Does Christianity Have A Vision For Society?

Mark Dever's answer to the question....

"Mark began the message with a statement made one day by a Muslim friend: "That's the problem with Christianity: you have no vision for the state or for society as a whole."

"Does Christianity have a vision for the state or the society as a whole, or is Christianity—as my Muslim friend implied—so heavenly minded that it's of no earthly good? "

"I think visions like the one my friend had for the state are way too shallow. They're about swords and external conformity to laws. Jesus Christ comes to do something much deeper than any social revolutionary has ever been able to do. He's come to actually change our hearts, to change our natures. The Bible shows us that God has a wonderful vision for his world. We’ve all rejected that vision. And yet even after that rejection, God, in his amazing mercy and love, continues to pursue us. Jesus Christ, his own son, stood there teaching the very people that would in a few days' time seek his life, arrest him, beat him, have him put to death."

"Friends, it is the truth of Christianity, about God being holy and loving, and our being made in God's image, and yet fallen, and God's provisions and promises for us in Christ—it is all of these truths together that lead us to sufficiently respect the fallen governments of the world, and yet give us hope to endure them, and to work and hope for something infinitely better. So God gives us the peace that comes with such hope and the strength to get up another day, to continue following Jesus until he brings us home."

You can read the whole blog post by clicking here.

(HT: Sovereign Grace)

The State Of Your Position Before God

“When thinking of my state before God the question is not, Am I perfect in myself before the law? but, Am I perfect in Christ Jesus?

That is a very different matter.

We need not enquire, Am I without sin naturally? but, Have I been washed in the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness? It is not Am I in myself well pleasing to God? but it is Am I accepted in the Beloved?”

- Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, September 6

(HT: Of First Importance)

20 Years Ago Today...Hallelujah Amen!

It's one thing to talk about the gospel. It is yet another, to talk about the gospel applied to my life.

20 years ago today, God granted me the gift of faith to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation.

You see, I once was spiritually dead and I walked according to the course of this world and I lived in the desire of my flesh and was by nature a child of God's wrath, but on September 9, 1990, God being rich in mercy, b/c of His great love for me, made me alive together with Christ and by His grace, I was saved and given 'New Life' from the dead, in Christ, and to never walk and live the same again!

The gospel was and by His persevering grace is still being applied to my soul...to my mind, my heart, and my will.

20 years sounds like a very long time, but it feels like just a moment in time. They say that time flies when you're having fun and I guess it really does feel that way, but I am forever grateful for God's sanctifying grace. He not only saved me from His wrath, but He placed His Holy Spirit in my life to guide me in truth and to enjoy living the gospel of ongoing and growing faith and repentance in Christ.

I am His workmanship. I am created in Christ Jesus. I am created for good works, which God prepared for me to walk in. It is amazing to see God reveal to me, slowly, these good works that I am blessed to walk in.

May the next 20 years, Lord willing, shine brighter than the first and cause all people every where to behold these good works and then to glorify my Father in heaven.

Thank you Father for the gospel of Your Son Jesus Christ!

But thank you Father even more, for the gospel applied to my life, by giving me a 'New Life' in Your Son Jesus Christ!

Hallelujah...Amen!

"And He Received Him Gladly"

"And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, 'Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.' And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly...And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.'"
~ Luke 9.5-6 & 8-10

There are plenty of sweet things in this passage, but Zaccheus reminded me of how much we should always strive to remember, in that beautiful moment, how we "received Him gladly".

This helps to renew the mind in Christ when we reflect often of our salvation and conversion to Jesus Christ.

New Life Church Eads--1 Year Anniversary

Praise God!

This Sunday, June 20th, will mark the one year anniversary for New Life Church Eads. We are grateful to God for establishing a gospel presence in Eads. A gospel presence that seeks to shine the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God and not the light or knowledge of man, for we humbly preach Christ Jesus as Lord (2 Corinthians 4.4-5).

May God continue to fill us with His Spirit and may we truly abide in Christ and in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power!

