Gospel doctrine, gospel culture

Ray Ortlund:

Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture.  The doctrines of grace create a culture of grace, as Jesus himself touches us through his truths.  Without the doctrines, the culture alone is fragile.  Without the culture, the doctrines alone appear pointless.  For example:

The doctrine of regeneration creates a culture of humility (Ephesians 2:1-9).

The doctrine of justification creates a culture of inclusion (Galatians 2:11-16).

The doctrine of reconciliation creates a culture of peace (Ephesians 2:14-16).

The doctrine of sanctification creates a culture of life (Romans 6:20-23).

The doctrine of glorification creates a culture of hope (Romans 5:2).

The doctrine of God creates a culture of honesty (1 John 1:5-10).  And what could be more basic than that?

If we want this culture to thrive, we can’t take doctrinal short cuts.  If we want this doctrine to be credible, we can’t disregard the culture.  But churches where the doctrine and culture converge bear living witness to the power of Jesus.

Churches that do not exude humility, inclusion, peace, life, hope and honesty — even if they have gospel doctrine on paper, they lack that doctrine at a functional level, where it counts in the lives of actual people.  Churches that are haughty, exclusivistic, contentious, exhausted, past-oriented and in denial are revealing a gospel deficit.

The current rediscovery of the gospel as doctrine is good, very good.  But a completely new discovery of the gospel as culture — the gospel embodied in community — will be infinitely better, filled with a divine power such as we have not yet seen.

Is there any reason not to go there?  Is the status quo all that great?  Doesn’t the gospel itself call for a new kind of community?

Penal Substitution: Central and Saving!

Sam Storms:

One often hears that penal substitution is merely one model or theory of the atonement and thus should not be elevated as central to defining the way in which we are saved and reconciled to God.

One author appeals to an analogy with golf. Just as Phil Mickelson, for example, would never think of playing in the U.S. Open with only a putter or a nine-iron, neither should we portray the saving work of Christ as if penal substitution were all there is to his sacrifice on the cross. Depending on where one is on the course (whether on the tee box, in the fairway, behind a tree in the rough, or in a sand trap), one selects the most appropriate club to advance the ball toward the green and ultimately into the hole.

Likewise, depending on the circumstances, the personality of the individual to whom we are witnessing, their needs, the cultural influences to which they are subject, their vocabulary and religious background, etc., we select the most appropriate model or theory of what Jesus accomplished to secure the reconciliation of sinners. It may even be that we end up appealing to a multiplicity of explanations for what Jesus did, just as Mickelson during the course of 18 holes of golf will likely use every club in his bag.

However, in most instances where I’ve heard this proposal the motive eventually becomes clear. In conceding that penal substitution is “a” legitimate model for the atonement, but not the central or controlling one, while simultaneously pointing to a variety of theories, it soon becomes evident that the purpose is to minimize the wrath of God, the concept of propitiation, and the idea that in order to redeem us Christ voluntarily endured the penalty that sin incurred. It’s almost as if Mickelson concedes that he indeed carries a one-iron in his bag but in the course of competition rarely if ever uses it. In fact, he likely thinks it dispensable. It would better suit his game to carry a hybrid or an extra sand wedge.

Whenever I’m asked about this question I immediately agree that all of the many theories or models of the atonement are in some sense, and to some degree, true and relevant. But my reason for agreeing to this point is different from those just noted.

Yes, the death of Jesus exerts a “moral influence” on us insofar as his selfless sacrifice in the face of unjust suffering motivates us to endure the same (1 Peter 2:21ff.).

Yes, the voluntary suffering of Jesus is an “example” of God’s love for fallen mankind and devotion to the purpose of peace, as well as a paradigm for the way we should identify with the weak and oppressed. Yes, we see in the death of Jesus his humble submission to weakness and concern for the outcast and marginalized of society.

Yes, God is the supreme “moral governor” of the created realm whose commitment to the interests of public law and order was vindicated and displayed in the death of Jesus (cf. Romans 3:25-26).

Yes, the death of Jesus conquered evil and was designed to undo the works of Satan (cf. 1 John 3:8) and liberate those held captive by him.

Yes, the death of Jesus was designed to restore in mankind the imago Dei (image of God) so horribly defaced (but not destroyed) by the fall into sin.

