A Proclamation!

"What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life -- and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us -- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete." [1 John 1:1-4]

Commenting on this passage, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote the following.
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The gospel is a declaration, a manifestation, a showing. ... The trouble with so many of us (is that) we persist in regarding it as an outlook, as something which results from the meditation and thought of man on the whole problem of life and living. That has been the real tragedy of the last century or so, when philosophy took the place of revelation and people said that the Bible is nothing after all but human thoughts, man's ideas, man's search after God.

But that is not the gospel! The whole position of the Apostles, John and the rest, is that they have something to declare, something to say. They have seen something, they are reporting it, and that something is so wonderful that John can scarcely contain himself. ...There is nothing uncertain about this message, it is a proclamation; there is an urge and an authority behind it.

I know that the old charge which has so often been brought up against the Church and her preachers is that we are dogmatic; but the preacher who is not dogmatic is not a preacher in the New Testament sense. We should be modest about our own opinions and careful as to how we voice our own speculations, but here, thank God, we are not in such a realm, we are not concerned about such things. What we do is not to put forward a theory which commends itself to us as a possible explanation of the world and what we can do about it; the whole basis of the New Testament is that here is an announcement, a proclamation - those are New Testament words.

The gospel, according to the New Testament, is a herald; it is like a man with a trumpet who is calling people to listen. There is nothing tentative about what he has to say; something has been delivered unto him, and his business is to repeat it. ...We are ambassadors, and the business of the ambassador is not to say to the foreign country what he thinks or believes; it is to deliver the message which has been delivered to him by his home government and the King he represents. That is the position of these New Testament preachers, and that is how John puts it here - 'I have an amazing thing to reveal,' he says.

"This Grace In Which We Stand"

 Paul Zahl, in his book Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life, writes:

What is grace? Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable. The cliché definition of grace is “unconditional love.” It is a true cliché, for it is a good description of the thing…Let’s go a little further, though.

Grace is a love that has nothing to do with you, the beloved. It has everything and only to do with the lover. Grace is irrational in the sense that it has nothing to do with weights and measures. It has nothing to do with my intrinsic qualities or so-called “gifts” (whatever they may be). It reflects a decision on the part of the giver (the one who loves) in relation to the receiver (the one who is loved) that negates any qualifications the receiver may personally hold…Grace is one-way love.

"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8)

Satisfied in Christ

"the Father... has qualified us [past tense, it is finished] to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued/delivered us [past tense; the rescue/deliverance is complete] from the domain of darkness, and transferred us [past tense; the transferal is already concluded] to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have [present tense (ongoing, progressive action), this very moment we possess it] redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1:12-14

In his book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything, Tullian Tchividjian writes ...

Sometimes God puts us in a position where our only comfort comes not from what others think about us but from what God thinks about us in Christ - that we're forever qualified, delivered, loved, accepted, forgiven, clean, and approved. ...Because of Christ's finished work, Christians already possess the approval, the love, the security, the freedom, the meaning, the purpose, the protection, the new beginning, the cleansing, the forgiveness, the righteousness, and the rescue we intensely long for and, in fact, look for in a thousand things smaller than Jesus every day - things transient, things incapable of delivering the goods.

The gospel is the only thing big enough to satisfy our deepest, eternal longings - both now and forever.

Believer, where are you seeking your satisfaction? Spend time reading, rereading and meditating upon the truths of Colossians, chapter 1. Believe God! Value Christ! Have 20/20 spiritual vision! (Mt.6:22-23) Don't look for satisfaction in transient things/people/circumstances. You'll never find it.

Peace WITH God

 

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God."  (Romans 5:1-2)

I recently committed to memory the passage beginning with these verses. They've been rattling around in my head for the past two weeks. I've spent a lot of time contemplating them, manipulating them in my mind to see all the various angles with the result that they increasingly captivate me and encourage my heart. They are the last thing I think of as I fall asleep at night and the first thing I bring to mind when I awake in the morning. As painful as it can be to memorize, what immense value it affords! To further develop my thoughts in this direction I decided to read Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon on these verses. The following excerpt offers his great insight into how we need to think about the gospel in relation to ourselves and how careful we must be when presenting it to others.

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What a wise teacher (Paul) is! ...Every time he mentions these glorious blessings he persists in telling us that we get them 'through our Lord Jesus Christ', that they cannot be obtained apart from Him, and that any man who thinks he knows God, or is blessed by God, except in and 'through our Lord Jesus Christ', is deluding and fooling himself. There is no other way. He is the only way.

What is it that we get through Him? The first thing is, 'peace with God'. "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' This is the thing He puts first. He goes on to tell us of the blessings we get from God through the Lord Jesus Christ. But that is only put in the second position. This is put first - 'peace with God'.

