As Christians, the word "Gospel" is used so frequently that sometimes we actually aren't quite sure what is meant by it. As a matter of fact, what I have discovered is that very often many of us really aren’t quite sure just what the Gospel is, and just why it is such good news.
I'm sure that if you were to ask Christians today to define the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the sad fact is that many of us would really have no idea of what to say. This should greatly concern us for many reasons, especially because as we read through the pages of Scripture, we discover that the all-consuming focus and passion of the God-breathed Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation is the glory of God as most significantly revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is with this in mind that I would like to direct readers to a brief article entitled What is the Gospel? It is written by Pastor Steve Steve Froehlich of New Life Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, NY. This article contains one of the most clear, concise, and edifying statements of the Gospel and its benefits that I have seen.
If you are a believer, I trust you will find the article to be very edifying, and possibly even educational. If you are not a believer and are considering Christianity, I think that the article will serve to really give you a great idea of what Christians mean when they say "Gospel," and why it is so important for you to consider.
Happy reading,
John
Showing posts with label General Christian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General Christian. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Christian Music
The "worship wars" have seemed to settle down a bit, as I have not heard much static about contemporary music, lyrical shallowness, etc. So, since there seems to be relative peace on the matter, I thought I'd stir the pot! (just kidding).
Actually, as one who has led worship, been on "worship teams," and loves music, I thought that I would highlight three ministries that I think are "must haves" either for personal edification, or, in some cases, for use in the worship services of those that have a contemporary worship style.
Contemporary Christian music is sometimes lacking in real “depth” for lack of a better word. But, that problem is being addressed head-on by a number of really great ministries. What I offer below is a rather eclectic mix. No doubt there will be some that will love the list, and others who will find something critical to say about both the content and the form of the music (evidently, only those forms that were created by White European males in the 16-18th centuries really have the divine stamp of approval!):
1. Lampmode: http://www.lampmode.com/. This ministry produces Christian hip-hop music. Christian hip-hop, like other forms of contemporary Christian music, has sometimes suffered from lyrical weakness and repetitiveness. However, Lampmode is far different. The lyrics are saturated with the Gospel and a variety of theological concepts (as a matter of fact, they refer to it as “lyrical theology”). One of the founders of the ministry used to work with me when I worked in Philadelphia. His name is Shai Linne (his blog is here: http://lyricaltheology.blogspot.com/). Shai's stuff is amazing, and he is such a humble servant for the Lord. He has three cd’s out. I have the first 2: Solus Christus, and Atonement (http://www.merchline.com/lampmode/) . Well worth every penny if you decide to check it out.
2. Indelible Grace: http://www.igracemusic.com/. They have basically gone back to the rich classic hymns (particularly those found in the Trinity Hymnal: http://www.opc.org/hymnal.html), and have reworked them to contemporary music. All of the cd’s they offer are good, though some are better than others (Matthew Smith is a must though).
3. Sovereign Grace Ministries: This is their main site: http://sovereigngraceministries.org/
And this is the site that deals solely with their music: http://sovereigngracemusic.org/. They are writing new music that is lyrically substantive. Their stuff tends to be quite upbeat.
Anyway, for you music lovers out there, I thought you might find these very edifying for you personally. And, if you are leading worship, these might present some options for you that will really get the Gospel into almost every song.
By His Grace; For His Glory,
John
Actually, as one who has led worship, been on "worship teams," and loves music, I thought that I would highlight three ministries that I think are "must haves" either for personal edification, or, in some cases, for use in the worship services of those that have a contemporary worship style.
Contemporary Christian music is sometimes lacking in real “depth” for lack of a better word. But, that problem is being addressed head-on by a number of really great ministries. What I offer below is a rather eclectic mix. No doubt there will be some that will love the list, and others who will find something critical to say about both the content and the form of the music (evidently, only those forms that were created by White European males in the 16-18th centuries really have the divine stamp of approval!):
1. Lampmode: http://www.lampmode.com/. This ministry produces Christian hip-hop music. Christian hip-hop, like other forms of contemporary Christian music, has sometimes suffered from lyrical weakness and repetitiveness. However, Lampmode is far different. The lyrics are saturated with the Gospel and a variety of theological concepts (as a matter of fact, they refer to it as “lyrical theology”). One of the founders of the ministry used to work with me when I worked in Philadelphia. His name is Shai Linne (his blog is here: http://lyricaltheology.blogspot.com/). Shai's stuff is amazing, and he is such a humble servant for the Lord. He has three cd’s out. I have the first 2: Solus Christus, and Atonement (http://www.merchline.com/lampmode/) . Well worth every penny if you decide to check it out.
