God’s Passion for His Glory

Justin Childers:

10 things God has done (or will do) that He specifically says He did for His own glory:

1.      God created us for His glory.

a.      Isaiah 43:6-7: God says, “bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

b.      Isaiah 43:21: God describes His people as: “the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.”

2.      God forgives sins for His glory .

a.      Isaiah 43:25:  God says, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

b.      Psalm 25:11:  “For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.”

3.      God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for His glory.

a.      Exodus 14:4, 14:17-18: God says, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD…And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

b.      Romans 9:17: “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’”

4.      God will not abandon His people for His glory.

a.      1 Samuel 12:22: “For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.”

5.      God rescued His people from Egypt for His glory.

a.      Psalm 106:7-8: “Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.”

6.      Jesus came for the glory of God.

a.      John 12:27-28: Jesus said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

b.      John 17:1, 4-5: “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you…I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

c.      Romans 15:8-9: Paul says, “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

7.      God chose us, adopted us, saved us, and sealed us for His glory.

a.      Ephesians 1:3-14: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

8.      Jesus answers prayers for His glory.

a.      John 14:13: Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

9.      God gave the Holy Spirit to us for His glory.

a.      John 16:13-14: Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

10.     Jesus is coming again for His glory.

a.      2 Thessalonians 1:9-10: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”

b.      Philippians 2:9-11: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Confessional Integrity and the Stewardship of Words

Albert Mohler:

In the beginning was the Word. Christians rightly cherish the declaration that our Savior, the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, is first known as the Word — the one whom the Father has sent to communicate and to accomplish our redemption. We are saved because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Believers are then assigned the task of telling others about the salvation that Christ has brought, and this requires the use of words. We tell the story of Jesus by deploying words, and we cannot tell the story without them. Our testimony, our teaching, and our theology all require the use of words. Words are essential to our worship, our preaching, our singing, and our spiritual conversation. In other words, words are essential to the Christian faith and central in the lives of believers.

As Martin Luther rightly observed, the church house is to be a “mouth house” where words, not images or dramatic acts, stand at the center of the church’s attention and concern. We live by words and we die by words.

Truth, life, and health are found in the right words. Lies, disaster, and death are found in the wrong words. The Apostle Paul warned Timothy, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” [1 Timothy 6:3-5]

Later, Paul will instruct Timothy that sound words come to us in a revealed pattern. “Follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” [2 Timothy 1:13-14]

Theological education is a deadly serious business. The stakes are so high. A theological seminary that serves faithfully will be a source of health and life for the church, but an unfaithful seminary will set loose a torrent of trouble, untruth, and sickness upon Christ’s people. Inevitably, the seminaries are the incubators of the church’s future. The teaching imparted to seminarians will shortly be inflicted upon congregations, where the result will be either fruitfulness or barrenness, vitality or lethargy, advance or decline, spiritual life, or spiritual death.

Sadly, the landscape is littered with theological institutions that have poorly taught and have been poorly led. Theological liberalism has destroyed scores of seminaries, divinity schools, and other institutions for the education of the ministry. Many of these schools are now extinct, even as the churches they served have been evacuated. Others linger on, committed to the mission of revising the Christian faith in order to make peace with the spirit of the age. These schools intentionally and boldly deny the pattern of sound words in order to devise new words for a new age — producing a new faith. As J. Gresham Machen rightly observed almost a century ago, we do not really face two rival versions of Christianity. We face Christianity on the one hand and, on the other hand, some other religion that selectively uses Christian words, but is not Christianity.

How does this happen? Rarely does an institution decide, in one comprehensive moment of decision, to abandon the faith and seek after another. The process is far more dangerous and subtle. A direct institutional evasion would be instantly recognized and corrected, if announced honestly at the onset. Instead, theological disaster usually comes by means of drift and evasion, shading and equivocation. Eventually, the drift accumulates into momentum and the school abandons doctrine after doctrine, truth claim after truth claim, until the pattern of sound words, and often the sound words themselves, are mocked, denied, and cast aside in the spirit of theological embarrassment.

Continue reading…

On Not Losing the Gospel in the Next Generation

Justin Taylor posts:

Daniel Darling, writing for Leadership, asks Don Carson, “You’ve often said that the Church is three generations from losing the gospel entirely. What advice would you give to pastors and church leaders to ensure that this doesn’t happen?” Here is his answer:

This question is an important one, but very difficult to answer in a few lines.

Read and meditate on the Scriptures constantly, and self-consciously place yourself under Scriptural authority.

Walk with epistemological humility—and that means carefully learning from Christian leaders in the past so we do not tumble into precisely the same mistakes.

Devote yourself to disciplined prayer. A prayerless person is a disaster waiting to happen.

