Think About These Things

The Paradox of Evangelism

2011-09-17T08:45:00.001-05:00

There is a paradox about evangelism. Actually there are several but I’ll only mention one here. It starts with the realization that evangelism is impossible. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). Jesus also said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Given those realities, we need to see that evangelism requires at least two miracles. In my life, God must work supernaturally in order for me to say anything or do anything that could possibly connect to regeneration. In the life of the person hearing the gospel, God must work the miracle of raising them from the dead. (see Ephesians 2:1 “…we were dead…”).
Thus, when we step into the process of evangelism, we are entering the world of the impossible. But our God specializes in doing the impossible.
So the paradox of evangelism is that when we remember that evangelism is impossible, we are more likely to evangelize!
We accept the fact that “success” is not dependent upon us. We understand that God uses both the human and the divine in the process (remembering, of course, that the divine component is so much more important). We open our mouths, knowing that God can actually use our frail attempts to accomplish the impossible. We speak with our mouths but we ask God to speak in ways far more powerful. We reason but we ask God to reveal. We proclaim but we know we’re on a playing field with many other forces at work.
It’s a paradox but a privilege.

Without the Lord

2011-09-16T16:59:00.001-05:00

Mary Beard reports:

Melbourn Village College — not far from Cambridge — has decided to ditch its Latin motto: “Nisi dominus frustra”. And I guess you can see why. It’s a contraction of the first line of Psalm 127, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain”… so you might translate the three Latin words of the motto something like “Without the Lord, frustration”, I guess. A touch pious you might think, and a bit Judaeo-Christian. But I can’t see that any world faith could seriously disagree and, anyway, it’s served the city of Edinburgh well enough for the last few hundred years.
They have replaced it (after a student vote, it seems) with what sounds to me more like an advertising jingle: “Inspiring Minds” (which is bound to look “so 2011” in a few years time that it too will soon be ditched). According to the Acting Principal, they wanted a motto that was more relevant to the students. In the current economic climate, Latin was “largely irrelevant” in helping the students find work.

Source

Use All the Circumstances of My Life Today

2011-09-15T16:25:00.001-05:00

A prayer by John Baillie:

Teach me, O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life today
that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.
Let me use disappointment as material for patience;
Let me use success as material for thankfulness;
Let me use suspense as material for perseverance;
Let me use danger as material for courage;
Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering;
Let me use praise as material for humility;
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance;
Let me use pains as material for endurance.
Source

Churches in NYC Since 9/11

2011-09-15T16:04:00.002-05:00

Terry Mattingly, on 9/11 and churches in New York City:

Here's the statistic that insiders keep citing, drawn from a Values Research Institute (www.nycreligion.info) study: Forty percent of the evangelical Protestant churches in Manhattan were born after 2000, an increase of about 80. During one two-month stretch in 2009, at least one Manhattan church was planted every Sunday.
The impact has been big on one scale and tiny on another. According to the institute's research, the percentage of New Yorkers in center-city Manhattan who identify themselves as evangelical Protestants has, since 1990, risen from less than 1 percent to 3 percent. In other words, the evangelical population has tripled.
This relatively small slice means that -- from an evangelical-Protestant viewpoint -- missionaries still consider the city's population an "unreached people group" when compared with other regions. Thus, in 2003 the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention pinned its "Strategic Focus City" label on New York, initiating a four-year project offering additional funds, volunteers and church-planting professionals.
It's impossible to tell this story without discussing the impact of 9/11, noted journalist Tony Carnes, who leads the Values Research Institute team. Rescue workers poured into New York City from across the nation, including volunteers from heartland churches not known for their affection for New York City.
"For the first time, to a large degree, important evangelical leaders realized that New York City was not what they thought it was," said Carnes. "They learned that you didn't need to walk down the street at night looking over your shoulder, worried that you were going to get shot. ...
"They also learned that there were already many evangelical churches here and that they were not weak, struggling and embattled. Many were strong, vital and growing."
The bottom line is that, while 9/11 was crucial, this story didn't start with 9/11.

Out of Control

2011-09-14T07:42:00.000-05:00

Timothy Stoner:

God really believes that he is the most worthy, most majestic, magnificent, glorious, stunningly beautiful being in the universe. And he is fixated on the certainty that only he deserves worship – that to him alone belong honor, glory, and praise forever and forever. With red-rimmed, stinging eyes and burning hair, all we can say is – he is right. He is astonishingly beautiful, utterly majestic and perfect in the symmetries of justice and righteousness, knowledge, and wisdom. He is as hypnotically compelling as a surging forest fire and ten times as dangerous. He is out of control – ours, not his.

Source

Your Words Have Direction

2011-09-13T16:37:00.001-05:00

Paul Tripp:

The book of Proverbs is, in ways, a treatise on talk. I would summarize it this way: words give life; words bring death – you choose. What does this mean? It means you have never spoken a neutral word in your life. Your words have direction to them. If your words are moving in the life direction, they will be words of encouragement, hope, love, peace, unity, instruction, wisdom, and correction. But if your words are moving in a death direction, they will be words of anger, malice, slander, jealousy, gossip, division, contempt, racism, violence, judgment, and condemnation. Your words have direction to them. When you hear the word talk you ought to hear something that is high and holy and significant and important. May God help us never to look at talk as something that doesn’t matter.

Source

The Gospel at Ground Zero

2011-09-11T08:06:00.000-05:00

Russell Moore reflects on 9/11 and the Cross. Here is the conclusion:

Let's join the rest of the world in remembering September 11. Let's not flinch from the trauma, but let's not be paralyzed by it either. And along the way, let's remember to have sympathy for those who flinch at the trauma of our gospel, who wince when the light of God's judgment exposes their dark places. Let's remember that the hands we are reaching out with are scabbed over with Roman spike holes, and the cross we are holding out is caked in blood.
Let's remember, too, that the gospel brings peace and reconciliation to every Ground Zero in the cosmos. On the day when graves are opened, even those accidental tombs beneath the rubble of terror, we will see just how good this news is, even better than our shiny churches and happy choruses can convey.
But between now and then, it can be scary as hell.

Isolation or Community

2011-09-10T07:17:00.000-05:00

Consider this, and remember to join us for Sunday Schopl, worship and small groups tomorrow.

"We weren't built for isolation. We were created for community."

Community: Taking Your Small Group off Life Support from Crossway on Vimeo.

Source

Application Is Not Legalism

2011-09-07T08:58:00.000-05:00

John Stott:

There are many pastors today who, for fear of being branded 'legalists', give their congregation no ethical teaching. How far we have strayed from the apostles! 'Legalism' is the misguided attempt to earn our salvation by obedience to the law. 'Pharisaism' is a preoccupation with the externals and minutiae of religious duty. To teach the standards of moral conduct which adorn the gospel is neither legalism nor pharisaism but plain apostolic Christianity.

Source

What About Demons?

