Doctrine: Uniting and Dividing

Justin Taylor has a very helpful post dealing with levels of doctrine moving from the absolutes to those things that are open questions. Check it out HERE.


From the ESV Study Bible:

The ability to discern the relative importance of theological beliefs is vital for effective Christian life and ministry. Both the purity and unity of the church are at stake in this matter. The relative importance of theological issues can fall within four categories:
1.absolutes define the core beliefs of the Christian faith;
2.convictions, while not core beliefs, may have significant impact on the health and effectiveness of the church;
3.opinions are less-clear issues that generally are not worth dividing over; and
4.questions are currently unsettled issues.

Where an issue falls within these categories should be determined by weighing the cumulative force of at least seven considerations:
1.biblical clarity;
2.relevance to the character of God;
3.relevance to the essence of the gospel;
4.biblical frequency and significance (how often in Scripture it is taught, and what weight Scripture places upon it);
5.effect on other doctrines;
6.consensus among Christians (past and present); and
7.effect on personal and church life.

These criteria for determining the importance of particular beliefs must be considered in light of their cumulative weight regarding the doctrine being considered. For instance, just the fact that a doctrine may go against the general consensus among believers (see item 6) does not necessarily mean it is wrong, although that might add some weight to the argument against it. All the categories should be considered collectively in determining how important an issue is to the Christian faith. The ability to rightly discern the difference between core doctrines and legitimately disputable matters will keep the church from either compromising important truth or needlessly dividing over peripheral issues.

Diagram copyright 2009 Crossway Bibles.

The Case Against "Christian Universalism"

Mike Pohlman at the Gospel Coalition has posted a very helpful list of resources to counter the idea of "Christian Universalism." I have reproduced it below because it is worth your time to check it out. "Christian Universalism" is universalism with a veneer of Christianity. It is the belief that, in the end, Jesus will redeem all mankind unto salvation regardless of what they have believed.

We recently had an email inquiry to The Gospel Coalition asking for resources on “Christian Universalism.” And because we all learned in school why we should ask questions (i.e., other people probably have the same one), we are posting our recommendations here. (This list, of course, is not exhaustive and can be added to by our community in the comments below.)

Books
•Faith Comes by Hearing: A Response to Inclusivism (IVP Academic, 2008)
•Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Zondervan, 2004)
•Let the Nations be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions, 3rd Edition (Baker Academic, 2010)

Audio
•Sermon: “Hell Isn’t Worth It” (Mark Dever)
•Sermon: “The Echo and Insufficiency of Hell” (John Piper)
•Sermon: “The Final Judgement” (Ligon Duncan)
•Lecture: “What Happens to Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel?” (Mark Rogers)
•Q&A: “If Hell is real, how can God be loving?” (John Piper)

Video
•Q&A: “What is the importance of believing in Hell?” (Sandy Willson)
•Q&A: “How should pastors preach about Hell?” (John Piper)

Articles/Q&As
• “Is Universalism Biblical?” (Ron Rhodes)
• “Are those who have never heard of Christ going to Hell?” (R.C. Sproul)

Conference
•1990 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors: “Universalism and the Reality of Eternal Punishment” (Sinclair Ferguson, John Piper, Greg Livingstone, Tom Steller)

TGC Confessional Statement
•Section 13:
The Restoration of All Things We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace.

Paying for Abortion

From Al Mohler:

Ground Zero for the sanctity of human life is now the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Democratic leadership is pulling all the levers to come up with the 216 votes necessary to pass the Obama health care bill. While most of the nation seems preoccupied with the politics of the issue and the political machinations of the frenzied legislative process, the preeminent issue is abortion and the sanctity of human life.

While President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders have insisted that the current bill is "abortion neutral," it is not. As Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life argues, the bill represents "the single greatest expansion of abortion since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision."

Some background information is in order. Federal funding for abortion is prevented by the Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1976 in order to prevent taxpayer funds from paying for abortions. The concept behind the Hyde Amendment is simple and important. Abortion is a highly divisive issue, and the federal government should not require American citizens to violate their consciences by subsidizing abortions. Just a few months ago, the House of Representatives adopted language similar to the Hyde Amendment in the form of what became known as the Stupak Amendment, named for Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, who introduced the legislation.

The bill currently before Congress does not include the Stupak Amendment, nor anything like the Hyde Amendment. When the President and congressional leaders insist that the current bill does not subsidize abortions, they mislead the American public.

Read the entire article HERE.

These Last Days

Christian Focus will soon be releasing a new book by Don Carson that is much needed and timely for the people of God.

This is not another book on what view to hold about the reality of Jesus' return but it is about how to live in the light of his imminent return. Don Carson accurately determines that the Christian church has always lived in what the bible terms 'the last days'...the period between his ascension to his Father in heaven and his return on the clouds of heaven.

Based on Paul's teaching in 2 Timothy 3, Don Carson gives wise counsel to today's church to avoid false teaching and to seek good mentors, those who will lead us in truth.

He shows that to rely on worldly wisdom is folly, that the world is utterly sinful, but rather to cling to the Bible as the source of our counsel and guidance and help. But more than that he shows us that it is in holding the Bible out to a needy world we take its message to where it is needed the most.

To live in the last days is not to hang on in quiet desperation but to boldly take the word of God and apply it to every situation knowing that it will meet every need just as it has throughout the two millennia since Jesus promised to return again. That is how to live in the last days!

HT: Martin Downes

The Word Did Everything

"I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything."

