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Pyromaniacs: Sister... show mercy! (Annual repost #2)

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Pyromaniacs: Sister... show mercy! is an article that is necessary, true, and might hurt a little bit. No, we're not after this or this, but we are after what the Spirit was communicating through Paul. Check it out.

What's the Church's Role in Politics?

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Chris Anderson has some good thoughts on the undeserved place politics play in churches across America. I personally believe that politics are reflective and not directive? In other words, Washington D.C. is reflecting L.A., New York City, Miami, etc. rather than manipulating their culture. Therefore our purpose is to influence our communities, not chase every piece of legislation and the candidates. Of course, I’m not saying we are to abstain from our constitutional republic’s citizen rights to vote and participate in the republic process, but that certainly can’t be seen as our first and foremost change of culture.

For God and Country? Politics and the Gospel
Posted on June 15, 2009 by Chris

This is part 1 of a 2-part series I wrote for the OBF Visitor on what I believe to be an unhealthy preoccupation with politics among American Christians. It was originally published on December 1, 2008.

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America has elected a new president, and the “religious right” is reeling. In the last decade, political liberals have gained the House, the Senate, and now the White House. After thirty years of intense political activism, American Christians have very little to show for their efforts. Abortion is still legal. Though there have been small restrictions for which we can be thankful, even those baby steps may be erased by a new administration. Evolution is accepted as an undeniable truth. Pornography rages. The homosexual agenda is gaining steam.

Sure, one could make the argument that if Christians had not flexed their political muscle, things would be even worse, but I wonder if that’s true. I wonder if the energies and confidence of American Christians have been misplaced for the last generation. I wonder if the “thud” we heard on November 4, 2008 wasn’t the final fall of the evangelical political machine. Frankly, I wonder if that would be such a bad thing. I believe there are a number of lessons to be learned for Christians in the wake of the 2008 election.

First, we must recognize that the Church of Jesus Christ will be fine, regardless of who is in office—or what that “office” is.
To hear some Christian leaders leading up to the election (or the two that preceded it), one might have thought that the one loophole in Christ’s promise in Matthew 16:18 is the election of a liberal to the United States presidency—that the gates of hell just might prevail against Christ’s church if a Democrat were to win the highest office! Of course I’m jesting, but I have heard a number of doomsayers suggest that the ability of Christ’s church to minister will be severely hindered by a liberal government.

Such fears have no biblical or historical grounds. The church has thrived in a variety of political systems, from republics and monarchies to empires and dictatorships. For example, the vitality of the church in Nero’s Roman Empire or in modern Communist China makes the “free” church of America look positively impotent. The gospel, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:9, is “not bound.” That’s not to say that I’m yearning for persecution; Christians who do so are naïve and should pay attention to 1 Timothy 2:1–2. Is it not true though, that the power of the gospel and the purity of the church have shone most brightly in times of political opposition, not times of freedom? American Christians may have cause for concern about their country, but the church of Jesus Christ will be just fine.

Second, we must recognize that “saving America” is not high on God’s agenda.
I’m genuinely grateful for the religious freedoms we enjoy as Americans and for the sacrifice of many who have defended those freedoms on our behalf. I’m grateful that our nation’s founders were God-fearers and that many were born again. I’m grateful for the influence of the Scriptures in our laws. I’m grateful God has used the United States as a “slingshot” from which missionaries have been sent around the world. However, I believe that American Christians often blur the lines between the cause of Christ and the cause of country, too often “rendering to Caesar that which is God’s,” to quote Irwin Lutzer. Indeed, I wonder if even the phrase “for God and country” shouldn’t give us pause. As Augustine taught, believers are citizens of two kingdoms, one heavenly and one earthly. We can be—we should be—both committed Christians and committed citizens, but we must not equate or confuse the two. To suggest that we owe God and country—any country!—a similar allegiance is absurd. God’s work in the world thrived for thousands of years before America existed. America is not God’s newly chosen nation, our wrestling texts like 2 Chronicles 7:14 away from ancient Israel notwithstanding. It cannot even be called a “Christian nation” as no such creature exists. God wants to save Americans—and Koreans, and Pakistanis—not America.

Third, we must recognize that working to advance the cause of Christ by political means is unbiblical and impossible.
History is littered with failed attempts to advance the cause of Christ by unspiritual means. Constantine’s conversion of the Roman Empire from paganism to Christianity by the mere passing of a law was fruitless and even harmful. The efforts of the Crusades of the eleventh through thirteenth centuries to free the Holy Land and convert unbelievers at the point of a sword is a blight on the history and testimony of the church. Even prohibition in the early twentieth century demonstrates that political efforts to stop sinners who are intent on sinning from doing so will ultimately fail. The attempts of modern political activists to advance the cause of Christ by political means are similarly misguided. They’ll be no more successful than Constantine or the Crusaders.

That’s not to say it is illegitimate for Christians to participate in politics as citizens. I’m not calling for political pacifism. Scripture commends believers exercising their rights as citizens (Acts 25:10–11). All Christians should vote and make their voices heard on biblical issues with timely communication to their representatives. Some may pursue politics as a career, following notable examples like Joseph, Daniel, and Mordecai. Indeed, William Wilberforce, who successfully pushed for the outlawing of the slave trade in nineteenth century England, provides a compelling example of the good a believing politician can accomplish.

We must admit, however, that many issues (such as taxation, the economy, welfare, national defense, gun rights, and health care) do not clearly have a biblical principle at stake. Further, we must acknowledge that even if we were to prevail on the issues that are affected by clear biblical principles (such as abortion or homosexuality), doing so won’t reconcile sinners to God. Making grievous sins illegal is a worthy cause, but many people who are opposed to abortion and homosexuality will still suffer God’s wrath for eternity. We have a more important agenda than social and political issues; we have the gospel of Christ!

Perhaps striking out at politics will remind the church that the cause of Christ cannot be advanced by the arm of the flesh (Jer 17:5); that the weapons of our warfare must not be natural, but spiritual (2 Cor 10:4); that the source of our confidence must not be the “chariots and horses” of politics (Prov 20:7), but the God who rules in heaven regardless of who rules on earth (Ps 103:19).

Fourth, we must recognize that political activism can distract us from evangelism and distort the message of the Gospel.
Few churchmen throughout history have been as politically active as John Wycliffe, the “Morningstar of the Reformation.” The pre-Reformer spent most of his ministerial life defending England against the abuses of the Papacy, especially as it related to the national treasury, becoming a national hero in the process. However, when Wycliffe moved away from political issues to oppose Roman Catholicism on theological issues (such as transubstantiation and the authority of the Scriptures) in the final years of his life, he was abandoned by political leaders and disciplined by both church leaders and his beloved Oxford University. Yet, his most important and enduring work for Christ was accomplished when he prioritized preaching, writing tracts, translating the Scriptures, and training and sending out faithful preachers (the Lollards). His evangelical influence outlived him, becoming one of the sparks that would eventually set the world ablaze in the Protestant Reformation.

Whereas Wycliffe turned from political issues to gospel issues, the modern church has in many ways done the exact opposite. We have traded in our spiritual birthright for a bowl of political influence. Sometimes the cost has been orthodoxy, as evangelicals have aligned with political and social conservatives from a variety of false religions. The fact that Jews, Roman Catholics, and Mormons can form a united front for political purposes should be sufficient evidence that such causes are not distinctly Christian. Other times, the gospel hasn’t been denied, but merely displaced. We have been distracted from the main thing. Let me give two prominent examples from the late twentieth century, beginning with a quotation.

“We have a message of redeeming grace through a crucified and risen Lord. Nowhere are we told to reform the externals. We are not told to wage a war against bootleggers, liquor stores, gamblers, murderers, prostitutes, racketeers, prejudiced persons or institutions, or any other existing evils as such. The gospel does not clean up the outside but rather regenerates the inside.”

Surprisingly, those words were spoken by Dr. Jerry Falwell. Dr. Falwell was well-known during his lifetime as the pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, the preacher on the nationally-televised Old Time Gospel Hour, and the president of Liberty University. Though Falwell had profound disagreements with fundamentalists, his commitment to the cause of the gospel was widely recognized. However, as he rose in prominence he began to see an opportunity for influence in the political realm that he believed was even more important. In 1979, Falwell became one of the founders and the face of the “Moral Majority,” a political movement that many credit for Ronald Reagan’s 1980 landslide victory over Jimmy Carter. Regardless of one’s opinions about Falwell, the crucial point for our discussion is this: he intentionally shifted his time, energy, and resources from gospel causes to political activism for many of the final years of his life.

Another example of shifted priorities is Dr. D. James Kennedy. His accomplishments are strikingly similar to Dr. Falwell’s—he’s a Presbyterian counterpart to the prominent Baptist. He, too, pastored a large church (Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida), had a national television broadcast (The Coral Ridge Hour), and started an educational institution (Knox Theological Seminary). Most significantly, Dr. Kennedy was the founder of Evangelism Explosion, an amazingly influential ministry that continues to have a strong presence around the globe. However, also like Falwell, Kennedy spent his final years focusing on politics. He was involved in the Moral Majority, then started the Center for Christian Statemanship on Capitol Hill and the grassroots political organization Reclaiming America for Christ. Dr. Kennedy’s evangelistic and political agendas at times contradicted one another. For example, he invited a Roman Catholic Priest to participate in the 2007 Reclaiming America for Christ Conference.

Such political ecumenism is dangerous, to be sure, but even fundamentalists who would avoid such blatant compromise are in danger of distorting the gospel through political activism. Many a fundamentalist church—while complaining of the social gospel of modernists—has made a living fighting communism and gun control. And while we may congratulate ourselves that—unlike evangelicals such as Falwell, Kennedy, and Robertson—we’ve avoided the political fray, one wonders if the dual roles of a fundamentalist like Ian Paisley, a Northern Irish preacher and controversial politician, have helped or hindered the cause of the gospel there. Back to this side of the ocean, when Americans think of conservative Christianity or “evangelicalism,” do they more immediately think of the Republican Party than the crucified and risen Savior? If we’re not careful, we can give the impression that the gospel is only for members of the GOP—that God isn’t only an American, but a conservative Republican.

Many a pious pastor has said, “If you’re called to preach, don’t step down to be the President of the United States.” That sounds good, but I’m not sure we really believe that the gospel is more important than government. We seem to have more urgency about political agendas than the Christian message, and we show our priorities by our bumper stickers, forwarded emails, yard signs, and conversations. Much like the modernists were distracted by their social gospel, evangelicals and fundamentalists are easily distracted from gospel ministry by secondary issues.

Finally, we must recognize that society will not improve until the coming reign of Christ and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope for fallen sinners.
Scripture prophesies of a time when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of God and Christ (Rev 11:15). All things will eventually be brought under Christ’s feet (1 Cor 15:24–28), both for a literal millennial reign and for eternity. Amen. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

In the meantime, sinners will continue sinning and society will get worse and worse prior to Christ’s return (2 Tim 3:1–13). I’m not suggesting that the church should respond with passive resignation. I am, however, suggesting that since mankind’s ship is sinking we should devote ourselves to filling lifeboats rather than polishing the ship’s brass. I’m urging us to devote ourselves to redeeming lost people, not an unredeemable culture.

The example of Christ (not to mention the early church!) requires that we prioritize the gospel.
Contrast our preoccupation with political issues with the priorities of our Lord. Christ legitimized the authority of the barbaric Roman Empire (Mat 22:21), never speaking against it. He refused to participate in political or social reform, though he was constantly pressured to do so (John 6:15). Even at the climax of his popularity, when he was ushered into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as the great Deliverer of the Jews, he intentionally went to cleanse the Temple, leaving Herod’s Palace alone (Matt 21:1–13). Christ clearly testified before Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). Even his commands to be salt and light (Matt 5:13–16) contain no indication that he was thinking in terms of political activism.