Why am I emphasizing that? ... there are many people today who put the blessings first, and invite people to 'Come to Jesus' in order that they may get this or that or the other blessing, without saying a word about 'peace with God'. ...'Do you want a Friend? do you need help? do you need comfort? do you want happiness, peace and joy?' These are the things they put forward and emphasize, and so Christianity is made to look like the cults and to appear to be in competition with them.

The primary business of the Christian Gospel is not to give us blessings. ...It's primary function is to reconcile us to God. ...It should ever be one of our objects to show the uniqueness of the Christian message, and so the first thing we must emphasize is 'peace with God'. Why? For the simple reason that we can have no blessings from God until we first of all have an access into God's presence and are reconciled to Him. We cannot pray to God as we are, and if we desire God to bless us, the first question we have to face is this - How can I have an entry, how can I have access to God, how can I have an audience with God? We shall never know 'the peace of God' until we first have 'peace with God'.

Romans: Assurance, Exposition of Chapter 5 (Romans Series)

Shai Linne - Expositional Preaching

Tears of the Saints

Lift up your eyes ... make disciples ... support ... pray ... send ... go ... have an eternal perspective on your life, Christian.

Gospel Focus - Youth

Statistics will back me up, but one thing I have personally observed over the years is the sad reality that only some of our youth will come to have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Others will completely turn away, following their own heart's desires and others will "play" at Christianity, knowing all the outward forms, but lacking the regenerative power within their hearts. The response of too many parents will be that the church should "do" something guaranteed to bring about their child's salvation. If people in the church were only friendlier, their child would have been saved. If Youth Group had been more attractional, their child would have wanted to come and subsequently been saved. If more care packages had been sent out to the college freshmen, their child would have been saved. If a Youth Leader or Sunday School teacher had spent more personal one-on-one time, their child would have been saved. If the kids in Youth Group had been less cliquish and more loving, their child would have been saved.  I've heard it all and often wondered if those who hold such opinions have seriously studied the truths of Scripture. Yes, we're to be faithful messengers, but it is the Holy Spirit who saves, and  like the wind, He moves as He chooses. Jesus said, "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)

So if it's the work of the Holy Spirit, then what is our role as Sunday School teachers, Youth leaders and parents? Scripture tells us we are to preach the gospel, for it is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation. (Romans 1:16) We are to teach who God is, what He expects of us, how He has worked in the past, how He continues to work today and what He will accomplish in the future. We teach how to rightly divide His Word, in the hope that the Holy Spirit may choose to use it at some point in the future to bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ. We diligently pray for their souls ... without ceasing. We model for them what God can do with an obedient heart that loves Him. These things need to be the focus of our teaching and practice, not merely promoting an outer conformity to prescribed behavior, for that would be repeating the errors of the Pharisees, nor fooling ourselves that attendance alone will guarantee a quickening of their spirit.

Pastor Jon Nielsen, College Church in Wheaton, recently wrote a post concerning these things. Instead of focusing on the youth who walk away, he made observations about the 20-somethings who stayed in the church or came back to it. You may read an excerpt below.
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... there is no one easy solution for bringing all of those “lost” kids back into the church, other than continuing to pray for them and speaking the gospel into their lives. However, we can all look at the 20-somethings in our churches who are engaged and involved in ministry. What is it that sets apart the kids who stay in the church? Here are just a few observations I have made about such kids, with a few applications for those of us serving in youth ministry.

1. They are converted.

The apostle Paul, interestingly enough, doesn’t use phrases like “nominal Christian” or “pretty good kid.” The Bible doesn’t seem to mess around with platitudes like: “Yeah, it’s a shame he did that, but he’s got a good heart.” When we listen to the witness of Scripture, particularly on the topic of conversion, we find that there is very little wiggle room. Listen to these words: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2Cor.5:17). We youth pastors need to get back to understanding salvation as what it really is: a miracle that comes from the glorious power of God through the working of the Holy Spirit.

We need to stop talking about “good kids.” We need to stop being pleased with attendance at youth group and fun retreats. We need to start getting on our knees and praying that the Holy Spirit will do miraculous saving work in the hearts of our students as the Word of God speaks to them. In short, we need to get back to a focus on conversion. How many of us are preaching to “unconverted evangelicals”? Youth pastors, we need to preach, teach, and talk—all the while praying fervently for the miraculous work of regeneration to occur in the hearts and souls of our students by the power of the Holy Spirit! When that happens—when the “old goes” and the “new comes”—it will not be iffy. We will not be dealing with a group of “nominal Christians.” We will be ready to teach, disciple, and equip a generation of future church leaders—“new creations”!—who are hungry to know and speak God’s Word. It is converted students who go on to love Jesus and serve the church.

