Why WE Still Need the Reformation

Russell Moore:

For most conservative American evangelicals, "Reformation Day" is not a big deal. Many, if asked, might think it to be a special emphasis day for prison ministry.

Most of us know the day as Halloween instead (or something closely approximating it), even if we feel a little guilty about that. I'll be away travelling tonight, unable to indulge the trick-or-treaters, so maybe I'll just nail 95 Reese's to the door.

But as one who grew up in a half-Catholic, half-Baptist extended family, October 31st is an interesting time for me. What would Martin Luther have done on that thundrous road if he'd had a background like mine? Invited Saint Anne into his heart as his personal lightning rod? Pledged to start a "True Nuns Wait" campaign?

What I do know is that, whatever your view of the Reformation, it's obvious to see that some of the things that drove Luther to anger (and to despair) are everywhere present, to this day, often even in the most "Reformation-centric" evangelical churches.

Hardened rebels against God rest easy in a prayer said at Vacation Bible School, or a card signed at confirmation class. And guilty consciences stand paralyzed outside, fearful that Christ can only save those who look or dress or speak a certain way. And, through it all, American Christianity has become a vast conspiracy to sell one another products.

The combination of the damning power of cheap grace with the accusing agony of performance-based righteousness before God exists in every wing of the church. That's because it's not a medieval problem, but a primeval one.

Syncopated Luther

In honor of Reformation Day today, here is a video (more audio than video, really) of Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." It is sung in German in the original syncopated style. What?! You thought that syncopation originated 100 years ago with ragtime? Not so.

Stingy Jack

More from David Wayne on some of the history behind Halloween-- in this installment, the story behind the Jack o' Lantern:

The pumpkin, which many of us associate so strongly with Hallowe’en, is native only to North America, and grows nowhere else in the world. They simply did not have pumpkins to use as symbols, until about 300 years ago! The original Jack-O-Lanterns go back a little further, but were usually made from turnips or potatoes, and are a relatively recent European invention (c. 1200 A.D.).

According to tradition, the Jack-O-Lantern is the good-natured result of an old Irish-Christian wives-tale about a miser named Stingy Jack who refused his good wife’s exhortation to go to church. Jack instead frequented saloons, were he eventually met and tricked the Devil himself into paying for the drinks. A year later, on the eve of the Hallowed Day, Jack choked to death, eating a turnip. When he arrived at heaven’s gate he was turned away as an unrepentant sinner. At the gates of hell, Satan drove him off by throwing glowing embers of hell-fire at him, still angry over being tricked. Jack was doomed to walk between heaven and hell until the Judgment Day, still carrying his half-eaten turnip, in which burned the glowing embers he had caught. They called it Jack’s-Lantern, and Christians would put them up to mark the locations of their Hallowe’en parties. According to the legend, if Satan saw such a lantern he would turn and walk the other way rather than risk meeting Stingy Jack in such a gathering.

Isn't it interesting how a "Christianity" without an emphasis on the Scriptures fosters a folk religion that instinctively creates its own stories? And how, in this imagination, the Devil is always a more interesting character than, say, Jesus? And, not incidentally, that the gospel is absent?

At least it got a couple of things right: Unrepentant sinners don't go to heaven, and you can't swallow a whole turnip. So don't be a fool like Stingy Jack.

As Holy As Possible

Robert Murray McCheyne:

Lord, make me as holy as it is possible for a saved sinner to be.

Counting the Days

Psalms 139:16

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

Carolyn Nystrom:

God’s power, blended with his knowledge, has sobering implications. I remember well the day when I sat down and calculated the days that my own firstborn child had lived: a mere 8,175 days until a car crash on the way to work ended Sheri’s life as well as that of her own unborn child. At age seven, Sheri had completed nearly a third of her lifetime—and God knew. He had counted the days. When Sheri danced at her senior prom, she had completed more than three-quarters of it—and God knew. He had counted the days. At college graduation, she had completed all but seventy-one days. God had already counted them. I am grateful that those counted days were in God’s knowledge, not mine. It is comforting to know that the length of Sheri’s life did not somehow escape the knowledge and power of God, that her life (far too short by human measure), continues to this day in his presence. God the Creator shapes—conceives, constructs, connects, controls—all that he brings into any mode of being, and this shaping is his omnipotence in action.

From Praying: Finding Our Way through Duty to Delight, by J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom

The History Behind Halloween

David Wayne, with "just the facts" on Halloween (the numbers at the end of sentences refer to footnotes you can see at his original post-- follow the link):

Hallowe’en was created by the Early Christian Church during the 4th century.1 Originally celebrated on the 13th and 14th of May as “All Martyr’s Day,” it was instituted to remember those who had given their lives for the Faith during the Great Christian Holocaust, by Rome.2 It was, in other words, the Christian Memorial Day — the second most important holy-day in the entire Christian Calendar. Fact.

Somewhere along the way it apparently became customary to hold Church pageants on the preceding evening. Everyone, even the audience, came dressed as their favorite martyred saint.3 Those who chose Paul, came beheaded. Those who chose Matthew, came with a spear thrust through them. In skits, congregations would reenact the valor and passion of the Church-in-persecution. Others dressed as the antagonists of the stories — Satan, his demons, the wild animals of the coliseum, the soldiers and the Caesars. These were the defeated enemies, booed and hissed, while the victorious heroes were cheered. Afterward they would all spill out into the streets of the city, begging food for the poor among them.4 Fact.

Some three hundred years later, the city of Rome donated a building to the Church in memory of all the “martyrs” of the Great Persecution. The building had formerly been used as a place of torture and the execution of Christians. Now, it would be used to worship Jesus Christ. The irony was not lost on the Church, and many shifted their All Martyr’s celebration to the day the new building was dedicated — November 1.5 Within the next fifty years that change became official in the Western Churches (the Eastern Churches still celebrate in the spring, to this day6). The celebration was gradually expanded to include any who had been persecuted for the name of Christ, and many began calling it “All Saints’ Day.” Fact.

In the centuries that followed, the name was finally changed to the “Holy Day” – or more popularly, the “Hallowed Day.” The festivities traditionally began the night before, because until recent times both Jews and Christians began their day at dusk. This is not the result of culture or superstition, but because God made them that way (”… and the evening and the morning, were the first day”, etc.). So, to the early Church the evening of a Saturday, for instance, was the night before, not the night after — Saturday began with Saturday-evening (what you and I would call Friday night). In fact, what we call “Christmas Eve” today, was originally the evening of/before Christmas-Day. The same is true of New Year’s Eve. Similarly, the Hallowed Day began with the “Hallowed Even’,” which was ultimately contracted to the “Hallowe’en” we know today. Today, we still begin our celebration on the evening before – what appears on our calendars as October 31. Fact.

