Quote of the Day

“Your Christian life will not progress further than your knowledge of God’s Word.”

– Steven Lawson

Quote of the Day

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

– C.S. Lewis

Is There a Holy Spirit?

From 9marks.org:

How do you try to fill up your church building? And what does that say about your belief in the Holy Spirit?

TWO WAYS TO FILL A CHURCH

Nineteenth-century Baptist Francis Wayland suggests that there are basically two ways to fill a church (Notes on the Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches, 43-47). One is to preach in a way that is agreeable and inoffensive to both believers and unbelievers. The other is to preach in a way that highlights the difference between true religion and mere profession, and thus creates a sharp contrast between the church and the world.

The first approach seems reasonable. After all, why would non-Christians come to hear sermons about things they’ve never experienced and can’t understand? Why would non-Christians come to a church that highlights the fact that they are outsiders?

Yet Wayland argues that the price of this approach is far too steep. In order for his preaching to equally please Christians and non-Christians, a minister must “talk of generalities that mean nothing, or the trumpet must give an uncertain sound, so that no one will prepare himself for battle.”

Anticipating the natural objection, Wayland writes, “But it will be said, Are we then to drive away all but the children of God?”

His response compresses volumes of biblical wisdom into a mere five words: “I reply, Is there any Holy Ghost?”

Wayland’s point is that this whole line of thinking assumes that it’s finally up to us to convert people. It’s up to us to get them into the church building. It’s up to us to stir up their interest in the sermon. And it’s up to us to change their hearts and get them to repent and believe the gospel.

Wayland cuts through all of that by asking just whose power we’re depending on for the success of our ministry—ours, or the Holy Spirit’s?

IS THERE A HOLY SPIRIT?

“Is there a Holy Spirit?” I can think of few better questions to ask in order to assess whether our ministry strategies are faithful to Scripture.

You could put it like this: if there were no Holy Spirit, would your ministry work just as well?

What are you trying to accomplish in your ministry? Is that goal something that can be attained without the Holy Spirit?

What means are you using to carry out your ministry? Are they strategies and techniques that sociology, psychology, and common sense can fully explain? Or would your ministry methods prove utterly futile if the Holy Spirit didn’t sovereignly decide to work in and through them?

It’s easy to see, for example, how the promise of wealth will draw a crowd and convert them to your team. Same thing for the promise of better relationships, fewer conflicts, lower stress, or a better self-image. It’s easy to see how consummate presentation, engrossing music, and pleading appeals can generate adherents to whatever cause you’re promoting.

But none of these things need the Holy Spirit to make them work. All those strategies and messages can get along just fine without him.

SPIRIT-DEPENDENT MINISTRY IS WORD-DRIVEN MINISTRY

But let’s put this positively. What does ministry that depends on the Holy Spirit look like?

It looks like preaching to dead people and praying that the Holy Spirit would give life as only he can (Eph. 2:1-3). It looks like shining the light of the gospel as brightly as you can, and praying that the Spirit would give people eyes to see it (2 Cor. 4:6). It looks like aiming for things only the Holy Spirit can give to people: new loves, new hearts, new lives, new selves.

What means does the Holy Spirit use to give new life? God’s Word.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The Spirit causes us to be born again “through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23).

Therefore, Spirit-dependent ministry is by definition Word-centered and Word-driven ministry. Ministry that believes in the Holy Spirit trusts the Spirit-inspired Word to do the work God has promised it will do.

And to return to Wayland, he argues that such Spirit-dependent, Word-driven ministry will in fact fill churches:

If we preach in such a manner that the disciples of Christ are separate from the world, prayerful, humble, earnest, self-denying, and laboring for the conversion of men, the Spirit of God will be in the midst of them, and souls will be converted. The thing will be noised abroad. There is never an empty house where the Spirit of God is present.

Is there a Holy Spirit? There is, and he speaks through the Word. And when he speaks, the dead hear and rise to new life.

The Gospel of Barabbas

From 9marks.org:

We don’t think about Barabbas a lot, though he comes up more often at this time of year as churches turn their attention to the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Here’s are the two things we know about him:

· His name: It means “son of the father”. Some textual variants of Matthew 27:15-18 give his name as “Jesus Barabbas”.