But all of these things are true only because his death was preeminently a dying in the place of sinners, enduring in himself (body and soul) and thereby propitiating (1 John 2:1-2; Romans 3:25) the wrath of a righteous God.

Satan was defeated and his power vanquished because the guilt of mankind by which he held us in his clutches was imputed to Christ and its penalty endured and exhausted by Christ (Colossians 2:13-15). We are profoundly moved and stirred by the example of his sacrifice becausetherein “he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). The imago Dei is restored and the effects of Adam’s fall were reversed and God’s righteous rule was vindicated (Romans 3:21-26) because Jesus, as an expression of the incomparable love of God for sinners (Romans 5:8), voluntarily suffered the penal consequences of the law of God, the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18), and died our death “by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

So long as the penal substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus is retained as foundational and fundamental to what happened on Calvary, we should joyfully celebrate and give thanks for all else that it accomplished. But without penal substitution, or even if it is merely marginalized or placed on the same plane of importance with these other theories, nothing of any benefit is obtained.

If Christ did not suffer and satisfy the wrath of God in the place of sinners, I simply have nothing to say to a lost and dying world that could even remotely be regarded as “good news” (gospel). I can offer them spiritual therapy, wisdom for living, and a measure of psychological and emotional encouragement. But I have nothing to say that will serve them, much less save them, when they come to stand before the Great White Throne of God (Revelation 20:11-15).

Praise be to God that Christ “suffered once for sins . . . that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18)!

Rule-igion

Josh Harris: What is “rule-igion”?

We know the word “religion” is belief in and worship of God. “Rule-igion” is the idea that a right relationship with God is earned through rule-keeping. “Rule-igion” says that we have to climb our way up to God. In other words, it’s through our performance and obedience and good deeds that we earn God’s love and favor and blessing. We follow the rules, we live a good life and that puts God in our debt.

Rule-igion is the basis of almost every false religion in the world today. Sadly, it infects a lot of Christian churches.

But rule-igion is completely at odds with the good news of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that salvation is a free gift. We are not saved by our works we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

This good news–what we call the gospel– is the opposite of rule-igion.

The gospel tells us that we can’t climb up to God, but God in love has come down to save us. Jesus has fulfilled the law for us. Jesus has paid for our sins through his death on the cross. Jesus has been raised from dead so that we can have eternal life. True salvation and right standing before God is something only Jesus can win for us–it is not a result of our works so that no person can boast.

And this is such awesome news that you have to wonder why anyone would ever want rule-igion instead? Here’s the answer: because grace is scary and humbling. Earning God’s favor by following rules gives us a sense of control. Rules let us control other people. And rules feed our pride and our sense of worthiness.

The gospel is humbling. Being saved by grace tells us that we’re undeserving. Grace makes us dependent and indebted. Grace makes much of Jesus not us…

Listen to the full sermon titled “Rule-igion” from Matthew 12:1-14 here.

Rob Bell vs. Andrew Wilson

Rob Bell vs. Andrew Wilson on homosexuality and the bible. Pretty impressive argumentation from Andrew, both in terms of clarity and charity. Bell, however, employs a hermeneutic driven by personal preference and cultural expediency.

Little Jumps in Studios

This is a good piece from Tim Challies:

I am too young to remember much about Margaret Thatcher and to know a lot about her role in world history. I will definitely read a biography of her at some point in the future and learn more about her life and times. (Writer’s note: I am trying to establish that I’m not interested in bickering about the legacy of her policies since I know too little about them.) When she died last month there were the inevitable outpourings of both spite and affection. In the midst of all of this, I saw several people draw attention to one mostly unremarkable interview. As the interview drew to a close, the host asked Thatcher if she would do just one small thing—stand in front of the camera and jump in the air.

Jumping in the air was a gimmick the host asked of all her guests and apparently all of them complied. But Thatcher wanted nothing to do with it. She refused to jump and refused to relent even when the host began to apply pressure (“Gorbachev did it!”). Displaying all of her little verbal and physical quirks, she responded, “I shouldn’t dream of doing that. Why should I? I see no significance whatsoever in making a jump up in the air. I made great leaps forward, not little jumps in studios. … It’s a silly thing to ask. And it’s a puerile thing to ask.” She identified that the only motive behind this little jump could be a desire to be thought normal or popular. She was having none of it.