Further, the commands of Christ and His apostles require that we prioritize the gospel.
The lion’s share of our attention, time, and resources must go to the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been commanded by Christ to preach the gospel and make disciples (Matt 28:18–20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46–48; Acts 1:8). We have been entrusted with a message far greater than “small government” or “low taxes” or “family values.” We have the gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone is “the power of God for salvation to all who believe” (Rom 1:16). We have been entrusted with the Scriptures, which alone are “able to make people wise for salvation” (2 Tim 3:15). We have a Savior who has reconciled us to God, and has in turn committed to us His message of reconciliation that we might pass it on to others (2 Cor 5:18–21). That is the message that must dominate our lives. That is the message we must communicate as faithful ambassadors. That is the message we must speak to men on behalf of Christ.

Your party may have lost the election. It’s okay. Your Savior has won the battle for your soul, and He will win the battle of the ages. Indeed, it’s already settled. There will be no campaigns, no debates, and no election. Christ wins! It’s time for His church to get back on task and get back on message, preaching Christ crucified, not political talking points.

Endnotes

1. My statement regarding the failures of the religious right may seem unduly pessimistic. However, Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson, two of the early movers and shakers of the Moral Majority, make the case as insiders that the religious right has “failed” (Blinded by Might, pp. 23, 42). All of the book is worth reading.
2. Irwin Lutzer, Why the Cross Can Do What Politics Can’t, p. 41. The entire book is excellent.
3. Quoted by Ed Dobson in Blinded by Might, p. 85. The statement was made in the 1960’s.

Tullian Tchividjian on The Ongoing Need For The Gospel

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From On Earth as it is in Heaven, by Tullian Tchividjian, Pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian:

"One of the most important discoveries of my life has been that the Gospel is not just for non-Christians; it’s for Christians too. I used to think the Gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in to be saved, while afterward we advance to deeper theological waters. But what I’ve come to understand is that the Gospel is every bit as important for growing as a Christian as it is for becoming a Christian in the first place. The Gospel, in other words, is the fuel that makes Christians go.

In Colossians 1:6 the Apostle Paul writes that the Gospel is the instrument of all continual growth and spiritual progress after we are converted. He writes, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.” (Col. 1:6).

Years ago I found great help from Tim Keller’s comments on this passage. I hope you do too. Keller writes:

Paul is showing that we never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something more “advanced”. The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make all progress in the kingdom.

We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal.3:1-3) and are renewed (Col.1:6). It is the solution to each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every barrier (Rom.1:16-17).

It is very common in the church to think as follows. “The gospel is for non-Christians. One needs it to be saved. But once saved, you grow through hard work and obedience.” But Col.1:6 shows that this is a mistake. Both confession and “hard work” that is not arising from and “in line” with the gospel will not sanctify you–it will strangle you. All our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel. Thus when Paul left the Ephesians he committed them “to the word of his grace, which can build you up” (Acts 20:32). The main problem, then, in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not “used” the gospel in and on all parts of our life.

Richard Lovelace says that most people’s problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel–a failure to grasp and believe it through and through. Luther says, “The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine….Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.” (on Gal.2:14f) Paul says that the gospel only does its renewing work in us as we understand it in all its truth. All of us, to some degree live around the truth of the gospel but do not “get” it. So the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel. A stage of renewal is always the discovery of a new implication or application of the gospel–seeing more of its truth. This is true for either an individual or a church."

Strength for Glory

Studying Paul's tremendous prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 3:14-21, four thoughts really rose to to the top in my mind. I've included them here in a Google Doc presentation:



One resource that is helpful in the study of this prayer is D. A. Carson's book, A Call to Spiritual Reformation.

An Observation

Hebrews 2 is remarkably similar in themes and apologetic material to 1 Corinthians 15.

The Curse of the Cross

Entire message from the T4G '08 Conference here.

No Baptists in Heaven

George Whitefield spoke for Evangelicals of every generation when preaching from the courthouse balcony in Philadelphia, he raised his eyes to the heavens and cried out:

“Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians?

No!

Any Presbyterians?

No!

Any Independents or Methodists?

No, no, no!

Whom have you there?

We don’t know those names here. All who are here are Christians.

Oh, is this the case? Then God help us to forget party names and to become Christians in deed and truth.”

from Church History in Plain Language

If God Is Omnipotent and Omnibenevolent, Why Does Evil Happen?

Are Your Sermons a Shotgun Blast or a Laser Beam?

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"I have a conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching, not ready for writing out, until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as crystal. I find the getting of that sentence is the hardest, the most exacting, and the most fruitful labor in my study. To compel oneself to fashion that sentence, to dismiss every word that is vague, ragged, ambiguous, to think oneself through to a form of words which defines the theme with scrupulous exactness--this is surely one of the most vital and essential factors in the making of a sermon: and I do not think any sermon ought to be preached or even written, until that sentence has emerged, clear and lucid as a cloudless moon."
-J. H. Jowett

Watchful Judge

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"God does not judge all sin now because there is to be a final judgment; but he does judge sin in some measure now lest we mistakenly think he does not govern the world."

-Sinclair Ferguson referring to Augustine's insights.

A Good God

God is in himself so very good that "even if there were no Hell Christian believers would shudder to offend him."
-John Calvin

Titus Wordled

Here are the words that occur most in the book of Titus. The larger the word in the word cloud, the more frequently it appears in the book in the ESV translation.

Questions to Evaluate Your Church's Evangelism

Gene Getz in his book, Sharpening the Focus of the Church, lists some helpful questions to clarify the church's purpose in evangelism.

1. Is our church concerned about its immediate community? Are we reaching people for Christ? Or, are we substituting a program of foreign missions and neglecting those who live within the context of our local witness?

2. Are we active “as a body” in local church evangelism? Are we providing backdrop against which individual evangelism can take place? Or do we expect individual Christians to witness in a vacuum?

3. Are we substituting the “church gathered” as the primary place to “preach the gospel,” rather than a place to develop Christians and serve as a dynamic example of Christian love and unity to the world? Are we using the “church gathered” as a place where non-Christians can “come” to get saved rather than a bridge to the world?

4. Are we reaching whole households with the gospel, concentrating first on reaching parents? Or are we substituting a program of child and youth evangelism for adult evangelism?

5. Are we discovering and recognizing those in the church who feel especially called to evangelism, and are we encouraging them in their community and worldwide witness through moral and financial support?

6. Are new believers integrated into the life of the local church as soon as possible?

7. Are we utilizing contemporary strategies and approaches to community and worldwide evangelism, that are distinctive and unique to our particular twenty-first century problems in reaching people for Christ?

Becoming Like the Culture? Really?

With so much discussion about the church's role in culture, and the questions concerning that being usually regarding how much of culture can we absorb for the purpose of outreach, I have a different perspective. Instead of focusing on what we can take in of the culture to reach people and draw them, consider this. Because much of culture is the outgrowth of fallen man and tainted with its sin and effects, the way to take advantage of the culture is not always looking to see what we can conform to, but realize what a fallen culture corrodes in man's heart and longings and use the church to provide the Gospel to an unsatisfied humanity's heart's yearning. For example, in America, in a culture that is so institutionalized and creating people who feel as if they are only cogs in a big machine, the church provides meaningful and edificious relationships in community as a gathered people. Also, in a culture of constant rapid change and instability, the church can provide what is lacking there by offering stability and security through the character of the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In addition, in a culture that is destructive to the building block of all cultures and societies, the nuclear family unit, the church can proclaim and embody the power of the Gospel as it is lived out in the family in the father, mother, husband, wife, children, and siblings in harmony and sincere love and submission in purity.

So why spend so much thought and energy and conforming to the culture when we have a culture that behind the mask of temporality and the relativity of postmodernity is screaming for a lasting relationship that is saturated with the truth of the Living God.

The Hideous Monster of Institutionalism in the Church of Christ (Pt. 2)

Why is this so true of the church if the church is an organism and not an institution? Gene Getz lists 5 reasons:

1. Our greatest strength has helped create some of our greatest problems. Our right emphasis of the Bible as the final authority has pushed aside the community and ministry functions of the church. The Word needs to have outlets.

2. Emphasizing the church as a soul-winning station has also contributed its share to the process of institutionalism. The right idea of soul-winning is attempted in the church and believers are anemic with a lack of Bible teaching and repetitious gospel messages intended for the unsaved.

3. We are beginning to support the "institution" rather than its reason for existing. As long as people 'support the program' by coming, they are evaluated as spiritually mature. We are more concerned with existence than our cause for existence.

4. We are emphasizing correct doctrine and frequently neglecting the quality of one's life. The criterion for spiritual maturity is out of balance by focusing on what one believes and forgetting the way he lives.

5. We have allowed non-absolutes to become absolute. What may have even been a means to end at one time become an end in itself.

Break free and renew your study of the church in the New Testament.

The Hideous Monster of Institutionalism in the Church of Christ (Pt. 1)

Gene Getz in his book Sharpening the Focus of the Church lists the symptoms of institutionalism in general and then how some of that unfortunately fleshes out in many churches.
In general:
1. The organization (form and structure) becomes more important than the people that make up the organization.

2. Individuals begin to function in the organization more like cogs in a machine.

3. Individuality and creativity are lost in the structural mass.

4. The atmosphere in the organization becomes threatening, rather than open and free; people are often afraid to ask uncomfortable questions.

5. The structural arrangements in the organization have become rigid and inflexible.

6. People are serving the organization more than the objectives for which the organization was brought into existence.

7. Communication often breaks down, particularly because of repressive atmosphere and lots of red tape.

8. People become prisoners of their procedures. The "policy manual" and the "rule book" get bigger, and fresh ideas are far and few between.

9. In order to survive in a cold structure, people develop their own special interests within the organization, creating competitive departments and divisions. The corporate objective gives way to a multitude of unrelated objectives which, inevitably, results in lack of unity in the organization as a whole.

10. Morale degenerates; people lose their initiative; they become discouraged and often critical of the organization and of others in the organization--particularly its leaders.

11. As the organization gets bigger and as time passes, the process of institutionalism often speeds up. A hierarchy of leadership develops, increasing the problems of communication from the top to the bottom and the bottom to the top. People toward the bottom, or even in the middle of the organizational structure, feel more and more as if they "really don't count" in the organization.

When you have these symptoms in an organization, institutionalism is already in its advanced stages.

We've Missed It

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Working on a study on the Holy Spirit for Sunday and reading the quotes below really made me realize what a Christless Christianity I and so many other have tasted in our churches. We have become dreary-eyed and listless at the lack of an exaltation of the glory of Christ and many have given up altogether. Indeed, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, and the written words of God resound with an earshattering roar that the only ultimate thing in this life and the next can be the glory of the Son of God. If the entire work of the Spirit is ultimately to foster adoration of Christ so that people will become like him, and the family of God and its leaders are to be contributing to that effect, why do we have Christless churches?

“The revelation made of Christ in the blessed Gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, and more filled with rays of divine wisdom and goodness, than the whole creation and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or afford. Without the knowledge hereof, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion.”

“For all persons not immersed in sensual pleasures, -not overdrenched in the love of this world and present things,- who have any generous or noble thoughts about their own nature, being, and end, - are under the highest obligation to betake themselves unto this contemplation of Christ and his glory. Without this, [the contemplation of Christ and his glory] they shall never attain true rest or satisfaction in their own minds. He it is alone in whom the race of mankind may boast and glory, on whom all its felicities do depend.”
-John Owen "The Glory of Christ"

The Cup

C.J. Mahaney describes the cup of wrath Christ drank for my sin. Moving.

