The Joy of Calvinism

However the terms are refined, the main tenets of Calvinism are structured around the five-petaled acronym TULIP. But too often missing in this structure is the “sap of delight,” as Pastor John [Piper] calls it in his biography of Augustine.

In the following excerpt from that biography, Pastor John explains why we need a delight-drenched theology like that of Augustine:

R. C. Sproul says, “We need an Augustine or a Luther to speak to us anew lest the light of God’s grace be not only overshadowed but be obliterated in our time.”

Yes, we do. But we also need tens of thousands of ordinary pastors, who are ravished with the extraordinary sovereignty of joy that belongs to and comes from God alone. And we need to rediscover Augustine’s peculiar slant — a very biblical slant — on grace as the free gift of sovereign joy in God that frees us from the bondage of sin. We need to rethink our Reformed view of salvation so that every limb and every branch in the tree is coursing with the sap of Augustinian delight.

We need to make plain that [T] total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to beauty and deadness to joy; and [U] unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed; and that [L] limited atonement is the assurance that indestructible joy in God is infallibly secured for us by the blood of the covenant; and [I] irresistible grace is the commitment and power of God’s love to make sure we don’t hold on to suicidal pleasures, and to set us free by the sovereign power of superior delights; and that the [P] perseverance of the saints is the almighty work of God to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of pleasures at God’s right hand forever.

This note of sovereign, triumphant joy is a missing element in too much Reformed theology and Reformed worship. And it may be that the question we should pose ourselves is whether this is so because we have not experienced the triumph of sovereign joy in our own lives.*

_________________

* Excerpt taken from John Piper’s 1998 biography of Augustine; also published in Piper’s,The Legacy of Sovereign Joy (Crossway, 2006), 73; and published in Piper’s, Taste and See (Multnomah, 2005), 73. See also Piper’s DVD series, TULIP: The Pursuit of God’s Glory in Salvation.

(HT: Tony Reinke) 

We Cannot Hold the Gospel Hostage to Our Shortcomings

Duane Litfin, writing in Christianity Today:

“Some today will claim that there is no true evangelism without “embodied action.” In fact, according to one critic, “Unless [Christ's] disciples are following the Great Commandment, it is fruitless to engage in the Great Commission.” According to this view, the gospel is without its own potency. Its “fruitfulness” depends upon us. But this is not the testimony of the New Testament.

According to Paul—whose itinerant ministry met few of the “embodied action” criteria—the power of the gospel does not reside in us; it resides in the Spirit’s application of the message itself. . . .

Few would deny that the holistic mission of the church is the best possible platform for our verbal witness, and that our jaded generation will be more inclined to give us a hearing if we are living it out. (Indeed, the longest section of my new book, Word versus Deed, is devoted to the crucial role of our deeds.)

But this does not permit us to hold the gospel hostage to our shortcomings.

When has the church been all it should be?

When, short of glory, will the church ever be all that God wills for it?

The church has been messy from the beginning, falling far short of living out the Great Commandment. Yet despite our failures, the gospel itself remains marvelously potent, the very “power of God unto salvation” to those who believe.

The gospel’s inherent power does not fluctuate with the strengths or weaknesses of its messengers.

This truth is humbling, but also immensely liberating. In the end, my inability to answer objections, my lack of training or experience, even failures in my own faithfulness in living it out do not nullify the gospel’s power. Its potency is due to the working of God’s Spirit.

Even when we are at our best, the gospel is powerful in spite of us, not because of us. Thanks be to God.”

You can read the whole thing here. This is adapted from his book, Word Versus Deed: Resetting the Scales to a Biblical Balance (Crossway, 2012).

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Truth Obeyed Will Heal

J. I. Packer:

“Truth obeyed, said the Puritans, will heal. The word fits, because we are all spiritually sick — sick through sin, which is a wasting and killing disease of the heart. The unconverted are sick unto death; those who have come to know Christ and have been born again continue sick, but they are gradually getting better as the work of grace goes on in their lives.

