I Love Tom Ascol's Heart

I love Pastor Tom Ascol's heart for a truly regenerate-by-God's-Spirit church, and I love how faithful he is to present his resolution on the issue every year to the Southern Baptist Convention.

Late Night Bojangle's, Sweet Tea, and a True Friend

My love for Bojangle's is well-known throughout the city of Raleigh. During my college days, I was found at a certain Jo-Bangle's location no less than four times a week. Yes, that's four times each week at the same location.

But as I look back, I realize something about my time spent at my favorite restaurant - it wasn't in vain. It wasn't just about chilling out (though that was fun) or great, greasy food (my arteries hurt) or even the heaven-approved sweet tea (mmm, like syrup); it was about the friendships. The friends who sat around with me at Bo's taught me and let me teach them, they built me up in the Lord Jesus and in His written Word, and they sharpened and encouraged me regularly. I love those guys.

Tonight was a recollection of many such nights. A true friend, who sticks closer than a brother, accompanied me for some basketball then Bojangle's, and we enjoyed every minute of it. Nearly two hours were spent at Bo's, and it seemed nary five minutes. Such is the fellowship between two brothers.

Through his faithful practice of brotherhood, my friend reminded me tonight of Proverbs 10:11 and 13:14, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence . . . The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death."

I praise God for placing His fountain of life in the mouths of my righteous-by-the-grace-of-God-in-the-cross-of-Christ brothers. He has so often revived me through them. Revive me again, Lord Jesus, I need You again and again and again.

"For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light."
Psalm 36:9

The Church is Burning

Professor David Wells blogs over at 9 Marks on how the church is burning while we watch:

The problem, though, is that the consequences in our churches of increasingly vapid biblical teaching, personality-centered pastoring, invasive individualism, contempt for the past, and an egregiously non-theological kind of evangelicalism have now been accumulating for years. And this makes for easy-pluckings by anyone who seems to have a better idea or who offers more for less.

Wells' God-centered, God-given, thoroughly biblical insights on modern Christianity make his books well worth picking up.

Ascol on True Church Discipline

Pastor Tom Ascol responds to the recent Wall Street Journal article on church discipline. He notes the always-extreme nature of their news coverage and includes this direction for churches seeking to practice truly Biblical and loving church discipline:

One of the first things a faithful pastor must do when he finds that a church has neglected the practice of corrective church discipline is teach. He must carefully explain passages like the one cited above [Matthew 18] and 1 Corinthians 5. Then he must teach some more. And then some more. He must lead the membership to see and embrace what the Bible says about the integrity of a church's identity and testimony as the body of Christ. Only after a congregatoin has been adequately taught can they be expected to properly carry out the practice of church discipline.

May the Lord bring His Word and His purity back into our local churches.

Letter to a Persecuted American Family

My brother and sister,

Hey, I was getting ready to send you an email about something totally different when I realized that something R. told me tonight was indescribably encouraging. He mentioned that his sister offered to help ya'll with a down payment on a house, then added that the money came with a certain condition - that you would have no more children. This certainly meant that this family member disapproved of your life's path in any number of ways, but most likely because of missions and family size. And you turned the money down! Without a second thought! What a beautiful testimony to Jesus! He is more important than anyone's money! He is better than the so-called "wisdom" of our world!

It reminded me of Luke 6:22-23, where Jesus says, "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets." Make no mistake about it - your sister is excluding you from her money because of your choice to follow Jesus down the hard road of family-building and missions. And Jesus says that you are "blessed" - happy - because of her exclusion of you and reviling of your name. So leap for joy today, because great is your reward in heaven. You are just like the prophets! How encouraging is that?

We love you (it's amazing to see how fast God is growing your family),

B.

Two New (Old) Resources

At community group last night, I mentioned two resources you might be interested in.

1. The speech from which I plucked Pastor John Piper's thesis, "the doctrine of glorification is in the Bible to help you suffer well on the path of love to show that Jesus is more valuable than life," is called "Man as Glorified" and was given at the 2002 Mid-Atlantic Founders Conference in Raleigh, NC. It is, unfortunately, not available online, but it can be ordered here.

If you live near me, though, just ask me for it and I'll burn you a copy. As a sermon, it is biblical-theological gold.

2. The band I used to be in has old websites here, here, and here. We were called Fairbanks, and our last recorded music is on purevolume. If you want our anthology of hard grungy rock, just ask me for a copy.

We didn't always ride mowers, but we sure did rock.

