Saturday, January 31, 2009
What Makes Something A Sacrament?
From Westminster Seminary California:
Michael S. Horton
First published in Evangelium, Vol. 4, Issue 1 (Jan/Feb 2006)
Someone has invited you to a new, cutting-edge worship service especially targeting the twenty- and thirty-somethings. Identifying itself as part of the “emergent” network, the group does not identify itself as a church (too many bad associations). It doesn’t look like church either, but more like a large living room, with different stations for various spiritual activities. These stations include perhaps a prayer labyrinth, incense, icons, and a cup and bread set on an end table. Eventually, someone begins speaking, as at least most of the folks find their way to couches and chairs. This is not a sermon (too hierarchical), but a heart-to-heart conversation, trying to “connect” with Christians and non-Christians alike in a way that is “vulnerable” and “authentic” in contrast to the canned pragmatism and hype that they knew in the megachurches (or wannabe megachurches) of their youth.
The setting I am describing can be found in literally hundreds of gatherings each Sunday, many of them non-denominational, but others at least informally connected with just about any denomination you can think of. Burned out on what they regard as inauthentic hype, many of these young people are starved for mystery and transcendence. They want to actually come into contact with God and not just their own “felt needs.” Their Boomer parents liked stage lighting; these folks like candles.
The assumption today often is that because faith is a direct, unmediated relationship with God within our spirit, outward forms don’t really matter. Therefore, we can do whatever we want in worship as long as the doctrine is right. In this setting, we too easily pick and choose our own “means of grace.”
New Measures?
While we can affirm the struggles and many of the impulses of this “emergent” generation, this movement risks becoming simply another verse of the same tired hymn, which we might call “An Ode to New Measures.” The nineteenth-century revivalist Charles G. Finney, a Presbyterian who disliked just about everything that defined Presbyterian faith and practice, sharply rejected the Calvinist teaching that human beings were totally unable to regenerate themselves. According to Finney, we are not saved from God’s just wrath and ingrafted into Christ’s visible church by a supernatural work of God’s Spirit working through the ordinary means of grace, that is preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments. Rather, since conversion is “not a miracle or dependent on a miracle in any sense, but is the philosophical result of the right use of means” (“new measures,” as he identified them), it is the job of the successful evangelist to find “excitement sufficient to induce repentance.” If salvation is in the sinner’s hands, then the conversion of sinners in the evangelist’s hands. (1)
America is a marketplace of desire, a super-store of consumer craving, and its do-it-yourself religious life is as much a testimony to that fact as any other aspect. In our culture, shopping is therapy. We are not so much Pilgrim making his way with the communion of saints to the Celestial City as individual tourists bouncing from booth to booth at Vanity Fair. As much as the “emergent” movement criticizes religious inauthenticity, it exhibits more than it disproves that thesis. Its most visible leader, Brian McLaren (named recently by TIME magazine among the most significant evangelical leaders), in addition to redefining or challenging core evangelical doctrines, says that he appreciates the “sacramental” world-view of Roman Catholicism. “Once we say there are seven sacraments, we can then begin to see everything as a potential sacrament,” he writes. To be sure, McLaren’s theology is different from Finney’s. Unlike the celebrated revivalist of yesteryear, McLaren eschews “hell-fire and brimstone.” Yet like Finney, he downplays the seriousness of sin as a condition from which nothing short of a substitutionary, vicarious sacrifice of Christ can alone redeem us. The theology may be described as “Finney-lite.” And practice cannot be separated from theory. Like Finney, McLaren and many in the “emergent” movement seem to think that it is up to us to decide what constitutes a “means of grace.”
Man’s Terms vs. God’s Terms
The Protestant Reformers recognized that if you start with a human-centered “gospel,” you will need human-centered methods. Even the ordained sacraments can become means not of divine grace but of human striving. Just as Finney looked for “excitements sufficient to induce repentance,” Rome offered various strategies for obtaining remission of sins through penance. The Reformers, by contrast, recognized the logic of Paul in Romans, especially chapter 10. In that chapter, Paul says that there are two answers to the question, How can I be reconciled to God? One answer is “the righteousness which is by works,” the other is “the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ.” One is founded on our zeal for God, the other on God’s zeal for us and for our salvation.
Paul recognized that the message creates its own methods, as he unfolds the argument in that famous chapter. Works-righteousness looks for ways of climbing up to pull Christ down or descending into the depths to bring him up, while faith-righteousness receives Christ as he has descended already to us and where he promises to be present to us for our salvation. For works-righteousness, faith comes by striving; for gospel-righteousness, faith comes by hearing Christ preached. One need not catch a plane for the latest “revival,” get caught up in the latest crusade or spiritual fad, go on a pilgrimage, fast and pray for it, walk through a labyrinth, bow before an icon, or follow the most recent “principles for victory.” Christ is never closer to us than when he is actually giving himself to us in the preached Word, in baptism, and in the Lord’s Supper.
Imagine a wealthy benefactor promised you a million dollars for a life-saving operation. He tells you to meet him at a certain spot, where he’ll give you the check. Dropped off by a friend at an inauspicious corner, in a derelict part of town, you locate the appointed coffee shop. This can’t be the place, you think to yourself, as the neon sign hangs precariously with letters missing. Entering, you seat yourself in a rickety booth, noticing that your cup is stained with coffee and smeared with lipstick, the saucer chipped, and the service is appalling. You look around and cannot imagine that anyone vaguely resembling a millionaire might be among the patrons. Just as you are about to leave, a man in shabby clothes saunters over to your table and addresses you by name and as you acknowledge him, he slides in the booth with you and joins you for a meal. Then and there he hands you the check and you celebrate your new-found friendship. Come to find out, this gentleman has frequented this coffee shop for years—it’s his favorite spot.
Like the idolatrous nations, we look for “god” at all the high places but the true God inhabits the low places, when and where he has promised to be present to dispense his gifts over a conversation and a meal. We find this God-for-Us at the cross, bleeding and dying for sinners—hardly the sort of “coronation” that the disciples were looking for in Jerusalem. Furthermore, this same God shows up precisely where we would not expect to find him in our lives here and now. If we’re going to fly up to heaven to bring God down to us, it will require some pretty powerful means, but God comes down to us in weakness. We look for the clever route, the path that makes the most sense—“excitements sufficient to induce repentance,” but God refuses to be found by us on our terms. He finds us on his.
The Sacraments
The Corinthian church was immature, always on the lookout for a slick “super-apostle” to deliver something more spectacular than the inauspicious ministry of this weak Apostle to the Gentiles. Yet, Paul demands, “What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Cor 4:7). In his second letter he writes, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor 4:7). Like the benefactor in my illustration, the power lies in God’s promise to deliver his gifts when and where he pleases.
Not because of any inherent power or cleverness, sacraments are means of grace—and not of grace in general, but of redeeming grace. Reformed theology has long encouraged us to see the whole world as a theater of God’s goodness and providence. A magnificent sunset, a beautiful concert, the smile of a child, a wonderful meal with friends and the marital embrace are signs of God’s general care for all that he has made. Yet this care extends equally to believers and unbelievers alike (Mt 5:45). While general revelation reminds us of God’s power and majesty, the preached gospel communicates God’s saving grace. God is present everywhere, in all that he has made, yet he is only present to save where he has promised to meet us. While the Grand Canyon may fill us with awe, the preaching of Christ fills us with faith. Answering the question, “Where does this faith come from?”, the Heidelberg Catechism (Q. 65) answers, “The Holy Spirit produces it in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel, and confirms it through our use of the holy sacraments.”
While God can create and confirm faith whenever and however he chooses, he has only promised to do so through the means he has appointed. In the sacraments, God unites the signs (water, bread and wine) to the things signified (regeneration, the body and blood of Christ), in order to deliver to us that same gospel promise announced to us through his Word, so that we both hear and see that God is good! God himself condescends to our weakness, attaching the royal seal of his covenant of grace. As Edmund Clowney wrote,
Spreading the sacramental over the whole creation dilutes its force. If everything is sacramental, then bread and wine are already sacraments before their consecration, and the mystery of the Eucharist differs only in degree from the sacramentality of an incarnate creation….The revelation of God in nature does display God’s ‘eternal power and divine nature’ (Rom. 1:20), making all humankind accountable to him, but God’s special revelation in word and deed provides the signs of his redeeming power (The Church, 270-271).
So should we try to be wiser than God? Do we know better how to receive Christ and all his benefits? When we do set out to scale heaven’s heights, to possess God as he is in all of his majesty rather than simply receive him as he condescends to us, we usually make golden calves. But this is to worship God on our terms rather than on his, to create an “experience” with God that we can manage and control through our own spiritual technology rather than to humbly accept the gift that he promises to give us.
Whatever feeds us with God’s Word and guides us by his law is profitable. Yet these are not, strictly speaking, the means of grace. Many things are required as duties in the Christian life, and many other things not required by God may be useful. Yet these are not, strictly speaking, means of grace but means of discipleship. In other words, they are appropriate means of responding to God, while preaching and sacraments are God’s means of reaching us. The Heidelberg Catechism calls prayer, for example, “the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us” (Q 116). It is indispensable to the Christian life, just as communication is for a fruitful marriage. Nevertheless, prayer is the response of faith, while preaching and sacrament create and confirm faith. As means of grace, sacraments communicate something from God to us, while in all exercises of Christian gratitude and obedience we respond in love to God and neighbor.
Conclusion
While there are many things for a Christian to do, nothing that we do can communicate grace to ourselves. There are, of course, many things that we must do in order to receive God’s Word and sacraments: getting dressed, going to church, spending the day in meditation on God’s riches in Christ. But the communication of these riches is itself entirely God’s act, not ours. The good news is that God has not only found his way to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, but in the weekly Sabbath he has carved out of this passing age time for his meeting with us. Indeed, the medium is the message. “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 13:28-29).