Sanctity of Life Sunday

To help you think about the sin of 52,000,000 babies, since 1973, that have been murdered before they were born, contemplate the power and privilege of God-given life in this short video:

Recovering Biblical Christianity

I feel Washer echoes my observations and concerns about the distortion of the Gospel in our churches and its effects. He also describes many of the landmarks that have led me in a passion for recovering the Gospel and proclaiming that to our people.

An interview with Paul Washer

Jonathan Edwards on Hell

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"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn--and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire!" Matthew 3:12

"They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" Matthew 13:42

"Then He will say to those on the left--Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!" Matthew 25:41

"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell--where the fire never goes out!" Mark 9:43

"He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire!" Luke 3:17

"I am in agony in this fire!" Luke 16:24


"Those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire!" Jude 1:7


To help your conception of what hell is--imagine yourself to be cast into a fiery oven--or into the midst of a great furnace, where your pain would be as much greater than that occasioned by accidentally touching a coal of fire--as the heat is greater. Imagine also, that your body were to lie there for a quarter of an hour, full of fire, as full as a bright coal of fire, all the while full of quick sense. What horror would you feel at the entrance of such a furnace! And how long would that quarter of an hour seem to you! If it were to be measured by the hour-glass, how long would the glass seem to be running! And after you had endured it for one minute, how unbearable would it be to you--to think that you had yet to endure the other fourteen minutes!

But what would be the effect on your soul--if you knew you must lie there enduring that torment to the full--for twenty-four hours! And how much greater would be the effect--if you knew you must endure it for a whole year! And how vastly greater still--if you knew you must endure it for a thousand years! O then, how would your heart sink, if you thought, if you knew--that you must bear it forever and ever! That there would be no end--that after millions of millions of ages, your torment would be no nearer to an end, than it ever was; and that you would never, never be delivered!

But your torment in Hell will be immeasurably greater than this illustration represents! How then will the heart of a poor creature sink under it! How utterly inexpressible and inconceivable, must the sinking of the soul be in such a case!

"If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire!" Revelation 20:15

(Jonathan Edwards)

Flee to the cross behind which no flames of hell can touch and the love of the Lamb shelters His own!
-JB

Escape from Hamas

The personal testimony of the son of a Hamas leader becomes disgusted with the organization and Islam and searches for Christ.

Humble Exaltation

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“And here is the source of true kindness. The salvation of Jesus humbles us profoundly – we are so lost that he had to die for us. But it exalts and assures us mightily — we are so valued that he was glad to die for us. Because we are sinners totally accepted by grace, we have both the humility and the boldness necessary to serve others for their sake, not ours.”

- Timothy Keller, “The Grace of Kindness”

Forward March

"We give ourselves to prayer. We preach a Gospel that saves to the
uttermost, and witness to its power. We do not argue about worldliness;
we witness. We do not discuss philosophy; we preach the Gospel. We do
not speculate about the destiny of sinners; we pluck them as brands from
the burning. We ask no man's patronage. We beg no man's money. We fear
no man's frown. Let no man join us who is afraid, and we want none but
those who are saved, sanctified and aflame with the fire of the Holy
Spirit."

Samuel Chadwick
http://www.Jesus.org.uk/ja/mag_revivalfires_chadwick.shtml
Biography

D w e l l

"When the Word dwells as a familiar friend in the heart to direct,
counsel and comfort us, then it is a sign it abides there. The devil
knows good and hates it, therefore knowledge alone is nothing; but when
the promise alters the temper of the heart itself, then it is engrafted
there."

Richard Sibbes
http://www.puritansermons.com/toc.htm#SIBBES

S T R E T C H I N G

"A saint's life is in the hands of God as a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see; He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says, I cannot stand any more. But God does not heed; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly."

Oswald Chambers
http://www.myutmost.org/
My Utmost for His Highest

John Newton On What It Means To Shepherd

Michael Haykin writes, "Before John Newton (1725-1807) was called to the Anglican ministry he described what he understood his calling to be to a friend, Harry Crooke of Hunslett, Leeds, in these words:

“The message I would bear is Jesus Christ and him crucified and from the consideration of the great things he has done, to recommend and enforce Gospel holiness and Gospel love, and to take as little notice of our fierce contests, controversies and divisions as possible.

My desire is to lift up the banner of the Lord, and to draw the sword of the Spirit not against names, parties and opinions, but against the world, the flesh and the devil; and to invite poor perishing sinners not to espouse a system of my own or any man’s, but to fly to the Lord Jesus, the sure and only city of refuge and the ready, compassionate and all sufficient Saviour of those that trust in him.”

[Cited in Marylynn Rouse, “An important turn to my future life,” The John Newton Project Prayer Letter (October/November 2008), p.1]."

The Crushed Lamb

“The Cross was at once the most horrible and the most beautiful example of God’s wrath. It was the most just and the most gracious act in history. God would have been more than unjust, He would have been diabolical to punish Jesus if Jesus had not first willingly taken on Himself the sins of the world. Once Christ had done that, once He volunteered to be the Lamb of God, laden with our sin, then He became the most grotesque and vile thing on this planet. With the concentrated load of sin He carried, He became utterly repugnant to the Father. God poured out His wrath on this obscene thing. God made Christ accursed for the sin He bore. Herein was God’s holy justice perfectly manifest. Yet it was done for us. He took what justice demanded from us.

- RC Sproul, The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1998), 121.

Vital Requirement

“Focus on Christ will always result in focus on the cross. You cannot be Christ-centered without becoming cross-centered. The crucified Christ is to be the center of everything I know about myself and my world. You cannot have any real hope for flawed people in a fallen world unless there is a Redeemer to rescue us from the evil that resides both inside and outside of us. Real restoration to God’s created design requires the cross. It is the cross of Christ that alone will restore my allegiance to Christ and his rightful place at the center of everything in my life.”

- Paul David Tripp, A Quest for More (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2007), 104.

New Creature

“I am persuaded that I shall obtain the highest amount of present happiness, I shall do most for God’s glory and the good of man, and I shall have the fullest reward in eternity, by maintaining a conscience always washed in Christ’s blood, by being filled with the Holy Spirit at all times, and by attaining the most entire likeness to Christ in mind, will, and heart, that it is possible for a redeemed sinner to attain to in this world.”

—Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Grace Is Never Severed From Christ

“There is no such ‘thing’ as grace! Grace is not some appendage to Christ’s being. All there is is the Lord Jesus Himself. And so when Jesus speaks about us abiding in Him and He abiding in us – however mysterious it may be, mystical in that sense – it is a personal union.

Christianity is Christ because there isn’t anything else. There is no atonement that somehow can be detached from who the Lord Jesus is. There is no grace that can be attached to you transferred from Him. All there is is Christ and your soul.”

- Sinclair Ferguson on John 15

ESV Study Bible (thorough examination)

The Gospel

Never out of Reach

"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

Anonymous

Why Is He Glorious?

Image via Wikipedia

“All that may be known of God for our salvation, especially his wisdom, love, goodness, grace and mercy on which the life of a soul depends, are represented to us in all their splendour in and through Christ. No wonder then that Christ is glorious in the eyes of believers!”

- John Owen, The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1994), 20.

Beholding the Glory of Christ

“It is by beholding the glory of Christ by faith that we are spiritually edified and built up in this world, for as we behold his glory, the life and power of faith grow stronger and stronger. It is by faith that we grow to love Christ. So if we desire strong faith and powerful love, which give us rest, peace and satisfaction, we must seek them diligently beholding the glory of Christ by faith. In this duty I desire to live and to die.

On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy.”

- John Owen, The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1994), 7.

Deepening

“To grow in your passion for what Jesus has done, increase your understanding of what He has done.

Never be content with your grasp of the gospel. The gospel is life-permeating, world-altering, universe-changing truth. It has more facets than any diamond. Its depths man will never exhaust.”

- C.J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life

Wordle

This is the entire ESV text copied and pasted into an online program called Wordle to create a word cloud. A word cloud takes words that occur and, depending on the frequency of the appearance of the word, enlarges the size of the word to show how often it appears.

I find it significant that Lord, God, said, Israel, and people are the most used words in Scripture. Certainly the idea that God is master as the Lord is prominent, and the truth that God said shows the importance of his revelation. The frequency of Israel interests my dispensational thoughts, and the mention of people infers the redemptive plan of God to call out from every kindred tongue and nation a people He can call His own.

A side note on this program's usefulness would be to gather a quick sense of a passage that would be exposited to draw the main themes out.

Sacrifice That Destroys Credibility

When keeping in step becomes the tail that wags the dog for the sake of relevancy, truth is sacrificed on the altar of people-pleasing. Paul makes it very clear in many of his epistles and apologetic occasions in Acts that truth did not have to be veiled to make his audience connect with him and not be offended. In fact, this very thing happened to be the impetus for his imprisonment and persecution and an example for believers today. The church deteriorates the demands of Christ when it maintains a man-centered focus. As John Piper has observed,

". . . softening hard truth for evangelism in public undermines truth for the waffling believer in private.

I think in general this is what cultural adapters fail to realize: making the truth more palatable for unbelievers to help them make a step toward orthodoxy serves even more (it seems historically) to help loosely orthodox people feel how unpalatable orthodoxy is and move away from it."

God of All Grace

"Man's good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God's favour by his own religious performances; his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his case wholly into His hands. The object of the Holy Spirit's work (in convincing of sin) is to alter the man's (sinner's) opinion of himself and so to reduce his estimate of his own character that he should think of himself as God does, and so cease to suppose it possible that he can be justified by any excellency of his own. The Spirit then alters his evil opinion of God, so as to make him see that the God with whom he has to do is really the God of all grace."

Horatius Bonar

The Danger of "Be Good" Sermons

From Bryan Chapell's Christ-Centered Preaching p. 282-283:


"When the focus of a sermon becomes moralistic--Don't smoke, or chew, or go with the girls (or guys) who do--then listeners will most likely assume that they can secure their relationship with God through proper behaviors. Even when the behaviors advocated are reasonable, biblical, and correct, a sermon that never moves from expounding standards of obedience to explaining the source, the motives, and the results of obedience, places people's hopes in their own actions. In such a situation each succeeding Sunday sermon carries the implicit message, "Since you weren't good enough for God last week, hunker down and try harder this week."

Preaching of this sort sounds biblical because the Bible can be quoted at length to support the exhortations. As it runs its course, however, such preaching destroys all Christian distinctives. Preachers caught in a purely moralistic mode of instruction end up speaking in tautologies:"Be good because it's good to be good, and it's bad to be bad. Boy Scouts are good, Girl Scouts are good, and Christians are good. So be good!"

Ringing clearly through such preaching is the implied promise, "Obey God because He will love you if you do, and get you if you don't." A following week's sermon may b an evangelistic appeal to come to the cross for grace freely offered, but what grace means in this context probably has little to do with biblical teaching. Evangelical preaching that implies we are saved by grace but held by our obedience not only undermines the work of God in sanctification but it ultimately casts doubt on the nature of God, making salvation itself suspect."

Josh Larsen, a student at Northland while I was there, has also written an article at SharperIron about this very topic: A Moratorium on Moralism, Part 1 and Part 2.

Losing Your Appetite

"Do you have a hunger for God? If we don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God. Between the dangers of self-denial and self-indulgence is the path of pleasant pain called fasting."

John Piper

No Reason

(Thomas Boston, "Human Nature in its Fourfold State")

"Why does a living man complain?" Lamentations 3:39

"You have no reason to complain, as long as you are
out of hell. Do you murmur, because you are under pain
and sickness? Nay, bless God, you are not there where
the worm never dies! Do you grudge, that you are not in
so good a condition in the world as some of your neighbors
are? Be thankful, rather, that you are not in the condition
of the damned! Is your money gone from you? Thank God
that the fire of His wrath has not consumed you! Kiss the
rod, O sinner! and acknowledge mercy!"