2. Indelible Grace: http://www.igracemusic.com/. They have basically gone back to the rich classic hymns (particularly those found in the Trinity Hymnal: http://www.opc.org/hymnal.html), and have reworked them to contemporary music. All of the cd’s they offer are good, though some are better than others (Matthew Smith is a must though).
3. Sovereign Grace Ministries: This is their main site: http://sovereigngraceministries.org/
And this is the site that deals solely with their music: http://sovereigngracemusic.org/. They are writing new music that is lyrically substantive. Their stuff tends to be quite upbeat.
Anyway, for you music lovers out there, I thought you might find these very edifying for you personally. And, if you are leading worship, these might present some options for you that will really get the Gospel into almost every song.
By His Grace; For His Glory,
John
Sunday, January 27, 2008
O Self-Reliance
By
John Orlando
In class I took, we were tasked to preach a sermon to ourselves wherein we addressed what we thought were our own self-besetting sin. I chose the sin of self-reliance to preach against:
O Self-Reliance! Look at you! Because of you, I say that God is sovereign. I say that I am utterly helpless without God. I am quick to quote the Lord’s words, “without Me you can do nothing…” (John 15:5). Yet I, through your subtle whisperings I go about my day as if everything depended upon my own strength, intellect, and abilities. On account of your deceitful ways, I have no problem saying those things are God-given, yet I am far to quick to act, far to slow to pray and when I do pray, it is not energized with the sense of urgency, or even real belief that I really can do nothing apart from Christ.
So look at that, O Self-Reliance! Through your craftiness, I can tell others about faith in Christ, but I myself have none, because my faith is ultimately grounded in myself. I can point others to Christ, but I point myself to myself. Through your arrogant proddings, I secretly believe that whatever success I enjoy is due largely to my ingenuity, and when the applause of men comes my way, I say in false humility, “thank you friend; but you know, to God alone be all of the glory!” Yeah, right. Who are you fooling, O Self-Reliance? Trust me; God is neither fooled, nor is He impressed.
O Self-Reliance! You obscure so much and cause me to miss so much of what the Gospel is! Why did Jesus lived and died? Was it merely to secure a place in Heaven for me? As grand a thing as that is, and much as I know that He did do that, there is so much more that Jesus has won and holds out for me in His Gospel. But even if that were all, what does that teach me? Does it not demonstrate that I, O Self-Reliance, am utterly helpless in and of myself in the most significant of all ways; namely, to be in a right relationship with my Creator?
Yet, how is it that I forget so quickly that the reason I am utterly helpless to be in a right relationship with God is directly due to the radical corruption of my heart, wherein you reside O Self-Reliance? O-Self Reliance, you devious trickster! You would have me forget that the whole essence of who I am--my mind, body, emotions, and will--has been devastated to the core by sin.
That's right, O-Self- Reliance! The Bible is manifestly clear! My heart; the essence of who I am as a person, is “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it…” (Jer 17:9). The imaginations of my heart are only evil continually (Gen 8:21). And you can't beguile me into thinking that this was something that I grew into because of my environment, or because of the work of Satan. No my friend…I was “brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me…” (Ps 51:5). Wickedness has defined my existence from the very moment that I was conceived, O Self-Reliance! The very nanosecond I was conceived, I was a God-hater; and, as much as you hate it, O Self-Reliance, I remain utterly dependent upon God for every beat of my heart, and every breath that I breathe.
That’s right, O Self-Reliance! As a result of sin, both that which I was born into, and that which I constantly commit in word, thought and deed, I was the sworn enemy God, cut off from His blessed presence, a child of wrath that was only storing up for myself more of God’s wrath for the day of judgment. I was indeed without Christ, having no hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:12). But God Himself solved my dilemma by securing and providing a great way of salvation: justification by grace alone through faith alone, in and because of the finished work of Christ alone, and now I can experience a personal relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords for all eternity.
And notice, O Self-Reliance; this is what God alone has accomplished, and it comes to me solely by God’s grace through faith in what Christ alone has done. In order to gain right standing with God, God did all of the work, and promises eternal life to all those who simply trust in Jesus Christ alone!
