Author: Matt Capps

This post is specifically focused on the book of Hebrews, therefore I have not posted links to each verse via web, which I usually do. If a reference is made to another book of the Bible I have posted links there. I urge you, if you are one of the few people reading this have the book of Hebrews open to follow along.

The book of Hebrews tells us that Christ is the permanent minister in the sanctuary, the one true tabernacle of God (8:2, 6). It is this heavenly tabernacle which served as the pattern Moses used to construct the temporary earthly system (8:5; cf. 9:24; 10:1) by which men would engage with God. See Exodus 25:40. According to Guthrie, Hebrew’s mention of the heavenly tabernacle in chapter 8 is a direct reference to the permanent heavenly dwelling of God. The OT pattern materialized on earth was nothing but a mere shadow of this one true tabernacle or sanctuary of God. During the OT times, the tabernacle served as the earthly ‘dwelling place of God’, within which there was the office of high priest, who had the specific role of performing rites and offering sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. The function of earthly priests should be seen as nothing but an earthly pattern of what was to come in Christ. The function of earthly priests should be seen as nothing but an earthly pattern of what was to come in Christ.

Obviously, “the priestly ministry of Christ is superior because it involved the offering of himself as a perfect sacrifice to God (7:26-27) and because it inaugurates the new covenant (8:6).” (Peterson, Engaging with God, 231)

It is here that we realize that “because of what Christ has achieved, the OT system of approach has been ‘set aside’ and a new basis of relationship with God has been established (10:9-14; 8:13).” (Peterson, Engaging with God, 231) I think this helps us understand the wording of Hebrews 8:7, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” Some might ask, the old covenant had fault?

The fact that a new covenant was established is evidence alone that the old covenant was not adequate. Hebrews 7:11 tells us that perfection was not attainable through the Levitical priesthood. As Guthrie (Hebrews, 174) contends, “If indeed the law had been the complete answer to man’s need” (and God’s satisfaction) there would be no place for a new covenant. It is not that the law itself is faulty, but man’s conformation under the law is found lacking.

The old covenant was lacking not so much in “what it’s terms spelled out” (Morris, Hebrews, 76) as in the fact that it was weak and unable to bring men to God (Rom. 7:10f). This is expounded on in Hebrews 7:18, where the writer poses that ‘on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness, and uselessness.’ The law made nothing perfect (reiterating a similar point made in 7:11), but perfection was needed to bring men to God, and God desired that men would be enabled to come to him.

At this point, man seems to have a hopeless grim situation, but new hope is introduced, namely Christ. It is through Christ that we draw near to God. It is even established that God himself initiated the relationship, and locked it in as a promise. Christ was ordained by God (7:17, 21), and sealed as the permanent high priest (7:23-24), and initiated into the office once and for all (7:27; 9:24-28; 10:10, 12, 14). “The inauguration of the new covenant by Jesus means the fulfillment and replacement of the whole pattern of approach to God established under the mosaic covenant.” (Peterson, Engaging with God, 228 ) Only Jesus is able to provide the necessary sacrifice for the purification of sin (1:3; 2:17). In the same way that the high priest (on the day of atonement) was to deal with the problem of sin by means of appropriate sacrifices, and remove from the Israelite’s what provoked God’s anger (Lev. 16; Heb. 9:11-12, 23-28; 10:1-10) Christ sacrificed himself on the cross.

It is through the blood of Christ that sin is removed and makes it possible for sinful people to draw near to God (9:12-14, 15-22; 10:19, 29; 12:24; 13:12), only because Christ offered himself as a perfect-obedient-unblemished sacrifice and atoned for our sin (5:7-9; 7:27; 9:14, 28).

Now, with all that said consider Peterson’s definition of worship;

“An engagement with God on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible”

Today I started my last semester at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in earning my master’s degree. One of the things I continue to hear on and off campus is the growing respect for our school president Daniel Akin. I would argue that he is a good blend of balanced scholar, strong leader, and caring shepherd.

Dr. Akin recently began a series of posts on the blog “Between the Times” on wise decision making. Side note, this is one of the reasons I particularly like this blog site, they offer ‘series posts‘ on selected topics, not the normative pattern for blog. Anyway, here is a short blurb about the posts,

“God’s Guidelines for the “Gray Areas” of Life is a series of articles by Danny Akin. Each article expounds principles from 1 Corinthians and applies them to contemporary decision-making, especially when the choice may not be obvious. Lord willing, this series will show contemporary Christians that God’s word gives sound guidance for navigating the tumultuous waters of our postmodern world.”