· His crime: He had been found guilty of starting a riot and murder. It seems likely that he was the most notorious prisoner on hand, because Pilate was trying to give the crowd an unpalatable choice.

But in Barabbas we have an amazing picture of the gospel. Put yourself in his shoes on that fateful day (Luke 23:18-25).

· You are sitting in a Roman jail awaiting your death. You are surely going to be crucified for your crimes against Rome. Day after day you sit in this jail, anticipating the nails, the mockery, the excruciating pain, the blood filling your lungs, the breaking of your legs. That’s the future you have in store for you. You don’t know when it’s coming, but it’s coming.

· But then perhaps on this fateful day you hear a mob outside. Obviously, something is going on. Has word gotten out that today is your day, the day for your execution? Surely the bloodthirsty crowd is there for you.

· And what is this that they are shouting? “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:23) You see there in verse 23 that this went on for a while, as the crowd demanded a crucifixion with loud voices.

· Then the Roman guard comes and gets you. He drags you up in front of the mob and… sets you free. You see Jesus stumbling off under the weight of the cross, perhaps the cross that had been constructed for your execution. This innocent man is being crucified on the trumped up charge of starting an insurrection (Luke 23:5). You, the guilty man, are being set free as if you were innocent.

What a picture of the gospel. Jesus bears our guilt and shame and curse and disgrace and death. We receive the position that Jesus deserved; we are free and innocent of all our crimes. He gets what we deserve; we get what he deserved.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (II Corinthians 5:21)

Inspire Generations

Psalm 145:4

One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.

What is the Preacher's Job?

Al Mohler has a great answer.

HT: Gene Clyatt

Quote of the Day

“Nothing will ever enter your experience as God’s child that, by God’s sovereign grace, will not turn out to be a benefit to you” – John Piper

Quote of the Day

“In the climate of our modern church, it is essential for us to realize that God’s Word is the central gift Christ gives to the church. The major gifts of the New Testament era were given either to write that word (apostles), apply it (prophets) or teach it (pastors and teachers).”

– Sinclair Ferguson

Quote of the Day

“That preaching is sadly defective which dwells exclusively on the mercies of God and the joys of heaven, yet never sets forth the terrors of the Lord and the miseries of hell.”

– J.C. Ryle

Quote of the Day

“Without Christ crucified in her pulpits, a Church is little better than a dead carcass, a well without water, a barren fig-tree, a sleeping watchman, a silent trumpet, an ambassador without terms of peace, a messenger without tidings, a lighthouse without without light, a stumbling-block to weak believers, a comfort to unbelievers, a hot-bed for formalism, a joy to the devil, and an offence to God.”

– J.C. Ryle

Quote of the Day

“So what is the right way to listen to a sermon? With a soul that is prepared, a mind that is alert, a Bible that is open, a heart that is receptive, and a life that is ready to spring into action.”

– Phil Ryken

Psalm 111 Delighting in the Works of God

Psalm 111:2 reminds us of a fundamental principle: Delight leads to study. A Lover can recall every feature of his Beloved’s face. A mother knows every dimple, hair, and birthmark on her baby’s body. When we recognize something as full of splendor and majesty, careful attention is no chore. When we are fascinated, when we marvel at some wonder, when our hearts rise with delight in some reality, the natural and unavoidable response is to move further up and further in, to seek after the object of our affection, to devote concerted effort to observing, understanding, and evaluating what we love and then to feel, apply, and express what we’ve seen.

“Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.”

So What Are These Works?

I believe that this psalm wants to draw our attention back to God’s work on behalf of his people in Exodus through Joshua. The reference to God’s grace and mercy (verse 4) reminds us of the revelation of God’s name in Exodus 34. His redemption (verse 9) takes us to the exodus, his precepts (verse 7) to Sinai, the provision of food (verse 5) to the wilderness wandering, his inheritance (verse 6) to the Promised Land.

So the question is: Do you study those wondrous works? He has caused them to be remembered (verse 4). He has written them in a book so that we can study them from delight. Do you remember the story?

Do You Remember . . .

