Rediscover the First Things

Of First Importance is a wonderful Gospel blog which quotes famous writers, in heaven and on earth, on the beauty and wonder of the good news of the gloriously happy God. It is based on 1 Corinthians 15:1-4,

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Check out:

Loving Jesus Like His Father Does

Continual Gospel Re-discovery

Our Only Comfort in Life and Death

A Gospel-less Sermon is No Christian Sermon

Nathan Finn, church history professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, blogs poignantly on whether the SBC has a future:

Some have suggested that Southern Baptists have not lost the gospel. Normally what they mean is that their church has not lost the gospel, which may or may not be true. I suspect that most of our pastors really believe the gospel. Unfortunately, many of them don’t preach it. Sometimes they actually preach sub-Christian sermons that are really just baptized versions of moralism, New Age spirituality, or especially self-help platitudes. I have heard gospel-less sermons in chapel services at all of our seminaries, either live or online. I have heard gospel-less sermons at our pastor’s conferences and evangelism conferences, either live or through other media. I have heard gospel-less sermons in our churches. And yes, I have heard many of them at the SBC annual meeting itself. Maybe these men are just taking it for granted that their audiences already understand the gospel and so they don’t have to articulate it. Maybe. But I know this much: a sermon that does not include the gospel is not a Christian sermon, no matter who preaches it.

HT: Founders

Your Child, Your Imprint

About a month ago, I began teaching 6th grade math at a local middle school, and I noticed something very quickly - my students are not nice. They are not respectful. They do not like to put much work or thought into anything.

So, I figured, I should do something about this as a teacher. So do something I did. I put in rules and regulations, punishments and rewards, grades and tests that would ensure that my students would abide by our school's rules. Those that command the students to be respectful and courteous, prepared for class and waiting their turn to talk.

But then I realized something: my laws can only go so far. If these children do not have a change of heart, they will only obey me so far as they are required to. So I looked to the parents. They are the ones who hold the most authority, and the most opportunity, in their child's life. Some of them, I found, are caring and nurturing; others could care less about their child's misbehavior.

The Bible tells us that it is primarily your job, parents, to educate your children. The responsibility falls squarely on your shoulders. Now many parents may deny it and pass it off, but the truth of God's Word stands. I have the opportunity and privilege to teach them about math and some of life, but it is your calling to raise them up for the glory of God.

Your child, beloved parents, is often an accurate reflection of your parenting. Your understanding of God, your teaching of His ways, how much time you spend with them, the way that you talk to them, the kind of behaviors you do and do not tolerate, whether or not you discipline them - all of these things are reflected every single day in my classroom and in the world.

This is a sobering thought as I look at my own children. What will their character say about mine? Where have I failed before God? Have I taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ well or poorly? Have I modeled it well before them?

Thankfully, the God of grace is full of mercy and grace for poor sinners who call on Him for help. We are beset all around with sins that try to drag us down - and laziness in parenting is one of them - but He is full of loving strength, fully able to uphold you when you feel too weak, too tired, too sinful to be able to love your children in His ways. Run to Jesus - He is able. Admit your sins and fall at His feet. Beg for mercy and He will answer. Amen.

The Grip of Fear and the Power of the Gospel

Recently, a beloved friend has been writing me about his fear of terrorism. He related that he believes we ought to "prepare our families to die in mass" at the hands of "Islamofascists." I want to be very clear here, I do not agree with labeling people like that, so I am simply responding to an error here in the kindest, truest way I can. I pray that you read it for your growth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Beloved friend,

It seems that you're not seeing the fear in your own words. I know that when I am afraid, it is because I am not trusting God to take care of me as He sees fit. Look at the early church of Acts 1-4, or the persecuted believers of Hebrews 10:32-39 - they trust God and actually are happy in Him in the midst of heartache and pain and suffering and death. They don't obsess over the pain and the suffering. They feel it and it hurts, so they trust in God and direct their thoughts and prayers and praise toward Him, not toward the persecutors or the persecution.

Hebrews 10:32-39, in fact, is very sobering when it points out that suffering for Jesus can either make us press on in "confidence" or "shrink back to destruction." Then the writer says, "but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls." This is a powerful message, because it tells us that pain can lead us to turn away from God forever or turn to Him forever.

