Your Father Knows What You Need

Time for one last post before I leave. I love this from John Piper. I needed this today!

Jesus wants his followers to be free from worry. In Matthew 6:25-34 he gives at least seven arguments designed to take away our anxiety.

One of them lists food and drink and clothing, and then says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matthew 6:32).

Do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. (vv. 31-32).

Jesus must mean that God’s knowing is accompanied by his desiring to meet our need. He is emphasizing we have a Father. And this Father is better than an earthly father.

I have five children. I love to meet their needs. But my knowing falls short of God’s in at least three ways.

• Right now I don’t know where any of them is. I could guess. They’re in their homes or at work or school, healthy and safe. But they might be lying on a sidewalk with a heart attack.
• I don’t know what is in their heart at any given moment. I can guess from time to time. But they may be feeling some fear or hurt or anger or lust or greed or joy or hope. I can’t see their hearts.
• I don’t know their future. Right now they may seem well and steady. But tomorrow some great sorrow may befall them.

This means I can’t be for them a very strong reason for not worrying. There are things that may be happening to them now or may happen tomorrow that I do not even know about.

But it is totally different with their Father in heaven. He knows everything about them now and tomorrow, inside and out. He sees every need.

Add to that, his huge eagerness to meet their needs (the “much more” of Matt. 6:30). Add to that his complete ability to do what he is eager to do  (he feeds billions of birds hourly, Matt. 6:26).

So join me and my children in trusting the promise of Jesus to meet our needs. That’s what Jesus is calling for when he says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

Off to Uganda today

If you’re prompted, please pray for me and the family over the next two weeks or so. I’m heading off to Uganda today to minister at a couple of churches and small conferences. I’ll be home at the end of the month. No internet connection where I’m going, so be back blogging in March. If you’re interested in what I do, check out Parakletos Ministries here. Thanks!

The centrality of the gospel in all of life

Guy Davies, aka the Exiled Preacher, recently interviewed Justin Taylor, who famously blogs at Between Two Worlds. One question and answer stuck out to me:

GD: What is the biggest problem facing evangelicalism today and how should we respond?

JT: Not understanding and applying the centrality of the gospel in all of life. Every other problem facing evangelicalism—and there are many—is an outgrowth of that problem. The solution is to preach the gospel in season and out of season—to ourselves, to our families, to our churches, to our neighbors, and to the nations.

You can read the whole interview here. Well woth a look!

11 Evidences of the New Birth

In chapter 10 of Finally Alive, John Piper draws out 11 evidences of the new birth in 1 John.

Those who are born of God…

1. Keep his commandments (2:3-4; 3:24)
2. Walk as Christ walked (2:5-6)
3. Don’t hate others but love them (2:9; 3:14; 4:7-8; 4:20)
4. Don’t love the world (2:15)
5. Confess the Son and receive (have) him (2:23; 4:15; 5:12)
6. Practice righteousness (2:29)
7. Don’t make a practice of sinning (3:6; 3:9-10; 5:18 )
8. Possess the Spirit of God (3:24; 4:13)
9. Listen submissively to the apostolic Word (4:6)
10. Believe that Jesus is the Christ (5:1)
11. Overcome the world (5:4)

(HT: Justin Childers)

Incarnational Preaching and Perspecuity

If those I preach to don’t have a better grasp of the text, and a stronger resolve to be “doers of the word”, I’ve failed. I love this from Derek Thomas.

Posted by Derek Thomas at Reformation 21.

I am in New York teaching a D.Min module to our Korean brothers on the topic of Reformed Experiential Preaching. Well, someone has to go to New York!

Today, among other things, we took a look at the “The Directory for the Public Worship of God” (approved in1645 by an ordinance of Parliament to replace the Book of Common Prayer and approved by the Scottish Parliament in the same year). The reason for studying it is the cameo sketch it provides on preaching, particularly the emphasis given to experiential application. Sadly, the document has fallen into almost complete disregard among those who should value it most.

Among it’s more memorable statements is the oft-cited statement concerning “raising doctrine from a text.” It should be done in such a way “that the hearers may discern how God teacheth it from thence.”

It led me to the following question:

Which of these two statements do preachers most like to hear: a) “I didn’t understand much of what you said, but I love to hear you preach,” or “You know, when I hear you preach I say to myself, ‘I could have seen that in the text”?

Pride will dictate that preachers prefer the first response. It flatters and appeals to the ego. It makes us appear learned and profound. It justifies the expense the church has made in employing us. But the biblical servant of God will prefer the second response. Because that response means that those who listen to our sermons are learning to read and understand Scripture for themselves. Truth is, as the doctrine of perspicuity suggests, they are learning to read and understand through our instrumentality as preachers. As the Westminster Confession’s opening chapter insists: “those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.” One of those “ordinary means”, of course, is our preaching. But when the messenger steps into the background enabling the listener to read for themselves, a greater service is done to the church of Christ.