1. “God’s Guidelines for the ‘Gray Areas’ of Life: Wise Decision-Making in a Wicked World, Part 1”

2. “God’s Guidelines for the ‘Gray Areas’ of Life: Wise Decision-Making in a Wicked World, Part 2”

3. “God’s Guidelines for the ‘Gray Areas’ of Life: Wise Decision-Making in a Wicked World, Part 3“

4. “God’s Guidelines for the ‘Grey Areas’ of Life: Wise Decision-Making in a Wicked World, Part 4”

5. “God’s Guidelines for the ‘Grey Areas’ of Life: Wise Decision-Making in a Wicked World, Part 5”

Friends in the church often ask me (as a seminary student) where to find resources on the Christian faith.

Maybe I am a nerd…well, my wife tells me I am a nerd quite often. But I wanted to share a few helpful Christian resources I have found on the Internet. This was one of the main purposes I had in starting this blog: ‘To provide helpful resources’ to Christian’s in order to promote growth in the faith. While in seminary you not only learn, but learn where to find helpful learning material.

In recommending resources I am somewhat hesitant, I understand that on some matters of the faith the writers below will disagree. So I ask that you use these with balance. Understanding that ‘while these resources will agree on the essentials of Orthodoxy’, there may be some secondary issues where there is difference. The following is a list of resources (on different types of web pages) that I have found helpful in ministry.

1. Reclaiming the Mind Ministries has a page of categorized paper’s delivered at the Evangelical Theological Society. (Click Here)

2. Capitol Hill Baptist Church has a page of categorized ‘Core Seminar’ class notes. The Core Seminar’s offered at CHBC are designed to help their members explore the overarching truths of our God in theology, ministry, and history. See categories on right side of page. (Click Here)

3. Desiring God Ministry has a page titled ‘Resource Library’. It truly is a library of sermons, articles, and online books from the ministry of John Piper. (Click Here)

4. Dr. Daniel Akin, the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary has categorized some helpful studies on his web page. (Click Here)

5. Thomas Schreiner has posted articles on various Theological issues on his faculty page at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. (Click Here)

6. Monergism.Com is an Internet library with the goal of “making available the finest classic articles and resources of historical orthodoxy”. (Click Here)

Lastly, I often visit Dr. Al Mohler’s page when searching for resources. I have also found Justin Taylor’s blog ‘Between Two Worlds’ helpful when searching for topics.

These are some starting grounds, to illustrate that good resources can be found on various web pages. Now, a word of caution. The Internet has no accountability; anyone can publish anything and claim the title ‘Christian’ resource. So it is important to know the source of the resources (Are they orthodox, credible, and reliable?)

Also, many respectable seminaries have offered recorded classes in MP3 format. (Click Here)

If you have questions on ‘what books are recommended when doing Biblical studies’ Click Here!

I usually do not blog about this type of thing, but this information was too unique to ignore.

Most younger Christians are familiar with the Passion Network and the Passion Conferences. If not, the network usually hosts conferences with speakers like Louie Giglio, John Piper, and Beth Moore. Not to mention musicians like David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Charlie Hall. The last passion conference I attended was in Nashville, Tennessee. If I am not mistaken about 15,000 college aged people showed up, thats pretty big.

Well I recently found out that Louie Giglio and the Passion Network are starting a church. In a video interview Louie casts vision for the church. Just a little background, Louie Giglio has provided leadership for the Passion Network and worked alongside Andy Stanley (The two met at camp…sharing bunk beds in the 7^th grade) at Northpoint and Buckhead for a while now.

Louie Giglio argues that ‘the local church is what Christ died for’ and though I have worked alongside the church throughout my life ‘I have never lead a local community’, and ‘God is stirring my heart in that direction’. Louie describes it as ‘a passion to see the local expression of the face of Christ in the city’.

The church will be located in Atlanta. You might be thinking Atlanta? Some might argue that there are enough church’s in Atlanta already? Louie counters that ‘Atlanta is full of people, hundreds of thousands of people, who do not attend a local church, it’s not about how many churches are in a city, but how much of the Kingdom is in a city’. Plus, Atlanta is a great hub for everything else God is doing with the Passion network.