Work for Him or Need for Him

"It is a precious thing beyond all words - especially in the hour of death - that we have a God whose nature is such that what pleases Him is not our work for Him but our need for Him."

John Piper

No Small Thing

"Is it a small thing in your eyes to be loved by God - to be the son, the spouse, the love, the delight of the King of glory? Christian, believe this, and think about it: you will be eternally embraced in the arms of the love which was from everlasting, and will extend to everlasting - of the love which brought the Son of God's love from heaven to earth, from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to glory
- that love which was weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spat upon, crucified, pierced - which fasted, prayed, taught, healed, wept, sweated, bled, died. That love will eternally embrace you."

Richard Baxter

The River

Christ is like a river. A river is continually flowing, there are fresh supplies of water coming from the fountain-head continually so that man may live by it, and be supplied with water all his life. So Christ is an ever-flowing fountain; he is continually supplying his people, and the fountain is not spent. They who live upon Christ, may have fresh supplies from him to all eternity; they may have an increase of blessedness that is new, and new still, and which never will come to an end.

Jonathan Edwards
http://www.yale.edu/wje/index.html
The Works Of Jonathan Edwards

"If my life is surrendered to God, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine!"

Elisabeth Elliot

At the Center of It All

“It is only through blood-shedding that conscience is purged; it is only at the cross that the sinner can meet with God; it is the cross that knits heaven and earth together; it is the cross that bears up the collapsing universe; it is the pierced hand that holds the golden sceptre; it is at Calvary that we find the open gate of Paradise regained, and the gospel is good news to the sinner, of liberty to enter in.”

- Horatius Bonar, quoted in Christ is All: The Piety of Horatius Bonar, eds. Micahel A.G. Haykin & Darrin R. Brooker (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Reformation Heritage Books, 2007), 79-80.

The Gospel in a Paragraph... and a Sentence

Read this from Pure Church's blog and loved it:


In a paragraph:


"The most terrifying news in the world is that we have fallen under the condemnation of our Creator and that he is bound by his own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory by pouring out his wrath on the sin of our ingratitude. But there is a fourth great truth that no one can ever learn from nature or from their own consciences, a truth which has to be told to neighbors and preached in churches and carried by missionaries: namely, the good news that God has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of his righteousness without condemning the whole human race. He has taken it upon himself apart from any merit in us to accomplish our salvation. The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the righteousness of God. And what is this wisdom?"

In a sentence:


"Jesus Christ, the Son of God crucified, is the Wisdom of God, by which the love of God can save sinners from the wrath of God, and all the while uphold and demonstrate the righteousness of God."



John Piper, "Conversion to Christ: The Making of a Christian Hedonist," Matthew 13:44-46

God-Centered in Trials

Referring to a night in which he was robbed, Matthew Henry displayed the joy that was rooted in his God-centered life when he wrote,

"I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my life; third, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed and not I who robbed."

Heaven's True Glory

"The light of heaven is the face of Jesus Christ; the joy of heaven is the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ; the melody of heaven is the name of Jesus Christ. The theme of heaven is the work of Jesus Christ. The employment of heaven is the work of Jesus Christ. The fullness of heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ, himself."
Anonymous

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”


— Timothy Keller, The Reason For God, New York, NY: Dutton, 2008, p. 181.

Gathering Honey Takes Time

"Remember that it is not hasty reading—but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, which makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee which gathers honey—but her abiding for a time on the flower which draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates most—who will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian."

Thomas Brooks

Flow of Power

"Unity is necessary to the outpouring of the Spirit of God. If you have 120 volts of electricity coming into your house but you have broken wiring, you may turn on the switch, but nothing works - no lights come on, the stove doesn't warm, the radio doesn't turn on. Why? Because you have broken wiring. The power is ready to do its work..., but where there is broken wiring, there is no power. Unity is necessary among the children of God if we are going to know the flow of power...to see God do His wonders."

A. W. Tozer

Divine Transaction

“So it was necessary, since God had purposed to save his church, to transfer the punishment from them who deserved it but could not bear it, to one who had not deserved it but could bear it.

This transfer of punishment by divine dispensation is the foundation of the Christian faith, indeed of all the supernatural revelation contained in Scripture.”

- John Owen, The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1994), 74.

No Condemnation

“Because of the gospel’s power, you can be completely free of all condemnation.

Not mostly free; completely free.

Don’t buy the lie that cultivating condemnation and wallowing in your shame is somehow pleasing to God, or that a constant, low-grade guilt will somehow promote holiness and spiritual maturity.

It’s just the opposite! God is glorified when we believe with all our hearts that those who trust in Christ can never be condemned. It’s only when we receive his free gift of grace and live in the good of total forgiveness that we’re able to turn from old, sinful ways of living and walk in grace-motivated obedience.”

- C.J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life, 39, 40

I Can't Wait Till I Retire?

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. . . . Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal in missions."
-John Piper

Let the Nations Be Glad

The Rebirth of the Pastor-Theologian « Working out Salvation with Fear and Trembling

Very interesting article on generally how the position of the pastor has been 'dumbed down' in churches, but is making a comeback in gaining the knowledge and application of the Word.

"Then something terrible happened. People decided it was not the role of the pastor any longer to be
the pastor-theologian. On doors it read “Office” instead of “Study.” Pastors became executives and
long-range visionaries. They became warm fuzzy people whose goal it was to meet the felt needs of
people. You would find them reading People magazine to be “in touch” with culture more than they
would be reading Augustine to get in touch with theology. What happened?"

Read more: The Rebirth of the Pastor-Theologian

10 Ways to Help Kids Love Missions :: Desiring God Blog

Great and simple ways to fan the flames in your child's heart for a passion to let the nations be glad in Jehovah.

10 Ways to Help Kids Love Missions :: Desiring God Blog

Look upon Me

The beginning, the middle, and end of your course must be dissatisfaction with self, and satisfaction with Christ. Be content to be satisfied with faith's glorious object, and let faith itself be forgotten. Faith, however perfect, has nothing to give you. It points you to Jesus. It bids you look away from itself to Him. It bids you look away from itself to Him. It says, "Christ is all." It bids you look to him who says, "Look upon me;" who says, "Fear not, I am the first and the last; I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore."

Horatius Bonar

Study @ Ridley Theological College Melbourne Australia

Clear arguments for the worth of systematical preaching through the books of Scipture:

http://www.ridley.edu.au/study/index.php?option=Articles&task=viewarticle&artid=26

Don't Be Dry Gunpowder

"I am tempted to think that I am now an established Christian, - that I have overcome this or that lust so long, - that I have got into the habit of the opposite grace, - so that there is no fear; I may venture very near the temptation - nearer than other men. This is a lie of Satan. One might as well speak of gunpowder getting by habit of resisting fire, so as not to catch spark. As long as powder is wet, it resists the spark; but when it becomes dry, it is ready to explode at the first touch. As long as the Spirit dwells in my heart, He deadens me to sin, so that, if lawfully called through temptation, I may reckon upon God carrying me through. But when the Spirit leaves me, I am like dry gunpowder. Oh for a sense of this!"

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

"Set NOT your hearts on the flowers of this world. They shall fade and die. Prize the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. He changes not! Live nearer to Christ than to any person on this earth; so that when they are taken, you may have Him to love and lean upon."

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Not Mere Words

"Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever.
For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and centre of their hearts."

A. W. Tozer

Bored of Announcements?

Get sick of those announcements in church sevices that only apply to 10% of the people and are already posted in the bulletin?
Read I Corinthians 17 to see what Paul had to say. Click here: Ecclesiophilist: Concerning Announcements

Small Churches Are Better

From Total Church, by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester:
"Too often, however, churches are not a context for making disciples so much as occasions for acknowledging relative strangers. Experience teaches that there is also an inverse ratio at work: the larger the group, the more inevitable the superficiality of our relationships. Instead of churches growing beyond the point of being able to sustain meaningful life-on-life family relationships, an alternative (and maybe essential) strategy would be to begin new congregations through church planting." (page 111)

I totally agree. I personally feel that if a church gets around 200 they should begin looking to break off into satellite churches based on where the members live, at the very least, and perhaps individual autonomous churches. This develops more leadership and individual responsibility, keeps people from being too "comfortable" sitting in the pew, and begins a mentality of globalization.

Job Realizes He Needs a Mediator

Question: Is there One strong and wise enough to take up his cause? Job recognizes the need for a mediator between pitiful depraved man and sovereign holy God:

"He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.
If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.
Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot."

Job 9:32-35

Answer: Hebrews 4:16

So, When Are You REALLY a Man?

What are some benchmarks for manhood?

Excellent article here: The Rebelution: The Marks of Manhood: by Albert Mohler

Read and then examine your true masculinity versus the world system's definition portrayed by the media.

Why We're Not Emergent

"I'm convinced that a major problem with the emerging church is that they refuse to have their cake and eat it to."

Josh Harris writes about a new book on the emergent church and quotes from it:

New Book: Why We're Not Emergent
Posted: 21 Dec 2007 09:06 AM CST
My friend Justin Taylor, shot me an email this past week about a new book by Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck entitled Why We're Not Emergent. I don't normally get excited about books coming from a "we're not that" perspective, but from what I've read on the book's website, these guys seem to be striking a helpful tone. The promotional description reads:
"You can be young, passionate about Jesus Christ, surrounded by diversity, engaged in a postmodern world, reared in evangelicalism and not be an emergent Christian. In fact, I want to argue that it would be better if you weren't." The Emergent Church is a strong voice in today's Christian community. And they're talking about good things: caring for the poor, peace for all men, loving Jesus. They're doing church a new way, not content to fit the mold. Again, all good. But there's more to the movement than that. Much more. Kevin and Ted are two guys who, demographically, should be all over this movement. But they're not. And Why We're Not Emergent gives you the solid reasons why. From both a theological and an on-the-street perspective, Kevin and Ted diagnose the emerging church. They pull apart interviews, articles, books, and blogs, helping you see for yourself what it's all about.

And here's a strong quote from the free sample chapter that they make available on their site:

"I'm convinced that a major problem with the emerging church is that they refuse to have their cake and eat it to. The whole movement seems to be built on reductionistic, even modernistic, either-or categories. They pit information versus transformation, believing versus belonging, and propositions about Christ versus the Person of Christ. The emerging church will be a helpful corrective against real, and sometimes perceived, abuses in evangelicalism when they discover the genius of the "and," and stop forcing us to accept half-truths. Carl Henry is right: "The antithesis of 'person-revelation' and 'proposition-revelation' can only result in an equally unscriptural contrast of personal faith with doctrinal belief. It is now often said that belief in Christ is something wholly different from belief in truths or propositions. But to lose intelligible revelation spells inescapable loss of any supernatural authorized doctrinal assertions concerning God." It is possible for Christians to esteem the Bible wrongly and equate the Bible with God. But it is not possible for Christians to esteem the Bible too highly. Every word in every sentence in every proposition or command or question in the Bible is inspired by God, authoritative, trustworthy, true, useful, and aids our joy in God. Despite their differing interpretations on some matters, Christians of various theological stripes in all ages have believed wholeheartedly in this previous sentence. My hope is that emerging Christians are not departing from it. For every fundamentalist who loves the Bible more than Christ, I'm willing to bet there is one emergent Christian who honors the Bible less than Christ did. I fear that what starts out as a fancy way of coupling postmodern jargon with biblical authority quickly leads to a loss of confidence in the word of God—a lost confidence that prevents preachers and evangelists from establishing doctrine, ethics, and gospel truth with the words "It is written.""