The church, however, is a hospital in which nobody is completely well, and anyone can relapse at any time. Pastors no less than others are weakened by pressure from the world, the flesh, and the devil, with their lures of profit, pleasure, and pride, and, as we shall see more fully in a moment, pastors must acknowledge that they the healers remain sick and wounded and therefore need to apply the medicines of Scripture to themselves as well as to the sheep whom they tend in Christ’s name.

All Christians need Scripture truth as medicine for their souls at every stage, and the making and accepting of applications is the administering and swallowing of it.”

J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness, 1990, reprint (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 65, paragraphing added.

(HT: Josh Etter)

Preaching: Is There a Plan B?

NO!

Great thoughts from Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, at this year’s T4G.

 

The Trellis and the Vine on Gospel Centrality

A couple of excerpts from the excellent book The Trellis and the Vine on the centrality of the gospel:

“Throughout the world, the gospel is spreading, propagating, budding, flowering, bearing fruit. People hear it and by God’s mercy respond and are saved. But it does not stop there. Once the gospel is planted in someone’s life and takes root, it keeps growing in them. Their lives bear fruit. They grow in love and godliness and knowledge and spiritual wisdom, so that they walk in a manner worthy of their calling, fully pleasing to the Father, bearing fruit in every good work (Col. 1:9-10; 2:6-7)” (36-37). [emphasis mine]

“The New Testament envisages that all Christian disciples will be prayerful speakers of God’s word, in a multitude of different ways and contexts. In each context, the message is essentially the same. It’s not as if we come to know Christ through the gospel word but then use a fundamentally different message to encourage each other as Christians. The ‘word of God’, the message that he has revealed in and through Christ by his Spirit–this is what converts us, and it is also what causes us to grow, bearing the fruit of godliness. The vine grows, both in number and in leaves and in their quality and maturity, through the word and Spirit–through God’s truth being heard, and the Spirit making it effective in people’s hearts” (53-54).

(HT: Timmy Brister)

The Heart of Discipleship

By Jonathan Parnell:

Discipleship is about values. This could not be clearer in the Gospels. Jesus’ call is for a double action: leave and follow. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” he first said to Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4:19. And “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Then to James and John. And “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” Whether nets or family, the call to follow Jesus is the call to walk away from something else. It is the call to this, not that. Here, not there.

The disciples knew this. They knew they were forsaking one thing for another. And they knew pleasure was at the root. That’s why Peter asked what he did in Matthew 19:27. To be sure, he was still putting the pieces together, but he tipped his hand here. He was waiting for the pay off. Jesus had just taught on riches, which I imagine seemed out of the ballpark to Peter. Riches? Psssssst! (He had even walked away from his meager livelihood.) Ayhem, Jesus? Great lesson on riches, and about that, we, you know, we, uh, we left everything. So when do we get to cash the check?

Maybe more astonishing than Peter asking the question is that Jesus answers him.

Forsake the lesser pursuit in order to gain the greater pleasure. That’s why a man sells everything to buy a field (Matthew 13:44) or why the merchant considers all his goods mere commerce compared to one pearl (Matthew 13:45). There is something better out there and discipleship is the great calling to lay hold of it.

The human is a deep creature: “not just a body, but a soul. Not just a soul, but a soul with a passion and a desire. Not just a desire for being liked or for playing softball or collecting shells.” And Jesus says, “Follow me.” His call harmonizes with our inherent depth. Look, here’s the treasure. It’s me. Then we are awakened, muddy hands and all, wallowing in the slums this whole time but now testifying of a “desire for something infinitely great and beautiful and valuable and satisfying — the name and the glory of God” (Boasting Only in the Cross). So we leave and we follow. Goodbye broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13), hello my exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

We follow Jesus into a new world, not as pedagogy, but as fellowship. We come not as pupils, but as rebellious creatures made alive for the first time — rebellious creatures now reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Discipleship — following Jesus — is to live before God’s face, to dwell in his presence, to be satisfied in all that he is. We follow as creatures of grace, entering into the fellowship of the triune God in whose presence there is fullness of joy, at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace

“All your church attendance, all your religious activities, your Sunday school attendance medals, your journals, having a “quiet time,” reading the Scriptures—it’s all in vain if you don’t have Christ.