For those of you wondering ‘what this church will look like’, the Passion DNA will be in this local expression. Giglio mentions that Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and the Nockels have alreay moved to Atlanta. The vision is simple “God make your name famous in Atlanta”.

To see the full interview click here.

I have been reading “The Gospel and Personal Evangelism” by Mark Dever (PhD, Cambridge) who pastors at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. This book is simple, clear, and straight to the point. I would recommend this book as a good lay level introduction to evangelism. In the middle of this book Dever writes a chapter titled ‘What Isn’t Evangelism’. This chapter is composed of five sections, one of which caught my attention. Dever argues that ‘personal testimony’ is not evangelism.

Now, some of us were raised in churches that trained evangelism methods which centered around personal testimony, so this concept is not going to sit well at first. Don’t get me wrong, I think your personal testimony is important. But, I do think Dever raises an important distinction between personal testimony, and the Gospel. Yes, personal testimony plays an important role in the witness of the Christian life (Ps. 66:16; John 9:25, 1 Cor. 1:5-6), but one can give a personal testimony without ever presenting the Gospel.

You will often hear things in evangelism training like ‘no one can refute what God has done in your life’, which is true. But we must be careful. Without a clear presentation of the Gospel, a personal testimony alone can give a non-Christian the freedom to agree that ‘God changed your life, and that’s great for you’. This is the postmodern mentality, where subjectivism meets ‘personal faith’. One can agree with your testimony without ever being confronted with the truth of the Gospel.

Dever writes, “It’s good to share a testimony of what God has done in our lives, but in sharing our testimonies we may not actually make clear what Christ’s claims are on other people”. (73)

The Gospel does not center on what God ‘can do for you’, or how ‘God can make your life better’. Yet sometimes we focus too much on the testimony aspect of a Gospel presentation, and give others the impression that this is what the Gospel is all about.

The Gospel is much bigger than you and I. The Gospel is the good news of God, the fact that there is only one God, who is holy, loving, and just. This God created you and I in his image, enabling us to have a relationship with him. But man sinned, thus turning their backs on the promises and blessings of God. But God, being rich in mercy became a man in Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life, died as punishment for our disobedience, and was raised from the dead.

Jesus fulfilled the law, and took on the punishment of mankind, consuming the wrath of God for all those who would accept Him as God’s own Son. Jesus now calls all to repent and turn to Him alone for forgiveness, offering eternal life to all who believe. This is the Gospel of God.

Sure it’s important for me to tell others that ‘I used to be a heavy drug user’ or ‘was raised in the church and turned my back on God’, and God gave me the hope, purpose, and power I needed to change. But that in itself is not the Gospel. The Gospel is the story of God. Personal testimony may give me creditability with someone, or help me break down walls in order to share the Gospel, but in the end the good news is about God. Dever provides a good reminder, and a call for clarity on this issue.

Dr. Ken Keathley has written a short but poignant post on the Gospel at ‘Between The Times’. Keathley deals with our individualistic notions of salvation and the gospel, “salvation isn’t just about you; your redemption is part of a plan that encompasses heaven and earth.”

Furthermore, a “Great Commission Resurgence is a call to resist the temptation to think of ourselves as soloists. We are part of the ultimate symphony.”

To read the post, click here.

Note: Dr. Keathley also contributed to the Theology volume titled “A Theology for the Church”. His chapter deals specifically with the doctrine of salvation (The Work of God: Salvation; pp. 686-764). You can also read Dr. Keathley’s lecture delivered to the “Building Bridges Conference” titled, “How to be a Consistent Infralapsarian”.

I was recently directed to a website (which is still under construction) titled “BestCommentaries.com“. Here is an excerpt about the site,

“This site works toward resolving that tension by enabling bible students at all levels to make good, informed decisions about which commentaries they should purchase and use by collecting reviews, ratings, and prices of commentaries. Scores and ratings alone cannot determine the best choices for an individual pastor or student, but we hope this site points them in the right direction.”

The reviews are posted by the users of the site, this is moderated several ways. You can search by OT, NT, Author, Series. But, one of the coolest functions of this site is the ‘forthcoming‘ page. Check it out!!

http://www.bestcommentaries.com/

This post is a continuation of ‘Building a Theological Library’.