That's right O Self-Reliance! God did not ask me to climb Mount Everest! God did not say that I had to give a billion dollars to my favorite charity! God did not require me to make a religious pilgrimage to Mecca. God did not require me to fast, or to go to church every Sunday, or to pray 2 hours a day, or to read one chapter of the Bible every day. God did not require me to give just 1 cent per year to the church. Nope.
Of course, God does require something far more difficult, and impossible, than any of those things, or a billion other things you could conjure up with your fertile imagination. That's right O Self-Reliance! God has required something infinitely more difficult; God has required perfect obedience to His Law in word, thought, and deed...He has required the impossible! And, seeing the impossiblity of that, God sent His Son, the infinite God-Man, to do what I could never do, and to pay the penalty that I could never pay. That's right, O Self-Reliance! Where I was, and am, unable to obey God perfectly in word, thought, and deed, Jesus, my substitute, has obeyed perfectly on my behalf, and His perfect obedience has now been credited to my account! And the sentence of Divine Justice that was due to me was poured out on Him who knew no sin! Now what, O Self-Reliance! You would point me to any number of ridiculous things to try to gain heaven. But now, on the basis of the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ alone, God simply says to me, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” (Acts 16:31).
Of course, something even as seemingly simple as that I was totally unable to do! O Self-Reliance! You stupid fool! You would make me forget that sin had so wrapped its darkness over my soul, that not only was I alienated from God, but, I even lacked the ability to exercise saving faith! But thankfully, O Self-Reliance, by God’s grace I was brought to spiritual life, and God gave me the gift of faith and enabled me to renounce myself so that I could place all of my trust in the works and merits of Christ alone to get me to Heaven.
But O Self-Reliance, how resilient you are! In light of all of these things, you rear your faithless head, and shout your Godless mantras into my soul that would have me live my life trusting and resting in and upon my own strength. And when I allow you to reign in my heart, I am far removed from my Lord and Savior. I am trusting in myself, and not in Christ. I am not taking hold of the fact that God has indeed forever declared me righteous by clothing in the righteousness of Christ. I have moved away from the only thing that can give me victory in my daily life in my battles with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
As I alluded to, Christ did not live and die for me just to ensure my safe passage to Heaven. That is just a part of the story! The life and death of Christ were intended to do more than that! Christ lived and died for me so that when He brought me to Himself, He would begin to conform me to His image on a daily basis. And you see, O Self-Reliance, that happens the same way as when God first saved me. It happens by grace alone, through faith alone, in and because of the finished work of Christ alone. God, through the Gospel, has justified me. And now God, through the Gospel alone, is going to put you to death in the process of my sanctification.
That’s right, O Self-Reliance! The Gospel isn’t only for unbelievers, but it is for believers as well! By God’s grace and power I am taking the Gospel off of the shelf, because ultimately it alone is the power of God unto salvation…all of salvation, to include my sanctification.
I am to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, and the only means by which I can do that is in the context of the Gospel, not by trying to pull myself up by my bootstraps, which is your vain philosophy, O Self-Reliance! Away with that bondage! It is for freedom that Christ has set me free…free from guilt, free from shame, free from the yoke of trying to earn His favor, free from you, O Self-Reliance!
I am taking hold of that glorious Gospel of the Living Christ, and setting my eyes upon it everyday, and preaching it to myself everyday!
Christ is the only solid rock upon which I can ever stand. I am going to fix my eyes fully on Jesus, the author and the finisher of my faith. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust in Jesus’ Name! Amen.
By God's Grace and For His Glory,
John Orlando
John Orlando
In class I took, we were tasked to preach a sermon to ourselves wherein we addressed what we thought were our own self-besetting sin. I chose the sin of self-reliance to preach against:
O Self-Reliance! Look at you! Because of you, I say that God is sovereign. I say that I am utterly helpless without God. I am quick to quote the Lord’s words, “without Me you can do nothing…” (John 15:5). Yet I, through your subtle whisperings I go about my day as if everything depended upon my own strength, intellect, and abilities. On account of your deceitful ways, I have no problem saying those things are God-given, yet I am far to quick to act, far to slow to pray and when I do pray, it is not energized with the sense of urgency, or even real belief that I really can do nothing apart from Christ.
