Prophets Must Obey God

Now go, write it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may serve in the time to come
As a witness forever.
For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who refuse to listen
To the instruction of the LORD;
Who say to the seers, "You must not see visions";
And to the prophets, "You must not prophesy to us what is right,
Speak to us pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
"Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel."
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel... (Isa 30:8-12).

With the current flood of evangelical manifestos, we have been considering what it means to stand and speak "prophetically," that is to bring the Word of God to the people of God with integrity. After some frustrated reflection, it eventually dawned on us that it may help to actually read a prophet. So, while reading through Isaiah, we noted especially the characteristics of Isaiah's prophetic ministry in Isaiah 30.

Ministering in Jerusalem during the Assyrian aggression, Isaiah particularly chastised Judah for their unholy alliance with Egypt (cf. chs. 28-35) and, therefore, adding "sin to sin" (30:1) by seeking the Egyptians rather than repenting and resting in their Lord (cf. 30:15). In such a context of sin and compromise, how does God's prophet respond?

By revealing sin (30:8-9). Isaiah is to write a visible witness to God's warning for the instruction of future generations (even us!). Sometimes, the prophet must just point to the lemmings as they leap over the cliff (cf. Isa 6:9-11) for it only confuses people as to the character of God to let public sin go unmentioned.

By refusing to compromise (30:10). Not that people explicitly love to live in falsehood, but they assume their actions to be the standard of righteousness, making God's truth intolerable. God's prophet, however, must bring God's Word to God's people, he does not survey God's people and then tell God His Word!

By receiving rejection (30:11). God's prophets received a lot of rejection (cf. Acts 7:52)! Isaiah even gave his life for his prophetic ministry (cf. Heb 11:37). There is a painful solitude in prophetic ministry, for the prophet who sees the Lord of glory, must also endure the blasphemy of His name.

By rendering judgment (30:12-17). Notice that Isaiah spoke the very thing his hearers refused, the word of the Holy One of Israel. The prophet's chief and singular concern is to stand with integrity and faithfulness before His Lord. Or as another "prophet" has written:

...the Prophet must obey God, though he should become the object of men’s hatred, and though his life should be in imminent danger. Here we ought to observe his steadfastness in dreading nothing, that he might obey God and fulfill his calling. He despised hatred, dislike, commotions, threatenings, false alarms, and immediate dangers, that he might boldly and fearlessly discharge the duties of his office. Copying his example, we ought to do this, if we wish to hear and follow God who calls us.

– John Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, Vol. 2, p. 355

While God's prophets are privileged to speak of His glory in redemption, they desert their post when they refuse to speak what God has spoken, regardless of the response. May the Lord help each one to stand prophetically in a day of compromise.

The Highest Court on Earth

... but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God (II Cor 4:2).

For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you (II Cor 1:12).

Yesterday, my pastor spoke at my work about endurance in ministry from II Corinthians 4. Apart from the conviction and edification that always comes from his faithful expositions, he was right on target in applying v. 2 to our work:

The highest court on earth is your own conscience, it will either slaughter you or pat you on the back. Paul’s conscience was clear. Take some time to follow Paul’s use of “conscience” throughout his epistles, and you will see that the only defense against public criticism is the testimony of your conscience. Long-term ministry faithfulness is a result of winning the battle on the inside.

What a true and terrifying reminder for anyone, let alone a para-church organization. How do you measure success? Donor dollars? Expansion of staff and programs? Glad-handing from public officials? No... the testimony of your conscience.

Only John Murray-like "heroic honesty" will validate success (read, "faithfulness"). This is terrifying because "honesty" requires a heroism unheard of in today's squishy, evanjellybean world. Success, regardless of popular conceptions, is not a matter of accumulated numbers and programs. It is a matter of conscience and its verdicts should bring pause. Lord, help us to listen.

(For more about enduring in ministry from II Corinthians 4-5, see Certainties that Drive an Enduring Ministry, Part 1 and Part 2).

Losing Friends and Influencing People

And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God (II Cor 2:16-17).

