God. As we shall see, Christ calls them to Him, beckoning the children to come to Him, and as our text makes clear, “Now they were bringing even infants to Him that He might touch them.” In a day when many parents allow the child to be their own spiritual guide, or when many parents are insensitive to the heart of God for their children, these parental figures were perfectly aligned with God’s heart for the children.

Now we have a biblical sketch of parents who effectively minister to their children – believing parents who have a biblical desire for the salvation of their children, a biblical expectation of Christ’s gracious ministry, and a biblical alignment with the heart and will of God, that by every means necessary, they will bring their children to Jesus Christ.

In Part 2 we will examine "The Problems in Youth Ministry (according to Luke 18:15)".

The Importance of Humility - NOW!

2008-04-15T10:06:00.004-04:00

In the realm of religion the status quo of the day appears to be the exaltation of self. This can be both profound and purposeful, or subtle and ignorant. Either way, the flesh of every man is tempted by the lure of the pride of life, often taking the bait that snatches us out of the waters of true humility - the preeminent disposition of the faith in the Truth, Jesus Christ.

To exalt oneself is of the greatest of evils, for in that exaltation, we distract the attention and the affections of people from where they ought to be, which is towards God. That is, in our exaltation, we become a hindrance to people coming to Christ, and a stumbling block to many who may be on the cusp of conversion. Jesus alludes to this in Luke 18:9-14, providing a parable on the disposition of the justified. Jesus gives a comparison between a Pharisee with all of the outward appearance of religion and a widely recognized sinner tax collector; the one separates himself from everyone else and prayerfully thanks God that he is different, that he is not like other men in their sinful ways, that he fasts twice a week and tithes; the tax collector, in brokenness, would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" Jesus' conclusion is that this man went home right before God, while the other who exalted himself and comforted himself by his religiosity did not; that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and that those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The question for us is not will we be humbled, but when? Christ clearly states that every person will be humbled. The importance of this statement cannot be overemphasized, because the "when" of one's humility is the difference between eternal life and eternal destruction away from God. A man will either humble himself now, in this temporal life, and thereby be declared righteous before God - because humility before God is the outcome of the knowledge of one's sin and need for God's mercy and the realization of that mercy in the grace of Jesus Christ - or he will exalt himself now, in this temporal life, and be humbled on that day when God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus - whereby he will find himself lacking and condemned to hell. The apostle Paul would write that (because Christ supremely humbled himself even unto death on a cross) God "has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Philippians 2:9-11.

If it was through the Divine humility that Divine exaltation came for our Lord, how much more ought we who bear His awesome name follow Him in His pattern and method of glorifying God. The admonishment is "Delight yourself in the Lord," and not, "delight yourself in the creature." God is the only Being in the universe where self-exaltation is the most loving of directions, for when we are so directed, our souls and minds and wills are led to Him who most satisfies, indeed, to Him who alone is perfectly worthy of our delight. Jesus, in His humanity and humility, understood this, and longed to be exalted back to the fullness of that Divine delight within the fellowship of the Godhead.

Therefore, let us be humble, for God gives grace to the humble, and it is grace that we need. We ought not as Christians to put on the subtle facade of humility, a facade that proves itself false when we attempt to be humble but our attempt is made in order to be exalted by men - "ah, do you see how humble that man is, did you see his kind act, how he shuns all credit" - and hearing the praise of men the supposed act of humility actually serves to feed our pride instead. So there is a true humility and a false sense of humility. Whereas by the one our end is to be observed as humble, so by the one that is true our end is that God may be more clearly seen, that God may be more powerfully glorified, that God may exalt us in due time. It is not the exaltation of men and of the day that we seek, beloved, but rather that exaltation that comes from God in secret and in that eternal life which is to come.

It is a terrible thing in this day that many dear believers are followers of men, preachers, and teachers, rather than Jesus Christ, that men base their ministry off of themselves and their own abilities rather than upon God's Word, His Son our Lord, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The latter and better type of ministry is the one that will prove most faithful, fruitful, and true, for there, Christ is the foundation, and humility the spirit, and grace thereby reigns. The apostle Paul never introduced his letters, "Paul, a highly trained, wonderfully educated minister, having earned the equivalent of 4 Ph.D.'s in biblical theology, church history, missiology, and church education, while founding several successful church plants all over the world, come to you...", although many guest preachers and speakers are either introduced by others or self-introduced in this way. No, in his epistle to the Romans he writes, "Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God." (1:1) To the Corinthians, "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each." (1 Cor. 3:5) And when he did boast he boasted in his weakness and in the power of Christ (2 Cor. 11:30, 12:9) and on the occasion that he boasted of himself he paused to say - "I am talking like a madman" (2 Cor. 11:23) - but even that was to make certain to others the authenticity of his apostleship in Christ.

Humility is the only possible disposition of the Christian who truly understands the Gospel, that they are sinners saved by grace through faith and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God, that no one should boast. The same seed of sin in them is in even the worst of sinners, but a salvation given to them by God through faith in Christ as a gift and not due to any merit in them whatsoever - they have no merit; their wage is God's eternal wrath - this realization brings us low, breaks us before God, that we dare not look up to heaven, but earnestly beat our chest and plead with God, "Be merciful to me a sinner!" And Christ assures us, we shall go home justified, and in time, exalted as adopted children of God in Christ to His glory.

May we who know Christ wear gladly the badge of a bondservant. May humility characterize us that God may be exalted. Let us not be a hindrance to others coming to Christ because of sinful self-exaltation; rather, abase yourself constantly, know the horror of your sin, and the wonder of God's salvation, and by this disposition, help others to see the surpassing value of Christ Jesus our Lord. Do not wait to be humbled before God, for then it may be to late, and you will find yourself humbled in horror of His glory; be humbled now, that through faith in Christ, Christ will declare to you, "go home justified...you shall be exalted in Me in eternal life."

American Idol Fashions An American Idol

2008-04-13T17:19:00.007-04:00

I do not regularly watch American Idol, mainly for the reasons associated with its name, where teenagers and young men and women become in a short period of time the posterized idols of millions of Americans. But I happened to catch the end of last Wednesday's edition deemed "American Idol Gives Back".

The entirety of the show was devoted to philanthropic ideals and the social gospel. They raised money for the poor, they devoted funds for relief efforts, they built homes and provided medicines for the diseased and homeless. Included in the efforts were big-screen stars Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, and singers, Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys, among others.

I applaud their philanthropy, but I wonder if something can be truly philanthropic without having Christ as its end, without seeing the nations drawn to rejoice in God. In a sense, it is a shameful thing upon the Church that those who reject Christ would do more philanthropic things than those who know Christ and therefore know the ultimate end of such endeavors, which is that Christ be glorified. We ought to be engaged in feeding the world, in providing for the homeless, in sharing a glass of pure water with those who travel miles for a mud hole - and we ought to do it in a way that declares our distinctive love for them, but that in no way leaves them satisfied by those things alone without being confronted with Him who satisfies all things and that completely so! In other words, meeting the physical needs of people should be a priority of the Church, but passionately secondary; for in all things and in every way we ought to endeavor to take every illness, every hunger, every thirst, every impoverishment, every ideology, etc., captive and make it obedient to Christ, that they may be truly satisfied in Him alone, and overflowing with the pure Gospel that leads to a God-entranced passion in all things.

But aside from "Idols" giving back edition, I was taken back by the stamp that they put on their efforts when they sang the older contemporary Christian song - "Shout to the Lord". Here are the essential lyrics to the song:

"My Jesus, My Savior Lord there is none like
You All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love
My Comfort, My Shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You
(Chorus)
Shout to the Lord, all the earth
Let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in YOU!"

I found myself wondering "why?" or "how?" or "what?" or "really!?" The contestants joined in with a "gospel" choir, Ryan Seacrest "passionately" called out the name of the song, and off they went into vanity, and blasphemy, idolatry, and pluralism - and five seconds afterwards, they had to make sure that Ben Stiller (presumedly Jewish) received twenty seconds in which he was "bleeped" out four or five times!

Did they truly listen to what they were singing? They took out the name of Jesus and replaced it with "My Shepherd, My Savior" to avoid religious repercussions and make sure that anyone in the place could put the name of their god in the place of "Shepherd". On what can only be described as a secular (and often godless) sing-a-long the house rocked with "Let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship you...nothing compares to the promise I have in YOU!" And they fashioned a god for themselves, for though they sang the words (with the previously mentioned exception) of a Christian song, the biblical God and the exclusivity of the name of Jesus Christ were certainly not intended. This was the "god" of all people and faith structures and religions and spiritualities, the "god" who helps people and gives people material things and is outworking himself through Brad Pitt, and Mariah Carey, etc., the "god" within the self and the collaborative efforts of creatures (human beings).

I wonder, if no money had been raised, no homes built, or a tragic disaster had thwarted the night when "American Idol gave back"; if touching stories had been left untold, if everyone had been stripped of everything they had, from Ben Stiller to the African child - stomach protruding from starvation and diarrhea, would they have stayed on course, would they have still sang the "praises of His name", would they have collaborated to "shout to the Lord...to worship Him...to sing for joy at the work of His hands", would they have still considered the "promise" that we have in Christ alone to be beyond comparison? Do they even know what the promise is?

In the end, American Idol fashioned an American idol - the "everything goes good and everybody walks away ignorantly happy" god; the god who "makes me feel better inside, gives me fuzzy feelings, and allows me to go to bed at night without a true care in the world." This god is the false god of the cosmos that everyone can tolerate so long as he does what he is supposed to do - which of course is in accordance with our will - and throw in a little world peace on the side so long as we can be recognized for it. It was a display of the god of consumerism, for though in appearance the acts were cloaked in sacrifice, yet, the acts were consumed with mammon and good will as its ends, and that is necessary in every missionary endeavor, but it is only missionary when the money is a means to something greater - the propagation of the Gospel of Christ and the joy of the nations in Jehovah through Jesus.

Positively, what happened last Wednesday is an opening for the true Gospel of Christ, where God is the Treasure even in the midst of pain, loss, sickness, and despair, where we are satisfied in God and rejoice in the suffering that comes in the preaching and promoting of the biblical Gospel. Moreover, revealed is the depraved knowledge that every person has of the one True and Living God, and the Truth that they have suppressed in their ungodliness and unrighteousness. The Word of God holds true - God has made Himself plain to them and they are without excuse, because they have traded in His glory for images "resembling mortal man". And one must wonder, what might that song have testified to in their own suppressive hearts? They sang "Shout to the Lord", and harmonized in praise of His "wonders", "mighty love", "comfort", "shelter", "power", "majesty", "kingship", "worth", "creative works", "name", and "incomparable promise"!

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For (because) although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man..." Romans 1:19-23.