So look at that, O Self-Reliance! Through your craftiness, I can tell others about faith in Christ, but I myself have none, because my faith is ultimately grounded in myself. I can point others to Christ, but I point myself to myself. Through your arrogant proddings, I secretly believe that whatever success I enjoy is due largely to my ingenuity, and when the applause of men comes my way, I say in false humility, “thank you friend; but you know, to God alone be all of the glory!” Yeah, right. Who are you fooling, O Self-Reliance? Trust me; God is neither fooled, nor is He impressed.
O Self-Reliance! You obscure so much and cause me to miss so much of what the Gospel is! Why did Jesus lived and died? Was it merely to secure a place in Heaven for me? As grand a thing as that is, and much as I know that He did do that, there is so much more that Jesus has won and holds out for me in His Gospel. But even if that were all, what does that teach me? Does it not demonstrate that I, O Self-Reliance, am utterly helpless in and of myself in the most significant of all ways; namely, to be in a right relationship with my Creator?
Yet, how is it that I forget so quickly that the reason I am utterly helpless to be in a right relationship with God is directly due to the radical corruption of my heart, wherein you reside O Self-Reliance? O-Self Reliance, you devious trickster! You would have me forget that the whole essence of who I am--my mind, body, emotions, and will--has been devastated to the core by sin.
That's right, O-Self- Reliance! The Bible is manifestly clear! My heart; the essence of who I am as a person, is “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it…” (Jer 17:9). The imaginations of my heart are only evil continually (Gen 8:21). And you can't beguile me into thinking that this was something that I grew into because of my environment, or because of the work of Satan. No my friend…I was “brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me…” (Ps 51:5). Wickedness has defined my existence from the very moment that I was conceived, O Self-Reliance! The very nanosecond I was conceived, I was a God-hater; and, as much as you hate it, O Self-Reliance, I remain utterly dependent upon God for every beat of my heart, and every breath that I breathe.
That’s right, O Self-Reliance! As a result of sin, both that which I was born into, and that which I constantly commit in word, thought and deed, I was the sworn enemy God, cut off from His blessed presence, a child of wrath that was only storing up for myself more of God’s wrath for the day of judgment. I was indeed without Christ, having no hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:12). But God Himself solved my dilemma by securing and providing a great way of salvation: justification by grace alone through faith alone, in and because of the finished work of Christ alone, and now I can experience a personal relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords for all eternity.
And notice, O Self-Reliance; this is what God alone has accomplished, and it comes to me solely by God’s grace through faith in what Christ alone has done. In order to gain right standing with God, God did all of the work, and promises eternal life to all those who simply trust in Jesus Christ alone!
That's right O Self-Reliance! God did not ask me to climb Mount Everest! God did not say that I had to give a billion dollars to my favorite charity! God did not require me to make a religious pilgrimage to Mecca. God did not require me to fast, or to go to church every Sunday, or to pray 2 hours a day, or to read one chapter of the Bible every day. God did not require me to give just 1 cent per year to the church. Nope.
Of course, God does require something far more difficult, and impossible, than any of those things, or a billion other things you could conjure up with your fertile imagination. That's right O Self-Reliance! God has required something infinitely more difficult; God has required perfect obedience to His Law in word, thought, and deed...He has required the impossible! And, seeing the impossiblity of that, God sent His Son, the infinite God-Man, to do what I could never do, and to pay the penalty that I could never pay. That's right, O Self-Reliance! Where I was, and am, unable to obey God perfectly in word, thought, and deed, Jesus, my substitute, has obeyed perfectly on my behalf, and His perfect obedience has now been credited to my account! And the sentence of Divine Justice that was due to me was poured out on Him who knew no sin! Now what, O Self-Reliance! You would point me to any number of ridiculous things to try to gain heaven. But now, on the basis of the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ alone, God simply says to me, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” (Acts 16:31).
Of course, something even as seemingly simple as that I was totally unable to do! O Self-Reliance! You stupid fool! You would make me forget that sin had so wrapped its darkness over my soul, that not only was I alienated from God, but, I even lacked the ability to exercise saving faith! But thankfully, O Self-Reliance, by God’s grace I was brought to spiritual life, and God gave me the gift of faith and enabled me to renounce myself so that I could place all of my trust in the works and merits of Christ alone to get me to Heaven.