Footnotes
1 Finney’s “new measures” and the revivalism that followed in his wake led to what historians have called the “burned-over district” in upstate New York, where the acceleration of “excitements” eventually led to spiritual exhaustion, both in the form of hardened unbelief and in the form of radical spiritualities. Many of the mind-science cults were born along the path of these revivals. Like a heroine addict, a victim of “bad religion” often discovers that there are only two options: to break the habit of religion altogether or to go deeper and deeper into cultic binges, trying desperately to satisfy the cravings. But whether the craving is for more immanence (sense of God’s nearness and familiarity) or more transcendence (sense of God’s majesty and mystery), idolatry is a perennial human temptation.
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Friday, January 30, 2009
There Is A Way To Be Happy, Even In Sadness
Godly Sorrow: Jesus' and Ours
By John Piper
Christian Hedonists embrace necessary sorrow for the glory of God. On the one hand, we are utterly committed to pursuing joy in God at all times. But on the other hand, we know there is more to the emotional life of godly people than joy. Joy is not the only good emotion. But without delight in God, no emotion would be good. Either as component or the concomitant of all godly emotions, it is joy in God that makes them good.
Consider sorrow. Neither Jesus nor the Holy Spirit has ever sinned. But both have grieved. Both have been sorrowful. Therefore, godly sorrow is possible.
Not only that, godly sorrow is possible also for sinners. It is possible precisely because of our sin. One form of sorrow is sorrow for doing something wrong. So Paul writes to the Corinthians:
For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it. . . . I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:8-10)
At least two things govern what makes sorrow good. One is the cause, the other is the outcome. The cause of godly sorrow for our own sin is the spiritual perception of its moral ugliness, not just its negative consequences. We see it as morally repugnant. This repugnance is owing to our spiritual preference for the taste of the truth and beauty of God. Therefore our sorrow for sin is rooted in our savoring of God. Sin is a revolting flavor in the feast of godwardness. Therefore, sorrow over this is a signal that we delight in God. That is what makes the sorrow good.
The outcome of good sorrow for sin is repentance and holiness. In fact, repentance includes sorrow for sin and extends it to a more durable experience of holy living. This holy living is the outward form of delighting in God above all sin. Therefore delight in God is what makes the sorrow and repentance good.
But what about sorrow that is not for our own sin, but for the way we are sinned against or the way we are hurt by calamity and loss? Jesus sorrowed like this. For example, when he saw the Pharisees murmuring about his healing on the Sabbath, “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5). And in the garden of Gethsemane, he said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch” (Mark 14:34).
Jesus’ sorrow was not owing to his own sin, but to the sins of others. This is the way it is with the Holy Spirit as well. Paul calls us to put sin out of our lives so that we do not grieve the Spirit: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:29-30).
In the same way believers embrace godly grief not only for our own sins but for the sins of others and for the pain that loss brings us. For example, Peter speaks of our grieving over trials: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). Paul speaks of our grieving over lost loved ones: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). And Paul refers to his own grief over the lostness of his kinsmen: “My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart (Romans 9:1).
Nevertheless Paul makes the astonishing statement in 2 Corinthians 6:10 that what marks his life and should mark ours is “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” This is what makes our sorrow godly. I do not claim that this experience is simple or that we can even put it into adequate words—what it means to be joyful in sorrow. Heaving sobs at the loss of a loved one does not look like joy. Indeed is not joy in its fullness, as we will know it when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Rather the joy that endures through sorrow is the foretaste of that future joy in God which we hope for in the future. When Jesus was “very sorrowful, even to death” in Gethsemane he was sustained by “the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). This does not mean that he felt in the garden or on the cross all that he would feel in the resurrection. But it does mean that he hoped in it and that this hope was an experienced foretaste of that joy.
Therefore, we groan here, waiting for the redemption of our bodies and for the removal of all our sins (Romans 8:23). This groaning and grieving is godly if it is molded by our delight in hope of glory (Romans 5:2-3). The delight is muffled by the pain. But it is there in seed form. It will one day grow into a great vine that yields wine of undiluted delight.
So let us embrace whatever sorrow God appoints for us. Let us not be ashamed of tears. Let the promise that joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5) sustain and shape our grief with the power and goodness of God.
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
John Piper - Be Couragous, President Barack Obama
Be Couragous, President Barack Obama
The Magnificance of the Human Being
It's a Baby
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Monday, January 26, 2009
Love One Another
1 Corinthians 13: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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Sunday, January 25, 2009
Can A Christian Lose His Or Her Salvation?
From CPRF:
- By Greg Johnson
1. Classic Arminianism
• One must persevere in faith to be saved.
• True believers can lose their faith.
• Those dying without faith in Christ are condemned.
“The believer who loses his faith is damned.”
2. Antinomianism
• One need not persevere in faith to be saved.
• True believers can lose their faith.
• Those who lose their faith are saved, since they once believed.
“The believer who loses his faith is saved.”
3. Classic Calvinism
• One must persevere in faith to be saved.
• True believers cannot lose their faith, since it’s God’s gift.
• Those dying without faith in Christ are condemned.
• Those who “lose” their faith never had it to begin with.
• God will preserve true believers and they will be saved.
“The ‘believer’ who loses his faith never really had it—or at least it wasn’t in Jesus.”
Proponents of the first two approaches quote biblical references, but each must strain to explain away the other group's biblical data. How can an Arminian read Romans 8, then tell true believers that they may screw up and go to hell??? Then again, how can Charles Stanley read Hebrews 6 and 10 and tell unbelievers who once professed faith not to worry, that they will be saved??? Any true biblical teaching must “fit” with ALL the biblical data, without pitting one text against another and without having to explain away a single “jot or tittle” of God's inerrant Word. I believe that only the classical Calvinist model takes into account all of the biblical data.
Arminians are right when they say the Bible teaches that only those who persevere will be saved, and they’re right in accusing Antinomians of easy-believism and cheap grace. Antinomians (they wouldn’t use the term) are right in telling committed believers that they are secure in Christ and “once saved, always saved.” But both of these views are wrong is assuming that a true believer can lose his faith and fall away from Christ. Faith is “a gift of God—not by works, lest any man boast.” Paul was confident that, since Christ had begun a good work in believers, He would continue that work until completion (Phil. 1). John said that those who fell away were never really true Christians, since true believers don't leave the faith (1 John 2:19).
Scripture teaches that believers must persevere until the end, but also that believers will persevere until the end by God's grace. As the Westminster Assembly concluded, Christians might temporarily yield to Satan's temptations, even to excess, but like Peter when he denied Christ three times, God will still restore and preserve the faith of the Christian, a faith which God gave in the first place! Peter went on to be chief among the apostles! Two biblical principles must be held side-by-side:
1. You Must Persevere until the End: God's Requirement of His People
God does not merely command us to begin to believe for a time, and then fall away. He requires us to continue to believe until the end, living lives of repentance and covenant faithfulness. Granted, He does not ask for a perfect faith, but He does ask for a real faith, one that produces real, lasting change.
• Colossians 1:21-23
• 1 John 1:5-10; 3:3-6
• Hebrews 10:26-31
• Hebrews 12:1
2. You Will Persevere Until the End: God's Preservation of His People
We will persevere because God preserves us. God will keep us from falling—not one will be lost of all those who belong to the Son. True believers are not able to leave Christ, for Christ is at work within them.
• John 6:38-40
• John 10:28-29
• Romans 8:28-39
• Philippians 1:4-6
• Philippians 2:12-13
• 1 John 2:19
This first set of texts cannot be used to refute the second (Arminianism); nor can the second set of texts be used to refute the first (cheap grace). The point that makes the two compatible is the biblical teaching that faith (while commanded of everyone) is a gift from God to His elect. If faith is simply a human action of a free will, then it can be lost. But if saving faith is God's gift, then it cannot be lost. Can professing Christians fall away? Yes, and they will perish. Can true Christians fall away? No, for they are kept by the invincible power of God in Christ. The Bible teaches us that professing Christians who leave the faith were never truly believers (1 John 2:19; and notice the qualification even in Hebrews 10:39).
“They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.” —Westminster Confession of Faith 17.1, drafted by the Westminster Assembly at the request of the British Parliament 1643-47
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Saturday, January 24, 2009
John MacArthur - Repost - What Is The Heart Of The Gospel?
Every person needs to watch this video.
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Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Leonard Ravenhill - Sacrifice - There's Only One Way To Heaven; There Are A Million Ways To Hell
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Sunday, January 18, 2009
Why Calvinism Is The Least Rational Option
From Parchment and Pen:
~ C Michael Patton ~
One of the dozens of reasons I am a Calvinist has to do with the tension that is allowed within the Calvinistic system that is not allowed in other options. You see, the issues of Calvinism primarily center on one issue: predestination. While the sovereignty of God has its place, it does not ultimately determine where one lands. An Arminian can believe that God is sovereign to a similar degree as a Calvinist. But an Arminian cannot believe in predestination the same way as Calvinists.
Both Calvinists and Arminians believe in predestination. In other words, whether or not God predestines people is not the issue. All Bible believing Christians believe this doctrine. The issue has to do with the basis of this predestining.
The Calvinist says that God’s predestination has no founding in the predestined in any sense. God did not choose people based on any merit, intrinsic or foreseen. This is called unconditional predestination because there are no conditions in man that need to be met. It does not mean that God did not have any reason for choosing some and not others, but that the reason is not found in us.