2011-09-05T08:52:00.000-05:00

R. C. Sproul:

I think we can take some solace in the thought that it’s unlikely we’ll ever meet with Satan in our lifetimes. He has bigger fish to fry. He’s not going to chase after the little guys. But nevertheless, he has a host of minions, his demons, to do his work for him, and so they may surround us as close as our clothes, and satanic emissaries may besiege us, and we have to be alert to that. But it’s unlikely that you and I will encounter the Prince of Darkness himself. I say that because he is not omnipresent. That is an attribute that belongs only to God. Also, he’s not omniscient. Satan does not know everything. Satan is a creature, and he is defined by the limits of creatureliness.
In the Bible, we see [demons] possessing people and oppressing people, causing bodily harm, property damage, and all kinds of things. The Christian is always faced with this question: Can I be demon-possessed? I don’t believe so. I believe that people can be demon-possessed, but I don’t think that this is possible for a Christian, because God the Holy Spirit resides in the regenerate person, and the Scriptures tell us, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). So, no demon can hold us hostage to the power of Satan. Demons can oppress us, they can harass us, they can tempt us, attack us and so on, but thanks be to God, He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

When the Feelings Aren't There

2011-09-03T08:48:00.000-05:00

John Piper:

I am often asked what a Christian should do if the cheerfulness of obedience is not there. It is a good question. My answer is not to simply get on with your duty because feelings are irrelevant! My answer has three steps.
First, confess the sin of joylessness. Acknowledge the culpable coldness of your heart. Don't say it doesn't matter how you feel.
Second, pray earnestly that God would restore the joy of obedience.
Third, go ahead and do the outward dimension of your duty in the hope that the doing will rekindle the delight.

To Dwell Among Sinners

2011-09-02T08:42:00.000-05:00

Martin Luther:

Now I should like to know whether your soul, tired of its own righteousness, is learning to be revived by and to trust in the righteousness of Christ. . . . My dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say, ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given to me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.’ Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners. On this account he descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners. Meditate on this love of his and you will see his sweet consolation.

Source

Fearlessly Exposed

2011-09-01T20:40:00.001-05:00

Russell Moore:

What in your life would you fear if anyone found out about it?
What would horrify you if it were exposed before your family, your friends, your acquaintances?
In gospel repentance and faith, we fearlessly expose ourselves to Judgment Day in the present. That’s what the confession of sin is, a revealing of what Jesus already promises to reveal on the Day of Christ (Luke 8:17).
Our problem is that we often, like Adam before us, want to hide our temptations, and especially our sin, to cover it over to save face. Hiding, though, is exactly the opposite of what a Christian does when confronted with satanic designs. The darkness is where these evils latch onto us. Instead we can preemptively shine light on this, with God in prayer and in our authentic accountability to the Body of Christ, his church.
Our Christian reluctance to speak honestly about temptation is precisely why Christians like Felix often believe themselves to be unbelievers. All they see of other believers is this façade of smiling, peaceful Christ-followers. They assume then that the internal life of every other Christian is just a continual festival of hymns as opposed to their own internal life in which the hymns are interrupted with constant gossipy chatter, violent rage, and hard-core pornography.
This is exactly how the satanic powers want it. They want the prideful and oblivious to stay that way, until they fall and slink away in isolation, where they can be devoured.
Preaching the gospel to ourselves, though, reminds us continually that we are sinners and that we can stand only by the blood of Jesus. We can walk only by his Spirit prodding us on. We need one another, as parts of the same body together.

Source

Lofty and Lowly

2011-08-31T13:35:00.003-05:00

Since our Church Family Camp this past weekend, I've been memorizing/meditating on this verse:

Isaiah 57:15
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
"I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite."

When I read this quotation today from Timothy Stoner, it went right along with that verse:

The love that won on the cross and wins the world is a love that is driven, determined, and defined by holiness. It is a love that flows out of the heart of a God who is transcendent, majestic, infinite in righteousness, who loves justice as much as he does mercy; who hates wickedness as much as he loves goodness; who blazes with a fiery, passionate love for himself above all things. He is Creator, Sustainer, Beginning and End. He is robed in a splendor and eternal purity that is blinding. He rules, he reigns, he rages and roars, then bends down to whisper love songs to his creatures. His love is vast and irresistible. It is also terrifying, and it will spare no expense to give everything away in order to free us from the bondage of sin, purifying for himself a people who are devoted to his glory, a people who have “no ambition except to do good”. So he crushes his precious Son in order to rescue and restore mankind along with his entire creation. He unleashes perfect judgment on the perfectly obedient sacrifice and then pulls him up out of the grave in a smashing and utter victory. He is a God who triumphs… He is a burning cyclone of passionate love. Holy love wins.

Source

Why God Tests Us

2011-08-26T07:28:00.000-05:00

Ed Welch:

God is the One Who Tests, and he will test you. Don't think of final exams and test anxiety. Think of this test as a way to expose traitors during wartime. We are the potential traitors and don't even know it. God tests us because we are so oblivious to the mixed allegiances in our hearts. The purpose of the test is to help us see our hearts and if they are found traitorous, we can turn back to God. God is not playing mind games with us; he is forging a relationship.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain obread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. - Ex. 16:4

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you yto know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. - Deut. 8:2
Control freaks and worriers are being told that the challenges of life are ordained by the Father and King. They are neither random nor accidental. The outcome of these daily tests doesn't give God any new information about us. He is the Searcher and Knower of hearts. At least one of their purposes is to reveal us to ourselves. In that, they have the potential to reorient us and send us back to the true God.

Source

Godly Boasting

2011-08-23T07:11:00.000-05:00

John Piper:

God loves it when man boasts in God, and God hates it when man boasts in man. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (2 Cor. 10:17). “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up” (Isa. 2:11–12).
There are two reasons (at least) why God hates for man to boast in man:
1) Boasting in man deflects man’s attention from the fountain of his joy and ruins his life. It tricks man into replacing magnificence with a mirror. Man was not made to admire man. He was made to admire God. The joy of admiration is prostituted and ruined when man tries to find galaxy-size glory in the glow of his own reflection. God does not like the damage done by boasting in man.
2) The other reason God hates for man to boast in man is this: It conveys the conviction that man is more admirable than God. Now that is, of course, untrue. But we would miss the point if we said, “God hates lying and therefore God hates boasting in man because it conveys a lie.” No.
That’s not quite right. What God hates is the dishonoring of God. Lying happens to be one way that he is dishonored as the God of truth. So the real problem with man’s boasting in man is that it belittles God.
Boasting in God, on the other hand, does the double opposite: it honors God and gives man the joy for which he was made: admiring the infinitely admirable.

Ongoing Communion with God

2011-08-22T08:22:00.000-05:00

R. C. Sproul:

Yes, my sins have all been paid for, once and for all, on the cross. But Jesus taught us to pray for forgiveness as part of our ongoing communion with God. We need a fresh understanding, a fresh experience, of His grace and of His forgiveness every day. There is no greater state than to get up from your knees knowing that in God’s sight you are clean, that He has forgiven every sin you’ve ever committed. Without that grace, without that forgiveness, I don’t think I could live in this world for another sixty seconds. This is something we all desperately need, and we have but to ask for it.

The Fainthearted, Feeble, and Ailing

2011-08-21T23:09:00.000-05:00

Martin Luther:

May a merciful God preserve me from a Christian Church in which everyone is a saint! I want to be and remain in the church and little flock of the fainthearted, the feeble and the ailing, who feel and recognize the wretchedness of their sins, who sigh and cry to God incessantly for comfort and help, who believe in the forgiveness of sins.