But O Self-Reliance, how resilient you are! In light of all of these things, you rear your faithless head, and shout your Godless mantras into my soul that would have me live my life trusting and resting in and upon my own strength. And when I allow you to reign in my heart, I am far removed from my Lord and Savior. I am trusting in myself, and not in Christ. I am not taking hold of the fact that God has indeed forever declared me righteous by clothing in the righteousness of Christ. I have moved away from the only thing that can give me victory in my daily life in my battles with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
As I alluded to, Christ did not live and die for me just to ensure my safe passage to Heaven. That is just a part of the story! The life and death of Christ were intended to do more than that! Christ lived and died for me so that when He brought me to Himself, He would begin to conform me to His image on a daily basis. And you see, O Self-Reliance, that happens the same way as when God first saved me. It happens by grace alone, through faith alone, in and because of the finished work of Christ alone. God, through the Gospel, has justified me. And now God, through the Gospel alone, is going to put you to death in the process of my sanctification.
That’s right, O Self-Reliance! The Gospel isn’t only for unbelievers, but it is for believers as well! By God’s grace and power I am taking the Gospel off of the shelf, because ultimately it alone is the power of God unto salvation…all of salvation, to include my sanctification.
I am to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, and the only means by which I can do that is in the context of the Gospel, not by trying to pull myself up by my bootstraps, which is your vain philosophy, O Self-Reliance! Away with that bondage! It is for freedom that Christ has set me free…free from guilt, free from shame, free from the yoke of trying to earn His favor, free from you, O Self-Reliance!
I am taking hold of that glorious Gospel of the Living Christ, and setting my eyes upon it everyday, and preaching it to myself everyday!
Christ is the only solid rock upon which I can ever stand. I am going to fix my eyes fully on Jesus, the author and the finisher of my faith. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust in Jesus’ Name! Amen.
By God's Grace and For His Glory,
John Orlando
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Dealing with Disappointment in Others
By John Orlando
My friend writes: "Our attendance last night at church was way down. And the singing was just terrible. I could not feel the Spirit of the Lord at all. There is just no life in these baptised in vinager christians!! The Choir has ceased to exist as well as the impromptu choir on Sunday mornings. There just is no commitment anymore and no one wants to sing for the Lord!! I can't even find two people in the whole congregation that want to be a part of a praise team and willing to practice once a week. They are all soloists!! Do not attend all services, and sick every other week!! What a mess!~ There was no sincere worship at all. Hopefully the Lord will send me some fresh saints..." END
I thought a good deal about this, and then I sent this response:
My Response:
"Our frustration with others and their seeming lack of response to the glories of the Gospel is born out of a true desire to see people edified, and because we want God to be worshipped for all that He is. How do we keep from allowing this to frustrate us, or worse, to develop bad feelings about those that we’re having the problem with? That is tough, but I think it is helpful for us to keep a couple of things in mind:
1. First, when we get frustrated with others over their sin, I think we need to immediately seek the Lord’s face; but not so that He will “fix” them first (though we will get around to praying for them), but so that He would be gracious to me and that He would cause me to look at Christ and the glories of His Gospel. As I do this, I will quickly realize that if truth be told, no one truly worships God purely and perfectly and in the manner prescribed by God, to include me. Only one person ever offered God perfect worship, and that was our Lord, and the only reason God accepts any of our worship (even when we think we are worshipping aright) is because of the perfect righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to us by His grace alone.
As I go to the Lord in prayer, I am (or at least should be) reminded of how far short of His glory I fall in every conceivable way, whether it is in word, thought, and deed. I realize that I, like my brothers and sisters with whom I am disappointed, are all just beggars in continual and constant need of God’s grace. But as those that have been united to Christ by God’s grace alone, we can rejoice because we know that His grace constantly flows towards us from the Father, in Christ, and through the Spirit. It is here where we need to live and not be moved, because it is here where we will be able to view others through the Gospel.
I can look at others and see where they fall short (hey, we fallen human beings are pro’s at that! :-)), but when I begin to consider God’s grace that has been extended to me, and I consider the depths of sin that still remains in me, I am overwhelmed by His grace, and I am then able to see others with their “shortcomings” through the same grace of the Gospel that has been extended to me. In other words, we need to keep before us the saying that you and I love so much: “I’m just an old sinner, saved by grace.” That is all we will ever be, no matter how much we grow in our sanctification, and the great irony of course is that the more I grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, the more I am confronted with the ugliness of the sin that still resides in me. And just as I am “just and old sinner, saved by grace,” so are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and all that we are in Christ we are by His grace alone.
