A Great Prayer from Scotty Smith to start the Christmas season

A Prayer about Jesus’ Many Advent Names and Offices

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Isa. 9:6-7

          Lord Jesus, you are the one of whom Isaiah was speaking hundreds of years before a manger became your first bed in this world. Every name, appellation and office the prophet gives you in this Scripture underscores the greatness of your glory and the wonders of your love. Knowing the government of the whole world already rests on your shoulders profoundly gladdens me. It fills me with a joy second only to knowing your shoulders fully bore the sin of the world, including mine. As this day begins, I raise my face to bask in your beauty and I lift my hands to offer you praise.
          You are Wonderful Counselor, for in you are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You teach me everything I need to know about great mysteries and things eternal, but you’re also the one to whom I look for counsel about old wounds, fresh hurts and unfulfilled longings. You care about everything.
          You are Mighty God—the one who created and sustains the entire universe; the one who upholds all things by the power of your Word; the one in whom all things are being summed up. But you also marshal your might to help me humble myself when I’d rather stay proud; to boast in my weaknesses when I’d rather be self-sufficient; to run to you, rather than just run away.
          You are Everlasting Father, for to see you is to see the Father and to know you is to know the Father. You tenderly care for the needs of the world—even the flowers of every field and the birds in every sky; but you also care about me. You didn’t leave me as an orphan, Jesus. Through your work, I’m not only declared righteous in God’s sight, but also secure in his embrace. I now cry, “Abba, Father!”, with certainty and joy.
          You are the Prince of Peace, for you paid the price of peace on the cross. Indeed, your cross was my Judgment Day. Because of you, God is at peace with me and his peace is ruling in my heart. We’re no longer enemies; there’s no more enmity left between us. You are my peace, Lord Jesus. There will never be an end to the greatness of your government and peace, for even as you are making all things new, they will stay new forever! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! So very Amen I pray, with humility and elation.

Paul Tripp nails it!

As You Are

Though the power of sin has been broken, the presence of sin remains. So it's vital that we remember the deceitfulness of sin. We tend to want to believe that we hold an accurate and reliable view of ourselves. But on this side of glorification that is not always true, precisely because sin lives in a costume. While counselling pastors, I have often been struck with the reality that the man sitting in front of me lacked accurate knowledge of himself. And you can't grieve what you don't see, you can't confess what you haven't grieved, and you can't repent of what you haven't confessed.
Evil doesn't always look evil, and sin often looks so good---this is part of what makes it so bad. In order for sin to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party. An impatient moment of yelling wears the costume of zeal for truth. Lust masquerades as a love for beauty. Gossip lives in the costume of concern and prayer. Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership. Fear of man gets dressed up as being a peacemaker or having a servant heart. Pride in always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom.
You'll never understand sin's sleight of hand until you acknowledge that a significant part of the DNA of sin is deception. As sinners we are all very committed and gifted self-swindlers. No one is more influential in your life than you, because you talk to yourself more than anyone else does. What you say to yourself is profoundly important. Your words either aid God's work of conviction and confession or they assist sin's system of deception. So it's important to humbly admit that we're all too skilled at looking at our own wrong and seeing good. We're all much better at seeing the sin, weakness, and failure of others than we are our own. We're all very good at being intolerant in others the very things that we willingly tolerate in ourselves. The bottom line is that sin causes us not to hear or see ourselves with accuracy. And we not only tend to be blind, but, to compound matters, we also tend to be blind to our blindness.
What does all of this mean? Even as you do the work of the ministry, it is important to remember that accurate self-assessment is the product of grace. Only in the mirror of God's Word and with the sight-giving help of the Holy Spirit are we able to see ourselves accurately. In those painful moments of accurate self-sight, we may not feel as if we are being loved, but that is exactly what is happening. God, who loves us enough to sacrifice his Son for our redemption, works so that we would see ourselves clearly, so that we would not buy into the delusion of our own righteousness. He gives us a humble sense of personal need so we'll seek the resources of grace that can only be found in him.
In this way, your painful moments of sight, conviction, grief, and confession are both the saddest and most joyous of moments. It is sad that we yet need to confess what we must confess. At the same time, accurately seeing and fully acknowledging our sin is a cause for celebration. Only Jesus can open blind eyes. Whenever a sinner accurately assesses his sin, the angels in heaven rejoice, and so should we, even when that sinner is us.

What Christians Really Believe: “I Must Try Harder”

Ed Welch wrote this very interesting article...

 

          “Hello, I am a moralistic therapeutic deist.” That’s the word from a number of evangelical teens.
          I really liked that phrase when I first read it, though it seemed a little clunky. It was introduced by the 2005 book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. After listening to about 3,000 interviews the authors suggested that evangelical teens describe their beliefs this way:

God created
God wants us to be happy
God waits around until we have a problem then jumps in to help
Good people – people who are nice – go to heaven

          In other words, they are moralistic therapeutic deists.
And don’t bug these teens with religious questions for too long because they have more important things to do. They are disinterested moralistic therapeutic deists, and who wouldn’t be disinterested in such a religion?
          Oh – and this is important – teens are regular people who just speak a little more blatantly than the rest of us. Poll 3,000 evangelical adults and you uncover the same basic beliefs.
To these beliefs I can add one more (Thank you for pointing this one out, Laura Andrews!).

“I must try harder.”

          While so many other functional beliefs immediately sound heterodox, this one sounds biblical. Who among us isn’t trying harder to love our neighbor, love God, eat better, go greener, and exercise more? And aren’t we supposed to work out our salvation and live like athletes who want to win a race?
          Yet, “I must try harder,” as I have heard it used, is always doomed to fail, as it should. It can mean: “I have tried harder and it didn’t help, and maybe I should keep trying harder, but why bother?” It can mean: “I have tried harder, and it didn’t help, but I will keep trying harder because I don’t know what else to do.” Or it can mean: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I messed up. I’ll try harder. Okay? (Now stop bothering me.)”
          “I must try harder” comes from the set of beliefs in which Jesus, at most, is our [distant] coach, giving direction, encouragement, and a good tongue lashing from the side-lines while we try to compete, without much assistance, against someone clearly more skilled than ourselves. Victory is never really possible. We just hope to avoid an embarrassingly lopsided loss.
          Life in Jesus, however, is restless rest, with the accent on rest. Faith, which is the primary human response to God, means that we trust him and not ourselves. More specifically, faith means, “Jesus, help!” And this is very different from a foundational belief, “I must try harder.”
          I want to try harder too, but in the right way. We need to be activists in our rest. We actively ask God to show us the way, to do what he is calling us to do, in the Spirit’s power. But the belief I hear most often is the resigned, self-reliant version of “I must try harder.”
          Now is always a good time to assign ourselves a new task, such as to rest in, abide in, believe in, trust in, know and enjoy the rescuer of our souls

A Prayer about Caring for Sin-Entangled Friends

          Pastor Scotty Smith has a very unique blog of prayers. He simply posts prayers about certian topics each day. I have so often been blessed and challenged by these prayers and this is one that I felt compelled to share.

          We often times know what the Bible says we should do but we struggle with how to do it. Scotty offers a prayer of transparency and honesty that articulates so well what we might be thinking and what we should be thinking.