Here I Stand

As Reformation Day approaches (October 31), you can celebrate with a 24-minute audio dramatization of Martin Luther's famous speech, available this week as a free download here. This is the site's description of the program:

In the late afternoon of April 18, 1521, in the city of Worms, Germany, Martin Luther, a 37 year-old Catholic monk was called to defend himself before Charles the Fifth, the Holy Roman Emperor. The speech he delivered that day, Here I Stand, marked the beginning of the Reformation, a critical turning point in Christian history, that decisively altered the spiritual map of the world.

In this recording, Max McLean introduces the events leading up to the Diet of Worms: Martin Luther’s prayer the night before he delivered his speech; Luther's stirring defense; the Catholic church’s rebuttal; and, Luther’s final heartfelt response.

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True and Better

Here's Tim Keller on seeing Jesus in the Old Testament-- not in a Hidden Pictures or Where's Waldo? sort of way, but with a deep appreciation for the way the Scriptures point us to Christ:

Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out not for our condemnation, but for our acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar, and go out into the void, not knowing whither he went, to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac, who was not just offered up by his Father on the mount,but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “now I know you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me, now we can look at God, taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing Him, and say,” now we know that you love us, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserve, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph, who at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold Him, and uses His new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses who was struck with the rod of God’s justice, and now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his people’s victory though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther, who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace, but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah, who was cast out into the storm so we could be brought in.

He is the real passover lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so that the angel of death would pass over us.

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More Necessary, Not Less

A quotation on the topic of preaching for Saturday, from John Stott-- way back in 1982:

It is difficult to imagine the world in the year A.D. 2000, by which time versatile micro-processors are likely to be as common as simple calculators are today.

We should certainly welcome the fact that the silicon chip will transcend human brain-power, as the machine has transcended human muscle-power.

Much less welcome will be the probable reduction of human contact as the new electronic network renders personal relationships ever less necessary.

In such a dehumanized society the fellowship of the local church will become increasingly important, whose members meet one another, and talk and listen to one another in person rather than on screen. In this human context of mutual love the speaking and hearing of the Word of God is also likely to become more necessary for the preservation of our humanness, not less.

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Still, My Soul Be Still

A few weeks ago, Katie and I saw Keith and Kristyn Getty in concert at Moody Church. Here's a video of a Canadian television appearance they made recently. We've been enjoying their new CD Awaken the Dawn quite a bit, but you can listen to the stream of the entire two-hour Moody concert here for free.

What's New about the New Birth?

Colin Smith describes a few ways that the "new birth" is new:

A new disposition
God created you. He made you with your own unique gifts, personality and temperament. The new birth does not violate what God has made. Shy sinners become shy Christians. Zany sinners become zany Christians. Cautious sinners become cautious Christians.

God's Holy Spirit will give you power to overcome the effects of sin in your personality, like pride or anger or greed. But God will not override His own work. He redeems His work by giving you a new disposition. God never makes two snowflakes alike and he certainly never makes two Christians alike.

God takes the personality that you were born with and moves it in a new direction. It is you - moving, desiring, thinking and feeling - in a new direction. That's what happened to Peter. Christ took this man - with his exuberance, his flair and his passion - and moved him in a whole new direction. Peter and Thomas were completely different before and after they met Christ.

A new appetite
Nature determines appetite. When you are born again God gives you a new appetite that reflects your new nature. Birds have an appetite for worms and slugs. Cats have an appetite for meow mix. I don't care for either because it's not in my nature.

Cats have an appetite for what cats love. Dogs have an appetite for what dogs love. Sinners have an appetite for what sinners love. Those who have been born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ have an appetite for what Christ loves.

This new appetite is not something that is imposed from the outside. God has created a desire to live a new kind of life that rises from within you. Real freedom is found when what you most desire turns out to be exactly what God commands.

A new capacity
Nature determines appetite, but it also determines capacity. Dogs can't fly; it's not in their nature. Fish can't run; it's not in their nature. Sinners cannot live in the presence of God or obey the laws of God.

That used to be your position. But when you were born again God's Spirit came to live in you, giving you not only the desire to live a new life, but also the capacity. Never underestimate the miracle God has done in bringing you to faith in Christ.

I, personally, do not have vivid recollections about my own birth. I've heard about it and gather that I caused a lot of problems by refusing to get into the right position, but I don't remember it! The evidence that I was born is that I am alive. The evidence that a person was born again is that they are living the new life.

Fizzy

Douglas Wilson on the spectacular failure of atheism:

So if the universe is what the atheist maintains it is, then this determines what sort of account we must give for the nature of everything -- and this includes the atheist's thought processes, ethical convictions, and aesthetic appreciations. If you were to shake up two bottles of pop and place them on a table to fizz over, you could not fill up an auditorium with people who came to watch them debate. This is because they are not debating; they are just fizzing. If you were to shake up one bottle of pop, and show it film footage of some genocidal atrocity, the reaction you would get is not moral outrage, but rather more fizzing. And if you were to shake it really hard by means of art school, and place it in front of Michelangelo's David, or the Rose Window of Chartres Cathedral, the results would not really be aesthetic appreciation, but more fizzing still.

If the atheist is right, then I am not a Christian because I have mistaken beliefs, but am rather a Christian because that is what these chemicals would always do in this arrangement and at this temperature. The problem is that this atheistic assumption does the very same thing to the atheist's case for atheism. The atheist gives us an account of all things which makes it impossible for us to believe that any account of all things could possibly be true. But no account of things can be tenable unless it provides us with the preconditions that make it possible for our "accounting" to represent genuine insight. Atheism fails to do this, and the failure is a spectacular one. Nor does atheism allow us to have any fixed ethical standard, or the possibility of beauty.

See his exchange with Christopher Hitchens here.

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A Bit of (Almost Local) History

Confirmation that Wheaton College was part of the Underground Railroad in the years leading up to the Civil War, as noted on the Christian History blog:

David Malone, head of Wheaton’s archives and special collections, explained to The Daily Herald newspaper that the discovery of a comment in an 1889 manuscript is actually quite significant.