Mark Steyn, among others, contrasted Thatcher with the President of the United States who has slow-jammed the news with Jimmy Fallon and danced with Ellen. Many consider these silly moments contributing factors in his election to a second term. Many others consider them pragmatic actions that won an election at the expense of the dignity of the office of President of the United States of America.

Thatcher did not jump, and doubtlessly would not have danced or slow-jammed either, at least in part because she considered it demeaning. She understood that to demean herself was to demean her office. In that interview she was speaking not only as a woman, but as the Prime Minister of Great Britain (or former Prime Minister; I’m not sure when this was filmed). Even if she was willing to behave in a silly way on her own, she did not want her office to be seen as silly. She gave her trademark, “No, no, no.”

As I saw this video, and as I saw the videos of President Obama, I found myself thinking about the office of pastor. This, too, is an office that is meant to carry some kind of dignity. The Bible holds the office high—higher than Prime Minister or President—and provides a long list of qualifications for anyone who would hold it. It says that it is a noble office and that a pastor must be, among other things, sober minded, respectable and a man who manages his home with dignity. He must be upright, holy and disciplined. This is an age of radical egalitarianism in which we want to acknowledge no distinctions between one person and another, even if one of them represents an important office. And yet the Bible elevates this one office as the office of double honor.

This does not mean that a pastor needs to be superhuman or unapproachable. Far from it! The pastor, too, can play in the church softball game and he can have fun at the youth retreat. But even while he has fun, and even while he is outside of his study and his pulpit, he represents both himself and his office. The office cannot carry more dignity or respect than the office-holder. Thatcher’s little leap would have lowered the position of Prime Minister in the eyes of her nation even as it may have raised herself in those same eyes. Similarly, a pastor can as easily lower people’s estimation of his office by trying to raise their estimation of himself.

In The Christian Ministry Charles Bridges observes “The moment we permit ourselves to think lightly of the Christian Ministry, our right arm is withered; nothing but imbecility and relaxation remains.” He continues,

A sense of the dignity of our office—accurately formed, carefully maintained, and habitually exercised is therefore of the highest importance. … Dignity of character will thus correspond with dignity of station. The ‘office’ will be ‘magnified’ in perfect harmony with the lowliest personal humility and, indeed never more eminently displayed, than in the exercises of genuine humility; the man invested with these high responsibilities sinking in the dust as an ‘unprofitable servant.’

The pastor is a pastor in the pulpit or the playground, at home or on vacation. His actions always represent his office.

Thatcher did not jump, and this has been a challenge to me to ask where my desire to be perceived as popular or to be seen as very normal may contrast the soberness of the office I have been called to, where my desire to be popular may come at the expense of the office. One hundred years ago no one asked the President to dance, the Prime Minister to jump, or the pastor to zip-line to the pulpit. Today these things are not only requested but at times almost required, because when the office has lost its dignity, imbecility follows.

What Is the Difference between Affections and Emotions?

Justin Taylor:

As Gerald McDermott explains, Jonathan Edwards saw affections as “strong inclinations of the soul that are manifested in thinking, feeling and acting” (Seeing God: Jonathan Edwards and Spiritual Discernment, p. 31).

A common confusion is to equate “affections” with “emotions.” But there are several differences, as summarized in this chart from McDermott (p. 40):

Affections	Emotions
Long-lasting	Fleeting
Deep	Superficial
Consistent with beliefs	Sometimes overpowering
Always result in action	Often fail to produce action
Involve mind, will, feelings	Feelings (often) disconnected from the mind and will

He explains why affections are different than emotions:

Emotions (feelings) are often involved in affections, but the affections are not defined by emotional feeling. Some emotions are disconnected from our strongest inclinations.

For instance, a student who goes off to college for the first time may feel doubtful and fearful. She will probably miss her friends and family at home. A part of her may even try to convince her to go back home. But she will discount these fleeting emotions as simply that—feelings that are not produced by her basic conviction that now it is time to start a new chapter in life.

The affections are something like that girl’s basic conviction that she should go to college, despite fleeting emotions that would keep her at home. They are strong inclination that may at times conflict with more fleeting and superficial emotions. (pp. 32-33)

Here is how Sam Storms explains the difference in Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards’ “Religious Affections:

Certainly there is what may rightly be called an emotional dimension to affections. Affections, after all, are sensible and intense longings or aversions of the will. Perhaps it would be best to say that whereas affections are not less than emotions, they are surely more.

