John Piper is a Pastor and Scholar, a man whom God has blessed with wide influence. Piper provides a clear voice in our often confused and hazy culture.
To read the whole sermon click here.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ- 1 Corinthians 15:1-9
In D.A. Carson’s keynote address delivered at The Gospel Coalition’s first conference in May 2007 he explained the different “angles” of the gospel using 1 Cor 15:1–19. The message was titled “The Gospel of Jesus Christ.” This is a great read! So many times we, as Christians, forget the essence of the gospel message. Carson provides us with a good reminder.
The Gospel is…
- Christological: The gospel centers on the person and work (the life, death, and resurrection) of Jesus Christ.
- Theological: The gospel tells us that sin is first and foremost an offense against God and that salvation is first to last the action of God, not our own.
- Biblical: The gospel is essentially the message of the whole Bible.
- Apostolic: The gospel is passed on to us by Jesus’ disciples as authoritative eyewitnesses.
- Historical: The gospel is not philosophy or advice on how to find God, but rather news of what God has done in history to find and save us.
- Personal: The gospel must be personally believed and appropriated.
- Universal: The gospel is for every tongue, tribe, people, and individual.
- Eschatological: The gospel includes the good news of the final transformation, not just the blessings we enjoy in this age.
Carson then offers “5 clarifying sentences” on the gospel.
1. This gospel is normally disseminated in proclamation.
2. This gospel is fruitfully received in authentic, persevering faith.
3. This gospel is properly disclosed in personal self-humiliation.
4. This gospel is rightly asserted to be the central confession of the whole church.
5. This gospel is boldly advancing under the contested reign and inevitable victory of Jesus the king.
Read the whole thing, it’s well worth it! Click here.
The Gospel vs. Christianized Therapeutic Deism
The other night I was reading David Wells’ plenary address to the 2007 meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. The address was titled “Christian Discipleship in a Postmodern World.”
Part of Wells argument pointed out that we live in a culture obsessed with ‘display’ where we can “create our own lifestyle and image.” He showed examples from our culture of our obsession with “projecting our own individuality and style” and how it dominates our way of thinking.
The point, we are captivated with ourselves. So much so that ‘we’ have become the center of our own reality, and we insist on asserting our own autonomy.
Some of you are thinking…”thank you captain obvious.” (I admit, this post is a little ironic considering that I am writing on “my blog”)
Here is where all this social analysis becomes important. Our faith is not formed in a vacuum. Many people in our culture think that the chief end of Christianity is to “make us feel better, help us make better choices, and resolve troubles.” For many Americans the gospel of Jesus Christ is about ‘themselves.’
And this becomes the message that many preachers ‘sell’ their people every week. It’s what many of the books on the shelves at the Christian book store push. It’s why we offer so many classes at our churches that have very little to do with developing true gospel maturity- seriously, think about it.
We need to realize that the point of the Gospel is not to make us “feel good” about ourselves- in and of ourselves we have no reason to feel good about who we are. The point is that we all are radically depraved sinners and Christ is our only hope! The point of the Gospel is for us to joy in who Jesus Christ is, and what He alone can offer us!
The purpose of the Gospel is not the “help us make better choices”– but to show us that we cannot be saved by our own moral goodness (making all the ‘right choices’). The goal of the church is not to develop self willed morality in our people, but a gospel centered heart that understands and exposes sinful nature- and turns to Christ as our only hope! This kind of heart results in obedient lives.
The Gospel does not simply “resolve our troubles” but shows us that we have so many troubles that we need to be saved, we must trust in something else other than ourselves, namely Jesus Christ.
But, here is where Wells nails it-
In a culture obsessed with display, where I can project any image of “myself” I desire, or ‘be who I want you to think I am’, it becomes very easy to ignore who we really are. Or, to put it another way, it becomes very easy to project to our Christian friends ‘that which we are not.’
This is where thinking deeply about God’s word comes into play.
The Word of God is what “summons us to come outside of ourselves to know the God who transcends all cultures and times.” It is by this Word- that God “intrudes upon us, and invades our private space.”
