Our Greatest Fear

Al Mohler, writing a guest column titled "Evangelicals and the Gay Moral Revolution" in the Wall Street Journal:

In this most awkward cultural predicament, evangelicals must be excruciatingly clear that we do not speak about the sinfulness of homosexuality as if we have no sin. As a matter of fact, it is precisely because we have come to know ourselves as sinners and of our need for a savior that we have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Our greatest fear is not that homosexuality will be normalized and accepted, but that homosexuals will not come to know of their own need for Christ and the forgiveness of their sins.

Truly Struggling

Andree Seu:

I have developed a distaste for the word “struggling”—as in “I am struggling with anger” (or lust, or homosexuality, or a bad temper, etc.).

It is a perfectly good word, and I know there are some people who are really “struggling.” But many other people are spoiling the word for everybody. They are using “struggling” to mean something more like “repeatedly giving in”—which is almost the opposite of “struggling,” seems to me.

I wonder what Jesus would say (will say) when we all come to give an account:

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)

When that day comes, Christ will ask each of his children if we “fought the good fight” and “kept the faith” and were workman with no need to be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15). The Word says:

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4).

The point is that you should.

So today on my prayer walk I had to repent of some dilly-dallying in a particular sin. I had to make up my mind to put to death the wavering (1 Kings 18:21) and to resolve, by God’s grace, to obey what I know his Word says.

Emphasize the Joy of Grace

Consider how this connects to our study of Paul's letter to the Galatians.

Randy Newman:

We’re not always great at evangelism. Sometimes we present the gospel in a way that elicits offense or heated disagreement. Other times we stumble over our words and facts so much that we receive piteous raised eyebrows that seem to say “Oh, you poor ignoramus, how could you believe this hogwash?” Another shortcoming, perhaps more tragic than the others, is the taming of the glorious message of the gospel to the point that it receives a polite nod that indicates nothing more than “that makes sense.” We need to find ways preach the good news in ways that inspire amazement.

This begins with an emphasis on just how bad we are. Grasping the depth of human depravity is the only way that people will truly appreciate the gospel message. We must realize how audacious it is for creatures to rebel against their generous creator, and how wicked we are next to his purity. It is important that as we are relaying this information to people, we use the pronouns “we” and “us” rather than “you” and “I,” which can carry an air of self-righteousness.

In light of utter human depravity, we need to emphasize the joy of grace, not simply recite the right information. People need to recognize the goodness of the gospel and what fantastic news it is. Witnessing shouldn’t be an issue of summoning the courage to blurt out some facts. Instead, soak in grace. Remind yourself that your standing before God was provided by the finished work of the cross. You didn’t earn anything. Be comfortable and secure in the joy of your justification. That is what your friends and relatives need to see in you and hear in your words.

In Christ, We Find Ourselves

Galatians 3:28-29

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

John Stott:

It is fashionable nowadays to believe (or to say you believe) that life has no meaning, no purpose. There are many who admit that they have nothing to live for. They do not feel that they belong anywhere, or, if they belong, it is to the group known as ‘the unattached’. They class themselves as ‘outsiders’, ‘misfits’. They are without anchor, security or home. In biblical language, they are ‘lost’.

To such people comes the promise that in Christ we find ourselves. The unattached become attached. They find their place in eternity (related first and foremost to God as His sons and daughters), in society (related to each other as brothers and sisters in the same family) and in history (related also to the succession of God’s people down the ages). This is a three-dimensional attachment which we gain when we are in Christ—in height, breadth and length. It is an attachment in ‘height’ through reconciliation to the God who, although radical theologians repudiate the concept and we must be careful how we interpret it, is a God ‘above’ us, transcendent over the universe He has made. Next, it is an attachment in ‘breadth’, since in Christ we are united to all other believers throughout the world. Thirdly, it is an attachment in ‘length’, as we join the long, long line of believers throughout the whole course of time.

So conversion, although supernatural in its origin, is natural in its effects. It does not disrupt nature, but fulfils it, for it puts me where I belong. It relates me to God, to man and to history. It enables me to answer the most basic of all human questions, ‘Who am I?’ and to say, ‘In Christ I am a son of God. In Christ I am united to all the redeemed people of God, past, present and future. In Christ I discover my identity. In Christ I find my feet. In Christ I come home.’

Music: More than CCM

Lawrence Mumford:

If 21st-century American society allowed pop music to completely replace all other styles, we might reasonably conclude that churches would do likewise. After all, if the congregation hears nothing but this music all week long, why should the church provide anything different on weekends—other than, of course, meaningful Christian lyrics?