The book won't be released until April, but in the meantime, you can read the free sample chapter or pre-order it.

Impressed With Rob & Kristen Bell?

"A recent issue of Christianity Today featured a cover article about the "Emerging Church." That's the popular name for an informal affiliation of Christian communities worldwide who want to revamp the church, change the way Christians interact with their culture, and remodel the way we think about truth itself. The article included a profile of Rob and Kristen Bell, the husband-and-wife team who founded Mars Hill—a very large and steadily growing Emerging community in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

According to the article, the Bells found themselves increasingly uncomfortable with church. "Life in the church had become so small," Kristen says. "It had worked for me for a long time. Then it stopped working." The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself—"discovering the Bible as a human product," as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. "The Bible is still in the center for us," Rob says, "but it's a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it.""I grew up thinking that we've figured out the Bible," Kristen says, "that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. And yet I feel like life is big again—like life used to be black and white, and now it's in color." [Andy Crouch, "The Emergent Mystique," Christianity Today (November 2004).]

One dominant theme pervades the whole article: In the Emerging Church movement, truth (to whatever degree such a concept is even recognized) is assumed to be inherently hazy, indistinct, and uncertain—perhaps even ultimately unknowable."

-John MacArthur in Truth War

How To Read the Bible for All It's Worth -Part 1

How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stewart is an outstanding primer on understanding and applying Scripture. The approach by the authors breaks down the Bible into its diverse genres and gives principles and examples for interpreting each type. The following will be a summary of the contents of the main tenets of the book.

Introduction: The Need to Interpret
1. The reader will always be an interpreter.
2. The nature of Scripture begs for interpretation.
3. The 1st task of the interpreter is exegesis.
4. Learning to do exegesis requires a knowledge of the historical context, literary context,understanding the actual content, and using good tools to accomplish these tasks.
5. The 2nd task is hermeneutics: seeking the contemporary relevance of the ancient texts.

The Basic Tool: A Good Translation
1. In order to choose a good translation, one must understand the science of translation.

The Epistles: Learning to Think Contextually
1. The Epistles are occasional documents that address a variety of issues.
2. To interpret the Epistles, one must reconstruct the situation the author is speaking to in the historical context.
3. Tracing the author’s argument will solidify the literary context of the epistle.

The Epistles: The Hermeneutical Questions
1. Many interpreters make the mistake of bringing their theological heritage, ecclesiastical traditions, cultural norms, and existential concerns to the epistles as they read them.
2. The 1st basic rule of Biblical interpretation is that a text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or his readers.
3. The 2nd basic rule is that when we share similar specific life situations with the 1st century hearers, God’s Word to us is the same as his Word to them.
4. When there are comparable specific life situations, God’s Word to us in such texts must always be limited to its original intent.
5. There are 2 kinds of texts in the Epistles: those that speak to 1st century issues that for the most part are without 21st century counterparts, and those texts that speak to problems that could possibly happen also in the 21st century but are highly unlikely to do so.
6. Difficulties and differences lie in the problem of cultural relativity because God’s eternal Word has been given in historical particularity.
7. Because of the occasional nature of the Epistles, caution needs to be raised about forming task theology beyond what the passage explicitly states.

What Makes Your Church Appealing?

I received a flyer in the mail today from IX Marks that had such thought-provoking questions that I had to share them.

It began with this premise:
"We will look like Him as we listen to Him."

Then it asked these questions: "What makes your church appealing?

-Good music?
-Comfortable for outsiders?
-A traditional service?
-People who look like you?
-Authenticity?

How about going for a supernatural appeal, something like. . .

A group of pardoned rebels
from multiple ethnicities and classes
whom God embraces
and refashions in his Son’s image
--holy, loving, united--
with his own Spirit
before an onlooking universe
as the display of his glory?"

Is not that the purest New Testament (Ephesians 1-5) definition of the church? May our people identify with God's purpose for them!

Would You Vote for a Pro-Choice Candidate?

Do the other issues outweigh abortion on your priority meter? Read Randy Alcorn's post on the topic.

The Taste of Expository Preaching

Tim Challies writes about the insatiable appetite one acquires after tasting the Word of God explained as it should be--verse by verse--and how anything else simply melts in its own mediocrity. This is a hunger I can understand. Read his article, Ruined For Anything Else.

Evaluating Bill Gothard’s Teachings

Judge for yourself as you read this article on Gothardism: Dangerous Leanings of Bill Gothard’s Teachings

Is Mark Driscoll ESV Only?

No, he's not, but he is rather adamant on the superiority of the ESV. Interesting.
Read here: Pastoral Reflections on Bible Translations: Why We Preach From the English Standard Version TheResurgence

Relevant vs. Distinct

Great article here by Mark Dever on the importance of being distinct over being relevant. Church Matters: 9Marks Blog

Billy Graham and His Inclusive Gospel vs. Matthew 7:13-14

Robert Schuller asks Graham a question that is gripping to hear as he answers with what he believes about all roads leading to Christ. The question begins with 1:17 left in the video if you want to skip the first part like I did.

"Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby.
For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it." -Christ

What The Lord Taught My Dad Through My Mom's Emergency Crisis

I want to begin by saying that this whole thing was probably for me as much as anyone. At least I derived a fair amount of spiritual good from it and for that I am deeply grateful to God. I didn’t know going into it, but this whole situation would turn out to be a Abraham/Isaac-like event for me (Gen. 22:1ff.). It was major surgery that Nancy was facing, but still, I understood that it was routine. However, I believed it was needful to be both mentally and spiritually prepared for it. So it was that a couple of weeks or so before Nancy’s scheduled surgery, I asked the Lord to please give me Scripture that would be helpful to me as we faced this time together. Immediately Job 1:21 came to mind—“the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” I kept this in my heart and really cringed at the thought of possibly losing my wife. Nancy and I arrived at Lutheran Medical Center at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 9, 2007. We prayed together that morning as we waited in the examination room for the doctor to arrive. As I watched her walk down the hallway to the operating room, a thought entered my mind that I quickly dismissed. It was that I may never see her alive again. The surgery began at 7:30 a.m. and was completed by about 9:30. I was relieved, but was mildly surprised when I was called to the recovery room to join my wife following her successful operation. Since she had undergone the two-hour procedure under local anesthetic, she was alert and we were able to talk together. A nurse came and started a Morphine IV drip for her pain. Not long after that, the nurse noticed that Nancy’s blood pressure began to drop some and her heart rate began to increase. This condition continued into the afternoon until the doctors felt that there may be some internal bleeding in the area where the surgery was performed. She was taken for a CAT scan and then for artery catherization to check for bleeding. No bleeding was discovered. She was given a unit of blood. During the later hours of Tuesday night the blood pressure/heart rate problem persisted, along with an increasing breathing difficulty. She was taken again for another CAT scan to ensure there definitely was no internal bleeding. Nothing definitive was noticed. Once again she was given blood. Back again in the recovery room these problems worsened. A little after 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Nancy looked at me with wide-opened eyes and then slowly closed them as she lapsed into unconsciousness due to respiratory failure. I immediately alerted the medical personnel that she was not responding and the recovery room instantly went into a code blue emergency mode. I was asked to leave the room as nurses and doctors went to work on my wife’s lifeless form. An anesthesiologist that answered the call for additional help inserted a breathing tube into her mouth and she was hooked up to a respirator. Nancy was quickly taken back into the operating room to undergo a second surgery through the very same incision. The little room her bed was in just a moment before, was now eerily empty and silent. The wrappings of used medical supplies that had been hurriedly thrown down there as people worked desperately to save her life, were strewn all over the floor. I walked into the room and looked at the monitor on the wall. It told the story. On the screen was a minute-by-minute record of her falling blood pressure. The last line was just a series of question marks. I stood there and tried to analyze the data that just seemed to be hanging there, and wondered to myself if this would be the end of my wife. I walked over to turn off the light switch and quietly closed the door. The only piece of furniture left in the room was the single chair that I had been sitting in earlier. I kneeled down in front of the chair and began to pour out my heart to the Lord. A nurse came to the door and opened it and said, “Sir, are you okay?” I answered, “Yes, I’m praying.” I recalled the words of Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, and 31. Four times the psalmist says, “O that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.” God challenged me to praise Him in the midst of my distress. The Lord once again brought to mind Job’s words, “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” The Lord made clear to me that He is always good and is to be praised at all times. If He chose to give her back to me or take her home to be with Him, the Lord is good and is to be praised. He reminded me that the one that he gave to me almost thirty-one years ago ultimately belonged to Him, and that I must totally release her into the all-loving Hands of her heavenly Father. The Lord then not only had me recall what Job said, but He also reminded me of what Job did when he faced greater tragedy in his life. The Bible says that he “fell down upon the ground, and worshipped.” What would I say and what would I do at this time as I faced the possible death of my wife? There on my knees, with my face buried in my arms upon the seat of that chair, by the grace of God, I worshipped! I began to thank the Lord for His bountiful goodness. I praised Him for all His mercy, the least of which I was unworthy of. I rejoiced in His righteousness and reveled in the Holy One Who does all things well. As God commanded Abraham to lay his only son on that altar, I placed the dear wife that God graciously gave to me on the altar of complete surrender.
With earnest and sincere heart I blessed His name, whether He chose to take her home or bring her back into my arms. God had won the victory in this Jacob-like man.

Having taken this important step of absolutely surrendering Nancy to Him, I rose up from my knees and sat down in that lonely chair with my Bible in hand. I still faced some dread and fear of Nancy’s death. I prayerfully searched the Psalms praying for the voice of God to speak to my troubled heart. He led me to Psalm 34:4, “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me, from all my fears.” There I was seeking His face and I just knew that He heard me. My fears were relieved. My heart was quiet and still. I thought of the time I stood in a pediatric intensive care unit in my early days as a pastor and comforted the hearts of a young grieving mother and father as they grappled with the reality of their newborn on the brink of death. God brought the very passage He gave me to comfort them back to my heart. Psalm 27:13-14, “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the LORD.” Just that evening when Nancy and I were alone in the room together, I asked her what she was thinking and she pensively said, “The Lord is good.” The Psalmist Asaph said, “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart” (Psalm 73:1).

The second surgery revealed no actual bleeding, but two small veins were oozing, like when you skin your knee. Some additional surgery was done, the area cleaned, and closed back up. Her vital signs began to stabilize and she was placed in Surgical Intensive Care for close observation. Nancy was in ICU from early Wednesday morning until Saturday afternoon. She was placed in a regular room on Saturday and was released the next day, on Sunday afternoon. She is home with us, walks upstairs, and takes no pain medication.

I was prompted by the Lord to think of this whole ordeal as a kind of captivity in light of Psalm 126:1-3. It was a “medical” captivity. God delivered and the heathen were caused to note the fact that the Lord did great things for us—peace, life, salvation! Let me share just a couple of examples. When Nancy was in the operating room the second time, I approached the nurse’s station where several nurses were gathered. One of them sympathized with me and asked me if I wanted to speak to a priest. That opened the door to briefly share the Gospel and give all of them tracts. A day or so after the ordeal, the doctor that sutured Nancy back up came by her room to check on her progress. I was standing outside the door and he expressed his sadness for the way things turned out. As I handed him a Gospel tract he told me that that explained how I could remain so calm when all of this was happening. I informed him that my peace was only attributable to the grace of God at work in my life. He later told my wife of the amazing “peace” he observed. During the course of the day, I gave Nancy’s doctor a tract and briefly spoke to her. Nancy mentioned that just before she was released from the hospital, Dr. Eng spoke to her and told her that obstetricians and surgeons know that often things are out of their control and that they sometimes see miracles. She said that it was good to know that while she was operating, a man of God was praying.