We are saved, sanctified, and sustained by what Jesus did for us on the cross and through the power of his resurrection. If you add to or subtract from the cross, even if it is to factor in biblically mandated religious practices like prayer and evangelism, you rob God of his glory and Christ of his sufficiency.

Romans 8:1 tells us that there is no condemnation for us, not because of all the great stuff we’ve done but because Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death.

My sin in the past: forgiven. My current struggles: covered. My future failures: paid in full all by the marvelous, infinite, matchless grace found in the atoning work of the cross of Jesus Christ.”

— Matt ChandlerThe Explicit Gospel(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 15

(HT: Of First Importance)

Wanted: Apostolic Pastors

Mark Dever talking my kind of language:

I was in a meeting not too long ago in which a pastor said that he was going to lead his church to be the first church in history that fulfilled the great commission.

That’s a breathtaking claim.

And it reminded me of many other such vision-casting mission statements. One of the most famous slogans has to be the watchword of the Student Volunteer Movement, from over a century ago—“The evangelization of the world in this generation!” That stirring call was used by God to send thousands of evangelical Christians from the English-speaking world around the globe to share the gospel in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

But I have to be honest—I’ve always thought that famous slogan was a mixed bag. I love the call to the evangelization of the world! That stirs my heart, and I mean to be giving my life to that work. But the second half feels vaguely manipulative. I can imagine young people especially getting excited by the unique way theirgeneration will do what all others have failed to do. (Maybe like one church doing what all other churches have failed to do?)

HOW APOSTOLIC ARE WE?

I want to tread carefully here. Evangelization is vital. Yet I cannot fail to notice the difference between the nineteenth-century “watchword” and Christ’s own great commission. Jesus mentioned not the apostles’ generation only, but instead promised to be with them until the very end of the age (Matt. 28:20). Such a world-wide, age-long charge should encourage us to be humble before the crushing omnipotence required for such a task. This humility should drive us to utter reliance upon God even as we give ourselves fully. And, of course, it’s this utter reliance upon God that gives us the very boldness we need to undertake and continue in this great task.

I also notice how none of the apostles turned to the others and said in naïve exuberance—“I’m going to do this myself! I’m going to take the gospel to all nations, and I’ll do it all by myself!”  The disciples became Christ-sent messengers, heralding the gospel to all. And they worked together, one going to one place, another to another (cf. Gal. 2:9). They encouraged and helped one another in their common work.

How apostolic are we in our work as pastors? Do you actively work to partner with other local churches to fulfill the great commission? Or do you act as if your church can take the gospel to the ends of the earth all by yourselves?

DREAM BIG—BIGGER THAN THE FOUR WALLS OF YOUR CHURCH

I love being a pastor and I love pastors. I thank God for pastors and try to work to serve them as he gives me opportunity.

Perhaps it’s because of this very love that sometimes I also find myself saddened by pastors. How many times have pastors made remarks that seem to show that their dreams and hopes begin and end at the doors of their own church? While there is sometimes admirable contentment and humility in this, I fear that other times it is self-absorption and small-mindedness.

Some pastors’ hopes seem to be otherwise distorted—like pastors who root for their denominations like fans do for their sports teams! I remember one pastor telling me with excitement what percentage of people in his state were members of his denomination, trends of growth, and an array of other denominational statistics. When I asked him about percentages of people in his state who claimed to be evangelical Christians—that is, they claim to believe the same gospel we do—he had no idea. He seemed not to have thought of the question before.

Brother pastors, how is it that we can be more concerned about who is in our denomination than about who is in Christ’s kingdom? Do we think more in terms of swelling the number of those in our congregation, or of those in the church of God, whichever local congregation they may be a member of?