Source

Pluralism Is Intolerant

2011-08-19T16:27:00.001-05:00

Jonathan Dodson:

Very often people hold to religious pluralism because they think it is more tolerant than Christianity. I’ll be the first to say that we need tolerance, but what does it mean to be tolerant? To be tolerant is to accommodate differences, which can be very noble. I believe that Christians should be some of the most accommodating kinds of people, giving everyone the dignity to believe whatever they want and not enforcing their beliefs on others through politics or preaching. We should winsomely tolerate different beliefs. Interestingly, religious pluralism doesn’t really allow for this kind of tolerance. Instead of accommodating spiritual differences, religious pluralism blunts them. Let me explain.
The claim that all paths lead to the same God actually minimizes other religions by asserting a new religious claim. When someone says all paths lead to the same God, they blunt the distinctives between religions, throwing them all in one pot, saying: “See, they all get us to God so the differences don’t really matter.” This isn’t tolerance; it’s a power play. When asserting all religions lead to God, the distinctive and very different views of God and how to reach him in Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam are brushed aside in one powerful swoop. The Eightfold Noble Path of Buddhism, the 5 Pillars of Islam, and the Gospel of Christ are not tolerated but told they must submit to a new religious claim–all ways lead to God–despite the fact that this isn’t what those religions teach.
*****
As it turns out, the reasons for subscribing to religious pluralism—enlightenment, humility, and tolerance—actually backfire. They don’t carry through. Religious pluralism isn’t enlightened, it’s inaccurate; it isn’t humble, it’s fiercely dogmatic; and it isn’t really all that tolerant because it intolerantly blunts religious distinctives. In the end, religious pluralism is a religion, a leap of faith, based on contradiction and is highly untenable. Christianity, on the other hand, should respect and honor the various distinctives of other religions, comparing them, and honoring their differing principles–Karma (Hinduism), Enlightenment (Buddhism), Submission (Islam), and Grace (Christianity).

Union with Christ

2011-08-18T16:21:00.001-05:00

Kevin DeYoung:

The doctrine of union with Christ is so common in the New Testament that it is easy to miss. Over two hundred times in Paul’s letters and more than two dozen times in the writings of John we see expressions like “in Christ,” “in the Lord” or “in him.” We are found in Christ, preserved in Christ, saved and sanctified in Christ. We walk in Christ, labor in Christ, sorrow in Christ, and conquer in Christ. We obey in Christ and are made perfect in Christ—just to name a few examples. Another thirty-two times Paul speaks of believers participating together with Christ in some aspect of redemption, whether it’s dying with Christ, being buried with Christ, being raised with Christ, or being seated with Christ.
Apart from this kind of union, all the blessings of Christ would be outside us. It’s only when the Spirit joins us to Christ and we are ingrafted into his body that we can participate, not only in Christ’s benefits, but in Christ himself. The whole of the Christian life from election to justification to sanctification to final glorification is made possible by, and is an expression of, our union with Christ. That’s why Jesus’ final request in the High Priestly Prayer is that “I [may be] in them” (John 17:26) and why Paul says “Christ in you” is the hope of glory (Col. 1:21).

Missions and Missional

2011-08-17T09:44:00.003-05:00

Perhaps you've heard of the current evangelical buzzword "missional," but you might not know what the difference is between that and "missions." In the best use of the term, it is trying to get Christians to think and act like missionaries in their own locality, but some end up pitting this local missional approach with cross-cultural missions.

Ed Stetzer brings the two together helpfully:

If there were ever a people who understood that they would join Jesus on his mission, it would certainly be his disciples in the early church. They lived with him. They heard his teaching. And then he says to them in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” One of the basic principles of hermeneutics is to ask what did the words mean to the original hearers, and it seems self-evident that when they heard John 20:21 they responded by going to the nations. Paul yearned to go to Spain. Thomas went to India. The Apostles responded to this “sending” with global engagement.
Thus, when we say that mission exists because worship doesn't everywhere exist, we understand that central to the mission of God is the proclamation of the good news of the gospel so that men and women everywhere might hear, respond, repent, and give glory to God. Jesus sends the church out — but he specifically mentions that this is to the uttermost parts of the earth. Any talk about missions that ignores the lost and hurting immediately around us is missing part of the mission itself. But any talk about being missional that does not sense an urgency to move beyond our local territory into other tribes, tongues, and nations leads us into a biblical-theological dead end.
As the recipients of amazing grace we are compelled by divine love to join Jesus on mission so that his name and his fame might be known, not only through our individual lives and local churches, but also all over the earth.

Is Both/And the Path to Truth?

2011-08-15T11:04:00.003-05:00

Carolyn Arends:

My friend John Blase is a writer who chooses his words with utmost care. So when I noticed he refers to his wife as his "girlfriend" in his blogs, I knew the quirk was intentional. It turns out the habit goes back to the time when John was asked whether the lovely lady next to him was his wife or his girlfriend. He gave the only answer that made sense: "Yes."
I've been thinking about John and his girlfriend/wife a lot lately, especially when I read my Bible. Is it faith or works? I demand of the text, and the answer seems to be: "Yes." Is God a God of revelation or of mystery? Is he as close as a whisper or beyond all things? Yes. Yes. Is the kingdom of heaven now or not yet? Should I be wise as a serpent or innocent as a dove? Should I fall headlong into grace or work out my salvation with fear and trembling? Yes. Yes. Yes.

This is valid, to a point. We can indeed create false dichotomies by separating things that should not be separated, yet the distinctions are also important.

Thus, when the author asks, "Is it faith or works?"-- well, it matters a great deal what one means by "it." If you are asking, "Is justification faith or works?" Then your answer better be this: "I am not justified by my works, but by faith in Christ's finished work on the cross." That distinction is absolutely vital. There's no way we could read Galatians (where we've been this summer in our sermons) and think that Paul would say, "No, it's both/and! Justification is both faith and works." He comes down hard on justification by works and makes it clear that if we try to do both Christ and law, we've really chosen law. We can only be justified through faith in Christ.

However, if the question is, "Is the Christian life faith or works?"-- then I think we must give a both/and answer, and that too we can see from the letter to the Galatians. Paul does not merely describe doctrine to be believed, but spells out the way Christians should be living in holiness, by the power of the Spirit, in community with other believers. This question is what is being answered in the book of James, and this is often why that epistle is misunderstood as being inconsistent with the message of Galatians and Romans. They are answering different questions.

Let's try another one. Is it making disciples or doing justice? Well, if "it" is "the mission of the church," I don't think we can use the "both/and" card. However, if "it" is "the activity of the church," I think we could say both/and, though this means that we must make sure all of our activity somehow serves the mission, the primary task that we've been given. I believe this can be demonstrated from Jesus' words. At his ascension, his parting words were instructions on disciple-making. That's mission. Yet he gave many more commands and parables that taught us to love our neighbor, even our enemies. Just because making disciples is our primary task doesn't mean loving our neighbor is optional.

This doesn't mean that, say, our efforts at the local food pantry have to be overtly evangelistic all the time, but there does need to be a conscious desire and effort to make and take opportunities to point people to Christ. Sometimes that is honoring him as the reason why we do the work, and sometimes it is a more specific personal presentation of the gospel. This is an appropriate both/and.

All this to say, the distinctions are important, but because some things are meant to be understood distinctly does not mean that we can pick or choose one and not the other (e.g., salvation and discipleship). They just need to be held together in the right way. Sometimes, we need to say this/not that, and sometimes we need both/and. and with a thoughtful reading of Scripture, the Spirit will guide us to the right one.

Believing and Working

2011-08-13T14:22:00.000-05:00

Horatius Bonar:

When we say that believing is not working, but a ceasing from work, we do not mean that the believing man is not to work, but that he is not to work for pardon, but to take it freely, and that he is to believe before he works, for works done before believing are not pleasing to God.