In consideration of these things, I wish that I might have been there on stage with them, given a great boldness to witness of God in the way that Paul did in Athens in the Areopagus address having observed the suppressed knowledge of God manifest in idolatry, "Men of Athens (America), I perceive that in every way you are very religious (and/or spiritual). For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you," Acts 17:22-23 (through 31 for the awesome entirety). And where Paul starts with them - in the center of their culture - associating with them, binding what they worship in shadows with Him who is God, so he ends, and so we should endeavor to end by proclaiming God's nearness to sinners (27), God's self-definition, God's own terms of salvation (29), God's command for all people to repent (30), the Day of God's righteous judgment and the man whom God has appointed as the standard of judgment, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (31).

Therefore, let us boldly endeavor to share the true Gospel, to associate with sinners in a way that communicates clearly that Gospel, which casts down their shadow gods, and God willing, exalts the true God through faith in Jesus Christ. And let us go with the Great Commission in the great expectation that when we go with the Gospel, that Christ is there with us, and we pray in the regenerating, saving power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us truly sing and "shout to the Lord", and declare to those so idolizing American Idol's god, that what you worship as unknown, Him we now proclaim to you. God be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Gospel Truth: God's Righteousness Revealed and Imputed Through Faith in Jesus

2008-04-08T10:23:00.012-04:00

I was reminded over the weekend of the theme verse of Paul's epistle to the Romans, the theme that the apostle develops over the course of the letter, both theologically, soteriologically, and practically - "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16-17)

From this text, Luther would have Paradise opened to him, and the doctrine of justification by faith alone crystallized for the Church.

From this text, contemporary redwoods in the Church, like John Piper, would speak much upon the reality that only God can save sinners from God (His righteousness from His wrath - see v. 18).

It is this text, however, whose truth proposition of the sinners inherent unrighteousness only being remedied by the imputation of God's own righteousness - the righteousness revealed in the Gospel - and that by faith and not by works, that stands in utter contradiction to the notion of the world - that all are generally good, that a spark of the Divine exists within the self, it just needs to be sought out and appropriated, or that by works one merits honor with the Divine Being, that salvation is an earned wage.

But God's truth stands, that His wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (and we are all characterized in this way), and therefore, only His righteousness can deliver the unrighteous and ungodly. The imputation of an alien righteousness by faith alone in Christ alone is the greatest news in the universe, but the world considers it folly, unbelievable (which it is but for grace), and intolerable - it is counter-cultural.

Romans 1:16-17 makes these propositions: first, that we should not be ashamed to share the Gospel because the Gospel is the power of God for salvation without distinction invested by faith; secondly, the Gospel is the power of God for salvation without distinction invested by faith because in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith; thirdly, that what is meant by the second proposition is summed up in Paul's quotation of Habakkuk 2:4, "The righteous shall live by faith"; and lastly, that by the relationship between 1:16 and 1:17, and 1:17 to 1:18, it is understood that it is the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel that transcends shame in evangelism, and is the inherent power of God to sanctify believers, while also being the necessary revelation to be received by sinners through faith in Christ if anyone is to be saved from the wrath of God.

My intention here is not to write on all of these propositions of biblical truth, but rather to focus on the grace of the offering of God's very own righteousness revealed in the Gospel to unrighteous sinners, and how this truth supremely exalts the value of God, while removing every boast from the lips of men who would infringe (by their own abilities) upon the inheritance that belongs to Christ alone, and to whom Christ gives it by gracious adoption and imputation.

The term "righteousness" is linked to the term "justification", hence, the doctrine of "justification by faith", or by faith God imputes His perfect righteousness to sinners completely bankrupt of any righteousness. Paul develops this idea throughout Romans, showing diligently that every single human being in the history of the universe, from beginning to end, are guilty of sin, falling short of God's glory, and are separated from Him, in point of fact, dead and hostile against Him - "none is righteous, no, not one," Romans 3:10, Psalm 14:1-3.

And, if the very righteousness of God is required in order to be delivered from God's wrath, but no one is righteous in the way that God is righteous, what manner of problem is this but the greatest problem in the universe for every individual? But God freely offers the solution - in the Gospel, God's righteousness is revealed through faith - faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writes it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake (God) made (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God."

The wrath of God that we have earned as sinners Christ perfectly satisfied on the cross for all who would believe in Him for salvation, so that when we believe in Him, God gives to us the righteousness of Christ, the very righteousness of God. We are accounted righteous through faith in Jesus. Hereby, we are saved from God's wrath. It is a substitutionary sacrifice that we speak of in the Gospel, through which the righteousness of God is revealed through faith in that sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Biblical Christianity is the only religion that offers such a Way of salvation - which Way is exclusive! None of the sinners works, street smarts, deeds, merit, money, volunteer hours, or church visitations, etc. can save the sinner from God's wrath - human works are frail and powerless at the accountability of God's Law - no, God's Law is good in that it points us to God's Gospel, wherein it is the power of God to sanctify the believer and convert the sinner because within the Gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God - and it is the exclusive means of salvation from God's wrath.

Christ is the Christian's righteousness before God. It holds true, then, that "salvation belongs to the Lord" - God owns salvation, in its origin and application and end, etc. Let us be humbled by this - we cannot save ourselves; no man can savingly declare himself righteous before the Righteous God. Only God can declare a man righteous in a sufficient and saving way - and in Jesus Christ, God has made possible that very Divine declaration for dead sinners. This holds true for me, for you, for every human being. But the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel and revealed so it is understood that by faith in Christ, this perfect righteousness is imputed. Christ is the end of the law for everyone who believes in Him (Romans 10:4).

It is not enough, however, to know the doctrine of justification by faith, but to truly put this doctrine of the Gospel into practice so that our words, thoughts, and actions are submerged in it. For when we, like a delivered sponge, soak in the overflow of the Gospel, we are humbled. Do we have anything to offer God? Anything that can save? Any self-claim to glory? No! - and we rejoice! - because God has opened our hearts to know this much, which is hidden from much of the world. We, like all men, are sinners, and were it not for Christ's righteousness, we would not differ from the rest of a lost world in the slightest degree. God's grace sets us apart, makes us distinctive from the world. Regeneration is of God's grace, so too, repentance, faith, sanctification, etc., and also, the imputation of perfect righteousness. And, the sinner seated beside you yesterday, now, or tomorrow - they are right now what you were prior to the onset of effectual grace. Christ is the chasm between the two, me and you, you and him or her.

Does this not transcend any ashamedness for the sake of the Gospel? Is not this revealed righteousness of faith the power of God to save without distinction? God's righteousness, God's righteousness, God's righteousness - it is revealed in the Gospel; it delivers from God's wrath; it comes through faith in Jesus Christ; it constitutes the great divide; and it overflows into daily practical humility and evangelism and Christian growth.

Let us be rid of our wretched individualism, and hold fast to the Head, Who is Christ Jesus the Lord. May we ever teach and propagate the Gospel of God's righteousness in Christ, offered and given to sinners through faith in Jesus Christ. It is more than a doctrine, it is the core of the Gospel, the ground upon which, Luther wrote, the Church will stand or fall - and it is the hope of the lost world and the joy of we who by it have been fitted to glorify and enjoy God forever. It is God's righteousness - give Him the glory!

Whatever Happened To "Thus Says The Lord GOD"?

2008-04-02T07:55:00.013-04:00

To the prophet Ezekiel, God said, "I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them," Ezekiel 2:4-5. God spoke of a famine of the Word through His prophet Amos, "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it," Amos 8:11-12. Now this was perhaps fulfilled most immediately during the 400 years of prophetical silence leading up to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, when God Himself would tabernacle among us and speak the Divine words to the sinner.

A combination of these texts yields to us that God's true preachers preach God's Word, that God has sent them to people by grace to hear His Word, without which grace, the Word of God will not be heard, nor sought, nor found, but rejected by the general audience like a hoard of rebels that don't know what - by grace - they have until it is gone and judgment takes its place. The judgment of God was the cutting off of the prophet from the people, His Word from their hearing, whereby they were given over to and lost to their own finite and perishing suppositions.

Currently - though there appears on the horizon a resurgence in biblical, passionate, reformational preaching - the vast majority of the laity, and, God forbid, many pastorates too, have become biblically inept, having turned a deaf ear to God's word, and a prideful ear to the sound of their own voices. This seems to be the current form of judgment against the modern day version of a rebellious world, and a secularized Church - that preaching has become human, absent of God and the power of His Holy Spirit - many preach their own word; and so many only hear a human word, and have become accustomed to that depravity so that upon hearing the Word of God, it is something altogether foreign to them which they are much inclined to reject due to its "inherent power" which they know nothing of.

A quick examination of many professors of Christianity today offers the evidence of dissipated doctrine, a worrisome retreat from the infallibility of Scripture, and a frightening agreement with the world that nothing can be known absolutely, that experience and culture determines truth, that human movements are the true lens through which to understand Scripture, and if Scripture speaks contrarily, then God is wrong, and the movement right. It is the lost world that influences the doctrine and doctrinal attitude of these Christians (what may only be deemed liberal, thoughtless, and careless theology - and no true theology at all - though it is offered up as "God's Word" with surprising ease of conscience). They preach it under the title of Christ and the world considers the sound of it quite good, appeasing, and tolerable - it's just not truth, it's not God's Gospel, it's not God's Word.

The tempter and the temptable nature of the flesh are quite the tag team in drawing us into error, and overthrowing the truth, being more of a hindrance than a help to Christ. Modern theology is a mere reflection of that moral carelessness of the culture around us on every side. Giving no thought to God's Word, we often with much earnestness receive and take to heart the erroneous words of self-proclaimed men of God. We are hardly 21st century Bereans - though we ought to be! Rather, we appear much like Lot who grew hardened to true righteousness because of his prolonged love affair with the wicked society of Sodom and Gomorrah - his doctrine, his morality reflected the nature of his surroundings.

If a godly man mentions holiness, they are "judging"; the mention of wrath is deemed "intolerant"; sin is "too harsh", and hell "unthinkable, because God is love"; that men and women have specific gender roles in the home, in the Church, etc., the godly man is called "sexist"; if he crys out against homosexuality and abortion, he is dubbed "out of context, out of touch, archaic"; if the man preaches the Gospel and engages in active evangelism, he is "ultra-aggressive, dangerous, an invader of personal space"; if he advocates the Word of God as it is in truth the Word of God and clings with his whole heart to every word believing it to be infallibly true, he is at best "puritanical". And this objection comes from many who claim investment in Christ. What of the type who at the mention of Christ simply says to you, "go to hell!"?

The problem with these type of comments from people in the Church (or not) towards this kind of man is that this kind of man is restating and explaining for those people the truth of God's Word. It is not his word, his invention, his opinion - what is fact cannot be opinion and what is believed is believed because the one believing is convicted and assured that it is factual truth. It is God's Word! If when the man, therefore, believes that a woman should not be the pastor of a Church and he articulates his position based on the gender roles specified by God in Genesis, as well as the pastoral roles expounded by God through Paul in 1 Timothy 3, and the like texts, and is titled "sexist" because of it, then the one who titles him must also be willing to call God a "sexist". It is God's Word - to all of the above responses, the same must be said of God, that He is "judging, intolerable, too harsh, unthinkably cruel, out of context, out of touch, archaic, ultra-aggressive, dangerous, an invader of personal space, and puritanical, etc.", to which most would just tell God, "go to hell!", and we did, all of us, when in Jesus, God spoke His Word and lived His Word before us. We rejected Him, and crucified Him - a blasphemer, smitten by God!