The Arminian says that God’s predestination has a founding in the faith of the predestined. In other words, God looks ahead in time and discovers who will believe and who will not and chooses people based on their prior free-will choice of him.
The Arminian chooses this position because, for them, it is the only way to reconcile human freedom and God’s choice. Both are clearly taught in Scripture. Therefore, in order to have a reasonable and consistant theology, one or the other must be altered. If God unconditionally choose people, then people don’t have responsibility in their choice, good or ill. Therefore, it is not human choice that is nuanced, but God’s choice. To make sense out of this, the Arminian says that God’s choice is based on man’s choice. Therefore, we have consistency. The tension is solved. There is no tension.
However, the Calvinist is not satisfied with a redefining of God’s predestination. To the Calvinists, man is fully responsible for his choice, yet God’s election is unconditional. Therefore, there is a tension that is created between human responsibility and God’s election. This tension is left in tact since, according to the Calvinist, it is best understood this way in Scripture. To redefine predestination to suit one’s need to alleviate tension seems to be a very rationalistic approach to doctrine. While there is nothing wrong with using one’s reason to understand truth, there are problems when reason takes priority over revelation.
This is one of the mistakes that I believe the Arminian system of conditional election/predestination makes. There is no need to solve all tensions, especially when the solution comes at the expense of one’s interpretive integrity. There are many tensions in Scripture. There are many things that, while not irrational, just don’t make sense. The doctrine of the Trinity, the Hypostatic Union, creation out of nothing all fit this category. So does human responsibility and unconditional election. God’s sovereign unconditional election can stand side-by-side with man’s responsibility without creating a formal contradiction. We may not know how to reconcile these two issues, but that does not mean God does not know how. Their co-existence does not take away from their collective truthfulness.
I believe that the Arminian system sacrifices biblical integrity for the sake of intelligibility and doctrinal harmony. The Calvinistic system allows tension and mysteries to remain for the sake of Biblical fidelity.
I have had people say to me (often) that they are not Calvinists because the system attempts to be too systematic with all its points for the sake of the system itself. I think that it is just the opposite. The Calvinistic system creates more tensions than it solves, but seeks to remain faithful to God’s word rather than human intelligibility.
Now, I must admit. I am confused as to why most emergers that I know of are more attracted to the rationalistic approach of the Arminians than the tension filled approach of the Calvinists.
Fire away…
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Mike Ratliff - Faith Without Works Is Dead
From Possessing The Treasure:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:14-18 ESV)
The passage I placed at the beginning of this article is one the most abused and misunderstood passages that I know of. If it is read casually, it can be easily misunderstood. If is exposited by someone possessing a faulty hermeneutic, it can be twisted to say what no other part of the Bible teaches, that faith plus works is required for salvation.
Works salvation is nothing new. Jesus’ earthly ministry took place in a religious environment that was oppressively legalistic and works based. What is a works based theology? It is a religious system built around one succinct point; salvation comes to those who earn it. If you have little or no works then you are out of luck. It brings people into bondage because it teaches that salvation is based on their worth or their goodness or their faithfulness. Under this theology, you live your life and try to be as good and faithful as you can and when you die if your good works outweigh your sins then you are in, but if it is the other way around you are not going to make it. Keeping rules is very big in a “works” theology. What was Jesus’ reaction to those who oppressed others with their legalism?
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you–but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.” (Matthew 23:1-7 ESV)
Who persecuted Jesus? It was the religious leaders of His day. They resented His teachings against their legalistic works based theology that saves no one and in fact kept people from believing unto salvation.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” (Matthew 23:13 ESV)
What was Jesus solution?
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)
In this passage, Jesus is speaking to the religiously burdened people who were mired in works based religious system. Let’s break down this passage into phrases and work through them so we can clearly see what Jesus was speaking about.
The first phrase is, “Come to me…” The first word in the phrase is actually a Greek adverb that means to “come hither.” It can also mean to “follow.” The word translated “unto” means to “move toward” or “ascend to” or “near.” The third word is of course the pronoun Jesus used referring to Himself. This gives a word picture of Christ calling all to draw near to Him. It says much more than simply coming to Him religiously then moving away to do our own thing. Jesus is calling to Himself those who will draw near to Him for eternal change. He is calling those who will believe on Him as Lord and savior. This is a call to those who will come near to Jesus as disciples. Those who seek a savior in Christ have come to the right place, but if they are not willing to submit to Him as Lord then they can not be His disciples.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39 ESV)
The Son did not leave Heaven to become a man and live among His creation to draw a Church full of Soul-led pew-sitters into eternal glory. He came to “seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) He came to be the perfect blood sacrifice, The Lamb of God, to pay the price and penalty for the sins of all who will believe. His death on the cross paid that price as all sin was placed on Him as He died. He was raised from the dead on the third day then forty days later was ascended to the Heaven. Just before He ascended, He gave a command to His disciples and us as well.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)
Jesus came to make disciples. He is telling us we need to be His disciples and be dedicated to making disciples as well. The remaining eleven apostles (Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ and killed himself) went from a group of Soul-led, vacillating, hardhearted believers who were mired in unbelief to eleven Spirit-led, faithful, tenderhearted believers who changed the World. They were able to do this because they devoted themselves to Christ and submitted to the control of the Holy Spirit. As they submitted, they were able to “go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19)
After the call to “Come unto me” Jesus tells us whom He is calling unto Himself in the next phrase. Who are they? They are “all who labor and are heavy laden.” Who is this? The Greek word translated “labor” means to “work hard.” The subject of this phrase is “all.” Jesus is calling everyone who “works hard.” Works hard at what? Look at the second part of the phrase. The words “are heavy laden” is a combined set of words that means the subject of the phrase is overburdened with ceremony. This implies spiritual anxiety. This implies someone who has an impossible burden of religiosity piled on them which they will never be able to accomplish with their own abilities.
Before we go to the rest of this passage let’s pull together what we have learned so far by paraphrasing the first two phrases. Jesus is speaking to a group of people in a “works” theology religious system. He says, “Come near unto me, all of you who are working hard at being spiritual.” Incredible! Here is a gem of a passage that specifically addresses those who are trying to be spiritual in their own strength. Who are they? They are the Soul-led. They are the spiritually bankrupt believers and non-believers who are striving after the wind in complete vanity. Many of them are working very hard at being religious, but it is by their own will power not within the grace of God.
What happens when the Soul-led come near unto Jesus? What do the Soul-led do when they encounter God? They flee. They cannot stand to be in His presence because of their sin and His Holiness. Their Hearts are hard and they are in unbelief. However, Jesus is calling them to come near to Him. Who responds? Well, I was Soul-led for a long time, but I was desperate and hungry. Who put that desperation and hunger in me? The Holy Spirit did that. He drew me unto Jesus for healing, teaching, and spiritual growth. My heart became tender and broken before the Lord. Those who respond to this call are the Soul-led who are being drawn by God unto Himself. They are the ones responding to Jesus call, “Come unto me.”
The third phrase in this passage says, “and I will give you rest.” This phase is simple to break down. Jesus is saying, because of someone coming near unto Him, He will do something for him or her. The words “give you rest” is another word grouping. The grammar in this phrase suggests the one speaking will “apply refreshing” to the object. Who is the object? The one who has come near unto Jesus is the object. What do they receive? Jesus gives them the gift of rest and refreshment. This passage is usually translated with this word grouping meaning “rest”; however, I am convinced as we “rest” in Jesus He refreshes us. He sure does with me. I come to Him in desperation and anxiety all the time and He will calm me down and fill me with joy and peace. That is refreshment.
Once more, let’s pull together what we have broken down. Jesus is calling all who are spiritually worn out (Soul-led) to come near unto Him. When they do, He will give them a refreshing rest. This implies, in Christ, the vanity of empty religion is revealed for what it really is and those who come near unto Christ are freed from it. However, that is not all there is to this passage. We have covered the first sentence, which is v28. This verse is a condensed statement by Jesus of what He will do for those who come near unto Him seeking relief from the burdens of Soul-led religiosity. Verses 29-30 are the expanded detail of v28.
In v29, we have the fourth phrase in this passage, which says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.” Pardon me as I get a little technical. It won’t be bad, I promise. New Testament Greek is a wonderfully expressive language. It has many depths of possible meaning. For instance, Greek verbs have tense and voice as in English, but they also have mood. Therefore, when studying verb usage in New Testament Greek you must determine the tense, mood, and voice.
The first word in this phrase is “Take”. It means to take up an object and lift it up for use. The tense is aorist, the mood is imperative and the voice is active. Aorist imperative says this verb is a command that must be performed immediately. The Voice is active so the subject of the phrase must do this action. What is Jesus commanding? He was telling the ones who have come near unto Him who were spiritually worn out to pick up and put on His Yoke.
No one is forcing them to pick up and put on the Yoke of Christ, but it is a command. This command comes right after the promise of rest and refreshment for those who come near unto Him. This shows us that the taking up His Yoke is part of the process of gaining that rest and refreshment. This command is one of those either-or test questions. As we come near unto Christ for His rest, refreshment, and relief from our Soul-led walk He gives us a choice. The choice is either to submit to the Yoke of Christ (His Lordship) or to continue in self-will. If we choose the former, we will have His rest and refreshment. If we choose the latter, we will go right back to “chasing after the wind.” Once again, we have a picture of God showing us the way to true fulfillment.