Never stop evangelizing: it is much easier to get sloppy about the gospel if you are not proclaiming it and seeing men and women come to Christ.

Develop close attachments with a handful of trusted people who are experienced and discerning, and make time for edifying fellowship.

If you are a pastor, read widely—commentaries, theology, historical theology, devotional literature, and so forth. A pastor must be a general practitioner. One is far more likely to make mistakes of proportion and judgement where one sees oneself as a kind of specialist.

Christ Is Not Just Another Theme in the Old Testament

By Scott Redd:

I am increasingly hesitant to use the phrase “finding Christ in the Old Testament” (or Pentateuch, Psalter, or Wisdom Literature, and so on). It seems to imply that the person of Christ is merely a theme among others to be mined from the Old Testament alongside other themes such as justification, resurrection, or the like.

The second person of the Trinity made incarnate is, of course, more than simply a theme of God’s self-revelation in the Old Testament Scriptures. He is the culmination of God’s self-revelation in all of history, the perfect embodiment of the godhead (Col 2:9). To a certain extent, we could say that the quest to find Christ in the Old Testament is analogous to the quest to find Thomas Jefferson in Declaration of Independence. Christ is everywhere throughout the Old Testament. It speaks of him explicitly and implicitly, in promises, patterns, types, hints, and images. Through these various ways the Old Testament reveals and anticipates the richness of his character: his work, his life, his glory, his hope, his might, his love, his suffering, his wisdom, and so much more, and it does this all before the historical event of his incarnation.

The OT witness to Christ is as rich and varied as are all of the functions he performs. When evangelicals talk about Christ in the Old Testament, they tend to look for images, patterns, or outright anticipations of Christ’s work of substitutionary atonement. Of course, Christ’s work as once-and-for-all sacrifice is central to the Christian hope for salvation, but it only gets at part of the distinct and lordly character and work of the Son of God himself.

In fact, the New Testament claims that Christ fulfills the Old Testament in many ways. Just to name a few, Christ is:

• Old Testament covenant Lord (John 8:58; see also kurios as title for Christ)
• Sovereign eschatological king (Rev. 21:22)
• Key actor in creation (John 1:1-5 [Genesis 1])
• True Israel (Matt. 2:15 [Hos 11:1]; John 15:1-17)
• The temple of God (John 2:19-21)
• Restorer from exile (Matt 3:3 [Isa. 40:3; Mar 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23])
• Final and authoritative prophet (Heb 1:2)
• Heir to the world (Heb 1:2; Ps 2:8)
• Sustainer of his people in wilderness (1 Cor 10:4 [Exod. 17:6])
• Foundation of human salvation (Acts 4:11 [Ps. 118:22])
• Wisdom teacher par excellence (Matt 12:42 [Luke 11:31])
• The very wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:23)

Wisdom Literature

Let’s look more closely at how Christ is revealed in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, primarily Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes.

If Jesus is, in fact, what he claims to be, the sage “greater than Solomon” (Matt 12:42)—essentially a superlative meaning “the greatest sage ever”—then we expect that he will excel in the field of wisdom in every way. For instance, the first step or principle of wisdom is “the fear of the Lord” (Prov 1:7; 9:10), which Bruce Waltke describes as both a moral and emotional stance toward the Lord (see also Pss 19:7-9; 34:11). 

As the only truly righteous son of God, we would not be surprised to learn that Christ exhibits such righteous fear of the Lord in a way no other wisdom teacher possibly can.

This principle can be extended to the whole of wisdom teaching. The wise sayings are more than mere guides for those aspire to godly wisdom; rather, when taken together, they provide a composite profile of the sage greater than Solomon. This is not a meaningless distinction, because for the rest of humanity, wisdom is a thing to be aspired to, something that requires hard work, failure, sacrifice, and commitment. For Christ, wisdom is his character profile. It is a description of his rich, skilled, insightful, and wise character.

Therefore, when we read about Job’s humiliation and suffering, his debates with his friends, his progression in the way of wisdom, and his final stand before the creator God, we are called to grow in the way that he has grown. When we read of Christ’s humiliation and suffering, we see the wise life already achieved and on display. Christ is the truly innocent sufferer whose authentic suffering is answered with perfect holiness and profound understanding of the character of God. As such he is both as a goal to be pursued and a cause for worship.

Wisdom and the King

Wisdom teaching in the Old Testament is almost always connected to kingly reign and the royal court. This is due in part to the central role King Solomon plays as the great sage of the Old Testament. The establishment of his kingdom is highlighted by his military and diplomatic successes as well as his feats of wisdom (1 Kings 4:29-34). It is likely that wisdom is mentioned because it is part of a particularly royal function in the Old Testament, along with naming animals and plant life (1 Kings 4:33). By exhibiting wisdom, the king shows his command over the realm of ideas and the skillful life. By naming plants and animals, he shows his command over taxonomy. Both of these tasks qualify the king for the role of representative human, the image bearer, like Adam working and increasing the garden and naming the specimens brought before him (Gen 2:40).