The tempter tempts us into Scriptural lethargy, and this appeases and strokes the flesh quite well. We are at ease with our own spins on Scripture. Let us not forget that the devil knows Scripture quite well - and purposefully misrepresents it but not without cloaking it in a tasty frosting. A move away from biblical orthodoxy is not a step forward, unless by forward it is meant into the doctrine of the devil and of demons (James 3:14-16). The devil is a liar - will you listen to him? He aims at murdering you - and in so far as anyone abides by his principle of interpretation (to bring about selfish ambition, jealousy, bitterness, and ease of temporal life), then you are in fact eternally perishing in heart and mind and soul, swallowing his sweetly fatal poison.

The delusion is manifold, but mainly, that to stray from God's Word and to create your own will be a greater joy than to love and obey and abide by God's Word. The serpent slithers within the guise of secular and pop culture, and the culture weaves your theology upon his scales. As our patriarchal parents did, so we, their progeny do. Culture rather than the Bible determines our thinking about God, the devil rather than the Creator.

What do we make of ourselves by the notion that we ought not speak of sin, or that we should not speak up against the immorality of human nature? Shall we give evidence that the devil's fangs are attached to our hearts? Then by all means let one speak half-truths which are no truths, let one be advised by the blindness of unregenerate culture and unregenerate persons that to speak so passionately about God in Christ for righteousness is an intolerable type of speech, and therefore, ought not to be proclaimed. This will grant you an easy life - maybe - but what of that life to come which is called "everlasting"?

What eternal joy is there in usurping the authority of God's Word? What do you gain by deeming God "a sexist pig"? It is of note that in the galactic battle between the devil and the Lord Jesus Christ during the period of His temptation, that the temptation came in the form of the misinterpretation of Scripture - and that Jesus defeated satan with the right and authoritative knowledge of Scripture!

What must be observed in these things? That the lie consists within the thought that God's Word is out of touch with reality; that false happiness consists in the authority of one's own word and rationale. That we must be careful not to become the Church of the Culture, rather than the Church of Christ. That it is not in our deviation from God's Word that will bring greatest joy, but instead, our greatest joy and fulfillment lies within the obedience to and love of every one of God's revealed words. God has spoken and He speaks still - through His Word! And what God has revealed, He has revealed because it gives the knowledge of Himself to sinners who are starved for the Real, for the God of the universe, and this revelation is so understood in the life and words of the Son, Jesus Christ, and that whatever is revealed, because it is meant to lead us to God, is revealed to be loved and adhered to with the most sensational delicacy, and it is within such "stick-tuitiveness", such true faith in every word, that our greatest joy and happiness and fulfillment will be realized both now and increasingly forevermore, and not the contrary. If God has given specific gender roles, have we given thought to the reality that it is in our obedience to those roles that our greatest joy will be had in Him, and that it is in being contrary to those roles that we will be ruined, moving away from His Word - and yet, women continue to be the spiritual activist's and men the spiritual "passivist's", etc., and we say, "Ah, this is good; this is the way things are!" And satan applauds.

The Scriptures are the written form of God's authoritative Word. As we depart from them, ever so slightly, we depart greatly from Christ, for any measure of departure from the Word, is a total departure from Christ, Who is the Word of God. And this Word gives rules and regulations and requirements, and Christ fulfilled them for us who because of sin and the weakness of the flesh could never (this is the Gospel of grace), and the prescription, the intentionality of this Word is to bring us to God that we may in part know Him and enjoy Him now as the Treasure of our soul and the universe and of eternity - and as this is the intentionality of the Word of God, so it is the intentionality of Jesus Christ, Who is the Word. Any adherence to anything less is in no way profitable for the soul in view of eternity.

More than peanut butter to the roof of the mouth ought we to cling to every word of Scripture, and then, at no time should we forfeit our stance in God's Word, but bring every thought, doctrine, word, deed, opinion, persuasion, everything that is anything, into captivity to the doctrine of Christ, the Word of God. Let us hold up the banner of God Almighty atop the massive peaks of Holy Scripture, and not settle to sit upon the dung hills of liberal theology, unregenerate reasoning, secular culture, or church tradition (which often stands in stark contrast to Christian doctrine).

Be warned! Satan would have you convinced that your greatest joy lay in Scriptural lethargy, misinterpretation, and uninspired human babble, masquerading as "something new and fresh" - and completely opposed to everything true and godly. By this design, the enemy of your soul would take you down to hell.

In truth, our greatest joy is God, known through faith in Jesus Christ (the Word of God), and therefore, to love and obey and be taught by His authoritative rule and justifying Gospel is to embark on and taste now the happiness which is only and truly known through our unwavering and uncompromising feasting upon and propagating of His Word, the Christ. By this, we meet God.

By God's grace, I will hold steadfastly to every word of Scripture, believing it in truth. I will not depart, for I long to know Christ, and if you so long to know Christ, know not your own inventions, but instead hold fast the Word of God. At least in the day of the prophet Amos, the people sought out the Word of God. Let us long for the day when men will roam from sea to sea, and from north to east, running to and fro, from South Carolina to South America to South Korea to South Africa and beyond to find the word of the Lord, and by the mercy and kindness of God, may they find it both heralded, "Thus says the Lord GOD," and heard and loved not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the Word of God.

Good Article by Kyle Vaughn from "The Resurgence" website

2008-03-31T11:03:00.004-04:00

"The Digital Age--A New Dark Age? A Look At How Christianity Can Speak To Those Lost In A Storm of Information"

Great article with information on the Enlightenment, postmodern, and post-literate movements, how these movements have impacted the Church and how Christianity masters the reason - faith paradigm, the highest knowledge being that of God, the understanding of ourselves being in Him, as well as our salvation. Truth as it is revealed by God in Christ reigns preeminently.

Agreeableness Not Synonymous With Regeneration

2008-03-26T08:55:00.008-04:00

I have observed that the general and secular culture of the South is noticeably, and often frustratingly, aligned with the "churchy" culture of the Southern states. The secular culture is quite agreeable to the church culture and the church culture seems to be quite content with reflecting that culture and quite indifferent towards molding it. The Gospel is met with much agreement, but little conversion. As with most dichotomies, this is simultaneously advantageous for the church provided the church is appropriately opportunistic, while being an eternal threat both to the accountability of the church's evangelical identity and to the immortal souls of those deceived by their agreeable nature to the things of Christ when we do not make use of the opportunity so given.

With regards to the Church of the living God, we need to mortify our "churchiness" and become the Church. Contentment in the way of things current will ultimately lead to the condemnation of souls, not the salvation of them. We ought not to be content with the agreeableness of the lost, and we should not rest at ease until their eyes are spiritually opened and they are given the Divine breath of life accompanied by the evidence of spiritual sneezes removing the clog of spiritual and agreeable deception. Being agreeable to the Gospel is not synonymous with being regenerate of God, although we ought to be thankful for what agreeableness exists, for though it serves too deceive a soul, yet the reality of it is often the impression of God upon the same soul, and we ought to, therefore, be encouraged and emboldened to move forward with the Gospel in hopes of true conversion to Christ. We must push forward upon this soul, not settling until the habit of sin and the ritual of agreeableness has been broken, thrown down to the ground in contrition, and lifted back up through a real and genuine faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel is relevant, the word of the cross is the power of God to those who are being saved, who are called of God, and we must persist and persuade and be in earnest with agreeable souls until God swallows them up, drowns them in the spittle of His holy Law, and revives them by the CPR of the Gospel, imputing to them His holy breath of life through faith in Christ.

We are thankful for those churches who are bringing in the people in groves and we hope that God will make salvific use of whatever is imparted that honors Him, but the fear is that in many of these there may not be much imparted to those souls that truly honors God or converts anyone to Christ - perhaps they are converted to the creation of human atmospheres which masquerade as the presence of God, or perhaps they are converted to a man who speaks with great charisma about the "God within a box", and that is quite comfortable to both the preacher and the lost soul; it just doesn't do much to seed and water and convert souls to Christ!

It is the earnestness and passion of the Church that will be the means of true conversion. Our aim is not to make converts to an agreeable nature, a cushy and comfortable nature over against the warnings and threatenings and punishment of just and eternal torments; our aim is to win souls to Christ for the sake of His name among all the nations. This is the exhortation of Spurgeon from the text of 2 Kings 4:29-37, when Elisha came to the Shunamite women's house and found her son lying dead on the bed, he stretched himself over the child and the child's flesh became warm - this, I would say, is that good kind of agreeable nature, but it is not enough to satisfy us - for Elisha got up and stretched himself out again over the child and then the child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes - ah, then he was alive, the breath of life causing him to sneeze, and when he has so spiritually sneezed and had eyes opened, then we shall rest in regeneration. Spurgeon writes more ably, "The result of the prophet's work soon appeared: 'the flesh of the child waxed warm.' How pleased Elisha must have been; but I do not find that his pleasure and satisfaction caused him to relax his exertions. Never be satisfied...with finding your children in a barely hopeful state. Did a girl come to you, and cry, 'Teacher, pray for me'? Be glad, for this is a fair token; but look for more. Did you observe tears in a boy's eyes when you were speaking of the love of Christ? Be thankful for it that the flesh is waxing warm, but do not stop there. Can you relax your exertions now? Bethink you, you have not yet gained your end! It is life you want, not warmth alone...not mere conviction, but conversion...not only impression, but regeneration, - life, life from God, the life of Jesus...nothing less must content you." (from "The Soul Winner"; pages 157-158.)

The Church must be just that; the Christian must be just that; and when they are, Christ will be just that in the conversion of the lost soul. If our petitions with the Gospel are met with agreeableness, do not be fooled into thinking them saved, lest with that agreeableness comes the agreeable fruit of faith. If you observe them and their life stands in stark opposition to their agreeable nature, then thank God that at least their flesh is perhaps "waxed warm", but do not cease in our holy endeavor and end of seeing the soul saved, brought to God through faith in Christ. Watch them "sneeze", and "open their eyes", then we shall recognize new life. Again, agreeableness is not synonymous with regeneration, with being born of God. Work up a sweat in earnestness, plead with the lost soul until they see through their agreeableness into the deadness of the testimony of their lives, and when they presume themselves dead, then with more zeal, stretch out over them the Gospel of Christ.

And this is not the south only, but a great percentage of America is agreeable to the notion of Christianity and of "believing in God", and that is well and good, and ought to be a thing very hopeful for us so long as we then walk through the open door of that statistic with the Gospel of Christ in heart and hand to see them converted. But until the end is met by the grace of God the cultural agreeableness to the belief in a God is insufficient, for even the demons "believe in God" and they shutter, but it avails nothing to believe what demons and the devil, himself, believes, when God believes in God rightly, if one does not believe rightly in Christ exclusively through whom God is truly revealed and known. Again, agreeableness is not synonymous with regeneration, but it is hopeful for those who aim to see the lost soul saved and reunited to God.

