Mark Dever, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, 104.
The other problem, I have to confess, worries me even more: the problem of people who think they are converted when really they are not. Every pastor knows this problem as well. You have perhaps heard the story of Spurgeon, the great pastor in nineteenth-century London, who was walking down the street one day when a man who was drunken and leaning on the lamppost yelled out to him, “Hey, Mr. Spurgeon, do you remember me?” And Spurgeon replied, “No, why should I?” The man said, “Because I’m one of your converts.” To which Spurgeon responded, “Well, you must be one of mine; you’re certainly not one of the Lord’s.”
God and Rain (Psalm 135:7)
Psalm 135:7
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,
who makes lightnings for the rain
and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
Reading this today reminds me of how awesome is our God. He makes rain.
I would blog for you on the absolute glory of God in the fact that rain falls, but I don’t need to. John Piper has already done it far better than I ever could. Read his post, and then meditate on the glory of God in the rain that falls. Trust me, this is a link worth reading.
Gratitude for Canceled Debt (Colossians 2:9, 13-14)
Colossians 2:9, 13-14
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Have you ever heard stories of people who have just finished paying off a huge debt? Maybe it is a mortgage that has been paid off after 30 years. Maybe it is a big student loan that a couple has finally paid down to nothing. Whatever it is, the moment that the balance due hits $0, there is great cause for celebration in the family. And the celebration is usually bigger in proportion to the size of the debt.
If we can grasp the joy of a debt removed, how much joy should we see in Colossians 2:13-14? We, God’s creation, have rebelled against him. We have put ourselves under a spiritual death sentence because of our failure to meet God’s holy standard of perfection. We have a debt to repay, and that debt is equal to the size of our offense. Our offense, of course, is infinite because we have offended the infinitely-holy God. Thus, our debt is unpayable by us. We could spend a million years in hell suffering for our sins, and we would still not be one day closer to fulfilling in ourselves the debt of our sin.
But God did something amazing. God sent his Son, Jesus. The Bible tells us, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Jesus is the infinite God in human flesh. Jesus died as the payment of our debt. He, the infinitely-perfect, infinitely-valuable Son of God ,, was able to fully cancel our debt. He paid our debt in full. As Paul tells us, God took the record of our debt before God, and he nailed it to the cross. In that one act, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, God fully paid for all the sins of all who will ever come to faith in Christ.
Now we stand and look at our accounts before God. If you have trusted in Jesus, your debt is paid—the balance is $0. What will you do? Will you celebrate? Will you get down on your knees and thank your God? Will you freely live to show others how glorious is the God who has done this for you?
We dare not think we will repay Jesus for what he has done; the payment was too big for that. All we can do is thank him for his grace. Now he has made us free to follow him, to obey his commands, and to experience the joy of glorifying him. This is not repayment of our debt, it is yet another gift from God. God has granted us the gift of doing what he originally created us to do—glorify him.
Lifestyles Don’t Save People (Luke 7:31-35)
Luke 7:31-35
31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
“ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’
33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Have you ever felt that, no matter what you do, people are just not willing to give the gospel you present a fair hearing? Does it ever seem to you that you cannot be holy enough or laid-back enough or cool enough or brainy enough or whatever they seem to want enough to get them to take a fair look at Jesus? Guess what: This is not a new thing.
Jesus pointed out that the generation around him simply was not going to at all be satisfied with the people God sent them. John the Baptist came from God. John was very strict, not drinking wine and not feasting. The religious people of John’s day said that John had a demon. They thought that nobody could actually live the way John lived without something being wrong. He was over-the-top, and that even for the Jews.
Then comes Jesus to the people. Jesus was, according to this passage, far more laid back than John. Jesus drank wine and ate at feasts. The religious leaders accused Jesus of being a glutton and a drunk. Now, Jesus never overate or drank too much—he never sinned—but the religious leaders looked for some way to criticize him.