But the simple truth is that our culture has not eliminated all other styles. The most obvious competitor is film music, which is a compendium of both classical and popular elements displayed on a large canvas. Hans Zimmer and John Williams are names familiar to every churchgoer, and neither is a pop songwriter. While many film scores include instrumental sounds made famous by pop, most soundtracks also include several segments performed by professional orchestras. And while playing pop songs behind the action in a film is common, few acclaimed blockbusters rely exclusively on this technique. There is a depth of emotional expression for which a symphonic score, rather than a pop song, is sometimes needed. Television dramas, documentaries, IMAX films, and even video games also favor this alternative.

Musical theater is also extremely popular, and might be called a hybrid, falling somewhere between popular songs and classical music's "light opera." Productions by composers like Andrew Lloyd Webber—also a household name—sell millions of tickets every year. The vocalists, mostly classically trained, are supported by both a pop band and a small orchestra.

In addition, churchgoers frequently attend local symphonic band, choral, and orchestra concerts and recitals, none of which are usually dominated by pop songs. Much of the music on these programs is classical, and yet audiences continue to enjoy its timeless qualities. Of course, new pieces are included as well, sometimes even written for the occasion. The 2009 inauguration of President Obama, preceded by a prayer from Rick Warren, included an arrangement of a Shaker hymn made famous by Copland and arranged by Williams, and performed by a quartet consisting of cello, violin, clarinet, and piano.

In short, the pop song genre is certainly not the only music that any churchgoer hears, absorbs, or even enjoys between weekend services.

*****

Contemporary Christian worship songs are often beautiful, exciting, and inspirational. But in my opinion, to ignore all other kinds of music does not reflect contemporary life. Such a practice will not only prevent young churchgoers from recognizing and remembering hymns and other sacred music from the past 500 years, it may even produce in them an underdeveloped artistic sense ("Jesus loves little Johnny who plays a guitar, but forget little Billy who plays the trumpet"). This may also make it difficult for young people to enter and function in a culture that still values intellectual achievement and the art of music in all its guises.

The Law Is Not Against the Promises of God

Galatians 3:21a

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not!

Martin Luther:

A common proverb says hunger is the best cook. Just as the dry earth longs for rain, so the law makes troubled and afflicted souls thirst after Christ. To such people, Christ tastes wonderful; to them, he is nothing but joy, consolation, and life. And then Christ and his benefits begin to be recognized. Christ requires thirsty souls, whom he lovingly calls; he delights to water such dry ground. He does not pour his water on ground that is not dry and does not long for water. His benefits are inestimable, and therefore he gives them only to those who need them and earnestly desire them. He preaches good news to the poor; he gives drink to the thirsty (see John 7:37; Psalm 147:3). He comforts those who are bruised and afflicted by the law. Therefore, the law is not against God’s promises.

Law and Gospel

Joe Thorn:

The law is God’s revealed will for us all. We’re talking about his commands, which are summarized as loving God and neighbor, organized in the Decalogue [the Ten Commandments], and unpacked by the prophets, apostles, and Jesus. So when we read, for example, that God commands us to love, pray, or give—this is law. Now, many are ready to say, with Paul, that we are not saved by works of the law, but what is our relationship to the law? What purpose does it serve? The law essentially does three things:

1. The law tells us what’s right. God has not left us in the dark about his will and ways. He has graciously revealed himself and his will to us that we might know what is right and good. This is actually grace.

2. The law tells us what’s wrong. Unfortunately, we do not keep God’s commands. The law is held up against our own lives, and what is reflected back is a life of lawbreaking, rebellion, and selfishness. The law shows us what’s wrong—ourselves. Through the law we see our sin and guilt.

3. The law tells us what’s needed. The law then shows us that what we need before God is forgiveness, cleansing, and restoration. We need mercy if we are to find life. We need God to rescue us from our sin and his judgment. In this way the law prepares us for the gospel.

So the law then leads us to the gospel where by faith in Christ we find forgiveness for sinners, righteousness for the unrighteous, and victory for the defeated. Once we find our hope and identity in the gospel, we can look again to the law and confess with the psalmists and Paul that it is good. We are not condemned or under the curse of the law, so we can in freedom and gratitude walk in God’s ways imperfectly with great joy, because Christ has walked in God’s ways perfectly on our behalf.