In conclusion, an agreeable nature to the things of God can be both damning and the advantageous hope of conversion, the finger print of God on a life, the great chasm between the two possibilities being bridged only by the zeal of Christians to share the full Gospel of Christ with an earnestness that transcends agreement and confronts the culturally deceived with sin, righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment (Acts 24:25). Only then, like Felix, will the agreeable become "alarmed." We must seek to alarm the agreeable, to sound off in the soul, that culture, heritage, positive thinking, self-improvement projects, regular church attendance, or singing in the choir, and the like, does not save anybody. And only when they become alarmed, having their agreeableness set against spiritual deadness, are they set to be comforted with Christ. We do not seek an agreeableness in the lost soul, dear Christians, we seek the life of God imputed, we seek conversion, we seek true righteousness. May this be our passion and earnest plea to God in Jesus' name.

Is Evangelism the Means of Contagious Joy?

2008-03-25T11:59:00.007-04:00

I believe it is! I would not make it exclusive, but perhaps, preeminently important, as Paul addressed it, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received..." (1 Cor. 15: 3). Many of those people who now live outside of Christ would so deny Him because of the depravity of joy in those who profess to know Him. While many professing Christians sneer at the thought of sharing the Gospel with the lost, it is this means, this sharing of faith in Christ for righteousness and the observance of God working in and through those means in that moment of testimony to bring about regeneration and conversion in a human soul that, then, comes back to us and radiates with in our souls and overflows out from our hearts and tongues a zealous joy in God and in His sovereign kindness.

I am aware of many Christians who vouch that they experience a joyless relationship with Christ, which is a great tragedy and worthy of wonder. Could it be that the Christian who keeps to his or herself, that remains quite smug, irritable, agitated, unhappy, joyless, and complaining, is so depraved of Christian joy because he or she does not share the Christian joy, i.e., the Gospel of Christ for righteousness, eternal life, and reconciliation with God?

By the measure of our withholding the good news, shall we miss out on God's will, God's purpose and plan, God's means of salvation, God's heart and desire, God's exaltation as Sovereign Joy, the assurance that God hears our prayers and works by them by which we are made glad and assured that we were in agreement with God's passion, and the happiness and rejoicing that comes with the salvation of one lost soul - indeed, we join with the host of heaven to praise God and rejoice at the salvation of one - unless we keep silent and hide God's salvific balm.

How shall we expect an unbeliever to be favorable to our Gospel propagation but by the grace and mercy of God on us and them, when with our lives we give evidence of believing the worst news and not the greatest news? Will we complain incessantly and then speak of Christ? Will we grumble and sigh and then share the good news? Shall we never laugh, never smile, never love and expect the lost to be regenerated at our mention of the law of God which in the moment shines more brightly upon us who know the truth but do not practice it with joy?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it," Psalm 118:22-23. This is more than the well-known children's song! It is the Christian's daily joy - to rejoice and be glad in the LORD's day of salvation in Christ!

If this is the case, not only are Christians not sharing the Gospel with words, but we are being a hindrance to the Gospel that we would share by our joylessness. But the joy that testifies is found in the sharing of the Gospel with words.

Perhaps it is because one so seldom shares the Gospel that one has so little evangelical happiness to bear and witness of in the ebb and flow of one's typical day and conversation. For I find that to pray expectantly that God would come down in your place of work, school, etc. with regenerative power, and then to have the prayer answered when the opportunity to share the Gospel comes, and to have your fear converted to boldness, and to see the miracle of God's grace working a favorable impression, providing the hope of conversion, and yet more, God sovereignly brings another at that moment to invest in the Gospel discussion, and to find that the two are in the same family and that they actually become earnest for more conversation, and agree to meet again, so that when they leave, my soul desires nothing more but to praise God to Whom salvation belongs and to rejoice with great gladness at the hope of conversion and the awesome mercy and benignity and power of God; and I find myself, then, as it were regenerated again, converted to joy and it transforms my countenance towards all things and everybody to one of contagious and evangelical happiness. And so now my happiness also testifies of God, rather than my banal bitterness.

Dear Christian, do you desire joy, then do not withhold it, that is, the Gospel of joy! The new language of the Christian is Christ-ian, it is the Gospel, and the endeavor is to take all things captive to Christ. If you swallow the Gospel and speak of it not, it will become bitter to you and not sweet. Have you truly tasted and seen that God is good? That the Gospel is great? That the enjoyment of God is the chief end of man? Speak up! For the sake of the name of Christ and the obedience of faith, speak up! And you will find, as I did today, and hope to always find, that to share the Gospel with the lost will go beyond the witness of words to that of a joyful and satisfied life in God. When you share the Gospel, the Spirit of God will lavish you with a joy that transforms your attitude, your day, your life because you will be doing that which is both the source and appropriation of true joy in Him.

Dear Christian, do you yearn for joy and happiness, then share the Gospel with others and observe your God work in it; aim preeminently at the salvation of souls, and when one is saved, the joy of spiritual child-bearing will overwhelm you, and that joy will serve to witness as well to the glory of God. Could the absence of evangelism in your daily practice be the root of your joylessness - Scripture, logic, and experience affirm me in exclaiming, "Yes!" When we share our joy with others, we are made joyful in their joy and in God's amazing grace. Therefore, speak up, watch God work, and observe the contagious joy of the person set ablaze with daily evangelical prowess and passion.

Panel Discussions

2008-03-25T11:29:00.006-04:00

Concerning the Resurrection...

From the 'On Faith' panel at the Washington Post. Panelists include Charles Colson, Al Mohler, Kathleen Flake, N.T. Wright, Willis Elliott, Cal Thomas, Deepak Chopra, and Michael Otterson, and from them, a myriad of perspectives, some biblical and right, others culturally adapted, spiritually compromising, and reflective of the new age spirituality.

Spurgeon on "The Soul Winner" and His "One Business"

2008-03-24T14:27:00.006-04:00

"It is a grand thing to see a man thoroughly possessed with one master-passion. Such a man is sure to be strong, and if the master-principle be excellent, he is sure to be excellent, too. The man of one object is a man indeed. Lives with many aims are like water trickling through innumerable streams, none of which are wide enough or deep enough to float the merest cockleshell of a boat; but a life with one object is like a mighty river flowing between its banks, bearing to the ocean a multitude of ships, and spreading fertility on either side. Give me a man not only with a great object in his soul, but thoroughly possessed by it, his powers all concentrated, and himself on fire with vehement zeal for his supreme object, and you have put before me one of the greatest sources of power which the world can produce. Give me a man engrossed with holy love as to his heart, and filled with some masterly celestial thought as to his brain, and such a man will be known wherever his lot may be cast, and I venture to prophesy that his name will be remembered long after the place of his sepulchre shall be forgotten."

-pg. 249 of "The Soul Winner"

"Now observe, brethren, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give in our account at the last great day, we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wide her jaws of fire, and swallows up the soul unsaved? Or what avail even to have moralized a man if still he is on the left hand of the Judge, and if still, 'Depart, ye cursed,' shall be his portion? Blood-red with the murder of men's souls will be the skirts of professing Christians, unless the drift, and end, and aim of all their work has been to 'save some.'"

-pg. 254 of "The Soul Winner"

The Goal of Winning Souls

2008-03-19T13:06:00.005-04:00

5:15 a.m. came quickly this morning; the internal clock is an awful thing sometimes; nevertheless, I was up for some early morning exercise. So, I trickled my way into the trailblazer and felt blindly for my ipod. I have been working my way through a series of sermons by John Piper on evangelism from the mid-1990's. This morning's sermon was from the text, "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish," from Luke 13:1-5.

And it was quite good and edifying, as he moved upon each word of the text, whereupon he hit upon the relevancy of the text - our passion for seeing souls saved from perishing wherever we are, whenever the opportunity arises and the earnestness with which we ought to contend for them.

To emphasize this he used a quote from C.S. Lewis to emphasize what many of us, myself included, often overlook about Lewis, in short, he had a passion for evangelism! The quote that Piper uses comes from Lewis' book The Weight of Glory and the focus of the quote is the confrontation of two eternal realities that the Christian must acknowledge preeminently - the view of the human soul through the lens of eternity, through which lens we see two conditions: one, the infinite horror of the immortal soul lost in hell, and the second, the infinite beauty and splendor of the immortal soul saved in glory; the first he points out we would only imagine the sight of in our worst nightmares, while the second, if we saw that glorious soul we would be much inclined to worship it. The consideration of the Christian is the immortality of the humans with which they interact on a moment by moment basis. Lewis argues rightly that the life of nations, and cultures are like that of a gnat in comparison to the immortality of the people surrounding us even now. And yet how much of ourselves do we poor into those gnat-like aspects of reality, all the while neglecting the immortal beings whose destination and eternal makeup depend solely on the very thing that now exists within us by faith in Christ?

When Lewis was criticized for simplifying the Trinity by the use of geometric figure, he retorted with great angst and passion stating that the books that he writes, he writes for the salvation of souls! No other end did he carry in mind or heart but to in every word bring souls to Jesus Christ. And he wondered, to what end did his critic criticize?

At 5:30 in the morning, this was a wonderful word to wake up to - better than any coffee I've had recently (my Magic Stars cereal has been lacking too). It awakened my soul to a reevaluation of my goal in all things - to see the soul saved. Human beings are immortal - we will all spend eternity somewhere, either heaven or hell. This consideration alone is sufficient food for spiritual nourishment.

When we study, do we study with the immortal souls of men in mind? When we prepare sermons, do we prepare them in such ways that the souls of men might be saved, or are we more considerate of our contemporary literary style? When we enter conversation do we give thought to the entrances of the immortal soul that we might take opportunity to speak of the Gospel, that Jesus might bust in upon them? When we blog, is salvation in mind? Are we saturated with the mortality of this postmodern culture (which is necessary but only in so far as it is studied for the salvation of immortal souls) or are we saturated with the immortality of every immediate person?

In all that we do we ought to aim at the salvation of men, for it is inseparably linked to the biblical injunction to do all things to the glory of God. Lewis understood this; but more importantly, he shot live ammunition towards this goal of winning souls; and so ought we imitate this passion. God's grace be upon us in this endeavor. In Jesus' name. Amen.

"Lord, Make Me Pure But Not Yet"

2008-03-14T13:52:00.006-04:00

This quote from Augustine's Confessions tends to be quite relevant to the state of the Christian Church today. We pray, "Lord, make me pure...but not yet." This is the honest cry of the redeemed soul pit against the wiles of the flesh. There exists a very real sense in which the Christian desires holiness, for the principle of new life is in the soul bringing the faculties into a glad submission to the Word and will of God. When one undergoes the spiritual operation of the new birth, they are given and called to live a new life - which is why many reject the notion.

But there exists in a very real sense the flesh and its correspondent desires too. We are conflicted at every point. We are like the apostle Paul when he wrote to the Romans, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate," 7:15. Who that belongs to Christ cannot associate with this battle?