The next phrase in v29 is, “for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” The way this is phrased it is clear Jesus is telling us the process of taking on His yoke and learning from Him will be a pleasant experience because He is gentle and lowly in heart. He is reassuring us that even though we are submitting to His yoke it is not hurtful or debasing. The word translated “gentle” could be translated as “meek” or “humble.” The word “meek” in English implies cowardice or timidity. In New Testament Greek, it does not mean that at all. The word actually implies one who is powerful yet humble and in-control. Jesus demonstrated his graciousness throughout the time He walked the Earth during His Earthly ministry. His character is God’s character. The gentleness of Christ should reassure those submitting to the Yoke of Christ they will not be treated in any way that is not in their best interests. We can “rest” in Christ’s gentleness because it is an outcome of His Love for us. Christ’s love for us is the highest form of love. Our word, “AGAPE,” is a transliterated Greek word. This word for Love speaks of a love based on the best interests of the one loved, not what the one who is loved actually desires.
The next characteristic of Jesus from v29 is “lowly in heart.” What does that mean? We must remember that our example for becoming Christ-like is Christ. When we become godly, Christ-like believers, we will have taken on His character. His character is one of humility that never seeks its own. This character always puts others ahead of self and God above all. Remember back in the first and second phrases of verse 29 Jesus commanded all who come near to Him to take up His yoke and learn from Him. What are those who do this going to learn? This is Jesus teaching us how to take on His character. This is Jesus showing us what we have to let go of and what we must take on. He will be showing us the steps to fulfillment. He will be teaching us how to walk the Walk by Faith. All of this will be what is best for us. This is Jesus giving of Himself entirely so we can be fulfilled in our obedience to His Lordship.
The last phrase in verse 29 gives us the outcome of our taking on the Yoke of Christ: “and you will find rest for your souls.” The outcome of submitting to the Lordship of Christ is rest for our souls. The word rest in this verse can mean “recreation.” It is based on the same root as the word “rest” from verse 28, but speaks of joy rather than refreshing. I have been so full of joy at times I would weep and weep and be totally fulfilled. The outcome was very enjoyable and lead to peace and contentment.
The last part of this phrase tells us where that rest or recreation will take place. This implies the Soul is where all of the hard work was taking place while being “heavy laden” from verse 28. Soul-led religiosity, which is all about “works,” takes place in the Soul. It is wearying. It will wear us out if we attempt to work and work for fulfillment rather than submitting to the Yoke of Christ.
This submission brings our focus to God. It places the Spirit in predominance over the Soul. It causes the believer to become Spirit-led. The Soul of the Spirit-led is crucified or denied. That does not mean it is locked up somewhere and is being punished. It means the Soul takes on its original function. What was that original function? God designed Man’s Soul to express and reflect Him. For our Soul to take on this function, it must come under submission to the Spirit. The Spirit-led believer walks the Walk by Faith. He or she lives their life seeking the will of God in all things. They fear God. They live their whole life continually turning to Christ in their walk in Repentance with Joy. They are wearing the Yoke of Christ in complete submission to His Lordship. They are constantly learning from Christ as they submit to His teachings. Their bodies are submitted as living sacrifices to the Lord. They are God’s empty chosen vessels. They keep the Lord’s commandments naturally. All of this is accomplished by the Lord’s mercy and grace.
In verse 30, Jesus finalizes this passage with a perfect description of the Walk by Faith. He says, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Those who are Soul-led will usually reject this verse. I have heard some say that they feel Christ’s yoke is not easy, it is hard, and the burden is heavy. Of course it is. That is, it is hard, heavy, difficult, and burdensome to the Soul-led because their Soul is trying to do it all. It will never work. The Soul was never designed to be spiritual. To submit to the Yoke of Christ we must become Spirit-led.
Living in submission to the Yoke of Christ is easy when living a life empowered by the Holy Spirit. All of the demands in that relationship with Jesus are simple and easy. Keeping God’s Commandments is easy. Being obedient is easy. Being Christ-like is easy. Why? The Spirit-led is yoked up with Christ. He or she simply turns everything over to the Lord. All problems and circumstances are handled that way. All Heart activities seeking fulfillment away from God are cut off at the pass and captured before they materialize into sin. This whole activity increases joy and peace continually due to being in God’s presence through it all.
I exposited Matthew 11:28-30 in an attempt to show that our salvation is not “works” based, but that works come forth from our submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. When we do that we are taking on His Yoke. If we are yoked up with Him then we will do good works, but they will be no burden at all. Of course, there is another passage which completely negates “works” as part of salvation.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV)
Our salvation comes from God and is according to Him. He has designed it in such a way that it is impossible for any believer to boast. If we work for it then we can boast. Let’s return to James 2:14-18 and apply our understanding from Matthew 11:28-30 and Ephesians 2:1-10. Here is that passage again.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:14-18 ESV)
If we look at the negative things James speaks of in this passage, we see that people who neglect to do these good works have a spiritual problem. What is it? Their faith is dead. However, if a believer does good works as part of their submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ then they are proving that they are truly His disciple. The works have nothing to with saving the Christian; however, a believer walking the walk by faith, yoked up with Christ will do them.
Having dead faith means what? Does this mean that they are not believers? I believe that is what James is saying. The works are proof of the Holy Spirit working in the life of the believer. Let’s look at John 15.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:1-10 ESV)
What is the fruit that the branches bear? This is being fruitful in the Kingdom of God. Part of that is the Fruit of the Spirit and part is the result of that fruit being manifested in the heart of the believer resulting in good works. What empowers believers to do good works? It is by abiding in Christ and submitting to His Lordship. As a result of that we are pruned by the Father so we will bear more fruit. Just as in James, we see that there is a dichotomy. True believers abide in Christ and submit to His Lordship. By their good works they are proved authentic. The professing believers who do not abide in Christ and have never submitted to His Lordship cannot do good works and are thereby proven disingenuous. The Father takes them away and they are cast into the fire.
Some may say that I am teaching that submission to Christ’s Lordship is “works” and that is how we do the good works so I am teaching works based salvation as well. No, what I am teaching is that the truly regenerated believer WILL do these things, while the unregenerate professing believers can’t. Faith without works is dead. Faith is proved genuine by good works coming forth as fruit in the Kingdom of God. The false teachings that James 2:14-18 speaks of works based salvation become unsupportable if we utilize proper Biblical exegesis. There is simply no echoing teachings in the Bible to exegete back to so that scripture interpreting scripture will come up with that teaching. I pray for your forgiveness for such a long post, but I believe these truths will be helpful in our warfare against the false teachings permeating the Church.
End of post.
Jeremiah Burroughs - The Gospel
"The gospel of Christ in general is this: It is the good tidings that God has revealed concerning Christ. More largely it is this: As all mankind was lost in Adam and became the children of wrath, put under the sentence of death, God, though He left His fallen angels and has reserved them in the chains of eternal darkness, yet He has thought upon the children of men and has provided a way of atonement to reconcile them to Himself again...Namely, the second person of the Trinity takes man's nature upon Himself, and becomes the Head of a second covenant, standing charged with sin. He answers for it by suffering what the law and divine justice required, and by making satisfaction by keeping the law perfectly, which satisfaction and righteousness He tenders up to the Father as a sweet savor of rest for the souls that are given to Him...And now this mediation of Christ is, by the appointment of the Father, preached to the children of men, of whatever nation or rank, freely offering this atonement unto sinners for atonement, requiring them to believe in Him and, upon believing, promising not only a discharge of all their former sins, but that they shall not enter into condemnation, that none of their sins or unworthiness shall ever hinder the peace of God with them, but that they shall through Him be received into the number of those who shall have the image of God again to be renewed unto them, and they they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."
End of post.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Quest For Joy
Did you know that God commands us to be glad?
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)
1) God created us for his glory
"Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth,... whom I created for my glory" (Isaiah 43:6-7)
God made us to magnify his greatness - the way telescopes magnify stars. He created us to put his goodness and truth and beauty and wisdom and justice on display. The greatest display of God's glory comes from deep delight in all that he is. This means that God gets the praise and we get the pleasure. God created us so that he is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
2) Every human should live for God's glory
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
If God made us for his glory, it is clear that we should live for his glory. Our duty comes from his design. So our first obligation is to show God's value by being satisfied with all that he is for us. This is the essence of loving God (Matthew 22:37) and trusting him (1 John 5:3-4) and being thankful to him (Psalm 100:2-4) It is the root of all true obedience, especially loving others (Colossians 1:4-5).
3) All of us have failed to glorify God as we should
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
What does it mean to "fall short of the glory of God?" It means that none of us has trusted and treasured God the way we should. We have not been satisfied with his greatness and walked in his ways. We have sought our satisfaction in other things, and treated them as more valuable than God, which is the essence of idolatry (Romans 1:21-23). Since sin came into the world we have all been deeply resistant to having God as our all-satisfying treasure (Ephesians 2:3). This is an appalling offense to the greatness of God (Jeremiah 2:12-13).
4) All of us are subject to God's just condemnation
"The wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23).
We have all belittled the glory of God. How? By preferring other things above him. By our ingratitude, distrust and disobedience. So God is just in shutting us out from the enjoyment of his glory forever. "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
The word "hell" is used in the New Testament twelve times1—eleven times by Jesus himself. It is not a myth created by dismal and angry preachers. It is a solemn warning from the Son of God who died to deliver sinners from its curse. We ignore it at great risk.
If the Bible stopped here in its analysis of the human condition, we would be doomed to a hopeless future. However, this is not where it stops...
5) God sent his only son Jesus to provide eternal life and joy
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1 Timothy 1:15)
The good news is that Christ died for sinners like us. And he rose physically from the dead to validate the saving power of his death and to open the gates of eternal life and joy (1 Corinthians 15:20). This means God can acquit guilty sinners and still be just (Romans 3:25-26). "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). Coming home to God is where all deep and lasting satisfaction is found.
6) The benefits purchased by the death of Christ belong to those who repent and trust him
"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out" (Acts 3:19). "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).
