Most young people today do not bring to their courtship and marriage a great vision of God—who He is, what He is like, how He acts. In the world there is almost no vision of God. He is not even on the list to be invited. He is simply and breathtakingly omitted. And in the church the view of God that young couples bring to their relationship is so small instead of huge, and so marginal instead of central, and so vague instead of clear, and so impotent instead of all-determining, and so uninspiring instead of ravishing, that when they marry, the thought of living marriage to the glory of God is without meaning and without content.
[So] if we want marriage to glorify the truth and worth and beauty and greatness of God, we must teach and preach less about marriage and more about God. Not that we preach too much on marriage, but that we preach too little on God. God is simply not magnificently central in the lives of most of our people. He is not the sun around which all the planets of our daily lives are held in orbit and find their proper, God-appointed place. He is more like the moon, which waxes and wanes, and you can go for nights and never think about Him. – John Piper from Building Strong Families
Month: December 2011
Tolle Lege: Community
Readability: 1
Length: 228 pp
Author: Brad House
Community is a great book for ministers and community group leaders. Here you will find plenty of good practical answers to the “How?” of community groups, but the great value of this book is that House first solidly lays a foundation by answering the “Why?” of community groups. It doesn’t matter how “successful” your small groups are if you are not asking why they exist. If you are not asking “Why?” you won’t know what real success means. I don’t agree with all of House’s answers to the how and why questions (mainly I disagree with such language as “incarnational ministry”), but I agree with the main answer as to their existence – to magnify Christ. This solid theologizing concerning community groups makes the book worth reading alone. I plan on going through it will all of our life group leaders. So if you are a life group leader at FBCM you may as well go ahead and click a link below and order it.
[Commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:2-4] Paul is concerned with the legacy of the church in Corinth. He is not satisfied with them merely hearing or knowing the gospel. But it is not that Paul wants the church to do more. He wants them to be more. I am convinced that he is not disappointed with the church as much as he desires to see them live abundant lives that reflect what Jesus has already done.
I endeavor to affirm community as a gift of God’s grace for the purpose of exalting the Son and making him known. In other words, community is not about us; it is about God. Community is an instrument of worship, a weapon against sin, and a tool for evangelism—all for the exaltation of Jesus.
If you want to inspire people to the mission of God, you must lift up the Son. [When we don’t it is] like trying to inspire a painter with a tube of paint. It isn’t the paint that is inspiring – it is the sunset.
When we are afraid to share ownership of our vision with others, we make a statement about the sovereignty of God. We say that although God is trustworthy and faithful, I am pretty sure that if I stop running on this hamster wheel, then it will all fall apart. An unwillingness to share leadership is as much about doubt in God and others as it is about confidence in one’s own ability.
The Sweet Dropper: How to Frame your Complaints
We see likewise here, how to frame our complaints. David complains not of God, nor of his troubles, nor of others, but of his own soul; he complains of himself to himself, as if he should say, Though all things else be out of order, yet, O my soul, thou shouldst not trouble me too, thou shouldst not betray thyself unto troubles, but rule over them. A godly man complains to God, yet not of God, but of himself. A carnal man is ready to justify himself and complain of God, he complains not to God, but of God, at the least, in secret murmuring, he complains of others that are but God’s vials; he complains of the grievance that lies upon him, but never regards what is amiss in himself within; openly he cries out upon fortune, yet secretly he striketh at God, under that idol of fortune, by whose guidance all things come to pass; whilst he quarrels with that which is nothing, he wounds him that is the cause of all things; like a gouty man that complains of his shoe, and of his bed, or an aguish man of his drink, when the cause is from within. So men are disquieted with others, when they should rather be disquieted and angry with their own hearts. – Richard Sibbes in The Soul’s Conflict with Itself
Psalm 110 & How God’s Wrath Can Be for your Good
Say you’re checking out at the supermarket and as the grocer goes to weigh your produce on the electronic scales you notice that there is dust on the scales. Do you yell out, “Hold on! Clean the scales off first, I don’t pay for dust.” Of course you don’t, because dust is counted as nothing. In Isaiah 40:15 we learn that all the nations arrayed in all their pomp, splendor, vehemence, and power are accounted by God as dust on the scales and we also see that truth here.
Here we see the scepter of the Son crushing all enemies, but do not miss grace for the fury. God the Son has eternally ruled (Colossians 1:16-17). This text does not teach against the Son’s eternal rule, but it does teach something in addition to it. Here we have a King not just over us, but for us.
The this psalm deals with the Messiah’s session (v.1). Jesus’ session is the important, but too often neglected doctrine concerning Jesus’ being seated on His throne at the right hand of the Father. This specific session follows Christ’s priestly action for us (Hebrews 1:3; Ephesians 1:20-23). This is the main connection I think you are meant to see between God’s oracle spoken to the Messiah as King (v.1), and His oath spoken to the Messiah as Priest (v.4). Jesus priestly work and kingly work are interrelated.
Christ, at his weakest moment in human flesh, acting as our High Priest, was also a King conquering our greatest foes – Satan, death, and sin. He was the meekest Lamb and the fiercest Lion in the same act. So Jesus’ priestly work is also king work, and his Kingly rule is also priestly action.
When Jesus comes to quell all rebellion in the day of His power, it will also be an outworking of His priestly action for us. Because of Christ, all that God is, He is for us. You may only think of God as being for you in His grace, mercy, kindness, love, faithfulness, goodness, and patience, but in Christ His sovereignty, power, justice, righteousness, judgment, and yes, even His wrath are also for us – total God, totally for you. In Christ His enemies are now ours. Even God’s wrath against His enemies now works to our salvation in Christ.