          I hope this prayer will strengthen our resolve to obedience and encourage us in Christ. My prayer is that we will see, obedience is better than sacrifice with God. Love is not something that is easy but worth it and for the sake of both unity and purity may we confront each other daily with our sin. Oh God! May You get the glory today.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Gal. 6:1-2

          Heavenly Father, we come to your throne of grace this morning praying for wisdom and gentleness to love our struggling friends well. None of us naturally likes confrontation, and we decry self-righteous busybodies who show up in our lives like self-appointed prosecuting attorneys. But these words of Paul paint a different picture and present a different way of caring for our sin-entangled friends.
          Give us kindness and strength. If a friend loves in all seasons, that certainly must involve the seasons when we get entangled in sin. Sin kills; it destroys; it brings death. We tend to forget this. If we saw a friend drinking poison, we wouldn’t hesitate to knock the cup from their hand. If we saw a friend stepping close to a pit of rattlesnakes, we’d yell and push them out of harm’s way. Help us hate sin enough and love our friends enough to get involved. Better to risk the awkwardness, anger, messiness, and defensiveness than to watch another life or marriage simply go down.
          Give us discernment and persistence. It’s not about a rush to judgment but about a journey to restoration. Help us to listen before launching. The goal must always be restoration, not just rebuke. Entanglements take a while to get disentangled. We may have to carry some of these burdens longer than we realize. Father, we need the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus. You promise to give us sufficient grace for all things, and we take you at your Word. We need great grace to do this well.
          Give us gentleness and hope. Those who remove specks the best are those who are most aware of the log in their own eye. Keep us humble and keep us aware of our own “temptability.” None of us is beyond the need of grace, and none of us is beyond the reach of grace. Make us wise and careful. Our joy is in remembering that Jesus is the great Restorer, not us. This is the law of Christ we are fulfilling; his yoke we are bearing; his story that’s being written. Super-size our hope in this messy process.
          Lastly, Father, we praise you for churches that are stepping up and are seeking to do the hard and heart work of discipline and restoration. Increase their tribe and bless their endeavors. It’s never easy. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ holy and loving name.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

          Justin Taylor was so good to post this article on his blog. I could not pass up the opportunity to share it what you all as well. I have just ordered this book for myself and I am really excited to read it. Tullian is very honest in sharing the things that happened to him and how God molded him. Having been through some transition and change here, this was a huge encouragement to me and a huge challenge. It just confirmed again why I should buy this book and read it. I love to read books that will always point me back to, "The Bible". I believe this is one of those books.

          In this interview with Leadership magazine, Tullian Tchividjian describes some of the ugliness and pain that resulted from attempting to merge his church plant with Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in 2009:

There were people in the choir who, when I would stand up to preach, would get up and walk out.
People would sit in the front row and just stare me down as I preached. It was extremely uncomfortable.  

People would grab me in the hallway between services and say, “You’re ruining this church, and I’m going to do everything I can to stop you.” 

I would come out to my car and it would be keyed. . . .

They put petitions on car windows during the worship service.

They started an anonymous blog, which was very painful . . . fueling rumors and lies. The blog almost ruined my wife’s life.

Anonymous letters were sent out to the entire congregation with accusations and character assassinations.
It was absolutely terrible.

          He then recounts a family vacation that summer when he poured out his frustration to God. But then things began to change as he read God’s word:

But then I started thinking, why does this bother me so much? Yes, I have people writing nasty things about me, lying about me, spreading rumors about my team. They’re after power. And they’re not getting it, and these are the tactics they’re using. But why does that bother me so much?
I remember saying to God in that moment, “Just give me my old life back.” And he said, “It’s not your old life you want back. It’s your old idols you want back. And I love you too much to give them to you.”

I opened up my Bible. In the reading plan I was following, it so happened that the day’s passages included the first chapter of Colossians. As I read those verses, my eyes were opened. My true situation came into focus. I’d never realized how dependent I’d become on human approval and acceptance until so much of it was taken away in the roiling controversy at Coral Ridge.  

In every church I’d been a part of, I was widely accepted and approved and appreciated. I’d always felt loved in church. Now, for the first time, I found myself in the uncomfortable position of being deeply disliked and distrusted, and by more than a few people. Now I realized just how much I’d been relying on something other than the approval and acceptance and love that were already mine in Jesus. I was realizing in a fresh way the now-power of the gospel—that the gospel doesn’t simply rescue us from the past and rescue us for the future; it also rescues us in the present from being enslaved to things like fear, insecurity, anger, self-reliance, bitterness, entitlement, and insignificance.  

Through my pain, I was being convinced all over again that the power of the gospel is just as necessary and relevant after you become a Christian as it is before. When that biblical reality gripped my heart, I was free like I had never felt before in my life. It gives you the backbone to walk into a room full of church leaders and say “this is what we’re going to do and this is why we’re going to do it, even if it gets me thrown into the street.” There is a fresh I-don’t-care-ness that accompanies belief in the gospel. Whether you like me or not doesn’t matter, because my worth and my dignity and my identity are anchored in God’s approval. Christ won all of the approval and acceptance I need.

Five Warning Signs of Declining Church Health

Found this article by Thom Rainer today, and it really got me to thinking about Church health. I thought I would share this with any who read and would love and invite your comments. Grace Baptist Church is going through some transition. God has called one of our Elders to new ministry in Ontario and we are very excited for him and his family. But as we now look to see what God has in store for us it is a great time to pray and think about our own spiritual health and how God would have us respond.

The truth is, some things in this article convict and challenge me, while others encourage and confirm for me that God is working and we are on the right track. I am more convinced than ever that prayer and quiet time with God is needed to reflect and hear His still small voice.

Yet I am excited and thrilled to know God's love and grace and have a peace that God has amazing things planned for Grace Baptist Church. Praise God from whom all blessings flow and may God get all the glory in His Church both now and forever.

          "December 17, 2004, should have been a day of celebration.
           Nellie Jo and I had been married 27 years on that date. We were in Naples, Florida, enjoying the sunshine and each other.
Then the phone call came.
           We had been given a great deal of confidence that the biopsy would likely prove negative. Proceed with our anniversary celebration, we were told. In the unlikely event that the report was not good, they would let us know.
           The report was not good. Nellie Jo had cancer. The next two years would prove to be some of the most challenging years of our lives and marriage.

When an Unhealthy Body Looks Healthy

           Looking back, it is amazing to recall how healthy Nellie Jo looked. She showed no signs of fatigue or sickness. Had she not seen a couple of warning signs, she might have found out too late about her cancer. She might not be alive today.
           I’ve seen it countless times. My team would go into a church for a consultation, and we would begin interviewing church members. We would hear from many of the congregants that their church was healthy and thriving. Then we would see the warning signs. And we would begin to fear that the apparently healthy body was not really healthy at all.
The church was sick. Some of the churches were really sick.

Five Warning Signs

            What were some of the warning signs my team saw? Though the list is not exhaustive, these five issues were common. Some of the churches had one or two on the list; some had all five.

1. The church has few outwardly focused ministries. Most of the budget dollars in the church are spent on the desires and comforts of church members. The ministry staff spends most of its time taking care of members, with little time to reach out and minister to the community the church is supposed to serve.

2. The dropout rate is increasing. Members are leaving for other churches in the community, or they are leaving the local church completely. A common exit interview theme we heard was a lack of deep biblical teaching and preaching in the church.

3. The church is experiencing conflict over issues of budgets and building. When the focus of church members becomes how the facilities and money can meet their preferences, church health is clearly on the wane.

