Work Hard Because God is Working Hard

For this purpose I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me. (Col. 1:29)

The presence of God’s power does not preclude Paul’s personal struggle or energetic striving or laboring. Rather, it makes it possible. God’s power is not designed to eliminate our responsibility to work hard but to enable us to fulfill it. Paul is able to work hard because God is working hard. The latter doesn’t destroy or undermine the former.

J.I. Packer perhaps put it best when he said, “The Holy Spirit’s ordinary way of working in us is through the working of our own minds and wills. He moves us to act by causing us to see reasons for moving ourselves to act. Thus our conscious, rational selfhood, so far from being annihilated, is strengthened, and in reverent, resolute obedience we work out our salvation, knowing that God is at work in us…”

Thus we see that God has chosen to operate not independently of but only through and by means of human effort and labor. God’s energy doesn’t fall from heaven haphazardly and amorphously, but comes to us through human ministers and ministry, via human toil and struggle.

So how might we know when God is energetically and powerfully working in us? If, when you are slandered, you respond by entreating (1 Cor. 4:13), you can rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you. If, when you are reviled, you bless instead of curse (1 Cor 4:12), you can rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you. If, when you are persecuted, you endure (1 Cor 4:12), you can rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you. When you are afflicted but not crushed, are perplexed but do not yield to despair, are struck down but not destroyed, you can rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you (2 Cor 4:8-9). When you are sorrowful and still rejoice, possess nothing yet are rich, you may rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you (2 Cor 6:10). If, when you are in poverty, you give generously and joyfully (2 Cor 8:1ff), you may rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you.

You probably won’t feel anything. There’s no guarantee that your body will vibrate or your appearance will change. But if you find yourself responding and thinking as Jesus would, if you find yourself acting and choosing contrary to every fleshly and sinful impulse, you may rest assured that divine energy is mightily at work in you. Only in this way can we, like Paul, continue to serve and love and minister and not lose heart.

– Sam Storms, The Hope of Glory, 137-138.

(HT: Vitamin Z)

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Discipleship, God's grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Sam Storms, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The word of God

Audio and Video for Eschatology Conversation

This is an excellent example of mature debate on a fascinating and difficult subject. I particularly appreciate the effort of the participants to affirm each other and keep the gospel as the central priority. My amillennial views remain intact! Excellent viewing.

From Desiring God:

You can now listen to or watch “An Evening of Eschatology,” a conversation about the end times with John Piper, Doug Wilson, Sam Storms, and Jim Hamilton.

You can also read John Piper’s thoughts on this event for some introduction to the issues being discussed.

Filed under: Amillennialism, Biblical exegesis, Biblical interpretation, Doctrine, Eschatology, John Piper, Sam Storms

An Observation about Israel in Ephesians 2:11-21 & 3:5, 6

Having recently expounded the book of Ephesians in Burma I found this article by John Hendryx really encouraging.

The following passage really makes up the heart of Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. Here he reveals a great mystery which was hidden in previous ages:

“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ … So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

Notice in this passage that Paul speaks to Gentiles as having been previously separate and alienated from Israel and the covenants, but in Christ, Gentiles have become citizens of Israel. Being “brought near” was their modern day parlance for Jewish proselytes. Because verse 12 and verse 19 are separated by some text (which speaks of benefits in Christ) many do not pay attention to their close connection. Let’s have a look then: Verse 12 “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel” is joined to (vr. 19) “you are no longer strangers and aliens”. No longer aliens to what? No longer aliens to the commonwealth of Israel. That means that Gentiles who are in Christ are now “citizens” (v. 19) of Israel built as a house with Christ as the chief cornerstone. In other words, Jesus Christ is the True Israel of God (its fulfillment and foundation) as are all who are joined in union to Him. To say it another way, both OT and NT saints who are in union with Christ are citizens of Israel according to this passage. Likewise we are partakers of its promises, according to another nearby passage:

“…the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Partakers of what promise? The promises given to Israel through Abraham and others. And since the Paul elsewhere asserts that the gospel was preached to Abraham beforehand (Gal 3:8), the OT and NT saints were both saved by the same grace in Christ and are members of the same body …. partakers of the same promises. The difference is simply (if you think about it organically) that one was a seedling and the other a full tree bearing fruit, so to speak, but both are part of the same plant; one in full maturity. The OT saints saw Christ from a distance in promises and shadows, yet in God’s economy those regenerate were, even then, united to Christ, part of the same body and saved by the same blood … the blood which the signposts of the temple sacrifices pointed to.