So rejoice in the Lord New Life Church and all those who are grateful to God for gospel planting.

The Cross Cuts You Down To Size

“Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’

Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.”

~ John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

A Substitute Has Appeared

“A Substitute has appeared in space and time, appointed by God Himself, to bear the weight and burden of our transgressions, to make expiation for our guilt, and to propitiate the wrath of God on our behalf. This is the gospel.”

~ R. C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross (p. 81)

(HT: Of First Importance)

There Are So Many Needs

As I think through all that is going on these days in our country and in our world, I can't help but think that there are so many needs in the church today. This is a good thing, because it demonstrates that the body of Christ is active, marching, and pushing the gospel forward.

There are great needs, whether it is giving money to help rebuild local churches in Haiti to start ministering again through Churches Helping Churches, churches starting new churches, supporting international missionaries that push the gospel into places where it's not, or supporting new works like HeartBeat International to save the lives of the unborn children in America...we simply have a profound number of ways to be involved in making sure that people hear the gospel, the Word of Christ, that grants faith to those who are faith-less. And I'm sure there are a plethora of ways to give to the gospel advance that I haven't mentioned and/or I'm simply unaware of at this time.

Below is a video that I watched this morning recommended from John Piper. Please make yourself aware of this need. It is a video about ministering to the needs of women who have a 'choice' to make concerning their pregnancy in Los Angeles. Help them to choose LIFE! Thank you!

Churches Helping Churches In Haiti

Over the last week I'm sure you all have heard and seen the devastation of the earthquake that hit Haiti and then the 5.9 aftershock today.

If you haven't already heard about Churches Helping Churches I would like for you to consider being a part of the "spiritual" efforts to help restore the Haitian people through the local church.

Pastors Mark Driscoll & James MacDonald have together formed a ministry called Churches Helping Churches. This ministry is rooted in Galatians 6.10 “…let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

You can read the aim of their ministry by clicking on their ministry link here.

Stephanie and I were at my computer reading an update on their work when Stephanie said that we need to be a part of this spiritual effort. So we are. We have just submitted our donation and I'm encouraging all of you to be a part of this effort which will not only rebuild the physical island of Haiti, but more importantly the spiritual rebuilding of souls through local churches.

We are a kingdom minded people, therefore when the church is hurting we hurt and we help. We minister so that the gospel will advance. It is clear throughout scripture that the gospel advances quicker under trials and sufferings. This is a plain and simple truth, therefore this may be a time where God is bringing 'new life' in Christ where there once was no life in Him at all.

So we are participating in this effort with the body of Christ!

May God bless His church in Haiti!

Moralism or The Gospel?

Here is an excellent article from Al Mohler that every pastor, parent and I'm trying to think of another 'P' word but I can't, needs to read.

Take 3-5 minutes to read this article on whether or not your preaching moralism and/or 'raising your kids right', but in the end all your doing is teaching people/children how to be moral.

This is NOT the gospel!

This is a really good article and worth the few minutes to read it.

Let me hear your thoughts on it!

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=4388

The Gospel-Centered Church

Here is a pretty good post from Tullian Tchividjian on how a gospel-centered church functions.

The gospel is the story of God in Christ reaching down to a sinful world and our tri-fold response to the gospel (or, the gospel-centered life) is a life lived reaching up, reaching in, and reaching out. God intends the reality and power of the gospel to mold and shape us at every point and in every way–defining the way we think, feel, and live as a local church.

Churches often obscure the glory of the gospel by reducing it to something less than it is. Some understand the gospel only as doctrinal content to be believed. Others diminish it to a personal, subjective experience of God’s presence. Still others see it as a social cause to be championed. The gospel is none of these, and yet it is all of these. A truly gospel-centered church understands and embraces the fullness of the gospel as content, community, and cause.”