Wisdom is elsewhere connected to the royal court. The book of Ecclesiastes is associated with a king from the line of David (Ecc 1:1), and his grand observations are derived from his royal experience. Wisdom counselors, including Ahithophel (2 Sam 15:12), Zechariah (1 Chron 26:14), Jonathan (1 Chron 27:32), and the “men of Hezekiah” (Prov 25:1) are depicted as attending to the needs of Israelite kings. Many proverbs assume a royal setting (Prov 11:14; 24:6), particularly those attributed to kings Solomon (Proverbs 1:1; 10:1;25:1) and Lemuel (Prov 31:1,4).

For those thinking of Christ’s roles in terms of three “offices”—prophet, priest, and king—his function as sage would, therefore, emanate from his kingly office. Through his wisdom Christ shows his perfect lordship over the world, including the realm of ideas and the skills needed for the wise life. We should not be surprised to find that Jesus becomes known for speaking in “parables,” one of the Greek words used to translate the Hebrew word for “proverb” in ancient Greek translations of the Old Testament (see 1 Kings 4:32; Prov 1:6; Ecc 12:9; Sir 3:29).

Jesus is both the wise king and the king of wisdom.

Role of the Spirit

The Spirit of Christ testifies to his lordship and draws his followers into his service and worship (John 1:32; 15:26; Acts 15:8; Heb 1:15). As they grow in faith through the work of the Holy Spirit, they will to pursue wisdom as those who have tasted the benefits of the “wisdom of God” in Christ. By faithful gratitude, they will serve the sage-king greater than Solomon with delight. Bearing this “spirit of adoption” (Rom 8:15-16; cf. Prov 1:8; 1:10;1:15 2:1), they now sit at the teacher’s feet, celebrating and learning from his experience and applying the wisdom gained from it.

Paul takes things a step further by teaching that the atoning death of Christ on the cross grandly expresses God’s wisdom in contradiction to the “wisdom of the world” (1 Cor 1:24;2:7). For Paul, it falls to the church to proclaim such varied and wonderful wisdom to the world (Eph 3:10-11). Now that the church is equipped with the knowledge of the glorified Christ and the testimony of the Spirit, it can proclaim the wise teachings of the Old Testament in light of the ultimate wisdom teacher.

Christ’s followers can be consoled by the fact that their sage-king has suffered and died for their foolish sinfulness. He has bore the weight of their folly, and they have been united with him and his wisdom. As a result they are privileged to pursue biblical wisdom in freedom and loving acceptance, bound to succeed, fools no more.

Watch Me!

“Using audio from Don Carson, this short video challenges us from the Bible how we must be sharing our lives, opening up the Bible and changing generations as we point them to Jesus.”

 

Countercultural Spirituality

Ray Ortlund:

As the latest volume in the new Crossway series, Theologians on The Christian Life, William Edgar’s Schaeffer on The Christian Life compels my respectful attention.  The subtitle, in particular, “Countercultural Spirituality,” combines two things attractive to me, true to Francis Schaeffer and prophetic in our time.

Countercultural.  Counter, especially, to a compromised church culture.  Biblical Christianity is a radical adjustment.  We would gain immeasurably from being confronted, even opposed, by the biblical witness.  Our gracious Justifier, who is for us (Romans 8:31), also says to us, “But I have a few things against you” (Revelation 2:14).  Are we willing to face that honestly and find out what he means and receive his correction?

Spirituality.  Personal reality with the living God, according to Scripture.  The Bible is not there for us to polish our theories.  It is not there to reinforce any status quo.  It is there to bring us to God and move us to deeper change and empower us for bold witness in our generation.  This is the rugged, costly spirituality nothing on earth, nothing within the church, can withstand, because God is in it.

Schaeffer: “The central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism [or postmodernism] . . . . The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually or corporately, tending to do the Lord’s work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit.  The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them” (page 148, italics original).

Such a stance lifts this book above merely speculative interest, thought-provoking though it is.  The entire outlook of Francis Schaeffer, well summarized on pages 189-192, demands personal and corporate reassessment at a basic level.

I needed to read this book.  Maybe you do too.

Beholding the glory of Christ – its effect and substance

John Owen:

The constant contemplation of the glory of Christ will give rest, satisfaction, and complacency unto the souls of them who are exercised therein. Our minds are apt to be filled with a multitude of perplexed thoughts; – fears, cares, dangers, distresses, passions, and lusts, do make various impressions on the minds of men, filling them with disorder, darkness, and confusion.