In the end, we preach law and gospel because that’s what we find in the Bible, and you can’t really understand the beauty of the gospel apart from the reality of the law.

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Do Christians Have to Join a Church?

Do Christians have to join a church? Here's another video answer by Mike McKinley:

Do Christians have to join a church? from Crossway on Vimeo.

The Other Side of the Door

Philip Ryken:

The famous American Bible teacher Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895–1960) often used an illustration to help people make sense of election. He asked them to imagine a cross like the one on which Jesus died, only so large that it had a door in it. Over the door were these words from Revelation: “Whosoever will may come.” These words represent the free and universal offer of the gospel. By God’s grace, the message of salvation is for everyone. Every man, woman, and child who will come to the cross is invited to believe in Jesus Christ and enter eternal life.

On the other side of the door a happy surprise awaits the one who believes and enters. From the inside, anyone glancing back can see these words from Ephesians written above the door: “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Election is best understood in hindsight, for it is only after coming to Christ that one can know whether one has been chosen in Christ. Those who make a decision for Christ find that God made a decision for them in eternity past.

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Embodying the Message of Christ

Read Mercer Schuchardt on the use of media in worship:

How can we create a church that actively counters an image-based and entertainment-driven culture? Rather than accommodating and gratifying the gods of this age, how can we form people who are not passive, narcissistic consumers with short attention spans?

*****

But short of joining an Amish community—which, let's face it, just isn't an option for most of us—is there another way to fight the insidious influence of new media? I believe we must begin by abandoning the belief that the methods of communication we use in the church don't matter, this idea that the methods change but the message stays the same. For example, if I were to reduce this article to a 140 character post on Twitter, it would drastically alter the message. Medium matters.

In a discarnate age, the only option Christians have for presenting a credible, authoritative, and transformative gospel is to embody Christ. We need to be wary of trying to transmit a message of embodiment through a medium of disembodiment. Stephen Downey writes, "A video-streamed sermon on the Incarnation would be ironic at best and offensive at worst." And when most people are consuming electronic media ad nauseum, then the primary medium for a countercultural church must be an unplugged one.

I don't agree with everything in his article, but it's good to listen to voices that aren't going along with the prevailing winds of our culture.

The Gospel Solution

Tim Keller:

In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul wants the people to give an offering to the poor. But, he doesn’t put pressure directly on their will, saying, “I’m an apostle and this is your duty,” nor pressure directly on their emotions, telling them stories about how much the poor are suffering and how much more they have than the sufferers. Instead, Paul vividly and unforgettably says, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Paul brings Jesus’ salvation into the realm of money and wealth and poverty. He reminds them of the gospel. Paul is saying, “Think of Jesus’ costly grace until you are changed into generous people by the gospel in your hearts.” So the solution to stinginess is a reorientation to the generosity of Christ in the gospel, where he poured out his wealth for you. Because of the gospel you don’t have to worry about money: the cross proves God’s care for you and gives you security. Because of the gospel you don’t have to envy anyone else’s money: Jesus’ love and salvation confer on you a remarkable status—one that money cannot give you.

What makes you a sexually faithful spouse, a generous—not avaricious—person, a good parent and/or child is not just redoubled effort to follow the example of Christ. Rather, it is deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out of the changes that understanding makes in your heart—the seat of your mind, will, and emotions. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, and our view of the world. It changes our hearts. Behavioral compliance to rules without heart-change will be superficial and fleeting.

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What Is a Nominal Christian?

What is a nominal Christian? Mike McKinley answers in this video:

What is a nominal Christian? from Crossway on Vimeo.

Always Out in Public

How can God's omnipresence affect our daily battle with sin?

David Powlison:

Every time you remember that you are out in public, then you live an out-in-public life. “I AM WITH YOU” means you’re always out in public. In order to sin, you’ll have to drown out the voice of reality, put your fingers in your ears, and switch channels to the fantasy channel, the lie channel, the death channel. And even if you switch channels and sin by high-handed choice, you will still be in broad daylight before God’s searching eyes. You can shut your eyes and plug your ears, he’s still right here. You’ll never get away. And you only have to open your eyes, listen, and turn around in order to find help. After all, he who loves you says, “I am with you,” mainly to encourage you.

Don't forget that last part.

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The Beauty of Holiness

We gave out copies of R. C. Sproul's classic The Holiness of God to our men today in honor of Father's Day.

Here's a quotation from a much older author, Stephen Charnock, on the holiness of God. Don't let the archaic language prevent you from appreciating the expansive view that he describes. This is worth reading slowly, even aloud.