"We've never been willing to say for ourselves that we were a stop on the Underground Railroad," Malone said. "Others were willing to say it for us. But we wouldn't confirm that. Now we're able to say with full assurance that this was a stop on the Underground Railroad."

Turns out the text isn’t massively hard to find if you know what you’re looking for: Google Book Search has a scanned, downloadable copy of The History of the Thirty-Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Veteran Infantry (Yates Phalanx) in the War of the Rebellion 1861-1865. Here’s the passage, a first-person account of Ezra A. Cook:

In the fall of 1853 … we moved to Illinois and settled on a farm about twelve miles from Chicago. About four years afterward [my father] sold this farm and purchased another in Du Page county, about one and a half miles from Wheaton, his object being to give his children a liberal education; the oldest daughter having already spent several terms at Wheaton College.

The outbreak of the war in the spring of 1861 found myself and two sisters attending Wheaton College, which had a national reputation as an Abolition school in an Abolition town. So strong was public sentiment that runaway slaves were perfectly safe in the College building, even when no attempt was made to conceal their presence, which was well known to the United States Marshal stationed there. With hundreds of others, I have seen and talked with such fugitives in the college chapel. Of course they soon took a night train well-guarded to the next station on the U. G. R. R.

When Sumter was fired on, I did not doubt that it was the death-knell of slavery, and my heart was in the battle for freedom from that moment.

Unforeseen Circumstances

My blog could stand a little more humor. So, here you go...






My monitor had some trouble with the darker side of the sign. It reads, "The class on prophecy has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances."

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An Idle Attempt

This quotation goes well with our text for this week. Can you see this reality in Jesus' response to the rich man?

Charles Spurgeon:

It is an idle attempt to heal those who are not wounded,
to attempt to clothe those who have never been stripped,
and to make those rich who have never realized their poverty.

Next Sermon - Matthew 19:13-30 on 10/25/09

Here is the text for our next sermon from Matthew. We covered 19:1-12 back in February with Jesus' teachings on lust, adultery, and divorce from the Sermon on the Mount (5:27-32). We also covered 19:13-15 with the first section of chapter 18, but I'm including it again here because the contrast with what follows is significant.

Matthew 19:13-30

13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Perspectives

This goes well with our text from last week. It may seem a little slow, but stick with it.

Perspectives from Peacemaker Ministries on Vimeo.

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Enthralled

Thirty years ago, John Piper sensed God leading him away from his career as a college professor (teaching Bible) to serve as the pastor of a local church. Here is a portion of his journal entry from October 14, 1979, that inspires and challenges me on this Saturday as I finish my sermon for tomorrow.

The urge is almost overwhelming [to resign from position as professor to pursue the pastorate]. It takes this form: I am enthralled by the reality of God and the power of his Word to create authentic people.

He later writes, imagining God speaking to him and contrasting the role of the academician from the shepherd:

I will not simply be analyzed; I will be adored.

I will not simply be pondered; I will be proclaimed.

My sovereignty is not simply to be scrutinized; it is to be heralded.

It is not grist for the mill of controversy; it is gospel for sinners who know that their only hope is the sovereign triumph of God’s grace over their rebellious will.

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ENCOURAGE

Continuing with themes from Matthew 18, here is a model for biblical confrontation, by Paul David Tripp, using the anacronym ENCOURAGE:

Examine your heart. Confrontation always begins with you. Because we all struggle with indwelling sin, we must begin with ourselves. We must be sure that we have dealt with our anger, impatience, self-righteousness, and bitterness. When we start with our own confession, we are in a much better place to lead another to confess.

Note your calling. Remember that confrontation is not based on your opinion of the person. You are there as an ambassador and your job is to faithfully represent the message of the King. In other words, your goal is to help people see and accept God's view of them.

Check your attitude. When you speak, are your words spoken in kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, forbearance, compassion, and love? Failure to do this will hinder God-honoring, change-producing confrontation. We need to examine both our message and our attitude as we speak.

Own your own faults. It is vital to enter moments of confrontation with a humble recognition of who we really are. As we admit our own need for the Lord's forgiveness, we are able to be patient and forgiving with the one to whom God has called us to minister.

Use words wisely. Effective communication demands preparation, particularly of our words. We need to ask God to help us use words that carry his message, not get in the way of it.

Reflect on Scripture. The content of confrontation is always the Bible. It guides what we say and how we say it. We should enter moments of confrontation with a specific understanding of what Scripture says about the issues at hand. This means more than citing proof texts; it means understanding how the themes, principles, perspectives, and commands of Scripture shape the way we think about the issues before us.

Always be prepared to listen. The best, most effective confrontation is interactive. We need to give the person an opportunity to talk, since we cannot look into his heart or read his mind. We need to welcome his questions and look for signs that he is seeing the things he needs to see. We need to listen for true confession and the commitment to specific acts of repentance. As we listen, we will learn where we are in the confrontation process.

Grant time for a response. We must give the Holy Spirit time to work. There is nothing in Scripture that promises that if we do our confrontation work well, the person will confess and repent in one sitting. Rather, the Bible teaches us that change is usually a process. We need to model the same patience God has granted us. This patience does not compromise God's work of change, but flows out of a commitment to it.

Encourage the person with the gospel. It is the awesome grace of God, his boundless love, and his ever-present help that give us a reason to turn from our sin. Scripture says that it is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance (Rom. 2:4). The truths of the gospel--both its challenge and its comfort--must color our confrontation.

From War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles
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A Formal Apology

Of course, there's always two sides to a confrontation. Not only is it important to know how to admonish appropriately, we need to be prepared to receive criticism and correction. This would be an example of a poor response to correction. [Click the image to see it larger.]









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Help Me to Judge Rightly

This prayer written by Ken Sande seems pertinent to our text from Matthew for this week:

Help Me to Judge Rightly
Lord, help me to judge others
as I want them to judge me:
Charitably, not critically,
Privately, not publicly,
Gently, not harshly,
In humility, not pride.
Help me to believe the best about others,
until facts prove otherwise—
To assume nothing,
to seek all sides of the story,
And to judge no one until I’ve removed
the log from my own eye.

May I never bring only the Law,
to find fault and condemn.
Help me always to bring the Gospel,
to give hope and deliverance,
As you, my Judge and Friend,
have so graciously done for me.