I long for God to raise up more pastors who care more about conversions than the numerical growth of their own congregations.

I long for God to raise up more pastors who will work to develop a culture of care for and cooperation with other churches.

I long for God to raise up pastors who pray for revival for years, and who are not disappointed when God answers their prayers at another local church.

HOW CAN WE BE “APOSTOLIC PASTORS”?

How can we be such “apostolic pastors”—pastors who work with not only their own congregation in view, but with the non-Christians in their neighborhood and their city in view, loving all true gospel work?

And how can we lead our congregations to enlarge their vision and be excited for gospel work in our areas?

• Pray privately for other local pastors and congregations.
• Set an example for our churches by publicly praying for God’s blessing on other Bible-believing and Bible-preaching churches in our area.
• Encourage ministers of other evangelical denominations to preach from time to time in our pulpits. As occasion may arise, accept invitations to preach in theirs.
• Invite a fellow pastor to your church’s prayer meeting. Interview him about the work in his congregation, and pray for him and his church.
• Discipline yourself to speak well of other churches. If a warning must be given, speak with great care.
• Be willing to encourage members who live a distance from your church to join likeminded congregations closer to their home.

There is so much you can do!

STRATEGIZE TO HELP OTHER PASTORS

Whatever form it may take, strategize to help other pastors. Gather them. Pray with them. Give them books. Let them know that, as best you can be, you’re there for them.

Look especially for those pastors who will themselves work to bless other pastors. This is a kind of pastoral version of 2 Timothy 2:2, training faithful pastors who will in turn train other faithful pastors. And as God raises up such a company of godly ministers of his Word in your area and mine, may the lost be saved, churches be built, and God’s name be honored.

In every generation, that’s how the great commission has been, is being, and will be fulfilled.

Mark Dever is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and is the author of The Church: The Gospel Made Visible (B&H, 2012), and Preach: Theology Meets Practice (B&H, 2012).

© 9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email:info@9marks.org. Toll Free: (888) 543-1030.

Complementarianism: Essential or Expendable?

Greg Gilbert, John Piper, Ligon Duncan and Russell Moore discuss the relationship between complementarianism and the gospel at this year’s Together for the Gospel:

 

What Does Jesus Do With Sin?

By Jared Wilson:

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”
– John 1:29

John the Baptist commands a beholding of the sin-taking-away Lamb. What do we see in this beholding? How exactly does Jesus take away our sin?

Here are 6 things Jesus does with sin:

1. He Condemns It.

Jesus puts a curse on sin. He marks its forehead.

Romans 8:3 – “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

Jesus says to sin in no uncertain terms, “Sin, you’re going to die.”

2. He Carries It.

Like the true and better scapegoat, Jesus becomes our sin-bearer.

1 Peter 2:24 – “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

3. He Cancels It.

He closes out the account. (Even better, he opens a new one, where we’re always in the black, having been credited with his perfect righteousness.)

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 – “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful”

That word resentful is more directly “to count up wrongdoing,” which is why some translations of this text say that “Love keeps no record of wrongs.”

Colossians 2:13-14 – “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

That last proclamation leads us into this great truth:

4. He Crucifies It

1 Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”

At the cross, Jesus dies and takes our sin with him. Only the sin stays dead.

5. He Casts It Away

Jesus takes the corpse and chucks it into the void.

Micah 7:19 – “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

Psalm 103:12 – “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

6. He Chooses to Un-remember It.

Jesus is omniscient. He is not forgetful. But he wills to un-remember our sin.

Jeremiah 31:34 – “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Hebrews 8:12 – “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Hebrews 10:17 – “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Astonishing. We bring our sin to him, repentant and in faithful confession, and he says, “What’re you talking about?”

This is how Jesus forgives sin: He condemns it, carries it, cancels it, kills it, casts it, and clean forgets it. If we’ll confess it.