Wells’ makes the argument that “we are captivated with ourselves” even stronger by pointing out that “it is entirely possible to affirm the inspiration of Scripture and yet miss its whole point…Scripture is not a manual for success, nor yet a textbook for therapeutic help, but the Word of God.”
This means that we- as Christians- need to be honest about who we are in and of ourselves, who God is, and who we are in Christ.
God and only God can break this captivity to ourselves and to our own autonomous subjectivity. What I fear is that the gospel message (for many people) promotes nothing more than “Christianized Therapeutic Deism” rather than a God exalting- humble realization of our own sin and a deep confidence in Jesus Christ.
May God’s Spirit do a deep work in the American church.
Calvary Baptist Church: West Campus
On May 10th the family of Calvary Baptist Church will open the doors of a new campus. The opening of Calvary West will be a defining moment in the history of our church. Watch the video below to hear the testimony of our members.
Click Here to see the campus website.
The Great Commission Resurgence: Hard Questions for the Southern Baptist Convention
Note: This post is for Southern Baptist’s, who like myself have signed our names to The Great Commission Resurgence commitments. These questions were developed in conversation with a few younger Southern Baptist pastors.
I usually stay away from writing on denominational issues. I think we Southern Baptist talk among ourselves enough, but I could not resist on this one. I am excited about the potential of a Great Commission Resurgence in the SBC.
We as Southern Baptist’s should always be willing to examine ourselves as a denomination. I agree and pray that the “Great Commission Resurgence” commitment should serve as the next step in the renewal of our denomination. But I have my worries.
1. In all honesty, I have concerns about our denomination as a whole. I have concerns when I consider our annual meetings; which seem to have very little participation from my generation. Is the annual meeting attendance a marker for denominational participation among younger Southern Baptists?
2. I have concerns about the allocation of our money through the Cooperative Program. How much of our money actually reaches our field workers?
3. Many Christian thinkers today are noticing the dramatic shifts taking place in culture concerning technology, social structures, community, and ideas. Obviously this has effects on “how” we do ministry. What ministries is our Cooperative Program funding, and are these ministries even effective in growing mature disciples of Christ?
4. I agree with the statement that “in order for the SBC to fulfill the Great Commission we must streamline current SBC structures.”
Is it possible that some of the SBC’s infrastructures must be completely abandoned? If so, would that mean we need to consider different approaches to cooperation among SBC churches?
5. In the statement concerning our “Commitment to Gospel-Centeredness” it is written that “Gospel-centered living will help ensure that the bloody cross of a crucified King is the offense to non-believers rather than our styles, traditions, legalisms, moralisms, personal preferences, or unhelpful attitudes.”
Take a minute to consider the “styles, traditions, legalisms, moralisms, personal preferences, and unhelpful attitudes” of the SBC.
Are we willing to be open for critique when it comes to our “styles, traditions, legalisms, moralisms, personal preferences” in the Southern Baptist Convention and make necessary changes?
As a convention we have passed some pretty embarrassing and legalistic resolutions that do nothing but cause a hindrance to the gospel of Jesus Christ going forward. To those outside the SBC we are more known for what we are against. Seriously, creating legalistic resolutions does nothing to draw people towards Christ, or create mature Christ followers. (Read Galatians)
6. I am grateful for our Southern Baptist Convention and what we stand for today. Obviously there are things that I believe we need to keep in check, which would be the case in every denomination. But here is my fear;
It would seem like many of the younger Southern Baptist’s are loosing confidence in our denomination and aligning with other associations because they are frustrated with the ‘bureaucracy’ of the SBC.
Let’s suppose that the SBC keeps moving forward and everything remains “as is.”
If we do not adopt, implement, and perpetuate a Great Commission mindset what will the SBC look like in 20 years?
I signed the Great Commission Resurgence commitment because I agree with what the document affirms. But, in order for these things to come about- we need to consider and answer the hard questions.