One of My Favorite Verses in All of the Bible

. . . is Isaiah 35:10

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

What a beautiful promise for God's elect! Return to Zion with singing! Neverending joy on our heads! Obtaining gladness AND joy! Nevermore again to be sad or sigh! All of the depressing feelings of this fallen life to forever flee from us! To enjoy God forever in His place with His own happiness! What costly, bountiful, incomprehensible blessings Jesus bought for us God-hating sinners on the cross!

Male Leadership in the Family, Church, and Culture: Pt. 1

Last weekend, a well-loved family member brought up some thoughts about gender roles in the church, and it got me thinking all over again about the need for male leadership in the family, church, and culture. I say all three for several reasons: one, because they necessarily go together and one would be hypocrisy without the others; two, because they are generally the three spheres in which we operate; three, we men need reminders that our proper leadership is needed in all three.

It's often said that exclusively male leadership is a thing of the past, a relic of a bygone age, and a vestige of the oppression of women by the male majority. I've even heard it said, and staunchly defended, that commands in the Bible like 1 Timothy 2:12-15 apply not to every culture and age but mainly the one to whom Paul was writing. This could not be further from the truth.

When God the Holy Spirit, through His apostle Paul, wrote,

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing - if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

He neither framed it as a time-sensitive command nor intend it as such. The reasoning of the context simply does not permit it. It's more straightforward and universal than that.

So God says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet," then what is the reason? Why does He say such a preposterously chauvinistic thing?

Because "Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." In couching these commands in (1) creation and (2) fall, God makes them as universal and straightforward as possible. There is no pandering to that particular culture or ours. There is no yellow-bellied wimpery in God's decree. He says, "I made man first, therefore woman cannot, by My design, be the leader."

And all who disagree - men and women - are rebelling against God. God made the man to be the servant leader of his family, church, and culture; just look at the way Jesus live and led and spoke and died. He lived and breathed the servant leadership God placed upon Him; who are we to question God's call?

Joel: God Never Finally Opposes His Children

We were talking in community group last night about our pastor's sermon on Joel last Sunday, and we stopped to linger over the idea and application of God's opposition of His people. In using the word "opposition," we determined from Joel that often the Sovereign Lord makes life difficult, quite difficult (Paul says in 2 Cor. 1 that he "despaired of life itself"), for His children. God "opposes" them for a season, so that He would work humility and repentance by His grace.

Consider the book of Joel. Its three short chapters speak often of weeping and wailing, of locust plagues, of repentance, and of the day of the Lord. That's some pretty sobering, apocalyptic stuff. But note the renewal and repentance that comes to those who follow God's command to "Put on sackcloth and lament, . . consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly, . . . cry out to the Lord," (1:13f, 2:15f). God then says to His people in Joel 2:19-3:1,

"Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land . . . Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem. . ."

Grain and new wine! Enemies driven away! Rejoicing in God! Vats overflowing with wine and oil! Land restored! Plenteous, satisfying food! Dwelling with God! Knowing Him! No more shame! The fullness of His Spirit! Calling on His name for salvation! Escape from judgment! What blessings He promises after repentance! What happiness heaven will hold for those who repent and believe!

God's opposition, then, is never finally against His own children. "He disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness," says Hebrews 12:10. But we must understand His discipline correctly. It is not easy, and it not happy at the time. It is much like how our parents disciplined us when we were young, except that God is wiser and more loving than our earthly parents. He even works locusts and plagues and disaster and famine for the good of His chidren.

Consider one more text with me - Romans chapter eight. 8:28-29 reads, "For we know that God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." So each and every thing in the life of God's child is meant for their good, which is growing in and exalting Jesus Christ. Later Paul writes that nothing in all of creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus - not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. And what God means here is, those things are coming! Don't be dismayed when they do! He still loves you who are in Christ!

One final note - these things are taught in plenty in the Old Testament. So let us read it and enjoy the God who loves His children so wisely and so fully.

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.

God-Centered Lessons from Ray Ortlund, Sr.

Thanks to JT's blog, I learned of the recent death and heavenly happiness of the Jesus-loving pastor, teacher, and writer, Ray Ortlund, Sr, and subsequently found his grandson's "lessons learned." The whole thing is a gem, and I have copied most of it (with slight reformats) here:

My grandfather is, with a few possible exceptions, the most remarkable man I’ve ever known. As my dad put it yesterday, he is the definition of a godly man. If I could choose words from all the hundreds of languages of the world, I would never come close to communicating the weight of what my grandfather has taught me about God and faith and "going hard after God," as he would say. And I know only one language. But despite the frustration of not adequately doing justice to God's abundant work of grace in his life, I list eight things I've learned from Grandpa--and am still learning.