“And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” (Heb 11: 39, 40)

Just as we can never separate the law from the lawgiver, we likewise cannot separate the benefits from the benefactor. Many in modern day evangelicalism have divided the people of God while Paul here was at pains to show them both in union with Christ. Since Paul stressed the importance of this lets look afresh at the Scripture beyond our traditions and errors regarding this issue. The Text of Scripture is not Israelocentric but Christocentric. Jesus himself bore witness to this: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39)

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Christ-centred, Doctrine, Israel, New Covenant, Salvation History, The Church, The Gospel

The Practical Value of Revelation

“…the churches are to read and reread the book in their assembly so that they may continually be reminded of God’s real, new world, which stands in opposition to the old, fallen system in which they presently live. Such a continual reminder will cause them to realize that their home is not in this old world but in the new world portrayed parabolically in the heavenly visions. Continued reading of the book will encourage genuine saints to realize that what they believe is not strange and odd, but truly normal from God’s perspective. They will not be discouraged by outside worldliness, including what has crept into the churches, which is always making godly standards appear odd and sinful values seem normal. John refers to true unbelievers in the book as ‘earth-dwellers’ because their ultimate home is on this transient earth. They cannot trust in anything except what their eyes see and their physical senses perceive; they are permanently earthbound, trusting only in earthly security, and will perish with this old order at the end of time when the corrupted cosmos finally is judged and passes away. On the other hand, Christians are like pilgrims passing through this world. As such they are to commit themselves to the revelation of God in the new order so as progressively to reflect and imitate his image and increasingly live according to the values of the new world, not being conformed to the fallen system, its idolatrous images, and associated values (cf. Rom. 12:2).”

—G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (NIGTC), p. 175.

(HT: Tony Reinke)

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Christ-centred, Evangelical, God's Kingdom, Jesus Christ, Prophecy, The Bible, The Christian Life, The Church, The word of God, Worldliness

10 Reminders re: Gospel Faithfulness

From Tony Reinke.

Ten notes about gospel faithfulness, a collection derived from Galatians 1:6-10:

1. Gospel faithfulness is required of the entire church, not merely its pastoral leaders.

2. No matter how religious we claim to be, no matter how close to the truth we reside, no matter how recent our conversion, sinners are all prone to an unintentional replacement of the gospel with a counterfeit.

3. According to Paul, we can relax our grip on the biblical gospel suddenly and dreadfully easily (ταχέως).

4. To add anything to the gospel is to desert the gospel.

5. To add anything to the gospel is to have a “no-gospel.”

6. To modify the gospel is an act of defection from God.

7. The content of the gospel is unchanging and “embodies a core of fixed tradition which is normative so that no preaching deviating can be called ‘gospel’” (Fung).

8. No authority—not even an angel from heaven—has the right to modify the gospel because “the authority of the gospel resides primarily in the message itself and only secondarily in the messenger” (Fung).

9. A divine curse (ἀνάθεμα) is threatened against teachers who—in claiming to preach the gospel—have deviated from its biblical, Apostolically-defined, substance.

10. Faithfulness to the genuine gospel requires that our hearts be freed from the chains of man-pleasing, in order that we might serve Christ. We cannot serve Christ with an adjusted gospel.

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Christ-centred, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, Legalism, Moralism, The Christian Life, The Church, The Cross, The Gospel, The word of God

The Pleasures of God Seminar

Another great resource from John Piper at Desiring God is the audio and video from the seminar, “The Pleasures of God.”

The Pleasures of God, Part 1

The Pleasures of God, Part 2

The Pleasures of God, Part 3

The Pleasures of God, Part 4

The Pleasures of God, Part 5

Filed under: Attributes of God, Biblical exegesis, Christ-centred, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, God centredness, God's Glory, God's worthiness, John Piper, The Bible, The Christian Life, The word of God, Theology, Worship

The point is Jesus

This is excellent from Jared Wilson:

I don’t believe in this day and age the Church can stress enough that the “point” of Christianity is Jesus himself. The point of Scripture, the point of prayer, the point of faith — all Jesus.