Source

The Hidden Arrogance of Religious Pluralism

2011-08-11T07:17:00.000-05:00

Jonathan Dodson:

When religious pluralism says that there are many ways to God, it is not humble. It actually carries an air of arrogance about it. How? Religious pluralism insists that its view—all ways lead to God—is true while all other religions are false in their exclusive teachings. Religious pluralism dogmatically insists on its exclusive claim, namely that all roads lead to God. The problem, as we have seen, is that this claim directly contradicts many religions like Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. The claim of the religious pluralist is arrogant because it enforces own belief on others. It says to other religions: “You must believe what I believe, not what you believe. Your way isn’t right, in fact all of your ways are wrong and my way is right. There isn’t just one way (insert your way) to God; there are many ways. You are wrong and I am right.” This can be incredibly arrogant, particularly if the person saying this hasn’t studied all the world religions in depth and makes this blind assertion. Upon what basis can the religious pluralist make this exclusive claim? Where is the proof that this is true? To what ancient Scriptures, traditions, and careful reasoning can they point?
The lack of historical and rational support for religious pluralism makes it a highly untenable view of the world and its religions. As we have seen, while it may appear to be a more enlightened and humble view on God and how to reach him, it is not.

God's Worth and the Good News

2011-08-10T07:45:00.003-05:00

From an interview with David Platt...

[Interviewer]: How does God-centered preaching lead to passion for evangelism?
David Platt: The gospel begins and ends with God. He is the holy, just, and gracious Creator of the universe who has sent His Son, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that everyone who believes in Christ will be reconciled to God forever. And this is the gospel that we proclaim in evangelism.
So how do we best lead and shepherd God’s people to evangelize? By giving them a grand understanding of God. In preaching, we unfold the character of God: His holiness, His justice, His grace, and all of His other breath-taking attributes. As we magnify His Word, people behold His glory. And they believe, deep within their minds and their hearts, that God is great and greatly to be praised. In the process, this becomes the ultimate motivation for evangelism. The more the people I pastor see God’s worth, the more they want to make His worth known in the world.
So week after week after week, as I stand before them with God’s Word, I want to show them God’s worth. As they hear His Word and they see His worth, they will lay down their lives to make the good news of God’s grace and glory known to the people around them and people groups around the world. God-centered, gospel-saturated preaching is great fuel for Christ-honoring, world-embracing evangelism.

Pray for your preacher, and for our church that we would be more evangelistic.

Procrastination Indicates a Worship Problem

2011-08-08T14:58:00.002-05:00

It's my day off; thus, the battle rages between what I should get done and the desire to do little to nothing. However, this afternoon's rain put to rest the question of further outdoor work.

Staci Eastin:

…a habit of procrastination indicates a worship problem: an unwillingness to do the work that God has appointed for us, or an inability to discern what he has given us and what he has not. The procrastinator loves to hoard her time for herself rather than work diligently in it on the errands and tasks God gives her. She would rather blame the chaos outside of her than the chaos in her heart.

Source

The Gospel Above the Command

2011-08-07T11:48:00.000-05:00

Joe Thorn:

Once the commands of God are laid out, and people can feel their weight and significance, it is important to point them to the gospel above the command. We need to work to help our people see three truths:
1. Jesus atoned for our failure in this command. (Col. 1:3; 2:13, 14; Eph. 2:16; Rom. 5:9)
The commands of God are pure and beautiful. They are a perfect reflection of his character and will, and we stand in stark contrast to that revelation. We are spiritual failures who could be justly condemned for our sin. But, our failure is not the end. Jesus has fully atoned for our sins through his death on the cross, and by it we are reconciled to God.
2. Jesus fulfilled this command for us. (1 Cor. 1:30, 31; Rom. 5:19; Phil. 3:9)
Not only has God forgiven us of our unrighteousness, but he has given us the righteousness of Jesus, declaring that in him we are holy and blameless. In every point where we have failed, Jesus has been faithful. In this very command, Jesus was not only righteous, but was righteous for us.
3. Jesus empowers us to live out this command. (Phil. 2:12, 13; Eph. 6:10-20; 1 Pet. 4:11)
The good news of the gospel is that in Christ we are not only delivered rom the curse of the law, but also empowered by God to keep it. Relatively. We remain sinners, and find ourselves unable to loose ourselves from sin’s presence this side of the resurrection, but God is at work in his people to enable us to walk in his ways. You really can live a godly life. One in which you acknowledge and repent of your sin, and submit yourself to will and ways of God through power that comes by the Holy Spirit.

Source

In Moments of Conflict

2011-08-06T07:46:00.000-05:00

Ray Ortlund:

Honesty compels us to remember certain things in moments of conflict:
1. There is a difference between an accusation and a fact. An accusation is easy to launch, and it can have huge impact, even when it doesn’t deserve to. A fact can be hard to establish, and can carry little weight, though it deserves to. Honesty compels us to discipline our emotions and tongues.
2. It doesn’t matter how many times an accusation is repeated and repeated and repeated. Repetition does not prove anything. Honesty compels us to remember that repetition does risk multiple sins of gossip.
3. There is a difference between a sin and the general effects of sin on us all.
A sin is a clear violation of the Bible, chapter and verse. An act that is truly sinful – not just a disappointment to me but an offense to God – warrants discipline in some cases. But “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Honesty compels us to hold back before we go so far as to accuse anyone of a sin. Is it a sin? Really? In God’s sight?
The general effects of sin are the misunderstandings and disconnects common among us. They don’t deserve mention, even in our thoughts. Honesty compels us to admit that the irritation might be due to a flaw within ourselves.
May the peace of Christ rule in our hearts (Colossians 3:15). After all, something will.

A Really Humble Man

2011-08-05T09:11:00.001-05:00

C. S. Lewis:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: be will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody.

Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

Source

A Path God Uses

2011-08-04T08:41:00.001-05:00

Steve DeWitt writes on loneliness-- the whole piece is worth reading, but here is his conclusion:

Loneliness has an ugly twin sister named fear. When I am lonely, I fear that life will always be this way. Am I unlovable? Is there something wrong with me? Here loneliness can lead us to a most wonderful truth: God didn’t love us because we are loveable but simply because he is love. Remember: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8), and, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). We find that God’s love is not something you dress up for or qualify yourself by being loveable. We simply receive it as the gracious, free gift he offers. This love is the love for which my loneliness longs. To have Christ is to know this love.
I may not have a wife, but I have Christ. You may not have a husband, but you have Christ. You may be separated from family, but you have Christ. You may be a widow, but you have Christ. You may be rejected by my spouse, but you have Christ. And since you and I are made for him, to have him is to have his Spirit as a guarantee that someday I won’t ever feel lonely again. Therefore, we cannot invest our ultimate hope in a new relationship, friendship, or romance. Our hope as a Christian must be in the full realization of who we already have. In our moments of inward desolation, the Lord is there and with him there is a path through the valley of loneliness
In my worst moments of relational despair and unfulfilled longings, I look at the possibility of a life alone, and my loneliness guides me down a secret passageway to divine assurances. When I allow it to lead me there, I find the God-sized ache softened with his presence and promise. “Aloneness” doesn’t have to mean loneliness; it can actually be the path God uses for my soul to find its rest in him.

Of No Value at All

2011-08-01T10:35:00.000-05:00

Galatians 5:2

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

Martin Luther:

This passage is like a touchstone by which we may judge all human doctrine, practice, religion, and ceremony. Whoever teaches that anything besides faith in Christ is necessary for salvation or who devises any practice or religion or observes any rule, tradition, or ceremony whatsoever with the idea that they will obtain forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and everlasting life by these things—this passage contains the Holy Spirit’s sentence against them: Christ is of no value to them at all. If Paul dares to pronounce this sentence on the law and circumcision, both of which were ordained by God himself, what might he not do against the chaff and dross of human traditions?

Nothing under the sun is more harmful than the doctrine of human traditions and actions, for they utterly abolish the truth of the Gospel, faith, the true worship of God, and Christ himself, in whom the Father has ordained everything. In Christ are hidden “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”; in him “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:3, 9). Therefore, all those who are either authors or maintainers of the doctrine of works are oppressors of the Gospel. They make the death and victory of Christ useless; they blemish and deface his sacraments, utterly removing their true use. In short, they are blasphemers, enemies, and deniers of God and of all his promises and benefits.

