I just had the unique opportunity to listen in on a conversation that one normally wouldn’t hear at work. It was between my Christian co-worker who is in the process of adopting two children and a customer who adopted at an unusually rapid pace 14 years ago. I took it that the customer was probably not a Christian, but it was clear he was very thankful for his adopted son and highly encouraged adoption.
Well, in the middle of the conversation my friend turned to the gospel in the most natural and beautiful way when he said, “You know the Bible talks about the relationship Christians have with God through Christ as one of adoption. Think about it. Think about how your adopted son has full rights to your inheritance, your protection, your love, your discipline, and full access directly to you. Well, the same is true for those who have been born of God. The Bible says we are born as rebels against God because of our sin. But by trusting in Jesus we can be adopted sons and daughters of God. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?” That’s all he said.
The customer sat there silent and intrigued by what he had just been told. I was moved to pray for that man’s soul at the moment. So why do I share this story with you, the worldwide web?
First, remember your adoption. Recall your life as a rebellious sinner but now a welcomed child. Second, pray for parentless children and consider whether you could ever become a parent to the parentless. As Piper said, “Adoption at the horizontal level is rooted in adoption at the vertical level.” Third, don’t overlook the providential opportunities to tell others about the good news of reconciliation.
If you’ve preached and pastored for any length of time you’ll know the truth of MacArthur’s words when he said, “Soft preaching makes for hard people” (“The Sinner Neither Able Nor Willing”). Even if you haven’t preached, think about how that has been true for your own soul. Gospel preaching is not soft preaching. The gospel is divisive, which is another reason why we have to be cautious not to be culturally or personally insulting when preaching the gospel. The gospel will be offensive. It splits humanity into two groups - those who believe and receive eternal life and those who don’t. Jesus himself knew that his teaching did exactly that. Some people received the kingdom of heaven and some didn’t when Jesus “told them many things in parables” (Matt. 13:3, 10-17, 34-35).
It’s been nearly a week since T4G and I’m still thinking about alot of what was said. Let me give you the one from R.C. Sproul. I’ll be listing more notable quotes in the days to come.
When Jesus was forsaken by God, when He bore the curse, it was as if Jesus heard the words “God damn you.” This is what it means to be under the anathema of the curse. It is far worse, far more powerful, far more profound than we can know. We cannot understand this, but we know it is true. Everyone who has not been covered by the righteousness of Christ draws every breath under the curse of God. If you believe that, you will stop adding to the gospel and start preaching it with clarity and with boldness because it is the only hope we have. And it is hope enough. (”The Curse Motif of the Atonement”)
Then he closed in prayer. “And it is hope enough.” To which Dr. Mohler responded, “That made me what to tell someone about Jesus.” Think about that this week.
Sin has a subtle and deceptive nature. Satan shows no discrimination in his chosen targets. For the past few days I’ve been considering that truth. In order to combat the evil one, I’ve been examining ways that sin is trying to take root in my heart, particularly as an elder. What I’ve discovered is alarming, and I think it would serve all Christians, especially pastors, well to consider whether the same is true for you. Here it is: Grace-given giftedness does not excuse, permit, or lessen the varying presence and/or severity of sin before God, but rather calls us to greater accountability. Sin can deceive us into believing that God some how looks less upon our sin because of the presence of giftedness. It’s as though we’ve placed our sin and gifts on the scales of God’s pleasure and the latter has tipped his favor towards us.
Well, this is a dangerous and monstrous lie. The presence of grace-given giftedness doesn’t excuse sin but calls us to greater accountability both for sin and the stewardship of our giftedness. (Lk. 19:20-27; cf. Matt. 25:14-30; James 3:1) Here’s the reality: Giftedness can be improved even with the presence of sin. Teachers can improve their teaching and public speaking, deacons can find new and improved ways to serve, parents can instruct, and the list goes on. But now matter how well we use and improve our gifts, God will always be displeased with our sin. So our responsibility is to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving (our)selves” (James 1:22).
I could go on. But if you are an elder or leader in your church with teaching responsibilities, you will be well served by the words of Richard Baxter when he wrote:
Though there is a promise of shining as the stars, to those ‘who turn many to righteousness,’ that is but on supposition that they are first turned to it themselves. Their own sincerity in the faith is the condition of their glory, simply considered, though their great ministerial labors may be a condition of the promise of their greater glory…Believe it, brethren, God never saved any man for being a preacher, nor because he was an able preacher; but because he was a justified, sanctified man, and consequently faithful in his Master’s work. Take heed, therefore, to ourselves first, that you he that which you persuade your hearers to be, and believe that which you persuade them to believe, and heartily entertain that Savior whom you offer to them. (Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, Section 1-The Nature of this Oversight)
What is your first thought when asked how you’re spiritually doing? Where does your mind race to find it’s first line of reasoning? Maybe you recall your quite times - the fervor, energy, enlightenment, closeness, and renewal you felt. Maybe you take inventory of your life’s circumstances. I would like to suggest that your spiritual well-being, i.e., your sanctification, should be assessed primarily by your Christian obedience. When asked, “How are you doing?” Your first thought should be “Where am I or am I not being obedient?”