"Repent" means to turn from all the deceitful promises of sin. "Faith" means being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Jesus. "He who believes in me," Jesus says, "shall never thirst" (John 6:35). We do not earn our salvation. We cannot merit it (Romans 4:4-5). It is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is a free gift (Romans 3:24). We will have it if we cherish it above all things (Matthew 13:44). When we do that, God's aim in creation is accomplished: He is glorified in us and we are satisfied in him - forever.
Does this make sense to you?
Do you desire the kind of gladness that comes from being satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus? If so, then God is at work in your life.
What should you do?
Turn from the deceitful promises of sin. Call upon Jesus to save you from the guilt and punishment and bondage. "All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13). Start banking your hope on all that God is for you in Jesus. Break the power of sin's promises by faith in the superior satisfaction of God's promises. Begin reading the Bible to find his precious and very great promises, which can set you free (2 Peter 1:3-4). Find a Bible-believing church and begin to worship and grow together with other people who treasure Christ above all things (Philippians 3:7).
The best news in the world is that there is no necessary conflict between our happiness and God's holiness. Being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus magnifies him as a great Treasure.
"You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." (Psalm 16:11)
Appearances of the word "hell" in the New Testament
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, `Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22 Jesus speaking)
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (Matthew 5:29 Jesus speaking)
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:30 Jesus speaking)
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28 Jesus speaking)
And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Matthew 18:9 Jesus speaking)
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:15 Jesus speaking)
"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (Matthew 23:33 Jesus speaking)
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. (Mark 9:43 Jesus speaking)
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. (Mark 9:45 Jesus speaking)
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, (Mark 9:47 Jesus speaking)
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. (Luke 12:5 Jesus speaking)
In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. (Luke 16:23 Jesus speaking)
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. (James 3:6 James speaking).
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; (2 Peter 2:4 Peter speaking)
End of post.
Are You A Christian?
From Truth For Today:
We have a solemn warning from the lips of the Lord Jesus: "Not everyone who says, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father."
It's worthwhile, then, considering: When do we have the right to describe ourselves as Christians? It's a crucial question!
According to Scripture, you are a Christian when you deal properly with sin, that is, the fact that you have broken God's law and consequently are under his condemnation.
Contrasted with world religions, the Christian faith is essentially for those who realize that they are indebted to God. When the angel announced the birth of Jesus Christ, he said, "You shall call him Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins."
Have you dealt seriously with the fact that God has pronounced sentence against you as guilty? Have you awakened from sleep and considered how your Creator has every right, whenever it pleases him, to summon you into his presence and to give an account of every evil deed you committed, with which your soul is defiled?
The Lord Jesus gave us a penetrating picture concerning ourselves: "From within, from the heart of man, issue forth..." and on he goes by mentioning a whole list of sins that fill in the daily newspapers - blasphemy, pride, adultery, murder. Jesus says that the fountainhead of all this pollution is the human heart. It is the wellspring from which is drawn the filth and impurity we see around us.
Our heart is adumbrated as "sick unto death" - the source of every form of immorality and lawlessness.
Are you really worried about this problem of a evil heart? I am not asking whether you believe man is a sinner in theory. The question involves much more: did your debt and your evil heart ever drive you to see yourself as God sees you? Did you examine yourself in depth, from within? And have you arrived at the same verdict that God holds against you? Have you attempted to defend yourself? Or have you sided with God against yourself?
A true Christian does not stop here. A Christian is one who not only knows that God's condemnation is hanging upon him, but also has applied the only divine remedy for sin.
At this point extreme care should be exercised: the Christian faith is not some kind of religious first-aid just as if you're patching up some damage. It is not a percentage of help from above to add our own self-help to it. In his infinite mercy, God intervenes into our miserable situation, and does for us what we could not do for ourselves.
The divine remedy is Christ himself. The remedy is not found in a set of ideas, or in an institution or a particular church. The solution is found in Jesus Christ, who himself affirmed: "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man comes to the Father, except through me."
The remedy is Christ crucified, and raised from the dead the third day. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Jesus said: "I came to serve and give my life as a ransom for many." When the apostle Paul visited Corinth, that citadel of intellectualism and pagan philosophy, "I came to you," he reminded them, "not with elevated speech, for I had determined beforehand not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified."
For the benefit of his own enemies, Christ suffered the consequences of our disobedience so that we won't be condemned to hell, but instead will be granted forgiveness and become heirs of eternal life with him. Fix your eyes of faith upon the cross on which Christ offered himself, an innocent victim instead of all those who actually flee unto him for refuge.
He died as the substitute of his people - the verdict was against us, but he underwent the punishment and full condemnation instead of us. Isaiah fortells his sufferings on our behalf: "He was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."
The cross is the monumental exhibition how God can be just and at the same time forgive guilty sinners. He is fully satisfied with the perfect offering of his Son. We cannot supplement it with anything of our own, neither is there anything to alter. By his holy will, "we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." It would be an insult to Christ if we imagine that we can add something to his perfect sacrifice. His death is of infinite value, well-pleasing to God, and thus should be adequate to us as well. And Christ's sacrifice cannot be repeated or renewed, for the Holy Spirit himself testifies: "Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now when there is forgiveness of sins there is no more offering for sins" (Hebrews 10:17,18).
The King came to die! Forgiveness is possible only because Christ paid our debt.
We enjoy this marvelous forgiveness only when we turn to him and trust him. We read how Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, saying: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near: repent and believe the gospel."
What is repentance? In repentance, the sinner, aroused by a true sense of his sin, and drawn by God's mercy in Christ, turns towards God from sin and realizes that sin is open rebellion against him. In this action he expresses grief for his past ways and a hatred for his present sins. His understanding changes, and thus he flees to God with a sincere desire to obey him.
Repentance is the divorce of the soul from sin. But at the same time, in true repentance, the soul is married and joined to the Saviour Jesus Christ by faith. And what is faith? Well, when you return home after a long day's work, you confidently sit down on the sofa, without doubting whether the sofa is safe enough to hold you. That is faith. By faith the repentant soul leans confidently on Christ as he is offered to us in the gospel. You trust him completely, without any reserve, you behold in him all your need, you believe that he has accomplished for you what you could not accomplish for yourself. You anchor your intellect, your will, and your emotions in him, your whole personality. Your soul will be rooted in him. He will be the sole foundation for your life. The Bible declares, "Jesus is able to save completely all those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he is always lives to make intercession for them."
On whose merits are you going to meet God? On your own merits? On yours and somebody else's? On yours and Christ's? Or on the merits of Christ alone? It is written: "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; and he who does not have the Sod of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." If you desire to have eternal life you need to depend wholly upon Jesus Christ. Nobody except him.
With what can we compare faith? Imagine a glass of water on a table. You stand in front of it, wishing to drink. You touch it - but you're still thirsty. You draw it to your lips - still you are thirsty. And if you remain in this position, you simply cannot quench your thirst, although the opportunity is fully yours. You need to drink! And just as water satisfies bodily thirst, Christ satisfies your spiritual thirst. He said, "He who drinks from this well will thirst again; but everyone who drinks from the water which I shall give him shall be in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. If anybody thirsts, let him come to me and drink."
By faith we bring nothing to Christ except an empty hand to receive forgiveness. "To him all the prophets bear witness that all those who believe in him obtain forgiveness of sins in his Name."
The final proof whether you're a true Christian or not is this: are you showing that your repentance and faith are genuine by a holy conduct?
The Bible says: "For by grace are you saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves; this is the gift of God, not of works, so that nobody would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." True faith always expresses itself in love. "He who has my commandments, and keeps them, he is the one who loves me. He who does not love me does not keep my word."
We are not going to heaven because we obey the Ten Commandments; we are going to heaven because we are trusting in Christ, who laid down his life for us on the cross. But a faith that does not produce love isn't real. Love is seen in the assistance you give to the poor, the widow, and the orphan.
The apostle John warns us: "He who says, I know him, and yet does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
This is the true Christian. How many of us are Christians, worthy of the Nazarene? It does not really matter by what label we are known: whether we are nicknamed Evangelicals or Catholics. The important issue is what we are before God.
End of post.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Hopeless Dawn
From Christ Is Deeper Still:
"The Hopeless Dawn" by Frank Bramley shows a young widow, who has just found out that her husband was lost at sea, being comforted by her godly mother-in-law. Notice the altar-like table, suggesting the Lord's Supper. Notice the big open Bible on the seat by the window. The two suffering women are not alone. Christ is there.
Sooner or later every one of us is confronted with a hopeless dawn. Hopeless, as someone or something important to us is taken away forever. A dawn, because that very moment of overwhelming loss is the beginning of a new era. Christ is there.
I have met many men, in their 50s like me, who have simply lived long enough to get body-slammed by life in some unforeseeable, major way. Divorce, cancer, their business stolen out from underneath them, sued, a wayward child breaking their heart, and so forth. Previous successes make no difference and offer no protection. Sooner or later, the unimaginable comes and finds us. It's just a matter of time.
What I am learning is that such a moment is not when I should say, "Okay, now I begin again." Instead, it is when I can say, "Okay, now I begin." Christ is there.
End of post.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
A Saint's/Sinner's Prayer
From Agonizomai:
The more I press on in the Christian walk the more I am convicted about the matter of pride. I begin to see its ugliness and its pervasiveness in my being. It is a monster that crowds out the presence of the God of all humility. How can I possibly expect to recognize such a quiet, meek and lowly God through the screaming arrogance of my own restless heart?
O how I begin to actually see what God says about me is true! How the Word of His Truth slays me. Thank you God! Bring it on and cut down every lofty branch, bring down every tower, undercut every battlement of my willful flesh that blocks my view of You! Use that sword to kill me, for it is then that I will be made alive by the only One Who can do it...You Yourself.
