Justified or Adopted? Which Is Greater?

CJ Mahaney has some helpful posts on the believer’s adoption. Here’s a great quote from J.I. Packer he includes:

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.

Knowing God (IVP, 1993), pp. 206–207.

The ultimate purpose of God

Here is John Piper’s message, from the Desiring God Conference, September 27, 2009 where he shows how Jesus Christ relates to the ultimate purpose of God in creating the universe as the theatre of God:

In Every Sermon

“If we are not going to proclaim some aspect of the riches of Christ in every sermon, we shouldn’t be in the pulpit.”

Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, p. 126

(HT: John Fonville)

Action Steps For Anxiety

Paul Tripp’s six action steps for anxiety:

Remind Yourself That God Is In Control: When you convince yourself that your world is out of control, you are on the verge of paralysis. Watch your self-talk. Are you saying to yourself: “God is in control of this circumstance, He is my Father, and He is ruling this for my benefit”?

Accept Confusion: Believing in God’s sovereignty doesn’t mean life will make sense. Believing in God’s sovereignty is needed because life doesn’t make sense. Your rest is not in figuring out your circumstances–your rest is in the God behind the circumstances.

Don’t Allow Emotions To Rule: As much as the emotions you experience will be right, good, and appropriate, don’t let them set the agenda. There is a temptation to do that, but allowing yourself to be pulled away by the emotions of the moment could cause you to regret your decisions later.

Distinguish Needs From Wants: Be very careful what you put in your catalog of “need.” The minute you tell yourself something is a need, you’re saying it is essential for life. Then you are going to determine that you can’t live without it. It’s easy to attach yourself and your sense  of security to the gift rather than to the Giver.

Know Your Job Description: God promises to provide. Your job is to live the way God has called you to live. Instead of giving way to discouragement, look for ways you can contribute to God’s people at the moment.

Run To God, Not Away From Him: God’s promise to us is not first the relief of the suffering–His promise is to give us Himself. He will never turn a deaf ear to the natural cries of a person of faith when life doesn’t make sense. God hears and answers and works and comforts.

(HT: Tullian Tchividjian)

How obedience is born

“For, until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that naught is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience; no, unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield up their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity.”

- John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Bk I, Ch. 2

(HT: Of First Importance)

God-centred and Gospel-centred need each other

CHRISTIANITY: All About Christ

“To behold Christ and to make others behold him is the substance of his [Paul's] ministry. All the distinctive elements of Paul’s preaching relate to Christ, and bear upon their face his image and superscription. …The entire Christian life, root and stem and branch and blossom, is one continuous fellowship with Christ.” Gerhardus Vos

(HT: Matthew Morizio)

“Land Right There”

From The Gospel Coalition Blog:

Kevin DeYoung has an excellent post this morning on preaching, preachers and application. He cautions pastors against always ending sermons with application points in the form of imperatives. DeYoung argues if we do this, we may miss the vital point of the particular text being expounded for “many texts are not about oughts.”

For example, DeYoung recounts his recent sermon on Mark 1:9-11:

Last week I was preaching on Mark 1:9-11, the story of Jesus’ baptism. I struggled with how to end the sermon. The point of the passage is pretty obvious. Mark wants us to see the unique identity of Jesus Christ. Having announced Jesus as the Son of God in verse 1, Mark then tries to demonstrate in the rest of the prologue why he is the Son of God and what this means. John the Baptist predicts a mightier one to come after him in verses 7-8. Then in the next scene we see Jesus’ baptism, with three attendant signs that point to his unique identity (the heavens opening, the Spirit descending, a voice commending). The point of verses 9-11 is straightforward: Jesus is the new revelation from God, the bringer of the Spirit, the Son of the Father.

Given the point of the passage, how would DeYoung suggest the conclusion go?

You could say “Look at the idols in your hearts. You need to love this Christ more.” Or, “This Jesus is worthy of all our obedience. Go live for him and keep his commandments.” Or, “Why don’t we share the good news about such a great Savior? Tell your neighbors this week about the Son of God.” All of those are fair points and it would not be wrong to connect the text to these thoughts at some point during the sermon. But if we land the plane on these points I fear we are missing the point of the passage. These three verses are here to give a glimpse of the glory of Christ. My fellow preachers and I should not hesitate to land right there. Are we so afraid of not being relevant or prophetic that we can’t end a sermon by exalting in the person of Christ? No application is needed to finish off this sermon. The last word ringing in people’s hears should be something along the lines of, “Behold your God!”