2. They have been equipped, not entertained.

... youth pastors especially need to keep repeating the words of Ephesians 4:11-12 to themselves: “[Christ] gave . . . the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Christ gives us—teachers—to the church, not for entertainment, encouragement, examples, or even friendship primarily. He gives us to the church to “equip” the saints to do gospel ministry, in order that the church of Christ may be built up.

If I have not equipped the students in my ministry to share the gospel, disciple a younger believer, and lead a Bible study, then I have not fulfilled my calling to them, no matter how good my sermons have been. We pray for conversion; that is all we can do, for it is entirely a gracious gift of God. But after conversion, it is our Christ-given duty to help fan into flame a faith that serves, leads, teaches, and grows. If our students leave high school without Bible-reading habits, Bible-study skills, and strong examples of discipleship and prayer, we have lost them. We have entertained, not equipped them . . . We don’t need youth group junkies; we need to be growing churchmen and churchwomen who are equipped to teach, lead, and serve. Put your youth ministry strategies aside as you look at that 16-year-old young man and ask: “How can I spend four years with this kid, helping him become the best church deacon and sixth-grade Sunday school class teacher he can be, ten years down the road?”

3. Their parents preached the gospel to them.

As a youth pastor, I can’t do all this. All this equipping that I’m talking about is utterly beyond my limited capabilities. It is impossible for me to bring conversion, of course, but it is also impossible for me to have an equipping ministry that sends out vibrant churchmen and churchwomen if my ministry is not being reinforced tenfold in the students’ homes. The common thread that binds together almost every ministry-minded 20-something that I know is abundantly clear: a home where the gospel was not peripheral but absolutely central. The 20-somethings who are serving, leading, and driving the ministries at our church were kids whose parents made them go to church. They are kids whose parents disciplined them and held them accountable when they were rebellious. They are kids whose parents read the Bible around the dinner table every night. And they are kids whose parents were tough, but who ultimately operated from a framework of grace that held up the cross of Jesus as the basis for peace with God and forgiveness toward one another.

This is not a formula! Kids from wonderful gospel-centered homes leave the church; people from messed-up family backgrounds find eternal life in Jesus and have beautiful marriages and families. But it’s also not a crap-shoot. In general, children who are led in their faith during their growing-up years by parents who love Jesus vibrantly, serve their church actively, and saturate their home with the gospel completely, grow up to love Jesus and the church. The words of Proverbs 22:6 do not constitute a formula that is true 100 percent of the time, but they do provide us with a principle that comes from the gracious plan of God, the God who delights to see his gracious Word passed from generation to generation: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Youth pastors, pray with all your might for true conversion; that is God’s work. Equip the saints for the work of the ministry; that is your work. Parents, preach the gospel and live the gospel for your children; our work depends on you.

[The entire post may be found here.]

"What It's Like to Live in Romans 8:28"

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"  [Romans 8:28-32]

"If you live inside this massive promise, your life is more solid and stable than Mount Everest. Nothing can blow you over when you are inside the walls of Romans 8:28. Outside Romans 8:28 all is confusion and anxiety and fear and uncertainty ... Once you walk through the door of love into the massive, unshakable structure of Romans 8:28 everything changes. There come into your life stability and depth and freedom. You simply can't be blown over any more. The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life. When God's people really live by the future grace of Romans 8:28 - from measles to the mortuary - they are the freest and strongest and most generous people in the world. Their light shines and people give glory to their Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

[excerpted from John Piper's Future Grace]

One Way

In our post-modern multicultural society, repeating Jesus' warning that there is only one way to the Father, a way provided by the Father Himself, often generates anger and charges of great hubris.  Our world increasingly views such an idea as intolerant, unloving and arrogant.  But consider the source.  If the Creator provides a way for the creature to reach Him, should we not listen?  Should we not consider?  Should we not respond in humility and thankfulness?  What if you were dying from cancer and a drug company offered you, as a free gift, the only drug that could preserve your life?  Would you say, "No thanks. I know a little bit about science, I'll figure out how to save myself." Or might you reply, "No way. My family uses only all-natural remedies. I won't consider anything else."  Or would you insist that you are the captain of your soul and deny your mortal illness?

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." Shouldn't you bow down in grateful reverence at the loving provision of a holy God and say, "Thank you?"  [John 14:5-11]  It's not "intolerant," it's truth ... and it's our only hope.

The Infinite Worthiness of God

It has been a while since I've dipped into the works of Jonathan Edwards. Not only did Edwards have an incredible mind, he managed to successfully maintain an eternal view as he lived out his life day by day, moment by moment. And the result of that was his incredible joy in God, despite whatever difficulties and trials might assail him ... and he had many!  Reading his works helps focus my mind in a similar way and weans me away from loving things less worthy.