It is a great desire that I have to promote the pursuit of the prize of Christ and eternal life in Him, to converse and teach and love in such a way that the Church's heavenly citizenship will become what it is, namely, more real and more immediate than our citizenship in this world. With the grasping of this truth, this world would be turned upside down for the glory of Christ. We would pray, "Lord, make me pure...and hedge me in by Your Spirit and Your Word," and then we might boldly guard ourselves against impurity...or sloth or worldliness or discontent or anxiety or any manner of sin. The true appropriation of the Spirit is that moment when we practice what we pray, do what we hear; we go beyond a mere profession and enter into obedience.

The problem is that we too often love the world, and neglect Christ; we take great pride in our earthly citizenship, and set aside as a light and far off thing that heavenly citizenship, and so it is easier, and a thing more appealing, to go with our flesh rather than with God's Spirit. But the Bible teaches us that our heavenly citizenship is the place of our heart, and that we ought to be growing up into it.

Read Paul's comparison of the two (Philippians 3:17-20), one who has his mind set on earthly things, the other that greatest citizenship and example:

"Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ..."

When a youth refuses to share the Gospel for fear of confrontation, although it is a common fear, the earthly mentality is yet revealed and doubled when the parent becomes a friend rather than the spiritual leader and instead of encouraging the child and teaching the child about joy and obedience, agrees with the child and places a smothering pillow over what could have become the flames of evangelical passion. The deception is evidenced everywhere: in the marketplace, in the home, at the dinner table, in the stadium, on a date, on the couch, and it infiltrates the sanctuary of God. We are lawyers and teachers who happen to be Christians instead of Christian lawyers and teachers. We advocate the sports and hobbies and clubs of our spouses and children, and this is good, but horrible when they are advocated to the negation of the worship of God on Wednesday nights or at any time. When was the last time you or I forsook the dinner table for prayer or meditation or evangelism? In the athletic arena we cheer and shout for and uplift our gladiators, but do we uplift the Son of Man with such passion? Will you argue for your favorite team and not for Christ? Student, will you perceive the passing fancy of lust a greater satisfaction than holiness, respect, and love for God and the necessary love of what is good and hatred of what is sin? And what of television? Our minds and souls are starved for the eternally Sovereign King and Almighty God but we sear the conscience with the most damnable shows that the world has to offer. And then we wake up on Sunday, late enough to powder our faces and comb our hair but not to plead with God for mercy and grace, and after the service wonder, "What is missing?" "Lord, make me pure...but not yet."

This will not do brothers and sisters - it will not do for me, nor you! The Gospel is at stake within the witness of our lives. I would rather you not profess Christ, than to profess His name and not practice it. We must take hold of what is already ours, given to us by grace - a preeminent citizenship in heaven. We are a "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light," (1 Peter 2:9). This is our truest identity and calling...and you may be a doctor as well! We ought to take everything in our path and convert it to Christ, to the Bible, to theology, to Gospel, to God's glory. If we stumble in one place, we may lose our witness forever(Matthew 5:13).

Have you ever considered why, having been plucked from the fire as it were, God kept us on earth for a season? To bear witness of God's Word through our joy in that Word; Jesus gave us the Word, and the Word (by the Spirit) sanctifies us and separates us in a sense from the world so that Christ could say of us, "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world," (John 17:16). And we are sent of Christ to share the Word of Christ. So long as we follow the enemy, enamored with the world, how is it that we can be what Christ says we are in Him?

Understand that when I say, "must", I do not intend to bring you under law again, for you are under grace as a believer, nor is it my aim to bring to you a legalistic system. No, rather, the must that I speak of is the must of grace, not of the law, and true grace is not without law; that is, we have a new desire, a new principle of grace in us, a new leader in the soul that compels us to love holiness and set aside the desires of the flesh. Grace is the motivation of true godliness. Remember, the Gospel is not a new set of commands for you to obey, but rather the news that none of your obedience merits a claim for you upon God or His glory, and that Christ has done what the law could not do. Therefore, the "must" that I write of, I write of with the intent of grace.

1. We must be wielded by the Holy Spirit; that is, we must follow His leadership, His Word, and in so doing, mortify and crucify the flesh with its desires. In our glad submission to Him, we are distinct from the world who is not possessed of Him. And to be possessed of Him is to be passionate for the souls of the world.
2. Quite simply, we must be drenched with Jesus Christ. Fellowship with Christ now is time spent in heaven on earth.
3. We must appropriate our heavenly citizenship. We have no reservations about appropriating our earthly citizenship in order to get what we desire. Our desires must change, or at least be raised to Christ and the glory of God. And if these things be our greatest desires, then we will appropriate that citizenship and its privileges for the attainment of those greater purposes.
4. Lastly, we must have a great earnestness about us in the pursuit of God's glory in all things. By our earnestness for heavenly things, we might win others to a like passion and the reality of our heavenly citizenship.

May God grant us the grace of awakening to the realities of His kingdom, that our praise would be that we have, indeed, prayed, "Lord, make us pure. Thank You for we have been pure!" In Christ's name. Amen.

Rend Thy Hearts and Not Thy Garments

2008-03-07T13:39:00.005-05:00

In the prophetical book of Joel, the grain and drink offerings that accompanied the sacrificial offering had been neglected and withheld from the LORD. Those offerings of wine and grain upon the sacrifice served to fragrance that aroma that was pleasing to God, which in the New Testament would be fulfilled in the reality of faith. "Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all," Philippians 2:17.

The importance of the grain and drink offerings is emphasized in Joel 1:8-9, "Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the LORD." And it seems a thing more deep in truth, that due to the sin of the Israelites, God not only commissioned a nation to come up against Israel, but by that nation destroyed the ground from which the grain sprung, and the vine from which the wine was drawn, and so God's people became a reproach and a byword among the nations. It was a Divine judgment against the people that the source of their offerings were taken away, because they were commonly apt to abuse the fruit for worship.

The mercy of God is seen in the midst of His great anger, which I am inclined to believe, Israel would not have so appreciated His mercy without the appropriation of and the continual truth of His wrath. But in the heart of His storm, He makes room for unmerited safety, and the decree is "repent or likewise perish." The harshness of its tone is tempered by the contemplation of the fruit of repentance, that within the command to repent is the safety and enjoyment of God's Sovereign benignity or purest love.

"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the LORD, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster," Joel 2:12-13.

"Rend your hearts and not your garments." It was a common thing in the Old Testament to find penitent saints ripping their garments as a sign of their turning. Confronted by God's law, or Truth, they would, if repentant, tear their garments, mourn, weep, and lay in the ashes (put on sackcloth). The tearing of the garments was the sign of an internal reality. The implication in Joel, is that this sign had become hypocritical, a type of lip service unto God which He abhorred. It is one thing if the thing done is the overflow of the internal condition of the soul; another if the thing done is the overflow of human pride and self-righteousness. As with much of the law, the Jews had externalized it as a matter of ritual rather than a matter of the inward parts wherein God desires truth.

Repentance is oft forgotten in the Church, as if it were something done once and never to be returned to again. The world needs to repent from sin and come to Christ, but the Church, who has come to Christ, must daily recognize their need for Christ and a clinging unto Him, or sanctification, of which a continual putting off (repentance) of the old and a putting on of the new (faith) is essential in the life of the Church. We say, "oh, I repented at a point in time?" But what of your life now? What sin do you oft return to from your former life when you did not know Christ? We say, "well, I have felt really bad about some of the things I've done!" But have you killed the thing at once so that it is crucified upon its untimely arrivals? Or perhaps, "I prayed for repentance!" And that is well and good, but having prayed for it, have you also sought the thing itself in pursuit of true godliness, or have you been irresponsible with thing you "so desired". Do we find ourselves falling into the same idolatries, bringing unclean vessels into the house of our God, saying "Yes, Lord" with our mouths, but "No" in our souls? Like the Israelites, have you gotten into the pattern of doing things externally to convince yourself that you are "ok" internally? And so doing, neglected the soul? If so, you are in a great danger!

Listen to the words of John the Baptist to those Jews who had adopted the externalities of religion to the neglect of the internal need for repentance: "When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire," Matthew 3:7-10.

Now what of this? Genuine repentance is the root of godly fruit. If there is no root, then whatever external fruit that is offered as proof of the root, does not come from the God-given root (2 Timothy 2:25) of repentance, but of the sinful root and delusion of self-righteousness. It is bad fruit and the end of that tree is to be cut down and thrown into the fire. But the primary fruit of authentic repentance is a knowledge of the truth - of personal and eternal guilt, of consequence, and of the right Way, Jesus Christ and all that accords with Him. Moreover, repentance is an inward reality of the soul, wrought by God, and not a claim of heritage (Abraham). The one who engages in initial repentance unto faith will continually engage in the practice of the repentance of the faith, and this daily repentance, when truly wrought, will transform the affections away from the thing repented of, while creating the realization of and passion for the object that one has turned unto, namely, God and His command of obedience, so that when the one comes again, it has been done away with not only because of a crucifying of the thing itself, but also because of the greater enjoyment in and love of its counterpart, which is God.

Oh, Church, "Rend your hearts and not your garments!"

What is Piper-ism?

2008-03-05T10:45:00.005-05:00

When I use the term "Piperism" I am not referring to his doctrine necessarily, which is of academic Calvinism, a self-asserted "7-pointer". I am not making reference to his Puritan-like exposition of Scripture. Though I am a great admirer of his academia, his exposition, and his careful, thought-provoking, insightful and passionate pleas in the area of religious journalism, I am not referring to these things specifically, though these in one sense are both the likely source and overflow of this main personality trait, which God has been gracious and pleased to make use of in my life and many others, namely, passion.

When I use the term "Piperism" I am referring to his God besotted passion that seems to fragrance every word that he utters, every letter than he writes. When he preaches, whether one has heard him live or through an ipod, his passion for God oozes out and gets all over you in such a way that you are transformed by it, and desire to have what God has done and given to him in such abundance. And at times, the cry of my soul is to be able to handle God's Word in any degree like he does, with freshness, with emboldening and empowering precision, but more than all, a genuine passion for Christ that comes from the overflow of personal Bible study and comes out to the people in such a way that the great chasm that so often exists between the pulpit and the pew is smashed into pieces bringing the people face to face with their God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Piper calls it "expository exultation". This is a good definition of preaching!

But what separates John Piper characteristically from others? Why has he been so foundational in the lives of so many other pastors, teachers, etc.? What about him serves reformationally and revivalistically in the lives of a younger generation of seminarians and pastors? Of course, I would, first, give glory to God, for Piper is what he is by the grace of God, and even his great labors are found in that gracious Almighty. And as Calvin states, it is a gracious thing that God would call His works in us "your (our) good works" (Matt. 5:16). But Mark Dever hits the mark when he declares Piper's distinguishing characteristics and labors in this way, "Theological precision meeting up with spiritual, life-consuming passion. A profound hope imparting a serious joy leading to satisfying sacrifice" (blog.9marks.org; Where'd all these Calvinists come from?).

