Kill Him or Crown Him

There are really only two ways to respond to Jesus. You can fully submit to Jesus by faith, or you can fully reject Jesus through pride. Throughout the course of Jesus’ ministry, the religious leaders who should have welcomed the Messiah with open arms and bowed heads, were threatened by him and sought a way to kill him. Tradition had taken the place of the Scriptures for the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees. Their minds were so clouded by tradition that they couldn’t recognize the Messiah even when he was standing two feet in front of them.

Following Jesus’ ominous cursing of a fig tree and condemnation of the temple and its leaders, the chief priests and scribes were seeking a way to kill Jesus. They were threatened by his authority and what its implications could have on their own authority. Jesus had essentially pronounced the end of the temple and sacrificial system. It was clear, even to Jesus’ opponents, that something new had arrived in Jesus. And the religious leaders didn’t like it one bit.

In Mark 12, Jesus begins to interact with his religious counterparts by telling them a story. Jesus frequently utilized parables in his teaching, but this is the first parable his opponents clearly understand without explanation.

Jesus’ parable consists of a man who owns a vineyard. He goes on a trip and hires farmers to tend to the vineyard in his absence. When the time comes for fruit to come in, the man sent a series of servants to gather the fruit from the farmers. Instead of handing over the owner’s fruit, the farmers assaulted the servants and sent them back to the owner empty handed. Finally, the owner decides to send his own son to the vineyard. Surely, the owner reasoned, the farmers will have too much respect for me and my son to bring him any harm. To the contrary, the brutal and greedy farmers killed the owner’s son in hopes of snatching his inheritance. Their plan backfires, however, as the owner destroys the farmers and gives the vineyard to others.

The chief priests and scribes immediately recognized that the parable was directed at them. They wanted to arrest Jesus. They wanted him dead. All because they recognized what Jesus was saying.

Jesus was comparing the religious leaders and Israel as a whole to the wicked tenant farmers. They had been given the privilege to tend to God’s people and kingdom, but they rejected God and his will for selfish gain. Their lust for power led them by the hand into destruction because of their rejection of God’s Son. The chief priests and scribes wondered where Jesus’ received such authority, but Jesus gave them no answer. Why? Because the answer lied in their reaction to Jesus. They wanted to kill him because his divine authority was a threat to their own.

Both the parable and the reaction of the religious leaders reminded Jesus of a Psalm. He quoted Psalm 118. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” But it wasn’t marvelous in the eyes of the religious leaders. And it isn’t marvelous in the eyes of anyone who does not humbly submit in faith to Jesus.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day rejected Jesus. They cast him away like an unwanted stone. But the stone they rejected is actually the cornerstone. They rejected the foundation and tried to build a faith of their own. But a faith built on anything other than Jesus will crumble. And rejecting the cornerstone not only means your faith is destroyed, but also that you will be destroyed.

Jesus has thrown down the gauntlet. From this point forward, his opponents will be seeking any way to shut him up forever. In the words of Tim Keller, you can either crown Jesus or kill Jesus. There is no middle ground.

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Mathew Gilbert is Associate Pastor for Children and Preschool at The Church at Trace Crossing in Tupelo, MS. He is a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the author of Come to the Well: 50 Meditations to Fuel Your Joy in God. Mathew and his wife, Erica, live in Tupelo with their two boys, Jude and Jack.

Jesus: The Intersection of Law and Grace

Few things are more confusing for a Christian than the relationship between law and grace. Legalism and Antinomianism are the two ends of a fluid spectrum of law and grace that can send the same Christian from hardline fundamentalism to the fringes of liberalism and back again. In my own wrestling with the importance, value, and role of the law in the life of a Christian who has been saved by grace, and not on the basis of works of the law,

I have learned that both legalism and antinomianism result from the same source–a misunderstanding of the gospel. Legalism adds to the gospel. Antinomianism takes away from the gospel. Legalism robs the gospel of its liberating power from the burden of the law. Antinomianism robs the gospel of its liberating power from slavery to sin.

At minimum, it seems there is a lack of understanding when it comes to what the law is and how it functions in our lives. At most, there seems to be a disdain for the law. Theological error, which directly impacts the way we live, exists when the law is viewed as a ruthless slave driver meant to burden the people with legalistic demands, or when the law is viewed as an ancient relic with no relevant purpose. But the truth is there is a great intersection of grace and law in the Bible.

The law itself is a grace from God that serves many purposes for his people. Alec Motyer has written, “The grace of God precedes the law of God. His grace reaches out to save, and it is to those whom he has saved that he reveals his law.”

God didn’t give his law to the people to keep in order to be saved. It was only after God rescued his people that he gave them the law. So, we must assert from the beginning that obeying the law is nothing more than a proper response to God’s grace, which produces delight. Motyer continues, “God’s law is not a ‘ladder of merit’ by which we try to climb, by grim obedience, into his ‘good books;’ it is a way of life revealed to those who are already by redemption in his good books. He brings us to himself and then requires us to live so as to please him.”

In the first five books of the Bible, there are 613 commands or laws from God. They range from moral laws to laws about social justice to laws regarding circumcision and food. Jesus would later teach that the whole law depends on the two greatest commands—that we should love God with all that we are, and that we should love others as much as we love ourselves. However, with each of these laws comes a consistent expectation: perfect obedience. Leviticus 19:2 makes the Lord’s expectations clear: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” The kind of holiness God requires is perfect. The problem is, we personally fail to properly respond to God’s grace through loving obedience.