Granted extra time by Memorial Day Weekend, we began reading The Life of John Murray. An inaugural professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, John Murray was one of the leading Reformed commentators and theologians of the last 100 years. Instrumental to J. Gresham Machen during the fundamentalist - modernist schism of the early 20th century Presbyterian controversy, he was a stalwart of orthodox teaching until his death in 1975.

Yet, it was Murray's steadfast refusal to violate his conscience before God, even when it meant forsaking his vocational desires and valued associations, that most strikes contemporary eyes as an artifact of bygone eras. His clarity of commitment in Christian leadership is strangely unique to the present-day, as evangelical leaders frequently demonstrate negotiable consciences and varied allegiances (see this previous post for an example).

It may be that John Murray learned such "heroic honesty" from Machen, his mentor and friend:

A true Reformation would be characterized by just what is missing in the Modernism of the present day; it would be characterized above all by an heroic honesty which for the sake of principle would push all consideration of consequences aside.

- What is Faith?, p. 103.

Or maybe Murray was just a Christian leader. And so he understood that the watershed of God-glorifying influence was pursuing integrity in personal conviction over personal convenience.

It would sometimes be to our apparent advantage to suppress the testimony to certain aspects of truth, to soft-pedal on matters which wake the dissent and even provoke the ire of many people. Many things for which we stand are unpopular and we lose friends. Sometimes we are tempted to stand for things which the counsel of God does not warrant and we could gain a great deal of popular support by standing for them. We cannot do it, for we must not go farther than the counsel of God. The whole counsel of God but nothing more. The counsel of God and nothing less.

- John Murray, quoted in The Life of John Murray, p. 84.

The mantle of Christian leadership is not a matter of personal sufficiency, for all say with Paul, "And who is adequate for these things?"! Rather, it is a grace to so refuse to be "not like many" and to speak sincerely from a sufficient Word, to speak conciously of the all-glorious God, and to speak under the Lordship of the only Christ. May He grace many of this generation to be leaders and to pursue the integrity of conviction of John Murray... even if they must do so alone.

(More lessons from The Life of John Murray to come, but take some time to peruse some of his writings and sermon audio through the external links at his Wikipedia entry).

We Cannot Stop Speaking

But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward (Heb 10:32-35).

Although a bit of a departure from our normal fare at The Prostrate Calvinist, we have been unable to overlook Franklin Graham's purported comments in China:

While some Christian groups have said they plan to proselytize during the August games, Graham said he was against that because Chinese law does not permit such actions. "I would not support any illegal activity at all," Graham said.

- Associated Press, "No Missionary Work During Beijing Olympics"

It appears that Graham hopes appeasing the Chinese government will garner official support for evangelistic work in the future, for he was also quoted as saying, "I'm not here to condemn, I'm here to work with them and help to build better bridges of understanding between Christians and government." Assuming these reports are accurate, Graham, on behalf of American evangelicals, has communicated much to the Chinese church and the rest of the world:

Suffering for the Gospel is a fool's errand. Yet, the Scripture would have us

Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body (Heb 13:3).

The persecuted church in China has been suffering shackles, bleeding, and dying at the hands of their government for generations. To these saints, Graham has said, in effect, that we prosperous, comfortable, and influential American evangelicals do not suffer with you and that your disobedience to the atheistic government of China is unwise. May the Lord save His people from "political savvy."

Spiritual ends are achieved by worldly means. Graham has betrayed a common misconception in American evangelicalism, that we achieve influence and progress by pleasing the world. Paul reminded the Corinthians of being enamored by the unbeliever's applause long ago:

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (I Cor 2:6-8).

Paul goes on to say that the world is completely unable to understand the message of the cross apart from God's Spirit (v. 14). Spiritual ends are achieved spiritually, that is, by the illumination of God's Spirit. Christians are therefore called to be disciples, not diplomats.

Christ is not so glorious and all-powerful as being worth our very lives. Probably most egregious of all, is the insinuation that our hope and comfort lay in smooth relationships with the powers of this world. When Christians speak and act as though submitting to Christ is negotiable when faced with loss of life and limb, they falsely testify to the supremacy of Christ and communicate an impotent Gospel of a weak hope that is not worth inconvenience, let alone death. In contrast, Paul declared:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions (Col 1:24).