Emotions can often be no more than physiologically heightened states of either euphoria or fear that are unrelated to what the mind perceives as true.

Affections, on the other hand, are always the fruit or effect of what the mind understands and knows. The will or inclination is moved either toward or away from something that is perceived by the mind.

An emotion or mere feeling, on the other hand, can rise or fall independently of and unrelated to anything in the mind.

One can experience an emotion or feeling without it properly being an affection, but one can rarely if ever experience an affection without it being emotional and involving intense feelings that awaken and move and stir the body. (p. 45)

Jesus Came to Reverse the Curse

John Bloom:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)

A few days ago we laid the body of my wife’s grandfather in the ground outside the little brick church in the cornfields where he attended all 97 years of his life. I was given the profound honor of preaching at his funeral. And the words of John 11:25–26 were my text.

I chose them because Jesus said them to Martha when Lazarus lay dead in his tomb. And I was to stand behind the old pulpit in front of a full casket.

A corpse is a fierce reality. It demands that we explain these claims of Jesus — perhaps the most incredible ever spoken by a credible human being in all of history.

What does Jesus mean that he is “the resurrection and the life”? Why is it only for those who believe? And how can one die and never die?

“I am the resurrection and the life”

To understand why Jesus gave himself this strange name, we must go back to the horror that occurred in Eden.

God had warned Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die (Genesis 2:17). But the devil-serpent told Eve that God was a liar. They would not die. They would become like God! (Genesis 3:4) And they believed him and ate (Genesis 3:6–7).

Do you see what happened? As long as Adam and Eve believed God, they would have life — abundant life, full of the joy of sweet fellowship with their Father. Trusting God with all their heart would have protected them.

But when they listened to a deceiver and trusted in their own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), it opened to them a world of horror. Their eyes, and the eyes of all of us descendants, were opened to evil and blinding complexities that none of us have the capacity to grasp. Fear and self-worship turned us pathologically selfish. We became susceptible to all sorts of deception.

And God pronounced a curse on them that we who sin like them have inherited (Genesis 3:17–19). Death entered the human experience and with it all sorts of affliction and trouble.

When Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” what he meant was that he had come to reverse this curse. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Jesus came to bear “our sins in his body on the tree that we might live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

But Jesus only reverses the curse for all who will believe in him. That’s why he says…

“Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live.”

Why is believing so crucial to Jesus? Because the fall of Adam and Eve was the failure tobelieve in God. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Romans 1:25). This is a dishonoring, a treason of such magnitude that a holy God cannot tolerate and be righteous. Such guilt must receive its just penalty.

But “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus pays the penalty for this treason by bearing the curse (Galatians 3:13) for everyone who will trust his word over Satan’s or their own understanding. And everyone who believes in him will be raised from the dead just as Jesus was resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:52–53). And more than that…

“Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Now wait. Isn’t this just double-talk? How can you die and never die?

Here’s what I believe Jesus means. Everything that has been subject to the curse of the fall will die. The old must pass away (2 Corinthians 5:17). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). Our bodies and the sinful nature woven into them will die (except for those who are alive at Jesus’s return [1 Corinthians 15:51]) because Jesus is delivering us from sin as well as death (Romans 8:2). “Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” Jesus! (Romans 7:24–25)

But “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” When a person believes in Jesus they are “born again” (John 3:3). To this believer he says I am in you and you are in me (John 14:20). And nothing that is united to the Resurrection and the Life can die. The newborn spirit, what Paul calls the “inner self” (2 Corinthians 4:16) does not die when the outer self dies. This is why Paul says that to “be away from the body” is to be “at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).

That which is born of the Spirit does not die when that which is born of the flesh dies.

“Do you believe this?”

This was the question Jesus asked Martha in the face of Lazarus’s death. It rang in our ears as we buried Grandpa Wally.

It is the most important question you will ever answer. For John the Baptist said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).

Jesus has come to reverse the curse of death. And this free gift is yours if you will believe in him. You will live though you die, you will be raised, and you will never die.

6 Discontinuities between the Old and New Covenants

Herbert W. Bateman IV, Charts on the Book of Hebrews (Kregel Charts of the Bible; Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2012), 126

(HT: Andy Naselli)

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.”