Obeying the law of God is faith in action. Trusting the Lord as the sovereign and all-satisfying God of the world produces a faith that works through obedience to the Lord’s commands. Though we all fail to keep his law personally and perfectly, Christ never failed to do so. He always responded to his Father with loving obedience. By trusting in his work to obey the Lord and die for our disobedience, we are empowered to obey God from the inside out as the law he requires is written on our hearts.

This is where the rubber meets the road with regard to the relationship between law and grace. If God acts on our behalf by ignoring his law or by adding to it, his action is actually of no benefit to us. If God is legalistic or antinomian, there is no salvation. God has revealed himself in the Bible to be incomparably glorious and holy. He dwells in unapproachable light. So, a God who “saves” legalistically or by ignoring the law, is not only a God who is unable to save, but he isn’t even God at all.

The good news of the gospel is that God is neither legalistic or antinomian. And I’m glad he isn’t. I’m glad he identifies with my suffering, not my sinfulness. I’m glad God doesn’t violate his law to save me, but instead fulfills his law in my place and bears the weight of all my lawbreaking. In other words, I’m thankful sees the depths of my depravity and provides for me anyway.

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Mathew Gilbert is Associate Pastor for Children and Preschool at The Church at Trace Crossing in Tupelo, MS. He is a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the author of Come to the Well: 50 Meditations to Fuel Your Joy in God. Mathew and his wife, Erica, live in Tupelo with their two boys, Jude and Jack.

Jesus Is Far More Than An Example

There is a rising population comprised primarily of millennials who would say that Jesus is a great example to follow, but not a god worth following. They have no problem using some of Jesus’ teachings and actions as an example for how they should live their lives, but they simply do not believe he was who he said he was. Now, while the burden of proof is on them to explain the person of Jesus and explosion of the Church in the first century, it is worth considering whether evangelicals are beginning to see Jesus as simply a great example to follow.

The WWJD mindset leads many pastors and Christians to horribly misinterpret the gospels. If “Jesus is our example” is the guiding hermeneutic principle, then we will fail to discern the person and work of Jesus. Take Jesus’ parables for instance. Many pastors teach the parables as Jesus’ way of contextualizing his message to his hearers. So, we should follow his example and teach the gospel in ways our hearers will understand. The problem is that this is a correct conclusion drawn from an erroneous principle. We indeed should teach the gospel in such a way that our hearers can best understand us. This truth has great cultural significance. But is that really why Jesus taught in parables? So more people could understand him?

Jesus made bizarre and outrageous claims in his life. He claimed to have authority over everyone on earth. He claimed to be God himself. He claimed to be a ransom paid to save sinners who owe God a debt of death. These claims take Jesus far beyond the classroom and into the realm of insanity, or else falsehood, or else glory. In his classic work, Mere Christianity, the great C.S. Lewis put it like this:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

If Jesus is nothing more than an example for us, then his example is in vain. Think about it. If Jesus wasn’t really who he said he was and if he didn’t do what he said he came to do, then he can be written off as a madman. When you are wiling to submit to Jesus as your example, but not as your God, then you are coming to him on your terms. You are not willing for him to change your life. And if you only have Jesus as your example, then you don’t really have Jesus. Plus, Jesus is only admirable and majestic if he is more than an example. The only way we can marvel at and learn from Jesus is if he does more than set an example for us. Jesus is not just our example. Jesus is our representative.

Adam Disobeyed in a Garden of Paradise

A representative is someone who stands in the place of another. This is why elections are always so important, because the votes of our senators and representatives represent us. The Bible talks of two primary representatives for mankind. Both represented us in a garden. Many, many years before Jesus entered Gethsemane, Adam was placed in Eden. He was created without sin. He had a perfect heart, a perfect relationship with God, and he lived in a perfect environment. Yet, Adam failed to keep covenant with God. He was faced with a choice to submit to God’s will, and he bowed to his own. When Adam sinned against God in Eden, he was cursed, banished, and defiled because of his sin. Paradise was lost and the entrance to Eden was guarded by a flaming sword. From that point forward, Adam and all of his offspring would be under the righteous wrath of God.

Friends, outside of faith in Jesus, this is where we all stand—under the righteous wrath of God. God’s wrath can be defined as God’s righteous response to sin. Wayne Grudem calls it his “intense hatred of sin.” Because God is holy, he is wrathful against all that is unholy. In John 3:36, Jesus says that the wrath of God remains on all who do not believe in him. The author of Hebrews understood the wrath of God when he wrote, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).

But I especially love the way Lewis communicates God’s wrath in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:

“Mr. Beaver said, “Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”…”Safe?” said Mr. Beaver…”Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Here is the toughest reality that is naturally offensive to the human mind and heart: We deserve God’s wrath because of our sin. We deserve to face what caused Jesus to sweat blood and be so close to death that an angel had to come to his aid. We deserve the horrible, terrible, and terrifying wrath of God not because our sins are particularly egregious, but because God is infinitely holy. It is the greatness of God, not the degree of our sin that puts us under the wrath of God. This means that no matter how small or big you think your sins are, you stand under the flaming sword of God’s wrath.

Jesus Obeyed in a Garden of Agony

But there is good news today for you and me. There is news in this passage that gives purpose, hope, and joy in the midst of all suffering. While Adam disobeyed in a garden of paradise, the Last and True Adam obeyed in a garden of agony. It is no coincidence that Jesus agonized over his impending death and submitted to God’s will in a garden. It was in a garden that we began, in a garden where we fell, and it will be in a garden where we begin to find restoration and redemption. Charles Spurgeon observed this. In one of his great sermons, he said,

May we not conceive that as in a garden Adam’s self-indulgence ruined us, so in another garden the agonies of the second Adam should restore us? Gethsemane supplies the medicine for the ills, which followed upon the forbidden fruit of Eden. No flowers which bloomed upon the banks of the four-fold river were ever so precious to our race as the bitter herbs which grew hard by the black and sullen stream of Kidron.