American evangelicalism has not done a great job at making Jesus the point of the enterprise of faith. We take the Gospel notion of “faith alone,” a belief many Reformers died contending for, and make it about us. We turn perseverance into personal empowerment and sanctification into self-improvement. We’ve made religion a bad word by turning Law into legalism and grace into license. We made Jesus our buddy, our co-pilot, our sidekick. We don’t have sin — we have “issues.” We say we have bad habits rather than admit we have sinful hearts. We look to Scripture in general as a toolbox of pick-me-up quotable quotes and to the Gospels specifically as a chronicle of warm-fuzzy behavioral aspirations. We forgo Christian repentance and gospel proclamation in favor of the culture war against gay marriage, evolution, atheism, liberalism, America forgetting her heritage, what-have-you.

But if the point of any of it is not Jesus, it will not, cannot, and does not work.

Let’s look at a few highlights from the Gospels, how ’bout?

The main point of the story of the woman caught in adultery isn’t “Don’t commit adultery,” and neither is it the hypocrisy of those who caught her. Those are valid applications and implications of what Jesus says, but they’re not the main thing we should see. The main thing we should see is this: Jesus forgives adultery.
Indeed, Jesus dies for adulterers, sexual and spiritual.

Here is my guiding principle for reading the Gospels: The point is Jesus. Every saying, every story — Jesus. If the main point you’re getting out of the story doesn’t center squarely on Jesus, I respectfully suggest your aim is off.

Some examples:
Lots of people look at the story of Jesus throwing the moneychangers out of the temple and think this is about how it’s wrong to sell stuff at church (or some variation of such). But the point of that story is not “commerce and temple don’t mix,” because up until that point, commerce and temple had to mix for the temple system to work. (People from different areas needed to exchange money to buy animals needed to sacrifice.) No, the point of that story is that a) Jesus owns the temple, and b) Jesus replaces the temple system.

Similarly, people look at the Beatitudes and see a list of behaviors to aspire to. That’s all well and good, but Jesus didn’t come to show you how to be a better person. He came because you can’t be. The point of the Beatitudes is that that list is what the kingdom of Jesus looks like. Those are the promises of Jesus to those who will enter his kingdom.

The point of the parable of the lost son is not some generic “God allows u-turns” sentimentalism; the point is that Jesus brings reconciliation to sinners.

The point should and must be Jesus. In all we say and do. Our churches can have the best quality presentations, the most dynamic speakers, the greatest lists of helpful tips for successful living (in convenient alliterative format), the most incredible music, the nicest greeters, the most enthusiastic congregations, and the best gourmet coffee in the fellowship hall — but if the point is anything other than Jesus, we’ve all missed the point.

Jesus cannot be peripheral. He cannot be merely included. He has to be at the forefront of our message and ministry.

Jesus is the point.

Because the gospel is Jesus + nothing.

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Christ-centred, Doctrine, Evangelical, Gospel-centred, Jesus Christ, The Bible, The Christian Life, The Cross, The Gospel, The glory of Christ, The word of God

‘In Christ’ in Paul

From Rob Bradshaw:

Paul uses the term “in Christ” 216 times in his writings, but what did he mean by it? Michael Parson’s concludes:

We have seen, then, that the ‘in Christ’ formula is important in the thought of the apostle Paul. It primarily designates a close and indissoluble relationship with the Lord, but more than that it speaks of solidarity with Christ in his death and resurrection as the representative head of his people, the church. However, in its implication the term underlies much of the apostle’s explanation of the believer’s awareness of the sanctifying work of Christ’s Spirit conforming him to the image of the Lord to whom he belongs and in the manifestation of this relationship in the life and communion of the body of Christ, the church. We have also seen, in passing, the importance of this teaching as it relates to Paul’s ethical thinking and exhortation. Lives in the present are to evidence the believer’s characteristic union with Christ in godliness and in obedience to him within the context of his church and by the power of his Spirit.

You can read the whole paper here.