4. Corporate prayer is minimized. If the church makes prayer a low priority, it makes God a low priority.

5. The pastor has become a chaplain. The church members view the pastor as their personal chaplain, expecting him to be on call for their needs and preferences. When he doesn’t make a visit at the expected time, or when he doesn’t show up for the Bible class fellowship, he receives criticism. In not a few cases, the pastor has lost his job at that church because he was not omnipresent for the church members.

Where Do We Go from Here?

           The bad news is that few churches recover if the patterns above become normative. The church is a church in name only. It is self-gratifying rather than missional. It is more concerned about great comfort than the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.
           The good news is that a few churches have moved from sickness to health. The path was not easy. It first required that the congregants be brutally honest with themselves and God. It does no good to speak glowingly of a church that is unhealthy and getting worse.
            Many of the turnaround churches we consulted then moved to a time of corporate confession and repentance. They confessed to God their lack of obedience and their selfish desire for their own comfort.
            And still other churches made an intentional effort to shift the ministries and the money of the church to a greater outward focus. This step can be particularly painful since a number of church members often protest with vigor that their needs are no longer being met.

To Become a Healthy Church

             Indeed we could focus on the reality that the great majority of sick churches do not recover. But that focus provides little value.
             We should look at the admittedly few churches that have moved from sickness to health. We should learn how they turned from an inward focus to an outward focus. We should follow their examples of moving from selfish desires to radical obedience to God.
In His power the unhealthy church can become healthy.
Heed the warning signs.
It could be the difference between life and death.

A note about myself!

          We are about to have our Bible conference for 2011 start here at Grace Baptist Church. I have just returned from vacation, all of our ministries are about to launch, the summer is still here so many are traveling, we have several construction projects we are trying to finish up and pay for, plus we are trying to get our school ready for the coming year. Finances are tight, attendance is down, giving is down and stress is high!
          I know, I know, do I want some cheese to go with my wine. No; I don't. In fact, I am rejoicing in the Lord right now! I truly feel a sense of peace and am confident that God has some amazing and wonderful things to accomplish in the life of myself and His Church here in Charlottetown. But I would be lying if I said I haven't had some pressure moments or some anxious moments. While in the midst of one of those moments I came across this article by Kevin DeYoung and I wanted to pass it on to you all as well. Please take special note of the bolded sections and as always comments are welcomed.

Pastoral Pressure and Apostolic Anxiety

          2 Corinthians 11:28 always seemed like a strange verse to me–until I became a pastor.
Here’s Paul rattling off all the ways he’s been beat up for Jesus—imprisonments, lashes, rods, stoned, shipwrecked, adrift at sea, sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, cold and exposure, danger from everyone everywhere (v. 23-27)—and then as the cherry on top Paul mentions one more trial: “apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” (v. 28). This is the mighty Apostle Paul, the one counted it a joy to “spend and be spent” for his people (12:15), the one who was sorrowful yet always rejoicing (6:10). This is the Paul who faced every imaginable opposition and yet learned to be content (Phil. 4:11) and anxious about nothing (4:6). And here he is admitting that even with everything else he’s endured he still feels daily pressure and anxiety for all the churches.
          Ever since becoming a pastor I have found unusual comfort in this verse. It’s not that I have accomplished what Paul accomplished, or suffered what he suffered, but every earnest minister will feel this burden for the church. And Paul had several churches to burden him! The churches were full of infighting and backbiting. They put up with false teaching. They were prone to legalism on one end and complete chaos on the other. Some of the church members were making insignificant matters too important, while others were too willing to compromise on Christian essentials. Paul loved these churches and their struggles burdened him more than shipwreck or imprisonment.
          Before I go any further, let me be clear: I don’t think pastors are the only ones with burdens. We are not the only ones with anxiety. In many ways we have the best job in the whole world. I certainly feel exceedingly thankful to do what I do on most days. I have no interest in comparing the difficulty of pastoral ministry with the difficulties of other vocations. All I want to do is encourage pastors to keep fighting the good fight, and encourage congregations to keep encouraging their pastors.
          I’m not surprised Paul felt daily pressure for the churches. His work never seemed to let up. He had letters to write, visits to make, a collection to gather for the saints in Jerusalem. He had to send people here and there and manage the affairs of his churches from a distance. He had to respond to a myriad of criticisms, often conflicting criticisms. Some people thought he was too harsh. Others said he was too weak. Some people in his churches were ascetics and thought Paul was worldly. Others were licentious and thought Paul was too ethically demanding. They complained about his teaching. They questioned his credentials. They compared him negatively to the original apostles. They thought him lame compared to the false apostles. They didn’t like the way he handled money. They didn’t like his preaching style. They didn’t like the way he arranged his travel plans. They didn’t like his discipline. On some days they just didn’t like Paul. All this for the man who led them to Christ, loved them like a Father, planted (many of) their churches, refused their money, and risked his neck for their spiritual good. No wonder there was no weight for Paul like the weight of caring for God’s people.
          Ask any pastor who really takes his work seriously and he will tell you of the pressures he feels in ministry—people in crisis, people leaving, people coming, people falling through the cracks, people disappointed by the pastor, people disappointing to the pastor. In the midst of this work the pastor is trying to find time for study, prayer, preparation, and family. He’s trying to improve himself, train up new leaders, meet the budget, get to know a few missionaries, champion important program, manage staff, take care of administrative details, provide for deep, accessible worship and preaching, be responsive to new ideas, listen to new concerns, be ready to help when people are in trouble.
          And most pastors feel a burden for all the other things they could
          But be encouraged. God uses weak things to shame the strong (1 Cor. 1:27). His grace is sufficient for you; his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). For the sake of Christ, then, be content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when you are weak, then you are strong (v. 10).
Paul had pressure. You have pressure too. But God can handle the pressure. And he looks good when you can’t.

I love the Church!

          We are about to host our Bible conference next week with Josh Harris. Josh has written several books in reference to the Church, one of which is called,  "Why Church Matters" this book explores and explains why the Church is so important, why we should all belong to a local church and why God did it this way. I have to say openly and honestly I love the church!
          I know we don't make church perfect, but God is building His Church and one day it will be perfect. I believe deeply that here in the West we don't take church seriously enough and we have grown complainant and consumeristic about church. Yet, God commands and blesses His children through the church and I ache for so many who are missing out on those blessings.
          Kevin DeYoung has also written extensively on Church and here is a little something he wrote...

Glory of God: Glory to God and Going to Church

Ephesians 3:14-21
…to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus… (v. 21)
          As a pastor I hear the question fairly often: “Why do Christians need to go church?” Sometimes the questioner is a young child wanting to get out of his boredom on Sunday morning. Other times the questioner sincerely wonders why we must be a part of a church if we can have a relationship with God anywhere, anytime. Most often, the questioner is an adult hoping to be “spiritual but not religious.”
          The local church is the hope of the world. Unless we are physically unable, every Christian should be a part of a church. The church is where Christ gets glory (Eph. 3:21) and where we (not just I) shine as lights in the world (Phil. 2:15). The New Testament assumes that believers belong, not just to the church universal, but to a specific community of Christians.
          That’s why Paul wrote nine of his thirteen letters to churches and why each church in Revelation is represented by an individual lampstand. God’s plan has always been to establish a people, not simply a loose assortment of individuals.
          It’s through the preaching of the word, the giving of gifts, the building up of the body, the loving of the unlovely–all in the context of the local church–that Christ gets glory.