At the Foot of the Cross

2011-07-31T11:23:00.001-05:00

As you may have concluded from recent posts, I've been using Martin Luther and John Stott quite a bit in my study of Galatians. You probably know Martin Luther as one of the giants of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. John Stott was one of the giants of expository preaching in the twentieth century. I had already planned to post this quotation of his today, but on Wednesday he passed away at the age of 90.

John Stott:

Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.

Source

Moved and Melted

2011-07-30T08:04:00.000-05:00

Pray for our worship service tomorrow.

Andrew Bonar (1894):

Having some time today I set myself to pray more, confessing sin, asking, thanking and praising. I am ashamed of my shallowness in knowledge, feeling and desire. Most humbling. On the other hand, how astonishing has been the Lord’s kindness to me, mercies like waves of the sea, bright mercies like the stars of heaven, mercies to my soul, mercies to me a sinner in every possible way, crowned with the unspeakable kindness of putting me into the ministry and using me to win souls. I long more and more to be ‘filled’ with the Spirit, and to see my congregation moved and melted under the Word, as in great revival times, ‘The place shaken where they are assembled together,’ because the Lord has come in power.

Source

Look at My Shell Collection!

2011-07-29T07:59:00.001-05:00

This is classic John Piper: a warning about the temptations of a comfortable retirement.

Ten Questions to Turn Your Conversation to the Gospel

2011-07-28T07:54:00.000-05:00

Don Whitney:

Here are ten questions to ask to turn your conversation to the gospel.
When you die, if God says to you, "Why should I let you into Heaven?", what would you say? Are you interested in what the Bible says about your answer?
If you were to die tonight, where do you think you would spend eternity? Why? Are you interested in what the Bible says about this?
Do you think much about spiritual things?
How is God involved in your life?
How important is your faith to you?
What has been your most meaningful spiritual experience?
Do you find that your religious heritage answers your questions about life?
Do you have any kind of spiritual beliefs? If what you believe were not true, would you want to know it? Well, the Bible says . . .
To you, who is Jesus?
I often like to pray for people I meet; how can I pray for you?

Source

Too Great

2011-07-27T07:50:00.000-05:00

Derek Kidner:

The wrong inference from God's transcendence is that he is too great to care; the right one is that he is too great to fail.

Source

The Crusades

2011-07-27T07:47:00.000-05:00

Keith Mathison:

Does Christianity promote such politically inspired violence? Some would say yes, pointing to the Crusades as an example. In the following article, however, Dr. Robert Godfrey says no: He rightly points out that it is a betrayal of Christ to “identify Him with the slaughter of political enemies. As Christians, we must seek always to advance Christ’s cause through truth joined by love and self-sacrifice, not through violence.”
Read "The Crusades" by W. Robert Godfrey

He's Not a "Fundamentalist Christian"

2011-07-26T14:43:00.003-05:00

Michael Horton:

At least 76 people are dead after Anders Behring Breivik massacred campers on an island off the coast of Oslo, Norway.

Finally, the media has a face and a name for making its heretofore unjustified claim of moral equivalency between conservative Christianity and Islam. Religion may be fine as long as it’s private, and you don’t really believe the key teachings of any one in particular. In any case, those who think they need to act on their confessional convictions in daily life—much less encourage other people to embrace them—are on the path to terrorism. Finally, we can reassure ourselves that Islam is not the problem; it’s “Christian fundamentalism."

But for anyone interested in the facts of the case, the secularist narrative has lost its poster-boy. In an on-line manifesto, Breivik makes it clear that he is not a “fundamentalist Christian.” He prefaces one comment with, “If there is a God…” and says that science should always trump religion. So in terms of religious convictions, he sounds more like Richard Dawkins than Jerry Falwell. Yet, unlike Dawkins, Breivik pines for the “good ‘ol days” of Christendom, especially the crusades. “Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I’m not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic. However, I am a supporter of a monocultural Christian Europe…”

The nineteenth century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche shrewdly observed that in his day the bourgeois elites of Europe wanted the fruit of Christianity (i.e., moral culture) without the tree itself (i.e., the actual doctrine and practice). Breivik is not a poster-boy for “Christian fundamentalism,” but the fulfillment of Nietzsche’s prophecy. It’s one thing to confuse the kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of this age, but we need a new category besides “fundamentalism” for the secular faith in “Christendom” without Christ.

Source

Controlled, Confused, and Trapped

2011-07-25T08:38:00.002-05:00

Donald J. Hilton, Jr. illustrates the addictive and destructive power of pornography:

In 1869 the gypsy moth was brought to America to attempt to jumpstart a silk industry. Rarely have good intentions gone so wrong, as the unforeseen appetite of the moth for deciduous trees such as oaks, maples, and elms has devastated forests for 150 years. Numerous attempts were made to destroy this pest, but a major breakthrough came in the 1960s, when scientists noted that the male gypsy moth finds a female to mate with by following her scent. This scent is called a pheromone, and is extremely attractive to the male.

In 1971 a paper was published in the journal Nature that described how pheromones were used to prevent the moths from mating. The scientists mass-produced the pheromone and permeated the moths’ environment with it. This unnaturally strong scent overpowered the females’ normal ability to attract the male, and the confused males were unable to find females. A follow-up paper described how population control of the moths was achieved by “preventing male gypsy moths from finding mates.”

The gypsy moth was the first insect to be controlled by the use of pheromones, which work by two methods. One is called the confusion method. An airplane scatters an environmentally insignificant number of very small plastic pellets imbedded with the scent of the pheromone. Then, as science journalist Anna Salleh describes it, “The male either becomes confused and doesn’t know which direction to turn for the female, or he becomes desensitized to the lower levels of pheromones naturally given out by the female and has no incentive to mate with her.”

The other method is called the trapping method: Pheromone-infused traps are set, from which moths cannot escape; a male moth enters looking for a female, only to find a fatal substitute.

What does this have to do with pornography? Pornography is a visual pheromone, a powerful, $100 billion per year brain drug that is changing human sexuality by “inhibiting orientation” and “disrupting pre-mating communication between the sexes by permeating the atmosphere,” especially through the internet.

Read the whole thing here.

Source

Our Greatest Need

2011-07-24T11:22:00.000-05:00

Don Carson:

If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor.

But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.

Source

Inheriting the Wind

2011-07-23T07:26:00.000-05:00

Chris Brauns:

Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart. Proverbs 11:29.
My mind still can’t quite grasp the devastation of the Joplin Tornado. The destructive force is mind numbing. I’m sure it’s worse in person.
Even though some weeks have now passed since the Joplin Tornado, I was reminded of it today when I read Proverbs 11:29, “Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind. . .” The Proverb brings to mind the picture of a home destroyed by the wind. The point is that those who rebel bring about, one way or another, the sort of mind numbing destruction of a tornado that flattens homes.
If your home has been “flattened” by the rebellion of a family member, do be encouraged by the next verse Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life . . .” While the rebellious are a destructive force, godly people offer nourishment to those who pass by. Be godly. For your family, God can use you in great ways.

Literally?

2011-07-22T15:09:00.002-05:00

If we think that taking the biblical descriptions of hell to be figurative would make it more palatable, we've missed the point of all that imagery.