GOSPEL CONTENT The Gospel is a message that is to be preached or proclaimed (Mark 1:14; Acts 14:21; Rom 1:15; 1 Peter 1:12). It is the story of God’s redemption of his fallen creation. It is the good news that God has acted in history to conquer evil and reconcile sinners to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor 15:1-12). A gospel-centered church is one where the gospel is proclaimed clearly, consistently, and compellingly (1 Cor 9:16-23).

GOSPEL COMMUNITY The gospel is not just a message to be believed, but a power to be experienced (Rom 1:16). The gospel shapes a new community as those who were formerly God’s enemies are reconciled to Him (Rom 5:10) and adopted into his family (Gal 4:4-7). The church is not a place, but a people – a community that is continually being reformed and renewed by the transforming power of the gospel (Col. 1:6).

GOSPEL CAUSE The gospel is a call to action – a declaration that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). God is not just interested in the salvation of humans, but in the restoration of all of creation to its original “good” (Gen 1:31; Rom 8:19-22). A gospel-centered church will be active in the work of mercy, justice, and cultural renewal, praying and working against the effects of sin so that God’s will might be done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).

(HT: Tullian Tchividjian)

Do You Often Remember The Gospel's Effectual Work In Your Life?

Colossians 2.13-14

"And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

Don't Be Ashamed....Go Ahead And Tell Others!

“When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed.”

~ Charles H. Spurgeon, "Spurgeon Quotes on the Gospel"

(HT: Of First Importance)

Be Careful To Reserve The Word Heresy!

I have longed believe that the word heresy should only be used when orthodoxy has been broken when specifically concerning the doctrine of the person and work of Christ and the Trinity. This morning Al Mohler takes up the issue when he discusses the current state of the Episcopal Church.

Dr. Katherine Jefferts Schori is the presiding Bishop and she addresses their national convention by declaring that all who profess that Jesus Christ can save them and put them in a right relationship with God are caught up into the web of a Western heresy. Of course, she is flip flopping the issue. She claims that those who actually embrace an individualistic approach to the saving work of Christ are heretics. The irony!

But I wanted to highlight Mohler's paragraph that deals with what heresy should specifically concern.....it is below.

"In the history of Christian theology, the word heresy has been most properly applied to what the church has recognized as false and unbiblical teachings concerning the doctrines most closely related to Christ and the Trinity. The word heresy should properly be reserved for teachings that directly reject what the Bible reveals and the Church has confessed concerning the person and work of Christ and the reality and integrity of the Trinity. There are any number of false teachings and erroneous doctrines, but the term heresy should be restricted to those most central to the Gospel itself."

You can read the article in its entirety by clicking here.

Are You Paying Attention To The Way The Enemy Wants To Destroy Your Faith In Christ?

Today I preached on Colossians 2.8-10.

Here in these verses the Apostle Paul is engaging himself in spiritual battle over the souls of those who were being lured away from their faith in the Deity of Christ and the sufficiency of Christ to save.

The choice weapon of the enemy was: philosophy!

For the Colossian Christians it was a particular hybrid of philosophies of the day. But nevertheless, it was the very weapon that the enemy used to try and destroy the faith of Christians. Belief in anything that seeks to diminish the Deity of Christ and the sufficiency of Christ to save is empty deception and a false system of belief.

We are bombarded by this kind of philosophy all day long in our own culture. The enemies sole desire is to rob, kill and destroy our faith and Christianity. Therefore we must stay tethered to the true gospel. We must stay tethered to the truth about Jesus Christ, that He is the fullness of God manifest in the flesh and because of His deity, He has the power to save and sustain anyone for Himself.

My aim: That we would take seriously Paul's exhortation to flee any kind of man-centered teaching that goes against the truth about Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of the gospel to save and to satisfy.

Jerry Bridges On 2 Corinthians 3.18

Here is a good perspective on gospel preaching.....preach it to yourself everyday!

I read this great quote below by Jerry Bridges from Tullian Tchividjian.