- Martin Luther

Coming to Church of the Saviour

In September Church of the Saviour will be pleased to host Full Confidence, a conference affirming the full trustworthiness of the Bible as God's Word.

Change is inevitable. And when the unpredictability of tomorrow consumes our minds it devours any sense of stability, confidence and peace.

But there is good news. In fact, there is great news for the people of God. Into our changing lives God has spoken. His impecably true and powerful Word gives us strength, hope, and confidence. Indeed, we can have full confidence in God's unbreakable Word which never fades like the grass of the field.

Plan now to attend Full Confidence on September 24-26 at Church of the Saviour. We will be instructed and encouraged by:

Rev. John Currie

Rev. Dr. David Garner

Rev. Dr. Lane Tipton

Rev. Dr. Carl Trueman

Still Time to Register!

Together for the Gospel: T4G 2010 Conference from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

Carl Trueman on the decline of mainline Protestantism

Check out this interview with Carl Trueman on the Janet Mefferd Show. Dr. Trueman is Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary.

It is an important reminder of the high price of compromise.

"Mission Accomplished"

Carl Trueman just forwarded the following video to me. I love Shai Linne's work. I defy anyone to find anyone in contemporary Christian music who is writing lyrics with half the depth that is demonstrated in his work.

What will happen to pro-life Democrats?

Representative Bart Stupack (D-MI) has been leading an important fight to keep tax payers from being forced by the federal government to fund abortions. It is yet to be seen whether or not he and others will be successful.

From National Review Online:

Stupak notes that his negotiations with House Democratic leaders in recent days have been revealing. “I really believe that the Democratic leadership is simply unwilling to change its stance,” he says. “Their position says that women, especially those without means available, should have their abortions covered.” The arguments they have made to him in recent deliberations, he adds, “are a pretty sad commentary on the state of the Democratic party.”

What are Democratic leaders saying? “If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That’s one of the arguments I’ve been hearing,” Stupak says. “Money is their hang-up. Is this how we now value life in America? If money is the issue — come on, we can find room in the budget. This is life we’re talking about.”

If Obamacare passes, Stupak says, it could signal the end of any meaningful role for pro-life Democrats within their own party. “It would be very, very hard for someone who is a right-to-life Democrat to run for office,” he says. “I won’t leave the party. I’m more comfortable here and still believe in a role within it for the right-to-life cause, but this bill will make being a pro-life Democrat much more difficult. They don’t even want to debate this issue. We’ll probably have to wait until the Republicans take back the majority to fix this.”

“Throughout this debate, even when the House leaders have acknowledged us, it’s always been in a backhanded way,” he laments. “I’m telling the others to hold firm, and we’ll meet next week, but I’m disappointed in my colleagues who said they’d be with us and now they’re not. It’s almost like some right-to-life members don’t want to be bothered. They just want this over.”

And the politics of the issue are pretty rough. “This has really reached an unhealthy stage,” Stupak says. “People are threatening ethics complaints on me. On the left, they’re really stepping it up. Every day, from Rachel Maddow to the Daily Kos, it keeps coming. Does it bother me? Sure. Does it change my position? No.”

HT: Justin Taylor

Boys to Men

From an article by Dr. Vern Poythress entitled "How I Have Helped My Boys to Become Christian Men":

Almost every culture in the world has something to mark the difference between a boy and a man. A boy goes through a "rite of passage," after which he becomes officially a man. The rite of passage may involve an ordeal, a test, or a training period of some kind. The boy who has reached a certain age must kill a crocodile, or train with a bow and arrow, or go on a long journey alone, or join in a dangerous hunt with the men.

When does a boy become a man in white American culture? When he gets a driver's license? When he graduates from high school? When he moves away from his parents? When he can vote? When he gets his first full-time job? When he is 21? When he gets married? When he owns his own home?

No one can say. There is no clear point of transition. There is no one "rite of passage." One of the unfortunate effects can be that boys are insecure. They don't know when they are men. Again and again they may try to prove that they are "grown up." Sometimes they may choose destructive ways-join a gang, go hotrodding, learn to smoke, get drunk, take a girl to bed.

What do we do to give proper guidance? I know and you know that there is no magic formula. God must be at work in teaching us and our boys, and he must be the one who causes them to grow (1 Cor. 3:7). But you and I can plant and water.

I decided that one way I could help my sons was by showing them what it was to be a man. What is a man? What marks maturity? In the Bible, true maturity does not consist in being able to kill a crocodile! The true maturity is spiritual. It is wisdom in knowing God and his will, and being able to carry it out in your life (Prov. 1:1-7).

I must set an example by my manhood. I must be like Paul, who said, "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). That is an awesome challenge. I fail to live up to the biblical standard. But part of being a man is being able to admit it when I fail and then to ask forgiveness...

In what does the training consist? Christian manhood is the goal. The training must match the goal. So we set for them projects. They acquire and demonstrate skill in each of several overlapping areas.

1. Knowledge of the contents of the Bible.

Know the names of books of the Bible in order.

Know Bible history.

Read the Bible all the way through.

Know main themes of biblical books.

Understand how Biblical teaching centers on Christ.

Know Greek and Hebrew (amount of knowledge tailored to the child's ability)

2. Memorization of selected verses and passages of the Bible.

3. Knowledge of the major teachings of the Bible (doctrine).

Memorize a children's catechism as a summary of doctrine.

Be able to explain doctrines and respond to questions using one's own words.