The Gift of Friendship and the Godliness of Good Friends (Part 4)

The old saying goes, "better late than never!" well here is part four of Kevin DeYoung's posts on Friendship...enjoy. Steve

Question Three: Are You a Faithful Friend
Yesterday, I gave three characteristics of a foul friend. Today I conclude the four part series with three characteristics of faithful friend.
First, a faithful friend is there in times of trouble. “Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of a calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away” (Prov. 27:10). Given how important family is in the Old Testament, it is surprising that Proverbs would say don’t go to your brother’s house. The thought seems to be, “Don’t overlook your friends. They will be there for you every bit as much as your family will.” Contacts are good. Networking can be valuable. Having a plethora of acquaintances and well-wishers is nice. Racking up friends on Facebook is fine. But real friendship is proven in adversity (Prov. 17:17).
Fake friends go away when you’re in trouble. Faithful friends get better when times get harder. “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24). The next time you are in the midst of suffering and ask God, “What possible reason can there be for this trial?” consider one thing he may be up to is making your friendships sweeter and stronger.
Second, a faithful friend knows how to handle conflict. He doesn’t hold grudges. He doesn’t keep an open file in his brain marked “ways you’ve hurt me.” Keeping a long, detailed record of wrongs is like building friendships with a revolver under your coat. It’s no way to make friends, or keep them. “Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips. Do not say, ‘I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done’” (Prov. 24:28-29). Faithful friends never seek revenge. They are eager to overlook faults and quick to forgive. “The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes” (Prov. 21:10).
Part of handling conflict well is being slow to speak of your friends’ faults to others. “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends” (Prov. 17:9). Good friends speak to someone, not around him. It’s amazing how many people we will talk when we have a personal conflict, but we avoid talking to the person with whom we have the conflict. It’s like driving in a round-about and never getting off (“Big Ben…Parliament”). Proverbs is right: “Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another’s secret, lest he who hears you brings shame upon you, and your ill repute have no end” (Prov. 25:9-10).
Third, faithful friends make each other better. “A man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good” (Prov. 16:29). This is not the way of a good friend. We’ve probably all had those friends that make us feel nobler and purer, and those friends that make you feel a little dirty and out of sorts. Bad company corrupts good character (1 Cor. 15:33). Your strongest relationships should be with those who lead you to Christ, not with those who draw you away. This is especially true when you are young or when you are outnumbered. Your deepest friendships should be gospel friendships.
Faithful friends help each other with their words. “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel” (Prov. 27:9). The writer mentions two precious things in this proverb, oil and perfume, but neither are as precious as a wise friend. Go to your friends with your toughest predicaments and darkest secrets. Talk to them about sex and money and all the things we keep hidden. Get their advice before buying a house or taking a new job or getting married. The best friends combine their IQ’s and get smarter as a result.
We all know the proverb: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Prov. 27:17). It’s a great word picture. Ask yourself: am I sponge that never hurts anyone, but never helps much either? Am I a sword that cuts to the quick but also destroys? Or am I a stone, the kind of friend upon which others can be sharpened, made better and more mature? Faithful friends make better stones than sponges or swords.
Jesus Is a Friend
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t end this series by point us to the One to whom all Scripture points. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). That means the greatest friend is the one who laid down the most for his friends. No question who this is.
To be sure, Jesus is more than a friend, but not less. He is the Divine Friend better than any other. He is never a fake friend, but always seeks our best. Neither is he a foul friend. He is slow to anger instead of quick to criticize. He is thoughtful and tender instead of annoying. He’s always trustworthy and never lets us down. Best of all, Jesus is a faithful friend. He not only sympathizes and comforts you in trouble, he delivers you from your greatest trouble, which is sin. Not only does he speak the truth and handle conflict, he made peace through his blood when were at enmity with him. And he doesn’t just make us better, he makes us new. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to him in prayer.

The Gift of Friendship and the Godliness of Good Friends (Part 3)

          Here is the third installment of Kevin DeYoung's series on friendship. Again it is another pointed article meant to cause us to be honest and reflective in our approach to this all important part of our lives. Read and apply...Steve

Question 2: Are You a Foul Friend?
Let me suggest three traits.

          First, a foul friend is quick to criticize. In my opinion, there are two kinds of people that have the hardest time making friends. One is the person wants to have friends so badly she can’t understand what it means to be a friend. These people are socially unaware. They don’t ask questions. They see the relationship as a one way street. Everything about them screams “I’m an empty vessel ready for you to pour your love and affirmation and curiosity into me.”
          The other type that has a hard time making friends is the super critical person. These people have an opinion on everything and must verbalize that opinion to everyone (probably bloggers!). More than just offering their opinion, they rain down a relentless barrage of negativity. “Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent” (Prov. 11:12).
          A few weeks ago I was riding in a car with an older Christian man I’d never met before. I was struck by the bridle he put on his tongue. He would ask me a question and when he saw that we might not completely agree, he’d simply say, “I see you’ve thought about that. I don’t need to say anything more.” He asked good questions and kept his thoughts to himself sharing them would have served no constructive purpose. Bad friends share every thought, however critical, as a means of self-expression.
          They don’t think what their words are doing or whether they are necessary in this situation.
Consequently, the foul friend gets into conflict that could have been avoided. “Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm” (Prov. 3:29-30). It’s all too easy to ruin friendships because we had a bad day. It’s just as easy to get into a senseless argument because of our own jealousy, insensitivity, or hypersensitivity. Foul friends are quick to criticize.
          Second, a foul friend is annoying. We’re not talking personality or temperament. Some people rub us the wrong way. Fine. But other people are just plain rude. Rude, annoying people aren’t aware of, or don’t care about, social customs and cultural norms. This may seem like an innocent quirk, but the Bible calls it sin (1 Cor. 13:5).
          Proverbs gives two concrete examples of annoyingness in action.
1) Being obnoxious. “Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing” (Prov. 27:14). Got it? Don’t be the life of the party when you wake up. (Kids, this applies to you too.)

2) Not knowing your place. “Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you” (Prov. 25:17). If you’re the sort of friend who comes over unannounced, never says please or thank you, always expects people to wait on you, and has no recognition of your role as a guest, then you’re not the sort of friend people are looking for.

          Third, a foul friend can’t be trusted. This may mean you’re a blatant liar (Prov. 23:10-11; 25:18). But duplicity can be more subtle. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give’–when you have it with you” (Prov. 3:27-28). Foul friends don’t keep their end of the bargain. They don’t return favors. They don’t give back what they borrow. They are slow to help and quick to look for ways to avoid being put upon. You can’t trust them to keep their word.
           Along the same lines, they are careless with their words. “Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, ‘I am only joking’” (Prov. 26:18-19). Words hurt after you launch them, no matter what you say your intention was. So be careful. If you don’t care about the effect of your words, people won’t trust you. And if you can’t be trusted you won’t be a very good friend.

The Gift of Friendship and the Godliness of Good Friends (Part 2)

Continuing the series by Kevin DeYoung...This post is especially pointed. My Father often told me growing up, "Stephen, you will be blessed of God to have one or two best friends" I never believed him then, but boy; was my Dad right! Now I find myself passing this advice on to the children God has blessed Debbie and I with. The strange thing though, is that I find myself being more aware of another point of view on friendship, namely; am I a real friend? That is the subject Kevin deals with in this post, read, enjoy and be changed... Steve

Question 1: Are You a Fake Friend?
There is one defining characteristic of the phony friend in Proverbs: he uses people. The fake friend makes friends with people who can give him things. He establishes relationships solely for personal gain. In Proverbs this means money.