Think about this point as it might apply to your particular style of evangelism. Are you thinking that you will win the lost to Christ if only you hang out with them and do what they do? Are you thinking that taking an interest in their favorite sport or having a couple of beers with the guys after work will open up your opportunity to witness?
Or perhaps it is the other way. Are you thinking that you are going to live a life of such austerity, such outward holiness, such blatant religious fervor that the lost will not be able to help but take notice of you. Maybe you will shake your head at them when they waste time at a ballgame or watching TV. Maybe you will turn up your nose at them when they order a beer. Maybe you will show them your piety by grimacing at their foul language or poor choices in clothing.
What we should learn from Jesus is that neither of these two approaches will win anybody to Christ. The hearts of the lost are dead to God (Ephesians 2:1-3). Those hearts are always going to find a way to criticize your actions. If you are laid back, they will call you a hypocrite, saying you’re just like everybody else. If you are too good, they will call you judgmental, holier-than-thou, and they will declare that you make them uncomfortable. In either case, they may be right about you. Or, in either case, they may just be looking for a way to get out of facing the command of God to believe in Jesus.
So, what do we do? We live for Jesus as God would have us live. If that means that you are free to be a little more laid back while not crossing any biblical lines into sin, then great—live to the glory of God. If that means that you are a little more reserved as fits your bent and your understanding of the Scripture, great—live to the glory of God. Live as God would have you live, and as you live, as you go, tell others about Jesus. Present the true Jesus and the true gospel to the lost in plain speech, pray, and leave the results to God. Only God can bring the dead to life. Only God, not your clever lifestyle choices, will save a soul.
By the way, I’m not here trying to write against contextualization. Speak in terms that your friends can understand. Try not to cloud their perception of Jesus by using terms that are not central to the gospel. Try not to make them think that Christianity is about any commands that are not clearly part of the gospel. Do what you can to remove superficial hurdles between them and their thinking about the gospel. But do not think that your choosing to dress like them or not like them, to act like them or not like them, to live near them or not near them will have anything to do with changing their hearts. God will change hearts. We need to live to his glory and be sure that we share a very real, very clear gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Forgotten God – A Review
In Forgotten God, Francis Chan challenges believers to open their hearts to the Holy Spirit of God. Chan, a former pastor and widely-acclaimed Christian speaker, brings his trademark plain speech and passion to this, his second major book—his first being Crazy Love.
Positive
Chan argues that many believers have a basic doctrine of the Holy Spirit as part of the trinity, but the same Christians have no real experience with the Spirit of God. The author challenges Christians to stop settling for head knowledge of God’s Spirit and to pray fervently for God to allow them to experience his presence and love through his indwelling Spirit.
Chan is very open, honest, and personal in this book. There is no doubt that Francis Chan has been truly convicted about his lack of Spirit-focus in his own life. He believes that he has neglected one of the persons of the Godhead, and he recognizes this as sinful. Thus, Chan’s observations are refreshingly real—they do not make one feel as though they are being talked down to by an aloof scholar.
Negative
Perhaps it is the nature of such a writing, but Chan is unable to offer much by way of action steps for Christians who are finding themselves guilty of neglecting the Spirit of God. Chan suggests a change of mind and more prayer, but these steps are probably already things that guilty Christians know they need.
Chan’s work also walks into a more mystical level of Holy-Spirit-encounter than many non-charismatic believers may find comfortable. Unfortunately, Chan mostly has only his own experience to cite as his authority for how one’s encounters with God’s Spirit ought to look or feel. Don’t get me wrong, Chan is not neglecting Scripture in this book, but there is an element of mystical encounter in the writing that is simply personal for him. Thus Chan’s experience may be a little more—though not drastically over-the-top—than some would embrace.
Conclusion and Recommendation
I was blessed by reading Chan’s work. His sincerity was touching. His push to not settle for a bookish experience with the Holy Spirit was challenging. His call to radical living was refreshing. While I do not agree with every conclusion Chan draws, I believe most Christians would benefit from some time with this text.