It is evident to me that while Nancy was undergoing literal surgery, the Lord was performing spiritual surgery in my heart. I don’t know if you caught them, but there were seven distinct movements to the spiritual surgery the Lord performed in my life through this incident. Let’s briefly review them because these are precisely what the Lord does in the heart of all His children who are passing through some painfully trying experience.

I. GOD GAVE ME GRATEFULNESS (Ps. 107:8, 15, 21, 31)—I recalled the words of Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, and 31. Four times the psalmist says, “O that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.” God challenged me to praise Him in the midst of my distress.
II. GOD BROUGHT ME TO YIELDEDNESS (Job 1:22; Gen. 22:1-6)—The Lord once again brought to mind Job’s words, “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” The Lord once again made clear to me that He is always good and is to be praised at all times. If He chose to give her back to me or take her home to be with Him, the Lord is good and is to be praised. He reminded me that the one that he gave to me almost thirty-one years ago ultimately belonged to Him, and that I must totally release her into the all-loving Hands of her heavenly Father. As God commanded Abraham to lay his only son on that altar, I placed the dear wife that God graciously gave to me on the altar of complete surrender. With earnest and sincere heart I blessed His name, whether He chose to take her home or bring her back into my arms. God had won the victory in this Jacob-like man.
III. GOD TAUGHT ME HIS WORTHINESS (Job 1:21)—“worship” is derived from the old English word “worthship.” Worship is the recognition that He is worthy. The Lord then not only had me recall what Job said, but He also reminded me of what Job did when he faced greater tragedy in his life. The Bible says that he “fell down upon the ground, and worshipped.” What would I say and what would I do at this time as I faced the possible death of my wife? There on my knees, with my face buried in my arms upon the seat of that chair, by the grace of God, I worshipped! I began to thank the Lord for His bountiful goodness. I praised Him for all His mercy, the least of which I was unworthy of. I rejoiced in His righteousness and reveled in the Holy One Who does all things well.
IV. GOD DELIVERED ME FROM MY FEARFULNESS (Ps. 34:4)—I still faced some dread and fear of Nancy’s death. I prayerfully searched the Psalms praying for the voice of God to speak to my troubled heart. He led me to Psalm 34:4, “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me, from all my fears.” There I was seeking His face and I just knew that He heard me. My fears were relieved. My heart was quiet and still.
V. GOD CAUSED ME TO TRUST HIS FAITHFULNESS (Ps. 27:13-14)—I thought of the time I stood in a pediatric intensive care unit in my early days as a pastor and comforted the hearts of a young grieving mother and father as they grappled with the reality of their newborn on the brink of death. God brought the very passage He gave me to comfort them back to my heart. Psalm 27:13-14, “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the LORD.”
VI. GOD SHOWED ME HIS GOODNESS (Ps. 34:8; 73:1)—Just that evening when Nancy and I were alone in the room together, I asked her what she was thinking and she pensively said, “The Lord is good.” David says in Psalm 34:8, O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. In the song, “Knowing Christ,” John & Mary Van Gelderen write, Oh, to taste the goodness of the Lord, Satisfying hunger in my heart. Oh, to hear the cadence of His voice, Speaking peace within my inner man; Oh, to feel the comfort of His touch, Graciously upholding me in need. Oh, to know the presence of the Lord; Oh, to taste, to hear, to feel, to see. Oh, to know the presence of the Lord, Knowing Christ in full reality.” The Psalmist Asaph said, “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart” (Psalm 73:1).
VII. GOD USED ME AS HIS WITNESS (Ps. 126:1-3)—I was prompted by the Lord to think of this whole ordeal as a kind of captivity in light of Psalm 126:1-3. It was a “medical” captivity. God delivered and the heathen were caused to note the fact that the Lord did great things for us—peace, life, salvation!

Needless to say, the Lord has used this incident in all of our lives. This was a wonderful spiritual exercise. Our hearts are extremely grateful to God for His wonderful works. Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness, love and prayers.

Who Taught Christ?

He astounded the scholars with His discernment of the Scriptures as a twelve year old boy. How was He so capable? Well, He was God, you might say. True, but he was all man, I would remind you. Was he specially equipped that evening? Well, He was filled with the Spirit beyond measure as no other man was. But it was more than that. His humanity demanded that the ability He showed in the temple was built on teaching to Him during an instruction period. Is there evidence of that in Scripture? Let me take you to Isaiah 50:4-5:

4 The Lord God has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.

Look again at vs. 4. This is the section of Scripture that scholars recognize as describing the Servant of Jehovah, the Messiah. In the fourth verse the Messiah's training is revealed. He is given the ability to speak as one who is learned. How is this ability given? Spiritual effort. Morning by morning He is awakened by His loving Heavenly Father to listen to the instruction Abba would give Him that dawn. He listened obediently to the training from the Trinity. How special those times were. What impact the fellowship in the morning with His Father this had on His life and practice (John 17)! By the time He was twelve He was sufficiently trained in the Word of God to authoritatively give the proper interpretation of the Torah (a s'mikeh level rabbi).

How much do you allow the Father to teach you His Word through His Spirit each day? What an example a young Jewish boy was to us today!

How to Grow a Hypocrite in One Easy Step

Are we raising genuine fruit, outward rebels, or hypocritical conformers in our families and churches? Read this article for how to accomplish the latter. Wake up before another rebel package is delivered!

The Power of the Sword

What do You Ask Your Kids?

Justin Taylor of Between Two Worlds quotes Rick Gamache (senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Fellowship) on the questions he asks his kids.

How are your devotions?
What is God teaching you?
In your own words, what is the gospel?
Is there a specific sin you’re aware of that you need my help defeating?
Are you more aware of my encouragement or my criticism?
What’s daddy most passionate about?
Do I act the same at church as I do when I’m at home?
Are you aware of my love for you?
Is there any way I’ve sinned against you that I’ve not repented of?
Do you have any observations for me?
How am I doing as a dad?
How have Sunday’s sermons impacted you?
Does my relationship with mom make you excited to be married?
(On top of these things, with my older kids, I’m always inquiring about their relationship with their friends and making sure God and his gospel are the center of those relationship. And I look for every opportunity to praise their mother and increase their appreciation and love for her.)

Jonathan Edwards on Teen Pop Culture

Dr. Sam Storms wrote an outstanding article on Jonathan Edward's sense of what young people are really searching for in their quest for happiness.

Youth and the Pleasures of Piety

Sam Storms
Nov 8, 2006
Series: Theology of Jonathan Edwards

I’m glad I’m old. Some of you may be offended that I regard a person of fifty-four as “old”, so let’s agree that I’m speaking only for myself. Perhaps a better way of putting it is that I’m glad I’m not young. What the youth of today face is far worse, in my opinion, than anything my generation endured in the sixties and seventies. Without minimizing the social and sexual upheaval of those days, young people in the 21st century are confronted with an array of temptations that few of us could ever have anticipated thirty-five years ago. I won’t describe them. Just open your eyes and ears, and pray for our youth. Needless to say, I’m not suggesting that those of us over fifty are immune from such temptations. Far from it! But let me move on to my primary point.

The church, in my opinion, has not done a very good job of trying to persuade its youth to say “No” to the passing pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25). Generally speaking, older Christians have employed one of two tactics in their attempt to motivate teen-agers and twenty-somethings to walk in the path of righteousness. On the one hand, many have labored to portray immorality in the ugliest and most unappealing terms possible, hoping this would frighten away youthful wills from the decadent and destructive ways of our society. Sin and its consequences are certainly ugly, at least in the long run. But in the immediate present, the allure of the world, flesh, and the Devil often appears to trump whatever negative fallout one might incur down the road.

Others have taken a slightly different approach. Rather than constructing elaborate and graphic images of the horrors of sin, they argue that the problem is the presence of desire in the human soul, in particular the desire for pleasure. The target of their loud and often angry harangues is the longing, the yearning, the passion in the human heart for joy and happiness and fascination and excitement. Typically they deal with this “problem” by insisting that all such impulses are themselves sinful and must either be ruthlessly suppressed or exorcised (as if they were the product of a demonic presence).

Enter Jonathan Edwards. In a sermon entitled “Youth and the Pleasures of Piety” (preached first in May, 1734, but later on multiple occasions throughout colonial New England), Edwards took a different tactic. Make no mistake. Edwards could portray the horrific consequences of sin in the most vivid and graphic imagery imaginable (and some of it unimaginable; witness his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”). But far more dominant in his ministry was his appeal to the superior pleasure and joy to be found in true “religion” (a good word for Edwards, by the way).

Edwards believed that the greatest objection voiced by young people to the pursuit of religion was their fear that it would undermine their pursuit of pleasure:

“This is what they aim at, to spend their youth pleasantly; and they think, if they should forsake sin and youthful vanity, and betake themselves to a religious course of life, this will hinder them in this pursuit. They look upon religion as a very dull, melancholy thing, and think, if they embrace it, that they must have done in a great measure with their pleasures” (Sermons and Discourses, 1734-1738, Yale edition, volume 19, p. 89).

His principal argument in this little-known sermon is that religion, far from being a hindrance to the experience of pleasure, is the most direct and effective way to attain it.

The sermon is based on Proverbs 24:13-14 – “My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” We eat honey because it is sweet and pleasant to the taste. No one has to pay us to eat it nor do we eat it to attain some greater pleasure than the one that comes from tasting its sweetness. So, too, says the proverb, “it is with respect to piety or wisdom: ‘tis as much worth the while to practice this for the sake of the pleasure of it” (82).

Edwards acknowledges that many young people will find his argument “strange and paradoxical” (82). To suggest that “spending youth in the practice of religion and virtue . . . is the way to obtain pleasures vastly more excellent than by spending youth in sin and vanity” (82) sounds more than a little odd to most people, regardless of their age.

The approach Edwards took was as unusual in his day as it is in ours. He proceeds to argue at length that the problem isn’t the pursuit of pleasure but the willingness of uninformed minds to settle for comparatively inferior joys when God offers unsurpassed and far more durable delights. The pursuit of God brings “delights of a more sublime nature” (82), “pleasures that are more solid and substantial . . . vastly sweeter, and more exquisitely delighting, and are of a more satisfying nature . . . that exceed the pleasures of the vain, sensual youth, as much as gold and pearls do dirt and dung” (83). Don’t abandon your desire for pleasure. By the way, you couldn’t, even if you wanted to. Rather, seek those pleasures that are greater and more satisfying and capable of bringing fulfillment and joy that exceed the best this world has to offer.

Edwards points to the way in which young people in particular are obsessed with outward adornment, “in making a fine appearance”(83). But by embracing true religion “they would have the graces of God’s Spirit, the beauty and ornaments of angels, and the lovely image of God” (83). Don’t abandon your desire for beauty, he counsels, but seek the beauty “that would render [you] far more lovely than the greatest outward beauty possible,” namely, “that beauty that would render [you] lovely in the eyes of Jesus Christ, and the angels, and all wise men” (83). What this world offers is “vile in comparison [with] the beauty of the graces of God’s Spirit” (83).

True religion will also bring “the sweetest delights of love and friendship” (83). Loving God “is an affection that is of a more sublime and excellent nature” (84) than the love of any earthly object. Such love is always mutual, and thus the love one receives from Christ “vastly exceeds the love of any earthly lover” (84).

Furthermore, by pursuing the true religion of knowing Jesus Christ young people “obtain the sweetest gratification of appetite; not of carnal, sensual appetites, but of those that are more excellent, of spiritual and divine appetites, holy desires and inclinations; those that, as they are more excellent in themselves, [are] more suitable to the nature of man, and are far more extensive, so are capable of gratification and enjoyments more exquisite sweet, and delighting. They that truly embrace religion and virtue, there are infused into them new appetites after heavenly enjoyments” (84).