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Next Sermon - Matthew 18:15-35 on 10/18/09

This is a text that could probably just as well stand on its own, but I'll try to preach a sermon from it anyway.

Matthew 18:15-35

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Moral Effort or Grace?

Tim Keller:

Christianity teaches that our main problem is sin. What then is the solution? Even if you accept the Christian diagnosis of the problem, there doesn't seem to be any particular reason why one must look only to Christianity for the solution. You may say, "Fine, I understand that if you build your identity on anything but God, it leads to breakdown. Why must the solution be Jesus and Christianity? Why can't some other religion do as well, or just my own personal faith in God?"

The answer to that is that there is a profound and fundamental difference between the way that other religions tell us to seek salvation and the way described in the gospel of Jesus. All other major faiths have founders who are teachers that show the way to salvation. Only Jesus claimed to actually BE the way of salvation himself. This difference is so great that, even though Christianity can certainly be called a religion in the broader sense, for the purposes of discussion we will use the term "religion" in this chapter to refer to "salvation through moral effort" and "gospel" to refer to "salvation through grace."

From The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
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More on Church Membership

Kevin DeYoung defends the notion of church membership in two posts, concluding the second thusly:

The bottom line is that if you are looking for a verse that talks about a membership class and certificates of transfer, you won't find it. But if you are looking for the concepts of a defined in/out community, record keeping, covenant making, and submission to a recognized body that exercises authority over the circumscribed group, you can find all of that in both testaments.

Oh yeah, and the word "member" is in the Bible too.

Our Faith Is a Person

Charles Spurgeon:

Our faith is a person; the gospel that we have to preach is a person; and go wherever we may, we have something solid and tangible to preach, for our gospel is a person. If you had asked the twelve Apostles in their day, "What do you believe in?" they would not have stopped to go round about with a long sermon, but they would have pointed to their Master and they would have said, "We believe him." "But what are your doctrines?" "There they stand incarnate." "But what is your practice?" "There stands our practice. He is our example." "What then do you believe?" Hear the glorious answer of the Apostle Paul, "We preach Christ crucified." Our creed, our body of divinity, our whole theology is summed up in the person of Christ Jesus.

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Justification and Adoption

J. I. Packer:

That justification—by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future—is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need. We all stand by nature under God's judgment; his law condemns us; guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable, and in our lucid moments afraid; we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker. So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world; and this the gospel offers us before it offers us anything else...

But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with the God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.

From Knowing God
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A Product of the Gospel

Christopher J. H. Wright:

There is a potentially serious misunderstanding in this Lausanne Covenant sentence: "World evangelization requires the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world." Read without referring to what the covenant says about the church's need to examine itself, this sounds like the church is nothing more than the bearer of the message, like a postman delivering a letter. It doesn't really matter if the postman who delivered my letter this morning was committing adultery last night. So long as I get the letter, the moral behavior of the carrier is irrelevant.

But the church is not just the mechanism delivering the gospel. It is also the product of the gospel, and is to be the living, visible proof of the ethically transforming power of the gospel. So the failures and abuses in the worldwide evangelical community are, in the literal New Testament sense of the word, a massive scandal—a stumbling block to the gospel being seen, heard, and accepted. For that, the only answer is repentance and reformation.

What We Imagine

Darren Whitehead:

My 3-year-old daughter dreamed about Elmo, the Sesame Street character. I realized she's dreaming about not her own characters but about someone else's. Her imagination has been "taken captive" by the world, in that sense.

If God gave people everything they ever dreamed of, what would that be? More money. Finding a great spouse. Good-looking children who are athletically gifted, academically strong, respectful. A nice home. A car that won't break down. People who don't go to church have the same dreams; have our imaginations been taken captive by the world?

In Ephesians 3, Paul is talking about "God doing immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine," and we don't know what to ask for or what to imagine. What to do?

The future of the church is in how willing we are to be counter-formed by the story of God, the full view of Gospel, so it unleashes in us "kingdom imagination."

Cautions When Talking about "Kingdom"

Kevin DeYoung:

Whenever we try to define something as big, broad, and potentially confusing as the kingdom, it’s important we state our definition in positives and negatives. So in addition to the three statements above [click the link above to view his entire post], let me suggest five cautions.

1. Don’t be afraid to talk about the kingdom. Some conservatives avoid preaching the gospel of the kingdom, believing that kingdom talk is for liberals. But Jesus and the apostles showed no such hesitation. The message about God’s reign and rule was hugely significant to their theology and should be to ours as well.

2. Don’t have a truncated view of the kingdom. For many people the kingdom of God equals social services. But the kingdom is not just the alleviation of suffering, it means conquering God’s enemies, ridding the world of impurity, and acknowledging the splendor of the King. So before we get all excited about “doing kingdom work” we should remember that the coming kingdom will not just be devoid of hunger, it will also be devoid of the wicked and unbelieving.

3. Don’t drive a wedge between the church and the kingdom. The church does not equal the kingdom, but in this age the kingdom is largely manifested in the church. That’s where we find the people of the King. That’s where we are supposed to see reconciliation, the alleviation of poverty, the mitigation of suffering, the conquering of evil powers, and the worship of King Jesus. A vision for the kingdom is a vision for the growth, reformation, and revival of the church.

4. Don’t think we build the kingdom. The kingdom is something brought by the King, not something we build. The verbs related to the kingdom in the New Testament aren’t verbs like “build” or “expand,” but verbs like “receive,” “inherit,” and “enter.” The kingdom is a gift that God gives to us, not a project that God expects us to accomplish.

5. Don’t forget to talk about how we enter the kingdom. As Greg Gilbert has pointed out before, we haven’t proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom unless we have told how people they can enter into this kingdom. The good news of the kingdom is not simply that God is in the world establishing his rule, conquering his enemies, righting wrongs, forming a holy people for himself, and reversing the effects of sin and suffering. The good news must also include the message that through Christ’s wrath-bearing death and his glorious resurrection we can be a part of this kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom is no good news unless we tell people how unrighteous, unholy, undeserving sinners can receive this kingdom through repentance for our sins and faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Next Sermon - Matthew 18:1-14, 19:13-15 on 10/11/09

The texts for this coming Sunday's sermon are as follows:

Matthew 18:1-14

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 11 12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Matthew 19:13-15

13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

Then I Will Go with You

A story told by Tullian Tchividjian that I think serves as a good complement to my previous post:

I close the book with a story from Civil War days before America’s slaves were freed, about a northerner who went to a slave auction and purchased a young slave girl. As they walked away from the auction, the man turned to the girl and told her, “You’re free.”