• How God remembered his promise to Abraham when Pharaoh had forgotten about the saving deeds of Joseph?
• How he turned the sacred river into a torrent of blood?
• How the Lord of hosts assaulted Egypt’s gods with a battalion of bugs, boils, and fiery hail?
• How his Death-Angel struck down sons that slept under blood-less doors?
• How he baked Pharaoh’s heart into a hardened clay pot and then shattered it beneath a wall of water?
• How at his signal earth and sea swallowed the horse and the rider whole?
• How he sent redemption to his people and led them out as a mixed multitude?

Do You Remember . . .

• When his people grumbled with hunger, and he fed them with magic bread from heaven?
• When they groaned with thirst, and he squeezed water from a rock?
• How he rode a thunderstorm to Sinai and ignited the top of a mountain?
• How he spoke in thunderclaps out of a cloud of smoke?
• How he called Moses into a tornado of fire so that he could give him Torah, precepts and commands etched on stone by the finger of God himself?
• How he revealed his name as the Lord, sovereign in grace and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiver of sins and punisher of guilt?
• How he built a Glory-tent out of goat’s hair, acacia wood, and colored linen, decked it with starry jewels, and filled it with fragrant incense and a golden tree?
• How outside he constructed a bronze altar of death and put away sin on the charred carcass of an unblemished bull, all so that he could dwell among his people without consuming them?
• How he swallowed faithless priests who offered strange fire?When the rabble wistfully longed to eat slave food in an Egyptian death camp, and he unleashed fiery dragons to strike them down?
• When the people rebelled out of fear of giants, he turned the wilderness into a garden of death, a graveyard for an entire generation?

Do You Remember . . .

• That he remembered his promise to Abraham, the promise of blessing, offspring, and a land for his people?
• That he demonstrated his power by sending his angelic general to fight on their behalf?
• That he leveled a city with a marching band, but not before he saved a prostitute who by grace had come to fear and believe?
• That he cleansed the land of Canaanite idolatry so that his people could have a holy inheritance among the nations?
• That he caused his people to literally walk on the throats of his enemies?
• That he led them into a land that flowed with milk and honey and gave them rest?

But wait, we’re not just supposed to remember these wondrous deeds. This psalm is not merely about the past. We're also directed to the future with five “forevers.”

• His righteousness endures forever (verse 3)
• He remembers his covenant forever (verse 5)
• His precepts are established forever (verse 8)
• He commands his covenant forever (verse 9)
• His praise endures forever (verse 10)

These “forevers” remind us that there were greater works yet to come, works that we also do well to remember and study with delight.

So Do You Remember . . .

• How he disarmed the principalities and powers through a carpenter on a tree?
• How he conquers the kingdom of darkness with fishermen, tax collectors, and prostitutes?
• How he still protects his people from the Death-Angel with Lamb’s blood on the door?
• How he still provides daily bread and magic bread from heaven?
• How, when his people thirst, he squeezes living water from the Rock who is Christ?
• How he commands his covenant on fleshly hearts and dwells within them as his lasting abode?
• How he is building a Glory-Tent out of people, a human temple built with living stones from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation?
• How we are that people, wandering in a graveyard of death, building our homes on billions of bodies and bones buried under the earth?
• How we follow the Greater Joshua into the inheritance of the nations, conquering with a two-edged sword (and a worship band or two)?
• How we await the day when we will turn this graveyard into a holy Garden-City, when he will send Death to Hell, and when everything sad will come untrue?

Do you remember?

“Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.”

Quote of the Day

“The soul hardly ever realizes it, but whether he is a believer or not, his loneliness is really a homesickness for God.”

– Hubert Van Zeller

Jesus's Priorities

If I were to ask a group of Christians what the top priority of the church is, I am sure I would get a wide variety of answers. Some would say evangelism, others social action, and still others spiritual nurture. But I have yet to hear anyone talk about what Jesus’ priorities were.

What is the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer? Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven . . .’” (Matt. 6:9). The first line of the prayer is not a petition. It is a form of personal address. The prayer continues: “hallowed be your name, your kingdom come” (Matt. 6:9–10). We often confuse the words “hallowed be your name” with part of the address, as if the words were “hallowed is your name.” In that case the words would merely be an ascription of praise to God. But that is not how Jesus said it. He uttered it as a petition, as the first petition. We should be praying that God’s name be hallowed, that God be regarded as holy.