1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

God takes action in Christ

“God takes action in Christ against sin, death, and the devil. The doctrine of justification is not about the workings of impersonal law in the universe, or about manipulating its outcomes, but it is about God. The moral law is simply the reflection of the character of God, and when God acts to address the outcomes of the broken moral law, he addresses these himself, himself taking the burden of his own wrath, himself absorbing in the person of Christ the judgment his righteous character cannot but demand, himself providing what no sinner can give, himself absorbing the punishment no sinner can bear and live.”

— David F. Wells
The Courage to Be Protestant
(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdmans, 2008), 201

(HT: Of First Importance)

Steps to Overcome Temptation

Earlier this year David Mathis sat down with Don Carson to discuss sanctification. In this three-minute clip, Carson talks about some simultaneous steps to take for overcoming temptation, including a deepening delight in Jesus.

Sanctification is the theme of this year’s Desiring God National Conference — “Act the Miracle: God’s Work and Ours in the Mystery of Sanctification.” Visit the event page to learn more and register.

(HT: Desiring God blog)

How Do You Know When Someone Is Repentant?: 12 Signs

From Jared Wilson:

How do you know when someone is repentant? In his helpful little book Church Discipline, Jonathan Leeman offers some guidance:

A few verses before Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 18 about church discipline, he provides us with help for determining whether an individual is characteristically repentant: would the person be willing to cut off a hand or tear out an eye rather than repeat the sin (Matt. 18:8-9)? That is to say, is he or she willing to do whatever it takes to fight against the sin? Repenting people, typically, are zealous about casting off their sin. That’s what God’s Spirit does inside of them. When this happens, one can expect to see a willingness to accept outside counsel. A willingness to inconvenience their schedules. A willingness to confess embarrassing things. A willingness to make financial sacrifices or lose friends or end relationships. (p. 72)

These are good indicators, and I believe we can add a few more.

Here are 12 signs we have a genuinely repentant heart:

1. We name our sin as sin and do not spin it or excuse it, and further, we demonstrate “godly sorrow,” which is to say, a grief chiefly about the sin itself, not just a grief about being caught or having to deal with the consequences of sin.

2. We actually confessed before we were caught or the circumstantial consequences of our sin caught up with us.

3. If found out, we confess immediately or very soon after and “come clean,” rather than having to have the full truth pulled from us. Real repentance is typically accompanied by transparency.

4. We have a willingness and eagerness to make amends. We will do whatever it takes to make things right and to demonstrate we have changed.

5. We are patient with those we’ve hurt or victimized, spending as much time as is required listening to them without jumping to defend ourselves.

6. We are patient with those we’ve hurt or victimized as they process their hurt, and we don’t pressure them or “guilt” them into forgiving us.

7. We are willing to confess our sin even in the face of serious consequences (including undergoing church discipline, having to go to jail, or having a spouse leave us).

8. We may grieve the consequences of our sin but we do not bristle under them or resent them. We understand that sometimes our sin causes great damage to others that is not healed in the short term (or perhaps ever).

9. If our sin involves addiction or a pattern of behavior, we do not neglect to seek help with a counselor, a solid twelve-step program, or even a rehabilitation center.

10. We don’t resent accountability, pastoral rebuke, or church discipline.

11. We seek our comfort in the grace of God in Jesus Christ, not simply in being free of the consequences of our sin.

12. We are humble and teachable.

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.– 2 Corinthians 7:9-11

 

If Christ is Lord, Everything Matters

By Jake Belder:

It is common to hear Christians talk about “living in the light of eternity.” Not too long ago, there was a popular video going around in which Francis Chan talked about this very thing, using a long rope as an illustration. The Bible, of course, speaks of this too—Paul says that “we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For…what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). And the glorious vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 gives us great hope for an eternal life in the new creation.

While such a perspective is clearly biblical, it needs to be understood properly. When people begin to think in these categories, a common temptation is to view life as split into two areas: spiritual things that matter and that have eternal significance, and everything else, which does not. This perspective is not true to Scripture, and doesn’t honour the confession that most Christians—despite the glaring inconsistency—are eager to make: that Christ is Lord over all.