So you say that Islam and murder and death are the "greater evil"? Biblically, that is ridiculous. The greatest evil in the world is hatred and unbelief . . . toward God. The Bible says that when you and I hate someone in our hearts, we have already in our hearts committed the murder that you speak of. We ought to take this very seriously, because it tells us that the ugliest evil is within the human heart, not outside in human hands. The greatest evil is disregarding God and worshipping idols, any idols - including our own comfort, which is what we may be worshipping when we obsess about pain.

[Note - he had said I had advised a poor plan of action.] I have not "advised" any plan of action except believing the Gospel first and foremost. All who trust in Jesus have their minds in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3), so if we're not in perfect peace then our minds are not fixed on Him. You and I should start with Jesus and stay on Jesus and look forward to meeting Jesus - whether death and disease and famine come or not.

I for one will not be teaching my family or anyone else to live in fear of Muslims, and neither should you. There are two good reasons for this:

#1 This "fear" of Muslims is just another excuse for hatred toward them. God teaches us to love all people, even our enemies, even when they kill us.

#2 This fear of Muslims ends up being an idol in many hearts that will keep people away from truly trusting in Jesus Christ for their salvation, now and forever.


You and I simply do not have the promise that God will keep us from physical harm in this life - it's simply not true. In fact, He
promises persecution for all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 3:12), as all Christians do desire. So let's not kid ourselves that death and destruction won't come to us - they surely will, but not forever. That is the Gospel, not that we escape pain and sin in this life but that we escape it through Jesus forever in the next life. Our pain in this life makes our redemption in Christ all the sweeter. Praise Him who saves us forever!

Trust Him tonight, tomorrow, and forever, dear friend; I love you,

Britt

Preaching the Gospel at Work

Here is a wonderfully real reminder of the Gospel at work in our work from Timmy Brister, who writes of a conversation with one his UPS trainees:

He came to the point where he asked, “So Timmy, what else is there worth living for other than myself and my children?” I replied, “When I came to Jesus, and that cross became a reality to me, I died, and from that moment on, I live everyday of my life for the one who died for me.”

It's worth a full read.

Packer on the Gospel of God

I noted the helpfulness, strength, and clarity of J.I. Packer's introductory essay to John Owen's classic The Death of Death in the Death of Christ a few posts ago, but I wanted to give you a better taste of Packer's insights. Bible study guys, here you go:

The old gospel was “helpful,” too — more so, indeed, than is the new — but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of Divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its centre of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel the centre of reference is man. This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach men to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and His ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.

From this change of interest has sprung a change of content, for the new gospel has in effect reformulated the biblical message in the supposed interests of “helpfulness.” Accordingly, the themes of man’s natural inability to believe, of God’s free election being the ultimate cause of salvation, and of Christ dying specifically for His sheep, are not preached. These doctrines, it would be said, are not “helpful”; they would drive sinners to despair, by suggesting to them that it is not in their own power to be saved through Christ. (The possibility that such despair might be salutary is not considered; it is taken for granted that it cannot be, because it is so shattering to our self-esteem.) However this may be (and we shall say more about it later), the result of these omissions is that part of the biblical gospel is now preached as if it were the whole of that gospel; and a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth. Thus, we appeal to men as if they all had the ability to receive Christ at any time; we speak of His redeeming work as if He had done no more by dying than make it possible for us to save ourselves by believing; we speak of God’s love as if it were no more than a general willingness to receive any who will turn and trust; and we depict the Father and the Son, not as sovereignly active in drawing sinners to themselves, but as waiting in quiet impotence “at the door of our hearts” for us to let them in. It is undeniable that this is how we preach; perhaps this is what we really believe. But it needs to be said with emphasis that this set of twisted half-truths is something other than the biblical gospel. The Bible is against us when we preach in this way; and the fact that such preaching has become almost standard practice among us only shows how urgent it is that we should review this matter. To recover the old, authentic, biblical gospel, and to bring our preaching and practice back into line with it, is perhaps our most pressing present need. And it is at this point that Owen’s treatise on redemption can give us help.