2. Having dealt with ourselves first, I think we can move on to prayer for our brothers and sisters. We have been laid bare before God’s holiness and have experienced once again the amazing grace that comes to us in the Gospel. Now we want to pray that God would be so gracious as to do a similar work in the lives of our brothers and sisters. And we appeal to God, not looking down upon them, but out of a supreme love for them, and because we know that the only way any of us will ever desire anything related to God and the Gospel is if God first gives us the desire. We need to pray then that God would give them, and me, a hunger and desire for more and more of Christ, and that He would inflame our hearts and minds with the Gospel, and that Christ and Him crucified would be the thing that we treasure most.
3. Then I would pray and ask God how it is that I could be a conduit of His love and grace…how can I be a display of the love and mercy of God to them? Here I believe that we will be directed to biblical love as most clearly presented in 1 Cor 13; consider especially: “love is patient…it keeps no record of wrongs…”
4. When I then interact with them, I would point them to the glories of Christ as revealed in the Gospel, and then leave the results to God. You see, the thing that will motivate a Christian to service is not a list of do’s and don’ts, rather, it is the Gospel. Our obedience is grounded in, and flows out of the riches of the Gospel that we have experienced. In other words, the more and more we fall in love with Jesus, the more and more that will manifest itself in our lives.
Thus, we want to exhort and edify one another in the Gospel. We love Him because He first loved us, and because of His radical love for us, I am now motivated to live a life committed to Him. As the Christian falls more and more in love Jesus, he or she will want to get involved, not to get anything, but because they have everything in Christ. This is why biblical preaching is so important…we must constantly be putting Christ before God’s people, and exhorting them to rest in Christ.
I can certainly relate to your frustration, but, I think we get a good perspective when we go back to the cross and see ourselves in light of it. If we are thinking properly about the cross, it will always magnify the depravity and sin that is within me, but it will also magnify the glories and greatness of God’s grace toward me and those that may not be “measuring up” to some preconceived standard that I have, which, if I’m honest, I can’t even live up to perfectly. Only God can give the increase, whether we are talking about unbelievers being saved, or believers being revived, and it is only the Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation…all of salvation, whether we are talking about our justification, or our sanctification." END
My friend writes: "Our attendance last night at church was way down. And the singing was just terrible. I could not feel the Spirit of the Lord at all. There is just no life in these baptised in vinager christians!! The Choir has ceased to exist as well as the impromptu choir on Sunday mornings. There just is no commitment anymore and no one wants to sing for the Lord!! I can't even find two people in the whole congregation that want to be a part of a praise team and willing to practice once a week. They are all soloists!! Do not attend all services, and sick every other week!! What a mess!~ There was no sincere worship at all. Hopefully the Lord will send me some fresh saints..." END
I thought a good deal about this, and then I sent this response:
My Response:
"Our frustration with others and their seeming lack of response to the glories of the Gospel is born out of a true desire to see people edified, and because we want God to be worshipped for all that He is. How do we keep from allowing this to frustrate us, or worse, to develop bad feelings about those that we’re having the problem with? That is tough, but I think it is helpful for us to keep a couple of things in mind:
1. First, when we get frustrated with others over their sin, I think we need to immediately seek the Lord’s face; but not so that He will “fix” them first (though we will get around to praying for them), but so that He would be gracious to me and that He would cause me to look at Christ and the glories of His Gospel. As I do this, I will quickly realize that if truth be told, no one truly worships God purely and perfectly and in the manner prescribed by God, to include me. Only one person ever offered God perfect worship, and that was our Lord, and the only reason God accepts any of our worship (even when we think we are worshipping aright) is because of the perfect righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to us by His grace alone.
As I go to the Lord in prayer, I am (or at least should be) reminded of how far short of His glory I fall in every conceivable way, whether it is in word, thought, and deed. I realize that I, like my brothers and sisters with whom I am disappointed, are all just beggars in continual and constant need of God’s grace. But as those that have been united to Christ by God’s grace alone, we can rejoice because we know that His grace constantly flows towards us from the Father, in Christ, and through the Spirit. It is here where we need to live and not be moved, because it is here where we will be able to view others through the Gospel.