What then does it mean to live in the light of eternity? It begins with recognising that the “all” in the statement above refers to the whole of created reality. This is where the root of the problem often lies, for many Christians have a narrow view of creation that does not go beyond the physical stuff that we can see and touch. But creation includes the whole of our creaturely existence, the norms and laws and structures that God has woven into the fabric of reality that guide and give shape to our life on this earth.

If all we wanted to say is that everything matters, we could stop here. But we need to go farther. The distorting effects of sin have touched every part of creation. This reality is what often gives rise to the dichotomy many operate with, for the goodness of the created reality is so marred by sin that it can be hard to even see it anymore. Our response is to give up on what we perceive to be temporal things—large swathes of our life within culture—and to go into preservation mode, concerning ourselves with our personal piety and with saving the souls of others.

But God doesn’t abandon any part of his creation. As that great line in “Joy to the World” goes, the redemption that comes through Christ extends as “far as the curse is found.” God is committed to redeeming every single part of his creation from sin.

Just as God is committed to his creation, so we should be. Nothing is so distorted by sin that it is unredeemable. Our call in culture is to bear witness to the redemption of Christ in every area of our creaturely lives. Nothing that we do is insignificant. Work, play, art, music, politics, journalism—these are all shaped by God’s creative design. It is true that Satan wants control over all of them; indeed, he desires control over the totality of creation. As servants of Christ, we must respond by demonstrating what all of life looks like under the rule of Christ and resolutely refuse to allow Satan to have mastery over anything good that God has made.

Living in the light of eternity means actively seeking to demonstrate Christ’s rule over all of life, offering the world around us a foretaste of “what is unseen” – that glorious future when the whole of creation is redeemed and everything finds its fulfilment and flourishing under the consummated rule of the true King.

Carl Trueman Interviews JI Packer

 

(HT: Justin Taylor)

What is church membership?

From Jonathan Leeman:

What is church membership?

Answer: It’s a declaration of citizenship in Christ’s kingdom. It’s a passport. It’s an announcement made in the pressroom of Christ’s kingdom. It’s the declaration that a professing individual is an official, licensed, card-carrying, bona fide Jesus representative.

More concretely, church membership is a formal relationship between a local church and a Christian characterized by the church’s affirmation and oversight of a Christian’s discipleship and the Christian’s submission to living out his or her discipleship in the care of the church.

Notice that several elements are present:

• a church body formally affirms an individual’s profession of faith and baptism as credible;
• it promises to give oversight to that individual’s discipleship;
• the individual formally submits his or her discipleship to the service and authority of this body and its leaders.

The church body says to the individual, “We recognize your profession of faith, baptism, and discipleship to Christ as valid. Therefore, we publicly affirm and acknowledge you before the nations as belonging to Christ, and we extend the oversight of our fellowship.” Principally, the individual says to the church body, “Insofar as I recognize you as a faithful, gospel-declaring church, I submit my presence and my discipleship to your love and oversight.”

The standards for church membership should be no higher or lower than the standards for being a Christian, with one exception. A Christian is someone who has repented and believed, and that’s who churches should affirm as members. The only additional requirement is baptism. Church members must be baptized, a pattern that is uniform in the New Testament. Peter said to the crowds in Jerusalem, “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). And Paul, writing the church in Rome, simply assumes that everyone who belongs to the Roman church has been baptized (Rom. 6:1–3). (I’ll consider this requirement of baptism further in the next post.)

Church membership, in other words, is not about “additional requirements.” It’s about a church taking specific responsibility for a Christian, and a Christian for a church. It’s about “putting on,” “embodying,” “living out,” and “making concrete” our membership in Christ’s universal body. In some ways, the union which constitutes a local church and its members is like the “I do” of a marriage ceremony, which is why some refer to church membership as a “covenant.”

It’s true that a Christian must choose to join a church, but that does not make it a voluntary organization. Having chosen Christ, a Christian has no choice but to choose to join a church.