** Note: For this review, I listened to the audio version of this book. I received my files from www.ChristianAudio.com **
How Big Is Your Vision? (2 Kings 23:19, 25)
2 Kings 23:19, 25
19 And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel.
25 Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.
Josiah was king over the land of Judah. Note that fact, the land of Judah. Josiah was of the line of David which, since the time of Rehoboam, only ruled over the southern kingdom, Judah.
How fascinating is it, then, to see Josiah tearing down pagan altars in Samaria, the capital city of what had previously been the northern kingdom? Josiah did not stay within the borders that had been laid out by Jeroboam and Rehoboam around three hundred years before. Nope, Josiah was going way further back. Josiah was acting like the king over all of God’s people, and he was cleansing the land in places that had not been ruled by a king from the tribe of Judah since the time of David and Solomon. Josiah was thinking very big.
How could Josiah think this way? God had given the land to his people. Josiah knew this fact. God had told his people to take the land and put away the idols. Josiah was obeying God. It did not matter how many hundreds of years it had been since a Judean king had ruled over the hill of Samaria. Josiah was going to set things right.
How did God respond to Josiah’s zeal? Historically, the acts of Josiah did not change much. God’s judgment was already coming down on Judah. So, Josiah died at a young age and those who followed him were not faithful to the Lord. But, God did allow verse 25 above to be written about Josiah. Speaking of this bold king, God inspired these words: “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.” That is a glorious epitaph.
What about you? How big is your vision. Are you content to try to follow God from within the proper socially-prescribed circles? Is your faith limited to the boundaries that most of our society would place on it? Are you trying to do in God’s name only that which others say is possible? If so, perhaps you need to take a lesson from Josiah. Josiah had a big vision of what it means to follow God. Josiah went beyond the bounds. Josiah went beyond the borders. Josiah tried the impossible, and he heard the Old Testament’s form of “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” because of his faithfulness to the Lord.
Accuracy in Gospel Proclamation
“
Accuracy is, of course, the only attribute of the news that trumps speed in importance. So it must have been with unreserved horror that the editor of an English newspaper a little more than a hundred years ago opened his printed and distributed paper to find in it a most embarrassing unintentional typographical conflation of two stories: one story being about a patent pig-killing and sausage-making machine and the other about a local clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Mudge, who was being presented with a gold-headed cane. A portion of the famously-mangled story reads as follows:
Several of Rev. Dr. Mudge’s friends called upon him yesterday, and after a conversation the unsuspecting pig was seized by the hind leg, and slid along a beam until he reached the hot-water tank. . . . Thereupon he came forward and said that there were times when the feelings overpowered one, and for that reason he would not attempt to do more than thank those around him for the manner in which such a huge animal was cut into fragments was simply astonishing. The doctor concluded his remarks, when the machine seized him and, in less time than it takes to write it, the pig was cut into fragments and worked up into a delicious sausage. The occasion will be long remembered by the doctor’s friends as one of the most delightful of their lives. The best pieces can be procured for tenpence a pound, and we are sure that those who have sat so long under his ministry will rejoice that he has been treated so handsomely.
“
(From: Mark Dever, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, 79.)
In his chapter on the gospel, Mark Dever points out that general belief is not the central key to saving faith in Christ. What matters, what truly matters, is that the one who believes believe in an accurate, authentic, clear gospel.
We live among a people who have many different beliefs about what it means to be saved. Some people thing God is simply not willing to punish sin. Others think they are not so bad. Still others assume that they will have a chance to make things right with God later in life or after they are dead. Some think they will be good enough to earn God’s grace. Some think they can give to a church or serve in the community to earn a pass into heaven.