For me, though I have never met the man, and heard him live just once, I would argue that what separates him from many great men is that he really believes God, he really believes the Gospel, and he seems to eat, drink, sleep, and breathe Christ and Him crucified. And I know, and he knows, that there is not a day that goes by that he doesn't need to cling to Christ for righteousness in a severely practical way, but he seems to do this more often than not, more often than most. And this is what I desire, to know God, to love God, to walk with God, to enjoy God like this man does; in a word or two, to have an authentic, God-besotted, Christ-exalting, Spirit-dependent passion for the glory and honor and praise of God in Christ.

Piper's passion grounded in Christ oozing out to the Church and to the world is what both the Church and the world need most in this age of spiritual apathy, and shadow-figured Christians who have no real root or fruit, nor do they treasure God in and through Jesus Christ. So, I adhere to Piperism in this sense of it, in the conscious pursuit of a "God-entranced vision of all things", and a Bible wrought passion for Christ communicated unto the world for His name's sake. This is the great need of the Church today! This is my great need today! To take all things and convert them into a God-centered perspective, a God-centered life. Let us praise God for such men, and plead with Him for more of them - diligent disciples, earnest with the Word, imploding and exhaling the great worth of our great God in our great Lord Jesus Christ. May God have mercy upon us, and grant us a like passion that consumes us by and for His glory.

God Glorified In Martyrdom: Lament For Ms. Mizzel

2008-03-04T11:29:00.006-05:00

We do not have to venture farther than the Cross of Christ to understand that the world rejects and hates in an angry and murderous fashion the Truth as it is in God, revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ by faith. And so, in time, was the fate of the prophets before Christ, though Christ was before them and in them and indicating His time through them. And, each apostle was also martyred with the exception of John, who were it not for the Divine intervention of God would have suffered the same blessed end. And each of these, our Lord and every lover of Christ and His Gospel from the beginning (Abel) have met persecution for His name's sake; and each for the proclamation of God's Word, and men have not been able to bear it. The response of the human heart to God's Word is murderous rage (See John 8:39-47, specifically the connection between vv. 40, 43).

I recently posted for prayer on behalf of one Ms. Mizzel, a missionary to Afghanistan. She and her driver were both kidnapped by Afghani rebels and the latest report on their condition from her organization is that they have been murdered - martyred for the sake of Christ. They still have not found them, nor have they heard from their kidnappers; thus, I would hold out the assurance that God knows what they do not in either case; but, the report is of martyrdom, and so Ms. Mizzel has followed in the blessed foot steps of the prophets and the apostles and those who have perished under the title of Christian martyr, losing her life for the sake of Christ and thus finding her life in Christ.

While this is lamentable, such lamentation grows up into the great missionary passion for Christ and His Gospel, such burden transforms Gospel anxiety into Gospel boldness. As it is certain that her imprisonment was for Christ, and served to advance the Gospel, so it is certain that the seed of her life for Christ has not yet reached its full maturity in progression. The prayer is that God will now give exceeding growth in the souls of those both near and far from this martyrdom in the area of love and passion and care for the souls that she spent her life reaching. That we would been given a double portion of her sacrificial heart, and affection for Jesus Christ.

Jim Elliot once pondered, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Our Lord said it thus, "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" (Luke 9:23-25) Ms. Mizzel lived for eternal life, that greatest gain, and in so doing, reckoned herself not her own but Christ's. And for what? Because God is the greatest treasure, and thus the supreme desire is to share Him with the nations within the preaching of Christ and Him crucified! And in so far as we cling and pursue and love Him, so what may cost us our temporal life becomes a blip and less than nothing.

Let us lament, but let us rejoice in hope of the glory of God and the knowledge of it being spread unto all the nations, and by no greater and blessed means than the martyrdom of His adopted children who, I pray, live in earnest pursuit of the knowledge of Christ and the heralding of His Gospel. God be glorified in the seeds of Your saints! Amen.

Prayer for Ms. Mizzel: Missionary to Afghanistan

2008-02-27T06:54:00.008-05:00

I have not met this woman. I have only heard report of her through another lady within my church and that only once, but such reports are cases of earnest prayer to our Father in heaven and belief in His Word, that God will use such circumstances to display the honor of His name and advance the Gospel of Christ.

Cyd Mizzel is a Christian missionary to Afghanistan who has been kidnapped by Afghani rebels, a woman in her early forties, never married, singularly captured, whether for being a woman or a Christian or both, no one really knows, and no one has heard any report of her situation since her imprisonment. Her church, our church, and many others have continually lifted up our prayers for her in our services over these past few weeks, and my plea here is for a continued pursuit in prayer to our God for her safety, boldness, witness, and the softening of rebel hearts to Christ. That we ought to knock on the door of God's throne room constantly for her and for them is both obvious and eternally pertinent, both privately and corporately. My hope is that God will incline our hearts to a great and timely supplication.

And she is one of many thousands, yet unknown altogether, who are suffering for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. These have gone out with the command and offer of the Gospel to bring the nations to the obedience of faith, and we need, I need, to uplift them in prayer. Upon their return, I think that many would deem our prayers the most necessary and appreciated means of support and grace. My charge to us all is that we might shrink the disassociation that we have with many of our Christian missionaries. If our earthly sibling took up a great philanthropic cause in a foreign country and found occasion of need while amongst the nations, gasping as it were for life, both for their own and that of the individuals under their charge, would we not be moved to earnest and daily works of supplication for them and of provision to accomplish the task? How much more those whom by faith in Christ we stand united as brothers and sisters in Christ, when they enter the occasion of suffering for Christ which is the blessed grace and promise of Scripture (Phil. 1:28-30), ought we to pray for them and supply their missionary need (Phil. 2:25-30)?

Until further report upon the condition of Ms. Mizzel, and for our encouragement in suffering for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, I have found great substance from God's Word in the imprisonment epistle of the apostle Paul to heap my hope and trust upon. "Gospel imprisonment" God blesses as a seed of greatest type, bringing to tremendous fruition:

"I (Paul) want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear," Phil. 1:12-14.

God blesses Gospel imprisonment; imprisonment for the sake of Jesus Christ, which imprisonment had and does occur because of the proclamation of that name amongst the nations. Imprisonment "happened" to Paul because of his missionary endeavor with the Gospel of Christ. He made the primary thing the primary thing; that is, though I am sure he engaged in missionary activity, he made preaching the Gospel and defending the Gospel his utmost priority, and we ought to imitate our Lord and the apostle on this point. The solid hope that overwhelms the soul is what God does and what God imparts from the affliction of His Christ-enlisted soldiers:

1. Gospel imprisonment "advances the Gospel". When the missionary is taken captive by Christ, they are soon taken captive for Christ, and their "captivity" serves to "free" the Gospel, to advance it. God seems to use captivity both for the development of the captive, for the penetration of those normally hidden from Gospel conversation (the "imperial guards"), and for a witness to "all the rest".
2. Gospel imprisonment is "for Christ". When Christ was taken captive by the hands of men, He was thereby crucified, and God made use of the imprisonment and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ to procure the salvation of those very same men; and so after the pattern of our Lord, Paul, and we who follow them, God uses as vessels of mercy and of Gospel propagation by the very fact of our imprisonment for that cause.
3. The maintenance of Gospel witness in the midst of Gospel inprisonment God uses mightily to bring many under Gospel conviction so that all know that the captivity is "for Christ".
4. Gospel imprisonment advances the Gospel by emboldening the Church; by the faith of one, so the many are made bold; by the passion of the one, so the many are made passionate; by the chains of one, so the many have their tongues made free for Christ and Him crucified. The "brothers" became "confident in the Lord by" Paul's "imprisonment".
5. Gospel imprisonment removes human apprehensiveness for the Gospel. The brothers were more bold to "speak the word without fear". God-begotten boldness in one breeds God-begotten boldness in others. When one loves God more than he fears men and their attacks, others are infused with a like love that overcomes the obstacles to evangelism.
6. The knowledge that God is the Author of such things, that the imprisonment was "for Christ", encourages our faith and trust in a faithful God who works in accordance with the kind intention of His will; and this is why it is written that it is a thing "granted" or "graced" to us "that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake," Phil. 1:29.
7. And so, God authorizes and makes use of Gospel imprisonment to advance the Gospel by way of the captive's witness for Christ, boldness for Christ, love for Christ, and the imputation of such godly attributes to the Church, who so emboldened and powerfully encouraged, move forward with the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our God is an awesome God, and what He does, and how He attends to the means of His ends, are wonderful in our eyes, and they shall remain wonderful still when it is you or I that become those means of grace in the face of suffering. The Christian does not seek out suffering for the sake of suffering, but they seek the face of Christ, and so quite naturally, follows chains of some sort, whether on the wrists, or over the tongue. The challenge is to understand the truth of God's Word through Paul "that my imprisonment is for Christ", that it serves to "advance the Gospel", and the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world...I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world," John 16:33, 17:14-16.

Let us pray for Ms. Mizzel with great expectation that God will deliver her by our prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil:1:19), while advancing the Gospel by her imprisonment, and granting each of us a measure of her love for Christ that we may be more passionate and able to endeavor forward, boldly speaking "the word without fear". Amen.

The Acid of the Word?

2008-02-24T16:09:00.007-05:00

"I see where you are coming from now...But I must go because I cannot endure what you are saying to me...what you are saying to me feels like acid being poured over my flesh." This was the response that I recently received from a philosopher when I addressed her on her playing field with six verses of Jesus Christ. This is a somewhat graphic response to the internal medicine of God's Word, albeit typical from a sinner initially reached with Gospel conversation. What does one do when confronted by a secular philosopher (or any educated sinner), well-educated and well-traveled? What if this philosopher engages you in a conversation about truth and knowledge? Will you be able to address the person on their level, where they are, and raise them up to where Christ is? And how are you to do this? Know God's Word! Speak God's Word! Live God's Word! Share God's Word:

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.' Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater (philosopher) of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through (human) wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe," 1 Corinthians 1:18-21. Again, I say, know God's Word!

Recently, I was confronted by an elderly woman about knowledge, seeking to impart her wisdom to me. Her theory was one of proper growth in knowledge. That human knowledge is the highest sort of knowledge; that if one is to truly make the most of their short time on earth, and to advance in this world, one must take advantage of every sort of human knowledge already available to them apart from the knowledge that they have attained for themselves by their own study. If someone else has already attained the knowledge, then it is not necessary for me to do the leg work on it; all that I must do is listen and learn and grow. And while there is some validity to listening and learning from others, yet her philosophy was centered on humanism; she did not believe in a knowledge that transcends the natural level, or the human intuition. All that we need to know or can know is attainable for us via study or other beings, and the world around us.