With amazement she responded, “You mean, I’m free to do whatever I want?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And to say whatever I want to say?”

“Yes, anything.”

“And to be whatever I want to be?”

“Yep.”

“And even go wherever I want to go?”

“Yes,” he answered with a smile. “You’re free to go wherever you’d like.”

She looked at him intently and replied, “Then I will go with you.”

Jesus has come to the slave market. He came to us there because we could not go to him. He came and purchased us with his blood so we would no longer be a slave to sin but a slave to Christ—which is the essence of freedom. And now there’s no freer place to be in life than going with him—with the one who is himself our true liberty.

Remember: In the person of Jesus Christ, God came into this world, not to strip away our freedom, but to strip away our slavery to self so that we could be truly free.

You Follow a Crucified Savior

Colin Smith:

"Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ." 1 Peter 4:12-13 (NIV)

What do you expect the Christian life to be like? Our expectations of life in this world should be shaped not just by the reality of this fallen world, but by the fact that we have chosen to follow a crucified savior.

As you think about Jesus' experience of life in this world, remember that you have freely chosen to identify yourself with Him and to follow Him.

1. He worked hard in manual labor making a living that was never more than enough to get by.

2. He was never married, and He had no children.

3. He never became a homeowner. In fact He had no place to lay His head.

4. He was the special focus of Satan's particular attention. The devil tempted Jesus with greater force than any man has ever been tempted.

5. He was the most under-appreciated person who ever lived. Rejected in His own home town-a prophet without honor in His own country.

6. He experienced the constant frustration of colleagues who did not understand what He was saying and who were reluctant to follow Him.

7. He knew the deep pain of being betrayed by one with whom He had shared so much of life and to whom He had given so much trust.

8. When He faced His hour of greatest need His friends let Him down.

9. When false charges were brought against Him there was nobody who would help Him find justice.

10. He knew what it was to reach out in love, and to experience hatred from the very people He had chosen to love.

That's what life in this world was like for Jesus. We have chosen to follow Him. So, if your experience is the same as His, that's par for the course. If you have more than He had, then regard that as a unique gift and privilege from God.

The question God asks you is not, "Do you want to go to heaven?", but, "Are you ready to follow Jesus?" Let the life of Jesus set your expectations. If there is one person who is there for you in your darkest hour, then you have more than Jesus had.

A Dying Man

Another quotation for Saturday, aka "final sermon preparation day."

Richard Baxter (1615-91)

I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.

Fruit, Not a Root

Charles Spurgeon:

I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts, and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her. “Oh!” I said, “that is a doubt that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so corrupt, naturally, that love to God never did get there without God’s putting it there.” You may rest quite certain, that if you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root. It is the fruit of God’s love to you, and did not get there by the force of any goodness in you. You may conclude, with absolute certainty, that God loves you if you love God.

From his sermon titled "The Relationship of Marriage"
Source

Tune In Tonight

I'm taking Katie to a concert tonight at the historic Moody Church in Chicago for her birthday coming up on Monday. We'll be hearing Keith and Kristyn Getty, backed by the Moody Bible Institute choir. The reasons why I'm telling you this are...

1. The Gettys are excellent worship songwriters who have a new album available.

2. You can listen to the concert without going to Chicago by going here at 8:00 p.m. tonight.

3. You can wish Katie a "Happy Birthday!" on Sunday.

Next Sermon - Matthew 17:1-27 on 10/04/09

I'm sorry if you've stopped by and found nothing new, but a busy week means little blogging.

Here's the text for this coming Sunday's sermon. It's a whole chapter, and it's a challenge to find some threads that can hold a sermon on all this together. Can you see them?

Matthew 17:1-27

1 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

9 And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” 10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. 12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” 21

22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Applied Studies

It's Saturday. I'll be stopping in at a birthday party, catching a little college football (hopefully), but mostly getting ready for Sunday's lesson and sermon. Here's a quotation from an old Lutheran pietist for the occasion.

Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752), speaking of the Scriptures:

Apply yourself wholly to the text; apply the text wholly to yourself.

Source

At War with Sin

Leadership Journal asked Matt Chandler, "What does warring against sin look like?"

Sanctification here at The Village [the church where he serves as pastor] begins by answering two questions. What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ? And what robs you of those affections? Many of the things that stifle growth are morally neutral. They're not bad things. Facebook is not bad. Television and movies are not bad. I enjoy TV, but it doesn't take long for me to begin to find humorous on TV what the Lord finds heartbreaking.

The same goes for following sports. It's not wrong, but if I start watching sports, I begin to care too much. I get stupid. If 19-year-old boys are ruining your day because of what they do with a ball, that's a problem. These things rob my affections for Christ. I want to fill my life with things that stir my affections for him. After a funeral I walked around the cemetery and found a grave of a guy who died when he was my age. I felt my mortality in that moment and it made me love the Lord. It really did. Some types of epic films do that for me, and so does angst-filled music.

We want our people to think beyond simply what's right and wrong. We want them to fill their lives with things that stir their affections for Jesus Christ and, as best as they can, to walk away from things that rob those affections—even when they're not immoral.

Chapter and Verse

Some pastors like to talk about verse-by-verse expository preaching. There's nothing wrong with that, if you mean that you carefully consider each word, phrase, sentence, paragraph and so on.

However, we must also understand that the chapter and verse divisions are not divinely inspired. That means that we need not preach every verse the same way, with the same weight. Simply put, not all verses are complete sentences, and therefore cannot stand on their own. Frankly, that's also true of most complete sentences-- they shouldn't be divorced from their paragraphs or larger sections.

So what about those chapters and verses? Here's some background. Click the box at the end for a nifty interactive feature from Bible Study Magazine.

Chapters and verses in the New Testament were never intended to guide preaching or devotional reading. They were introduced so that reference works could be created. Chapters were added by Stephen Langton at the University of Paris around 1200 so passages could be cited in commentaries. Verses were put in around 1550 by Robert Estienne, a French scholar and printer who was working on a concordance to the Greek New Testament.