Christians, it is crucial for us to see to it that those around us—our friends, neighbors, and families—know the one true gospel. They must see that the only way to be made right with God is not through good deeds, but through a genuine, life-changing, soul-entrusting faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are to do this, we must be committed to two things. First, we must be committed to being certain that we personally have a solid grasp of the content of the gospel. Second, we must make it our priority to take that gospel to every person in our community and to see to it that it gets to every people group in the world. Will you make it your priority to know the gospel and then go and share it with a lost world?
Four Faces Reflecting Glory (Revelation 4:6-7)
Revelation 4:6-7 (ESV)
6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.
One of the best illustrations that I have ever heard to describe the role of God’s creation is that we are as mirrors, reflecting to one another the glories of our Creator. As human beings, it is our purpose in life to show the universe aspects of the glory of our Lord. Other people, angels, or the creation itself should be able to look at us and see us reflecting glimpses of who God is and how wonderful he is. No, we will never perfectly mirror the infinite, but we can show tiny reflections of some of God’s attributes.
This morning I was listening to Hershael York working through a series overviewing the book of Revelation (a series I’m enjoying quite a lot). In that series, I listened to Dr. York reading the verses above, and was again struck by the glorious pictures in this passage. My mind has since been working through how these verses also show us some of the mirroring of God’s glory.
The four living creatures around God’s throne in the book of Revelation are mysterious beings. Are they angels? They don’t look like any angels we see in other passages. They are, well, creatures. God made them and gave them a purpose. I would put forward, though tentatively to be sure, that their purpose is to reflect to us aspects of the work of Christ in redemption.
The four faces of the creatures have been interpreted in a variety of ways. The one that makes the most sense to me would show us four aspects of the person of Christ. The lion could represent Judah, kingship, Messiah. The ox could represent humble servanthood. The man could represent humanity as Christ took on true human form to save us. The flying eagle could represent deity.
(at this point, let me say that there are several other good options available to you here, so let’s not get dogmatic. One example is people saying that the lion is for wild beasts, the ox is for tame beasts, the man for humanity, and the eagle for flying creatures—all four categories over which God reigns as supreme.)
What is also fascinating, if you go with my look at the four beasts, is that we see those four purposes paralleled in the four gospels. Looking at Matthew, we see the genealogy of Jesus arguing for his kingship or his being Messiah—the lion. Looking at Mark, there is no genealogy which may indicate the humble servanthood of Christ who laid down his rights to rescue God’s children—the ox. Looking at Luke, we see the genealogy of Jesus taking us all the way back to Adam, establishing Jesus’ humanity—the man. John’s gospel has no genealogy, but begins with and regularly asserts the deity of Jesus—the eagle.
Could it be that those four creatures around the throne of God have faces that are eternally reminding us of the person and work of Jesus Christ? He is the Messiah, the humble servant, the God who became man, and the man who is still God. Maybe so. And if this is the job of those creatures, even their only job, what a glorious role they have. Forever, they fly near the throne of God, show the universe the person and work of Christ, and declare God to be triply holy and worthy of all praise. If this is the purpose of these creatures, they fulfill their roles well, and they must be overjoyed to eternally see and savor the glory of the Lord.
So, taking my little foray into symbolism to another level, how about you? What kind of face would be on you as a sign of who God is? If people were to look at your life, would they see a creature that shows them some of God’s love, his grace, his compassion, his purity, his kindness, his mercy, etc? What do you show the world about your Creator? It is certain that God has made you in his image. You are to be a mirror of his glory. You will be most happy, most fulfilled, when you are busily showing the universe around you the awesome beauty of our God.
A Glorious Sovereignty (2 Kings 8:5-6)
2 Kings 8:5-6
5 And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”
God is sovereign. This means that God is fully in control of all things. There is nothing, no event whatsoever, which is outside of God’s sovereign power.