As our perfect representative, Jesus is prepared to take on the full wrath of God that we deserve. We do not have to sweat blood in agonizing torment before the wrath of God, because Jesus faced his Father’s wrath for us.

We see this in Jesus’ request for the cup to be removed from him. The word “cup” is a metaphor that specifically refers to God’s wrath. Psalm 75:8 says, “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.”

What Jesus communicates in this agonizing moment in the Garden of Gethsemane is that his journey has reached its climax. Jesus takes the cup of God’s wrath out of your hands and drinks it down to the dregs. Not because he is wicked and deserving. But because he is willing and able to bear your guilt, your wickedness, your failures, your unbelief, your hypocrisy. Jesus takes the cup reserved for you so that you never have to drink from God’s wrath. Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath, so that you may drink the cup of God’s salvation. In the words of theologian Michael Horton, “The same cup that was filled with judgment for the Messiah is now drunk by those who, united to his death and resurrection, receive from it only forgiveness and life.”

But I think Keller says it best:

In the garden of Gethsemane, [Jesus] turns to the Father and all he can see before him is wrath, the abyss, the chasm, the nothingness of the cup. God is the source of all love, all life, all light, all coherence. Therefore exclusion from God is exclusion from the source of all light, all love, all coherence. Jesus began to experience the spiritual, cosmic, infinite disintegration that would happen when he became separated from his Father on the cross. Jesus began to experience merely a foretaste of that, and he staggered.

In the garden of Eden, Adam cried, “Not your will, but mine be done.” But in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus cried, “Not my will, but yours be done.” With this cry from the second Adam, Jesus paves the way for us to return to Eden. Jesus entered a garden of agony and suffering, so that we might re-enter a garden of pure bliss, harmony, joy, and eternal paradise. As our perfect representative, Jesus becomes the ultimate example worth following. But his example is one of humility, self-denial, and it is paved on a road to Golgotha. So, if you want Jesus as your example, be sure you know where he is leading before you decide to follow. But when you choose to trust in Christ as your representative, Christ as your example will satisfy your soul more than anything else you could follow.

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Mathew Gilbert (B.A. Boyce College) is the Children’s Pastor at First Baptist Church in East Bernstadt, KY. He is the author of the forthcoming book Come to the Well: 50 Meditations to Fuel Your Joy in God. Mathew lives in London, KY with his wife, Erica, and their son, Jude Adoniram.

Throwback Thursday: Thomas Brooks on Spiritual Warfare

In his classic work, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, Puritan, Thomas Brooks, makes much of waging war against sin and Satan.

In this book, Brooks observes various devices that Satan employs in his work to destroy the work of God in the life of the believer. He then offers “precious remedies” to sooth the soul and ground the heart in the fight.

The seventh device of Satan is “By making the soul bold to venture upon occasions to sin.” Brooks continues,

Saith Satan, You may walk by the harlot’s door though you won’t go into the harlot’s bed; you may sit and sup with the drunkard, though you won’t be with the drunkard; you may look upon Jezebel’s beauty, and you may play and toy with Delilah, though you do not commit wickedness with the one or the other; you may with the Achan handle the golden wedge, though you do not steal the golden wedge (42).

Brooks responds to this device from Satan with this remedy:

Dwell upon those scriptures that do expressly command us to avoid the occasions of sin, and the least appearance of evil (42).

Brooks has a very important lesson that we must not forget in the midst of spiritual warfare. One way Satan attacks us is through the subtle flatter of our pride and ego. He entices the flesh by challenging us to put ourselves in occasions that could lead to us to sin. When Satan appeals to our pride and fallen reason, how do we respond? By dwelling on the word of God, which commands we avoid such occasions.

We must fight Satan and sin by going to the Scriptures! In order to live in a fallen world where Satan is rampant and sin permeates every aspect of life, Brooks reminds us to dive deep into the text, dwell in the text, and be found in the Bible. To think we can fight Satan’s cunning “devices” with any success without God’s word is ignorant and misplaced.

Satan and sin creep at your bedside and they are waiting to pounce. Paul says this in Romans 7:18, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, but sin dwells within me”. We must begin each day with this realization and have it point us to the cross. This is exactly the attitude of Paul when he wrote, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24)

To fight Satan and sin on a daily basis will require a life focused on the cross. The moment you wake up and think you do not need Christ will be the moment you being to lose spiritual battle after spiritual battle.

Friend, who will deliver you from the body of death, the body of sin. Who will deliver you from the attacks of Satan; from his temptations and accusations? Who is it? It is Christ Jesus! “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:25)

Shun the sinful occasions and uproars of Satan as Thomas Brooks encouraged. Look upon the Cross. That is where both sin and Satan find ultimate defeat and death. Fight. Make War.

For you only get one life, and it will soon pass. Only what is done for Christ Jesus will last.

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Evan Knies is an undergraduate student at Boyce College where he studies Biblical and Theological Studies. He lives in Louisville, KY with his wife, Lauren. You can follow him on Twitter @Evan_Knies.

What is the Gospel?: Four Foundational Truths

This post is a continuation of the series: What is the Gospel? If you missed part one, you can check it out here.

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Before we begin to discuss what the gospel actually is, it is necessary for us to take a trip into the marvelous mysteries of eternity past. Before we even touch on our need for the gospel, we must consider the God of the gospel in all his glory and holiness. We are attempting to build a biblical theology of the gospel. If we are to do this, we must lay the foundation. God himself is our foundation. Here we will unpack four primary and essential realities that we must consider about God before we probe the sin of man and the gospel of God.