The holiness of God is his glory and crown. It is the blessedness of his nature. It renders him glorious in himself, and glorious to his creatures. “Holy” is more fixed as an epithet to his name than any other. This is his greatest title of honor. He is pure and unmixed light, free from all blemish in his essence, nature, and operations. He cannot be deformed by any evil. The notion of God cannot be entertained without separating from him whatever is impure and staining. Though he is majestic, eternal, almighty, wise, immutable, merciful, and whatsoever other prefections may dignify so sovereign a being, yet if we conceive him destitute of this excellent perfection, and imagine him possessed with the least contagion of evil, we make him but an infinite monster, and sully all those perfections we ascribed to him before.

It is a contradiction for him to be God and to have any darkness mixed with his light. To deny his purity, makes him no God. He that says God is not holy, speaks much worse than if he said there is no God at all. Where do we read of the angels crying out Eternal or Faithful Lord God of hosts? But we do hear them singing Holy, Holy, Holy. God swears by his holiness (Psa. 89:35). His holiness is a pledge for the assurance of his promises. Power is his hand, omniscience his eye, mercy his heart, eternity his duration, but holiness his beauty. It renders him lovely and gives beauty to all his attributes. Every action of his is free from all hints of evil. Holiness is the crown of all his attributes, the life of all his decrees, and the brightness of all his actions. Nothing is decreed by him and nothing is acted by him that is not consistent with the beauty of his holiness.

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They Don't Last

Todd Gitlin:

Of course, the curious thing about consumer pleasures is that they don’t last. The essence of consumerism is broken promises ever renewed. The modern consumer is a hedonist doomed to economically productive disappointment, experiencing, as sociologist Colin Campbell writes, “a state of enjoyable discomfort.” You propel your daydreams forward, each time attaching them to some longed-for object, a sofa, CD player, kitchen, sports car, only to unhook the desires from the objects once they are in hand. Even high-end durable goods quickly outwear the thrill of their early arrival, leaving consumers bored—and available. After each conquest comes a sense of only limited satisfaction—and the question, what next?

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The Clearest Picture

Mark Dever:

Many Protestants have begun to think that because the church is not essential to the gospel, it is not important to the gospel. This is an unbiblical, false, and dangerous conclusion. Our churches are the proof of the gospel. In the gatherings of the church, the Christian Scriptures are read. In the ordinances of the church, the work of Christ is depicted. In the life of the church, the character of God himself should be evident. A church seriously compromised in character would seem to make the gospel itself irrelevant.

The doctrine of the church is important because it is tied to the good news itself. The church is to be the appearance of the gospel. It is what the gospel looks like when played out in the lives of people. Take away the church and you take away the visible manifestation of the gospel in the world. Christians in churches, then, are called to practice ‘display evangelism,’ and the world will witness the reign of God begun in a community of people made in his image and reborn by his Spirit. Christians, not just as individuals but as God’s people bound together in churches, are the clearest picture that the world sees of the invisible God and what his will is for them.

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Twelve Reasons

From Tim Chester, here are twelve reasons to give up pornography. Even if this is not a current temptation/problem for you, it is still good to review these in order to clarify and reinforce a godly perspective.

1. It wrecks your view of sex.
   
2. It wrecks your view of women.
   
3. It wrecks women's view of themselves.
   
4. The porn industry abuses women.
   
5. It's a sin against your wife.
   
6. It wrecks families.
   
7. It is enslaving.
   
8. It erodes your character.
   
9. It wastes your time, energy, and money.
   
10. It weakens your relationship with God.
    
11. It weakens your service.
    
12. God's wrath is against people who use porn.

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In the World, Not of the World

Os Guinness and David Wells:

As Christians, and as the church of Jesus Christ, we are called by our Lord to be “in” the world, but “not of” the world. “No longer” who we were before we came to Christ, we are “not yet” what we will be when Christ returns. This bracing call to tension in both time and space lies at the heart of our faith. Individually and collectively, we are to live in the world in a stance of both Yes and No, affirmation and antithesis, or of being “against the world/for the world.”

This tension is crucial to the faithfulness of the church, and to her integrity and effectiveness in the world. When the church of Christ remains faithful to this calling, she lives in a creative tension that is the prerequisite of her transforming power in culture and history.

For the Christian faith is unashamedly world-affirming, and has a peerless record in contributing to education, to philanthropy, to social reforms, to medicine, to the rise of science, to the emergence of democracy and human rights, as well as to building schools, hospitals, universities, orphanages, and other beneficial institutions.