My goal in listing these is not to erect a picture of a perfect man (which would only discourage us), but to “consider the outcome of his way of life, and imitate his faith.” I want others to feel the weight of what God did with this very ordinary man and, with me, to be stirred up. This is not exalting a man instead of Jesus, but exalting a man because of Jesus. Grandpa is the last person who would want his own name to overshadow that of Christ.

1. The Centrality of Love: when he came and spoke to the pastors of Missouri Presbytery of the PCA in 2004, with the chance to pick any text he wanted, he chose John 13: "A new commandment I give you: that you love one another." It was vintage Grandpa when halfway through his message he stopped and instructed the guys present to go around and tell their brothers that they loved them. A simple "I love you" from one pastor to another, face to face. Imagine!

2. The Importance of Joy: Nothing was more tragic, to Grandpa, than a morose believer. He was himself one of the happiest people I've ever known, and that is not without a good deal of heartache of his own.

3. The Bible as Food: Grandpa did not read the Bible mainly for information, but to feed his soul. In one of his books he writes, "You don’t get food for your soul by osmosis! You can hear others talk of it; but until you yourself regularly take in that delicious Word of God, you’re undernourished!” I possess a Bible of his from the late 80's - every page is marked. Including 2 Chronicles and the second half of Joshua.

4. The Critical Place of Prayer: Often we would be together as a family and Grandpa would say, “Let’s stop and pray about this.” And there was no spiritual gamesmanship with the man--just honest, earnest talking to and pleading with the Lord.

5. The Secret Value of Repentance and Humility: One evening in Nashville when we were together as a family Grandpa had been telling me about how Fuller Seminary started in his church, and mentioned some of the big-wigs involved. The next morning, the first thing he said to me was: "Dane, I need to apologize to you about something. I was putting myself forward last night when I was talking about Fuller and those guys, and it was prideful, and I want to tell you I'm sorry and ask you to forgive me. I don't want to be a self-promoter." He was 82, had spoken to crowds of 100,000 in India, had had an interational radio ministry, and written over 20 books. And he wanted to apologize to his grandson for being a self-promoter.

6. The Importance of Loving My Wife: In 2004, sitting in a booth at Chili's in St. Louis, Grandpa gave me a stinging rebuke for not studying Scripture with my wife. That day was a turning point for our marriage.

7. The Incomparable Worth of Singlemindedness: Some of Grandpa's favorite phrases were “tiger for Jesus,” “great exploits in Jesus’ name,” “there’s nothing in life outside of Jesus,” and “go hard after God.” He was a tiger for Jesus, he did great exploits' in Jesus' name, and he did go hard after God. He also eschewed normalcy. He wrote: “Your danger and mine is not that we become criminals, but rather, that we become respectable, decent, commonplace, mediocre Christians. No rewards at the end, no glory—“saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15)! The twenty-first-century temptations that really sap our spiritual power are the television, banana cream pie, the easy chair, and the credit card. Christian, you will win or lose in those seemingly innocent little moments of decision.”

8. Strength in Weakness: Grandpa exemplifies the counterintuitive biblical truth that when we are weak, then we are strong. He was dyslexic and therefore a very slow reader, often felt huge waves of insecurity, and wrestled with what he called an "inferiority complex" early on in life. Yet God used him remarkably, and I believe it was not in spite of his weaknesses but because of them. They forced him to yield himself to the Lord in utter dependence. And I take much consolation in that, as a weak person myself. Grandpa knew that to say “I don’t have what it takes” is exactly what it takes.

I summarize the life of this man with Jesus' words to Peter in Matthew 16: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Grandpa lost his life. And therefore found it.

I love you, Grandpa. Thank you for exalting and enjoying Christ and Christ alone. What a work of grace he did in your life. The joy was yours. The honor was his. The blessing is ours. I can't wait to enjoy the new earth with you.

What a testimony to leave his children and grandchildren! What lessons we all should learn! Let us aspire in Christ to such faithful, Biblical, sacrificial lives by the power of His Spirit!

Luke Admits He Was Wrong

I was reading the ESV's Bible Reading Plan feed on my Google Reader the other day and once again came across an instructive narrative in the book of Acts. Acts 21:15-21 reads:

While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.” (italics mine)

The setting here is Paul's return journey to Jerusalem with Luke and other disciples. Luke is the writer of the book of Acts and thus its narrator. When he writes "we," he is including himself. But, according to this story, these disciples did not see it that way at the time. They even had witness from the Holy Spirit that Paul would be bound at Jerusalem. So they pled with him, they begged him, they urged him not to go. And Luke was doing it right there with them.