Chapters are designed to be about the same length. But the stories, oracles, poems and discussions that make up biblical books are of many different lengths. Chapters typically cut longer units into pieces. They add to the confusion by combining shorter units. In 1 Corinthians Paul discusses twelve different topics. His longer discussions have been cut up into chapters 1–4, 8–10 and 12–14. Shorter discussions are combined in chapters 6, 7, 11 and 16. Only two chapters (5 and 15) correspond accurately with a single discussion. This example shows why, in most cases, it’s difficult to make sense of a biblical book when reading or preaching through it chapter-by-chapter.

But if we eliminate chapter and verse numbers, won’t we be cast adrift on a sea of unorganized type? Isn’t something better than nothing?

Actually, the alternative isn’t nothing. Far from it. The biblical authors built natural structures right into the text of their works. We can learn to recognize these structures and follow them as we read, study and preach.

Source

More Americans Say "No Religion"

Dan Gilgoff reports on the percentage of Americans who identify with no religious tradition:

1990 - 8%
2009 - 15%
2029 - 25% (projected)

We've got some work to do.

Source

Is This Gossip?

These nine questions can help you decide whether what you know should be shared.

1. Am I telling this to someone who can do something about the problem by helping the person or offering discipline or correction?

2. If not, am I telling this to someone who is wise enough to help me sort out my feelings and courageous enough to make me do the right thing: to confront the person or to confess where I was at fault?

3. Is this news approved for sharing?

4. Am I breaking a confidence? If so, is it only because the person is endangering someone's life, including his or her own?

5. Am I willing to say from whom I got this information so the information can be checked for accuracy?

6. When I say this, does it break my heart?

7. Have I taken time to examine my life and confess to God how I also sin like that?

8. Am I praying for the person?

9. Would I feel comfortable if someone were saying this about me?

Source

Our Cross and Our Christ

This quotation goes well with our text from Matthew for the week.

John "Rabbi" Duncan (1796-1870)

If we have not got a cross, alas! we may conclude that we have not got Christ, for it is the first of his gifts.

Source

Next Sermon - Matthew 16:21-28 on 09/27/09

Here's what I'll be preaching from this coming Sunday.

Matthew 16:21-28

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." 23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

When Relationships Are Built Around the Truths of the Gospel

Fitzpatrick & Johnson:

When relationships are built around the truths of the gospel—the truth that we are walking in light even though we are still sinners in need of cleansing by his blood—we can be free from feelings of inferiority and the demanding spirit that is born of pride. We can pursue relationships without fear of being discovered as the sinners we are. This kind of open relationship rests solely on the realities of the gospel. We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, and so is everyone we know. Because of this, we won’t be surprised by other’s sins. They won’t expect us to be sinless either, so we don’t have to give in to self-condemnation and fear when they see us as we really are. We don’t have to hide or pretend anymore.

The gospel also tells us that we are loved and welcomed without any merit on our part, so we can love and welcome others whose merits we can’t see. We can remember the circumstances under which we have been forgiven, and we can forgive in the same way. We don’t deserve relationship with the Trinity, but it has been given to us. We can seek our relationships with others because we know that we have been sought out by him and that he is carrying us all on his shoulders. (Yes, he is that strong!)

From Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ
Source

The Trinity Matters

Kevin DeYoung:

There are lots of reasons [why the doctrine of the Trinity matters], but borrowing from Robert Letham's work, and in Trinitarian fashion, let me mention just three.

One, the Trinity matters for creation. God, unlike the gods in other ancient creation stories, did not need to go outside himself to create the universe. Instead, the Word and the Spirit were like his own two hands (to use Irenaeus’ famous phrase) in fashioning the cosmos. God created by speaking (the Word) as the Spirit hovered over the chaos. Creation, like regeneration, is a Trinitarian act, with God working by the agency of the Word spoken and the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit.

Two, the Trinity matters for evangelism and cultural engagement. I’ve heard it said that the two main rivals to a Christian worldview at present are Islam and Postmodernism. Islam emphasizes unity—unity of language, culture, and expression—without allowing much variance for diversity. Postmodernism, on the other hand, emphasizes diversity—diversity of opinion, believes, and background—without attempting to see things in any kind of meta-unity. Christianity, with its understanding of God as three in one, allows for diversity and unity. If God exists in three distinct Persons who all share the same essence, then it is possible to hope that God’s creation may exhibit stunning variety and individuality while still holding together in a genuine oneness.

Three, the Trinity matters for relationships. We worship a God who is in constant and eternal relationship with himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Community is a buzz word in American culture, but it is only in a Christian framework that communion and interpersonal community are seen as expressions of the eternal nature of God. Likewise, it is only with a Trinitarian God that love can be an eternal attribute of God. Without a plurality of persons in the Godhead, we would be forced to think that God created humans so that he might show love and know love, thereby making love a created thing (and God a needy deity). But with a biblical understanding of the Trinity we can say that God did not create in order to be loved, but rather, created out of the overflow of the perfect love that had always existed among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who ever live in perfect and mutual relationship
and delight.

Next Sermon - Matthew 16:1-20 on 09/20/09

Here's the text for this coming Sunday's sermon:

Matthew 16:1-20

1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

A Dog's Life

Yesterday morning, the sermon covered the latter half of Matthew 15, including this passage:

25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." 26 And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Then last night, our small group began our journey through A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, by Paul Miller. So far, he is emphasizing prayer as a simple relationship with the Father that we often complicate by focusing on the act of praying rather than the person of God.

Then this morning, I ran across this from Mark Dever, which seems to combine these two in an interesting way.

Prayer focuses us on our dependence on God. Once, when Martin Luther’s puppy happened to be at the table, he looked for a morsel from his master. As Luther watched his dog begging, the dog’s mouth open and eyes motionless, Luther said, “Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat! All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat. Otherwise he has no thought, wish, or hope” (Luther’s Tabletalk, May 18, 1532).

The Same Place

It's the day to finish writing the sermon for tomorrow. Pray that this will be true of me, and of us.

Joel Beeke:

Faithful ministers aim to give God the same place in their own hearts and in the hearts of their people as He holds in the universe.

Source

Remembering and Forgetting

Lars Walker:

It’s one of the tragedies and mercies of human life that (with rare exceptions) we always say “We will never forget,” but we always do. One of my ancestors fought in the Great Northern War. How many people today—even in Europe—know anything at all about the Great Northern War?

It’s obvious that we’re beginning to forget the 9/11 attacks. We say we don’t. The broadcast networks are making time for commemorations, but we can all tell that, behind the pieties, a lot of people consider it old news. It’s done. It’s over. What’s the use in opening old wounds?