• “Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend” (19:4).
• “The poor is disliked by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends” (14:20).
• “Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. All a poor man’s brothers hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues them with words, but does not have them” (19:6-7).

It’s hard to tell if Proverbs is making a moral judgment on those who cozy up to the rich. Certainly, part of the point is simply to show the privilege of the rich versus the poor. But I think we are meant to see the recognize the fickleness of these friends. Faithful friends are hard to find (Prov. 20:6). Fake friends come in abundance, and they come for your stuff.
Fake friends use people. Money is the example in Proverbs, but there are other ways to use people. Some people get close to pastors or politicians or athletes because they want access, power, or popularity. Others may be so accustomed to soliciting favors for business or school or church affairs that they can no longer tell when their personal charm is genuine and when it’s an act. None of us are immune to the dangers of friendship fakery. It’s possible to plug a book, or speak at a conference, or rave about a blog, or feign chumminess with a Christian mover-and-shaker and all the while wonder if you are doing this to receive the same treatment.
A few years ago I read a book about Billy Graham and the presidents. What struck me most was how these powerful men welcomed Graham into their lives because he seemed like the only person who didn’t want anything from them. History shows they often wanted something from Graham, but he gave them the gift of friendship without manipulation. He was no fake friend.
If I ever get into the business of writing fortune cookies, this will be one of my first ones: “Beware the friend who passes out back-scratchers. He does not have your best interest at heart.”

The Gift of Friendship and the Godliness of Good Friends (Part 1)

I will be posting Kevin DeYoung's four part series, "what is real friendship". I trust you all enjoy it as much as I did. Steve

          We talk a lot about relationships in the church. There are scores of marriage seminars, retreats, and conferences. There are video series and books for newlyweds and engaged couples. Most every church offers marital counseling and most every pastor preaches somewhat regularly on marriage. And the same is true for parenting. There are dozens of books on raising children. There are Sunday school classes, blog sites, and ministries that focus on the parenting relationship. All this is good.
But have you ever noticed we seldom study friendship? It is the most important-least talked about relationship in the church.
          Think about your greatest joys in life. They probably center around your friends–the fun times hanging out, the great conversations, the laughter, the sharing, the pleasure of “clicking” (not cliquing!) with someone else or a group of people.
          And now think of the most painful times in life. No doubt, sickness and tragedy are on the list. And yet, oftentimes these difficulties are made sweeter by the support of friends and family. But when friendship goes bad–when things get awkward or you feel like you are on the outside looking in–no amount of health and prosperity can fill the gap. Almost anything bad can be wonderful with friends, and almost anything good can be terrible without them.
          The worst summer of my life was the summer I spent holed up in a cabin in the mountains of Colorado working on a national government textbook. For three months I worked 10 hours a day studying political science with a classmate and our college professor. We had no electricity (we charged our laptop batteries in town every day) and no indoor plumbing (we used an outhouse). But that wasn’t the main problem. I got used to the rustic lifestyle. The problem was the absence of friends. I was surrounded by amazing natural beauty, engaged in work that I liked fairly well, and allowed time every night and every weekend to read, run, or explore. But I was miserable because I felt all alone.
          It’s surprising we don’t talk more about friendship in the church. Depending on how you define friendship, the Bible may have more to say about the friend relationship than it does about marriage and parenting. Further, I bet church “satisfaction” is largely based on two things. If you find happy churchgoers I wager you’ll find these two items present, and where church members are unhappy, I can almost guarantee these two things are missing: quality teaching and quality relationships. No doubt, there are many other important aspects of church life. But for most folks these are the two that matter most. People want a church that teaches them well (which includes sermons, songs, classes, and Bible studies) and a church where they can make friends.
          I don’t know if making friends is harder than ever. In some ways, with travel and technology, it is easier than it used to be. But there are still a number of factors that mitigate against genuine friendship.

• We are extremely mobile, moving from place to place, rarely settling down in one spot for a long time.
• We are consumed by family life, pouring almost all our spare time into our children and what’s left over into our spouse.
• We are deceived by email and Facebook, imagining we have hundreds of spectacular relationships when actually we have lots of well-wishers and acquaintances and few flesh and blood friends.
• We are entranced by one-way relationships, expending emotional energy as we bond with our favorite sitcom actor, sports star, or American Idol contestant.

          Friendship is wonderful, and we all want it. But friends can be hard to come by. This is nothing new. A true friend has always been one of God’s most sought after gifts. “Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?” (Proverbs 20:6). Thankfully, the book of Proverbs says a lot about friendship. It won’t help you find friends, at least not directly. But Proverbs will help you be a better friend. And the best friends usually have the best friends.
In particular, Proverbs invites us to ask three questions relative to friendship: Are you fake? Are you foul? Or are you faithful? We’ll look at these three questions over the next three days. Be a friend and read along.

Do Christians Have to Go to Church?

Here is a great two minute video from Pastor Mike McKinley, author of Am I Really a Christian? on the issues of going to church give it a listen and tell me what you all think
http://vimeo.com/25255715

Thoughts on the Kingdom

          I am presently preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, it has been very rewarding to this point and I am only at chapter 4. There are many things I have asked God to help me with in this time of study. I really want to be open to the Spirit's teaching and not to my pre-suppositions. I have asked for humility and confidence that God's words can be read and understood and applied. One of the elephants in the room for me is the "Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of God" expressions used by Matthew.
          I was raised in a classic dispensational world, yet exposed to progressive dispensationalism and to covenantal ideology as well. I truthfully have found much of this challenging. I am driven to prayer and study, but I honestly want to further my understanding of what John the Baptist and Jesus meant when they preached... "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand". Kevin DeYoung recently posted a very interesting study on the Kingdom taken from various Scriptures, this is what he writes...

Does the Kingdom Grow?

When you look at the Gospels and examine the verbs associated with the kingdom, you discover something surprising. Much of our language about the kingdom is a bit off. We often speak of “building the kingdom,” “ushering in the kingdom,” “establishing the kingdom,” or “helping the kingdom grow.” But is this really the way the New Testament talks about the kingdom? George Eldon Ladd, the man who put kingdom back on the map for evangelicals, didn’t think so.