4. Personal piety.

Using devotional materials

Prayer diary

Day-long personal retreat for prayer and fasting with Daddy

Growth in understanding of means for overcoming sin

5. Projects of service and mercy.

Serving the church; serving the needy.

6. Wisdom in dealing with various spheres of life.

Finances: tithing, drawing up a year-long budget; checkbook balancing; investing.

Etiquette: table etiquette, greeting etiquette, letter etiquette, conversational etiquette, sexual etiquette.

Apologetics: answering questions and objections about Christian faith; understanding the Christian world view and the main competing worldviews and ideas in the United States.

Sexuality: knowing Christian teaching and standards for thoughts and actions. Understanding how God designed male and female bodies.

They work on these areas over a period of years. Many times we just integrate the work into our family devotional times. At other points we have periods where they have concentrated study in one area. When the boy is 11 years old, we assess progress. If our boy is honestly far from ready, we are willing in principle to put things off for another year. But if he is showing more maturity, we have a time of more concentrated preparation.

In the two or three months before the Bar Jeshua celebration, we enlist our pastors, young people's leaders, and (in my case) my seminary professor friends to test the boy privately in each of the areas (1)-(4). I am present at these tests to provide moral support, but not to coach my boy on the answers. We also reserve the fellowship hall at our church as a site for the coming celebration. We send out invitations. We draw up a program sheet and buy decorations and food.

Read the entire article HERE.

Panel Discussion of McLaren's new book

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary held a panel discussion on Brian McLaren's newest book A New Kind of Christianity. The discussion was hosted by Al Mohler and featured several SBTS faculty members.

Watch the video HERE.

Listen to the audio HERE.

The other Hitchens OR A tale of two brothers

Christopher Hitchens is among the world's most famous atheists. What is not as well known in the U.S. is that his brother Peter is a successful journalist and, ironically, a Christian. An article written by Peter recounts his journey toward Christianity and the challenging relationship he shares with his brother.

The swearing of great oaths concentrates the mind. So did the baptisms first of my daughter and then of my wife who, raised as a Marxist atheist, trod another rather different path to the same place.

Word spread around my trade that I was somehow mixed up in church matters. It was embarrassing. I remember a distinguished foreign correspondent, with a look of mingled pity and horror on his face asking: "How can you do that?"

I talked to few people about it, and was diffident about mentioning it in anything I wrote. I think it true to say that for many years I was more or less ashamed of confessing to any religious faith at all, except when I felt safe to do so.

It is a strange and welcome side effect of the growing attack on Christianity in British society that I have now overcome this. Being Christian is one thing. Fighting for a cause is another, and much easier to acknowledge - for in recent times it has grown clear that the Christian religion is threatened with a dangerous defeat by secular forces which have never been so confident.

Why is there such a fury against religion now? Because religion is the one reliable force that stands in the way of the power of the strong over the weak. The one reliable force that forms the foundation of the concept of the rule of law.

The one reliable force that restrains the hand of the man of power. In an age of powerworship, the Christian religion has become the principal obstacle to the desire of earthly utopians for absolute power.

While I was making my gradual, hesitant way back to the altar-rail, my brother Christopher's passion against God grew more virulent and confident.

Read the entire article HERE.

Life After Death?

The theme of the 2009 Ligonier West Coast Conference was "Is There Life After Death?" and featured such preachers and theologians as Alistair Begg, R.C. Sproul, and Michael Horton. Below are the videos of the message which Ligonier has graciously provided.

•Alistair Begg, He Is Not There: The Significance of the Empty Tomb
•Michael Horton, Exalted to the Right Hand of God: The Resurrection and the Ascension
•Panel (Begg, Horton, and Sproul), Questions and Answers #1
•R. C. Sproul, Witnesses of the Resurrection: The Apostolic Message
•Michael Horton, Foolishness to the Greeks: Preaching the Resurrection Today
•Panel (Begg, Horton, and Sproul), Questions and Answers #2
•Jason Stellman, The Destiny of the Species
•Alistair Begg, In the Likeness of His Resurrection: The Bodily Resurrection of the Believer
•R. C. Sproul, He Is Risen! The Resurrection and Worship

Thinking Biblically about Social Justice (3)

Kevin DeYoung continues his series on the major passages of Scripture which call for justice. In this most recent post he deals with Jeremiah 22.

Today I return to my series on social justice. As we look at the third of the seven passages we’ll see once again the Bible says more and less about social justice than we think. More, because God definitely and clearly commands his people to do justice. But less, because what the Bible means by doing justice is not always equivalent to contemporary notions of social justice.

Jeremiah 22

The basic command for this unit is given in verse 3: “Do justice and righteousness.” So there it is: God’s people (technically the kings in this verse) are commanded to do justice. We cannot obey God and ignore the divine call to justice.

In fact, the Lord tells the kings of Judah that judging the cause of the poor and needy (rightly) is to know him (15-16). It didn’t matter their titles, their wealth, or their religious observance, if the kings oppressed the poor instead of treating them fairly and mercifully, they proved their own ignorance of God. And if they continued in such flagrant disobedience, the kings and their kingdom would be wiped away (24-30).

So doing justice is hugely important. But what does it mean? Thankfully Jeremiah 22 gives us some answers.

Luxury by Tyranny

Jeremiah 21-22 were not addressed to anyone and everyone (though the chapters apply in various ways to all). These were words directly for the kings of Judah (21:3; 22:1, 11, 18). Ancient kings had tremendous power to do good or evil. To put it anachronistically, they wielded, all by themselves, executive, legislative, and judicial authority. They tried cases, made decrees, and enforced laws, just or unjust.