Yet at the same time, the Christian faith is also world-denying, insisting on the place of prophets as well as priests, on sacrifice as well fulfillment, on the importance of fasts as well as feasts, and on the place for exposing and opposing the world when its attitudes and actions are against the commands of God and the interests of humanity.

Not surprisingly, the church’s constant temptation has been to relax this tension from one side or the other, so that the Christians in different ages have sometimes been so much in the world that they are of it, or so much not of the world that they were “no earthly use.” Either way, such unfaithfulness means that the church grows weak, but unfaithfulness in the direction of worldliness is worse than weak, for it puts the church, like Israel in the Old Testament, under the shadow of the judgment of God.

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The Hardest Truths Can Produce the Most Tender Hearts

Colin Smith:

"They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord" 2 Thessalonians 2:9

To be shut out from God's presence and from His power is to be without hope and without love forever. This is one of the hardest truths in the Bible. But here's something I've discovered-the hardest truths can produce the most tender hearts. If you grasp this most difficult of doctrines, God will use it to soften your heart today.

To sustain your faith in a suffering world

"He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled... when the Lord Jesus is revealed." 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7

If you've suffered at the hands of other people, or if someone you love has suffered at the hands of others, you are faced with this question: Where is God in all this? How can I believe that God is loving and just when so often good people suffer and those who do evil prosper? This doctrine helps. It tells you that you haven't yet seen the end of the story.

God says to suffering believers: "A day is coming when Jesus Christ will be revealed. Then you'll see the full measure of My justice and the full measure of My love. Use this to sustain your faith in a suffering world."

To restrain your desire to even the score

"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge... but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord." Romans 12:18-19

Someone hurts you. Your immediate instinct will be to want to hurt them back. They brought you down, and you find a certain pleasure in bringing them down. How do you restrain the desire to even the score?

God will repay, so leave room for His wrath. You don't need to take it into your hands when you know it is in His. You can leave it to Him.

On this foundation God says, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head" (Romans 12:20). If you don't believe this, you'll always be trying to even the score.

To increase your compassion for people who harm you

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" Matthew 5:44

Anyone who's suffered at the hands of another person, as all of us have, will hear this and say, "Love him? Love her? How is that possible?"

If the person who harmed you was to see what they did and truly to repent, you might find it in your heart to forgive them. But if they just go on with no awareness of what they've done, or worse, they continue doing the same thing, it is very hard to have compassion.

Where do you begin in loving this enemy? The Bible's teaching helps. Think about everlasting destruction in relation to the person who hurt you, and what it would mean to be shut out of the light and joy and hope and love of the Lord forever... You would not wish that on your worst enemy.

A deep grasp of this truth will help you to pray for those who've harmed you. Bitterness cannot survive long when you begin to pray, and you'll be amazed at the way compassion sneaks in the back door of your heart.

It Is God's Church

This goes with the previous post. As a church, we are congregational and elder-led, under Christ.

James Grier:

There is no idea in the New Testament that the church is a voluntary organization that is self-governing by a participatory democracy. It is God’s church. He prescribes its aims and functions. He devises its constitution and designs its officers. It is the blood-bought church of Christ. It is His body, not ours, and we can only handle and direct its fairs by the authority of Christ. Only the will of Him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge is adequate for the direction of the church.

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Who's in Charge of the Church?

How is a church to be governed? We're trying to follow the pattern described below.

Jonathan Leeman:

Yet more importantly, it’s our conviction that congregationalism in the context of elder leadership just makes the most sense of two streams of biblical teaching. On the one hand, you see a stream of passages in which Jesus and the apostles seem to entrust final say to the entire gathered congregation (Matt. 18:15-20; Acts 6:2-6; 1 Cor. 5; 2 Cor. 2:6; Gal. 1:3-10). Every single Christian, every single church member, is going to give an account to God for the role he or she played in preserving the gospel from one generation to the next. He will give an account for whether or not he tolerated false teachers, for whether or not he abided unrepentant sin within the body. Woe to the congregation that does not act to protect and proclaim the gospel!

On the other hand, you see a stream of passages which call Christians to submit to their leaders (Heb. 13:7,17; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2-3). Every single Christian, every single church member, in the ordinary course of the Christian life, is called to practice submitting to King Jesus by submitting to the earthly authorities he has placed over us, from parents, to presidents, to pastors. It's how we grow, flourish, and prosper.