Read the whole post. And don’t be afraid to “land right there.”

Seeing More of God & More of Ourselves

“Growing in the gospel means seeing more of God’s holiness and more of my sin. And because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, we need not fear seeing God as he really is or admitting how broken we really are. Our hope is not in our own goodness, nor in the vain expectation that God will compromise his standards and ‘grade on a curve.’ Rather, we rest in Jesus as our perfect Redeemer — the One who is ‘our righteousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 Cor. 1:30).”

- Bob Thune and Will Walker, The Gospel-Centered Life (World Harvest Mission, 2009), 6.

(HT: Of First Importance)

That’s Not Salvation

“Some people, when they use the word “salvation,” understand nothing more by it than deliverance from hell and admittance into heaven. Now, that is not salvation: those two things are the effects of salvation. We are redeemed from hell because we are saved, and we enter heaven because we have been saved beforehand. Our everlasting state is the effect of salvation in this life… What a great word that word “salvation” is! It includes the cleansing of our conscience from all past guilt, the delivery of our soul from all those propensities to evil which now so strongly predominate in us; it takes in, in fact, the undoing of all that Adam did. Salvation is the total restoration of man from his fallen estate; and yet it is something more than that, for God’s salvation fixes our standing more secure than it was before we fell. It finds us broken in pieces by the sin of our first parent, defiled, stained, accursed: it first heals our wounds, it removes our diseases, it takes away our curse, it puts our feet upon the rock Christ Jesus, and having thus done, at last it lifts our heads far above all principalities. and powers, to be crowned for ever with Jesus Christ, the King of heaven.” —C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Excerpts taken from a sermon title “The Way of Salvation” delivered August 15, 1858, by C. H. Spurgeon

(HT: The Bororean)

The Postmodern Zone

(HT: Reformed Voices)

Rope, Beach, Air, Sun, Song

“Jesus Christ is not merely the means of our rescue from damnation; he is the goal of our salvation. If he is not satisfying to be with, there is no salvation.

He is not merely the rope that pulls us from the threatening waves; he is the solid beach under our feet, the air in our lungs, and the beat of our heart, and the warm sun on our skin, and the song in our ears, and the arms of our beloved.”

- John Piper, Taste and See, 406

(HT: Of First Importance)

Swine Flu Paranoia

Thanks for this, Roydon.

15 Reasons I Love The Church

I love the Church that Jesus us building too. My thanks to Justin Childers for this:

-She is Christ’s bride and body (Eph. 5:22-33).
-She was purchased by Christ’s own blood (Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:1; 25).
-She exists to glorify God (Eph. 3:10; 21).
-She provides accountability and encouragement for my family and I.
-She provides an opportunity to love and serve other sinners.
-She will kick me out if I live as an unbeliever.
-She provides the opportunity to utilize my spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12, 14).
-She is the pillar and buttress of the truth (1 Tim. 3:13).
-She displays the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. 3:10).
-She is my eternal family (Eph. 2:19-22).
-She reminds me of the gospel.
-She is built by Christ Himself (Matt. 16:18).
-She will never be defeated (Matt. 16:18).
-She is the dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:22).
-She nourishes my soul with the Word.

Derek Thomas has a great post about Falling in Love with the Church — again.

The Gospel Coalition

Packer on the Five Themes Embraced by the Gospel

From Justin Taylor:

J. I. Packer - I formulate the Gospel this way:

it is information issuing in invitation; it is proclamation issuing in persuasion.

It is an admonitory message embracing five themes.

First, God: the God whom Paul proclaimed to the Athenians in Acts 17, the God of Christian theism.

Second, humankind: made in God’s image but now totally unable to respond to God or do anything right by reason of sin in their moral and spiritual system.

Third, the person and work of Christ: God incarnate, who by dying wrought atonement and who now lives to impart the blessing that flows form his work of atonement.

Fourth, repentance, that is, turning from sin to God, from self-will to Jesus Christ.

And fifthly, new community: a new family, a new pattern of human togetherness which results from the unity of the Lord’s people in the Lord, henceforth to function under the one Father as a family and a fellowship.