1. The Gospel Begins with God

The first essential reality is that the gospel comes from God. In our thinking about the gospel, this is a vital truth through which we must view all other gospel realities. Jesus Christ in his person and work must be viewed within this God-focused lens. The gospel is from God. Grace is his to give. Salvation is of the Lord. The Bible is clear that salvation belongs to the Lord (Jonah 2:9; cf. Psalm 3:8; Revelation 7:10). And we will see how glorious and good this is for us! God is the giver of salvation. The depositor of mercy. The dolor of grace.

2. God is Perfectly Holy

A second essential reality is that God is perfectly holy. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3; cf. Rev. 4:8)! The seraphim call this to one another. The majestic creatures of heaven proclaim this as they behold the glory of the Lord. He is holy. Oh, he is holy. The Lord God is holy. Here is a list of a few places in the Bible that describe God’s holiness:

• Leviticus 11:44-45
• Joshua 24:19
• Isaiah 1:4; 2:2; 6:3; 41:14, 16, 20; 57:15
• Ezekiel 39:7
• Amos 4:2
• John 17:11
• Acts 5:3-4, 32
• Revelation 4:8; 15:4

The word “holy” when used to describe God “signifies everything about God that sets him apart from us and makes him an object of awe, adoration, and dread to us” (J.I. Packer, Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs, 43). This means that God’s “Godness” is on full display through his holiness. God is perfect. He is without spot or blemish. He is supremely glorious. No one is like him (Isaiah 46:9; cf. Psalm 86:8; Exodus 15:11). There is no sin within him. And no sin protrudes from him. All good things come from him for he is sovereignly good. And he always has been. Every aspect of his character is marked by his holiness. There are no imperfections in him and he needs nothing to be eternally and completely fulfilled. Once we realize that God is perfectly holy and every aspect of his character (i.e. justice, mercy, wrath, love, etc.) is perfectly holy, we will begin to more fully understand the stipulations of his law. God requires the kind of holiness that he possesses. Another vital truth we realize from God’s holiness is that his justice is perfect. Therefore, there is no injustice in God. He cannot do what is unjust. If he did, he would not be God. This will be a very important consideration later.

3. God is Perfectly Happy

A third essential reality is that God is perfectly happy without people. In other words, God does not need us! He is perfectly glorious and gloriously happy within the relationship of the Trinity. Father, Son, and Spirit live in harmonious joy and eternal bliss. Have you ever thought to yourself, “What was God doing before he created the world?” Remember, God is eternal. And the Son is eternal (Col. 1:17; cf. John 17:24). He has no beginning. “In the beginning…” refers to God’s creating work. What about before the beginning? While many answers to this can be given, I believe that at the very least, God, the “uncaused cause” (Mike Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity, 19) of everything, was living in a blessed joy, a holy love, and Trinitarian bliss, that emanated a glory that we can only imagine. I believe this because Jesus said as much in John 17:24.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Michael Reeves notes from this verse, “Before he ever created, before he ever ruled the world, before anything else, this God was a Father loving his Son” (Delighting in the Trinity, 21). This is where we must begin. This essential truth about God’s eternality and his eternal love for his Son is the paradigm through which we should view his love for sinners. But what does this have to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Well, everything. Realizing that God was living in perfect harmonious loving joy before creation gives us a clue into the “who” of God. He is love (1 John 4:8, 16). This can only be true if he has had someone to love for all eternity. Possessing love necessitates having someone to love. God is love because the Father has always loved the Son (John 17:24) and the Son has always loved the Father. And the way the Father loves the Son is through the Holy Spirit. And the fullness of joy dwells eternally within him (Ps. 16:11).

Before creation, “the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were happy in themselves, and enjoyed one another before the world was” (Richard Sibbes, “The Successful Seeker,” in Works of Richard Sibbes, 6:113). God is therefore not dependent on creation. To bring this home, God does not need us to be who he is or to be fulfilled. Pertinent to the topic of the gospel, God did not need to save us in order to have a relationship or someone to love. He does not need you and he does not need me—for anything! God could have not saved one person and he would have not been any less God. And the most ground shaking truth is that if God had chosen to not save or even create the world at all, he would still be love. The glorious eternal God is Father, Son, and Spirit and he is perfectly happy in himself!

4. The Gospel Ends with God

Fourth and finally, the goal of the gospel is God himself. God graciously and lovingly created us for his glory (Isa. 43:7). After Adam, we have all (except Christ) fallen short of this glory (Rom. 3:23). The Father then begins to redeem his creation and fallen man through the perfect God-man Jesus Christ. For those whom God has chosen in eternity past he has given to the Son. And for those whom the Father has given the Son, Jesus laid his life down (John 10:15, 29). The ones for whom Jesus died will never perish (John 10:28). They have been redeemed by the blood of the eternal Lamb of God. And this redemption is ultimately for the praise of the glory of the grace of God.

 “In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:5-6).

Thus, the goal of the gospel is the praise of the glory of the grace of the eternally happy God. Simply put, God himself is the end and the goal of the gospel. We treasure the gospel because it gets us God! Those whom Jesus has redeemed will enjoy God forever, thus fulfilling man’s greatest end: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever” (Westminster Catechism, Question 1).

Before even approaching the gospel or the devastating effects of sin, which outlines our need for the gospel, these four realities were key foundations for us to lay concerning the God of our salvation.

(1) The gospel is from God. It is untouchable and foreign to all of us outside of his sovereign grace.

(2) God is perfectly holy. He is wholly just in all of his dealings. He cannot permit sin. He hates sin. He cannot do what is unjust because it would be sub-God.