Now lest you think I’m going to quickly digress to a form of obedience that amounts to legalism, void of emotion, and/or vapid, let me recommend Eric Costa’s seven aspects of “Christian Obedience” to frame my understanding. (This is a single-page document that I highly recommend keeping folded up in your Bible for future reference.)
By God’s grace, many widely known and unknown pastors have lived lives and ministries with one unchanging pursuit - “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and himcrucified” (1 Cor. 2.1-2). Martyn Lloyd-Jones was one of those men. He had the opportunity to preach on the 50th anniversary that commemorated the commencement of his ministry at Bethlehem Forward Movement Mission Hall. His introduction included the following:
I call attention to it (1 Cor. 2.2)…because it is still my determination. It is still what I am endeavouring, as God helps me, to do. I preached on this text then - I have no idea what I said in detail, I have not got the notes-but I did so because it was an expression of my whole attitude towards life. It was what I felt was the commission that had been given to me. And I call attention to it again because it is still the same, and because I am profoundly convinced that this is what should control our every endeavour as Christian people and as members of the Christian Church at this present time. (emphasis added, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified)
Unfortunately, many long-term pastors miss both the prophetic and timeless nature of the “Doctor’s” words. They wrongly assume that they can move beyond the cross to more important things in the Christian life, as though Christian maturity is something more than knowing and obeying “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Church leader, will you be able to look back on your ministry and say that your congregation knows the crucified Savior better because of your ministry? Christian, at the end of you life, will you have known your hope in this life and in the one to come to be rooted in “him crucified’? As we draw closer to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, we should be reminded of this truth.
There is a common problem among many churches today related to their understanding and presentation of the gospel. They often confuse the applications, implications, and wider scope of the gospel with the heart of the gospel. Their emphasis is slightly to widely off center. This inaccuracy is expressed in varying ways with varying degrees of consequences. Here are a couple of examples.
First, how many times have you heard someone say or read some evangelistic tract begin the gospel with “God has a great plan for your life.”? I may have cut my theological teeth on some gospel version that began with those very words. That introductory phrase is usually followed by God loves you, you are unique/special, he only desires your best, and your best is found in his Son, Jesus Christ. Then there is some explanation of what Christ did.
If you take the introductory comment by itself, there isn’t anything inherently unbiblical about it. Just read the promise given in 1 Peter 1:3-5 (cf. Eph. 1:3, 11):
(H)e has caused us to be born again to a living hope…to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power is being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
According to Peter, God, therefore, does have a great plan for those who are “born again.” And yet as amazing as this plan is, it isn’t the center of the gospel.
A second example are some of the focal points in what is commonly referred to as the New Perspective(s) on Paul (NPP).* N. T. Wright explains the “gospel” not as “how one gets saved” but as Jesus’ decisive victory over the powers of evil, his resurrection inaugurating the long-awaited time of Israel’s return from exile and the whole world under the rule of the creator, Israel’s Messiah, and, therefore, the Lord, the true king of the world (N. T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?, 60). He grounds his explanation in passages like Romans 1:3-4 and Galatians 4:1-11. Here’s what he said: “(W)e have initial justification in saying that Romans 1:3-4 does indeed provide the thematic launching-pad for the letter’s deepest argument. Paul’s theology in Romans is, at its heart, royal. So, I suggest, is his theology in Galatians” (Ibid., 54, emphasis added).
Okay! There is nothing unbiblical there. As a matter a fact, Wright as alot of good things to say in his explanation of Jesus fulfilling Old Testament messianic prophecies. But upon further reflection, particularly his comment about the theme of Romans and Galatians, you actually find that Wright has missed the center of the gospel. For over 1500 years Reformed Christians have understood Paul not to explain the gospel “he was set apart for” (Rom. 1:1) primarily in kingly themes (Rom. 1:3-4) but in how an unrighteous sinner can be made righteous before a holy God. This is the gospel he’s “not ashamed” of “for it is the power of God…For in it the righteousness of God is being revealed” (Rom. 1:16-17).
Sin has a subtle and deceptive nature. Satan shows no discrimination in his chosen targets. For the past few days I’ve been considering that truth. In order to combat the evil one, I’ve been examining ways that sin is trying to take root in my heart, particularly as an elder. What I’ve discovered is alarming, and I think it would serve all Christians, especially pastors, well to consider whether the same is true for you. Here it is: Grace-given giftedness does not excuse, permit, or lessen the varying presence and/or severity of sin before God, but rather calls us to greater accountability. Sin can deceive us into believing that God some how looks less upon our sin because of the presence of giftedness. It’s as though we’ve placed our sin and gifts on the scales of God’s pleasure and the latter has tipped his favor towards us.