Sunday morning…

“If God is not supreme in our preaching, where in this world will the people hear about the supremacy of God? If we do not spread a banquet of God’s beauty on Sunday morning, will not our people seek in vain to satisfy their inconsolable longing with the cotton candy pleasures of pastimes and religious hype? If the fountain of living water does not flow from the mountain of God’s sovereign grace on Sunday morning, will not the people hew for themselves cisterns on Monday, broken cisterns that can hold no water?”

- John Piper

(HT: Todd Pruitt)

The Benefit of Christ’s Ascension

“Q.49. HOW DOES CHRIST’S ASCENSION TO HEAVEN BENEFIT US?

A. First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven – a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven. Third, he sends us his Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit’s power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.”

- The Heidelberg Catechism, Question # 49

(HT: Of First Importance)

Persecution of Christians Across the World

My thanks to James Grant for this:

Where Christians Are Persecuted. The new Open Doors’ World Watch List has been updated and some countries who violate the rights of Christians have changed, but at the top of the list we still see North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

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Changed by the cross

(HT: Rick Ianniello)

Power Only in the Cross

“One moment’s believing, close contact with the cross will do more to break the heart for sin, deepen the conviction of its exceeding sinfulness, and disenthrall the soul from all its bondage and its fears, bringing it into a sense of pardon and acceptance and assured hope, than a lifetime of the most rigid legal duties that ever riveted their iron chain upon the soul.”

—Octavius Winslow, The Foot of the Cross

(HT: Of First Importance)

Parakletos Ministries

This new video – made by my daughter Grace – is to help inform people about my bible teaching ministry. Click on the ‘Parakletos Ministries’ page tab (above) for more details. Or here!

Does God hate the sin but love the sinner?

“The cliché, God hates the sin but love the sinner, is false on the face of it and should be abandoned. Fourteen times in the first fifty Psalms alone, we are told that God hates the sinner, His wrath is on the liar, and so forth. In the Bible, the wrath of God rests both on the sin (Romans 1:18ff) and on the sinner (John 3:36).”
-D.A. Carson
The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, Crossway, 2000, p. 70.

(HT: Reformed Voices)

“The majesty of God’s forgiveness . . .”

“The majesty of God’s forgiveness is lost entirely when we lose what has to be forgiven. What has to be forgiven is not just what we do but who we are, not just our sinning but our sinfulness, not just our choices but what we have chosen in place of God. . . . When we miss the biblical teaching, we also miss the nature of God’s grace in all its height and depth. In biblical faith it is God’s grace through Christ that does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.”

- David F. Wells, The Courage to Be Protestant (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdmans, 2008), 167.

(HT: Of First Importance)

Oh Happy Winter!

This just about sums up the chaos caused in the UK by a few inches of snow and ice.

Mark Dever at Desiring God Pastors Conference

Abraham Piper blogs these helpful summaries of Mark Dever’s messages on evangelism at the DG Pastors’ Conference.

3 Reasons to Share the Gospel

1. A Desire to Be Obedient to God’s Commands

Jesus commanded his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. That is exactly what the early disciples did. Paul spoke of a compulsion to share the gospel. To evangelize is to obey.

In Acts 8:4, we see that those who had been scattered preached the gospel wherever they went. One of the clearest examples of evangelism being commanded is in 1 Peter 3, where Peter commands believers to “always be…prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”

Our silence is not a matter of neutrality. You need to tell yourself that. Our silence is a matter of guilt and sin. Obedience is definitely a biblical reason to evangelize.

2. A Love for the Lost

Preachers, we have got to stop avoiding the topic of lostness—hell. Jesus spoke of God’s wrath remaining on those who don’t believe on him. God will cause terror in us if we appear before him apart from Christ.

Apart from God’s grace, the sinner will never stop sinning. God’s judgment will never end. Their rejection of God never ends. God will inflict extreme and unnatural pain on them forever.

As preachers of the gospel, we have no business making God seem more humane to sinners who are in rebellion against him. Think about if hell were unleashed on you forever and tell unbelievers how horrible it is.

Christians are motivated by a love to others. Hudson Taylor said he would have never thought of going to China if he didn’t know that they were lost. It’s people who are this lost, who have this fate awaiting them, that we are aiming to convert.

We can confidently tell people the basic message of the gospel and trust that God’s Spirit will faithfully pick up our message and use it to save people.

3. A Love for God.

We want to see God glorified. We want to see the truth about him told in creation. The desire to see God glorified was the motivation for all Jesus’ actions.