(3) God is perfectly happy without people. He does not need us. He is eternally love and joy apart from creation, including us.

(4) God is the goal of the gospel. Our joy in him glorifies him. And beholding him and delighting in him are the primary purposes of our salvation.

In the following weeks, we will turn from some fundamental realities about our triune God to a basic definition of the gospel and then to some fundamental realities about mankind and our utter need of God’s intervening grace. In other words, we will continue to answer the question, “Why do we need the gospel?”

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Mathew Gilbert is a student at Boyce College (B.A. Biblical and Theological Studies, Dec. ’14). He is the author of the forthcoming book Come to the Well: 50 Meditations to Fuel Your Joy in God (CrossBooks). Mathew lives in London, KY with his wife Erica and their dog, Simba.

Does Doctrine Impact Evangelism?

How important is doctrine in the church and for the church in an increasingly hostile, post-Christian culture? Obviously it is important enough for the major stalwarts in evangelicalism to found and foster a conference dedicated to the end of doctrinally sound and theologically informed churches. For three days, pastors and future pastors gather to think through some vital issues in the church and culture, as well as be encouraged to return to their respective fields of ministry to tend the flock and gather the sheep. We are a company of shepherds singing praises to and receiving grace from our chief Shepherd, who is also the spotless Lamb who died for us.

The theme this week at Together for the Gospel is evangelism, and the conference title is “The Unashamed Gospel.” We are being encouraged to be unashamed in our proclamation of the good news of God’s saving grace in Jesus. We are also being convicted of the shame we appear to have toward the gospel in our ignorance of the lost in the world. I have been reflecting some on the impact of sound doctrine on evangelism and the answer to our lackluster evangelistic efforts. Here are a few of those musings sparked by the messages at T4G 2014 by Mark Dever, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Al Mohler.

Why do we fear evangelism? Surely it is fear that keeps us finding issue after issue to concern ourselves with to avoid the urgency of a lost, dying, and guilty world. Our lack of evangelism is evidence of a heart that is ashamed of Jesus. We care what our friends think. We care what our communities think. We care what our culture thinks. We want to be relevant. We do not want to be silenced. We do not want to be shut out of the public square. We want a voice that is respected, heard, and counted.

The easy answer to this dilemma is to simply forsake sound biblical doctrine in our evangelism. Let us toss out the Bible and invite sinners to a “Jesus” who takes no issue with sin. If we want droves of people to flock to our churches, the best thing we could do is abandon the gospel and develop evangelistic strategies that are doctrinally empty. Many of us are already halfway there. The personal evangelism of many pastors and Christians is lackluster at best. We fear if we stick to sound biblical doctrine we will be shut out of our friends’ homes, shunned by our communities, and silenced by our culture.

The Bible is a force that either finds friend or foe.

It is so powerful in fact, that Christians fear the worst when they consider the implications of sharing its truth with their lost friends and communities. We do not evangelize partly because we ignore God’s Word, and partly because we know what God’s Word says. We ignore the clear commands to extend the grace of God in Jesus to all people everywhere (basic biblical evangelism). However, at the same time we know that God in his Word has a tendency to say things like this, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). It would be strange for us to not approach the task of biblical evangelism with some measure of trembling. It is no light and passing thing to tell someone they are truly dead and under the wrath of God! And it is incredibly foolish, detrimental, and hateful to do such a thing if there was no Savior. Oh, but Christian there is a Savior! His name is Jesus. He is the object of our praise and the reason for our evangelism. Because he has come to ransom us from our plight, the task of evangelism is not only mandatory, but it is the only thing that makes sense.

Our evangelism must not only be a pressing and urgent mission of the church, but it should be carried out in a God-honoring way. Sharing the gospel is in vain when it is not doctrinal. The notion that doctrine is only for mature Christians or for those in academia is an incredibly naïve attempt to understanding evangelism in the church and culture. The notion that doctrine is a killjoy doesn’t understand biblical doctrine. There is no sweeter joy than the reality of biblical doctrine, because it is an articulation of the most glorious reality in the world, namely that there is a God who wants to be known and glorified. He reveals himself in absolute truth to sinners whom he redeems by the blood of his Son. What grace! What love! What joy!

The voices that ring out from our churches must resound in love and truth. We bring good news! Christ has come to save us from our sins—and save us he has! But what has he saved us from? He has died for sin and sinners. He died for our broken thoughts. He died for the mountain of pride we have built up in our hearts. He died for our sexual perversions. He died for our misplaced desires, our lies, our gluttony, and our greed. The innocent was counted guilty, that the guilty may be counted innocent, and go free.

And so, when we evangelize our friends, communities, and culture, we are preaching a Savior who died for all of the sinful things they hold dear to their hearts. We bring a powerfully offensive message of bad news, namely, if they remain in their sins they will eternally bear the wrath of God in an actual place called hell. A doctrinally uninformed evangelism is no evangelism at all. Evangelism at its core is doctrinal. We share a gospel of truth—absolute truth. We share a gospel with one Savior—total exclusivity. We share a gospel that confronts sin and conquers sin—loving offense. In the same way that it is offensive to tell a speeder that he or she will wreck and be seriously injured if he or she doesn’t slow down, gospel-centered exposal of sin is painful; but saying nothing will be far more painful.

For the sake of Christ and the truth of his Word, the gospel must go forth. But in order for the gospel to go forth, it must go forth in doctrinal truth. Without doctrinally informed evangelism, the face of Christianity in America will continue to shift into liberalism and the need for an actual Savior will be seen as unnecessary. Love your friends and neighbors and engage your culture by bringing the gospel in all its truth, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe (Rom. 1:16).