But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).

"I rejoice in my sufferings"? "I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself"? The sweetness and surpassing hope of Jesus Christ is broadcast to the watching world when His followers joyfully suffer for His name. This is why Tertullian wrote,"the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

Although such circumstances try even the most faithful, God has not left us without guidance in responding to state-sponsored persecution or government restrictions on proclaiming the message of His Son. The Apostles Peter and John replied to such prohibitions by answering,

'Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard' (Acts 4:19-20)

And,

'We must obey God rather than men' (Acts 5:29).

And they responded to suffering at the hands of their leaders by

…rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ (Acts 5:41-42)

And they prayed in the midst of state-sponsored persecution,

'And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence' (Acts 4:29)

It is therefore my sincere prayer that, if these reports are true, the Lord would lead Franklin Graham to repent and to publicly recant. May all who follow Christ remember the persecuted church, as though suffering with them, for the cause of the Gospel, the sake of the Church, and the glory of Christ.

Theological Depth Perception

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 2:24-25).

A former professor of mine has dropped some worthwhile counsel on theological disagreement in a recent book review:

Within the broader evangelical community we should heed basic principles of respect and integrity. This especially applies when we offer critiques of views held by other believers. We may disagree with another Christian over the issues of cessation of the sign gifts, millennial views, rapture views, limited and unlimited atonement, etc., but there are certain things we should never be guilty of. This includes misrepresenting our opponent’s view with straw man arguments, using sarcastic and belittling language, and presenting our theological opponent in the worst light possible. This should be true even if our opponent does not always play by the rules. Responsible scholarship also entails putting theological issues into proper perspective. We need a ‘theological depth perception,’ a wisdom that allows us to discern issues that are at the core of Christianity and those issues that are important but are not salvation issues or threats to historic Christianity.

- Michael Vlach, "My Thoughts on Hank Hanegraaff’s Apocalypse Code"

Why is it that while defending "the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints" (Jude 3), the saints often treat each other like pagans? I have often been served and convicted by Paul's instruction to Timothy on dealing with troublesome teachers... "with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition."

Note well that it this defender of orthodoxy, the gentle and self-controlled, whom God uses to sovereignly draw their opponents to repentance. It is fitting that theological unity is never won by the fervor of an argument, but through the power of God's Word and the illuminating ministry of God's Spirit, that the glory may belong to Him alone.

A Place to Stand in the World

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Rom 11:36).

I therefore think of myself as Reformational in the sense that I affirm its solas: in Scripture alone is God's authoritative truth found, in Christ alone is salvation found, it is by grace alone that we are saved, and this salvation is received through faith alone. Only after each of these affirmations is made can we say that salvation from start to finish is to the glory of God alone. These affirmations do not stand simply as solitary, disconnected sentinels, but they are the key points in an integrated, whole understanding of biblical truth. This is what gives us a place to stand in the world from which to understand who we are, what the purposes of God are, and what future lies before us. These are the things that historic Protestants believe, and that is what I am.

- David Wells, The Courage to be Protestant

The solas, more than remnants in the development of historical theology, they are how one sees and lives in Christ. Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria, are holistic Christianity.

Suffering for Your Sake

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions (Col 1:24).

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us (Rom 8:35-37).

Do you ever struggle to put flesh on certain passages of your Bible as I often do? Until it spreads from "sea to shining sea," connect via our brothers and sisters around the world. Try starting with:

Persecution Blog

Voice of the Martyrs

This is normal Christianity... we are the peculiar ones.

The greatest gift to God’s service will not fit in an offering plate. When we view our entire lives as offerings to God, our resources to benefit his kingdom are unlimited. Many of those who have been persecuted like Mary share a similar story. They continue to offer their lives to serve those who oppress them as an act of worship. Therese of Lisieux once noted, “Sufferings gladly borne for others convert more people than sermons.” The majority of Christians will find it easy to make the usual excuses for offering their lives: “too busy” and “too much going on.” However, God can reveal unique ways that we can be witnesses for Him.