The Kingdom can draw near to men (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15; etc.); it can come (Matt. 6:10; Luke 17:20; etc.), arrive (Matt. 12:28), appear (Luke 19:11), be active (Matt. 11:12). God can give the Kingdom to men (Matt. 21:43; Luke 12:32), but men do not give the Kingdom to one another.
Further, God can take the Kingdom away from men (Matt. 21:43), but men do not take it away from one another, although they can prevent others from entering it. Men can enter the Kingdom (Matt. 5:20; 7:21; Mark 9:47; 10:23; etc.), but they are never said to erect it or to build it. Men can receive the Kingdom (Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17), inherit it (Matt. 25:34), and possess it (Matt. 5:4), but they are never said to establish it. Men can reject the Kingdom, i.e., refuse to receive it (Luke 10:11) or enter it (Matt. 23:13), but they cannot destroy it.
They can look for it (Luke 23:51), pray for its coming (Matt. 6:10), and seek it (Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31), but they cannot bring it. Men may be in the Kingdom (Matt. 5:19; 8:11; Luke 13:29; etc.), but we are not told that the Kingdom grows. Men can do things for the sake of the Kingdom (Matt. 19:12; Luke 18:29), but they are not said to act upon the Kingdom itself. Men can preach the Kingdom (Matt. 10:7; Luke 10:9), but only God can give it to men (Luke 12:32). (The Presence of the Future, 193)

          I’ve quoted this section several times, probably on this blog before. But when I’ve used it in the past I’ve been uncomfortable with the line “we are not told that the kingdom grows.” It seemed to me that the parable of the sleepy farmer (Mark 4:26-29) and the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32) clearly teaches that the kingdom grows. But as I’ve studied the passages more carefully I think you can make a good case that Jesus is not teaching about the growth of the kingdom as much as he is demonstrating that the kingdom of small beginnings will, at the close of the age, be the kingdom of cosmic significance. The kingdom may look unimpressive now, with nothing but a twelve-man band of fumbling disciples, but one day all will see its glorious end.

          To borrow a tired cliché, the kingdom is what it is. It does not expand. It does not increase. It does not grow. But the kingdom can break in more and more. Think of it like the sun. When the clouds part on a cloudy day we don’t say, “the sun has grown.” We say, “the sun has broken through.” Our view of the sun has changed or obstacles to the sun have been removed, but we have no changed the sun. The sun does not depend on us. We do not bring the sun or act upon it. The sun can appear. Its warmth can be felt or stifled. But the sun does not grow (science guys, don’t get all technical, you know what I mean). This seems a good analogy for the kingdom.

          God certainly uses means and employs us in his work. But we are not makers or bringers of the kingdom. The kingdom can be received by more and more people but this does entail growth of the kingdom. We herald the kingdom and live according to its rules. But we do not build it or cause it to grow because it already is and already has come. As LaddA Theology of the New Testament, 102).

          I find Kevin's discussion here very helpful but also challenging and I have many other questions. For instance what is the continuity-discontinuity between the Old Earth and Heaven and the New Earth and Heaven? What is the purpose and role of the Church post the rapture? What is the connection between the Millennium and the Eternal State? Why does all the NT Scripture seems to refer to Jesus dying for the Church? What does that make believing Jews and Gentiles from the OT? What do we call Tribulation saints, Millennium saints and even the, "Little Season" saints of Revelation 20?

          These are but a few of many other questions that I have and plan to study, pray and read to answer in my own mind. I know that God is not the author of confusion and yet there seems to be so much surrounding these issues. The only other conclusion I can come to is that God never intended for us to be dogmatic on this, or to fully understand it or explain it, but to live by faith in the steadfast hope of the bodily return of Jesus, the sure resurrection unto life of ALL believers from every age, and the absolute certainty that the end is secure in Christ! Stay tuned for more as I wrestle with these things and feel free to comment.

Hello I am back!

          First: Allow me apologize for taking so long to post anything new. My Father-in-Law says, "exuses are the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie" and he is right. I have simply not given this any time and I either have to shut it down or by God's strength and mercy be faithful to post at least once a week. So I ask for your forgiveness and for your prayer. To be faithful, to not waste time, to be balanced, but to use this technology in a way that will glorify God and encoruage any and all who read.

          Second: The next few posts are going to deal with some controversial issues. Things that deal with tradition, philosophy and structures in our chruches. I have been reading, studying, praying and searching, asking the Holy Spirit to teach me and show me what is truth. My life has been blessed by God in the parents He gave me, the churches He added me to, along with the pastors and elders I have been positioned under. But, I also believe that in those experiences God has been showing me the differences between tradition and the gospel. My greatst joy these last few years has been the joy of discovering the ongoing need of the gosepl I need in my life every day. These discovery, has lead me to really turn to God's Word and honestly ask what does this passage actually say and teach. It has been the scariest time and yet the greatest time of my life.

          So, with that said, I give you my first controversial issue...The Alter Call! All of my life I have sat through countless services where at the end the preacher then closed in prayer announced the hymn and then issued a plea for people to come forward to the alter and publiclly respond to the sermon. I never questioned this practice, truthfully withe my personality, I quite enjoyed it. I have responded many, many times to an alter call. However, since I have been in ministry and been reading God's Word and studying the format of the NT Church, I noticed a lack of evidence for the modern Alter call. I also started to evaluate my life and the fruit that was produced from these pleas to come forward.
          The following are some thoughts from a Pastor who is sharing some of the same concerns that I share. I believe we have to get back to not only saying the gospel is the power of God unto Salvation, but practicing it as well. Give this a read and tell me what you think...
          Thabiti Anyabwile is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman in the Grand Cayman Islands and a Council member with The Gospel Coalition.

          I’m sometimes asked by people why we don’t do “altar calls” at our services. Like the people who ask the question, the churches in my personal background pretty much all practiced “altar calls” at the conclusion of a sermon or service. I’ve seen them done in very poor fashion, and I’ve seen some pastors be really clear about the gospel, repentance, faith, and the fact that “coming forward” does not save. I date my own conversion to the preaching of Exodus 32, which concluded with an altar call.
So, why don’t we practice “altar calls”? I don’t think the pastor who practices an “invitation” at the end of a sermon is in sin, but he may not be acting wisely either.
          This list of reasons, compiled by Pastor Ryan Kelly of Desert Springs Church, is a pretty good summation of some of my thinking (HT: Z).

1. The altar call is simply and completely absent from the pages of the N.T.
2. The altar call is historically absent until the 19th century, and its use at that time (via Charles Finney) was directly based upon bad theology and a man-centered, manipulative methodology.
3. The altar call very easily confuses the physical act of “coming forward” with the spiritual act of “coming to Christ.” These two can happen simultaneously, but too often people believe that coming to Christ is going forward (and vice-versa).
4. The altar call can easily deceive people about the reality of their spiritual state and the biblical basis for assurance. The Bible never offers us assurance on the ground that we “went forward.”
5. The altar call partially replaces baptism as the means of public profession of faith.
6. The altar call can mislead us to think that salvation (or any official response to God’s Word) happens primarily on Sundays, only at the end of the service, and only “up front.”
7. The altar call can confuse people regarding “sacred” things and “sacred” places, as the name “altar call” suggests.
8. The altar call is not sensitive to our cautious and relational age where most people come to faith over a period of time and often with the interaction of a good friend.
9. The altar call is often seen as “the most important part of the service”, and this de-emphasizes the truly more important parts of corporate worship which God has prescribed (preaching, prayer, fellowship, singing).
10. God is glorified to powerfully bless the things He has prescribed (preaching, prayer, fellowship, singing), not the things we have invented. We should always be leery of adding to God’s prescriptions for His corporate worship.

          Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 of Ryan’s list are the most compelling reasons in my opinion. These would seem very serious objections for anyone who takes seriously the idea that our Christian lives and gatherings should conform to what the NT commands, models, and prohibits. Perhaps I would add an 11th: The “altar call” teaches the congregation to evaluate the “success” or “effectiveness” of the ministry on outward, visible actions and results.
          Further, the need to be pastorally careful and sensitive with the souls of men needing to repent and believe couldn’t be more urgent. So, anything that obscures the reality of God the Holy Spirit’s work in conversion and the necessity of repentance and faith must be regarded–at best–a practice with potential to undermine the very work we’re giving our lives to.
          Do people “respond” to the word of God at our services? They do. And we give them a number of ways they may follow up on what they’ve heard, from talking to an elder or Christian friend after the service, to scheduling an appointment during the week, to letting us know they would like us to visit with them, and so on. One thing I appreciate about our approach is that it allows us to meet, listen, question, encourage, teach and pray in a much more thorough way. By God’s grace we’re seeing people converted and profess their faith in baptism as the Spirit opens their hearts. We’re not perfect by any means. But I do hope we’re being faithful to the scripture’s commands, examples, and restrictions.
          What do you think about Kelly’s list? Are you “for” or “against” and why? Would you add anything to or challenge anything on the list?

We need to get rid of religion and start preaching and living the gospel!

          I am both thankful and challenged by the fact that the gospel is something entirely different from the religion we see in far too many of our churches today. I listened with Interest to a short video of Perry Noble, James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll. In it James was pointing out his concern with some of Perry's ministry choices in the church he pastors. While I personally totally agree with James in his concerns, I was more interested and rebuked by what Mark Driscoll said.
          He pointed out that at least Perry is trying, that at least Perry is telling people about hell and that they need to be saved and transformed by Christ.
          Mark went on to say that we rebuke the pastor who trys new things even progressive things that are right on the edge, but we never go after the guy who is the coward, not preaching, nor living out the transforming power of the gospel and the very real judgement that will befall those who reject Christ.
          What we need in our lives and in our pulpits and in our Churches is the living saving power of the gospel not more same old, same old religion. If we have not seen anyone come to Christ in the last number of weeks, months, years????!! Where is our passion, our urgency, our desperation to preach and pray and plead both with God and with people to hear the message, "Jesus Saves" and "Jesus is Judge".
           I read this post from Resurgence today and thought I would tag it on to these thoughts and may we all, do things according to Scripture, but might I say I would rather calm down a fanatic than resurrect a corpse when it comes to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Perry, I may not do what you did, but I applaud your passion for souls and will simply add my voice of caution with James. But I humbly tell you I am rebuked that I need to preach with greater fear of God than man and with deeper love and desperation for people than the status-quo.

"Because sin is not merely doing bad things but an even deeper problem of building our identity on someone or something other than God alone, the solution to idolatry is not to change our behavior but to have a complete reorientation of our nature at the deepest level of our being, or what Jesus called being born again."

You must be born again

In the third chapter of John’s Gospel, a man named Nicodemus came to meet with Jesus. Nicodemus was a devoutly religious man. As a Pharisee, he would have committed large sections of the Hebrew Old Testament to memory and been revered as morally upright, intelligent, and among the holiest of men. In John 3:3, Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This confused Nicodemus, so Jesus explained that there are two births. The first birth is our physical birth that occurs when our mother’s water breaks and we are brought into this world. By virtue of our first birth we are physically alive but spiritually dead. The second birth is our spiritual birth whereby God the Holy Spirit causes us to be born again so that we are both physically and spiritually alive. Nicodemus considered himself spiritually alive by virtue of his religion, spirituality, theology, and morality. But he was likely astounded when Jesus told him plainly, “You must be born again” (John 3:7).

“ Unlike religion, which is based on fear that forces people to do what they do not want to do, regeneration is based on love and God inviting new people to live new lives of worship.”

We need life, not religion

In this way he was much like those today who know some theological truth, have been baptized, attend religious meetings, live a “moral” life, believe in God, devote time to serve others, and even give some of their income to spiritual causes and organizations as members, leaders, and pastors who need to be born again. Why? Because they are living out of their old nature solely by their will and effort rather than out of a new nature by the power of God the Holy Spirit. John Piper says in his book, Finally Alive: What Happens When We Are Born Again:

What Nicodemus needs, and what you and I need, is not religion but life. The point of referring to new birth is that birth brings a new life into the world. In one sense, of course, Nicodemus is alive. He is breathing, thinking, feeling, acting. He is a human created in God’s image. But evidently, Jesus thinks he’s dead. There is no spiritual life in Nicodemus. Spiritually, he is unborn. He needs life, not more religious activities or more religious zeal. He has plenty of that.

Regeneration is being born again

Being born again is theologically summarized as the doctrine of regeneration, which is the biblical teaching that salvation includes both God’s work for us at the cross of Jesus and in us by the Holy Spirit. To say it another way, regeneration is not a separate work of the Holy Spirit added to the saving work of Jesus; rather, it is the subjective actualization of Jesus’ work.
While the word “regeneration” only appears twice in the Bible (Matthew 19:28, Titus 3:5), it is described in both the Old and New Testaments by a constellation of images. It is important to note that each signifies a permanent, unalterable change in someone at his or her deepest level.

The imagery of regeneration in Scripture

The Old Testament frequently speaks of regeneration in terms of deep work in the heart, our total inner self, so that a new life flows from a new heart empowered by the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus explained to Nicodemus (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 24:7; 31:31–33; 32:39–40; Ezekiel 11:19–20; 36:26–27).
Like the Old Testament, the New Testament speaks of being born again on many occasions (John 1:13; 1 Peter 1:3, 23; 1 John 5:1). Elsewhere in the New Testament, many other images are used to explain regeneration. These include “partakers of the divine nature," (2 Peter 1:4) “new creation,” (2 Corinthians 5:17) “new man,” (Ephesians 2:15; 4:24) “alive together with Christ,” (Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:13) and “created in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:10).

New Testament truths about regeneration

1. Regeneration is done to ill-deserving, not just undeserving, sinners (Ephesians 2:1–5). Therefore, regeneration is a gift of grace, as Titus 3:5 says: “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” 
2. Regeneration is something God the Holy Spirit does for us (John 3:5–8). Therefore, unless God accomplishes regeneration in a person, it is impossible for them to live as a worshiper of God. 
3. Without regeneration there is no possibility of eternal life in God’s kingdom (John 3:3, 5; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:6–16). Therefore, regeneration is required for someone to be a true worshiper of God.

What happens to a regenerated person?

Accompanying the new birth are ten soul-transforming, life-changing, and eternity-altering occurrences (For further reading, see Question 4 of Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions).

1. A regenerated person has the Trinitarian Creator God of the Bible as their new Lord, thereby displacing all other false and functional lords who had previously ruled over them (1 John 5:18).
2. A regenerated person is a new creation so that they are transformed at the deepest levels of their existence to begin living a new life. People being renamed at their conversion, so that Saul becomes Paul and Cephas becomes Peter, illustrates that we are new people in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Gal. 6:15).
3. A regenerated person has a new identity from which to live their new life because their old identity no longer defines them (Ephesians 4:22–24).
4. A regenerated person has a new mind that enables them to enjoy Scripture and thus to begin to think God’s truthful thoughts after him (Romans 7:22; 1 Corinthians 2:14–16; 1 Peter 2:2).
5. A regenerated person has new emotions so that they love God, fellow Christians, strangers, and even their enemies (1 John 4:7).
6. A regenerated person has new desires for holiness and no longer is their deepest appetite for sin and folly (Psalm 37:4; Romans 7:4-6; Galatians 5:16–17).
7. A regenerated person enjoys a new community and fellowship with other Christians as members of the church (1 John 1:3).
8. A regenerated person lives by a new power to follow God by the Holy Spirit’s enabling (Romans 8:4–13).
9. A regenerated person enjoys a new freedom to no longer tolerate, manage, excuse, or accept their sin but rather put it to death and live free from habitually besetting sin (Rom. 6:6; 7:6). 
10. The culmination of the effects of regeneration is a new life of worship that is markedly different from how life would otherwise be (Galatians 5:19–23).