But where the soul is fixed in its thoughts and contemplations on this glorious object, it will be brought into and kept in a holy, serene, spiritual frame. For “to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.” And this it does by taking off our hearts from all undue regard unto all things below, in comparison of the great worth, beauty, and glory of what we are conversant withal. See Phil. 3.7-11. A defect herein makes many of us strangers unto a heavenly life, and to live beneath the spiritual refreshments and satisfactions that the Gospel does tender unto us.

This is the sole foundation of all our meditations in this:

The glory that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the real actual possession of in heaven can be no otherwise seen or apprehended in this world, but in the light of faith fixing itself on divine revelation.

To behold this glory of Christ is not an act of fancy or imagination. It does not consist in framing to ourselves the shape of a glorious person in heaven. But the steady exercise of faith on the revelation and description made of this glory of Christ in the Scripture, is the ground, rule, and measure, of all divine meditations upon that.

— John Owen, The Glory of Christ, p. 129

(HT: Erik Raymond)

7 Traits of False Teachers

“There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” (2 Peter 2:1)

Colin Smith writes:

There are no “ifs, ands, or buts” in Peter’s words. It’s a clear and definite statement. There were false prophets among the people (of Israel in the Old Testament). That’s a matter of history.

False prophets were a constant problem in the Old Testament, and those who falsely claimed to be prophets of God were to be stoned. The people rarely had the will to deal with them, so they multiplied, causing disaster to the spiritual life of God’s people.

In the same way Peter says, “There will be false teachers among you.” Notice the words “among you.” Peter is writing to the church and says, “There will be false prophets among you.” So he is not talking about New Age people on television. He is talking about people in the local church, members of a local congregation.

There is no such thing as a pure church this side of heaven. You will never find it. The wheat and the tares grow together. Warren Wiersbe writes:

Satan is the counterfeiter. . . . He has a false gospel (Galatians 1:6-9), preached by false ministers (2 Corinthians 11:13-12), producing false Christians (2 Corinthians 11:26). . . . Satan plants his counterfeits wherever God plants true believers (Matthew 13:38).

Authentic or Counterfeit?

How would you recognize counterfeit Christianity?

In 2 Peter 1 we read about genuine believers. And in 2 Peter 2 we read about counterfeit believers. If you put these chapters side by side you will see the difference between authentic and counterfeit believers.

1. Different Source — Where does the message come from?

Peter says, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:16). And then he says the false teachers exploit you “with stories they have made up” (2:3). So the true teacher sources what he says from the Bible. The false teacher relies on his own creativity. He makes up his own message.

2. Different Message — What is the substance of the message?

For the true teacher, Jesus Christ is central. “We have everything we need for life and godliness in Him” (1:3). For the false teacher, Jesus is at the margins: “They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them” (2:1).

Notice the word secretly. It’s rare for someone in church to openly deny Jesus. Movement away from the centrality of Christ is subtle. The false teacher will speak about how other people can help change your life, but if you listen carefully to what he is saying, you will see that Jesus Christ is not essential to his message.

3. Different Position — In what position will the message leave you?

The true Christian “escapes the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (1:4). Listen to how Peter describes the counterfeit Christian: “They promise . . . freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity, for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2:19). The true believer is escaping corruption, while the counterfeit believer is mastered by it.

4. Different Character — What kind of people does the message produce?

The true believer pursues goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brother kindness, and love (1:5). The counterfeit Christian is marked by arrogance and slander (2:10). They are “experts in greed” and “their eyes are full of adultery” (2:14). They also “despise authority” (2:10). This is a general characteristic of a counterfeit believer.

5. Different Appeal — Why should you listen to the message?

The true teacher appeals to Scripture. “We have the word of the prophets made more certain and you will do well to pay attention to it” (1:19). God has spoken, and the true teacher appeals to his Word.

The false teacher makes a rather different appeal: “By appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error” (2:18). So the true teacher asks, “What has God said in his Word?” The false teacher asks, “What do people want to hear? What will appeal to their flesh?”

6. Different Fruit — What result does the message have in people’s lives?

The true believer is effective and productive in his or her knowledge of Jesus Christ (1:8). The counterfeit is “like a spring without water” (2:17). This is an extraordinary picture! They promise much but produce little.

7. Different End — Where does the message ultimately lead you?

Here we find the most disturbing contrast of all. The true believer will receive “a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:11). The false believer will experience “swift destruction” (2:1). “Their condemnation has long been hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping” (2:3).