Click Here to see Danny Akin’s sermon titled “Axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence”
Click Here to sign “The Commission Resurgence”.
Jonah 3:10- “Does God Repent?”
“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented (some translations read ‘repent’) of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”– Jonah 3:10
A Perspective from Biblical Theology
Too often the prophets are thought of mainly as predictors of the future. But the truth is that they were mainly forthtellers, for they spoke forth the word of God over against the rising tide of idolatry, apostasy, and sin of the nation.
Now, some care must be taken to distinguish between the prophetic words that were unconditional and unilateral versus those prophecies that were conditioned on the responses of the person(s) addressed.
The unconditional promises of God were the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants- wherein God alone obliged himself to fulfill what he had said.
But all other words of declared judgment had an expressed or unexpressed contingency clause in their words of certain doom.
So, while Jonah gave a confident message that in forty days judgment would come to Nineveh, he had an awful feeling that if they repented, God would relent, and the judgment would be held off for a period of time.
Ultimately we find out that a century later, the same nation, in another generation, felt that the prophet Jonah had cried wolf, and judgment finally came.
The principle for asserting this kind of interpretation can be found in Jeremiah 18:7-10.
“If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.”
The implications follow;
Kiser notes: “Whenever the Lord announces that a nation is to be destroyed, and that nation repents, then God will not bring the disaster he had threatened them with, despite the fact that there were no contingency clauses- no “if’s” or “unlesses” directly listed with the threat. However, just as true was the reverse situation: God may declare his blessing on a nation only to find that nation cares very little, if at all, for him. God will then rescind his word of promise to bless that people by bringing disaster on that nation he would have blessed had they responded differently.”
Perspective from Linguistic Data
The words used to translate the Hebrew verbs sub and niham have caused considerable debate about the immutability of God.
Here is the key: the verb sub (to turn) is used to describe the people of Nineveh’s repentance. It has the idea of “changing direction” and “repenting of evil ways.”
While the verb niham is used of God repenting (relenting) has the idea of being moved to pity- having compassion. He, in his longsuffering, takes it upon himself the evil which is the wages of man’s sin. According to Bladwin verses 8-10 give us a deep theological picture of God;
8. “Let each man turn”
9. “God may be moved to pity”
10. “God saw that they had turned, so God relented.”
Allen translates it as follows,
“When God saw their reaction, how they turned (sub) from their wicked ways, he relented (niham) and did not carry out the punishment with which he had threatened them.”
While the English term ‘repent’ conveys the idea of a change in behavior from worse to better, the Hebrew word niham refers rather to a decision to act otherwise. The English word ‘relent’ conveys the actual message clearer.
God relenting here reveals God’s earnest desire to be true to his own immutable character- as revealed in Jeremiah 18:7-10. God’s action in relenting does not challenge the doctrine of immutability, for immutability simply states that;
a. God is unchanging in His being and character.
b. God is unchanging in His purposes and will.
We need to distinguish between God’s eternally unchanging character and how we understand His actions towards us humans- who exist in time.
What we do see however is that God is free to decide how he will relate to humans. In being consistent with his attributes and purposes- God relents from His anger when a sinner repents. (2 Peter 3:9)
This is accomplished without ramifications to his Holy character because of Christ’s work on the cross. (Romans 3:25)
Note: I think John Piper sums it up well here;
“God’s repentance is not like man’s. I take that to mean that God is not taken off guard by unexpected turns of events like we are. He knows all the future. (“Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them,” Isaiah 42:9). Nor does God ever sin. So his repentance is not owing to lack of foresight nor to folly.
Rather, the repentance of God is his expression of a different attitude and action about something past or future—not because events have taken him off guard, but because events make the expression of a different attitude more fitting now than it would have been earlier. God’s mind “changes,” not because it responds to unforeseen circumstances, but because he has ordained that his mind accord with the way he himself orders the changing events of the world.”