It’s tempting to pick one of these streams rather than the other. But we need to strike the balance by figuring out how to put both together. If we don’t, the ship can veer toward unwieldy hyper-congregationalism, or it can veer toward an abusive elder rule. King Jesus, in his wisdom, appears to have opted for something in the middle. Along these lines, an elder-led, congregational-rule model seems to work best and best satisfy the biblical mandate.

Remembering, Revisiting, Rediscovering

Tullian Tchividjian:

There is no question that Christian’s are to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12) and that the sanctification process will be both bloody and sweaty. After all, daily Christian living is daily Christian dying. Jesus likened the pain of Christian growth to “gouging out an eye” and “cutting off a hand”–indicating that growth in godliness requires parting with things we initially think we can’t do without.

There does seem to be some question, though, with regard to the nature and direction of our efforts. And at the heart of this question is the relationship between justification and sanctification.

Many conclude that justification is step one and that sanctification is step two and that once we get to step two there’s no reason to go back to step one. Sanctification, in other words, is commonly understood as progress beyond the initial step of justification. But while justification and sanctification are to be clearly separated theologically, the Bible won’t allow us to separate them essentially and functionally. For example, citing 2 Peter 1:5-7, Kevin refers to the list of character traits that mark a Christian–faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Notice, though, what Peter goes on to say in v.9:

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, havingforgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

In her book Because He Loves Me, Elyse Fitzpatrick rightly says:

One reason we don’t grow in ordinary, grateful obedience as we should is that we’ve got amnesia; we’ve forgotten that we are cleansed from our sins. In other words, ongoing failure in our growth is the direct result of failing to remember God’s love for us in the gospel. If we fail to remember our justification, redemption, and reconciliation, we’ll struggle in our sanctification.

In other words, remembering, revisiting, and rediscovering the reality of our justification every day is the hard work we’re called to do if we’re going to grow.

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Christ Gave Himself for Me

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Martin Luther:

“For me.” Who is this me? Myself—a wretched and damnable sinner, yet so dearly loved by the Son of God that he gave himself for me. If I could have loved the Son of God through my actions or merits and come to him in this way, why did he need to give himself for me? If we lose this one article of Christian righteousness, it is impossible for us to withstand any errors or sects that have fallen away from a belief in justification. What are all their new things (however holy they may seem) if you compare them with the death and blood of the Son of God who gave himself for me? Think carefully who this Son of God is, how glorious he is, how mighty he is. What is heaven and earth in comparison with him?

People Who Stay, Grow

Make our Sunday gatherings for worship and discipleship a priority in your life. Focusing on something bigger than yourself brings the most benefit to yourself.

Joseph Hellerman:

Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. Persons who remain connected with their brothers and sisters in the local church almost invariably grow in self-understanding. And they mature in their ability to relate in healthy ways to God and to fellow human beings. This is especially the case for those courageous Christians who stick it out through the messy process of interpersonal conflict. Long-term relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. People who stay grow.

People who leave do not grow. We all know persons consumed with spiritual wanderlust. We never get to know them well because they cannot seem to stay put. They move from church to church, avoiding conflict or ever searching for a congregation that will better satisfy their felt needs. Like trees repeatedly transplanted from soil to soil, these spiritual nomads fail to put down roots, and they seldom experience lasting, fruitful growth in their Christian lives.

Despite what we know about spiritual growth, nearly all churches in America are characterized by an unwillingness of members to commit themselves deeply to their respective church. For some, it means church hopping; for most, it means keeping the church at arm's length—that is, living as if the individual's life is primary and that of the church is secondary.

A Definition of Justification

This will help you get ready for Sunday's sermon on Galatians 2:15-21. It's Doug Moo's brief definition of justification:

The Bible pictures all human beings as defendants in a courtroom: a courtroom in which God is the judge and our sins constitute the evidence against us. The judge weighs the evidence and finds every single one of us guilty of sin and announces that we, therefore, must be condemned. The marvelous news of justification is that God has himself provided for us the means of escaping that condemnation: by responding to his gracious initiative in faith, we become joined with Christ, who died for us and was raised for us. We become joined to Christ, who takes on himself the penalty for our sin and covers us with the ‘righteousness’ that we need to reverse the verdict of condemnation and receive the verdict of ‘justified’, ‘right’ with God. And because we have been joined to Christ, the holy one, and have in that union received the gift of God’s powerful holy Spirit, we, who have been justified, also find our lives transformed so that we love God and neighbor.