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Christ-centred, Doctrine, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Sanctification, The word of God, Union with Christ

Finally Alive – a review by Tim Challies

Tim Challies, host of the Discerning Reader, reviews Finally Alive, by John Piper. Like many others, I believe this is one of the most important books Piper has written.

As I read the final page of Finally Alive I realized that I had found a new favorite book by John Piper. Those who have read my reviews of some of his previous titles know that while I greatly enjoy Piper’s ministry and am indebted to him in many ways, I have not always found his books easy to read. Yet I read Finally Alive with relish, enjoying it from the first page to the last. It is an incisive examination of a topic of profound importance. I think it represents Piper at his very best as an author.

This is a book about the new birth, about regeneration, about what it means to be born again. Born again is a term we hear often these days, both within the walls of the church and without. But it seems that the term is so often used in a different way than the doctrine as we find it in Scripture. It takes only a couple of pages for Piper to take issue with the term born again as used by people like pollster George Barna—people who desecrate it by taking it far outside of its biblical context. “In this research,” says Piper, “the term born again refers to people who say things. They say, ‘I have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It’s important to me.’ They say, ‘I believe that I will go to Heaven when I die. I have confessed my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.’ Then the Barna Group takes them at their word, ascribes to them the infinitely important reality of the new birth, and then slanders that precious biblical reality by saying that regenerate hearts have no more victory over sin than unregenerate hearts.” Piper doesn’t hold back.

Of course such research is not necessarily entirely wrong. It is undeniable that vast numbers of professing Christians live in ways that are completely at odds with the faith they profess. But the New Testament does not allow us to move from a profession of faith to the label born again. Instead, it “moves from the absolute certainty that the new birth radically changes people, to the observation that many professing Christians are indeed (as the Barna Group says) not radically changed, to the conclusion that they are not born again. The New Testament, unlike the Barna Group, does not defile the new birth with the worldliness of unregenerate, professing Christians.” This is a term Christians need to understand and protect.

Piper offers four reasons for writing this book on the new birth. First, so we can understand what God intends when the Bible uses this language of the new birth; second, to help followers of Christ know what happened to them when they were converted; and third, to serve as a possible means for those who do not yet believe to come to faith in Christ. “My aim is to explain the new birth as clearly as I can from the Bible so that readers can see it for themselves.” And he does so in just the way we’ve come to expect from John Piper—with clear exposition of Scripture and with undeniable passion and integrity.

Piper moves through the subject by asking five all-important questions. He begins his examination by asking simply “What is the new birth?” From there he turns to the question of “Why must we be born again?.” He then asks “How does the new birth come about?” and “What are the effects of the new birth?” before concluding with asking “How can we help others be born again?” Each of these questions is answered two, three or four short chapters, each of which can be easily read and digested in a single sitting.

Why does this all matter for Christians? Piper gives three reasons that believers need to know what happened when they were converted. First, “When you are truly born again and grow in the grace and knowledge of what the Lord has done for you, your fellowship with God will be sweet, and your assurance that he is your Father will be deep. I want that for you.” Second, “If you know what really happened to you in your new birth, you will treasure God and his Spirit and his Son and his word more highly than you ever have. In this, Christ will be glorified.” And finally, “In the process of believers discovering what really happened to them, the seriousness and the supernatural nature of conversion will rise and that, I pray, will serve a more general awakening of authenticity in the Christian church so that religious hypocrisy will diminish and the world will see real love and sacrifice and courage in the service of Christ.” This is no minimal, abstract theology. This is of foundational importance to the Christian faith.

Piper’s tone is gracious and compassionate throughout this book. He shows the heart of a pastor from the first page to the last. But he also shows the skill of a theologian and the passion of a prophet. I’m inclined to agree with my friend Adrian Warnock who says of Finally Alive, “I believe this is the most important book Piper has written.” I cannot recommend this book too highly. I really believe it is Piper’s best.

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Books, Conversion, Discernment, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, John Piper, New Birth, Reformed, Regeneration, Salvation, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The word of God, Union with Christ

Trying to understand the Bible

When you’re trying to understand a passage in the Bible, weighing different interpretations, here is the ultimate criterion for deciding. Which one is “an interpretation worthy of God”?

The quote from Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, II:458.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Doctrine, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, The Bible, The Christian Life, The word of God