This article is excerpted not from Church Membership (pictured above), but Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the name of Jesus (Crossway, 2012). A longer discussion is found in the former book

Letter to a 12-Year-Old Girl About the Eternal Destiny of Those Who Have Not Heard the Gospel

By John Piper:

Dear [Sarah],

You asked what happens to people who live far away from the gospel and have never heard about Jesus and die without faith in him.

Here is what I think the Bible teaches.

God always punishes people because of what they know and fail to believe. In other words, no one will be condemned for not believing in Jesus who has never heard of Jesus.

Does that mean that people will be saved and go to heaven if they have never heard of Jesus? No, that is not what God tells us in the Bible.

The main passage in the Bible that talks about this is Romans 1:18–23. Here is what it says. Then I’ll make a comment or two.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that havebeen made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Notice several things:

1. All people ”know God,” even if they have never heard the Bible. “What can be known about God is plain to them” (verse 19). “Although they knew God…” (verse 21).
2. The way they know God is by the way God has made the world and their own consciences (verses 19–20).
3. Even though they know God, no one who knows God anywhere in the world “honors God as God or gives him thanks” (verse 21). Instead, they “suppress the truth” (verse 18). That is, they resist the truth deep in their hearts and “exchange it” for other things that they would rather have (verse 23).
4. Therefore, they are “without excuse” (verse 20). That is, they are guilty and deserved to be punished.

So I don’t think the Bible teaches that people can be saved without hearing the gospel. Look at what Paul says in Romans 10:13–17. You need to hear the gospel to be saved.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴How then will they call on him in whom they have notbelieved? And how are they to believe in him of whom theyhave never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

So let’s pray for missionaries and ask God if maybe we should be one. The world really needs more people to tell all the lost people in the world about Jesus and the amazing good news that he died for sinners so that whoever believes will be saved.

Thank you for your good question.

Keep praying and reading your Bible. God will give you growing understanding.

Pastor John

The Distinction Between The Law And The Gospel

Preaching from the book of Romans (7:7-8:4) Tchividjian explains how the law shows us our need and the Gospel shows us how Christ fulfilled that need:

 

The Book of 1 Corinthians in 40 Tweets

 

By Jonathan Parnell:

Crosses were dark in First Century Rome. Crucifixion was a horrific execution method reserved for the lowliest criminals. And yet, Paul writes his letter to the church in Corinth and organizes his theology and entire ministry around this object of shame.

In God’s wisdom the cross has become the place, as D. A. Carson explains, where “God has supremely destroyed all human arrogance and pretension.” (The Cross and Christian Ministry, 15). Indeed, this message is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who believe, the cross is the power of God.

1 Corinthians is a book about the cross. And like with Romans, we’ve tried to summarize the book in a series of tweets that we’ll be posting on Twitter throughout the day. As long as we’ve got social media, let’s use it to help one another live in the power of the cross, a day at a time.

Here’s one shot:

1 Corinthians 1

The church is those in every place who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (#1Cor 1:1–3)

We’re waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God will sustain us to the end, guiltless. He will. He is faithful. (#1Cor 1:4–9)

By the name of Jesus, agree with one another. Don’t have divisions. Be united in the same mind and same judgment. (#1Cor. 1:10–17)

The word of the cross is folly to those perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (#1Cor 1:18–25)

Our life in Christ’s is God’s doing. There’s no room for boasting. He made Jesus our everything. (#1Cor 1:26–31)

1 Corinthians 2

Our message is Jesus and him crucified. Here’s where the Spirit’s power is seen and why our faith is in God, not man. #1Cor 2:1–5

We have received the Spirit of God so that we understand his word. We have the mind of Christ. #1Cor 2:6–16

1 Corinthians 3

Some servants plant the word, some water, but only God gives the growth. Only God brings people to life. #1Cor 3:1–15

Why would you ever boast in man? All things are yours. The whole world, life, death, present, future. Yours! And you God’s! #1Cor 3:16–23