- I Choose God - Go Ahead and Shoot

The Joy of the Faithful

Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk 3:18).

If you have been paying attention recently, you know there is a global food crisis. Millions of people are now in need of food assistance. Even rice in Asia can no longer be assumed.

Our global distress is not far from that which Habakkuk imagined for himself. In verse 17, he wrote:

Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls

Habakkuk writes of a time when everything assumed failed. The trees that you assume will bear fruit are barren. The fields that you assume will sprout food are dry. The cattle that you assume will help in the toil of farming and give protein are absent. Just insert your assumption and its lack and you will understand Habakkuk's sorrow.

Yet in this state of total collapse, Habakkuk confesses joy? Exactly. The Genevan reformers made this note in the first study Bible:

He declares in what the joy of the faithful consists, though they see ever so great afflictions prepared.

- Note on Habakkuk 3:18, 1599 Geneva Study Bible

Universally, we wrap our joy around the assumed rhythms of life. Birth. Growth. Health. Age. In our assumptions we forget that none of it is assured. There is only One who is constant. There is only one hope that is assured. There is only one joy unassailable... and it is not in this life. So when even the floor drops out from beneath us, our joy consists in Him.

When I Measure Him by My Sense

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You (Job 42:5)

It has been a rough year for my wife and I. And it does not appear that the seas are going to calm anytime soon. So, for now, the temptation we most face and most need to fight against and most need to meditate against and most need to pray against is that slippery presumption that our present sense of deep pain is an accurate perception of our Savior and Lord and His purposes for our lives.

Job confronted this temptation. Convinced of his own moral innocence in view of his great suffering, Job began to question God’s justice and presence and care. In a flood of presumption, then, Job summoned the Lord to answer his claims (chs. 29-31):

Oh that I had one to hear me!
Behold, here is my signature;
Let the Almighty answer me!
And the indictment which my adversary has written (Job 31:35)

Interestingly enough, the Lord answers Job. But not with a legal argument or a with philosophical defense or even with a moral justification. In fact, the Lord's answer never addresses any of Job's charges directly nor does He ever fully explain the backdrop to Job's suffering (cf. chs. 1-2). The Lord gave Job something entirely different and, yet, altogether more wonderful than anything Job had requested.

Job’s despair, and my despair, is so often aided by the blinders that great sorrow draws over one's faith. And so the mercy of God is revealed, not with a detailed theodicy, but in something quite simple... the removal of the blinders and the revealing of God Himself.

God granted Job exactly what he needed, to see Him. The neglect of the eternal verities of God’s person and character is soil from which hopelessness grows. So that as I suffer, what I most need is to see my God:

His immensity surely ought to deter us from measuring Him by our sense, while His spiritual nature forbids us to indulge in carnal or earthly speculation concerning Him. With the same view He frequently represents heaven as His dwelling-place. It is true, indeed, that as He is incomprehensible, He fills the earth also, but knowing that our minds are heavy and grovel on the earth, He raises us above the worlds that He may shake off our sluggishness and inactivity.

- Calvin, The Institutes, I.13.1 (emphasis added)

This is why I believe that the account of Job is a record of hope. When I suffer, and I begin to measure Him by my pain, I most need and am most desperate to see God. I need such a vision of Him that all those creeping doubts and presumptuous motives for despair are quenched by His glory.

Thieves in His Storehouse

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love (Eph 4:1-2).

The Doctor once wrote that "preaching is logic on fire." But it is also true that the fire often enlivens the logic.

At least that's what happened while I was preaching to the saints at Sunriver Community Church this past Lord's Day (if you're looking for a Christ-centered and Biblically-grounded fellowship in Fresno, CA, join them!).

Working through Ephesians 4:1-6, I noted that the character qualities enjoined by the Apostle in vv. 2-3 are inextricably bound to the salvation exposited in Ephesians 1-3 (connected by that weighty "therefore" in v. 1). That is, since the Lord initiated salvation in Christ that we would be "to the praise of the glory of His grace" (1:6, 12, 14), since the Lord applied salvation in Christ to dead and hopeless sinners that "He might show the surpassing riches of His grace" (2:7), and since the Lord has given the message of salvation in Christ that "the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church" (3:10), Christians are to glorify God by living together in humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance (4:2).