Everything exists for God’s glory (Romans 11:36). Our salvation is “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6). God does everything he does for his own glory, and we should do all we do for the glory of God.

To tell the truth about some people is not to honor them, but to tell the truth about God is to honor him. God is glorified in the gospel.

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5 Things We Can Mistake for Evangelism

1) Imposition

We mistakenly take evangelism to be manipulation. But that’s what the world says. In truth, we’re not trying to impose our beliefs on anybody. Biblically, we can’t impose our beliefs on anybody. Force and coercion cannot finally bring about the change that God demands. You can’t expand Christianity by the sword. Evangelism is not some sort of intellectual imposition.

To believe that something is true and to share that with others is not coercion. We don’t impose when we evangelize. We freely offer it to all and do not, cannot, force it on anybody.

2) Personal Testimony

A personal testimony is a wonderful thing. The Bible is full of examples of it, and we should testify to the wonderful experience of receiving God’s mercy.

But consider John 9 and the man born blind. He gives his testimony but doesn’t even know who Jesus is. His words glorify God, but they don’t present the gospel. This is not evangelism.

Unless you’re explicit about Jesus Christ and the cross then it is not the gospel.

3) Social Action / Public Involvement

Mercy ministries display God’s kindness, and they are good and appropriate for the Christian to do. But such actions are not evangelism. They may commend the gospel to others, but only if someone has told them the gospel. They need to have the gospel added to them. Helping others or doing our jobs well, whatever they are, in and of themselves are not evangelism.

4) Apologetics

Apologetics are valuable, but they have their own set of dangers. You can get bogged down in talking about purely intellectual or peripheral matters and never get to the gospel.

It’s fine for us to talk with unbelieving friends about questions that they have, but our attempts to try and answer them without setting the gospel as the foundation does no good. Jesus must set the agenda for evangelism.

5) The Results of Evangelism

2 Corinthians 2:15

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

Note that the same ministry has two different effects. It’s like the parable of the soil: same seed, different results.

We cannot finally judge the correctness of what we do by the immediate response that we get. The need for numbers puts an unnecessary stress on pastors and misunderstands the way that God saves.

We must practice our ministries realizing that some of us will be like Adoniram Judson or William Carey, who had no converts until after seven years of faithful gospel ministry. It’s a fact that most people don’t believe the gospel the first time they hear it.

Don’t let the gospel that you preach be molded by what it is that gets an immediate response. Preach the gospel, trying to persuade–pleading for your hearers to believe–but knowing that you cannot convert a person. And then let God do with it what he will. He alone can call the dead to life. The gospel is powerful, and God is committed to using us to spread this good news.

Concentrate on Depth!

John MacArthur celebrated 40 years as pastor of Grace Community Church this weekend.

In the book, Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints, MacArthur shares the secret of his success in conversation with Justin Taylor:

Early in my first year or so at Grace Community Church, I had this little kind of motto that I used: “If you concentrate on the depth of your ministry, God will take care of the breadth of it.” My ministry hasn’t changed since that first year in that small, little church. For me, it’s all about getting into the depth of Scripture and my own personal walk with the Lord. Breadth is something that God does. . . .

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

The Holy Spirit and the Glory of Christ

[The Holy Spirit] will not do his sanctifying work by the use of his direct divine power. He will only do it by making the glory of Christ the immediate cause of it. This is the only way he works in evangelism, and this is the only way he works in sanctification.
In evangelism the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of sinners to see the glory of Christ who is faithfully preached in the gospel. If Christ is not preached and his glory is not exalted, the Holy Spirit does not open our eyes, for there is no glorious Christ for us to see. The Holy Spirit, we might say, flies in perfect formation be hind the jet of the Christ-exalting gospel. he does his miraculous heart-opening work to make Christ seen and savored as he is preached in the gospel. The Spirit was sent to glorify the Son of God (John 16:14), and He would not save anyone apart from drawing their attention to the glory of the Son in the gospel.

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So it is with sanctification. We are transformed into Christ’s image—that’s what sanctification is—by steadfast seeing and savoring of the glory of Christ. This too is from the Lord who is the Spirit. This is the work of the Spirit: to shine the light of truth on the glory of Christ so that we see it for what it really is, namely, infinitely precious. The work of the Holy Spirit in changing us is not to work directly on our bad habits but to make us admire Jesus Christ so much that sinful habits feel foreign and distasteful. My aim here is not to spell this out in detail, but to point it out so that the gospel does its work decisively by revealing the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Therefore, if we neglect the glory of God in Christ as the greatest gift of the gospel, we cripple the sanctifying work of the church.

—John Piper, God Is the Gospel (Crossway, 2005), 91–92.

(HT: The Thirsty Theologian)