1 Corinthians 4

What do you have you did not receive? And if you received it then why would you ever boast like you did it yourself? #1Cor 4:1–7

The kingdom of God isn’t made up of endless chatter and grumbling. It consists of power. Power. #1Cor 4:8–21

1 Corinthians 5

The church is a body of regenerate believers who walk in step with the gospel, together. #1Cor 5:1–13

1 Corinthians 6

We were all immoral pagans. Lost. But God washed, sanctified, and justified us in the name of Jesus and by his Spirit. #1Cor 6:1–11

God made us the temple of his Spirit. We’re not our own! We were bought with a price! So let us glorify him with our bodies. #1Cor 6:12–20

1 Corinthians 7

God has gifted his people in different ways. If you’re single, it’s good to be single. But it might be best you marry. #1Cor 7:1–9

Be intentional for Jesus’ sake in whatever situation the Lord has called you. #1Cor 7:10–24

Stay single if you can. Marry if you must. The present form of this world is passing away. #1Cor 7:25–40

1 Corinthians 8

There is one God, the Father, from whom and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist. #1Cor 8:1–6

To sin against your brother or sister is to sin against Jesus. Do not make them stumble. Jesus died for them. #1Cor 8:7–13

1 Corinthians 9

Comfort is worth sacrificing if it means tearing down obstacles out of the way of the gospel. #1Cor 9:1–14

It is our reward to freely proclaim the gospel. For the gospel’s sake, for our joy, we make ourselves everyone’s servants. #1Cor 9:15–27

1 Corinthians 10

Don’t desire evil. Realize that OT stories were written for our sake — we on whom the end of the ages has come. #1Cor 10:1–12

God is faithful and he always provides a way of escape. He makes you able to endure temptation. So flee idolatry! #1Cor 10:13–22

In everything you do, eating or drinking or whatever, do all for God’s glory, giving up your comfort so others may be saved. #1Cor 10:23–33

1 Corinthians 11

God made men and women dependent on one another. Woman was man from man and man is born from woman. #1Cor 11:1–16

The Lord’s table is to remember him. When you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim his death until he comes. #1Cor. 11:17–34

1 Corinthians 12

There are lots of gifts, but the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God—gifts given to the body for the common good. #1Cor 12:1–11

The members are together. If one suffers, all do. If one rejoices, all do. #1Cor 12:12–30

Yes, earnestly desire the higher gifts. But there is still a more excellent way… #1Cor 12:31

1 Corinthians 13

We can have the most amazing gifts imaginable, but if we don’t have love, we gain nothing. #1Cor 13:1–3

Church, this is what we’re called to: Love. It bears and hopes and endures all things. It never ends. #1Cor 13:4–13

1 Corinthians 14

The point of spiritual gifts is building up the church, not drawing attention to yourself. Strive to build up the church! #1Cor 14:1–40

1 Corinthians 15

First importance: Jesus died for our sins, was buried, then raised on the third day. All in accordance with the Scriptures. #1Cor 15:1–11

Church, if Jesus has not been raised from the dead then we are all wasting our time. #1Cor 15:12–19

The end will come. Jesus will reign over all and deliver the kingdom to the Father. God will be all in all. #1Cor 15:20–34

Just like we’ve borne the image of the man of dust (Adam), we will one day bear the image of the man of heaven (Jesus). #1Cor 15:35–49

Death, where is your victory? Where is it? Thanks be to God! He has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. #1Cor 15:50–57

Because of this victory in Jesus over death, be steadfast, immovable. Abound in your work in the Lord. It’s not in vain. #1Cor 15:58

1 Corinthians 16

Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Men be men. Let all you do be done in love. #1Cor 16:1–20

Maranatha, Lord Jesus! May his grace be with you all. #1Cor 16:21–22

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• The Book of Romans in 45 Tweets

Gay Marriage: Now What?

This video Q and A with Mark Dever and Al Mohler is an excellent example of pastoral theology and an application of the gospel to a very difficult, but increasingly pervasive, issue:

 

From Together for the Gospel 2012.