Gospel Peace in Suffering

“Gospel peace prepares the heart for suffering, as it brings along with it and possesseth the soul where it comes, with such glorious privileges as lift it above all danger from any sufferings whatever, from God, man, or devils. If a man could be assured that he might walk as safely on the waves of the sea, or in the flames of fire, as he doth in his garden, he would be no more afraid of the one than he is to do the other. Or, if a man had some coat of mail secretly about him, that would undoubtedly resist all blows and quench all shot that are sent against him, it would be no such scareful things for him to stand in the midst of swords and guns. Now, the soul that is indeed at peace with God, is invested with such privileges as do set it above all hurt and damage from sufferings. ‘The peace of God’ is said ‘to garrison the believer’s heart and mind’, Phi. iv. 7. He is surrounded with such blessed privileges, that he is as safe as one in an impregnable castle.”

— William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour

(HT: Joe Thorn)

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…

Piper on the Life and Ministry of Charles Spurgeon

Plenty of encouragement here for the Christian who wants to honour God in the way they believe and live, and for the pastor who wants to glorify God in his ministry.

Watch above as John Piper lectures at Reformed Theological Seminary (April 10, 2013) on the life and ministry of Charles Spurgeon. (You can find audio and the manuscript of an earlier edition of this talk here.)

(HT: Justin Taylor)

God Did Not Save Us On A Whim

Kevin DeYoung:

Many Christians do not really grasp why God has forgiven us of our sins. It’s not as if God the Father woke up one morning and was having a great day, just feeling terrific about being the Sovereign of the universe, then decided on a whim to have mercy on his elect and look past their iniquities. God did not save us because the loving part of him finally out balanced the justice part of him. We must not picture God up in heaven muttering: “You know your sin? And all your rebellion and failures and disobedience? You remember all that? Well fuhgettaboutit. It don’t bother me. I love youse guys and I ain’t gonna mention your sin no more.”

Without giving it much thought, many of us picture the atonement as nothing but undeserved mercy from a loving God. We forget that the mercy we receive is a mercy merited on the cross. God has not saved us by the removal of justice, but by the satisfaction of it.

Justice is shot through the entire plan of redemption. God never once set aside his justice. There is a hell because God is just. And people go to heaven because God is just. Our sins are counted to Christ, so that he died in our place. His life and his death counted to us, that we might live.

We are not forgiven and given eternal life because God waved a magic wand and decided he would just overlook our sins. He has not overlooked the smallest speck of your sin. The good news of the cross is that the tiniest little speck of your sin, and all of the great big sins as well, have been paid for by the perfect and final sacrifice.

We were not saved on a whim because God decided one day he might as well have mercy on sinners. We are saved because God sent his Son to become the curse for us. Every last lustful look, every proud thought, every gossiping tongue, God demands justice for all of it. And the resurrection of Jesus bears witness to the glorious good news that all the demands of justice have been met so that Christ would be the first to conquer death, but not the last. Divine satisfaction through divine self-substitution.

Faithful churches must pursue both width and depth

J.D. Greear:

The Great Commission is, in many ways, the marching orders of the church, the benchmark by which we measure success. Inherent to the Great Commission is the command to make disciples, which implies two types of growth—width and depth.We are to reach people from every nation on earth. That’s width. We are to make true disciples of them, teaching them to obey all that he has commanded. That’s depth. To be faithful, a church must vigorously pursue both.

Depending on a person’s disposition, however, it is easy to gravitate toward one or the other. It certainly makes decision-making a lot easier. But evaluating success by width alone or by depth alone is both unfaithful and self-defeating.Churches that grow only wide (and not deep) are not growing nearly as wide as they think; and those that grow deep (without caring about width) are not nearly as deep as they think.

1. Width Without Depth Is Unfaithful.

When a church produces converts who aren’t really disciples, the “width” they’ve produced is illusory. Jesus did not command us to make converts, but to make disciples and to teach them all the things he commanded us. I shudder when I hear pastors imply that their task is to just get people “saved and baptized,” and that other people can worry about growing people up in their faith. That is a faulty—and a deadly—view of conversion.