R. C. Sproul:

Whenever I enter into discussions about the doctrine of hell, people ask, “R.C., do you believe that the New Testament portrait of hell is to be interpreted literally?” I usually respond by saying, “No, I don’t interpret those images literally,” and people typically respond with a sigh of relief.
If we take the New Testament’s descriptions of hell as symbolic language, we have to remember the function of symbols. The assumption is that there’s always more to the reality than what is indicated by the symbol, which makes me think that, instead of taking comfort that these images of the New Testament may indeed be symbolic, we should be worrying that the reality toward which these symbols point is more ghastly than the symbols.

Can I Thank God for This?

2011-07-21T11:21:00.000-05:00

Kevin DeYoung:

I’ve learned over the years that the simplest way to judge gray areas in the Christian life like movies, television, and music is to ask one simple question: can I thank God for this? (We are to give thanks in all circumstances, right?) Not too long ago my wife and I went to the movie theater to watch one of the summer blockbusters. It was a fun PG-13 movie, and you’d probably say it didn’t really have any bad parts. But it was very sensual and suggestive in several places. I got done with the movie (yes, I watched the whole thing) and thought, “Can I really thank God for this?” Now, I’m not a total kill-joy. I like to laugh and enjoy life. I can thank God for the Chicago Bears, Hot N’ Readys, and Brian Regan. But I wonder if after most of our entertainment we could sincerely get down on our knees and say, “Thank you God for this good gift.” Something to think about.

Who Are You Married To?

2011-07-18T07:56:00.000-05:00

Ray Ortlund:

“A married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. . . . and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another.” Romans 7:2-4
We were married to Mr. Law. He was a good man, in his way, but he did not understand our weakness. He came home every evening and asked, “So, how was your day? Did you do what I told you to? Did you make the kids behave? Did you waste any time?” So many demands and expectations. And hard as we tried, we couldn’t be perfect. We forgot things that were important to him. We let the children misbehave. We failed in other ways. It was a miserable marriage, because Mr. Law always pointed out our failings. And his remedy was always the same: Do better tomorrow. We couldn’t.
Mr. Law died – fortunately. And we remarried, this time to Mr. Grace. Our new husband, Jesus, comes home every evening and the house is a mess, the children are being naughty, dinner is burning on the stove, and we have even had other men in the house during the day. Still, he sweeps us into his arms and says, “I love you, I chose you, I died for you, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And our hearts melt. We don’t understand such love. We expect him to judge us, but he treats us so well.
Being married to Mr. Law never changed us. But being married to Mr. Grace is finally changing us deep within, and it shows.

The Devil's Martyrs

2011-07-17T11:45:00.000-05:00

Galatians 5:1

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Martin Luther:

Therefore, those who observe the law and those who rely entirely upon its righteousness and works are rightly called the devil’s martyrs. As the proverb says, they take more pains and punish themselves more in purchasing hell than the martyrs of Christ do in obtaining heaven. They are tormented in two ways: they are tormented while they live here by doing many difficult things, all in vain; and afterwards, when they die, they reap the reward of eternal damnation. Thus they are most miserable martyrs, both in this life and in the life to come, and their bondage is everlasting.

Godly people, on the other hand, have troubles in this world, but in Christ they have peace, because they believe that he has “overcome the world” (John 16:33). Therefore, we must stand firm in the freedom that Christ has purchased for us by his death, and we must take good care that we are not burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Don't Debate the Devil

2011-07-17T11:26:00.000-05:00

Martin Luther, at his irreverent best:

It is the supreme art of the devil that he can make the law out of the gospel. If I can hold on to the distinction between law and gospel, I can say to him any and every time that he should kiss my backside. Even if I sinned I would say, ‘Should I deny the gospeI on this account?’ . . . Once I debate about what I have done and left undone, I am finished. But if I reply on the basis of the gospel, ‘The forgiveness of sins covers it all,’ I have won.

Source

How the Old Testament Points Us to Christ

2011-07-16T07:50:00.000-05:00

In Galatians, we've seen Paul lean on the Old Testament quite a bit to make the case for justification through faith in Christ alone. Here's how Nancy Guthrie lists the variety of ways the OT can point us to Jesus Christ.

A problem that only Christ can solve (the curse, our inability to keep the law, our alienation from God)
A promise only Christ can fulfill (blessing, presence of God with us)
A need that only Christ can meet (salvation from judgment, life beyond death)
A pattern or theme that only comes to resolution in Christ (kingdom, rest)
A story that only comes to its conclusion through Christ (the people of God, creation/fall/redemption/consummation)
A person who prefigures an aspect of who Christ will be or what he will do by analogy and/or contrast (Joseph, Moses, David)
An event or symbol that pictures an aspect of who Christ will be or what he will do (ark, exodus, sacrifices)
A revelation of the pre-incarnate Christ (wrestling with Jacob, commander of the Lord’s army)

Test Yourselves

2011-07-15T07:16:00.001-05:00

How can I know I'm not a Christian?

Mike McKinley:

In II Corinthians 13:5, the apostle Paul commands his readers: "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!"
OK, that seems straightforward enough. But what does it mean to examine yourself? What should you be looking for? How do you know whether or not you are "in the faith"? What is the "test" that we might fail? I wrote Am I Really a Christian? in order to try to help answer these questions.
Well, we should all hope that we pass "the test" (again, Paul's words, not mine!). And Scripture gives us a few things to look for that would indicate that in fact we are not "in the faith". A few examples:
You're not a Christian if you don't believe true doctrine: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. (I John 4:2-3)
You're not a Christian if you enjoy sin: Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (I John 2:4-6)
You're not a Christian if you don't persevere: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (I John 2:19)
You're not a Christian if you don't love others: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (I John 4:7-8)
You're not a Christian if you love your stuff more than you love Jesus: And he said to all, “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. (Luke 9:23-24)
Now, none of this is to say that our obedience somehow earns our salvation. But these are fruits of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that the authors of Scripture clearly expected a Christian to be able to discern in their lives.

The Master Culture of the Kingdom of God

2011-07-14T07:11:00.000-05:00

Remember when we studied these verses?

Galatians 3:27-29

²⁷For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸There 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. ²⁹And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Bryan Loritts, while not commenting on these verses directly, makes a statement that I believe fits well:

I have become entrenched in my conviction that culture is not to be ignored but subjugated to the master culture of the kingdom of God. My blackness is not to be dismissed, but submitted and subjugated to the redeeming power of the cross, and in humble participation to this new chosen race and royal priesthood called the church of Jesus Christ. This becomes a dance where 1) Christ is preeminent in my life, 2) I constantly go to war with the sinful expressions of and affections for my ethnicity, and 3) yet I allow redemptive expressions of my culture to be woven into the beautiful tapestry of the body of Christ which is both unified and uniquely diverse.

Source

God and Man on the Scale

2011-07-13T07:07:00.000-05:00

J. I. Packer:

I think of the two pans of an old fashioned pair of scales. If one goes up, the other goes down.
Once upon a time folks new that God was great and that man by comparison was small. Each individual carried around a sense of his own smallness in the greatness of God’s world.
However, the scale pans are in a different relation today. Man has risen in his own estimation. He thinks of himself as great, grand and marvelously resourceful. This means inevitably that our thoughts about God have shrunk. As God goes down in our estimation, He gets smaller. He also exists now only for our pleasure, our convenience and our health, rather than we existing for His glory.
Now, I’m an old fashioned Christian and I believe that we exist for the glory of God. So the first thing I always want to do in any teaching of Christianity is to attempt to try and get those scale pans reversed. I want to try and show folks that God is the one of central importance. We exist for His praise, to worship Him, and find our joy and fulfillment in Him; therefore He must have all the glory. God is great and He must be acknowledged as great. I think there is a tremendous difference between the view that God saves us and the idea that we save ourselves with God’s help. Formula number two fits the modern idea, while formula number one, as I read my Bible, is scriptural. We do not see salvation straight until we recognize that from first to last it is God’s work. He didn’t need to save us. He owed us nothing but damnation after we sinned. What he does, though, is to move in mercy. He sends us a Savior and His Holy Spirit into our hearts to bring us to faith in that Savior. Then He keeps us in that faith and brings us to His glory. It is His work from beginning to end. God saves sinners. It does, of course, put us down very low. It is that aspect of the gospel that presents the biggest challenge to the modern viewpoint. But we must not forget that it also sets God up very high. It reveals to us a God who is very great, very gracious and very glorious. A God who is certainly worthy of our worship.