Morning Mashup 02/06

God Threw A Stone – Tullian Tchividijian: “Though no one on earth can throw the first stone, God can. And he did. The wonder of all wonders is that the rock of condemnation that we justly deserved was hurled by the Father onto the Son. The law-maker became the law-keeper and died for us, the law-breakers.”

John Piper: The Infographic – If you are interested in some basic information about John Piper, this is a creative method for you to get to know this theological juggernaut a little more. So far in my Christian life, no single figure has had more influence on my faith, theology, and ministry concepts than Piper.

How Churches Can Evangelize Their Neighbors – Many helpful thoughts on an important concern of many churches. “[M]ake sure your members understand that, while it’s always good to love our neighbors and build relationships with them for a number of reasons, we love them best by sharing the good news with them. And when gospel conversations do happen, engage the whole church in praying that they would bear fruit and that the Lord would use them to save your neighbors.”

The Merciful Gift of Desperation – Jon Bloom: “Heavenly Father, do whatever it takes to keep us desperate for you so that the deceitfulness of sin does not harden our hearts (Hebrews 3:13). And grant to our suffering brothers and sisters the mercy of sustaining grace. Keep us all faithful by strengthening our faith. And help us to keep praying for each other. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

In Christ, Our Suffering Is Not In Vain – “Jesus suffered for us. Yet we are called to participate in His suffering. Though He was uniquely the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, there is still an application of this vocation for us. We are given both the duty and the privilege to participate in the suffering of Christ.”

Dear Donald Miller – Many have responded to Donald Miller’s post in which he says he doesn’t go to church, but worships God in other forms. This response from Jonathan Leeman may be the best. You will enjoy reading this winsome correction.

We Christians press on because we know that there is laid up for us in God’s presence an inheritance beyond anything we could ever imagine. –Greg Gilbert

The Plight of Slavery and the Providence of God

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I decided to begin reading Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up From Slavery. As a white man, I cannot even begin to comment on the devastation of slavery and the putrid nature of racism and prejudice that lasted after the abolishment of slavery; into the civil rights era where King stood his ground and fought his fight; and even in various forms into today. It is very enlightening to get into the mind of one who lived through one of the darkest eras in American history and witnessed its immediate aftermath. The following is an excerpt from chapter one of Washington’s autobiography. It is truly amazing to see the heart of Washington in this excerpt as he fights bitterness with confidence in the providence of God. Without condoning slavery or absolving those who took part in it, he demonstrates his hatred of slavery’s existence while showing love for those who essentially dehumanized him (even though he writes that his slaveholders were very kind to him).

I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery. I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race. No one section of our country was wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years by the General Government. Having once got its tentacles fastened on to the economic and social life of the Republic, it was no easy matter for the country to relieve itself of the institution. Then, when we rid ourselves of prejudice, or racial feeling, and look facts in the face, we must acknowledge that, notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, the ten million Negroes inhabiting this country, who themselves or whose ancestors went through the school of American slavery, are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously, than is true of an equal number of black people in any other portion of the globe. This is so to such an extent that Negroes in this country, who themselves or whose forefathers went through the school of slavery, are constantly returning to Africa as missionaries to enlighten those who remained in the fatherland. This I say, not to justify slavery— on the other hand, I condemn it as an institution, as we all know that in America it was established for selfish and financial reasons, and not from a missionary motive— but to call attention to a fact, and to show how Providence so often uses men and institutions to accomplish a purpose. When persons ask me in these days how, in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in the future of my race in this country, I remind them of the wilderness through which and out of which, a good Providence has already led us [Washington, Booker T. (2012-05-12). Up from Slavery: an autobiography (pp. 6-7). . Kindle Edition].

The ultimate cure to the disease of racism is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the gospel, God reconciles sinners from every tribe, race, and tongue to himself and to one another through his Son. In fact, the more racially diverse a local church is, the more biblically accurate they image the people of God.  Christ died to unite racially diverse sinners to himself and to unite racially diverse sinners to one another. Though the elements of the sin of racism will plague us until Christ returns, we must fight this with the satisfaction that comes from loving people of all races and nationalities as Christ loves them; with a love that desires their joy in God through faith in Christ.

I encourage you to reflect on the necessity of racial harmony in the church today and to ask yourself whether enough progress has been made since the time of Booker T. Washington or at least since the time of Martin Luther King Jr. Keeping with the theme of racial harmony, the horrors of racism, and the power of the cross of Christ to reconcile sinners vertically and horizontally, here are some modern books to check out:

Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian (John Piper)

Letters to a Birmingham Jail: A Response to the Words and Dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. (ed. Bryan Loritts) (releases April 1, 2014)

United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity (Trillia Newbell) (releases March 1, 2014)

Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle that Changed a Nation (Jonathan Rieder)

 

God Provided A Way: Why Christians Need the Gospel

Christians need the gospel. This is an awkwardly obvious phrase. Obvious because without “gospel” there is no “Christian.” Awkward because so many Christians act as if they do not need the gospel. This kind of thinking is perilous to our faith.

We live in a world filled with seductive sinful passions that entice the flesh that lingers from our old selves. Everything from television, books, magazines, and various websites tempt us to treasure pleasures that are fleeting at best and destructively damning at worst. We are also tempted with everyday social sins such as gossip. We all know the dangers of a prayer meeting, as too often we are left with a smorgasbord of gossip topics when we return home or head to work the next day. The destructive yet tempting “he said, she said” conversations can lure us in to the point that we are numb to the hurtful words that we speak. Matthew Mitchell has written an important book on this oft-ignored topic. I recommend you checking out Resisting Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue.