And this is when the fire of His Spirit enlivened the logic of His text for this preacher:

As we have been redeemed in Christ to bring glory to God and to display His calling in our conduct, when we lift ourselves up to one another in pride... we steal glory from God. The prideful Christian is a thief in the storehouse of the Lord of glory. When you or I shun humility, gentleness, patience, or tolerance in our life together, we wrongly claim for ourselves the praise that belongs to God alone.

I was convicted even as I spoke, the Spirit illuminating the implications of the passage in my own soul. Steal from God?! Never! Really? With every angry retort, every impatient display, and every intolerant, unloving exchange... we thieve from His storehouse.

Stand in Marked Contrast

... according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted (I Tim 1:11).

The Reformation was not merely a tempest in a teacup. Jerome once said that when he read the letters of the apostle Paul, he could hear thunder. That same thunder reverberates through the writings of the reformers as well. Contemporary theologians would do well to listen afresh to the message of these courageous Christians who defied emperors and popes, kings and city councils because their consciences were captive to the Word of God. Their gospel of the free grace of Almighty God, the Lord God Sabaoth, as Luther's great hymn put it, and their emphasis on the centrality and finality of Jesus Christ stand in marked contrast to the attenuated, transcendence-starved theologies which dominate the current scene.

- Timothy George, The Theology of the Reformers

Sola Scriptura. Sola Fide. Sola Gratia. Solus Christus. Soli Deo Gloria. They are not just cute Latin phrases, they are a well of transcendence and significance. But drink carefully... they will water a life of marked contrast.

Seeing Ourselves as He Sees Us

Then I said,
'Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts' (Isa 6:5).

I am a poor participant at dinner parties, staff meetings, or any other gathering requiring a lot of enthusiasm. I tend not to be encouraged by myself nor by the work of my generation. Turns out this really handicaps good banter.

I think Mr. Hamilton explained this phenomenon well:

When Isaiah 'saw' God as he is, he was not left standing - he was not left proud and dispassionate - he was deeply humbled! There is little doubt that Isaiah already was a believing servant - but a stranger to the pulse-quickened sense of God's ineffable greatness - Isaiah was seeing himself as God saw him - this is experimental Calvinism... his encounters with "the King" caused him to see through the façade of Israel's religion cf 1:10ff. - onlookers would have complimented Israel on the 'healthy state' of its religion - but when a man has had a sight of the majesty of God, he sees not only his own sinfulness, but the sinful state of his own generation - of his own.

- Ian Hamilton, "Heart-Warming Calvinism"

Once your formal principle is established as unconditionally worshipping whom God reveals Himself to be, you are, to put it mildly, disappointed with everything else. I would venture to guess that the holy Sovereign is not as impressed with our retarded obedience nor our corporate accomplishments as we would like to think.

When the stain of sin is fading from sight, I try to remember how He sees it. This may ruin me for peppy chit-chat, but it seems good for life... just ask Isaiah.

He is Our Formal Principle

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! (Rom 11:33).

"For-mal Prin-ci-ple": the authority from which a system of thought is shaped or formed.

In a brief but helpful article, Ian Hamilton reclarifies Calvinism's formal principle:

B.B. Warfield, the great Princeton theologian, said that the fountainhead of Calvinism does not lie in its theological system, but in its 'religious consciousness'. What he meant is that the roots of Calvinism are planted in a specific 'religious consciousness,' out of which unfolds (as day follows night) a particular theology... This is what so many miss in their assessment of, or espousal of, Calvinism. It is not first and foremost a theological system; it is more fundamentally a "religious attitude", an attitude that gives inevitable birth to a particular, precise, but gloriously God-centered and heart-engaging system of theology.

- Ian Hamilton, "Heart-Warming Calvinism" (HT: Ligonier Ministries).

It is sometimes suggested that we who adhere to the Calvinist system do so because we are either “stuffy” (i.e., a pedantic concern for coherence in theological minutia) or “irrelevant” (i.e., an anachronistic affinity for antiquated authors and writings). True Calvinism, however, does not begin with such personal predilections.