Jesus tells us that there will be many who have been involved in ministry in his name, to whom he will say, “Depart from me; I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21). Who are these people? Surely Peter is describing them in this passage.

Don’t Be Naïve

We must not be ignorant: “There will be false teachers among you” (2:1). So how do we apply this warning?

First, Peter’s plain statement reminds us that the church needs to be protected. Among the many wonderful people who come to through the doors of the church each year, some would do more harm than good.

They may seem the nicest of people, but they do not believe in the authority of the Bible or the exclusivity of salvation in Christ. We welcome such people, because they need Christ as much as we do, but we must not allow them to have influence in the church.

Second, skeptics will always be able to point to hypocrisy and inconsistency in the church. They’ve always done it, and they always will. One of the strangest reasons for not following Christ goes like this: “I’ve seen people in the church who are hypocrites.” So you will not follow Christ because some people who claim to do so are hypocrites?

The existence of the counterfeit is never a good reason for rejecting the genuine. Peter essentially tells us, “Of course there are counterfeit Christians. Of course there are teachers who do the church more harm than good. What else would you expect in this fallen world? Grow up! Don’t be naïve! Don’t miss what’s real simply because you have seen the counterfeit.”

Point to 2 Peter 2:1 the next time you meet someone hiding behind this excuse.

Kevin Vanhoozer on What the Word Does

Justin Taylor:

Here is chapel message at Wheaton College by Kevin Vanhoozer (October 27, 2010), who reminds us that sola scriptura is not the same as solo scriptura, that it is not enough to profess sola scriptura but that we also have to do it, and that sola scriptura serves sola Christus (that is, God’s written word serves his living word). Vanhoozer encourage us to remember that the word lights our way, orients us to the truth, and indwells us with the life of Jesus Christ.

Calvin on Christ in All of Scripture

John Calvin, writing in the preface to Pierre-Robert Olivétan’s 1535 translation of the New Testament:

He [Christ] is Isaac, the beloved Son of the Father who was offered as a sacrifice, but nevertheless did not succumb to the power of death.

He is Jacob the watchful shepherd, who has such great care for the sheep which he guards.

He is the good and compassionate brother Joseph, who in his glory was not ashamed to acknowledge his brothers, however lowly and abject their condition.

He is the great sacrificer and bishop Melchizedek, who has offered an eternal sacrifice once for all.

He is the sovereign lawgiver Moses, writing his law on the tables of our hearts by his Spirit.

He is the faithful captain and guide Joshua, to lead us to the Promised Land.

He is the victorious and noble king David, bringing by his hand all rebellious power to subjection.

He is the magnificent and triumphant king Solomon, governing his kingdom in peace and prosperity.

He is the strong and powerful Samson, who by his death has overwhelmed all his enemies.

This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father. If one were to sift thoroughly the Law and the Prophets, he would not find a single word which would not draw and bring us to him. . . . Therefore, rightly does Saint Paul say in another passage that he would know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

What You Teach Really, Really Matters

John Bloom:

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:16)

Do you have a communication gifting? Have others commented on how well you speak or write? Do you find yourself dreaming about using your gifts in ministry? Wonderful! We are praying for more herald-labors in the gospel harvest (Matthew 9:38). Consider it strongly.

But as you consider, consider this:

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (James 3:1)

When it comes to people being saved, it all hangs on what they believe. So when it comes to teaching, heaven and hell are in the balance. What you teach people really, really matters. You will be judged by what comes out of your mouth and your keyboard. And you will be judged more strictly than others.

Teaching is serious business. The Holy Spirit even limits his activity based on what teachers teach (or don’t teach). In Acts 19:1–7, Paul found a group of twelve Christians in Ephesus who had been presumably taught by Apollos before he had a correct understanding of baptism or the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When Paul asked them “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” they answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So he asked them, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” So Paul promptly taught them correctly, baptized them, and laid hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit and “the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.”

Teachers tremble: the Holy Spirit withheld blessing from these believers until they were taught correctly.

Why didn’t the sovereign Spirit simply overcome Apollos’s good intentioned but deficient teaching and fill these disciples right away? Because God’s design is that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Jesus is the Word (John 1:1) and the truth (John 14:6). The Spirit honors the word of Christ because he is the “Spirit of truth” (1 John 4:6). Like he did for Cornelius in Acts 10, the Spirit may draw or direct people to where they will hear the word of Christ, but he will wait for the word of Christ to be preached or taught (Romans 10:15) before he grants the blessing of it. To the degree the word of God is taught deficiently, the blessing of it is withheld. And the teachers will be held accountable for the blessing they withheld from their hearers.

So if you want to be a teacher, wonderful! Teachers are precious gifts to the church (Ephesians 4:11). But take Paul’s warning very seriously: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).