There are some incredible lines in there, and the whole thing is worth the 30-45 minutes it will take you to read it. Please drop me a comment or an email if you have any questions or comments, because knowing what Packer means will likely be the difference between being a serious Christian or a lightweight - and it could be the difference between knowing Christ or not knowing Him at all.

The Faithful Lover

We are reading through the Gospel of John in family worship, and a few weeks back 13:1 struck me:

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Now, John's narration here is obviously referring to Christ's earthly ministry to and love for His disciples when he says "having loved his own who were in the world," all the way to the cross and beyond when he says, "he loved them to the end." Christ's ascension, and, consequently ours, is even in view when John writes, "Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world."

This, then, is truly an incredible statement about the faithful love of Jesus Christ for His people. He loves His own who are in the world to the point that He will bring them out of the world. He loves His own to the very end.

Let us be very clear here: this is not His general love for the whole world, but His particular love for His people. These are those sheep for whom He died, not the "not-sheep" who are not chosen (see John 10). The Good Shepherd lays down His life particularly for the sheep. He buys and redeems His chosen people and loves them until the end.

What a faithful Lover He is! He loses none and keeps all that the Father gives Him! How deep and vast and costly is His love! He does not let up! When we desert Him as the disciples did, how He continues to love His own!

A Simple Primer on the Biblical Gospel

For my friends with whom I never seem to have the time or setting to discuss this, please read J.I. Packer's introduction to John Owen's classic, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. This is most practical, simple, and clear explanation of the importance of a Biblical understanding of the Gospel that I have ever read (and I do a good bit of reading on that subject).

Gospel Blog

Of First Importance - great new blog with Gospel quotes from solid, believing writers meditating on Gospel truths, every day of the week.

(HT: JT)

Drink Deeply of Jesus Christ

Having read the SBC resolution on alcohol consumption from last year's SBC convention, and then receiving an email announcement from my seminary president addressing that very resolution, I quickly became aware of the foolish legalism of this call for alcoholic abstinence. I mean, there are many, many things I love about the Southern Baptist Convention and its churches, but I love God and His Word more. So it's time to call it out:

This foolishness, this ugly Phariseeism, must stop.

The Southern Baptist Convention, its churches, and every believer in Jesus Christ would do well to pay attention to the commands, logic, and implications of Colossians 2:16-23

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

It says in essence, "Church, let no one judge you! Christ is the substance, not fleshly practices! Church, let no one cheat you! They will try to pull you away from the Head, from whom you are supplied with life!"

I preached on this passage last night at our local rescue mission and actually resisted the urge to call out the SBC on this one. I thought it was my sinful, critical nature trying to exalt myself over the convention; but it was nothing of the sort. My urge was from the Holy Spirit, because this anti-alcoholic legalism is a dangerous and deadly deception. And it is hurting, not helping, local churches.

I was reminded of this fact when I read this article from Christianity Today about the Missouri Bapist Convention and its fight against a local church who uses a local bar (gasp!) to meet people and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In response to the Journey Church's practice of utilizin a St. Louis pub in order to "become all things to all men, so that by any means (they) might save some" (1 Cor. 9:22), the MBC has mandated the teaching of the false doctrine of alcoholic abstinence. One board member, Michael Knight, has even proposed that the MBC cut off all ministry partnership with Acts 29, the Mark Driscoll-founded organization that helps and funds many church plants, including the Journey.

With this idea, the MBC risks building folly upon folly. And it all comes from really bad theology:

• God is not honored when people imply that alcoholic abstinence is a way of gaining His approval.
• God is belittled when His Word is pushed to the wayside while we make rules that have nothing to do with it.
• When we first appeal to personal experience and cultural evidence, God's Word has become of no effect.

Let us not build houses upon sand, but upon the rock of Christ's Word. Please join me in calling for a return to the God of the Bible.

The "Sweet Flame" of Christ's Love

Here is a beautiful Jonathan Edwards quote, with introduction from Thabiti:

On Nov. 28, 1751 Jonathan Edwards wrote a letter to a Lady Mary Pepperrell. Lady Pepperrell had recently lost a son and Edwards wrote to offer Christian comfort. For my money, Edwards is at his best when he meditates on the person and work of Christ. In the middle of his letter to Pepperrell, his thoughts land on the work of Christ for us. Here's an excerpt quoted from A Sweet Flame: Piety in the Letters of Jonathan Edwards.