R.C. Sproul described this principle this way in Chosen By God:
To say that God foreordains all that comes to pass is simply to say that God is sovereign over his entire creation. If something could come to pass apart from his sovereign permission, then that which came to pass would frustrate his sovereignty. If God refused to permit something to happen and it happened anyway, then whatever caused it to happen would have more authority and power than God himself. If there is any part of creation outside of God’s sovereignty, then God is simply not sovereign. If God is not sovereign, then God is not God.
If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled. Perhaps that one maverick molecule will lay waste all the grand and glorious plans that God has made and promised to us. If a grain of sand in the kidney of Oliver Cromwell changed the course of English history, so our maverick molecule could change the course of all redemption history. Maybe that one molecule will be the thing that prevents Christ from returning.*
Now, take a look at the passage above and watch the sovereignty of God at work. The woman whose son Elisha raised from the dead left Israel in a time of trouble. She returned some time later, and went to the king to ask for her land back. “Perhaps,” she must have thought, “the king will have mercy on me.”
When the woman returned with her request—a request that the king was unlikely to grant in general—she found that the king was in conversation with a servant of Elisha. It turns out that, at the precise moment when the woman approached the king to ask for mercy, God had seen to it that the king would already be made aware of the woman’s circumstances. God used his sovereign power to make things perfect for the woman to return, petition the king, and get even more than she could have ever dreamed.
God is sovereign. This is true in old Bible stories and in modern life. God is sovereign today. Is there someone you want to share Jesus with? Are you afraid that they will not hear your presentation of the gospel? God is sovereign. God may have already prepared that person for the very moment that you will approach them. God might just be stacking up the perfect circumstances to make the gospel message you present be exactly what the other needs to hear.
Christians, learn to love the fact that God is in control. If he were not in control, our lives would not be worth living. Were God not in control, his promises would be worthless. But since God is sovereign, we can trust him to do amazing things for his glory and for the spread of his kingdom.
*From R.C. Sproul, Chosen By God (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, 27. It is possible that this page number is inaccurate, as I pulled the quote from an old digital copy of the book.
A healthy View of Personal hardship (Philippians 1:12-14)
Philippians 1:12-14
12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he did so from a prison cell. The apostle was suffering, being directly persecuted for his faith. Yet, when we look at his words, we see no self-pity. What we see from Paul is a believer who wants to see his circumstances, even the difficult ones, used to demonstrate the glory of God.
Paul knew that his prison term was serving to advance the cause of the gospel. Paul was himself witnessing to his jailers. This gave Paul an opportunity to regularly preach Jesus to men who would never have listened to Paul on the street.
Paul’s suffering also encouraged others to boldly evangelize. When Paul’s friends saw him in chains, they knew that they had not suffered like Paul. That knowledge led the believers to step up and do what God had already called them to do.
Just this last week, a pastor friend of mine told me that his son asked about my blindness. What the young man asked was, “Should we be praying that God heal Travis.” My friend did not know exactly how to answer that question. I think that this passage in Philippians is not a bad place to give an answer to that question.
Of course, if healing my eyesight would be the most glorious thing for God, then I would be glad of it. I am confident that God possesses the power to heal me at any time he so chooses. Correcting a few cells in my retinas would not be a stretch for the God who called the universe into existence by a word.
However, it might be that my walk through life without physical sight serves to advance the gospel just as Paul’s imprisonment did. Perhaps, because of my vision, I have the ability to speak to others in a way that a sighted person may not. Perhaps Christians are challenged to follow God more faithfully because they do not have the challenges that I must overcome. If so, if God is gaining more glory and doing more good for his kingdom through me as I am, let’s pray that God will use my hardships to bring himself glory.
What about you? What are you suffering? What frustrates you about your life? What are you wishing were changed? Are you allowing your circumstances to help you to share the gospel? Are you using your hardships to challenge other Christians to be more bold? Sometimes our hardships are gifts from God that will aid us in displaying his glory. If that is what God does through our pains, let him be glorified and may we experience the joy of being used by him for the magnification of his holiness.
Pastor Travis Peterson 