So I responded. If knowledge is to be had, then ought we not to pursue that greatest sort of knowledge, that highest knowledge, which is of God the Father in heaven through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this knowledge does in fact transcend the natural man's ability to discern. If she had here admitted as much to be true, she would have necessarily had to forsake the foundation of her worldview and lifestyle and philosophical presuppositions. If God is the Sovereign of the universe, the Creator, the Almighty and Free Potter, the Alpha and Omega, and yet, the Author and Perfecter of faith, a Savior, a Lord that would willingly sacrifice Himself on a Roman cross for sinners, rebel enemies of this Almighty King; if God is Who is says He is, then to know Him is the highest and greatest sort of knowledge. Both reason and Scripture attest to this. For from the Fall, no one has known Him lest He reveal Himself to us through His eternal Son, Jesus Christ.

I quoted John 17:3 to this person. Here Jesus defines eternal life: "This is eternal life, that they know You the One True God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ." This "know"ledge of the One True God through faith in Jesus Christ is a transcendent sort of knowledge; it goes beyond the earthly realm and penetrates into the heights of eternal glory; no man has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven (John 3:13), and so God had to reveal these sort of truths because of the inability and exclusivity of man from heaven and, hence, the knowledge of spiritual things relating to the joyful reign of God in the soul and in glory and above all earthly powers.

Stunned to silence, I progressed with her to John 3:3, 5-8, and spoke to her the words of Christ to Nicodemus, who was likewise well-educated and experienced in his field, and yet, Christ breaks in upon his natural worldview and undoes any thought that Nicodemus had it all figured out. "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God...unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." And just as Nicodemus was undone by these words, so the soul that God appointed to me for Gospel conversation was undone.

In an instance, her calm, cool, philosophical conjectures were turned to sarcasm, and inward rage, an inferno of pride. This educated, well-traveled philosopher was overwhelmed at the hearing of six verses of Holy Writ, Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Her intellect succumbed to her emotion, for her the lostness of her soul had been engaged by the Savior of the universe. Her philosophy bowed the knee to her religious ancestry, which I am sure was a last resort. What is more, she claimed Judaism! She was Jewish! Here I am by the appointment of God in a conversation with a philosopher who, herself, initiated our time together, and we are speaking about knowledge, and I have just quoted to her the words of Jesus, a Jew, to the Pharisee, Nicodemus, a Jew, about his need for a spiritual new birth without which he and all of his discernment are but "flesh", all of his natural knowledge falls short of that knowledge which saves and thereby transcends human understanding because the saving knowledge stands on the right side of faith, whereby the disciple of Christ is equipped with the lens of faith, the mind of Christ, the ministry of the Holy Spirit that we may initmately know God and worship Him.

To these things, she replied, "I see where you are coming from now...But I must go because I cannot endure what you are saying to me...what you are saying to me feels like acid being poured over my flesh." Six verses of Jesus Christ she could not endure and now I remember why - "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart"; and it is a terrible imagery that she gave, though she considered not the spiritual truth of it - "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned"! Acid on the flesh! What she meant in a physical fashion holds true in the spiritual realm; for though she meant it as illustration, yet her description was quite true of what she was inwardly experiencing - the Word of Christ was reverberating in her soul, like a hammer smashing through her hardness of heart, breaking down philosophical presuppositions, acting as a restraining agent, and I pray the womb of regeneration. She was confronted with the laver of the Word of God, and she called it acid. But, as acid will certainly eat away at the flesh, so the Word of God, in a sense, does the same, as it eats away, restrains, and cleanses that spiritual carnality that the Bible deems "the flesh".

I hope to see her quite often over the next several months. I find myself both greatly burdened for her because of her blindness, and I am thereby exceedingly earnest to continue to pursue her for the sake of the name of Christ; and though I stand burdened and hungry to share with her, I also stand in amazement at the power of God's Word, it's piercing, penetrating, lively, active, dividing, restraining, and saving power and the promise of God that it will not return to Him void when He has sent it out. Moreover, my great hope is that those six verses of Christ might continue to rain down upon the soils of her heart, softening her to the seed of the Gospel in due time, and that as Nicodemus was with Christ in the end, so in the end Christ will be in her and she in Him to the glory of our God. It is sufficient to conclude with this for now, that God's Word is awesome and powerful both to convict and to save; that the therefore, let we who love God through Christ attend to this Word with a great urgency in proportion to the urgent condition of the lost in this world, for the Word of the cross is the power of God to those who are being saved. Amen.

The Sovereignty of God: What About Evangelism?

2008-02-14T08:20:00.009-05:00

If God is Sovereign over His salvation, then what of human responsibility? What of human accountability? What of evangelism and prayer and holiness and the rest of the means of conversion? In essence, what about me? Where do I fit in to this redemptive plan?

In these questions and the like stands a prominent problem. I do not here intend to type with an expansive keyboard about the aforementioned thoughts, but only to address this problem quite briefly that I see in the questions such as these that I have encountered from the lips of genuine, Jesus-loving Christians. Allow me, first, to address the problem, then the Scriptural support in contrast with the problem.

The problem is cultural individualism. At some point we grow out of a Christ-centeredness and become immersed in a self-centered culture, and as it pervades and permeates and flavors the thinking and affections of the body of Christ, so we digress back into an Ephesian state of affairs. We have continued in Christian activity but abandoned the right context for them, namely, our preeminent love for Christ. Many have come to view evangelism and prayer as things that we do because God is rendered disabled if we do not so engage, rather than the activities of a heart set ablaze by and for Christ.

The thought is that we are something, we are special, we are really awesome and on the cutting edge, and indeed, many churches today in this contemporary scene would boast in as much. But in so far as we adhere to this, we move away from the glory and beauty and honor due Christ. The apostle Paul knew of his inadequacy, his insufficiency for Christian ministry, and he made his boast Christ and Him crucified. And it is not that we should focus so much on our own inadequacy or insufficiency for these things as much as this is a cry for us to return to a vivid love of the adequacy and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ for these things. For it is in a radical love and passionate dependency upon Christ's sufficiency to save rather than our own that will advance the Gospel most truly and powerfully.

Must we evangelize? Must we pray? Must we live holy lives? Must we venture into distant islands? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! But if God were not the Lord of the harvest, all of our laboring would amount to something, just not sound, biblical born again Christians. If the Lord does not build the house, the laborers labor in vain (Ps 127:1). Must we labor? Absolutely! But our labor is met with worth and fruit because it is built by and upon God. I would emphatically state that God does need you and me to evangelize and pray, etc.; but, more than this, God wants us to do these things, and be assured of this, that unless we do these things the Gospel will not be advanced. But this is not to assume a human-centered advancement as if God is handicapped without you. God has made a donkey speak with greater wisdom than a man, angels attest of His glory, and if you do not delight in these means of conversion, then God will give mouths of praise to rocks, and they will cry out to sinners. God does not need you; but He enlists you for Himself, not to evangelize from a dutiful, human-centered soul, but from a soul that delights in Christ, delights in God, delights in what has been accomplished for you, and delights to share with others this Gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus.

It is necessity, rightly considered, that we must adhere to, and this necessity belongs to active decree, not human exaltation. That is, if one begins to think themselves a necessity in the scheme of Gospel propagation because their complacency would thwart the plan and purpose of God, or that the omnipotent God would somehow become paralyzed by our sloth from saving sinners, then our understanding of our role is unbiblical. However, if when we say that God needs us to bear testimony of Christ unto the lost, and by that need, we mean that God in His infinite wisdom has actively ordained that His redeemed would proclaim the excellencies of our Redeemer, and that He has ordained that our sharing of the Gospel and our going to the nations and our praying for the lost is the sole and chosen means of propagating His grace and that His ordained end of saving sinners will not be accomplished without the means of conversion that He has decreed, then, indeed, God needs us to be the means of conversion. But, again, our necessity in the kingdom of God is an ordained necessity. In infinite wisdom, God chose to save sinners like you and me, and then to send us to those still in their sins. He could have ordained another way, but He did not! God's need is not due to a shortcoming of His ability as if He could not save apart from men; rather, the need is one that God chose as the means to the end of salvation.

One would do well to consider our Gospel endeavor as a thing necessary because it is what God has ordained as the means to His ends, but with that felt-necessity we ought to be humbled, not puffed up with pride; the need that we have expressed is better stated to be the desire of God and the overflow of the soul satisfied in Jesus Christ to the point where we are a continual aroma of Jesus to all men. The need is synonomous with an active desire on God's part, a "want" if you will may be more accurate, and so we ought to "want" to go to the nations armed with the Gospel.

I urge you to reconsider your motives in these things. As God has appointed ends, God has appointed means to those ends, and it is certain that if you do not participate in these things that God will enlist another who will delightfully do them, and you might consider again the state of your soul, as the father of modern missions, William Carey (a Calvinist), would write in his Enquiry, "conscientious activity therein (evangelism, etc) would form one of the strongest proofs that we are the subjects of grace." In other words, Gospel activity is one of the greatest evidences of your personal conversion. Spurgeon would add, "if you have no great desire to see the lost saved, then you yourself are not saved." Carey had two missionary motives that I believe we must keep in mind: "love for and obedience to the God who had redeemed him, and the state of the world without Christ. It is because of this twofold consideration that the people of God are obliged 'to use every lawful method to spread the knowledge of his name'" (Carey and the Missionary Vision, Webber, pg. 21).

In Romans 10:13-17, we are blessed with a wonderful text of God's missionary strategy:
"For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!' But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?' So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."

Hearing the Gospel is the means of faith. And God has sent preachers to proclaim and live this Gospel before all men unto the end of conversion. These are called the 'means of grace' without which no one would be "believe" and "call on the name of the Lord". We must go with the Gospel. This is our loving obedience for God and His grace, and our in depth awareness of the state of the sinner, made practical. We must go with the Gospel of grace. But be assured of this, though we go, if God does not there meet our endeavor by appointment and grace, our audience will reject the message because their own natural desire is to do just that. There were many that the disciples met on the road, stopping from door to door, and yet were greeted with rejection and scorn. Our encouragement in these things is that not all will reject; some will believe, and when they do give glory to God for their faith.

We are vessels of mercy, Beloved, garbage cans with the greatest Treasure within for the purpose of delighting in God, losing our lives by comparison to that delight, and moving actively with the Gospel. But we are vessels, garbage cans in the Greek (2 Cor. 4:7). We are not the mercy within; we are not the Treasure that saves; this is the Lord Jesus Christ, to "show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

There is a greater motivation inherent in God's sovereign rule and grace than in self-centered, human-empowering, demigod forming, individual exalting evangelistic methods. What becomes of Christ if one goes in this direction? Why need Him if we can do it? What of His power if He necessarily needs us? He is lost in the noise of human logic, philosophy, and pride. I would contend that God is sovereign in salvation, that He overcomes in power the rebellious faculties of the human soul, and that the whole of salvation belongs to God; and that we as the redeemed bride of Christ have been plucked out of the harvest by the Lord of the harvest to be commissioned by Him to be placed back in it for His glory and the means of grace unto the conversion of others still in the soils of the world. And this is a delight for us! God saves! God saves! God saves! And He does it through the Lord Jesus Christ alone! Because of this let us go more boldly with the Gospel of grace!