Think of the parable of the seeds (Matt 13:1–9). Jesus warned us that there would be those who appear saved but ultimately fade in the sun or get choked out by thorns. Where are those people? Many of them are in our churches, blissfully relying on a past experience and refusing to go all the way in their faith. Make no mistake: teaching people to walk faithfully with Christ is not a matter of simply bringing people to maturity; it is a matter of salvation.

I am not against counting numbers: Jesus counted them; Acts is full of them; the shepherd in Jesus’ parable was so in touch with his number of sheep that he knew when one was missing. But count and celebrate the right ones, recognizing that heaven counts different numbers than many of our Christian magazines. Heaven counts disciples, not those who merely prayed a prayer, signed a card, or got dunked in a baptismal.

So those who grow wide without also focusing on growing deep are not really growing as wide as they might think. If they are producing only converts and not disciples, then their growth is a charade.

2. Depth Without Width Is Unfaithful.

I know that it is very possible to be faithful to God and to see very little visible fruit, particularly in terms of quantifiable numbers. Many great men and women of God labored (and labor) for years to apparently no avail; I don’t want to disparage their faithfulness in any way. But these people would be the first to admit that while the fruit seemed sparing, their vision was still immense. The gospel teaches you to dream big, and to continue yearning for it even when you don’t see it.

Jesus taught his disciples to think like this. When he called Peter, he did so by bringing in a huge haul of fish and saying, “This is how you will catch men.” And remember, the Great Commission has as its scope every nation on earth. So the question for those of you who are not seeing growth is, Do you desire to see a harvest? Do you weep over the lost of your city—like Paul did, like Jesus did?

Is it possible that you are using an excuse of “faithfulness” to hide a root of unbelief? Perhaps you simply do not believe that God could bring a flood of growth. You would not be prepared for it if it happened. You are skeptical when you hear of growth from others. God’s arm, however, has not grown short. His ear has not grown heavy. He is as moved with compassion as he was the day he cried out for their forgiveness from the cross; and he is as powerful to save as the day he walked out of the grave. So let us follow God faithfully, expecting great things from him and attempting great things for him.

J.I. Packer on a “Fully Dressed” Gospel

In the chapter on “The Gospel as of First Importance,” Packer and Parrett address the need for a “fully dressed” Gospel. They write:

Sadly, even tragically, evangelicals have sometimes been guilty of preaching and teaching a Gospel that is not, shall we say, “fully dressed.” They may have focused properly on the central features of God’s atoning work on the cross, faithfully preached Christ crucified for sinners, celebrated the resurrection as proof that Christ’s self-offering for our sins has been accepted, and urged hearers to be reconciled to God. In other words, they have been right about the essence of the gospel; the key facts have been there in what they have said. But at the same time they have missed some of the critical implications and applications of the Gospel for daily living.

[...] When we fail to conduct ourselves “in step with the truth of the Gospel” (Gal. 2:14), we are in serious error. We are to live in such a way as to make the teaching about God our Savior attractive to our neighbors (Titus 2:10) and to win their respect by responsible and godly living (1 Thess. 4:11-12). Thus our preaching and teaching of the Gospel–that is, our ministries and catechesis–must include teaching the godly manner of living that accords with sound doctrines of the Gospel (Titus 2:1).

[...] The Gospel is to be adorned by both sound doctrine and godly living. To set the Gospel before parishioners and public without these is to preach an unclothed Gospel.

Our salvation does not end at new birth. We are taught by Scripture to say not only that we have been saved (Eph. 2:8) but also that we shall be saved (Rom. 5:9-10; 13:11; 1 Pet. 1:5) and even now are being saved (Phil. 2:12-13; 1 Pet. 1:9). What is the power that saves us? It is the power of the Spirit at work in and through the Gospel (Rom. 1:16) to change lives. We need both a fully orbed doctrine of salvation and a “fully clothed” presentation of the Gospel. But we have often fallen short on both counts.

(HT: Timmy Brister)

Advice for Raising Godly Children

Ten pithy sayings from John Witherspoon, Scottish Presbyterian pastor, President of Princeton (1768-1794), and signer of the Declaration of Independence, on parental authority and child rearing:

1. The best exercise in the world for children is to let them romp and jump about, as soon as they are able, according to their own fancy.

2. A parent that has once obtained and knows how to preserve authority will do more by a look of displeasure, than another by the most passionate words and even blows. It holds universally in families and schools, and even the greater bodies of men, the army and navy, that those who keep the strictest discipline give the fewest strokes.