Yet Paul's steadfastness to the name of the Lord Jesus demands that he go and be bound and die, if necessary. He loves Jesus in this kind of sacrificing, giving, suffering way that the Bible requires of all of us who are Christ's.

So Luke, along with the other disciples, was urging Paul not to go to Jerusalem, where he would providentially be arrested and sent on to Rome, as God would have it. And this and subsequent narratives makes it clear that this was, in fact, God's plan to send His Gospel to the ends of the earth.

As Luke writes these narratives, then, looking back (since the book doesn't close for a few more chapters and likely months, we can safely assume Luke had some time to reflect on these events before his Holy Spirit-breathed writing of the book), he realizes and admits that he was wrong. He was, though well-intentioned, very mistaken in begging Paul not to go to Jerusalem and suffer for Jesus. Luke - the inspired writer of two hefty books of Scripture - was wrong, and he tells his readers that very thing. "I was wrong," he is saying, "to beg Paul like this. God's plan was bigger and harder and better than I could see at that time, and I'm so thankful."

We ought to be humbled that this wonderful, God-given writer has grace to admit his mistakes, and may we magnify God as we admit ours, as well.

Thank God for Gary W. Beecham, Jr.

This past weekend I had the distinct privilege and humbling honor to be a groomsmen for one of my best friends in the world, Gary W. Beecham, Jr. He got married to his beautiful bride, formerly Miss Ashley Harris. My wife and I had a wonderful time in Columbia, playing with our daughter and enjoying the wedding festivities. Going to Gary's wedding made me ponder over the highs and lows of our almost five-year friendship, and I began to thank the Lord Jesus for giving me such a good friend.

1. Gary loves the living Word of God.

Anyone who knows Gary knows two things: he is relentless silly and he is relentlessly talking about Jesus. This love for Christ is built on Gary's love for the Bible and his study of it. I have seen this firsthand during our long meetings at Bojangle's and many conversations on the phone. This is a man who cannot stop reading the Bible. God Himself has taken him and molded Gary into a reading, studying, Jesus-talking, joy-overflowing vessel of His own glory.

2. Gary loves his wife.

In a day when far too many men either disregard or dishonor their wives, Gary was planning and praying for his wife long before she was his. Often in the last few years, months, weeks, and days, I've heard him talking about how he did this or that because (either implicity or explicity) he knew it would help her. "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her," means that we give up not only our bodies but our desires, too. Gary is a wonderful example of that.

3. Gary loves his church.

Having the privilege of introducing him to his local church, and her to him, I can say, again, from firsthand experience, that Gary undoubtedly, unquestionably loves his local church. He loves her from the Scriptures and from his heart. He loves her with his hands, his time, and his mind. He loves her with kind words and with funny ones. He loves her with rebukes and with encouragements. And I've seen it all come about in the last five years. Praise be to God!

4. Gary loves his friends.

I was telling my wife the other day that when we went through an mind-bending, emotion-twisting, sin-exposing situation last year, I had two friends I knew I could count on to be there for us - one of them was (and is still) Gary. His friends simply cannot count the number of times Gary has helped them out of jams, holes, tough spots, brokenness, stumblings, and grumblings. Not to mention that he's always up for hanging out.

I am thankful for my friend, Gary W. Beecham, Jr. May the sovereign God give us more faith-filled, joyous brothers and sisters like Jesus.

Recent Reading

Some good recent articles in the world of blog:

• Honest to God - Michael McKinley at the 9Marks Blog, Church Matters, takes a look at the pride and hypocrisy in his own heart, challenging us to take a look at our own, finally pointing us to the cross of Christ where we find the grace and forgiveness that empowers us to be truly honest with ourselves, each other, and God Himself.
• Thabiti's series on The Mereness of Church - Thabiti takes a look at how the Church must be simple and clear in her mission and message. These are convicting, challenging, helpful posts, as most all of Thabiti's are.
• Martin Graham's two most recent full-length posts - Fathers, Be Your Child's Advocate! and the Greatness of God and the Meaning of Tender Mercy - are both devotional and God-centered. I am often helped by this dear brother.
• Justin Taylor's three recent devotional articles - one and two from Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Christian's inner life and one from Jerry Bridges on legalistic fences - are all worth the short, thoughtful read.
• Tom Ascol at the Founders Blog is keeping us up-to-date on the life of the SBC in Florida. Powerful convictions and heartfelt love abound.

Praise God for the internet! I learn so much from so many more learned men than myself, all while pointing me to the Bible and the Central Character of it!

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)