It is a work of love to us, and a work of which Christ is the author. He loveliness and his love have both their greatest and most affecting manifestation in those sufferings, which he endured for us at his death. Therein, above all, appeared his holiness, his love to God, and his hatred of sin, in that, when he desired to save sinners, rather than that a sensible testimony should not be seen against sin, and the justice of God be vindicated, he chose to become 'obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' Thus, in the same act, he manifests, in the highest conceivable degree, his infinite hatred of sin and his infinite love to sinners. His holiness appeared like a fire, burning with infinite vehemence against sin. At the same time,... his love to sinners appeared like a sweet flame, burning with an infinite fervency of benevolence. It is the glory and beauty of his love to us, polluted sinners, that is an infinitely pure love. And it is the peculiar sweetness and endearment of holiness, that it has its most glorious manifestation in such an act of love to us. All the excellencies of Christ, both divine and human, have their highest manifestation in this wonderful act of his love to men--his offering up himself a sacrifice for us, under these extreme sufferings. Herein have abounded toward us the riches of his grace, 'in all wisdom and prudence' (Eph. 1:8). Herein appears his perfect justice. Herein, too, was the great display of his humility, in being willing to descend so low for us. In his last sufferings appeared his obedience to God, his submission to this disposing will, his patience, and his meekness, when he went as a lamb to the slaughter, and opened not his mouth, but in a prayer that God would forgive his crucifiers. And how affecting this manifestation of his excellency and amiableness to our minds, when it chiefly shines forth in such an act of love to us. The love of Christ to men, in another way, sweetens and endears all his excellencies and virtues; as it has brought him in to so near a relation to us, as our friend, our elder brother, and our redeemer; and has brought us into an union so strict with him, that we are his friends, yea, 'members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones' (Eph. 5:30).

We see then, dear Madam, how rich and how adequate is the provision, which God has made for our consolation, in all our afflictions, in giving us a Redeemer of such glory and such love, especially, when it is considered, what were the ends of this great manifestation of beauty and love in his death. He suffered that we might be delivered. His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, to take away the sting of sorrow, and to impart everlasting consolation. He was oppressed and afflicted, that we might be supported. He was overwhelmed in the darkness of death, that we might have the light of life. He was cast into the furnace of God's wrath, that we might drink of the rivers of his pleasures. His soul was overwhelmed with a flood of sorrow, that our hearts might be overwhelmed with a flood of eternal joy.

I Am an Idolater

and I am ashamed.

I have taken part in such idolatry as our American prosperity "gospel", and I alone am to blame for it. Not just "American Christianity" or "evangelicalism" or the "prosperity gospel movement," - ME. Me first. I am to blame.

Please, most gracious God, forgive me for loving Your gifts more than You, and forgive our country's churches for this false gospel. Amen.

The Gospel Coalition

I need to print this out, because it looks like good reading.

The website will be here soon.

(HT: JT)

The Warnings of the Bible

"I have to preach the warnings of the Bible, and the elect receive them with sweet trembling which sends them running for the cross, and the hypocrites blow them off."

Pastor John Piper

God is the Gospel

This is the most important idea you will ever try to get a grasp on. Period.

Pastor John Piper is preaching on this idea at the Resolved Conference this week, and here is an excellent excerpt of his short exposition of John 11:

"How is it love to Lazarus to allow him to walk up to and through the horrors of death? And He gave the answer in verse 4, 'It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.' It is more loving to Lazarus and his sisters and the onlooking Jewish people and you and I reading this, it is more loving that Lazarus die if God will be displayed as more glorious than if he live and God not be displayed as more glorious - which means that the essence and heart of loving human beings is exalting the glory of God for their enjoyment. That's what love is ultimately. You can define love in all kinds of lesser ways - doing good things for people, laying down your life for people, meeting the needs of people - and if you don't get to this point it is aiming at - it doesn't always hit it - it is aiming at their seeing and savoring the glory of God, you don't love them. If you don't want the people to whom you do good to see more of God and enjoy more of God and live forever in the enjoyment of more of God, you don't love them. The world will say you do, but you don't, because you don't care about the ultimate satisfaction of their souls forever in God."

Check it out.

PS - This is also a book by the same title.