3. There is not a more disgusting sight than the impotent rage of a parent who has no authority.

4. I have heard some parents often say that they cannot correct their children unless they are angry; to whom I have usually answered, then you ought not to correct them at all.

5. Nothing can be more weak and foolish, or more destructive of authority, than when children are noisy and in an ill humor, to give them or promise them something to appease them.

6. Let it always be seen that you are more displeased at sin than at folly.

7. Nothing is more destructive of authority than frequent disputes and chiding upon small matters. This is often more irksome to children than parents are aware of.

8. I am fully persuaded that the plainest and shortest road to real politeness of carriage, and the most amiable sort of hospitality is to think of others just as a Christian ought, and to express these thoughts with modesty and candor.

9. Many parents are much more ready to tell their children such or such a thing is mean, and not like a gentleman, than to warn them that they will incur the displeasure of their Maker.

10. It is a very nice thing in religion to know the real connection between, and the proper mixture of, spirit [i.e., matters of the heart] and form [i.e., disciplines like family worship and church attendance]. The form without the spirit is good for nothing; but on the other hand, the spirit without the form never yet existed.

All quotes are taken from Witherspoon’s Letters on the Education of Children, and On Marriage.

 

(HT: Kevin DeYoung)

Holy vs. Holier Than Thou

Jared Wilson:

How do we become holy without becoming ‘holier than thou’?

By actually becoming actually holy.

Holiness and holier-than-thou-ness aren’t parallel phenomena. They run on different tracks. If someone is growing in arrogance, pride, and self-righteousness, by definition they are not growing in holiness.

The problem arises in equating holiness with religious behavior. Holy people do obey God, of course. But the character of holiness, in which the Spirit does his progressive sanctifying work in our hearts (and therefore in our thoughts, speech, and actions), produces qualities of humility, gentleness, kindness, and self-control. Any arrogant fool can abstain from certain sins or give to charity and what-not. The Pharisees certainly did that, and all our legalistic contemporaries do too. But that is not real holiness. That is moralistic separatism or some such thing.

Therefore, it is impossible to become both holy and holier-than-thou. To grow in one, is to atrophy in the other.

But I am grateful that while I still struggle with a variety of sins, most especially the root sin of pride, I have God’s promise that he will complete the work he began in me, and that Jesus is both the author and the perfecter of my faith.

Primer on the Puritans

In this video by Desiring God, Joel Beeke, co-author of A Puritan Theology, gives an entry-level appreciation of the puritans.

 

Is God Committed to Your Happiness?

Tim Keller:

“Is God committed to your happiness? Absolutely, and yet if you come to him to make you happy, you’re coming to a false god. If you say, ‘Well, I’m interested in this Christianity, and maybe I’ll come and bite on it if I can see it will help me reach my goals and make me happy.’ You’re not coming to God; you’re coming to a butler. Either God exists or he doesn’t exist. If he doesn’t exist you can’t come to him for happiness, right? But if he does exist, you have to realize you must come to him because he created you, and therefore, he owns you.

To not come to him and obey him would be an injustice. The only way to come to God rightly, the real God, is to come without conditions and to say, ‘Forget happiness. I owe you everything.’ There are only two ways to come to God. You can come to God on the basis of saying, ‘I owe you everything; you owe me nothing,’ or you can come on the basis of saying, ‘I’m going to come to you, but then you owe me a lot.’ The only way for you to know on what basis you have come is to see what happens in the bad seasons.

When things go wrong, do you get upset and say, ‘What good did it do me to come to church? What good did it do me to read the Bible?’ Do you know what that shows? You came to him on the basis of saying, ‘I will do this and this, as you owe me.’ In other words you’re saying, ‘My number one priority is happiness, and I’m using God as a way to get there’ as opposed to saying, ‘My number one priority is to serve God, and if happiness happens, great. To the degree it happens, great.’

Here is the irony: the less you’re concerned about your happiness and the more you’re concerned about him, the happier you get. This is not a trick. You can’t say, ‘Oh, great. I have it. I come to God, and I say this and this and this.’ You cannot bandy with the omnipotent and omniscient Lord of the universe. ‘Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.’ Happiness is a by-product.”

C. S. Lewis: Why He Matters Today