"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord," 1 Corinthians 1:31. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Essence of Unbelief

2008-02-10T16:55:00.006-05:00

Unbelief is not a popular subject, just a necessary one. It must be taught, for it is found frequently amongst the biblical witness. Moreover, it precedes the conversation of belief or faith. Jesus warns Nicodemus of this eternal pitfall which the masses are even now wholly ignorant of. He reproves, explains, and warns the religiously religious man against this folly. He speaks to the essence of unbelief, the consequential hardening of simple unbelief, the reasons and wages of it, and the provision of God that overcomes this eternally condemning sin.

Deriving occasion from Nicodemus' inquiry in John 3:2 and 4, our Lord answers him, not on the basis of his inquiry but on the condition of his soul, which despite his external displays of religion, was yet dead in sin and trespasses, incapable of desiring God. He Divinely teaches of the new birth, the inability of man to effect this birth, the carnality of man, the necessity of the work of the Spirit of God, and the sovereignty and mystery of the Holy Spirit in the operation of this creative act (v. 3, 5-8). Within this discourse, Christ implies spiritual realities that would have been obvious to Nicodemus provided he was alive in Christ, but since he was not yet, his response is marveling unbelief - "How can these things be?" (John 3:9)

This phrase is quite commonplace today when sharing the truth of human inability and true Spirit-empowered regeneration. And yet, these things, and those commands testified of by Christ, "earthly things" (v. 12), that, being Divine in origin, take place on earth while we live and must be so, lest we otherwise perish, are yet simple (earthly) things spoken of by Christ in a simple (earthly) style so that they might be understood. But Nicodemus cannot believe "these things" (v. 8). Today, the lost person may respond with different sounding words, but the meaning remains the same - "How can these things be?" And this is usually followed with a declarative statement of unbelief and an emphatic assertion of what is more suitable to their liking - a salvific perspective that many in hell now would cry out against in warning.

Nicodemus was a preacher, "the (definitive) teacher of Israel", a "ruler of the Jews", educated, experienced, and according to tradition would have had Genesis 1:1-Deuteronomy 34:12 memorized. To this man, God replies, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?" (John 3:10) And to what do we attribute this inability to understand spiritual things? "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony." (John 3:11) Faith precedes understanding (Hebrews 11:3). He does not understand, because he does not receive, but rather rejects the testimony of Christ. This is the essence of unbelief: rejection of the Word of Christ, or the Testimony of God, or the Gospel. Nicodemus would stand before the people of Israel and proclaim the Word of God (OT) to them, and yet he knew not what he proclaimed. The "we" of verse 11 is particularly strong. It indicates a reprsentative flavor - Christ and the writers of the Old Testament, which actually means Christ alone, for it is written that the Spirit of Christ was in them (the prophets) (1 Peter 1:11). When the prophets were sent of God, He sent them saying, "Thus says the Lord...". Nicodemus, a preacher, rejected the very testimony of God. And not to belabor the point, but I find it necessary to mention that God does not waste words as we often do. When He speaks, He speaks truly, perfectly, in harmony with His glorious character, and thus, to reject the testimony of Christ, what He has Divinely seen and Divinely knows is to reject the very person of God, in particular, the Son of God, the Savior of sinners. This is made plain in John the Baptists testimony a little bit later in John 3:31-36, particularly v. 33 where he makes the following link between the testimony of Christ and the seal of the believing man, "Whoever receives (believes, contrary to the immediate response of Nicodemus) His testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true." Again, the essence of unbelief is the rejection of Christ's testimony, for what one here rejects is what Christ has seen, knows, and made plain to us about our nature, God the Father, the will of the Father, the work of the Spirit, and redemptive truth, etc. To reject these is to reject the very truth that Christ offers to you to save you from sin and falsehoods.

I'll end with a few thoughts: first, John 3:36b-c identifies the consequence of unbelief - "whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." That is, Christ commands faith in His testimony (Him). To disobey is equivalent to rejecting His Word as is certain when comparing 3:36b-c with its parallel in 3:36a, e.g., "whoever believes (36a)...whoever does not obey (3:36b-c)" in the context of Christ's testimony. Secondly, simple unbelief gives rise to a greater hardening towards "heavenly things" - "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (3:12) That is, if you do not believe my testimony about the command of faith, and the earthly illustration between the wind and the Spirit, then how will you understand "heavenly things", i.e., the Godhead together in the throne room with an infinite number of redemptive possibilities laid before them, and out of all of them, they elect one, and only one, perfect redemptive plan and purpose and it will most powerfully and lucidly display and demonstrate the grace, love, mercy, and wrath of God, etc. and it is, for time's sake, John 3:14-16 - a crucified Messiah! Simple unbelief prevents the sinner from nearing redemptive truth. Lastly, what man cannot ascend to get for themselves, God descends in the form of sinful flesh under the law to bring to man, so that by the appointment of God Christ might make known to them these precious truths of redemption (John 3:13).

I have had inumerable conversations recently where in the midst of them my counterpart casts aside the simple things of the Word of Christ. They hear of sin, but they do not believe in sin or that they are, in fact, a sinner. They hear of the cross, but they dismiss it as either folly or a novelty of thought. They turn from truth to postmodern ideologies of relativity, interpretation, slippery absolutes, and an impersonal conversational style. For the truth compresses the sinner, engaging the individual soul, and this is unpleasant to the flesh of a spiritually dead person. Like Pilate, they say "what is truth?", when the Truth stands before them; like Nicodemus, they respond in unbelief, "how can these things be?", when it is God who has told of these things. And more grievous are we today against the witness of the Bible, the Word Who is God. My commendation then is this, do not harden your heart any longer, but rest in Christ. Believe His Word and you will believe in the Word, Jesus Christ. And lest I leave you hopeless, allow me to end here: Once Christ has declared the personal problem of unbelief to the man, Nicodemus, telling him that he cannot believe "heavenly things" and that no one has ever ascended into heaven so as to bring down God's revelation of redemptive truth for himself that he might save himself, the Lord continues, "except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven," John 3:13. "Except! Except! Except!" This is truly beautiful. Man of himself was not in heaven when redemption was planned, nor can he ascend there to get it for himself and bring it down to do it by himself...but, Christ was there, is there, and from there descended to reveal the truth to sinners, the Son of Man - a Messianic title referring to His human likeness and His cross work, taking upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh, condemning sin in the flesh on the cross, that we might live through faith in Him - does this; God brings redemptive truth to sinners and so it would follow two verses later:

"For God so loved the world (how so?) that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life," John 3:16. Amen, and amen.

Christ-Centeredness at the Coffee Shop

2008-02-06T15:46:00.003-05:00

I sit and sip and God seems to appoint. Over the past weeks, God has not failed to bring someone to my table. I doubt that they come because of the intensity of my natural draw. Perhaps it is because they see the many books scattered about me, an organized chaos of sorts. Perhaps they come to simply enjoy a nice chai latte, and having nothing else to do at the moment, they engage me either directly or indirectly through another conversation. Or, most likely, God appoints a time, a place, a person, and having already provided the beautiful means of salvation through a crucified Christ, so He provides the boldness to witness of it. I do not mean all of this to be juxtaposed against "the Great Commission Christian (crucifying) any hesitation to proclaim the Gospel to any sinner in any place at any time, (Russ Moore)" or the necessity of confrontational evangelism, but rather the grace of God in also providentially granting opportunities to witness on a daily basis.

All of this considered, God has not failed to provide a soul to engage. Some have been unbelievers looking to enter into religious discussions. Some have been brothers and sisters in Christ who are looking for comfort everywhere and in everything and in everyway other than by nearness to Christ. Still others have been young men and women divided over doctrines and truth and reality, contemporary and traditional stigmas, and the various ways of "doing church". And others are heart broken mothers desiring more for their disgruntled teens and not knowing exactly what to do or where to find answers. The coffee shop is a true microcosm of the world, a great bundle of independencies and self-centeredness and complacencies towards the things of God.

So what do we evangelicals offer to these in the coffee shop, or anywhere else in the world? Our own Laodicean state? Our vested self-righteousness? An impure Gospel that is no Gospel? A vision of a God that is co-equal with His creation, or, worse still, trumped by the power of the "almighty" decisiveness of men? Prosperity? Large crowds? Cool atmospheres? Entertaining light shows and rock concerts? A personal witness so corrupted by our carelessness that it has become like the salt that is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under by the feet of those still unsaved?

People are not idiots within their personal arenas, in general. Most are strong upon their convictions and what they believe to be true. They will fight for what they hold most closely to their hearts. So, again, what do we offer to the 73 year old retiree from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who holds to orthodox Roman Catholicism; to the mother frantic over the state of her lost 15 year old; to your own father whose religiosity condemns him before God and hardens him in unbelief; to the artsy 18 year old atheist self-worshipper; to the college group confessedly confused over right, wrong, truth, error, etc.; to the brother or sister in Christ who is soul-deep in biblical error, being led by wolves in sheeps clothing?

I commend quite passionately, Jesus Christ, the Lord. Offer an air-tight presentation of the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ, the awesome glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the holiness demanded within the words of Jesus Christ, the righteousness offered in the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, a worldview that exalts the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, a personal radical passion for Your Savior, Jesus Christ, a Christosoteric position on salvation, the absolute reality that Jesus Christ stands this day to comfort, to save, to sanctify, and all of this to the glory of God and the accomplishment of the most perfect plan of redemption devised within the very throne room of the Almighty, our God. By your closeness to the Word of God and the fragrance of Christ that permeates your attitude and words and love towards them, make them so full of Jesus that they are hungry for nothing else and sick of themselves. Herein, Christ will be truly sweet, and the Gospel the power of God to save.

And a bit of testimony: As God has provided the time, the people, and the Word of Christ, so God has been pleased to flavor each that I have had the privilege of speaking with. So, wherever you are, whoever God gives to you, make Jesus Christ and Him crucified the sole intent of your conversation. Center all upon Him, His work, His satisfaction. Do not stray from the Word of God. For in proportion to your straying from it, so you will stray from Christ, for they are one and the same, and so will the soul given to your charge in that moment miss out on a conversation - not with you, but with Christ in you. A man recently told me of the sure torment that he would face should he now perish, and asked me for comfort from it, that he wanted what I had; I told him, "What I have is Jesus Christ because Christ gave Himself to me and for me. I cannot comfort you...but Jesus Christ can! Believe in Jesus Christ! Turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!" Sinners need not a teacher to indoctrinate them on the caveats of theology, nor do they need Christians to engage them with anything less (enculturated Christian practices designed to woo the sinner) than the biblical Christ which seems to be the "in" thing right now, for the former sounds to them like "blah, blah, blah", and the latter is more dangerous in that it fails to confront them with the greatest problem in the universe, i.e., a sinner before a wrathful and holy God, and the need for immediate salvation (it rather seems to comfort the sinner in their practices because the Christian is willing to engage with them in the like practices); sinners need a Savior, and as the carriers of this Treasure, we must centralize Jesus Christ exclusively for He is the greatest solution in the universe unto the glory of God!