That’s the way it is. That’s the way, in fact, it has to be. Because we’re transient beings. Our lives are too short to spend in constant mourning (and if they are spent that way, it constitutes a compounded tragedy). Our wounds heal, or at least grow over. Eventually we die, and our children can’t understand, and have commemorations of their own to mark. Our species has long-term memory loss.

So when we say “We’ll never forget,” we’re making a vow we can’t keep. We’re writing a check beyond the balance in our account.

But that doesn’t make it wrong.

It’s a matter of faith, really. When we use words like “forever” and “never,” we’re implicitly appealing to God (like it or not). The words have no meaning unless they cry for the attention of some Mind that can know all things, some Mind which doesn’t lose track, which marks the fall of a sparrow.

Christian theology doesn’t answer all questions concerning injustice and suffering, the whole theodicy issue. There are many questions to which our Scriptures simply give no answers.

But Christianity does present “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” a declaration that Jesus is the full expression of God. It proclaims that if we trust Him (who Himself suffered pain and injustice), we can trust that all things will be made right, somehow in the fullness of time.

Blessed be the memory.

Not One Whit Less

John White:

Were you a likely candidate for salvation? Yet didn't God save you? And while he may have used some human instrument, don't you see that he would have saved you with or without any instrument? And haven't you seen other 'impossible' brothers and sisters delivered likewise by the incredible power of the invisible God?

Do you realize from whence you came? You were in the grip of hell. Demons had wrapped their chains about you. The god of this world had blinded your understanding. Yet God struck off your chains and the face of Christ illumined your soul. The damned around you are no more damned than you were, their chains no thicker, their darkness no deeper. Nor is the power of Christ to save them one whit less.

From, The Golden Cow

Source

Rethinking Our Rejoicing

Luke 10:17-20

17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" 18 And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Ask yourself--

Do I rejoice that God, by some mystery to me, chose me before the foundation of the world, due to nothing in me, and wrote my name in his Book of Life?

Do I rejoice that God, from the beginning, had me in mind when he was carrying out his plan to redeem a people for the glory of his name?

Do I rejoice that God sent his Son on a mission from heaven to become the Word made flesh on my behalf, in order to save me from my sins?

Do I rejoice that Christ lived perfectly without sin, fulfilling the law in my place, in order that its righteous requirements might be fulfilled in me by grace through faith?

Do I rejoice that the Lord Jesus bore my sins in his body on the tree, so that I could receive forgiveness for every sin that I have or will commit?

Do I rejoice that day by day, these truths are sinking down into my soul and, as C.S. Lewis says, re-working my house; re-building, re-furnishing, preparing me for greater works ahead and ultimately for a greater Kingdom ahead.

Do I rejoice in counting everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord who is bringing me to God?

Source

Building Bridges

John Stott:

In all evangelism there is… a cultural gulf to bridge. This is obvious when Christian people move as messengers of the gospel from one country or continent to another. But even if we remain in our own country, Christians and non-Christians are often widely separated from one another by social sub-cultures and lifestyles as well as by different values, beliefs, and moral standards. Only an incarnation can span these divides, for an incarnation means entering other people’s worlds, their thought-world, and the worlds of their alienation, loneliness, and pain. Moreover, the incarnation led to the cross. Jesus first took our flesh, then he bore our sin. This was a depth of penetration into our world in order to reach us, in comparison with which our little attempts to reach people seem amateur and shallow. The cross calls us to a much more radical and costly kind of evangelism than most churches have begun to consider, let alone experience.

From The Cross of Christ

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Next Sermon - Matthew 15:21-39 on 09/13/09

This is the text for this coming Sunday's sermon. Can you tell what ties these together? (It's not miracles, so much.)

Matthew 15:21-39

21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." 24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." 26 And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

29 Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33 And the disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?" 34 And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." 35 And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

A Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath

Proverbs 15:1
1 A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 16:32
32 Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Matthew 5:38-45
38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Watch this video to hear how the Reverend Wade Watts "disarmed" this (now former) Klu Klux Klansman.



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How Paul Worked to Overcome Slavery

It just might be longer than the book of Philemon itself (which is only 25 verses), but this article by John Piper shows how Paul does eleven things to undermine slavery in this short letter.

The historic and contemporary reality of slavery is never far away from how we think about the Bible. Instead of a frontal attack on the culturally pervasive institution of slavery in his day, Paul took another approach, for example, in his letter to Philemon.

Why Moralism Is Not the Gospel

Albert Mohler:

Just as parents rightly teach their children to obey moral instruction, the church also bears responsibility to teach its own the moral commands of God and to bear witness to the larger society of what God has declared to be right and good for His human creatures.

But these impulses, right and necessary as they are, are not the Gospel. Indeed, one of the most insidious false gospels is a moralism that promises the favor of God and the satisfaction of God's righteousness to sinners if they will only behave and commit themselves to moral improvement.

The moralist impulse in the church reduces the Bible to a codebook for human behavior and substitutes moral instruction for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Far too many evangelical pulpits are given over to moralistic messages rather than the preaching of the Gospel.

The corrective to moralism comes directly from the Apostle Paul when he insists that "a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus." Salvation comes to those who are "justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified." [Gal. 2:16]

We sin against Christ and we misrepresent the Gospel when we suggest to sinners that what God demands of them is moral improvement in accordance with the Law. Moralism makes sense to sinners, for it is but an expansion of what we have been taught from our earliest days. But moralism is not the Gospel, and it will not save. The only gospel that saves is the Gospel of Christ. As Paul reminded the Galatians, "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." [Gal. 4:4-5]

We are justified by faith alone, saved by grace alone, and redeemed from our sin by Christ alone. Moralism produces sinners who are (potentially) better behaved. The Gospel of Christ transforms sinners into the adopted sons and daughters of God.

Read the whole article here.

Caring for Animals

Did you see the story in the news earlier this week about the animal rights activist group releasing a video of an egg hatchery that was grinding up baby chicks?

Many of us are likely to respond to a story like this based on our previously held political inclinations, emotions (or lack thereof), or views on farming and food production.

What would the Bible bring to the discussion? We might think first of the fact that human beings are uniquely created in the image of God, unlike any other creature (Genesis 1:27). This implies that, in some sense, humans have rights in a way that animals do not. However, one does not have to be an "animal rights" advocate to be concerned about how we should or should not treat animals.