These temptations and the rest are readily available to us everywhere we look, every single day. Facebook, Twitter, TV programs, newspapers, casual conversations, and other means tempt us to fall into sin not only every day, but every moment. I am actually beginning to wonder how helpful Facebook actually is. Do the pros really outweigh the cons?

Christians are called to holiness. Christians are called to conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). So, how is a Christian to live in a world filled with sinful seductions? How is a Christ-follower, a child of the Holy One of Israel, to survive in this daily battle of (or for) the heart?

Answer: The Gospel.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the primary means that we fight and kill sin. If you want to overcome that temptation that is vying for your heart’s worship, look to Christ and his gospel. One tremendous benefit of these dangerous temptations is the fact that they remind us of our dreadfully sinful condition–the pre-grace predicament all of humanity is in from birth (Ps. 51:7). And thus, our eyes should gaze upon the glory of God’s grace in the gospel–the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that provided the only way for us to be legally justified and paternally adopted by our holy and sovereign God. Paul realized the necessity of reminding Christians of the gospel (1 Cor. 15) and there have been books written on this all-important truth; one of which written by my former Greek grader, Mitchell Chase (The Gospel is for Christians).

The gospel is a sanctifying means of grace that you need on a daily basis. So, as you take in your daily dose of sinful temptations through your conversations and “clicks,” combat this satanic onslaught with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and most pointedly, the gospel. God provided a way for you to be made right with him and for you to be made like his Son. Your holiness was achieved on the cross, but it is being worked out in you every second of every day. One means for you to grow into this blood-bought and Spirit-wrought holiness is to meditate on the glory of God’s grace in the gospel.

Remind yourself of the undeserved gift of grace often. I would even recommend putting the gospel into words at various times. Focusing on the power of God in the gospel will allow your eyes to gaze upon pleasures that are unending (Ps. 16:11) in Christ and the assurance that your battle for holiness is being worked out by God in you and will be achieved in the last day (Rom. 8:30; Phil. 1:6). God provided a way for you to be made right with him. And he still is providing a way for you to flee and fight sin. The means in both cases is the same–the gospel of Jesus Christ; for your justification and your sanctification. Jesus died to cancel the debt of your sin, absorb the wrath of God against your sin, and free you from the slavery of sin.

Here is just one example of an articulation of the gospel from an Apologetics book I read recently that has helped me fight sin this week:

 Man fell from his original state and consequently lost the ability and the will to worship and serve the Creator. The covenant relationship that, prior to the fall, existed in harmony with the Creator’s will was, after the fall, a relationship of animosity and rebellion on our side, and was one of wrath on the side of the Creator.

But there was still a relationship. It is not that man ceased to be a covenant creature after the fall. He was still responsible to God to obey and worship him. He turned this responsibility, however, into occasions for rebellion. Instead of walking with God in the cool of the day, man began to try to hide from God, to fight with God, to run from him, to use the abilities and gifts he had been given to attempt to thwart the plan of God and to construe for himself a possible world in which he was not dependent on God at all.

So God provided a way in which the obedience owed him and the worship due his name could be accomplished. He sent his own Son, who alone obeyed the spirit and letter of the law, and who also went to the cross to take the penalty we deserve in order that those who would come to him in faith would be declared not guilty before the tribunal of the covenant Judge.

–K. Scott Oliphint, Covenantal Apologetics: Principles and Practice in Defense of Our Faith, pp. 41-42

Loving Delay: God’s Glory and Love in Your Suffering

Christian, have you ever prayed for something that followed with no apparent answer over and over again, so much so, that you question God’s love for you?

Battle of the Heart

This question is like a hardcore game of tug-of-war in your heart and mind. You know that God’s love for you is uninhibited, unbound, and unmerited. You know that he loved you despite your deliberate rebellion against him in sending Christ Jesus to die for you. You know that God loves you because he adopted you; you are his child and he is your Father. You know he loves you as the Holy Spirit sanctifies you and reorients your desires toward Christ. And you know he loves you because in his preserving grace he wakes you up each morning saying, “I believe in Jesus.”

Yet, at the same time, your heart is breaking at the sound of bad news, your faith is shaking with doubt, or your world has been completely turned upside down by tragedy, suffering, or some raging consequences of sin. You cry yourself to sleep at night. No one can say anything that can ease the pain. Broken relationships. Broken bodies. Broken health. Broken hearts. Just sheer brokenness fills your life. And so you pray. You pray, and you pray, and you pray. Each morning and afternoon, evening and night, and all throughout the day you pray for God to lift the pain, cure the disease, mend the broken relationship. The voice of your heart could not be clearer.

Deafening Silence

But what comes out of these heart-wrenching prayers? What is the response from these humble cries to the God of the universe in whom you have trusted and to whom you belong?

…Nothing…

Silence. Piercing silence. Deafening silence. The suffering and the tragedy persists. The darkness will not lift. Is God ignoring you? Does he even hear you? This silence or delay from God seems surprising and uncharacteristic of his love. Can God truly claim to love us with the intensity that he says he does if he delays in answering our prayers?

I want you to see that in delaying, God is loving you. The basis from which all of this flows is the truth that God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). So, his love for you is not something that he must learn. It is crucial to his character.

Loving by Delay: Example from John 11

Let’s look at Jesus in John 11 for an example of this. John 11 begins with a request for help from Mary and Martha. Their brother Lazarus had fallen ill. It is clear that Jesus loved this family. Lazarus’ sisters refer to their brother as “he whom you love” (11:3). It is notable that they say Lazarus is the one whom Jesus loves, instead of saying the one ill was Lazarus, the one who loves Jesus. This tells me that those who have an intimate relationship with Jesus view the love in that relationship as primarily stemming from him to them, rather than vice-versa, though that aspect is there as well (i.e. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus clearly loved Jesus).