Does Proverbs teach “the Health, Wealth, and Prosperity Gospel?”

By David Murray:

Does Proverbs teach “the Health, Wealth, and Prosperity Gospel?” It certainly contains multiple promises of health, wealth, and prosperity to those who live wisely. However, there’s an eternity of difference between the Prosperity Gospeland Gospel Prosperity. Let me give you five statements that will help clarify that difference.

1. God has provided external Wisdom, in principle and Person form, to correct our sin-caused ignorance, error, and folly.

God made us with knowledge, rightness, and practical life-skills. However, as a punishment for Adam’s sin, God cursed Adam and his descendants with ignorance, error, and folly.

As no amount of research, experimentation, or reasoning will make us spiritually wise again, God has revealed His otherwise inaccessible and unattainable Wisdom to us. In the Old Testament, God reveals that wisdom largely in principle form (e.g. the Moral Law, the Proverbs). However, Proverbs also personifies Wisdom, giving a hint of a future revelation of Wisdom in human form, a revelation we now know is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:24; Col. 2:3).

2. As Wisdom cannot be attained, retained, or practiced quickly or easily, God has graciously incentivized the diligent pursuit and practice of it with multiple different rewards.

As sinners find it so difficult to seek, keep, and do Wisdom for its own sake, throughout Proverbs God promises spiritual, physical, intellectual, financial, social, relational, and eternal rewards for seeking, remembering, and doing it. Yet even these rewards are of grace, because God is not obliged to reward what we should do anyway, and any spiritual diligence is itself His gift.

3. In the NT era, Wisdom’s rewards are more spiritual and eternal than material and temporary, Gospel prosperity more than the Prosperity Gospel.

The Old Testament manifested spiritual blessings in a much more material form, mainly because the church was still in its infancy. Although God still blesses in material ways, the focus of Christ and His Apostles is much more on spiritual and eternal blessings (e.g. John 7:17; 14:16,21; Rev. 3:7, 11).

The Prosperity Gospel puts prosperity before the Gospel, and seeks prosperity above all else. Gospel prosperity puts the Gospel first and gratefully accepts any spiritual and material blessings as the overflow of a Gospel-centered life.

4. The divinely-ordained connection between godliness and Gospel prosperity is a general maxim, but not without notable exceptions.

There are two kinds of wisdom in the poetic books. Practical Wisdom contains simple, optimistic, popular, and pithy truths. It describes the way things generally ought to be (e.g. the Proverbs). Philosophical Wisdom deals much more with the complexities of life. It reflects on the reality that things do not always go as they ought, that there are sometimes enigmas, mysteries, and exceptions to Practical Wisdom (e.g. Job, Ecclesiastes).

It’s like learning a language. You start by learning all the basic rules and regular patterns (Practical Wisdom), and once you’ve mastered them, then you consider the irregular verbs, the qualifications to the rules, etc., (Philosophical Wisdom).

5. Seek and embrace Wisdom for Wisdom’s sake, not for the rewards He brings.

While the rewards should encourage us to seek and practice Wisdom, it is best to look on them retrospectively rather than prospectively. Don’t predict in the future tense, “If I do this, then I’ll get this.” Rather reflect in the past tense, “I did that, and the Lord has graciously rewarded me.”

A couple of weeks ago I came home from a solo trip to Scotland. Imagine if when I came off my plane, my children grabbed my case and started rifling through it to find their presents, and then walked away leaving me empty-handed with my bags strewn all over the airport!

Don’t seek the gifts but the Giver, not the rewards of Wisdom but the Rewarder who is Wisdom. Remember what God said to Abram: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Gen. 15:1 NKJV).

Listening to the Word Preached

Tony Reinke:

Today many of us will gather in local churches to hear the preaching of God’s word from faithful ministers. So what is the proper spiritual posture we should take for listening to the sermon? In our recently released ebook, Take Care How You Listen, John Piper offers us help in preparing our hearts on Sundays. At one point Pastor John writes this:

Come in a spirit of meek teachability. Not gullibility. You have your Bible and you have your head. But James says, “In meekness receive the implanted word” (1:21). If we come with a chip on our shoulder that there is nothing we can learn or no benefit we can get, we will prove ourselves infallible on both counts. But if we humble ourselves before the Word of God, we will hear and grow and bear fruit. (24)

And a little later he writes:

As you sit quietly and pray and meditate on the text and the songs, remind yourself of what Psalm 19:10–11 says about the words of God: “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” So because the Word of God is greater than all riches and sweeter than all honey, take heed how you hear. Desire it more than you desire all these things.