Let me pause for a moment and ask, Have you noticed how often Edwards employs the word “more”? He does not say, “instead” of pleasure seek God, as if they were two mutually exclusive options, but rather seek your pleasure IN GOD, for the latter is always “more” exquisite and “more” extensive and “more” excellent and “more” sublime and “more” solid and substantial and “more” satisfying.

Another ground of appeal is the company and friendship one gains in the pursuit of true religion, specifically, intimacy with God himself. The Father and the Son, according to John 14:21-23, come to “make their abode” with young people and to “manifest themselves to them” (85). Those who embrace true religion “with a spiritual eye do see Christ and have access to him to converse; and Christ by his spirit communicates himself to them” (85). And would this not be “the pleasantest and the happiest company” possible? (85) “Is not the God that made us, able to give us more pleasure in intercourse with himself than we have in conversation with a worm of the dust?” (85)

Some fear that the pursuit of God will deprive them of the enjoyment of things in this world. But Edwards is quick to point out that “religion doesn’t forbid the use of outward enjoyments but only the abuse of them” (85). Indeed, “the senses and animal appetites may be gratified in a manner religion allows of” (85). “Outward enjoyments,” notes Edwards, “are much sweeter, and really afford more pleasure, when regularly used than when abused” (86). In other words, temporal delights are better and more satisfying when they are experienced virtuously. “Vice,” says Edwards, “destroys the sweetness of outward enjoyments” (86).

Biblical piety, contends Edwards, even “sweetens” solitude! Many who indulge their sensual appetites in unbiblical ways “are afraid of solitude . . . for they have nothing to entertain them [when] alone” (87). But those who pursue God enjoy times of solitude “for then they have the better opportunity to fix their minds on divine objects, to withdraw their thoughts from worldly things, and the more uninterruptedly to delight themselves in divine contemplations, and holy exercise and converse with God” (87).

The peace that comes from knowing one’s sins are forgiven “is enough to give quietness and cheerfulness” wherever you are or whatever you are doing (87). Even what Edwards calls our “diversions”, by which he has in view hobbies and leisure activities, etc., “are abundantly sweetest when virtue moderates and guides them” (87), for it regulates them “according to the rules of wisdom and virtue, and would direct them to suitable and worthy ends, and make them subservient to excellent purposes” (87).

Edwards doesn’t hesitate to exhort the young to “forsake all ways of vice and youthful vanity, [and] to renounce all licentious practices in sinful indulgences of carnal appetites” (88). He encourages young people not to employ their minds “when alone, in vain imaginations and sinful thoughts” and to “avoid lewd ways of using [their] tongue” (88). But here is why forsaking such sinful ways is wise and appealing and the only sensible thing to do: because then you will have “the gracious presence of God and his smiles, a good conscience, and a sense of God’s favor, accompanying the pleasure you have in outward things, which will unspeakably sweeten them. Seek that divine grace in your heart, whereby your soul may be beautified, and adorned, and rendered lovely in the eyes of God; and whereby you may live a life of divine love, a life of love to Christ, and communion with him” (89).

Sin can exert a powerful vice-grip on the human heart, one that mere shouts of denunciation and threats of divine wrath fail to dislodge. The promise and allure of sensual gratification must be countered by the promise and allure of a gratification in God that is sweeter, more sublime, more beautiful, more exquisite, more excellent, more solid, more substantive, and more satisfying.

One can only wonder at the impact of the church on this younger generation (and the older one as well) if such were our strategy for dealing with sin. Don’t demonize their desire for joy and pleasure, but point them to Him in whose presence there is “fullness of joy” and at whose right hand are “pleasures evermore” (Psalm 16:11).

18 Signs That You Might Need to Study More for Your Sermons

I'm afraid in my short lifetime I've witnessed some of these . . .

1. You consider studying for sermons something that lib’rals do instead of soul winning.
2. You prepare your sermons on the way to church, which explains why you recently preached against tan lines, energy drinks, and men wearing pink shirts.
3. You actually make fun of preachers who use Greek and Hebrew in their sermons.
4. You consider volume a fine substitute for substance.
5. To you, “exegete the Greek” is a funny rhyme.
6. You decide on what sins to preach against based on who’s in the congregation.
7. You consider a pulpit more of a punching bag rather than a place to rest your Bible.
8. You have 35 sermon outlines prepared and ready to preach – as soon as you find verses for them.
9. In a 117 minute sermon, you spent 53 minutes telling stories from your childhood, 47 minutes telling stories from your early ministerial days, 15 minutes denigrating men who wear pleated pants, and 2 minutes explaining your text verse.
10. You have actually spent an entire sermon preaching against the evils of Barney the purple dinosaur.
11. Your favorite illustrations are Darwin’s deathbed conversion, the “microphone in hell” bit, and Spurgeon giving up his cigars. (all untrue by the way if you're still wondering!)
12. You quote John Gill as supporting your position against Calvinism.
13. You think people who know what “supralapsarianism” means need to get saved.
14. You think its okay to preach a verse out of context, as long as you tell your people that you’re doing it on purpose.
15. You love to apply Messianic prophecies to yourself.
16. When you preach, you can’t help but say “evangelical” effeminately.
17. You think “expositional” is someone who doesn’t take a position on anything.
18. You’re not sure what TULIP stands for, but you know you’re against it.

-adapted from the Big Orange Truck

A Good Example of What Baptism is All About

The Layers and Stovers in Poland, college friends of ours, and high school friends of my wife, give us a taste of what baptism means when it is done publicly rather than in the safe fortress mentality of the inner walls of the church. Scripture seems to indicate baptism is a public demonstration of submission to Christ. By public, I mean not just to the people in the church, but to friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and the gawking onlookers. It was normally done in a public place, such as a river, and drew curious spectators as well as criticism and hostility. It demonstrated the sincerity of the believer to forsake all and follow Christ, even if it meant being marked for ostracization as a Jesus follower. Read the article at the link above to get a glimpse of the cost of discipleship in the area of baptism.

Not Everybody's Perfect ;-)

On one occasion Spurgeon was standing outside his church, The Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, happily smoking.

"Sir", a concerned passer-by remarked, "don't you know that's the devil's weed?'

"Sir", replied Spurgeon, "don't you know that's why I'm burning it?"

Why Haven't You Grown?

"A man may take the measure of his growth and decay in grace according to his thoughts and meditations on the person of Christ." -Puritan John Owen

So my sanctification is directly related to the effort I put in the exaltation of the wisdom of Christ.

What is Jehovah Really Searching for Among His People?

A quick thought here. Upon reading, observing, and meditating on Deuteronomy 8, I really see the single message of it to its readers as this, the sovereign leading, disciplining, and providing hand of God is to drive His people to dependence on Him. Over and over the Israelites were exhorted to remember His works, works of guidance, discipline, and provision. This idea of remembrance of God's works is clearly linked to another idea repeated frequently in the chapter, humility.

Contrast this with the other side of the coin in this passage, forgetting. The Hebrews were told that to forget God would result in their curse. The idea of forgetting is also linked to another clear idea in the passage, pride.

What is the synthesis of these 2 principles? Remembering God's works (guiding, discipline, & provision) will drive His children to greater dependence on Him in humility in a purer understanding of His grace and mercy in our undeserving lives. Forgetting His works will feed the monster of human prideful independence and self-sufficiency and eliminate the awe of grace and mercy.

On this upcoming Independence Day, celebrate your true dependence in your ALL IN ALL!

What do you think?

Need for Improvement

This article from Sharper Iron in 2005 expresses much of what my younger perspective of fundamentalism has observed. Tradition has trumped the Big Idea in many generations of fundamentalism and has made it a dusty and an antiquated pre-historic roadblock to the task of the Church. Read it thoughtfully.


The 30-Somethings Perspective of Fundamentalism by Pastor Jason Janz

At the National Leadership Conference in Lansdale, PA last month, several men representing various decades were asked to present papers on Fundamentalism. They were to address three areas: what they were encouraged by, what they were concerned about, and what they would like to discuss. SharperIron has already posted the "20-somethings" perspective and now we will post the "30-somethings" perspective.


Encouragements, Concerns, and Desires
By Jason Janz

My name is Jason Janz. I am an assistant pastor at South Sheridan Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado. I am 31 years old. I am currently in my ninth year of ministry serving under Dr. Les Heinze.

I do not intend to speak for a generation, but from my heart. What I say may mirror folks my age or it may leave me on an island, but this article is a humble attempt to meaningfully articulate my encouragements, concerns, and desires regarding fundamentalism.


What am I encouraged by?

I am encouraged by the fact that throughout the history of fundamentalism, we have always made a priority out of the Bible. The early World Christian Fundamentals Association in 1919 declared in the first point of their doctrinal statement, “We believe in the Scripture of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired of God, and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.” Then in 1976, the World Congress of Fundamentalists stated their first point, “A Fundamentalist maintains an immovable allegiance to the inerrant, infallible, and verbally inspired Bible.” I believe this to be the Big Idea of fundamentalism. Historically, the tent under which fundamentalists meet has been broad. The Big Idea has always had a large scope. Regardless of how some people want to narrow down the definition, the truth remains that true fundamentalists hold to the Big Idea and are willing to fight for it. I stand with men throughout the ages who have battled for the Bible and I have a deep love and appreciation for them.

I am encouraged by the advancements in education. The benefits of this renewed emphasis is manifold. First of all, it has strengthened preaching to be more expositional. Second, broadened minds have begun to produce healthy views of the Big Idea. Third of all, it has created a culture of learning where people seem to be in process rather than having arrived. We are all on a journey and this has produced a humility that is appreciated.

I am encouraged by the Bridgers. The Bridgers are men older than me who are aggressively addressing the problems within fundamentalism often at a cost to them and their ministries. I call them Bridgers because they are willing to tackle some issues that if left alone, would be left to my generation to initiate. When my generation sees this courage, it quickens hope in many of us. Dr. Jordan articulated last night the fear and trepidation he felt in starting a conference. He went and sought permission to build a bridge. Thankfully, the ruling elite let him do it. Now, ten years later in one small circle of fundamentalism, a bridge was built. To where? To a healthy fundamentalism. I stand up here tonight because the bridge has been built and now he is encouraging young men to walk across. I find young fundamentalists of all ages.


What am I concerned about?

As far as concerns go, here is something I am not terribly concerned about: the movement. I have already made the decision that I am a fundamentalist and I am here to stay. So, whether you like it or not, you are stuck with me. My decision that needs to be made is not if I am in or out of the Big Idea, but rather where in that Big Idea I feel most at home.

My concern about fundamentalism is a concern of emphasis rather than position. I am concerned only about one thing: the church. Christ is the head of the church (Col. 1:18), but I wonder what He thinks when He sees our churches. I recently asked a college president what church in fundamentalism was a model for a fundamental, aggressive, Great Commission church and he replied, “I can’t think of any.” While we have churches that subscribe to a belief in the Great Commission, we have yet to see many models that pursue this with all their might.

When I hear conference messages and speakers begin to address the idea of the church, I get excited. Are we going to discuss the work of the ministry? Yet, I find myself often disappointed. I usually hear a message reacting, positively or negatively, to those in evangelicalism who have painted a picture of the church. I see us as on the sidelines watching the evangelicals play ball. From my vantage point, however, at least they are writing about it and engaging in it. They are struggling, wrestling and working through the isses. Whether the slick, market-driven Warren and Hybels, the conservative Ryken, or the who-knows-what of Webber, McLaren, Sweet, and McManus; all of these at least seem to be making the church the priority. Having said that, I am concerned about several areas in the church.