I must humble myself under your mighty hand, as you have commanded...and I will strive for it...but, in the end, I know that it will be You at work in me by the Holy Spirit through the grace of Jesus Christ that will have the effect. I have nothing that I did not first receive. No power, no knowledge, no will to be anything but what I was. It is you Who are able and Christ Who had done all, leaving me only to walk in it...and even that by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, sent to me by Him.
But again the understanding that I am nothing, that I know nothing and can do nothing...far from making me languid actually motivates and energizes me. The unconditional excellency and unbounded love in which You do all for me draws me through the mystery of the faith You wrought and gave to me, to run after You and to desire that You do more in me than I could possibly hope or think. I am like the man with a load of useless junk in his knapsack staggering towards a distant oasis, tossing and shedding it all, piece by piece, in anticipation of that life-giving stream of flowing water that is Your Own beautiful Person.
This verse contains more than the simple idea that I must be humble. It announces the very purposes of God regarding that which is opposed to Him. For every lofty thought is an abomination to the Most Holy God. It rightly provokes His anger. How can we mere creatures who are so obviously not self-existent not only deny the One Who made us, and Who holds all of creation in His hand, but also raise ourselves up in our own thoughts until we lose all sense what we really are? How arrogant! How despicable! How ungrateful!
I do not excuse myself in this. Before I was saved I was as bad as any other person on earth in this regard. But after God has given me light I am actually worse. My unrepented arrogance and foolish pride is a daily affront to His grace. It is a worse sin than when I was in ignorance of my true condition. Yet grace upon grace is given to those who are in Jesus Christ, that His bounteous mercy and love may be seen and extolled for all eternity. To those to have is more given. Yet from those who have not will be taken away, even that which they have.
The aggravating sin of my unhumbled soul, even in the light of His grace and truth, is a horror more worthy of eternal death than anything I did before I was saved. Yet the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He fills the cup of grace, presses it down and it runs over in an infinite surfeit that springs from the shed blood of Christ. The excellency of His Being, the boundlessness of His mercy is magnified by His forgiveness of the betrayals in the sins of the saints whenever they repent. His love for them is so over-sufficient, so superabundant that their salvation is prevented from becoming their damnation.
This is what Jesus bought when He died in my place. This is what He knew of me...that I would presume upon the very grace that sought and bought me. And that even God’s anger against that further debauchery was satisfied by the Christ Who knew it would be necessary, to the very last drop of His blood. This love knows no bounds. When He decided to save me He counted the cost to the last penny and gladly paid it. The only redeeming thing about me is the Redeemer Who is in me.
O God, let me not be found presuming upon such love!
End of post.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
Paul Washer On False Prophets
“Their god is their belly, but, they look like sheep; how is that? How is it that they look like sheep? By their flattering, smooth speech that in an age of tolerance makes you think they are men most full of love.
They will never contradict, they will never create a scandal, they will never be offensive, they will never speak forth things to anger men. They have the smooth tongue of a serpent, and they flatter men, and they give carnal men exactly what they want.
Let me tell you something about false teachers, you think so many times that people fall prey to false teachers, and that, in a sense, can be true, at times. But, I think the dominant theme in Scripture is just the opposite. False teachers are God’s judgment on people who don’t want God…but, in the name of religion, plan on getting everything their carnal heart desires.
That’s why a Joel Osteen is raised up; those people who sit under him are not victims of him, he is the judgment of God upon them…because they want exactly what he wants, and it’s not God!”
You can listen to the entire sermon HERE.
End of post.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Fighting Error In The Church
From Institute For Nouthetic Studies:
Sometimes it may seem that we spend too much time refuting falsehood. All of us are chagrined at the preponderance of error both within and without the Church. We may write off those who attempt to combat it and set forth the truth in clarity over against it as “heresy hunters.” The term is used pejoratively; but should it be? Take a quick look at the Books of the New Testament, merely scratching the surface, and see what you think.
In the Gospels Jesus warns against false teachers, speaks of wolves in sheep’s clothing and the “leaven of the Pharisees.” The record of His ministry is one of conflict with those who refused to accept the teaching He set forth.
Acts contains the record of the church’s first major controversy over whether or not a person must become a Jew before he could qualify as a Christian. A church council was called to settle the matter. Paul goes to lengths to warn the Ephesian elders about wolves who would devour the flock and schismatically draw away disciples to themselves.
Romans is an entire doctrinal treatise about justification by faith alone in contrast to salvation by works, and how sanctification follows thereafter. In it, Paul also takes up the rejection of the Jewish church.
I Corinthians is loaded with problems; schism, misuse of gifts, church discipline, marriage and divorce, and on, and on, on.
II Corinthians takes on false apostles who had invaded the church and charged him with pretending to be an apostle. The place of apostolic authority is set forth, along with the qualifications of an apostle.
Galatians is a sterling defense of Justification by faith alone over against those who taught otherwise, and were upsetting the church by Judaistic legalism.
Ephesians is less controversial, being a universal epistle rather than directed to the adverse circumstances of an individual or a congregation.
Philippians deals with a split in an otherwise good church. But it has to do with self-centeredness and sets forth a key Christological passage.
Colossians is consumed with fighting Judaistic Gnosticism.
I & II Thessalonians take up false teaching about the Lord’s coming and eschatology.
I & II Timothy & Titus teach “healthy” doctrine over against many false ideas. And, in them, Paul doesn’t hesitate to name specific heretical individuals.
Philemon is a welcome exception.
Hebrews, in its entirety, combats all influences that would cause Jewish Christians to revert to Judaism.
James utterly destroys the idea that one can have genuine faith that does not result in good works.
I Peter explains how the New Testament church is no longer a physical political entity, but that the church is now the spiritual people of God, the new Israel.
II Peter warns against scoffers and libertines unsettling the church and reveals the true picture of final things.
I John argues quite effectively throughout the book against Gnosticism of a Cerenthian sort.
II John warns against hospitality for heretics.
III John deals with church discipline gone so far astray as to virtually destroy a church.
Jude throughout its entirety is an exhortation to contend against the libertines who invaded the church that failed to listen to the warnings in II Peter.
Revelation speaks of the warfare of God against apostate Judaism, the first persecutor of the church, and Rome, the second persecutor, and predicts the fall. It also mentions cults like the Nicolatians.
Now, in light of the above, if you can, tell me why we should not be prepared to detect and refute falsehood in the Church?
This article originally appeared in the Journal of Modern Ministry.
End of post.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Reformed Rap Continued...
As most of you know I am a fan of reformed rap artist, Lecrae. Some of you have been supportive while others believe reformed rap is Biblically wrong.
Regardless of which position you take, I thought you might be interested in these clips.
Below is Lecrae teaching in Zambia followed by one of my favorite songs, "Go Hard" with lyrics underneath the video.
Lecrae - Bible Training In Zambia
Lecrae - Go Hard
Go Hard or Go Home
Lord Use Me Up
Lord kill me If I don't preach the Gospel
I'm still in my 20's- but I'll die if I got to
Already dead - so forget my flesh
I done been crossed over see the full court press
I'm a full court mess if the Lord don't use me
Running from my trials thinking everythings groovy
If the Cross don't move me then I don't wanna breathe no more
If I ain't seeing Christ partner I dont wanna see no more
Rep every day without worrying about bruising
I've been to China man I seen some real persecution
If you didn't know Christ would your life look the same?
Can they tell you value Jesus by the way you rep his name?
Man what's the point of living if I'm living for myself?
Lord empty out my life before I put you on the shelf so for God I go hard
I don't wanna die tonight but it's too many people living who aint heard about the Christ.
Go Hard or Go Home
Lord Use Me Up
Went to Asia had to duck and hide - for sharing my faith
They tell me water it down when I get back to the States
They say tone the music down you might sell a lot a records
But it's people out here dying and none of them heard the Message
Took my wifey on mission trip - hit Central America
Shared her testimony 40 people stood and stared at her
When she said Jesus should of seen it was insane cause 40 out of 40 never heard of Jesus name
Aw man we ain't focused on the war we just kickin it
Worried about our image and our space up on the internet
Take me out the game coach I don't wanna play no more
If cant give it all I got and leave it out there on the court
Thank you for the Grace for the will and the desire
Got me living for Your glory instead of living to retire
But I pray I'll never tire of going hard for Messiah
I don't need no motivation
You're the reason I'm inspired
Go Hard or Go Home
Lord Use Me Up
That's what that is baby
That what that mean
Wha-What that mean?
That mean that we, should be out up in ok streets
Not just in houses with our Bible's summarizing what we read
Man this aint deep
Why we aint doing what we read?
Its like we sleep
But sinners sleepwalk when they sleep
So why can't we the redeemed of the LORD
Act out, what He said and make a scene for the LORD?
Action-cut, say what, like we was the director
But you better get a grip like movie sets, and get to stepping
I know you done it da-done it, da-done-and heard it all
You was going hard for the Lord before you heard this song
But don't play yourself to save yourself and walk in fear
Scripture's like a mirror
The truth is closer than it appears.
Go Hard or Go Home!
Lord Use Me Up!