I can look at others and see where they fall short (hey, we fallen human beings are pro’s at that! :-)), but when I begin to consider God’s grace that has been extended to me, and I consider the depths of sin that still remains in me, I am overwhelmed by His grace, and I am then able to see others with their “shortcomings” through the same grace of the Gospel that has been extended to me. In other words, we need to keep before us the saying that you and I love so much: “I’m just an old sinner, saved by grace.” That is all we will ever be, no matter how much we grow in our sanctification, and the great irony of course is that the more I grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, the more I am confronted with the ugliness of the sin that still resides in me. And just as I am “just and old sinner, saved by grace,” so are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and all that we are in Christ we are by His grace alone.
2. Having dealt with ourselves first, I think we can move on to prayer for our brothers and sisters. We have been laid bare before God’s holiness and have experienced once again the amazing grace that comes to us in the Gospel. Now we want to pray that God would be so gracious as to do a similar work in the lives of our brothers and sisters. And we appeal to God, not looking down upon them, but out of a supreme love for them, and because we know that the only way any of us will ever desire anything related to God and the Gospel is if God first gives us the desire. We need to pray then that God would give them, and me, a hunger and desire for more and more of Christ, and that He would inflame our hearts and minds with the Gospel, and that Christ and Him crucified would be the thing that we treasure most.
3. Then I would pray and ask God how it is that I could be a conduit of His love and grace…how can I be a display of the love and mercy of God to them? Here I believe that we will be directed to biblical love as most clearly presented in 1 Cor 13; consider especially: “love is patient…it keeps no record of wrongs…”
4. When I then interact with them, I would point them to the glories of Christ as revealed in the Gospel, and then leave the results to God. You see, the thing that will motivate a Christian to service is not a list of do’s and don’ts, rather, it is the Gospel. Our obedience is grounded in, and flows out of the riches of the Gospel that we have experienced. In other words, the more and more we fall in love with Jesus, the more and more that will manifest itself in our lives.
Thus, we want to exhort and edify one another in the Gospel. We love Him because He first loved us, and because of His radical love for us, I am now motivated to live a life committed to Him. As the Christian falls more and more in love Jesus, he or she will want to get involved, not to get anything, but because they have everything in Christ. This is why biblical preaching is so important…we must constantly be putting Christ before God’s people, and exhorting them to rest in Christ.
I can certainly relate to your frustration, but, I think we get a good perspective when we go back to the cross and see ourselves in light of it. If we are thinking properly about the cross, it will always magnify the depravity and sin that is within me, but it will also magnify the glories and greatness of God’s grace toward me and those that may not be “measuring up” to some preconceived standard that I have, which, if I’m honest, I can’t even live up to perfectly. Only God can give the increase, whether we are talking about unbelievers being saved, or believers being revived, and it is only the Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation…all of salvation, whether we are talking about our justification, or our sanctification." END
Thursday, January 25, 2007
It's Just Me and My Bible
By John Orlando
I'll never forget the time a Christian woman argued with me stating that Christians should not read works produced by mere "men," but should only read the Bible. No matter how I tried to convince her of the need for us to read the writings of godly teachers so that we might learn and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, the more she resisted.
Well, the following is from Phil Johnson's blog callled Pyromaniacs (http://teampyro.blogspot.com/). I found it at another blog, the Reformation Theology blog, found here: http://www.reformationtheology.com/. It is a great reply to those that fall into this "it's just me and my Bible" error.
Here is what one person asked. Phil's reply follows afterward:
Your identity as a "Baptist"; your endless quotations from Charles Spurgeon; your faithful devotion to John MacArthur; and especially your willingness to call yourself a "Calvinist" are all huge red flags that tell me something is seriously wrong with your theology. Why do you teach a system of doctrine that is named after a mere man? Why are you following human teachers instead of going to the Bible alone? After all, 1 John 2:27 says, "The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you." We ought to go to Scripture alone to establish our doctrine! The truth is in God's Holy word, not in any theological system or theology textbook developed by mere men. Isn't that principle what the Reformation was originally about? Sola Scriptura? Didn't even Calvin himself go to Scripture for the truth instead of reading other men? I believe that if Calvin himself wrote for this blog, he would point people to the truth in God's Holy word, not to a theology developed by some other man.