Tragically, in the waning years of Judah’s sovereignty, the kings acted unjustly on all three accounts. Their one overarching vice, what Phil Ryken calls “luxury by tyranny,” took many forms.

• The kings did not defend the oppressed against their oppressors (3a).

• They wronged the weak, even to the point of murder, shedding innocent blood for dishonest gain (3b, 17).

• They built their lavish houses by unrighteousness. This was not an instance of the rich getting richer as the poor also get richer. These kings, in an effort to live like the opulent kings of the other nations, conscripted forced labor and cheated the workers of their wages (13-16). They lived in luxury on the backs of the poor. The rich got richer because they made the poor poorer.

Doing Justice

Doing justice, against this backdrop of crimes, was not terribly complicated. It meant the kings would do the following: judge the poor fairly instead of exploiting them, stop cheating the poor and lining their own pockets through oppression, and quit snuffing out the weak in order to get their land or the stuff. No king, or any Israelite for that matter, guilty of these sins could possibly know, in a covenantal sense, the God of Israel. To know God was to obey him.

So here’s my unsexy, but hopefully exegetically faithful conclusion to this passage and others like it: Christians who do not cheat, swindle, rob, murder, accept bribes, defraud, and hold back agreed upon wages are probably doing justice. Christians guilty of these things are probably not Christians at all.

In The Genes

From Tom Schreiner's article A New Testament Perspective on Homosexuality:

Even if some sins could be traced to our genetics, it would not exempt us from responsibility for such sins. The Scriptures teach that all human beings are born into this world as sons and daughters of Adam, and hence they are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). They are dead in trespasses in sins (Eph. 2:1, 5), and have no inclination to seek God or to do what is good (Rom. 3:10–11). We come into the world as those who are spiritually dead (Rom. 5:12, 15), so that death reigns over the whole human race (Rom. 5:17). Indeed, human beings are condemned by virtue of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:16, 18). Such a radical view of sin in which we inherit a sinful nature from Adam means that sinful predispositions are part of our personalities from our inception. Hence, even if it were discovered that we are genetically predisposed to certain sinful behaviors like alcoholism or homosexuality, such discoveries would not eliminate our responsibility for our actions, nor would it suggest that such actions are no longer sinful. The Scriptures teach that we are born as sinners in Adam, while at the same time they insist we should not sin and are responsible for the sin we commit. We enter into the world as slaves of sin (Rom. 6:6, 17), but we are still morally blameworthy for capitulating to the sin that serves as our master.

HT: Justin Taylor

How Does God Reveal Himself?

Check out the latest episode of the White Horse Inn HERE.

Can we discover truth about God outside of the Bible, or is Scripture the only true source of heavenly knowledge? On this edition of the program the hosts will outline the distinction between general and special revelation. In the former, God reveals himself through creation, and in the latter he reveals himself in the pages Scripture and in the person of Christ. Though we can know many things about God by the things he has made, only Scripture reveals his good will toward us in the Gospel.

The Bible is About God

It is not unusual for Christians to be familiar with the stories in the Bible but to miss what is most important in those stories. We hear messages like, "Dare to be a Daniel" and "Slaying the Giants in Your Life". Ironically, what is missed in the telling and preaching of those stories is God Himself. The most important question we can ask about any passage of Scripture is not "What does this mean to me?" but "What does God say about Himself in this passage?" Phil Ryken's book Discovering God in the Stories of the Bible will help you read the Bible through this most essential lens.

Human beings from the beginning of time have tried to figure out what God is. They have worshiped nature and idols and everything in between because they haven’t had a true answer to the vital question “What is God?” But the Bible tells us stories that illustrate just who God really is. It gives us a true answer to that question, an answer that has crucial implications for each of us in our daily lives. The 13 Bible stories explained in this book are full of exciting truths about God, and studying those truths is the key to knowing and loving God more. Each story gives us a a new facet of God’s nature and character.

Slaughter in Nigeria

The mainstream media has been largely silent about the ongoing Muslim massacre of Christians in Nigeria. One notable exception has been an article in the NY Times by Adam Nossiter. Still it would be nice if the media were as outraged by the murder of Christians as they are by the mistreatment of dogs.

The mood in Jos was tense Monday. Troops were deployed in the streets, shops closed early and residents remained indoors.

A few miles south of the city nearly 400 of the victims were buried in a mass grave in Dogon Na Hauwa, the village where the worst violence occurred. Some of the bodies had been mutilated.

There, women cried unconsolably amid crowds of mourners, and the smell of burned and decomposing flesh hung in the air. Officials combed a large area around the village, continuing to find bodies during the day.

Shehu Sani, president of Civil Rights Congress, said in a phone interview on Monday that members of his group counted 492 bodies, mainly in Dogon Na Hauwa. He said that security forces had not been much in evidence in the “vulnerable areas” south of Jos. Mr. Sani said that the attackers were motivated at least in part by a large theft of cattle by members of the same Christian ethnic group as the victims.

“We were at the scene of the violence,” Mr. Sani said, suggesting that the local government figure of 500 was not an exaggeration.

“We have counted as many bodies as that,” he said. “There are not enough functional mortuaries to take them. It’s possibly even more than that because many were buried without documentation.”

Read the entire article HERE.