New birth, new needs

In some ways our new birth is like our birth. Upon birth someone cries, moves, hungers, trusts their father to protect and provide for them, enjoys human comfort, and begins to grow. Similarly, a newly born-again person cries out to God in prayer, moves out in new life, hungers for the Scriptures, trusts God as their Father, enjoys God’s family the church, and begins to grow spiritually, maturing in their imaging of God.
G. K. Beale explains regeneration in terms of how Christians become restored into the image of God in his book, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry:

It is in Christ that people, formerly conformed to the world’s image (Romans 1:18-32), begin to be transformed into God’s image (Romans 8:28-30; 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:4). . . . This process of transformation into the divine image will be completed at the end of history, when Christians will be resurrected and fully reflect God’s image in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45-54; Philippians 3:20-21). They will be resurrected by the Spirit-imparting power of the risen Christ. Since it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 1:4), so the Spirit of Christ will raise Christians from the dead at the end of the age. . . . The Spirit’s work in people will enable them to be restored and revere the Lord and resemble his image, so that God will be glorified in and through them. 

Regeneration is an invitation to worship

Therefore, it is only through the regenerating and ongoing empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit that we can worship, until one day in our glorified resurrected state we image God perfectly as unceasing worshipers. This is exactly what Jesus meant when he said in John 4:24, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Commenting on this verse in his book John: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Andreas Köstenberger says:

The terms “spirit” and “truth” are joined later in the expression “Spirit of truth,” referring to the Holy Spirit (see 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; cf. 1 John 4:6; 5:6; see also 2 Thessalonians 2:13) . . . the present reference therefore seems to point John’s readers ultimately to worship in the Holy Spirit. Thus, true worship is not a matter of geographical location (worship in a church building), physical posture (kneeling or standing), or following a particular liturgy or external rituals (cf. Matthew 6:5–13); it is a matter of the heart and of the Spirit.”          

A regenerated heart shares the desires of God

Importantly, because of our new hearts, worshiping God by imaging him well through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is exactly what we want to do in our innermost depths. Speaking of the Spirit-empowered regenerated desires of the heart Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Practically, this means that as we enjoy and delight in who God is, what he has done, and what he will do for us, our regenerated hearts share in the same desires of God. Subsequently, unlike religion, which is based on fear that forces people to do what they do not want to do, regeneration is based on love and God inviting new people to live new lives of worship, which is exactly what their new hearts want to do at the deepest level. The result is ever-growing, never-ending, ever-worshiping, passionate joy!

Adapted from Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears.

Some Lessons Learned from Calvin’s Biography

Kevin DeYoung has this great post today that I just had to share with those of you who check out my blog. John Calvin is one of my earthly heros. God saved and used him for His glory and I have and continue to learn so much. Read and enjoy...

The title is all the introduction you need. Here we go. (All quotations are from Bruce Gordon’s Calvin.)

1. If you want to make an impact beyond your little lifespan, teach people the Bible. “What made Calvin Calvin, and not another sixteenth-century writer was his brilliance as a thinker and writer, and, above all, his ability to interpret the Bible” (viii).
2. The big public personalities are often privately awkward. “In the public arena Calvin walked and spoke with stunning confidence. In private he was, by his own admission, shy and awkward” (x).
3. We read too much causality into our childhoods. “With his contemporaries, and much in contrast to our age, Calvin did not consider his childhood as psychologically formative: it was a brief and brutal preparation for adulthood associated primarily with ignorance, volatility and waywardness” (2).
4. The best friendships are forged in fire. “All his life Calvin would define friendship in terms of a commitment to a common cause; it was within that framework that he was able to express fraternity and intimacy” (29).
5. True strength is knowing your weakness. “However, one of his greatest strengths in his later career was an acute awareness that despite remarkable confidence in his calling and intellect he remained dangerously prone to moments of poor judgment on account of anger” (91).
6. If you want to impact your city, be prepared to work hard and consistently. “And here was a formula that would serve Calvin well throughout his time in the city: extremely hard work on his part combined with the disorganization and failings of his opponents” (133).
7. Beware the temptation to want to be proved right in everything. “From the pulpit, before the Consistory and Council, and from the printing press, issued forth a single-minded determination to have the last word and to be proved right. This was not simply for the sake of ego: he was absolutely certain that he was right” (145).
8. Some contextualization is appropriate. “Like Luther with his first translation of the Bible into German, he understood that the Reformation stood or fell on the ability of the reformers to speak to the people in their own language” (148).
9. Not every kind of accommodation is sinful people pleasing. Calvin wrote to the obstinate and fiery William Farel: “We only earnestly desire that insofar as your duty permits you will accommodate yourself more to the people. There are, as you know, two kinds of popularity: the one, when we seek favour from motives of ambition and the desire of pleasing; the other, when, by fairness and moderation, we gain their esteem so as to make them teachable by us” (151).
10. The Church needs good deacons. “The deacons of the Genevan church did just about anything and everything. They purchased clothing and firewood, provided medical care, and not infrequently were present at births. They arranged guardians for the children of the sick. Essentially, they attempted to meet any need. Their task was thankless” (201).
11. Endurance is a neglected virtue. “If one were to admire Calvin for nothing else, his ability to sustain the relentless onslaught of the 1550s is astonishing” (233).
12. Preaching has always been difficult. “Far from the solemn quiet of modern churches, preaching in the sixteenth century was somewhat akin to speaking in a tavern. Preachers had to compete with barking dogs, crying babies, general chatter and constant movements, even fist-fights. They required presence to command respect and their most important tool was their voice” (291).
13. Some traditions must change. “He argued for the freedom of the marriage contract and mutual consent of man and woman, a fundamental point he continually defended in his sermons. Consensual engagements were essential; children were not to be forced into unions by their parents” (295).
14. Every hero (except for Jesus) is a divided hero. “This was Calvin’s divided self: the confidence in his calling as a prophet and apostle set against his ever present sense of unworthiness and dissatisfaction. . . .It was his acute sensitivity to the gap between what was and what should be that distressed him” (334-35).
15. Biography is particularly strategic and can be used to build up the church or lead it astray. “Calvin’s friends had good reason for proceeding to publish [a biography] with haste. There were others who wanted to tell a very different story. Calvin’s nemesis Jerome Bolsec lived to have the last word, and penned two accounts ten years after the reformer’s death. Like many Catholics, he feared that the Protestant reformers were being accorded the status of saints, and he sought to destroy the reputation of Calvin and Geneva. In this, as Irena Backus has shown, he was extraordinarily successful” (338).
16. Work hard, but don’t neglect the body. “Calvin’s punishing routine and recurring illnesses aged him and put him in an early grave” (339).
17. Pray that your fruitfulness outlives you in expression of gratitude you will not see. “For a man who lived his life in exile, the most fitting memorial came from a land he never saw. In 1583 Geneva was under military threat from the Duke of Savoy, and Beza sent a delegation to England to seek financial assistance. Despite Elizabeth’s frostiness towards Calvin, the collection raised was extraordinarily generous, reflecting the gratitude of a nation for a city and a man that had once offered refuge and Christian teaching” (340).