Phil's reply:You have seriously misunderstood sola Sriptura if you really imagine that it rules out human teachers or eliminates systematic theology. The Reformers (including Calvin) often cited the works of Augustine, Tertullian, Jerome, Cyprian, Ambrose, and others-ranging from the early church fathers through Aquinas. They didn't follow any of them slavishly, of course, but they certainly took them seriously. Not one of the major Reformers would have tolerated the claim that because the Church Fathers were mere men they were therefore irrelevant or incapable of shedding any helpful light on tough theological questions.
Sola Scriptura means that Scripture alone is the final court of appeal in all matters of faith and practice. It is an affirmation that "the whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture" and that "nothing at any time is to be added [to the Bible], whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men." It recognizes that there is ultimately no higher spiritual authority than God's Word, so "the infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture . . . it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly."
But none of that means we're obliged to discard the wisdom of godly men from ages past and require each man to try to discern truth from scratch by reading nothing but Scripture by himself.
As for Calvin, he certainly did "point people to the truth in God's Holy Word"-but one thing he did not do was steer people away from the important theologians of the past. In fact, Calvin's works are filled with references to the Church Fathers-Augustine in particular. Calvin knew it was important to demonstrate that he was proposing nothing wholly novel and that his theology was in the doctrinal lineage of the greatest theologians of the church. He regarded himself as Augustinian, in precisely the same way many today think of themselves as "Calvinists."
If Calvin wrote for this blog and someone responded to one of his posts by refusing to read what Augustine wrote, Calvin would probably write that person off as arrogant and unteachable.
Incidentally, 1 John 2:20, 27 is the apostle John's response to an early outbreak of gnostic-flavored spiritual elitism. He was refuting some false teachers (he called them "antichrists") who insisted that real truth is a deep secret, different from the apostolic message, into which people must be initiated by some anointed swami. The Holy Spirit indwells and anoints each believer, and He is the One who truly enlightens and enables us to understand truth. But He also gifts certain people with a particular ability to teach others (Romans 12:6-7; Ephesians 4:11). So while John was condemning the notion of enlightened masters in the style of Freemasonry and gnosticism, he was not making a blanket condemnation of teachers. He himself was a teacher.
Bonus (from Phil):A follow-up message asks if I am suggesting it's wrong for someone to abandon all books and human teachers and rely only on what he can glean from the Bible for himself. Answer: yes, I think that's wrong because it's arrogant and reflects a sinful kind of unteachability. This is my whole point: sola Scriptura doesn't rule out the valid role of teaching in the church.
Furthermore, it is simply not the case that any common, unskilled, unschooled individual, sitting down with his Bible and no other tools, can expect to come to a full and mature understanding of Scripture without any help from godly teachers who understand some things better than he will ever get it on his own. Here's Bernard Ramm's famous response to the arrogance reflected in such a perversion of sola Scriptura:
It is often asserted by devout people that they can know the Bible completely without helps. They preface their interpretations with a remark like this: "Dear friends, I have read no man's book. I have consulted no man-made commentaries. I have gone right to the Bible to see what it had to say for itself." This sounds very spiritual, and usually is seconded with amens from the audience.
But is this the pathway of wisdom? Does any man have either the right or the learning to by-pass all the godly learning of the church? We think not.
First, although the claim to by-pass mere human books and go right to the Bible itself sounds devout and spiritual it is a veiled egotism. It is a subtle affirmation that a man can adequately know the Bible apart from the untiring, godly, consecrated scholarship of men like [Athanasius,] Calvin, Bengel, Alford, Lange, Ellicott, or Moule. . . .Secondly, such a claim is the old confusion of the inspiration of the Spirit with the illumination of the Spirit. The function of the Spirit is not to communicate new truth or to instruct in matters unknown, but to illuminate what is revealed in Scripture. Suppose we select a list of words from Isaiah and ask a man who claims he can by-pass the godly learning of Christian scholarship if he can out of his own soul or prayer give their meaning or significance: Tyre, Zidon, Chittim, Sihor, Moab, Mahershalalhashbas, Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Aiath, Migron, Michmash, Geba, Anathoth, Laish, Nob, and Gallim. He will find the only light he can get on these words is from a commentary or a Bible dictionary. [from Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1970), pp. 17-18 (emphasis in original).]
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Why I'm a Christian
A fantastic presentation by Dr. James White that presents the Gospel in a very down-to-earth manner while still retaining a clear God-centered and sound doctrinal focus. It is just over 27 minutes long and well worth the listen: http://mp3.aomin.org/JRW/WhyAmIAChristian.mp3
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