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We Have the Same Christ

Martin Luther, on Galatians 2:11:

The Scripture describes such errors and offenses of the saints for the comfort of those who are afflicted and oppressed with despair, and for the terror of the proud. No one has ever fallen so badly that he cannot rise again. And on the other hand, no one is so surefooted that he cannot fall. If Peter fell, I may fall too. If he rose again, I may also rise again. Faint hearts and tender consciences should make the most of examples such as these, so that they may understand better what it is they pray for when they say, “Forgive us our trespasses” and “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” We have the very same spirit of grace and prayer that the apostles and all the saints had; they had no special prerogative we do not have. We have the same gifts they had, the same Christ, baptism, Word, forgiveness of sins. They had no less need of any of these than we have, and they were sanctified and saved by them just as we are.

Faith of Your Own

J. C. Ryle, from his classic book Holiness:

I ask the children of religious parents to mark well what I am saying. It is the highest privilege to be the child of a godly father and mother and to be brought up in the midst of many prayers. It is a blessed thing indeed to be taught the gospel from our earliest infancy and to hear of sin and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and holiness and heaven from the first moment we can remember anything. But, oh, take heed that you do not remain barren and unfruitful in the sunshine of all these privileges; beware lest your heart remains hard, impenitent and worldly, notwithstanding the many advantages you enjoy. You cannot enter the kingdom of God on the credit of your parents’ religion. You must eat the bread of life for yourself and have the witness of the Spirit in your own heart. You must have repentance of your own, faith of your own and sanctification of your own.

Source: quoted in Growing Up Christian, by Karl Graustein

Christ's "Done" Instead of My "To-Do"

Tullian Tchividjian:

Preachers these days are expected to major in “Christian moral renovation.” They are expected to provide a practical “to-do” list, rather than announce, “It is finished.” They are expected to do something other than placarding before their congregations' eyes Christ’s finished work, preaching a full absolution solely on the basis of the complete righteousness of another. The irony is when preachers cave in to this pressure, moral renovation does not happen. To focus on how I’m doing more than on what Christ has done is Christian narcissism – the poison of self-absorption which undermines the power of the gospel in our lives. Martin Luther noted that “the sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and that we must take matters into our own hands.”

Moral renovation, in other words, is to refocus our eyes away from ourselves to that man’s obedience, to thatman’s cross, to that man’s blood–to that man’s death and resurrection!

“In my place condemned he stood, and sealed my pardon with his blood–hallelujah, what a Savior!”

Learning daily to love this glorious exchange, to lean on its finishedness, and to live under its banner is what it means to be morally reformed!

Sustaining the Covenant of Marital Love

There's really good stuff here. Listen to this, not just for what it might teach you about marriage, but what it reminds us of God, his character, and the nature of his love for us. Go here for additional resources mentioned in this video.

Piper, Carson, and Keller on Sustaining the Covenant of Marital Love from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

God's Supplies

Hudson Taylor:

God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.

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Faith Has No Object but Jesus Christ

Martin Luther, on Galatians 2:4-5:

The truth of the gospel is that our righteousness comes by faith alone, without the works of the law. The corruption or falsehood of the Gospel is that we are not justified by faith alone but also by the works of the law. The false apostles preached the Gospel with this sort of condition. The true Gospel teaches that works are not the ornament or perfection of faith, but that faith of itself is God’s gift and God’s work in our hearts, which justifies us because it takes hold of Christ our Redeemer. Human reason has the law for its object, thinking, “I have done this; I have not done that.” But faith in itself has no object but Jesus Christ, the Son of God, given up to death for the sins of the whole world. It does not say, “What have I done? In what have I offended? What have I deserved?” It says, “What has Christ done? What has he deserved?” He has redeemed you from your sin, from the devil, and from eternal death. Faith therefore acknowledges that in this one person, Jesus Christ, is forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Anyone turning his eyes away from this object has no true faith, but only a fantasy and a vain opinion, and turns his eyes from the promise to the law, which terrifies us and drives us to desperation.

Looking to the Past and Moving Ahead

This goes well with the previous post.

Douglas Moo:

Moving ahead in the Christian life often involves looking to the past…The foundation must be secure before the building can go up. We can never grow away from our roots; we can only grow through them. In the church today, there is an increasing flirtation with what is new. We want to hear what Christianity has to say about the latest fad or issue; we want to learn new things. But in our (legitimate) eagerness to push ahead, to stretch our understanding, to make the church relevant to a new age, we must always be careful to “secure our rear” as a general would put it. Solid understanding of Christian doctrine, the kind of understanding that changes heart and mind—this is something we never grow away from.