And though the wrong seems oft so strong

God is the Ruler yet

Biblical Manhood with C.J. Mahaney

In this interview C.J. Mahaney tackles some important questions:

• How can a young man be wise and how should fathers lead their sons?
• How can men mature in leading their wife and children?
• How can men seek fellowship and invite criticism?
  
  

Q&A on Biblical Masculinity from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

No substitute for the Gospel

Spiritual experiences and the disciplines are no substitute for that which is the matter of first importance: the Gospel.

From D.A. Carson:

A litany of devices designed to make us more spiritual or mature or productive or emotionally whole threatens to relegate the gospel to irrelevance, or at least to the realm of the boring and the primitive. The gospel may introduce you to the church, as it were, but from that point on assorted counseling techniques and therapy sessions will change your life and make you happy and fruitful. The gospel may help you make some sort of decision for God, but ‘rebirthing’ techniques—in which in silent meditation you imagine Jesus catching you as you are born from your mother’s womb, imagine him hugging you and holding you—will generate a wonderful cathartic experience that will make you feel whole again, especially if you have been abused in the past. The gospel may enable you to be right with God, but if you really want to pursue spirituality you must find a spiritual director, or practice asceticism, or discipline yourself with journaling, or spend two weeks in silence in a Trappist monastery.

These are not all of a piece. What they have in common, however, is the diminishing of the gospel in order to magnify the current device that is guaranteed to bring you toward wholeness. By contrast, the New Testament passionately insists that everything we need for life and godliness and a walk in the Spirit is secured for us in the gospel. It follows that if someone chooses to adopt some ascetic practice in order the better to focus on the Jesus of the Bible, the attention is still on Jesus.

But if someone so ties asceticism to altered moods or to experiences of ‘spirituality’ that the gospel itself is virtually ignored or is implicitly dismissed as a sort of initial stage now to be improved by ascetic practice, the name of the game is idolatry.

Again, if someone has experienced cathartic relief and emotional integration after an imaginative ‘rebirthing’ session, I am glad that the emotional integration has taken place. But we must insist that a better emotional integration could have been achieved by meditating on, say, the passion narratives, or on Ephesians 3:14–21. For then the emotional catharsis would have been tied to what God himself insists is the clearest and most complete demonstration of his love for us in Christ Jesus. In other words, the emotional integration would have been tied to the gospel instead of to something as ephemeral and diverting as manipulated imagination.

This is a time for Christians to return to the basics, the comprehensive basics, and quietly affirm with Paul, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith”’ (Romans 1:16–17).

HT: P.J. Cockrell

Are we warriors or figure skaters?

Listen at your own risk the following excerpt from Phil Johnson's message at the annual Shepherd's Conference held at Grace Community Church.

Pulpit Highlights - Phil Johnson from Grace Community Church on Vimeo.

"Without the Word"

In the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Modern Reformation Charlie Mallie comments on the necessity of the Scriptures to form not only the doctrine but the practices of the church as well. He reflects on his own coversion to Christ and his struggle to find a place in the church.

As an adult convert I can say that my first hundred or so encounters with Christians or with various churches didn't impress me much. When I had courage enough to darken the doorway of some assembly, often I found the teachings shallow and gimmicky. There was so very little of the Word, if at all. I remember one mega-thon in Southern California where the "youth dude" was standing in for the main pastor one particular Sunday. When it came time to "do the supper," he had us all bow our heads and "in our hearts intensely remember Jesus," and then he looked up and yelled, "Here's to Jesus," as if toasting the skylight with the little plastic cup filled with Welch's. That was the last church I walked out of with five-thousand-plus people watching. So began the years of my church fast--and my struggle to find genuine biblical Christianity, one that was saturated through and through with the Word of God.

It occurred to me back then (now over fifteen years ago) that the very aspect of what pulled me with great velocity out of those churches seems to be what draws so many others to them. The emphasis on marketing rather than teaching, offering choices, rather than calling for commitment, entertainment rather than substance flows like a chapter out of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. If you look at it from 40,000 feet, regardless of the individual manifestations of the malady, the source is always the same: a lack of teaching founded on the whole counsel of God or at the very least an inoculation against such teaching.

Mallie goes on to explain the dangers of a church bereft of the Word of God.

How dangerous is it to have a church that isn't completely shaped by the Holy Word of God in doctrine and in practice? What's the big deal? Can't we just form a group of Christians based on whatever we feel will best serve our needs?...

Maybe not...Somewhere in your background the Word of God came to you. Some pastor preached on a given text and it took root. You read your Bible and the Word was implanted. That living and active Word, the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, was buried in the soil of your heart and it grew...Because of that gift of being taught by the Holy Spirit through his Word, you can look at such silly assertions and say, "I think not."

But that's really the key, ins't it? The Word. It all turns on the Word of God. Not just a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, but the very means that guard our steps as we walk with Christ who is the Way, the Truth, the Life. The Word, the Word, the Word!...

Without the Word, we are sitting ducks for all sorts of trouble. If it is true that the devil roams about like a lion seeking to devour whomever he will and that the only weapon we are given is the Word of God--that double-edged sword of the Spirit that proceeds from the mouth of Christ--then without the Word we are truly vulnerable. Worse than that, we are helpless against whatever wind of doctrine blows through the doors. But I can only know such things from the Word. I will not come to the conclusion of such things by a careful contemplation of the starry sky--sorry, Mr. Kant. Without the transcendent enteral Word dropping down from the lofty realm of the neumena confusion, heresy, even apostasy becomes commonplace and talk of absolutes degrades into discussions of preference. Without a raft of revelation to sail me through this sea of doubt, there is no distilling ought-ness from is-ness.