When it comes to sin, most of us would like to soften the blow a little.  We so easily overlook our own sin, forgetting that every sin is against an infinitely holy God.  That's the biblical definition of sin, falling short, missing the mark of God's perfect holiness, which makes our need so very great and God's provision so very precious! (Rom.3:23-26)  In Desiring God, John Piper reminds us of God's view of King David's adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband.  When God sent the prophet Nathan to confront him, He didn't have Nathan tell David that marriage is inviolable, nor did he have him speak of the sanctity of human life.  Instead God said, "You have despised me." (2Sam. 12:10)  David acknowledged that truth in his penitential Psalm, "Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge." (Ps.51:1-4)

Jonathan Edwards understood that the depth of our sin is measured by the value of and our obligation to the One sinned against. He wrote:

"The crime of one being despising and casting contempt on another, is proportionably more or less heinous, as he was under greater or less obligations to obey him.  And therefore, if there be any being that we are under infinite obligations to love, and honor, and obey, the contrary towards him must be infinitely faulty."

"Our obligation to love, honor, and obey any being is in proportion to his loveliness, honorableness, and authority ... But God is a being infinitely lovely, because he hath infinite excellency and beauty."

Piper suggests God need ask only 3 questions to reveal every man's guilt before Him:

1)  Was it not plain in nature that everything you had was a gift, and that you were dependent on your Maker for life and breath and everything? (Psalm 97:6; Rom.1:20)

2)  Did not the judicial sentiment in your own heart always hold other people guilty when they lacked the gratitude they should have had in response to a kindness you performed? (Rom.2:1-3)

3)  Has your life been filled with gratitude and trust toward Me in proportion to My generosity and authority?

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."  (Mark 12:30)    ... because He is infinitely worthy of that love.

We Will Always Need the Gospel

B.B. Warfield (1851 – 1921) on the Christian's lifelong dependence upon the gospel:

"There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest."

Importance of Context: Morals-Driven vs Gospel-Driven Living

Probably one of the most common problems we face when studying a NT epistle is our desire to "skip ahead" to the "Application" portion of the letter before we have had an opportunity to seriously reflect upon the earlier "Doctrinal" portion which undergirds even the possibility of "Application." As a result we become heavily focused upon "doing" without having a solid appreciation for the rhyme or reason, or the power behind it. Bypassing the doctrine results in a "morals-based" Christianity. We completely focus on the end-product, to the point that we begin to think we are getting "brownie points," "earning" God's favor for having "accomplished" some right behavior. Saved by the gospel, we now abandon its power and turn our focus completely onto ourselves, instead of onto the God who made our obedience even possible. We may even begin to expect that God "owes us," that we "deserve" blessings or at least "a break."

Ephesians 4-6 provides such a good example. In my early biblical counseling training, those three chapters provided a solid basis for Christian living. If you've ever taken "Self Confrontation," you're certainly familiar with the commands in these three chapters: "Be angry and sin not," "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted," "Speak the truth in love." And yet how many times have you heard people say, "I keep working on the same problem!" They know these verses, they try to obey them ... but they continually fail. And what is the eventual result? They might "give up," perhaps contenting themselves in their sin. Or they may concentrate instead on verses that are easier for them to consistently obey, building a foundation of spiritual pride. Or they might conclude, "That's hard." and try to ignore the command. Or even worse, they might say, "I tried that and it didn't work."

It's tragic! Now let's bring in the context. Go back to Eph. 4:1. What KEY connecting word do you see at the very start? You're right... it's "therefore." What does that tell you? Right again... what follows is a RESULT of the truth that has just been written. And what HAS just been written in Chapters 1-3? That's right... it's "doctrine." [You're really good at answering these questions!]

Paul has spent the first 3 chapters explaining what God has done for believers, those who "were dead in trespasses and sins." God "chose" them "before the foundation of the world", He "predestined" them "for ADOPTION as sons through Christ Jesus", He "LAVISHED the riches of His grace" upon them, He "BLESSED them in Christ with EVERY spiritual blessing" ... and so on ... and so on. Stop! Think about these truths, chew on them, reread Eph.1-3 every day for a week and ruminate on truths revealed! Let them seep down in deep, ponder them, think about their implication. Then, and only then, move on to Eph. 4:1... "THEREFORE ... "

Do you see those last three chapters a little differently now? If you truly comprehend the doctrine in Chapters 1-3, then your heart's desire is to respond in obedience. Don't ever separate the doctrine of the early chapters from the commands in the final chapters, or you'll become "morals-driven" and destined for failure, instead of "gospel-driven" and destined to glorify the God who has shed His mercy on you.