End of post.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Monday, January 05, 2009
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Friday, January 02, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Christless Christianity
Excerpts from Michael Horton's Christless Christianity:
“Where everything is measured by our happiness rather than by God’s holiness, the sense of our being sinners becomes secondary, if not offensive. If we are good people who have lost our way but with the proper instructions and motivation can become a better person, we need only a life coach, not a redeemer. We can still give our assent to a high view of Christ and the centrality of his person and work, but in actual practice we are being distracted from “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). A lot of the things that distract us from Christ these days are even good things. In order to push us offpoint, all that Satan has to do is throw several spiritual fads, moral and political crusades, and other “relevance” operations into our field of vision. Focusing the conversation on us—our desires, needs, feelings, experience, activity, and aspirations— energizes us. At last, now we’re talking about something practical and relevant.” (pg 15-16)
“…I am not arguing in this book that we have arrived at Christless Christianity but that we are well on our way. There need not be explicit abandonment of any key Christian teaching, just a series of subtle distortions and not-so-subtle distractions. Even good things can cause us to look away from Christ and to take the gospel for granted as something we needed for conversion but which now can be safely assumed and put in the background. Center stage, however, is someone or something else…So much of what I am calling “Christless Christianity” is not profound enough to constitute heresy. Like the easy-listening Muzak that plays ubiquitously in the background in other shopping venues, the message of American Christianity has simply become trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant.” (pg 20)
"If the message the church proclaims makes sense without conversion, if it does not offend even lifelong believers from time to time so that they too need to die more to themselves and live more to Christ, then it is not the gospel. When Christ is talked about, a lot of things can happen, none of which necessarily have any lasting impact. When Christ is proclaimed in his saving office, the church becomes a theater of death and resurrection." (pg 141)
End of post.
Paul Washer - Calvinism Is Not The Issue - An Ignorance Of The Doctrine Of Regeneration
End of post.
Telling People the Truth in Love
From Christ Reformed Info:
A Reformed Approach to Evangelism
by Dr. Kim Riddlebarger
I. A bad rap--Why do the Reformed not evangelize?
Whether justified or not, the Reformed have a bad reputation for not being concerned about evangelism. While there are wonderful exceptions, some of the criticism is certainly valid. Why is this? Some historical background would be useful.
A. A great past--A questionable present
Historically, the Reformed have a great history of evangelism and missions. Indeed, the Christianization of Europe and the New World as a result of the Reformation, with the militant stress upon sola Fide, sola Scriptura, is not to be taken lightly. Contrast the Protestant countries of Canada and the United States, with that of Catholic countries such as Mexico and Brazil.
The first "Great Awaking" with such central figures as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield was largely based upon historic Reformed distinctives, i.e., Whitefield's famous sermon, "Christ Our Righteousness," and Edward's classic "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Yet, John Wesley was also an integral part of the First Great Awakening, and the stress upon a "conversion experience," even by Calvinists, such as Whitefield and Edwards, in many ways laid the groundwork for a Second Great Awakening, which largely undid the Calvinistic emphases of the first.
The Second Great Awakening, led by Charles Finney, self-consciously moved away from the Calvinistic emphases of the first. In Finney's system, the stress was almost entirely upon a "conversion experience," understood through perfectionistic categories--a dramatic ceasing from sin and a turning from the former way of living. The categories underlying the Great Commission to take the gospel to the nations were no longer those of Biblical Christianity, but were now those of Jacksonian democracy--the rugged American individual could, through an act of the will, accomplish virtually anything to which they put their minds.
This led to the employment of Finney's new measures--protracted revival meetings, the use of entertainment and dramatic preaching stressing the charismatic preacher, revivalist hymnody, all carefully orchestrated to lead to the "altar call," in which one demonstrated one's faith in Christ and desire to cease from sinning by going forward at the preacher's command This, in turn, laid the groundwork for evangelism to take place apart from the sacramental and preaching ministry of the local church--something which historically, Protestants had insisted upon.
Thus the heirs of "Second Great Awakening" style evangelism are seen today in the "crusade evangelism" of Billy Graham and Greg Laurie, and in evangelism techniques such as Campus Crusade's "Four Spiritual Laws." These approaches to evangelism now dominate the evangelical world. For evangelicals, largely ignorant of church history, if evangelistic efforts do not look like what they are used to--large gatherings, noisy, exciting and studded with musicians and Christian celebrities, and stressing a dramatic conversion experience--they don't think that genuine evangelism is taking place. Anything different doesn't feel right! This is very unfortunate.
Therefore, when evangelicals criticize the Reformed for not supporting Billy Graham, or Greg Laurie and the Harvest Crusades, or for not approving of the "Four-Spiritual Laws," they are, in effect, really criticizing the Reformed understanding sin and grace. Criticism of the Reformed by evangelicals is, in this regard, simply a fact of life. And for this the Reformed need not be ashamed. A false gospel must be opposed!
That being said, it is too often the case that Reformed Christians are much more concerned with not repeating the errors of the evangelicals then they are with seeing people come to faith in Christ. In many Reformed circles it is far easier to find a discussion about how and why the evangelicals are wrong, than it is to find a conversation about how we ought to evangelize. Too often, Reformed Christians speak of evangelism as converting an evangelical to the Reformed faith, and not as a non-Christian coming to faith in Christ. It is even harder to find any Reformed Christians, these days, who are actually doing evangelism instead of talking about it or criticizing others for doing it improperly!
There are reasons for this--
B. A cultural, rather than a theological problem
One important reason for this is simply to be found in the history of the Reformed churches, especially that of the continental Reformed Churches. These groups are largely dominated by distinctively ethnic and immigrant cultures, especially in the case of the Dutch and Germans who saw the church and the confessional tradition, in part, as a means of preserving their own culture in the New World. It is vitally important in such groups to preserve the clan, the national heritage and traditions, and outsiders only contribute to what was perceived as an undue Americanization which overturns old ways of thinking and doing.
As English-speakers, the Presbyterians did not have such baggage, and as a result, capitulated to theological liberalism and revivalism much faster. As a result, there are American Presbyterians of virtually every stripe--from theological liberals, to cultural conservatives, to the confessionally orthodox. The Reformed orthodox, on the other hand, tend to be strongly ethnic, and react against the encroachment of liberalism and revivalism through a fortress mentality. The continental Reformed have suffered deeply from repeated church splits, the painful process of Americanization and so on, and as a result, have rarely been enthusiastic about seeing outsiders come into their churches. This is understandable, but tragic. For the theology of the Continental Reformed churches is a theological treasure!
C. Criticism leads to cynicism
But the problem many of us face, as former evangelicals, is that our churches are not dominated by issues of ethnicity and problems of Americanization. As former evangelicals, we have been burned by shoddy and unbiblical theology. Many of us are like angry bears, wounded by years of perfectionistic sanctification, and muddled-headed theology. We are angry at those who taught us and we have every right to be! But it is very easy to react in a rage against what is wrong with evangelicalism, and to become overly cynical in the process. While rightly criticizing evangelical theology and its unbiblical Pelagianism, if we are not careful, we risk becoming critical, rude, proud and obnoxious. When that happens, ironically, we become a stumbling block to non-Christians who need to hear the gospel as well as to those dissatisfied evangelicals seeking a more biblical way of thinking and doing. If not careful, we have nothing good to say about anything or anybody. Too often, we are far more concerned with pointing out the errors of evangelicalism, than we are with seeing men and women come to faith in Christ. This is sin and we must repent of it!
It seems to me that one of the best ways to deal with this, is to make a concerted effort to go back to our own roots as Reformed Christians--the Scriptures and our confessions--and simply ask, what is Biblical evangelism? What are the necessary theological presuppositions we must have in place before we seek to tell others about Christ? How do we go about evangelizing others?
There is a difficult balancing act here. We need to be very clear that Biblical and Reformed evangelism will look much different than the Pelagian-inspired varieties of American evangelicalism. Yet, we as Reformed Christians also need to stop talking about evangelism and starting doing it!
D. Greater clarity and a prayerful desire to do better:
It seems to me that there are several issues about which we must be clear.
1. Let us be very clear about what we believe and why we believe it! We must be self-consciously Reformed without compromise. This means we cannot adopt unbiblical methods of evangelism. We cannot become functional Arminians because we earnestly desire to see people come to faith in Jesus Christ.
2. But as we are self-consciously Reformed, we must do so with great charity, and with an eye to the fact that people are watching us. This is not about winning an argument! It is about wrestling with eternity! This is why Reformed evangelism should be understood as "telling the truth in love."
3. Let us also re-double our efforts to take the Biblical command to make disciples seriously once again. It is our Biblical duty to see to it that Jesus Christ is proclaimed throughout our sphere of influence. It is time to both talk about evangelism and to do evangelism.
4. We also need to make a concerted effort to pray for two things: one is a renewed desire to see men and women come to faith in Jesus Christ, and the other is that God will bless our efforts in doing so.
The presence of non-Christians in our midst, struggling with the claims of Christianity, will do much to keep us from spending our precious time and energy from needlessly criticizing evangelicals. The best way to get out of the overly-critical rut is to get back to the task of evangelizing. Let us candidly face facts. At present, our Biblical and valid criticism of evangelicalism sounds hollow and will not get much of a hearing if we are not putting our own theology into practice. But if we are making a concerted effort to actually engage in biblical evangelism, we will be faithful to our own confessions and theology, and our evangelical critics will be silenced.
II. What is Evangelism?
For many, the very essence of the Christian life is "telling others about Jesus," which, in far too many instances, translates into telling others about ourselves and recounting how Christianity has impacted our own lives. This is evident when we simply ask people to define evangelism, and discover they are very often confused about the relationship between their own testimony and personal experience and that of the Biblical witness to Jesus Christ. This also explains why people are so apt to talk about themselves when trying to covert someone, rather than simply recounting the facts of the gospel. Too many people think the essence of evangelism is personal testimony rather than biblical witness.