True Calvinism grows from embracing and from marveling at the work of God and the God who works with child-like awe. Our system is rooted in an unprejudiced and an unconditional worship of whom God reveals Himself to be because He is so strikingly glorious.

This is Warfield’s “religious consciousness,” and even more, Paul’s exuberant doxology, “Oh, the depth!” Calvinism simply flows from an intoxicating glance at the glory of God. He is our formal principle.

(We may spend more time with Hamilton's article this week as he explains “experimental Calvinism”).

Or We Teach Nothing

Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching [didaskalia, doctrine] persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you (I Tim 4:16).

Close to our heart here at The Prostrate Calvinist, as we have previously mentioned, is the conviction that our theology (i.e., "There is...") and our lives (i.e., "Therefore...") are inextricably connected. So, I found these recent comments from my pastor particularly encouraging:

The distinction between doctrinal and practical truth is artificial; doctrine is practical! In fact, nothing is more practical than sound doctrine.

The pastor who turns away from preaching sound doctrine abdicates the primary responsibility of an elder: “holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict” (Titus 1:9). We teach truth, we teach error, or we teach nothing at all...

We have imposed an artificial meaning on the word doctrine. We’ve made it something abstract and threatening, unrelated to daily living. That has brought about the disastrous idea that preaching and teaching are unrelated to living...

True doctrine transforms behavior as it is woven into the fabric of everyday life. But it must be understood if it is to have its impact. The real challenge of the ministry is to dispense the truth clearly and accurately. Practical application comes easily by comparison.

- John MacArthur, "Who Said Doctrine Isn't Practical?"

We teach truth, we teach error, or we teach nothing at all. Amen.

For One Great Reason

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit (I Pet 3:18).

And one final comment from Piper on the ultimate goal of our risen Savior:

Until the gospel events of Good Friday and Easter and the gospel promises of justification and eternal life lead you to behold and embrace God himself as your highest joy, you have not embraced the gospel of God. You have embraced some of his gifts. You have rejoiced over some of his rewards. You have marveled at some of his miracles. But you have not yet been awakened to why the gifts, the rewards, and the miracles have come. They have come for one great reason: that you might behold forever the glory of God in Christ, and by beholding become the kind of person who delights in God above all things, and by delighting display his supreme beauty and worth with ever-increasing brightness and bliss forever.

- John Piper, God is the Gospel, 37-38.

Risen from the grave to bring us to God. Happy Resurrection Day!

The Means and the End

... whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:25-26).

Christ is therefore both the means and the end of God's purpose in the universe. Without his work, that end to reveal the fullness of the glory of God for the enjoyment of God's people would not have happened. And in that very means-work he became the end—the one who forever and ever will be the focus of our worship as we spend eternity seeing and savoring more and more of what he revealed of God when he became a curse for us. Jesus is the end for which the universe was made, and the means that makes that end possible to enjoy.

- John Piper, "A Good Friday Meditation"

Today our worship is to be focused on the only One worthy of worship! He was obedient to death so that God might be both just and the Justifier... He thought of Him above all.

Still Sovereign

...but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (I Cor 2:7-8).

Despite being one of the most oppressive regimes and worst persecutors of the Church, they are still hosting this year's Olympics. Despite decades of attention from celebrities and billions in aid from charities, that continent has never been more emaciated than right now. Despite the longest presidential campaign in the nation's history, not a single candidate seems worth a vote.

It can all get pretty depressing pretty fast, can it not? That is, when your hope is set on the rulers of this age setting this world aright... and all before the 10 o'clock news.

Yet, at least in the first century, the folly of man's best and brightest and most powerful was sovereignly intended by God for His glory and the glory of His children.

They thought they were doing away with a messianic pretender; in fact, they were illegally and immorally executing 'the Lord of glory.' They thought they were so wise, so politically astute; in fact, by their folly they brought to pass, in God's perfect providence, his own wise plan - the very plan that they dismissed as foolishness. Amazing grace: in God's wise purposes, they killed the Lord of life.