Science and Faith

Westminster Seminary will be hosting a conference entitled Science and Faith: Friends or Foes? this Friday and Saturday (March 12-13). It promises to be an important event.

Speakers will include:
Discovery Institute Fellows Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design; Dr. Michael Behe, author of Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution and The Edge of Evolution; Dr. Jay Richards, co-author of The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed For Discovery; Dr. C. John Collins, author of Science and Faith: Friends or Foes?; Dr. John West, author of Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science; and Dr. Bruce Gordon, co-editor of The Nature of Nature.

Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of the outstanding Signature in the Cell will be one of the speakers at Westminster. Ligonier Ministries has posted a five part interview of Dr. Meyer conducted by R.C. Sproul. Check them out below:



Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five

Keller, Piper, and Carson on caring about the suffering of hell more than poverty

Take time to listen to the following conversation between Tim Keller, John Piper, and Don Carson on the priority of evangelism.

Check it out HERE.

The Gospel and its implications

Social Gospel vs. Proclamation Gospel from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.

A little more on free will...

From John Samson:

"...no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
- 1 Corinthians 12:3

"[we were]...born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

- John 1:13

We must bring clarity when we declare that man has no “free will” because many persons confuse coercion with necessity. Some believe that when we say people have no free will we somehow mean that their will is coerced from the outside into acting a certain way. But this could not be further from the truth. Apart from the Holy Spirit no one comes to Christ because people are in bondage to a corruption of nature... so they sin, not due to coercion, but of a necessity of their fallen nature. In his very helpful book, The Bondage and Liberation of the Will John Calvin clarifies:

There are four expressions regarding the will which differ from one another “namely that the will is 1) free, 2) bound, 3) self-determined, or 4) coerced. People generally understand a free will to be one which has in its power to choose good or evil …[But] There can be no such thing as a coerced will, since the two ideas are contradictory. But our responsibility as teachers is to say what it means, so that it may be understood what coercion is. Therefore we describe [as coerced] the will which does not incline this way or that of its own accord or by an internal movement of decision, but is forcibly driven by an external impulse. We say that it is self-determined when of itself it directs itself in the direction in which it is led, when it is not taken by force or dragged unwillingly. A bound will, finally, is one which because of its corruptness is held captive under the authority of its evil desires, so that it can choose nothing but evil, even if it does so of its own accord and gladly, without being driven by any external impulse.

According to these definitions we allow that man has choice and that it is self-determined, so that if he does anything evil, it should be imputed to him and to his own voluntary choosing. We do away with coercion and force, because this contradicts the nature of the will and cannot coexist with it. We deny that choice is free, because through man’s innate wickedness it is of necessity driven to what is evil and cannot seek anything but evil. And from this it is possible to deduce what a great difference there is between necessity and coercion. For we do not say that man is dragged unwillingly into sinning, but that because his will is corrupt he is held captive under the yoke of sin and therefore of necessity will in an evil way. For where there is bondage, there is necessity. But it makes a great difference whether the bondage is voluntary or coerced. We locate the necessity to sin precisely in corruption of the will, from which follows that it is self-determined. (John Calvin, BLW pp 69, 70)

The Bondage and Liberation of the Will by John Calvin

On another similar topic, we must remember, since prior to salvation all are "in Adam" and void of the Holy Spirit, so there is no hope for us to be saved if left to ourselves. But God is merciful and He shows His mercy by doing something that is indeed against our fallen will, when He rescues us. To give you an illustration, if a parent saw their 3 year old child run out in the street, true love would not give them the "free will" to chose whether to be hit by a car or not, but would, rather, at the risk of their life, run out and scoop up the child making certain their child was not hit because the parent knows better than the child.

Which would be more loving? 1) for the parent to leave the final choice to be run over to the child's "free will" OR 2) For the parent to make certain that the job gets done, even at the expense of the child's so called "free will"? Similarly, the love God revealed in the Bible is one in which He makes certain his loved ones are delivered from His wrath, in spite of ourselves, for He always knows better than we. Frankly, I don't mind if He voilates my "free will" if it means that He is doing something for my good that I am blinded to in my stubborn, stiff-necked, fallen state. Remember, he does not reward us for faith, but gives us faith that we might be rewarded (John 6:63-65).

This is a bit better...

When bad music meets even worse theology...

God is so great He leaves everything up to us...

Has Science Buried God?

Dr. John Lennox (Professor of Mathmatics at the University of Oxford) delivered the following lectures at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Lennox has publically debated both Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. He is also the author of the excellent God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?

The New Atheism and Morality, Part 1 from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.

The New Atheism and Morality, Part 2 from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.

John Piper - Grasping God's Love

Sunday's Sermon

Last Sunday I preached a message dealing with the primary motives for missions entitled "On Mission for the Glory of God". You can listen to or download the message HERE.

Thinking Biblically about Social Justice (2)

Kevin Deyoung continues his series on how we can think biblically about social justice. In his most recent post he addresses Isaiah 58 where God declares that he does not value religious ritual from those who neglect weightier matters of obedience.

God is not impressed with fastidious religious observance when the daily lives of his people are filled with negligence and oppression. God says, in effect, “Your fasting and sackcloth are meaningless to me so long as you continue in rank disobedience to more important commands.”