As Proverbs 2:3–5 says, “If you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” May God make us a people who hear the Word of God and bear fruit a hundredfold so that the lamp of our lives will be on a lampstand giving light to all who enter the kingdom of God. Take heed how you hear! (26)

Yes, those are in fact Jesus’ words to all of us: “Take care how you listen” (Luke 8:18). We take care because how we listen to the sermon today reveals a lot about the condition of our own hearts, making Sunday a good day to evaluate our own posture of intake. For more on this topic, download the entire ebook, Take Care How You Listen, for free here.

Pastors: Recommit Yourselves to What You Were Ordained to Do

Justin Taylor:

In a day when many pastors are downplaying serious study of God’s word and the necessary time for their own sermon preparation, I found this quote from Andrew Perves bracing and prophetic:

To ministers let me say this as strongly as I can. Preach Christ, preach Christ, preach Christ.

Get out of your offices and get into your studies.

Quit playing office manager and program director, quit staffing committees, and even right now recommit yourselves to what you were ordained to do, namely the ministry of the Word and sacraments.

Pick up good theology books again: hard books, classical texts, great theologians.

Claim the energy and time to study for days and days at a time.

Disappear for long hours because you are reading Athanasius on the person of Jesus Christ or Wesley on sanctification or Augustine on the Trinity or Calvin on the Christian life or Andrew Murray on the priesthood of Christ. Then you will have something to say that’s worth hearing.

Remember that exegesis is for preaching and teaching; it has no other use.

So get out those tough commentaries and struggle in depth with the texts.

Let most of what you do be dominated by the demands of the sermon as if your whole life and reason for being is to preach Christ, because it is.

Claim a new authority for the pulpit, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, over you and your people.

Commit yourself again to ever more deeply becoming a careful preacher of Christ.

Don’t preach to grow your congregation; preach to bear witness to what the Lord is doing, and let him grow your church.

Dwell in him, abide in him, come to know him ever more deeply and convertedly.

Tell the people what he has to say to them, what he is doing among them and within them, and what it is he wants them to share in.

He is up to something in your neighborhood, if you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

Develop a christological hermeneutic for all you do and say. Why? Because there is no other name, that’s why.

Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion of Ministry: Surrendering Our Ambitions to the Service of Christ (IVP, 2007), 44-45.

The Book of Galatians in 30 Tweets

 

By David Mathis:

Paul is en fuego in his letter to the Galatians. He’s flaming with a righteous apostolic anger. Best advice perhaps is don’t try this at home.

But do read it at home. Hear it preached. Study it. Write about it. Even tweet it. Whatever it takes to have Paul’s blazing fire warm the coals of your love for Jesus and for his gospel of grace.

Here’s installment number four in tweeting Paul’s epistles. We started with Romans. Then 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. Now batting: The Book of Galatians.

For starters, here’s a one-tweet summary of the letter:

Jesus’s astounding grace is to be admired and appreciated, not added to. #Galatians

What follows are 29 more designed to walk you through six red-hot, gospel-rich chapters, each with a Galatians hashtag. Grab a Twitter account and help us get #Galatians trending today, if you would.

Here’s the full slate of Galatians tweets we’ll be dispensing throughout the morning:

Chapter 1

Jesus gave himself at the cross both for us and for God—for our good and ultimately for God’s glory #Galatians 1:1–5

There is one gospel. One path from which saving grace flows to sinners: Jesus. Every counterfeit is damnable #Galatians 1:6–9

People-pleasing is inconsistent with calling Jesus Lord. Christians are servants of the God-man—not servants of any mere man #Galatians 1:10

The Christian gospel is not the product of human reason or speculation or conversation, but only divine revelation. #Galatians 1:11–22

It makes God look really good when his people’s persecutors become his gospel’s preachers. Pray for the persecutors #Galatians 1:23–24

Chapter 2

Do not yield—even for a minute—when grace-despising false “brothers” slip in to spy out the legit freedom we have in Jesus #Galatians 2:1–6

As poor sinners, saved only by God’s astounding grace, it is madness to think we’d remember the gospel but forget the poor #Galatians 2:7–10

For the Christian, the final standard of our conduct is not rule or law or list, but the truth of the gospel of grace #Galatians 2:11–14

The Christian not only once despaired of self and turned to Jesus, but daily, continually, unstoppably turns to him #Galatians 2:15–21

True Christians don’t nullify divine grace by trusting their effort, but celebrate the grace of Jesus’ death and life for us #Galatians 2:21

Chapter 3

It is spiritual foolishness to think we could begin the Christian life by the Spirit’s strength, but keep going in our own #Galatians 3:1–4

It is spiritual foolishness to think we could connect with the Spirit by our doing rather than receiving his doing by faith #Galatians 3:5–6