J. I. Packer, “The Gospel and the Lord’s Supper,” in Serving the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings of J.I. Packer, 4 vols.  (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster, 1998), 2:44 (emphasis and spacing mine).

For an interesting collection of attempts to define the biblical gospel, see this post by Trevin Wax.

“The Gospel-Driven Life”

Michael Horton’s follow-up to his excellent “Christless Christianity” is now available. “The Gospel-Driven Life” promises to be an important book.

From the Publisher:
In his well-received Christless Christianity Michael Horton offered a prophetic wake-up call for a self-centered American church. With The Gospel-Driven Life he turns from the crisis to the solutions, offering his recommendations for a new reformation in the faith, practice, and witness of contemporary Christianity. This insightful book will guide readers in reorienting their faith and the church’s purpose toward the good news of the gospel. The first six chapters explore that breaking news from heaven, while the rest of the book focuses on the kind of community that the gospel generates and the surprising ways in which God is at work in the world. Here is fresh news for Christians who are burned out on hype and are looking for hope.

“Mike Horton has once again hit the nail on the head. With engaging clarity he demonstrates that the gospel is not just for non-Christians; it’s for Christians too. In compelling ways he shows that the gospel doesn’t just ignite the Christian life; it’s the fuel that keeps Christians going every day. Horton’s book is a flavorsome reminder that in order for Christians to make a difference in this world, we must be driven by something otherworldly–namely, the gospel.”

- Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and author of Unfashionable

(HT: Todd Pruitt)

Why are you called a Christian?

Why are you called a Christian? (Question 32)

“Because I am a member of Christ by faith and thus share in His anointing, so that I may as prophet confess His Name, as priest present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him, and as king fight with a free and good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures.”

- The Heidelberg Catechism

(HT: Of First Importance)

Beholding Glory and Becoming Whole: Seeing and Savoring God as the Heart of Mental Health

Last night John Piper addressed the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) at their world conference in Nashville on the topic “Beholding Glory and Becoming Whole: Seeing and Savoring God as the Heart of Mental Health.”

The manuscript of John’s message is available here.

Here’s a sample:

[...]

God has done everything with a view to one great end—namely, that the glory of his grace should be praised by innumerable redeemed human beings. You, and everybody you counsel, were made by God to praise him. More specifically, you were made to praise his glory. And more specific yet, you were made to praise the glory of his grace.

[...]

This is why we were created. This goes to the heart of what it means for us to be fully human and for God to be fully honored. And the amazing thing is that the two happen together. They happen in the same act. God is profoundly honored and glorified in the very act of our being profoundly and completely satisfied in him. God exists to be glorious. We exist to see glory—and savorthat glory, and to give it expression in praise.

That is the ultimate goal of redemption, and so I take it to be a statement about the ultimate meaning of human wholeness. If praising God’s glory is our final destiny, then seeing and savoring and praising God’s glory must be at the heart of what it means to be fully human. Seeing and savoring God is, therefore, the heart of mental health.

[...]

My point is that praising the glory of God’s grace is the apex of human wholeness, not the pursuit of it. Praising the glory of God’s grace is the all-satisfying goal of human existence, not how you get there. And seeing that glory in the person and work of Jesus is the way this grace—this “grace upon grace,” this grace of wholeness—comes into our broken lives. Beholding glory, we are becoming whole.

(HT: Desiring God blog)

Unreached vs Unevangelized

Alex Chediak interviews David Sitton, President of To Every Tribe. An excerpt:

There’s an important difference between unevangelized and unreached peoples. Unevangelized people are unconverted individuals in places where there are established churches. Unreached peoples are those that live in regions where there are no churches and no access to the evangelical gospel in their culture. And to answer your question about the present trend; 96% of the missionary work force is still laboring in unevangelized, but not truly unreached regions. Here it is again – 9 out of 10 Christian missionaries that go cross-cultural are still going to reached places! Here’s still another way to say it – Something like 90% of all “ministers” worldwide are concentrating on only 2% of the world’s population! We are massively overly evangelizing places where the gospel is already well planted! I believe that we need a substantial strategic redeployment of the missionary workforce to the areas where there is still no access to the evangelical gospel.

Read the whole thing.

(HT: Justin Taylor)