How were the Israelites sinful? They oppressed their workers, which usually meant defrauding them of agreed upon wages (v. 3; James 5:4). They quarreled and “hit with a wicked fist” (4). They conducted business and sought their own pleasure on the Sabbath (13).

What should God’s people have done? They should have loosed the bonds of injustice and let the oppressed go free (6). They should have shared bread with the hungry, clothed the naked, and welcomed in the homeless poor (7). God promised “your light [shall] break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up speedily” but only when the Israelites acted righteously and poured themselves out for the hungry and the afflicted (8-10).

Clearly, caring for the poor, the hungry, the afflicted is not a liberal thing to do. It is a biblical thing to do. We must allow this uncomfortable chapter to discomfort us a bit. Those of us in conservative circles can get all sorts of religious ritual right, but it counts for nothing and less than nothing if we do not love our neighbors as ourselves.

DeYoung goes on to explain that the application of these principles is not as easy as some would have us believe.

The implications of Isaiah 58 are straightforward: God’s people should hate oppression and love to help the poor.

Without wanting to mitigate this conclusion, let me offer two other comments.

1. Even though I’ve labeled this series with familiar phrase “social justice,” I don’t think that is best way to describe helping the poor. As I’ve pointed out before, “social justice” in its historical origins suggests a certain view of the world where disparity in wealth is considered de facto injustice. Therefore helping the poor is not a matter of kindness or mercy but a matter of justice. Everyone deserves their “fair share” of the society’s resources. Anything less is oppression.

But we see in Isaiah 58 that letting the oppressed go free is not the same as sharing your bread with the hungry. Granted, it could be. Perhaps the same people oppressing their workers were now being told to help them instead of harm them. But by definition, I would argue that pouring yourself out for the hungry is a matter of compassion for your fellow human being, not necessarily a matter of remedying an injustice.

2. While general principle–help the poor don’t harm them–is abundantly and repeatedly clear in Scripture, the application of this principle is less so. For example, does a passage like Isaiah 58 support state-sponsored redistribution efforts? Christians can and do argue for this, but this text certainly doesn’t require this solution to poverty.

And what should our priorities be in helping the poor? Are Christians responsible for everyone in the world? Everyone in society? I would argue there is an obligation first to our family (1 Tim. 5:8) and then to our brothers in the church (1 John 3:17; Gal. 6:10). Also, we should respond to urgent needs right in front of us when our assistance will be helpful (Luke 10:29-37). Finally, we should do good to everyone as we have opportunity as shaped by our vocation and calling (Gal. 6:10).

Other questions of application might include: What is the best way to help the poor in modern society? What about the poor overseas? To what degree is all of this the mission of the church and to what extent is this work simply the outgrowth of godly living in the world? Isaiah 58 doesn’t answer these and other questions. But it does lay the groundwork for caring about these questions and, more importantly, caring about the real people for whom questions about poverty and justice are not blog fodder but matters of life and death.

Believing is the evidence, not the cause of the new birth

Endangered Species?

Al Mohler comments on a stunning and tragic reality: the disproportionately high number of black babies aborted in America.

Catherine Davis is a woman with a message, and that message is getting harder to ignore. "Black children are an endangered species."

The Director of Minority Outreach for Georgia Right to Life, Davis is taking that message to the public, along with a massive public awareness campaign that has captured national and international attention. Drivers in the metro Atlanta area are seeing billboards that demand attention -- and are changing minds.

Her argument is simple and the statistics are irrefutable. She accuses abortion providers in general, and Planned Parenthood in particular, of targeting blacks for abortion. She told The New York Times, "The impact of abortion has become so great that it has begun to impact our fertility rate."

Consider the chilling facts documented in the data. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 57.4% of the abortions performed in Georgia in 2006 were performed on African-American women, but blacks make up only 30% of Georgia's population. Nationwide, the pattern is similarly stacked against black babies -- black women have approximately 37% of all abortions each year, while blacks make up only 13% of the national population.

You can see why Catherine Davis' message demands attention. She points also to the fact that, in Georgia, every single abortion clinic is located in areas of black concentration. She argues, quite pointedly, that this amounts to an intentional effort to reduce the black population in the United States.

Read the entire article HERE.

Preaching and the church's health

"A preaching ministry is absolutely essential to the health and prosperity of a visible church. The pulpit is the place where the chief victories of the Gospel have always been won, and no Church has ever done much for the advancement of true religion in which the pulpit has been neglected. Would we know whether a minister is a truly apostolical man?

"If he is, he will give the best of his attention to his sermons. He will labor and pray to make his preaching effective, and he will tell his congregation that he looks to preaching for the chief results on souls. The minister who exalts the sacraments, or forms of the Church, above preaching, may be a zealous, earnest, conscientious, and respectable minister; but his zeal is not according to knowledge. He is not a follower of the apostles."

- J.C. Ryle

What did you expect?

Paul Tripp from Crossway on Vimeo.

Trueman on Luther

Take time to listen to this excellent lecture and Q/A session from Dr. Carl Trueman on Martin Luther. You will be enriched.

The Gospel: Explained or Assumed?

From Matt Chandler at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary:

Matt Chandler - 20/20 2010 Session 1 from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.

HT: Justin Taylor

In God's School

Publisher's Description: In God's School (A L' Ecole de Dieu) is foundational Christian instruction. It follows the outline of John Calvin's Geneva Catechism along with the Heidelberg Catechism. According to the ancient practice of the church, In God's School instructs in doctrine, expounding the Apostles' Creed. It enriches common evangelical treatments of these subjects by including fine sections on the church and the ministry of Word and sacraments as means of grace. It lays out basic Christian ethics by expounding the Ten Commandments. It teaches Christian worship by explaining the Lord's Prayer.