—R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

Quote of the Day

“In some places God requires newness of heart [Ezek 18:31]. But elsewhere he testifies that it is given by him [Ezek. 11:19; 36:26]. But what God promises we ourselves do not do through choice or nature; but he himself does through grace.”

- Augustine

Elements of True Reformation

In his excellent (though unlikely titled) book Hot Tub Religion, J. I. Packer asks “What would a work of divine reformation in our churches today look like?” Great question, and I loved the six answers Packer offers.

First, there would be a sense of biblical authority—that is, an awareness that biblical teaching is divine truth and that the invitations and admonitions, threats and warnings, promises and assurances of Scripture still express the mind of God toward mankind. The Bible would be honored again as the Word of God, and the perverse, pluralism of liberal theology, which addles the brains and blinds the hearts of many, would wither and die. The root of this pluralism is that teachers feel free to ignore some of the things the Bible teaches and to pull others out of context. The fruit of it is that God’s people are led astray into dry places and the Holy Spirit of God is completely quenched. Reformation always begins as a call from God to “come out of the wilderness” of subjective speculation and spiritual impotence and learn again in humility the true teaching of the written Word about grace and godliness, knowing that the secret of power for living lies here. Thus, unhappily, reformation always leads to controversy for some resist the message.

Second, there would be a spirit of seriousness about eternal issues. Heaven and hell would be preached about, thought about, and talked about once again. Life in this world would once again be lived in the light of the world to come, and the Philippian jailer’s question, “What must I do to be saved?” would be seen as life’s basic question once more. For most of this century the church, liberal and conservative, in all denominations, has been so occupied with this world that minds turned to eternity have been the exception rather than the rule. Sociopolitical, cultural, sporting, and money-making interests have dominated Christian minds rather than the laying up of treasure in heaven. A work of reformation would change that, not by withdrawing Christians from these fields of action, but by radically altering their perspective on what they are doing so that God’s glory and eternal values would become the chief concerns.

Third, there would be a passion for God, transcending any interest in religion or cultivation of religiosity. One’s relationship to God would be seen as the most important thing in the world, and a Bible-based awareness of the greatness and awesomeness of God, the eternal Savior-Judge, in whose hands we ever are, would displace all cheap thoughts of God as just a useful pal.

Fourth, there would be a love of holiness growing out of deep conviction of sin, deep repentance, deep gratitude for forgiveness and cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ, and a deep desire to please God. Casualness about righteousness, cutting moral corners, areas of blatant self-indulgence, love of luxury, and broken commitments have disfigured twentieth-century Christianity at all levels. This would change, as indeed it needs to, for moral standards among Christian people. As in the world around them, seem to be getting worse rather than better. It is frightening to see how little believers nowadays seem to be bothered about personal sin.

Fifth, there would be a concern for the church. Christians would catch the biblical perspective, in which the church is the center and focal point of God’s plan and the display ground of his saving and sanctifying wisdom (see Eph. 3:1-12). They would be deeply concerned about the image that the church presents to the world, and any form of unfaithfulness, carnality, false doctrine, formalism, disorder, or wrongheadedness in the church would cause them distress and send them to their knees. God should be honored, not dishonored, in his church, and the church should show itself strong in standing against the world and testifying to its Savior. These are universal Christian concerns at reformation times, and saints at such times will endure and risk anything in order to see the church move in the right direction.

Sixth, there would be a willingness to change—whether from sin to righteousness, or from lassitude to zeal, or from traditional patterns to new procedures, or from passivity to activity, or any other form of change that was needed. Believers would come together to praise, pray, encourage each other, and see what they could do together to advance the cause of Christ. It would be as if they had awakened after a long sleep. They would wonder how they were able to be somnolent, apathetic, and inactive for so long. What new things they would find themselves doing cannot be specified in advance beyond this general formula, but should God work in reformation, it is safe to say that newness of discipleship and change of ways in some shape or form would be the experience of us all.

True Revival

All the true revivals have been born in prayer. When God's people become so concerned about the state of religion that they lie on their faces day and night in earnest supplication, the blessing will be sure to fall.

-EM Bounds