We see this in other places as well. The writer of this Gospel, John, refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved (13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20). Paul, writing of the atonement of Jesus adds a personal clause: “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). D.A. Carson writes, “Those who draw really close to Jesus think of themselves, first and foremost, as those loved by him rather than as those who profess their love for him.”

So, the one whom Jesus loves is sick and dying and the ones who Jesus loves are pleading with him to help. Mary and Martha call upon Jesus to demonstrate his love for them by doing something about the illness. Let’s be clear about what is going on. A family that Jesus loves deeply has been struck with tragedy. A brother is dying. Two sisters are crying. His love for them is real and deep. This is how he responds:

But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (11:4).

I like the NASB translation better here: “This sickness is not to end in death…” Though Lazarus’ sickness would definitely lead to death in one sense (Lazarus does die), this illness does not end in death. In one sense, the story does not end with Lazarus’ death. The sickness does not have the last word. Jesus does. But also, it may be that Jesus says this with emphasis on the event’s purpose. The true end or purpose of what is about to happen is not death, but the glorification of God in Jesus Christ. “It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” So, one thing that is central to Lazarus’ and his sisters’ suffering is the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

Two things are clear so far: (1) Jesus loves Lazarus (and Mary and Martha), and (2) the suffering of this family (Lazarus’ illness) has as its end the glory of God in Jesus Christ. John now moves to focus on Jesus’ love. “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (11:5). What John is about to write must be taken with this knowledge fresh on our minds. He then writes something shocking, surprising, and seemingly scandalous. Now, what we would expect from John in verse six would be something like this: “As a result of this love, Jesus immediately went to Lazarus and healed him from this illness.” This is what we would expect from the love of Christ poured out on those whom he loves. This is what we expect from him when we are suffering; immediate response and healing. However, we get something much different:

So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was (11:6).

What?! John reminds us of Jesus’ love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and then he tells us that the way he demonstrates this love is by staying two days longer where he was. He does not rush to Lazarus’ rescue. He delays.  In response to a desperate plea from the ones he loves, Jesus demonstrates his love by delay. The original Greek is much clearer than the English translation in verses 5-6. John essentially says that because Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he delayed in coming to his rescue.

Reasons to Love by Delay

But why the delay? If Jesus loved this family, why would he wait two (what ended up being four) days to come to them? I believe there are two main reasons.

1. To Magnify His Glory

Remember, the end or purpose of Lazarus’ sickness is that God may be glorified in the glorification of Jesus Christ. When Jesus and his disciples finally arrived, Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for four days. This is highly significant because of Jewish thought. At that time, there was a Jewish superstition that when someone died, the spirit of that person hovers over their body for up to three days, after which no resurrection or resuscitation would be possible. So, when Jesus arrives at Lazarus’ tomb after four days, there would be no question that any resurrection would be divine. Nothing would be able to explain a resurrection at this point and Jesus’ deity and glory would be on full display. Death does not have the last word. Jesus does. And he has the final word on your suffering as well. In the end, he will magnify his glory.

2. To Magnify His Love 

How does Jesus show his love for this family in his delay? We have already seen that he shows his love for them by glorifying himself in Lazarus’ resurrection, which was magnified through delay. However, there is something more personally significant that happens when Jesus loves this way; through delay. In his book Scandalous, D.A. Carson observes that oftentimes Christians act like immature children when we pray.

Sadly, many of us act like very young and immature children when we deal with God. We, too, want specific blessings now, now, now. But God takes the long view, and he understands that sometimes delay is what is best for us (Scandalous, 121).

Our view of God is far too often too little. We view him, speak of him, and deal with him in human terms–and as Carson has demonstrated, childish human terms at that. This is also true with regard to our understanding of God’s love. We feel that God does not love us if he does not answer or bless us immediately. But what we see in John 11 refutes that thinking. Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and yet he delayed in coming to them. He did not immediately relieve their suffering. God does not always immediately relieve the suffering of his children. And it isn’t always the case that he relieves our suffering at all. In these cases, with Paul we must submit to the truth that God’s grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9). However, he is always sovereign over our suffering.

Suffering to the Glory of God

I’ll close this lengthy post with an encouragement. Jesus showed his love for Lazarus and his sisters by delaying in relieving their suffering. Delay therefore does not imply lack of love or neglect. Rather, it implies a higher wisdom and grander purpose.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. — Romans 5:3-5

God is glorified in the joy of his people. And when his people find joy in God amidst tremendous suffering, God is greatly glorified. The vision of God that we must take up in order to accurately view personal suffering that will not cease and endless prayers that seem to have no answer is that of Romans 5:3-5. This vision is that the increase of character, perseverance, and future hope is more important than relief from suffering. Paul would later write “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). One means that God works this joy out in us is through delay. God’s love through delay produces perseverance, character, and a hope that will never fail us; a hope that vanquishes all need for relief.

D.A. Carson is poignant on this point:

God is sovereign. He is wise. He is unqualifiedly good. Part of Christian maturation is understanding that even his delays are not foolish or stupid or mistakes or exercises in whimsy. He is to be trusted, and even the delays are to be improved upon by the way we respond to them.

Christian, when your suffering will not cease; when the darkness over your soul will not lift; when you feel your prayers going unanswered; know that this is one of the innumerably glorious ways that your God loves you. His glory and love are magnified in his delay. And always remember that the grand purpose in your suffering is in one way the glory of God in the satisfaction of his suffering saint.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower. –William Cowper

Resources: I was greatly influenced by D.A. Carson’s book Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. I highly recommend it.