It is not pedigree or performance that brings us into God’s family and his eternal favor, but receiving his grace by faith #Galatians 3:7–9

The road that leads to death is marked Law-Self-Deeds, but the supernatural path to life is called Promise-Spirit-Faith #Galatians 3:10–14

Don’t get your wires crossed. God’s law is not meant to give us life. It can’t. Only his Promise. Law has another purpose #Galatians 3:15–19

Life is by God’s Promise, not his Law. Why then the Law? Because of our sin, and to show us our need for his Promised One #Galatians 3:19–22

Law is no route to Jesus’ acceptance or ongoing approval. It’s meant to make us despair of our deeds & depend only on him #Galatians 3:23–29

Chapter 4

In God’s unique Son, by faith, we are no longer slaves, but adopted sons—and amazingly, heirs with Jesus of all he inherits #Galatians 4:1–7

We only know God because he 1st knew us. Don’t give in to the sinful religious instinct that you can work your way to him #Galatians 4:8–11

It is gut-wrenching to see friends or family turn from the gospel of divine grace to trusting in their own human effort #Galatians 4:12–20

In Jesus, we are not slaves of the law, and citizens of the old city, but children of promise, and citizens of the New #Galatians 4:21–31

Chapter 5

Jesus set us free—to be free from sin, not slaves to law. It’s not your deeds that count for his acceptance, but only faith #Galatians 5:1–6

The kind of faith in Jesus that alone sets us free is a faith so full and vital that we can’t help but extend love to others #Galatians 5:6

Better to castrate yourself than trick others into shunning grace and thinking circumcision is needed to be right with God #Galatians 5:7–12

The Christian is called to true freedom—free from slavery to self, free enough to love others with self-sacrifice #Galatians 5:13–15

The short-sighted desires of sin are at odds with the desires of the Holy Spirit, our new selves, and what we really want #Galatians 5:1–-26

Chapter 6

Don’t drop the hammer on a struggling brother. Be gentle. Get a shoulder underneath the load, and help him up. Like Jesus #Galatians 6:1–5

Not trusting in our do-gooding for acceptance with God frees us to be resilient do-gooders for all, esp fellow believers #Galatians 6:6–10

Opposition, persecution, affliction, come what may / Our only boast is Jesus Christ—his cross, his gospel, grace #Galatians 6:11–18

________

• The Book of Romans in 45 Tweets
• The Book of 1 Corinthians in 40 Tweets
• The Book of 2 Corinthians in 42 Tweets

What Does It Mean To Be Biblically Balanced?

By Tullian Tchividjian:

I increasingly hear people talking about the need to be “Biblically balanced” and I think I’m starting to understand what they mean.

As I talk to people who speak about the need for our theology and preaching to be “balanced”, they mean that we need to spend the same amount of time talking about everything the Bible talks about.

So, for example, since the Bible talks about what God in Christ has done and also what we ought to do in light of what Christ has done, to be balanced we need to give both themes equal airtime. Since the Bible talks about Jesus and it talks about us, to be balanced we need to spend the same amount of time talking about both. The list could go on: since the Bible talks about x and y, to be balanced we need to talk about x and y the same amount.

But, this is NOT the balance of the Bible. While the Bible talks about a lot of things it does not give all of its themes equal airtime.

The overwhelmingly dominate message of the Bible is that God loves (and in Jesus) justifies sinners. There are tons of ways the Bible says this: the whore is made a bride, the dead are raised, the unrighteous are declared righteous, slaves are made sons, the blind see, the sick are healed, the unclean are made pure, the guilty are forgiven, sinners are saved, and so on. Obviously, no Christian denies that the Bible says more than this. But the work of Christ on behalf of sinners is clearly the emphasis of Scripture from beginning to end. What we do in light of what Jesus has done is important. But it’s not more important than (or even equally important as) what Jesus has done for us.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures… (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Martin Luther said, “Remove Christ from the Scriptures and there is nothing left.” The emphasis of the Bible, in other words, is on the work of the Redeemer, not on the work of the redeemed. As important as how we live is, the spotlight of Scripture is on Christ, not the Christian. “The Bible is not fundamentally about us. It’s fundamentally about Jesus.” (Tim Keller)

My point is simply this: to be “Biblically balanced” is NOT to allot equal airtime to every Biblical theme. To be Biblically balanced is to let our theology and preaching be proportioned by the Bible’s radically disproportionate focus on God’s saving love for sinners seen and accomplished in the crucified and risen Christ.

What the Bible Says About Sanctification

Sanctification is important. It’s deep (as in cosmic), and it’s personal (as in it’s about God’s work in you). But what exactly does it mean?

Sam Storms helps us with this short explanation:

 

(HT: Desiring God)

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 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