I am concerned about the lack of evangelism in the fundamental church. I recognize the Holy Spirit is the one who draws men to Christ and that without His work, conversion would never take place. However, I do not see these truths in Scripture as an excuse for why people are not getting saved. Most would agree that fundamental churches are not growing. And if churches are growing, it’s incrementally slow or simply transfer growth. One pastor recently exclaimed to me that we have a wonderful door of opportunity to reach evangelicals disenchanted with the worldly church (evangelicalism). The statement left me flat-footed. Is that why we are here? Have we lost the passion behind the Gospel so much that we are comfortable with just “fundamentalizing” disenchanted evangelicals? We seem to have reacted against the Hyles-and-Hybels-easy-believism but have neglected to act in a positive direction, and it seems we have lost our way. I am not an Arminian. I believe in a God-centered view of ministry. However, I am not ready to surrender to the fact that I cannot reach a culture with the Gospel because I am God-centered in theology and fundamental in doctrine. I believe that a God-centered ministry must be evangelistic.

In studying evangelistic evangelical models, much of their effectiveness boils down to the leadership of the church and the allocation of resources. The leaders are wholeheartedly committed to reaching lost people with the Gospel. These pastors talk about it as if it's their primary passion. In resources, they are willing to set aside 10% of their general operating fund for outreach. Sometimes it disturbs me when we dismiss growth in compromising churches with a passive, “Well if I played rock and roll, I’d be growing too.” I do not think it’s that easy. Bob Jones Sr. once said, “It takes evangelistic unction to make orthodoxy function.” I am concerned. We need a heavy dose of evangelistic unction.

I am concerned with the lack of discipleship in the church. If the local church is the primary plan of God for this age to bring Him glory through the discipleship process, we must be ardent about that task. Our theological sword has been sharpened. Most of us would agree that the glory of God is the end goal of all ministry. However, our practical sword where we actually “do theology” to create Christ-followers is the new challenge. We must not just state what we are against and hope that produces sound believers. We have seen that produce external self-righteousness instead of internal transformation that conforms us to Jesus Christ. Salvation does not stop with a decision. The Gospel transformation has just begun. However, what is sanctification? How does it work? How do people change? I believe this is the new challenge for the fundamental church.

I am concerned about a lack of authentic worship in the church. Worship should encompass my whole life, but when the church comes together, we worship corporately. We worship through hearing the Word, praying, giving of our means, and singing. When it comes down to the musical side of worship, my concern is not about the form. It’s about the substance. Some have mischaracterized my generation as wanting to “rock out.” However, I would say this is true only with the reactionary guys who may not know what they truly want or what they are feeding. I do not want to “rock out.” I want to bow down and look up. I do not always see the existing musical expressions emphasizing this. Let me explain. The existing way says, “Let’s sing it out on the 2nd” or “Let’s speed it up a bit on the last” as a hopeful way to get people to sing. The young guys want someone to say, “Think for a moment on this song. This week, did you see His power throughout the universe displayed? Do you think about God His Son not sparing. I scarce can take that in. Let’s sing from a heart of worship.” The existing style says, “People are really singing today.” However, the young guys desire to say “People seem to be really worshipping today.” When it comes to instrumentation, I see it as a means to this end. Therefore, when it comes to picking instruments, an instrument that stands in the way of the true purpose could be eliminated and an instrument that enhances the experience could be added. So, let me say it. For this young guy, the organ gets in my way. No offense, but it shuts down my soul. I won’t have one in my church wherever I pastor. I know these are broad statements that need about twenty disclaimers, however, if I provided them, I would lose the heart of what I’m trying to say. I believe that authentic worship will place the value on substance over form.

Because of the lack of evangelism, discipleship, and worship, I feel the church has lost its attraction. There is an elephant in the room and the words “Church is boring” are painted on his hide. By default, the sharpest young men seem to do four things: they go into para-church ministries where creativity is valued to stay alive, they pursue a lifelong career in academia, they drift into other movements that are more accepting, or they just become an island – content to minister with few friends.

If you want to be fundamental, creative, and relevant, don’t do church. The moment a pastor experiments with something new, he will become suspect. In Reclaiming Authentic Fundamentalism, Doug McLachlan quotes Os Guinness as saying that when innovation is used, “both constructively and critically, accompanied by a parallel reformation of truth and theology, the potential for the Gospel would be incalculable.” McLachlan argues that it is essential that we learn to adapt our methods or “we will become ineffective in evangelism and incapable of retaining the next generation of thinking pastors within the fundamentalist orbit.” The atmosphere seems to be just the opposite in evangelicalism. Rick Warren said in an interview with Christianity Today that when he was offered jobs in institutions and para-church ministries that he turned them down because he could not imagine wielding influence that was primarily organizational and not congregational. In the same article he was quoted as saying, “The sharpest guys I know are starting churches.” A vibrant, Christ-centered, Great Commission church must be pursued with all of our might.


What would I like to discuss?

I would like to discuss the church. Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25) and purchased it with His blood (Acts 20:28). I believe He cares deeply about it. I believe His life, carefully studied, provides us a model for what the pulse of the church should be. He is the ultimate substance over form. He got dirty. He served. He forgave. He sacrificed. He pointed to someone besides himself. So, what does a Christ-centered church look like? How would a Christ-centered focus impact the preaching? How would a Christ-centered focus impact our intentionality in building relationships with the lost? How would a Christ-centered focus impact our budgets? How would a Christ-centered focus impact how a lost person feels when they walk into our church? How would a Christ-centered focus impact how we share the Gospel? Would Christ attend our church? When The Passion of the Christ came out, many fundamentalists wrote diatribes against doctrinal aberrations in the film and rightly so. However, I was silently pleased that at least our culture was seeing a picture of Jesus Christ that they had perhaps not seen before. The Rocky Mountain News published an article after the movie opened and came to this conclusion, “Regardless of how you feel about the movie, you left the theatre saying ‘I want to follow that man.’” The church, infused with a biblical Jesus, will be something fundamentalists can hold out to a dying world as hope. I want to follow that man.

by Jason Janz : March 23rd, 2005 at 11:17 PM.

Internal Transformation

“Those who adorn only the exterior, but neglect the inner man, are like the Egyptian temples, which present every kind of decoration upon the outside, but contain within, in place of a deity, a cat, a crocodile, or some other vile animal.” Clement of Alexandria said this as he pondered the emphasis of so many on their external embellishment to the neglect and stifling of their soul.

2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” No matter what age you are in this life, there is a fountain of youth for your soul. This fountain is the inner renewal of the mind. Romans 12:2 says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Jason Janz quotes another author in his excellent book on building a vibrant relationship with God, “Renew means “the adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God, which is designed to have a transforming effect upon the life.”” Jim Berg, in his book Changed into His Image agrees, “Having a renewed mind is not just memorizing a few Bible verses about a problem you are having, although that may be a start. It is not just becoming familiar with Christian principles and convictions about godly lifestyles. Having a renewed mind involves a relationship with your Creator that actually changes you because of your exposure to Deity.”

Renewing changes you from the inside out. Janz writes, “God’s purpose for His children is not external imitation, but internal transformation.” This is where you will grow into the stature and measure of Christ. It’s all about the relationship. Rules without relationship equals rebellion. The other stuff is just there to preserve the relationship! So allow the Spirit to renew your mind by the youthful fountain of meditation on the word. More on this meditation as the tool of renewal later.

Changed!

The text was one of my favorite. At Northland, I remember listening spellbound as Dr. Dave Doran unpacked it and pressed the eternal truths to my heart. Despite the rumblings of my stomach as the message preluded lunch, I understood that to have a metamorphosis of my spiritual life, there needed to be a precedent of viewing and contemplated the glory of God in His revelation. 2 Corinthians 3:18 became a passage that swelled in the back of my mind.

This evening as I listened to Pastor Schlagel and heard that text expounded again for the first time since that college chapel morning, it again seeped into my soul and spilled its radiance of awe into my lap: the Word manifests THE WORD! Here is what I was reminded of: First, sanctification is a mandate to all believers, not to the one who claims some enlightened extra-biblical revelation and experience as some seem to teach, but any pure seeker may become transformed by studying THE WORD in the Word. Secondly, His grace is the means through which the believer's life is sanctified as He works out His salvation in our lives. It is a gracious thing for a fallen creature to be redeemed and have the gift of life wholly set apart for Christlikeness. Thirdly, while my responsibility is to be submitted, the actual task of sanctification and transformation is energized and worked through the person of the Holy Spirit in my life. Therefore I need to be controlled by Him for this process of metamorphosis to occur in my life.

The text rung true in my mind. It is only through a surrendered life to the work of the Spirit as He navigates the Word into the twisted river of my life that transformation will happen. If I am not being transformed presently it is because I have failed to allow the text to change me! May God grant the grace to fasten this truth into our words and works!

You'll Never Have It Worse Than . . .

Dr. Ollila used to say that "as a believer you will never experience anything worse than what you face on this earth, and as an unbeliever you will never have anything better than what you have on this earth."

Very true! This thought is a blessed hope for the Christian. The thought that the very worst thing I experience will fade into rapturous joy at my glorification is satisfying. It rings of the emphasis in the book of Hebrews to press on, for the city we look for is far greater than one made with hands. Of course, the most glorious thought is the hope of Christ when our faith shall be sight. What encouragement for those believers working through a temporary trial on this earth!

I thought of Dr. Sam Horn of Brookside Baptist Church and Northland Baptist Bible College in Wisconsin, who found out this week, that his wife, who is relatively young, has been diagnosed with an advanced case of fast-moving cancer. Yet he addressed the local body of believers he pastors to not have pity for him, his wife, and their two young boys, but to see the glory of God being displayed through His wonderful plan for them. He grasped it. He understood that anything "bad" that happens to me is an opportunity to reveal His glory in all things and will only be for a little while.

How sad, however, for the unbeliever who does not have that hope, but lavishes his time and effort in building a life that will only last for a microscopic speck of eternity. He lives for his own pleasures and lusts, and even then is not satisfied but full of guilt. When hard times come he is driven to depression and the futility of what he has built upon. This is the best he will ever come to know.

What does the Biblical view of life do to me? It makes me grateful to the Lord. It makes me put life in perspective of eternity. It gives me a burden for the lost who need the answer of the hope that has been transplanted in my heart.

The question each of us need to ask ourselves is this: Does my life echo this hope of eternity, or is it smudged with the dinge of living for my flesh? Set your affections on things above for that is where your hope of glory lies!

The True Focus of Separation

After a conference on prayer at the church I am a part of, it hit me. The focus of the sincere believer is concerned with separation from the world. Legitimately so, in one sense, because of passages like Romans 12:2 that are exhortations to not allow your identity to become pressed into the mold of the world. Yet, sitting there listening to the speaker plead with the audience for a closer walk with the Lord, I realized that separation from the world is a byproduct, a benefit. It is an effect and not a cause.

What is the cause then? The cause of separation from the world is simply separation to God. If man is passionate in his pursuit of the will of God by conforming his life to what his Master has commanded, the rest will follow. It is not a novel idea, but an easily ignored pursuit. The worth of our Christianity is our consecration to God. It is then that the enticements world will grow so strangely dim. Even the passage in Romans 12 concerning separation from the world recognizes this as Paul begins with the urge to submit to the will of God and renew the mind with His commands. The outflow of that process is verse 2 when he reminds them to be separate from the world system.

I think that, so often, Christianity in my circles has attempted to separate from the world without starting at the beginning. This has produced rebels, disgust, and has fostered an attitude of judgment and criticism in our churches .

I truly believe that when the church grasps the true focus of consecration to God, she will be unspotted from the world.