- D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry, p. 51.

This has always been His wisdom. That even human sin is sovereignly permitted as a vehicle of human redemption. So, when all is wrong despite what seems to be our best hope, take some time to smile and rejoice... He's still sovereign.

No Publicity Necessary

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth (I Cor 3:6-7).

We're the New Calvinists. No, the Reformed Evangelicals. No, no, the Classic Christians.

Instead of attempting to form new alliances and organizations, we need to discern what God is doing. His work will last for eternity. It is one of the brightest hopes in the United States at the present time that gospel preachers, from different denominational backgrounds, are being spontaneously drawn together in a common concern to advance the cause of Christ. This cause does not need new labels or structures; most of all it needs the anointing of the Spirit, more prayer, love, and humility. Announcements of success, or satisfaction with numbers, are to be feared rather than sought. God’s work needs no publicity. A true advance and recovery will be marked by the sense of weakness and need which gives all glory to God. Let us not stop short of seeking a real spiritual awakening!

- Iain Murray, "A Senior Saint on Unity," in 9Marks eJournal 5/2 (Mar/April 2008).

We serve the sovereign and working King until He returns... truth happens.

Bible-Thumping Mercy?

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:35-36).

"That's a strange job for a guy like you." I was not taken aback by his observation, because it was not the first time I had heard it, and I doubt it will be the last. When you are an alum of a particular seminary and an employee of a particular organization, you grow accustomed to thoughtful people inquiring about what they see as an apparent inconsistency: "You care about Scripture and theology, why do you work in compassion ministry?"

Now, I readily admit that this apparent inconsistency is often more real than apparent. I swim in waters of pragmatism, materialism, and superficial theology on a daily basis. I often do nothing other than eat evanjellybeans. And I am quite confident that if I did not work alongside a brother with a master's degree in biblical counseling, I would surely have committed professional hari kari a long time ago.

Yet, in spite of that, I have come to believe that the apparent inconsistency is far more imagined than real. Of all people in the world (let alone the Church!), those who should most stridently engage the needy with compassion, it should be us Bible-thumping Calvinists. Far more than any other stripe of Christian theology, we know the glory of God in mercifully electing totally depraved sinners and drawing them to Himself in Christ, over and against their hostile unwillingness to receive His great mercy:

Many people think that the Reformed faith de-motivates Christians from sharing the Gospel. But when we realize the costly mercy by which God has saved us, the natural result is that we would look with mercy on the world. The Bible says that we love because God loved us, we forgive because God has forgiven us, and we give because of what God has given to us. If we understand the sovereign mercy that has saved our souls, we will be merciful to others by presenting a living and loving witness to the Gospel of Christ.

- Rick Phillips, "What the Needy Need," in Tabletalk (April 2008).

The major keys of Calvinism ring with compassion. I know the full riches of Christ's simple reminder, "just as your Father is merciful." So, it turns out that this is not such a strange job for a guy like me.

Blessedly Distinct

Another gem from Mark Dever on life and ministry:

What we want to see are communities of people that are reflecting the character of God, and by so doing, being distinct from the world around them. So many evangelical churches today seem to be trying to break the code of how do we look as much like the culture as possible and yet keep the Gospel, assuming that will maximize evangelistic impulse. I’m not sure that is true. I think there is a lot of peril in that. It seems to be that even from the earliest chapters of Acts it is not that, “Hey, they speak Hebrew too,” but, “Hey, look at how they love one another in a way that’s different from the way we’re loving or being loved.” So, I think that God’s character, as it is reproduced in a group of people, has to be one of the most powerful witnesses to the truth of the Gospel, both for evangelism and the edification of those already converted, that we can imagine.

I would like to see evangelical churches, not become unsophisticated on how they interact with culture, but keep that in perspective and realize that the life-blood of your church continuing is not your contextualization, is not your similarity to the culture, it is how you are blessedly distinct from the culture. Because when you are saved, you are born again, you are made a new creation, and a church is a church full of people like that. So, our distinctives are what we want to hold and trust that God will make them attractive and commend the Gospel to other people through them.

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation (I Pet 2:11-12).