Thoughts on Jesus’ use of Parables
Other than the fact that parables were “the established teaching method” of his day, Jesus used parables for other reasons. Jesus was dealing with concrete realities, not abstract ideas, and illustrated these realities in ways that were easy for the people to grasp.
Concerning his audience, there was one basic difference between the Greek listener and the Jew, the Greek could argue for arguments sake all day, while the Jew was interested in reaching conclusions, and even more, these conclusions had to be taught in such a way that they led to action.
The question in the listeners mind was, ‘what must I do?’ Yet this method extends beyond a particular race, in a particular time and place. All of us tend to think in pictures on some level or another (most people have difficulty grasping abstract ideas). Jesus gave us these cameo-like pictures in the form of parable to make these ideas comprehensible. A parable has been defined as ‘an earthly story with a heavenly meaning’. Jesus used earthly things to lead men’s minds to heavenly things.
Barclay again, ‘Jesus parables were designed to make one stabbing truth flash out at a man the moment he heard it’. These metaphor’s and simile’s are often drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness and strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.
Thoughts on interpreting the Parables First, to understand any parable properly we must have some sense of knowledge on the circumstances in which it was spoken. For the most part we have sufficient knowledge of the background; the parable must always be interpreted in light of its background. But, in balance, we must not let our assumptions on this background reconstruction dominate our interpretation unless the background is specifically in the text.
Second, the parable was spoken by Jesus to illustrate one aspect of truth, and to stress that one message (aspect of truth) which the need of the moment required. It would be quite impossible to find the whole of the Christian faith embodied in any one parable, yet with all the parables together, we can gain unmatched insight into the mind of the master teacher.
James Montgomery Boice once wrote, “this is what the parables do, perhaps more than any comparable portion of scripture. Other sections of the Bible give us a grand theology. Some move us to a grateful response to God. But the parables break through mere words and make us ask whether there has indeed been any real difference in our lives.”
Piper and Carson: “12 Lessons for the Scholar as Pastor”
Thank you to The Henry Center and Andy Naselli for live blogging at the “Pastor/Theologian Discussion” for those of us who could not be there.
These observations were made as John Piper and D.A. Carson talked about the subject “pastor as scholar / scholar as pastor. ”
- Take steps to avoid becoming a mere quartermaster. Any army needs quartermasters. If you’re an academic, you need to get on the front lines. Take five years to serve in a church. Engage the world at a personal level. Do evangelism. The origin of Carson’s The Gagging of God was university evangelism.
- Beware of the seduction of applause. This can come from at least two directions: (1) Academic seduction = it is more important to be learned than to be learned. Carson learned from his doctoral mentor that scholars may not have it all figured out after all; Carson learned that he would rather have what he had than what his doctoral mentor had. (2) The conservative-constituency-of-your-friends seduction = scholarship is for sale, and you constantly bolster your own group to show that you’re right. The approval of Jesus is what matters.
- Fight with every fiber of your being the common dichotomy between objective study of Scripture and devotional reading of Scripture. Be worshipful and devout in the most critical exegesis, and when you’re having your devotions, don’t stop thinking. Perhaps you could even have your devotions in Greek and Hebrew.
- Never forget that there are people out there—people for whom Christ died. It’s motivating to teachers for them to keep in mind the future ministry of their students.
- Happily recognize that God distributes different gifts among scholar-pastors as he distributes different gifts among various groups. Rejoice in scholars who are more productive than you are. (Footnote: Learn from those who have gone ahead of you to be at least reasonably strategic.)
- Recognize that students don’t learn everything you teach them. If the gospel becomes assumes but not what you are excited about, then you will teach your students that the gospel is not very important. If the first generation assumes the gospel, the second will marginalize it, and the third will deny it.
- Make the main thing the main thing, not only by not merely assuming the gospel, but in every domain of life. Don’t teach people merely to master the NT but to be mastered by the NT. Don’t teach people merely what passages say but how to find out what passages say. Don’t do systematic theology by focusing so much on prolegomena that you never get around to doing positive theology.