So, to put succinctly, how can God’s wrath be for our good? In Jesus – because Jesus bore the wrath of God as our substitute, when He returns, His anger unleashed upon His enemies will also mean the end of those who oppose our greatest joy. His wrath will not burn against us, but for us.
“Hey, Where Is that Soldier?” or, Why I Don’t Give Altar Calls*
I am not sure of the validity of this practice, but apparently at one end of Army shooting ranges there is always one lone soldier standing at attention. According to Brad House, one soldier wondered why this was. He asked the officer in charge why and his answer was, “that’s how we have always done it.” After some more profitable investigation he found out that the protocol was written when officers rode horses. The lone soldier would hold the horses’ bridles so that they would not get spooked by the gunshots. When the horses left, the soldier remained; and soon, nobody knew why.
Altar calls are like that soldier. Ours is absent and some people may be asking “Hey, where did that soldier go?” Here are the reasons why we have removed this soldier from his post.
First, this soldier hasn’t always stood there. The altar call is nowhere to be found in the pages of Scripture and you have to do some serious origami with the Bible to “validate” it. We simply are not commanded to give an altar call. It was an idea that a man came up with. Was it a good idea? I don’t think so. Although some Methodist preachers were already using altar calls, it was Charles Finney who popularized the altar call. I am always surprised when I hear evangelicals speak of their high esteem for Finney. Many seem to revere him simply because he was a big figure in the Second Great Awakening who promoted “revivals”, drew crowds, and under whose preaching many made “professions”. They are unaware that Finney denied justification by faith, total depravity, and said that all we needed to do to be saved was to make a decision. Because the core of man was not evil according to Finney, we just need to decide to be good and then we will be saved. The altar call to Finney was a tool to make conversion happen. Grace is something we can then pull down at will, we just need to find the right methods and use them according to Finney.
So was the altar call a bad idea? Most certainly it was as Finney used it, but can it be used in a good way? Rarely; I don’t think pastors who do altar calls are necessarily sinning, but I do think the practice unwise at best and I do think the practice has the potential to be gravely dangerous. The altar call can be a manipulative tool used to coerce someone using their feelings. Biblically we should seek to arouse the emotions, but always through the mind. We should lift the emotions with Biblical truth, not emotional or sentimental appeals. I agree with Jonathan Edwards that,
I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided that they are affected with nothing but the truth, and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with.
I grew up going to church camp and seeing an emotionalism that led to many “walking the aisle.” Children were assured that if they “meant” that prayer they were truly saved. Truly many of these ministers preached the gospel and meant well, and many souls were genuinely saved, yet many never demonstrate any fruit and return to that event as proof positive that they are redeemed. Scripture never tells us to find peace and assurance in this way. John wrote a letter so that those who believe might know that we have eternal life (1 John) and nowhere does he or any other Biblical author tell you to try and remember an event.
Altar calls then can lead individuals to confuse the physical act of “coming forward”, with the spiritual act of “coming to Jesus”. They are not the same act. They may happen in the same moment, but they are not the same act. Coming to Jesus isn’t reliant on your coming forward. I came forward in a church service, but that was not identical with my coming to Jesus. Many think they have been saved while pastors pronounce “peace, peace,” when there is none. Because of altar calls many are in a worse state, deluding themselves that on the basis of their own works, not Christ’s, that heaven is theirs. Many will cry out on the last day, “Lord, Lord, did we not do… in your name (Matthew 6:21-23)?” How many of these will have walked an aisle?
Some think that the altar call is necessary as a public profession of faith. But what about those who don’t walk the aisle? Further, if they aren’t saved yet, what exactly are they professing? Baptism is the act whereby we publicly identify with Christ, not the altar call. God’s badges are superior to man’s. Just because there isn’t a soldier at the end of the range, doesn’t mean that we aren’t soldiers.
But the most substantial reason why I do not give altar calls is that “that soldier” isn’t necessary for us to hit our target. It is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). As the gospel is preached God convicts, draws, regenerates, and gives faith (Romans 10:14-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25). Salvation is of the Lord! When I preach the gospel, God saves sinners. God’s means (preaching) trump man’s methods (altar calls). This soldier ain’t necessary. Don’t mistake me, I believe in invitations. Oh I believe in invitations, but the invitation is, “look to Christ, believe on Christ, trust Christ.” There isn’t a holy place at the front of the church that makes salvation happen, but there is a holy God in heaven who does.
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*I am indebted to Ryan Kelly whose list below served to clarify much of my thinking.
1. The altar call is simply and completely absent from the pages of the N.T.
2. The altar call is historically absent until the 19th century, and its use at that time (via Charles Finney) was directly based upon bad theology and a man-centered, manipulative methodology.
3. The altar call very easily confuses the physical act of “coming forward” with the spiritual act of “coming to Christ.” These two can happen simultaneously, but too often people believe that coming to Christ is going forward (and vice-versa).
4. The altar call can easily deceive people about the reality of their spiritual state and the biblical basis for assurance. The Bible never offers us assurance on the ground that we “went forward.”
5. The altar call partially replaces baptism as the means of public profession of faith.
6. The altar call can mislead us to think that salvation (or any official response to God’s Word) happens primarily on Sundays, only at the end of the service, and only “up front.”
7. The altar call can confuse people regarding “sacred” things and “sacred” places, as the name “altar call” suggests.
8. The altar call is not sensitive to our cautious and relational age where most people come to faith over a period of time and often with the interaction of a good friend.
9. The altar call is often seen as “the most important part of the service”, and this de-emphasizes the truly more important parts of corporate worship which God has prescribed (preaching, prayer, fellowship, singing).
10. God is glorified to powerfully bless the things He has prescribed (preaching, prayer, fellowship, singing), not the things we have invented. We should always be leery of adding to God’s prescriptions for His corporate worship.
No Other Boast 