Here's a portion of a recent editorial from Christianity Today that helps explain what I mean:

But while Christians happily acknowledge the charge [of "speciesism"-- human priority or privilege over animals], we misstep when we brush off animal cruelty with nonchalance. Showing animal compassion does not de facto assign animals the same worth as humans. It merely acknowledges that animals have worth and dignity—something plainly assumed in biblical passages like Exodus 21-22:14 and Deuteronomy 25, which outline upright ways to handle livestock, and Proverbs 12:10, which praises the righteous man who "cares for the needs of his animal." The church has traditionally interpreted Isaiah 65's well-known apocalyptic imagery of lions and lambs not as a cozy metaphor of human community, but as a picture of fully restored creation, people and animals. And while Luke 12:6's five sparrows sold for two cents usually refer to God's sovereign care for us in our daily lives, it's remarkable that those five sparrows aren't forgotten by God, but are part of his sovereign care as well.

Instead of leading us down dangerous paths toward secular humanism, animal compassion becomes part of our privileged role as custodians of the creatures in which God delights. In fact, C. S. Lewis, who wrestled in many essays with the seeming senselessness of animal suffering, argued that it was precisely because humans are higher than animals in creation's hierarchy that they should oppose animal cruelty. Our very superiority to animals, he said, ought to motivate us "to prove ourselves better than the beasts precisely by the fact of acknowledging duties to them which they do not acknowledge to us."

Fellowship and Solitude

Small Groups start on September 13, so sign up this Sunday. Here's an apt quotation from Mike Bullmore, a pastor and former professor of mine.

We need fellowship with others to be alone safely.
We need solitude to be with others meaningfully.

Or, you can choose quasi-fellowship and isolation...



No further comment.


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What Suffering Means

More on the theme of suffering from Colin Smith:

"Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or ashamed of me his prisoner... That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed." 2 Timothy 1:8, 12 (NIV)

Why does Paul tell Timothy not to be ashamed? Why would suffering make Paul ashamed? We have a hard time separating suffering and shame. Suffering raises two questions that lead to shame if we don't know how to answer them.

Does suffering mean God has failed?
Paul spends his life serving the Lord and ends up chained in a prison in Rome. Imagine Timothy trying to share the gospel with an unbeliever in Ephesus. "How can you believe in a God of love who allows his own apostle to languish in jail?"

The world's view is that if God is loving and He is powerful, then He must be able and willing to deliver us from all suffering. So, why is Paul in prison? "My tears have been my food day and night,while men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'"(Psalm 42:3)

The first instinct of the unbeliever looking at suffering is to conclude that God has failed. You can see why Timothy might have been ashamed. Evangelism would be easier if God didn't let all these disasters happen.

Does suffering mean that we have failed?
The believer has a different question. In the story of Job, when Job suffered greatly, his friends came to comfort him. The friends were believers. They were quite sure that God had not failed, and so in their minds that only left one alternative and that was that Job had failed. There must be some sin for which Job was being disciplined.

We find the same assumption about suffering in the Gospels: "As he went along, he [Jesus] saw a man blind from birth.His disciples asked him [notice this is a question coming from the believers],'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?'"John 9:1-2 (NIV)

Jesus' disciples hold a deep conviction that all suffering is a direct consequence of sin. If this man had become blind at age 20, instead of at birth, they would assume it was the result of some sin in his life. Now they are wondering, "Where is the sin?" Was it a past sin of the parents that brought this consequence on him? Or was it the man's own future that God already knew about before the man was born?

We are deeply convinced that suffering and shame belong together. That's why among Christians our deepest question is often, "Does this mean that God is judging me for something I have done?"

Pain is a platform
When suffering comes, the first instinct of the unbeliever is to think that God has failed. The first instinct of the believer is to think that we have failed. Either way the assumption is that suffering and shame belong together: "'Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus. 'But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.'" John 9:3 (NIV)

This is the biblical view of suffering. Far from being evidence of shame, the pain in this man's life is a platform on which God's glory will be revealed. When you experience pain, it's good to pray that God's work will be displayed in your life.

The Righteous Suffer

Someone from our congregation wrote this to me:

I’ve been reading the book of Job in my daily bible reading and I have a question. When Job and his friends are talking, it seems that is friends are telling Job that he has sinned and he needs to repent and turn back to God. Job maintains his innocence and his righteousness. Yet I’m wondering how Romans 3:23 applies? Would it be more correct to say that what has happened to Job is not a result of his righteousness or his sin, but because God is God?

This was my reply:

David sometimes speaks this way in the Psalms as well (see Ps. 26, for example). It strikes us as odd because we are well versed in the doctrine that all men are sinners, as concisely stated in Romans 3:23.

What Job is asserting is not that he is sinless, but that he does not believe that he has committed a sin that would bring on all his trials and suffering. The friends' logic is simple and, to a certain extent, biblical. It reflects justice: sin leads to judgment/punishment. Thus, in their equation, because they see Job's suffering as judgment/punishment from God (notice that they don't believe in impersonal forces or coincidences), therefore, Job must have committed some sin to bring it upon himself. This is why Job struggles-- he believes he has maintained his integrity before God. He searches his heart, but he has not been harboring hidden sin. At some level, Job is using the same logic, and that's why he has great anxiety. "Why am I suffering if I haven't done some big, bad sin to bring it on? Hadn't I been maintaining a close walk with God?"

I think one of the big lessons from Job (or John 9) is the reminder that all suffering is not a direct consequence of our sinful actions. Sometimes it is the result of the sinful conditions of this world (the Curse), it can be spiritual forces of darkness (Satan, demons), but in all things, God is at work for his glory. This is hard to hold together in our finite minds.

In the end, Job acknowledges his sin-- not that he actually had some bad sin that brought on his suffering, but that he was wrong for challenging and questioning God. The book concludes as you say, the suffering is not a result of Job's righteousness or sin, but for reasons we cannot know. How do we live in a world where things happen that don't fit the logic of justice (good wins, evil loses, righteous rewarded, wickedness punished)? We have to trust in the God who is far more powerful, wise, and good that we are or could ever comprehend, and also believe that perfect justice will be established in the end.

Our hope is in the fact that, because of Christ, we do not have to face perfect justice, but may receive mercy by his grace. If anyone ever suffered while innocent, it was Jesus, but he did so, making it possible for the guilty to be relieved of eternal suffering.