2 Corinthians 3.18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed.

"Bridges reminded me of just how important it is to “preach the gospel to ourselves everyday” if we are going to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. He writes:

"The glory that has a transforming effect on us is the glory of Christ revealed in the gospel, the good news that Jesus died in our place as our representative to free us not only from the penalty of sin but also from its dominion. A clear understanding and appropriation of the gospel, which gives freedom from sin’s guilt and sin’s grip, is, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, a chief means of sanctification…Our specific responsibility in the pursuit of holiness as seen in 2 Corinthians 3:18, then, is to behold the glory of the Lord as it is displayed in the gospel. The gospel is the mirror through which we now behold His beauty. One day we shall see Christ, not as in a mirror, but face to face. Then, “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Until then we must preach the gospel to ourselves everyday."

This is a good reminder to me about how God desires to impress the gospel deeper into my life in order to send the gospel further out of my life for the glory of Christ. I really needed this reminder in this season of my life!

The Gospel Scuttles Human Pride

Yet another good post from....Of First Importance!

“The gospel . . . is the wisdom of God because it doesn’t praise our intellects or advertise our strengths. It causes us to fall on our knees and acknowledge our weakness, our dependence, our terrible need. It causes us to look up to God as the great Savior. ‘It is by his doing that we are in Christ Jesus’ . . .. The gospel teaches us that our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, and our wisdom are all gifts of God. The message of the gospel scuttles human pride because it reminds us that our life did not start with our choosing God but his choosing us. Therefore, all the glory is God’s.”

~ Thomas Schreiner, “The Foolishness of the Cross

'New Life' To God For Eternity

“The atoning death of Christ, and that alone, has presented sinners as righteous in God’s sight; the Lord Jesus has paid the full penalty of their sins, and clothed them with His perfect righteousness before the judgment seat of God.

But Christ has done for Christians even far more than that. He has given to them not only a new and right relation to God, but a new life in God’s presence for evermore. He has saved them from the power as well as from the guilt of sin.

The New Testament does not end with the death of Christ; it does not end with the triumphant words of Jesus on the Cross, “It is finished.” The death was followed by the resurrection, and the resurrection like the death was for our sakes.

Jesus rose from the dead into a new life of glory and power, and into that life He brings those for whom He died. The Christian, on the basis of Christ’s redeeming work, not only has died unto sin, but also lives unto God.”

~ J. Gresham Machen, Christianity & Liberalism

(HT: Of First Importance)

The Gospel Is For Life!

I read today on Tullian Tchividjian's blog something that we both have in common....one of the most important 'discoveries' in our Christian lives has been that the gospel is not only for salvation, but sustaining us all throughout life as well. He writes,

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

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

This is has been my ongoing prayer for my life, my church, my community and even this blog (read 'My Life' in the left hand margin). That the gospel will bear a sweet fruit of ongoing repentance and growing faith and will increase all the more as Christ is pleased for us to remain here in this world.

Let this be our continual prayer for God to do a beautiful work of grace, a means of His grace, to love and live more like Jesus!

A Great Reply To The Accuser

From a post by Doug Phillips....which he got from an online article by Carl Trueman

It is well-known that in his writings in table conversation Luther would often refer to visits from the Devil, how the Devil would come to him and whisper in his ear, accusing him of all manner of filthy sin: "Martin, you are a liar, greedy, lecherous, a blasphemer, a hypocrite. You cannot stand before God."

To which Luther would respond: "Well, yes, I am. And, indeed, Satan, you do not know the half of it. I have done much worse than that and if you care to give me your full list, I can no doubt add to it and help make it more complete. But you know what? My Saviour has died for all my sins - those you mention, those I could add and, indeed, those I have committed but am so wicked that I am unaware of having done so. It does not change the fact that Christ has died for all of them; his blood is sufficient; and on the Day of Judgment I shall be exonerated because he has taken all my sins on himself and clothed me in his own perfect righteousness.

Luther knew what temptation looked like; he knew his own wickedness; but he also knew the all-surpassing perfection and grace of Christ.