Source

"Jesus Is Lord"

2011-07-12T07:04:00.001-05:00

A story of ministry in a Muslim area of South Asia:

The realities of persecution were on everyone's minds as we walked down to the river for the baptisms. One by one, our new brothers in Christ walked out into the water, where they were met by our translator. He asked them some basic questions to make sure they understood the Gospel. But then he also asked them if they were prepared to lose their livelihoods, their families -- even their very lives. Their response? "Jesus is Lord." And with that, they went down into the watery grave, only to be raised as new creatures in Jesus Christ. The week after we left, these brothers worshiped together for the first time. Lord willing, they represent the genesis of a new local church.

As we departed from the river, no one had dry eyes. How could we? One of the students asked me what I thought about the events of the morning. I told him we'd just witnessed the Book of Acts.

Source

OMG?

2011-07-11T07:56:00.000-05:00

Justin Taylor:

Just because “Oh my God!” is abused in our culture—a case of taking great God’s name lightly and in vain—doesn’t mean we should refrain from the vocative “O my God!”
Note in the Bible how often it is used in conjunction with imploring God to listen, to see, to remember, to arise, and to save.
2 Chronicles 6:40
Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.
Ezra 9:6
“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
Psalm 25:2
O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me.
Psalm 38:21
Do not forsake me, O Lord! O my God, be not far from me!
Psalm 40:8
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40:17
As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!
Psalm 59:1
Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.
Psalm 71:12
O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
Daniel 9:19
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake,O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.

Hearing Joy

2011-07-10T11:49:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to preach at The Red Brick Church of Stillman Valley this morning. Here's a post by their pastor Chris Brauns, author of Unpacking Forgiveness. This is a good model of profitably meditating on Scripture.

Can you hear joy? Have you heard it?
Nehemiah 8:43 regarding the dedication of the wall:
And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. Nehemiah 8:43.
Scattered Questions
Don’t you wish you could have been there for the celebration?
How much more do you suppose the celebration meant for the ones who had been part of the wall building project?
What does it sound like for people to be so excited – - including women and children? Did they clap? Shout? Play instruments? Laugh?
What would need to take place for more of this to happen in our local assemblies?
Can you think of a time when you were a part of a time of such joy and enthusiasm?
How might God use you to help bring about such a show of celebration?

Keeping Our Eyes on Christ

2011-07-09T07:31:00.000-05:00

Galatians 4:14

…you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

Galatians 4:19

…my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!

John Stott, connecting these two verses above:

What should matter to the people is not the pastor’s appearance, but whether Christ is speaking through him. And what should matter to the pastor is not the people’s favor, but whether Christ is formed in them. The church needs people who, in listening to their pastor, listen for the message of Christ, and pastors who, in laboring among the people, look for the image of Christ. Only when pastor and people thus keep their eyes on Christ will their mutual relations keep healthy, profitable and pleasing to almighty God.

Yes, Heaven Is For Real, But...

2011-07-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Greg Thornbury:

What bothers me about the reception of [the book] Heaven Is For Real is what it says about the relatively low view of the sufficiency of Scripture among evangelicals today. In other words, it’s not good enough for us to hear about heaven from the holy apostles, Church Fathers, and trusted commentaries on Scripture. No, we need a little boy sitting on Jesus’ lap to tell us that instead. Then we will believe it. And that phenomenon ultimately bodes ill for everyone who really does love the Bible: pastors, teachers, parents, and yes, even children.

Source

Seeing the Gospel in Your Daily Devotions

2011-07-07T14:33:00.002-05:00

Dane Ortlund:

What are some tools/practical tips you’d give to a person to help them see the gospel in their daily devotions?
1. Reflect deeply, in an unhurried way, on your own sin. Not misanthropic introspection, but healthy self-assessment, in the spirit of 2 Cor. 13:5. One reason the gospel does not feel real to us is that our sin does not feel real to us.
2. Get married, then have kids, adopting if need be. Nothing exposes your sins and need of the gospel like living with other people who see what you’re like when you’re not out in public, wearing various masks, trying your hardest to come across a certain way.
3. Discipline yourself to read Scripture every day. It’s hard to get in a spiritual rhythm of communing with the God of all grace if you only have fellowship with him sporadically.
4. Sing. Print out your favorite hymns and worship songs and sing amid your Bible reading. We are whole people, not brains only.
5. Belong to a church that loves the gospel and preaches the gospel so that you can learn from a wise pastor how to see the gospel all over the Bible.
6. Read every passage mindful of what Jesus himself says in John 5:39-46 and Luke 24:25-27, 44-47, and what Paul says in 2 Cor. 1:19-20. If that’s how Jesus and Paul read their Bibles, shouldn’t we?

Should Just

2011-07-06T17:21:00.002-05:00

Matt Johnson:

Stuck people already know what they should just be doing. They should just stop drinking to excess, they should just be more attentive to their spouse, they should just work harder, they should just stop masturbating. These two dirty words not only yield fruitlessness, they’re fertilizer for despair. The insidious, looming should / just is familiar and it sounds a little like this:
I should just be in the word more
I know I should just have more more faith
I should just trust God more
Hiding behind each of those familiar statements is a vortex of disappointment and failure waiting to happen. We’ve all tried to try harder. Depressed, stuck people need more admonishment about as much as they need a whack to the head with a tube sock full of rolled pennies. The problem is, Should / Just is packed to the brim with the conditional implications of law, not gospel. Remember--God’s law is perfect, holy and just but the law does not give, it only commands, accuses and judges. See, the gospel alone empowers obedience. So once someone has been crushed under the demand of the law, the gut punch of Should / Just isn’t helpful.
Broken people need less Should / Just impossibility and more Because / Therefore security. Because you are in Christ,because you are reconciled to the Father, because your sins are forgiven, therefore, go and [insert biblical command here].

For His Name's Sake

2011-07-05T07:38:00.000-05:00

Josh Etter:

Three biblical texts to show God's zeal for his name's sake:
We are created for God's name's sake:
Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, every one who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory (Isaiah 43:6-7).
We are saved for God's name's sake:
I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out (Ezekiel 20:14).
We are sanctified for God's name's sake:
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another (Isaiah 48:10-11).

God Gave Us Food

2011-07-04T07:22:00.000-05:00

It's a holiday, so you'll probably be eating a lot. Here's Tim Chester on thinking about food from a biblical perspective (and it's not a warning about gluttony).

“Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, [Jesus] gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people.” (9:16 NIV)
Consider for a moment what happens at the feeding of the 5,000. God gives out bread. On a massive scale. Or what about the wedding at Cana. Jesus turns perhaps 120-180 gallons of water into wine. Quality wine. At the beginning of the Bible story the first thing God does for humanity is present us with a menu. “The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” (Genesis 2:8-9) At the end of the Bible story God sets before us a perpetual feast. God likes doing the catering. He thinks food is a good thing.
God incarnate eats. Jesus would have eaten two meals a day. When he ate with the rich he might have had white bread, but most of the time he ate the barley bread eaten by the poor along with cheese, butter and eggs. Meat and poultry were too expensive to be eaten except on feast days. He may have had fish on the Sabbath. There were of course no tea or coffee. Jesus would have drunk wine, generally mixed with three-parts water. Honey was the primary sweetener along with figs. Pepper, ginger and other spices were imported, but were expensive.1 Such was the diet of God incarnate.
The risen Christ eats. Indeed he makes a point of doing so publicly. “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.” (Luke 24:42-43) Eating in the presence of God is our future. Food will be part of the renewed creation. Food is not left behind with the resurrection. It’s not just a metaphor for an ethereal future existence. Our future is a feast.
The point is that food isn’t just fuel. It’s not just a mechanism for sustaining us for ministry. It’s gift, generosity, grace. Food matters as matter. It’s a physical substance, part of God’s good world. We’re to embrace the world as it is – not merely as a picture of some other spiritual world.

I Do Not Desire It

2011-07-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

Also related to our text.

Galatians 4:9

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

John Stott:

Oh, the folly of these Galatians! We can certainly understand the language of the Prodigal Son, who came to his father and said ‘I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants’ or ‘slaves’. But how can anyone be so foolish as to say: ‘You have made me your son; but I would rather be a slave’? It is one thing to say ‘I do not deserve it’; it is quite another to say ‘I do not desire it; I prefer slavery to sonship’. Yet that was the folly of the Galatians, under the influence of their false teachers.

Being Known by God

2011-07-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

This is related to our text from this morning's sermon.

John Piper:

But in [1 Corinthians 8:3] Paul does not simply relate loving God to knowing as we ought to know. He says, ‘But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.’ What is the point of saying, ‘He is known by God’? This is parallel to Galatians 4:9: ‘But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world?’
Deeper than knowing God is being known by God. What defines us as Christians is not most profoundly that we have come to know him but that he took note of us and made us his own.
Being known by God is another way of talking about election—God’s freely choosing us for himself, in spite of our not deserving it. It the kind of knowing referred to in Amos 3:2: ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth.’ God had chosen Israel as his people, though they were no better than any others.
What Paul is doing when he says, ‘If anyone loves God, he is known by God.’ Is reminding the proud Corinthians that loving God, not loveless knowledge, is the sign of being among the elect. He is reminding them that everything they have is owing to God’s free and sovereign initiative.

A Reality Created by God

2011-07-02T07:16:00.000-05:00

Remember to gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ tomorrow for worship.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on life in the church:

Because God already has laid the only foundation of our community, because God has united us in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that life together with other Christians, not as those who make demands, but as those who thankfully receive…. We do not complain about what God does not give us; rather we are thankful for what God does give us daily.
*****
Therefore, will not the very moment of great disillusionment with my brother or sister be incomparably wholesome for me because it so thoroughly teaches us that both of us can never live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and deed that really binds us together, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ? The bright day of Christian community dawns wherever the early morning mists of dreamy visions are lifting.
*****
Christian community is not an ideal we have to realize, but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our community is in Jesus Christ alone, the more calmly we will learn to think about our community and pray and hope for it.

Source

Christianity in China

2011-07-01T07:34:00.000-05:00

TIME, on Christianity in China:

With its 40 Biblical reading groups, choir, catechism, its faithful (typically members of the new bourgeoisie — professors, doctors, lawyers, students, and even Party members), Shouwang gains dozens of new converts each month. For the regime, it is the strongest symbol of the wave of religious conversion that has swept over the country of late. Urban, educated, disgusted by the “red” discourse served by the media, and fed up even with the cult of consumerism, the new, Christ-conscious Chinese upper class is on a moral collision course with a government that it perceives as soulless.
The numbers speak for themselves. A survey conducted in 2006 suggests that about 300 million Chinese (31% of the population) practice a religion. Government estimates put that number far lower. Among Chinese religious practitioners, two-thirds declared themselves Buddhists or Taoists. The remaining third (100 million people) are Christians.
A leaked report dating from the same year suggests that the real number of Chinese Christians is closer to 130 million — up from just 5 million in 1949 when Mao came to power. Roughly four-fifths are Protestants. In the past 60 years, in other words, the number of Chinese Christians has multiplied by a factor of 25. They now make up between 7%-10% of the population, meaning that Christianity is quite possibly the second religion in China.

Source

Our Greatest Fear

2011-06-30T19:42:00.001-05:00

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

2011-06-30T07:23:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-29T07:18:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-28T07:44:00.000-05:00

Galatians 3:28-29

²⁸There 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. ²⁹And 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

2011-06-27T07:36:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-26T12:03:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-26T11:51:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

Do Christians Have to Join a Church?

2011-06-25T08:08:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-24T07:41:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

Embodying the Message of Christ

2011-06-23T08:08:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-22T08:14:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

What Is a Nominal Christian?

2011-06-21T08:06:00.000-05:00

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

What is a nominal Christian? from Crossway on Vimeo.

Always Out in Public

2011-06-20T11:56:00.001-05:00

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.

Source

The Beauty of Holiness

2011-06-19T11:06:00.001-05:00

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.

Source

They Don't Last

2011-06-18T08:32:00.001-05:00

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?

Source

The Clearest Picture

2011-06-17T15:52:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

Twelve Reasons

2011-06-16T10:26:00.004-05:00

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.

It wrecks your view of sex.
It wrecks your view of women.
It wrecks women's view of themselves.
The porn industry abuses women.
It's a sin against your wife.
It wrecks families.
It is enslaving.
It erodes your character.
It wastes your time, energy, and money.
It weakens your relationship with God.
It weakens your service.
God's wrath is against people who use porn.

Source

In the World, Not of the World

2011-06-16T08:06:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

The Hardest Truths Can Produce the Most Tender Hearts

2011-06-15T08:44:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-14T07:54:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

Who's in Charge of the Church?

2011-06-14T07:37:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-13T07:47:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

Christ Gave Himself for Me

2011-06-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-11T07:23:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-10T11:15:00.001-05:00

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.

Source

We Have the Same Christ

2011-06-08T09:53:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-07T12:19:00.002-05:00

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"

2011-06-07T07:26:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-06T13:06:00.002-05:00

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

2011-06-05T13:36:00.000-05:00

Hudson Taylor:

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

Source

Faith Has No Object but Jesus Christ

2011-06-05T11:34:00.001-05:00

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

2011-06-04T08:06:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

Unoriginal Pastors

2011-06-04T07:29:00.000-05:00

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

2011-06-03T07:39:00.000-05:00

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?

2011-06-02T16:28:00.002-05:00

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

2011-06-01T09:53:00.000-05:00

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.

Source

Running in a Relay Race

2011-05-31T09:50:00.000-05:00

Bob Kauflin makes a point using the analogy of a relay race:

A relay race involves more than one person
In the often individualistic world of track and field, the relay is a unique race. It requires teamwork that other races don’t. The runner who crosses the finish line is integrally dependent on those who have run before him.
Likewise, we need those who have gone before us. We’re running the same race. Hebrews 11 is a clear reminder that we are but one piece of the glorious tapestry God is weaving together for His glory.
Having a relay mindset means being one of the faithful men Paul describes to Timothy (2 Tim. 2:2). What can keep you from being part of the relay team? Rarely interacting with those from another generation. Spending the majority of your time reflecting on the ideas of your peers. Criticizing any idea or practice that doesn’t rate high on the relevance or coolness meter. Only reading books that were printed in the last decade — or worse, confining your reading to the blogosphere or Twitter.
Cultivating the humility that recognizes the need for voices older and wiser than your own isn’t easy. But it’s well worth the effort.