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Unoriginal Pastors

C. J. Mahaney tells pastors they should be unoriginal:

Here’s something I’ve discovered: faithful proclamation of the message requires an unwavering commitment to unoriginality.

In his book Pastoral Theology, Thomas Oden writes this at the outset: “I hope this work will be as unoriginal as possible. This is the first time I have attempted to write an entire text with an absolutely clear commitment to unoriginality.”* Pastors, every sermon we preach must reflect the same thing: an absolutely clear commitment to unoriginality.

You see, if you don’t resolve to be unoriginal, you’ll be enamored by all that is new, trendy, popular, and supposedly original. If you don’t resolve to be unoriginal, you’ll be easily distracted by matters of secondary importance. Church structure and administration will trump gospel preaching. Your intelligence, rhetorical skill, or personality will take precedence over your faithfulness to the message of the gospel. If you don’t resolve to be unoriginal, you will lose sight of what matters the most.

So my friends, let’s maintain “an absolutely clear commitment to unoriginality.” Let’s be faithful to the charge to preach the gospel.

And here’s the thing: this is good news for ordinary pastors. You and I are ordinary, but by God’s grace we can do this!

Spurgeon once said, “Whitefield and Wesley might preach the gospel better than I do, but they could not preach a better gospel.”

Come here an unoriginal message-- the same ol' gospel-- tomorrow at church!

Persecution and Growth in Iran

From Christianity Today:

"Persecution has escalated to an unprecedented level," said Abe Ghaffari, executive director of Iranian Christians International. While Iran's historic Armenian and Assyrian congregations usually enjoy freedom of worship, Farsi-speaking house churches hosting converts from Islam work under significant threat.

"In effect, recognition of Christians in the laws of Iran has now become basically recognition of an ethnicity rather than faith," said Hussein Jadidi, a human rights lawyer who recently fled Iran after he became a target in a Christmas sweep that caught 70 other Christians.

The government is concerned, observers say, because more and more Iranian Muslims are converting to Christianity. The house church movement is booming, with converts estimated in the hundreds of thousands. Evangelists are distributing large numbers of New Testaments, and satellite television continually beams Christian programs into the country.

"The government always used to deny that Iranians become Christians," said Elam's David Yeghnazar, but now the church has become too strong to ignore.

Is Jesus Your Senior Pastor?

You knew that the word "pastor" is another word for "shepherd," right?

Jamie Munson asks, "Is Jesus the Senior Pastor of your church?" and then explains how you can tell if he is, or if it's just that guy in the corner office.

“And he is the head of the body, the church.” Colossians 1:18

Is Jesus the Senior Pastor—the “chief Shepherd”—of your church? (1 Pet. 5:4)

It may be easy to acknowledge his supremacy in theory, but how can you tell if your church is following Jesus' leadership and not simply acknowledging him as a figurehead? Here are some key indicators:

Where does authority reside?

The Bible is the Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16), and Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh (John 1:14). Jesus is Senior Pastor when the Bible is preached and valued as the ultimate authority for life and knowledge.

Is submission taking place?

Human leadership must reflect biblical submission which is humble, mutual, and without exceptions. Everybody must submit to somebody—not only to Jesus but also to the earthly authorities he’s appointed to govern (Rom. 13:1; Eph. 5:21; Heb. 13:17). Jesus is Senior Pastor when no one else wields absolute, infallible authority.

How do you organize your leadership teams?

Strive to include Jesus in the way you organize leadership teams. Jesus is Senior Pastor when church governance reflects something deeper than the latest management fad or corporate structure.

What is your mission?

As a church, where do you focus the bulk of your effort, money, and attention? Does this focus align with Jesus’ Great Commission for his church (Matt. 28:19)? Jesus is Senior Pastor when the church cares about evangelism and reaching new people with the gospel.

Is there fruit?

Fruit isn’t measured solely in numbers, but Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). If there is no evidence of progress, if nothing’s being built, Jesus may be absent, or even “against you” (Rev. 3:3).

Is Jesus the Senior Pastor of your church? It’s a question worth asking, discussing, and honestly answering on a regular basis.

Remember Where We Stand

C. S. Lewis:

It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life—to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son—how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night ‘forgive our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.’ We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse God’s mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says.

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