- Pray and work. Don’t let the agenda of publishers control your life. Don’t say Yes to every offer from publishers to write something. Don’t get owned.
- Love the church. TEDS is not going to exist in eternity; the church is.
- Avoid lone-ranger scholarship. Reading makes a full man, speaking a quick man, and writing an exact man (Francis Bacon). Collaborate with others when you write. Before you publish something, give it to others for review first (both friends and enemies).
- Be at least as interested in the work of others as you are in your own. Encourage others.
- Take the work seriously but not yourself. Get your spouse and children to laugh at you.
“The Christian and Aesthetics”
Today Justin Taylor wrote about a book titled The Love of Wisdom: A Christian Introduction to Philosophy, by Steve Cowan and James Spiegel. He added a link to a journal article written by Spiegel titled “”Aesthetics and Worship.” This article is well worth the read.
The relationship between aesthetics and theology is something that I love to think about. Collide magazine recently published an article I wrote on the subject titled “Theosthetics: Thoughts at the Intersection of Aesthetics and Worship.” This article is my first attempt and developing my thoughts on the subject.
The subject of aesthetics is something we, as Christians, need to give much thought. We are pretty good at articulating our theology in relation to truth and goodness, but what about beauty?
I agree with Spiegel’s conclusion;
“The Christian church, once the leader of the arts, is now scarcely taken seriously in artistic communities. Worse yet, the formal worship of Christians is compromised by mediocrity in this area. Our problem, however, is not for lack of inspiration, as the scriptures are brimming with aesthetic instructions, from the Genesis creation account to the hymns of Revelation, not to mention the nature of the Biblical writings themselves. We must recapture a truly Christian vision for the arts, and strive mightily to be aesthetically virtuous. The duties of the church pertain not only to goodness but to beauty as well.”
I am glad that Justin Taylor pointed this out. If anyone else has found a good resource on the relationship between theology and aesthetics please let me know!
A Visit to The Summit Church, Durham N.C.
My wife and I attended The Summit Church in Durham this past Sunday. Being an associate pastor for Connections I thought it would be a good idea to go check out what Danny Franks, their Connections pastor, was doing. I have heard from people that he is the “yoda” of Connections ministry.
FYI- Connections ministers typically give general oversight to how guests are treated (first impressions) and to the church membership process. Or as Danny says, “What does a Connections Pastor do? Nobody really knows. It’s a great form of job security. What I do may be important, but you’d never know that.”
Our visit was a great experience. A volunteer named Joyce (and I have a hard time remembering names..) met us at a guest tent near the door where we gave her some information about us, and she told us all about Summit. Beyond Joyce I think we had at least 7 people greet-welcome us- including pastors and interns. I think that first impressions are very important when it comes to guests. Yes, some churches take “guest treatment” way too far. But I think the people at Summit did a great job of making us feel welcome without overwhelming us.
Speaking of first impressions…I left my coffee cup on the floor of the worship center when the service was over. When I came back to find it…it was gone. Thank you to the church member who took it upon themselves to clean up after this absent minded visitor.
J.D. Greear is the senior pastor at the Summit Church. His message was titled “Unexpected Verdict” from Matthew 7:13-27. It was a good message- his points were;
1. There are many “falsely assured” Christians.
2. On the outside, false Christians look very similar to real Christians.
3. For most, that they are false Christians will come as a complete surprise to them.
Then J.D. gave “Jesus’ 4 marks of false Christians.” J.D. posts his sermons online, click here to see the 4 marks.
J.D.’s sermon gave me deep humility and deep confidence in the gospel of Christ. It’s always good to hear someone teach with conviction and loving boldness.
Lastly, I thought that the Summit’s small group philosophy was great. There are different “Summit Life Groups” located throughout the city (click here to see how they map it out, literally). The small group material is based off the sermon, which keeps all the small groups on the same page while they are scattered in their own neighborhoods.
Laura and I had a good time visiting with this missional, gospel centered church. We will continue to point people towards The Summit, and pray for their ministry.
Matt Capps 