This book may be used over the course of a school year. Students read a chapter each week. It also familiarizes students with the fine catechetical materials of the Protestant Reformation. Each chapter is divided into daily readings that include Scripture, so the student receives doctrinal teaching along with daily Bible study.

Perhaps the greatest strength of In God's School is the presentation of the Commandments and Prayer. John Calvin's stress on the grace of God shines through ethical exhortation. Maturity in Christ comes from a growing knowledge of God through the gospel of his Son, a clearer understanding of the life he calls us to walk before him, and the Spirit's love and strength. With spiritual wisdom and rigor, Pierre Marcel leads us in knowing God.

In God's School is an outstanding resource for grounding and training Christians in the foundations of the Christian life. None of us ever out grow our need for further instruction. Marcel's book is a great place to turn.

I have always been a huge fan of Luther and especially of his pastoral advice, especially the comment he made to the effect that no Christian should ever think they have so mastered the ABCs of the faith that they have no need of reading simple things like catechisms. And it is remarkable that, as age and the cares of the world close in on Christians, so often it is the basic elements and building blocks of the faith that come to the fore.

In this vein, I am delighted to be able to recommend Pierre Marcel's In God's School, translated by Howard Griffith of RTS. It is a fine read, loosely based around the Heidelberg Catechism and ideal for personal devotions or small group/Sunday School study. Each lesson contains catechetical questions and answers, suggested Bible readings, and short theological glosses. It is particularly fine on the importance of the Lord's Supper. Those familiar with Marcel's works on preaching and on baptism will not be disappointed.

- Carl Trueman

Learning to the read the Bible well

Dig Deeper: Tools for Understanding God's Word

Product Description: When it comes to reading and understanding the Bible, a dangerous phrase is used by non-Christians and even some believers: "Well, that's your interpretation." It is true that without some care in your interpretation, you can "make" the Bible say almost anything. Dig Deeper is written out of the conviction that there is a right way to understand the Bible and a wrong way, and the authors show us how to read it correctly.

Dig Deeper offers sixteen "tools" readers can use to get to the bottom of any Bible passage and discover its intended meaning. Examples show how each tool helps readers discover something exciting and relevant in a passage, and the "Dig deeper" exercises offer the opportunity to practice using the tools. The book's brevity and easy-to-read format make it ideal for Christians who want to get the most out of their Bible.

Endorsements:
"Nigel and Andrew have written a great work on knowing God better, learning his will for your life, and reading your Bible. I like it. In fact, I think we'll start using it at our church."
- Mark Dever, Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington DC; President, 9Marks

"As a minister to college students, I am constantly on the lookout for resources for thoughtful, bright, and passionate young people who are hungry to know the Word of God and hungry to teach it to others. Finding a book that is both deep and yet approachable is not always that easy, but I have found Nigel Beynon's and Andrew Sach's book to be both. This is a great hermeneutics 101 text, but it is more—it also consistently drives home the authority of the truth once one has found it in Scripture. So, this book is deep, approachable, and pastoral. That is a recipe that teaches the principles of interpretation and also fans the flames of zeal for God's Word. I would gladly put it in the hands of one of my students."
- Jay Thomas, College Pastor, College Church, Wheaton, Illinois

Making Jonathan Edwards Accessible

Let's just admit it. It is not easy to read Jonathan Edwards. Every now and then we try having heard John Piper or others extol the virtues of reading Edwards. So we sit down with a copy of "The End for Which God Created the World" or we open up volume one of his collected works and after struggling through the first few paragraphs decide to lay the good reverend aside.

This is why I am excited about a new collection of works by Jonathan Edwards that have been edited by Strachan and Sweeney. If you would like to read one of the most important theologians since the Reformation then this new collection is the place to begin.

“Everyone says Jonathan Edwards is important. Quite frankly, however, his writing style is pretty dense by contemporary standards, so few pastors and other Christian leaders have invested much time reading him. Edwards is one of the “greats” of whom everyone has heard and whom relatively few have read. This new series tackles the problem. Here is the kernel of much of Edwards’s thought in eminently accessible form.”

—D. A. Carson

“In The Essential Edwards Collection, Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney play the role of the good friend who pulls the book down off the shelf. With knowledge and excitement, they open the large and intimidating tomes, and point to some clear and searching section which illuminates God’s truth and searches our hearts. In this collection, Edwards is introduced to a new generation of readers. His concerns are made our concerns. This is a worthy effort and I pray that God will bless it.”

—Mark Dever

“Jonathan Edwards is surely one of the most influential theologians of the eighteenth century, yet until now a representative sample of his work has required the reader either to wade through poorly printed double-column editions or to purchase incredibly expensive scholarly editions. Now at last we have a wide-ranging and representative sample of his work published in an attractive, accessible and, most important of all, readable form. The authors are to be commended for the work they have put into this set and I hope it will become an important feature of the library of many pastors and students of the Christian faith.”

—Carl R. Trueman

HT: Justin Taylor

The Doctor

For those of you who may be wondering why some of us make a big deal about Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the following video is a brief biography on "the Doctor."


If you are interested in knowing more I highly recommend the two volume biography by Iain Murray (one of my favorite biographies):
The First Forty Years
Fight of Faith