According to Will Metzger in his very helpful book, Tell the Truth, there is a clear distinction to be drawn between the Biblical "witness" to Christ and our own "testimony" about our journey to faith. Says Metzger, "the content [of the Biblical witness] is Christ and God, not our journey to faith. Our personal testimony may be included, but witnessing is more than reciting our spiritual autobiography. Specific truths about a specific person are the subject of our proclamation. A message has been committed to us--a word of reconciliation to the world (2 Corinthians 5:19). [1] This is vital to grasp. Evangelism by its very essence is talking about the biblical witness to Christ, and includes a very specific set of Biblical facts.
This means that before we can even talk about telling others about Jesus Christ, we need to be very clear about who Jesus is and understand something of the nature of his saving work. This is why we must be very clear in our own minds about the theological categories and presuppositions which frame our understanding of evangelism, and why it is so important to "get it right, before getting it out."
Thus, our working definition for evangelism is "telling people the truth in love," and we now turn our attention to what it means to "tell people the truth."
III. Coherence and Contingency-- "Truth Before Telling!"
Obviously, the place to begin any discussion of the biblical and theological basis of evangelism is at the beginning--but that is easier said than done. As Francis Schaeffer correctly reminds us, "Christianity begins with the existence of the infinite-personal God, man's creation in God's image and a space-time Fall. [2] Indeed, there are a number of Biblical and theological presuppositions which must be kept clearly in our minds before we begin the task of taking the gospel to those in our own sphere of influence.
Before we turn to specifics, we cannot ignore the fact that the question of a "biblical starting point" for evangelism and apologetics has been hotly debated and frequently discussed by Reformed theologians. As Christians, the question we must face is "do we start with God or do we start with humanity?" Calvin himself opens his famed Institutes of the Christian Religion with the words "nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: The knowledge of God and our ourselves, [3] clearly indicating that in his mind the two are necessarily related and that one certainly leads to the other. The whole evidentialist-presuppositionalist debate about apologetic methodology is indicative of the complexity of the issues involved here.
Rather than digress into a philosophical debate the proper starting point-- "God or man," let me simply "presuppose" what I think is a very workable and common-sense approach to these matters, namely, what is known as the coherence-contingency model, in which it is acknowledged that there is a fixed body of doctrinal truth [coherence] which is then applied to very diverse individual evangelistic situations [contingency]. The fixed body of truth to be presupposed is that data found in the Holy Scriptures as summarized for us in the Reformed confessions, which, in turn, we are to bring to bear in specific evangelistic situations.
Simply stated, in order to tell people the truth in love, we must first know what that truth is! In this sense, coherence, precedes contingency!
IV. Coherence--The Biblical and Theological Presuppositions of Evangelism
If knowing the truth is a prerequisite to "telling it to people in love," this means that one of the best ways to prepare for evangelism is with a study of the Reformed confessions or a basic text in Biblical doctrine. While that is true, it is important to point out that you do not need to be a theologian to engage in evangelism. But you do need a good grasp of basic Biblical doctrines! Let me emphasize as clearly as I possibly can, that time spent studying the confessions will bear great fruit when you begin to witness to others about Jesus Christ.
The following, then, is simply a "bare bones" catalogue of things with which we need to be familiar before we began to look in the Scriptures for models to use in contingent situations.
A. Regarding the God "Who Is There"
1. God is eternal and uncreated--this means that everything that is created was created by God and depends upon him for its existence [creation] and preservation [providence]. This lends great support to apologetic arguments from contingency.
2. God is alone immutable, infinite, simple, omniscient and omnipresent--creation is mutable, finite, composite and necessarily constrained by the limits of time and space. This explains human limitations in terms of both knowing and being.
3. God is utterly transcendent, incomprehensible and hidden to us, unless he chooses to reveal himself through general and special revelation. This means that nothing can be known about God apart from his self-revelation.
4. Creation stems from God's eternal decree--meaning that nothing that now is, is outside of God's will and authority. This means that there is no such thing as "chance" or "fate," or "freewill" in an absolute sense.
5. God is described in the Scriptures as possessing in absolute and infinite measure the attributes of holiness, love, truth, righteousness, mercy, long-suffering, etc. Thus we are creatures possess these attributes in conditional and finite measure. This explains the fact that humanity possesses all of the so-called communicable attributes of God, and that God communicates to us verbally, that is, through the word of God written, the Holy Scriptures.
B. The "Mannishness of Man"--Creation and the Fall
1. God created all things and pronounced them to be "good." Thus Christianity is necessarily incompatible with all forms of dualism between "spirit/matter."
2. The fact of creation validates the importance of ordinary history as God acts in time and space, though he transcends time and space. As we will see, Christianity is necessarily an "historical" religion and its truth claims are anchored in both God's redemptive word and God's redemptive acts.
3. The high point of creation is that God has created man and woman in his image, meaning as Cornelius Van Til has said, that man is like God in every way that a creature can be like God,[4] since we possess all of the so-called communicable attributes of God. This explains things like, human dignity and the Biblical prohibitions against murder [Genesis 9:6] and cursing others [James 3:9], human rationality and why, apart from the curse upon the human race at Babel, "nothing would be impossible for them." For the Christian, man is much more than a mere beast.
4. General revelation, through that which God has made, tells us that he is, that he is eternal, all-powerful and that he will punish sin, which is defined as any infraction of his revealed will in natural revelation and codified in the decalogue. General revelation is intended to provide us with a natural knowledge of God, while special revelation, including both God's redemptive word and redemptive act, reveals to us the plan and purpose of redemption, without which we cannot be saved. Thus any Biblical approach to evangelism will be thoroughly grounded in the Holy Scriptures, the very word of God written.
5. God gave Adam dominion over the earth and gave to him the so-called "cultural mandate" which established the family as the basic unit of human existence with the command to be fruitful and multiply. Adam was to rule and subdue the earth, through the creation of "Godly culture." This demonstrates humanities' need of social structure and culture.
6. Christianity does not presuppose any particular theory of the "age of the earth," but it does demand the existence of the historical Adam. Indeed, Christianity not only presupposes an historical Adam, Christianity presupposes a fallen human race. Adam did indeed plunge the human race into sin and death through his rebellion in the Garden. Thus the many difficult problems faced by the human race come not from defect or limitations inherent in God's "good" creation, but in the corruption of that creation because of human sinfulness.
7. Thus, as Christians, we not only presuppose the dignity of all men and women by virtue of being created in God's image, we take must take equally seriously the effects of the Fall which place humanity under God's curse. This includes:
a. Imputed guilt for Adam's sin extending to the whole of the human race. No one is "innocent" before God.
b. The wages of sin, which is death. Everyone ever born will die.
c. Inherited corruption of the race, which itself eternally punishable and passed on to all of Adam's children by means of natural procreation, leads to actual sin. Thus we are born with a "sinful nature," which makes us naturally hostile to God, unwilling and unable to do his will. This is what Luther speaks of as "being curved in on ourselves," and what Van Til has spoken of as "autonomy."
d. Total depravity, in the sense that sin effects the entire person, physically, mentally and emotionally. There is no part of the Image of God in us that is not tainted, effaced or damaged by human sin. Though the Imago remains, it is as Calvin declared, a frightful deformity.
e. Loss of original righteousness, holiness and knowledge. The Fall did great damage to essential human nature, which can only be restored through regeneration.
f. The noetic effects of sin--a darkened understanding and ability to understand the things of God. As Paul says, we now inevitably suppress the truth about God in unrighteousness.
g. Total inability--because of our sinful orientation, we will not come to God in faith if left to ourselves.
h. We are by nature "children of wrath," enslaved to sinful desires and affections. Our thoughts are evil all the time.
C. The Grace of God in Jesus Christ--Faith and Justification
1. The Scriptures clearly teach that God elects a multitude of Adam's fallen children to be saved, and that he passes over others, leaving them to face the consequences for original and actual sins [cf Canons of Dort, I. 1-5]. Thus the reason any fallen sinners are saved from God's wrath is to be found solely in the goodness of God and not in the natural abilities of the sinner to come to faith.
2. The Scriptures [as well as the Reformed confessions which summarize them] teach that God has connected the divine purpose [end]--the salvation of the elect--to a divinely appointed means, namely, the preaching/teaching and communication of the gospel. This means that God has not only determined who will be saved, but how they will be saved. This means that we are to concern ourselves with God's appointed means--taking the gospel to the ends of the earth--and not with the mystery of who is elect and who is not. Any Reformed approach to evangelism but be based upon these divinely appointed means.
3. The only ground of salvation is the finished work of Jesus Christ--both in his active and passive obedience. In Christ, God satisfies the demands of the law. And in Christ's sacrificial death, God removes the guilt of our sin. The death of Christ is sufficient to save all who come to him, and is intended by God to save the elect. The death of Christ does not make the whole world hypothetically "savable."
4. Faith is not the one work we must do to be saved. Rather, faith is the reception of the saving benefits of Jesus Christ. Faith is not merely assent to the truth of the Christian religion, but is defined as trust in Jesus Christ, who alone can save sinners from the wrath to come. According to B. B. Warfield, "it is solely from its object that faith derives its value....The saving power of faith resides thus not in itself, but in the almighty savior on whom it rests....It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. [5]
5. The Scriptures clearly teach that sinners come to faith in Christ through the means of the gospel--God's elect are effectually called, regenerated and converted, that is, exercise faith in Christ and repentance--only through the power of the Holy Spirit [Ephesians 1:3-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16]. Thus evangelism, Biblically defined, is the communication of the gospel to non-Christians with the expectation that the Spirit works powerfully through the divinely appointed means--the message of reconciliation [Romans 10:14-17; 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2].
6. The gospel, narrowly defined, is the saving work of Christ as summarized in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. Communicating the gospel is communicating the facts of Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection, complete with the gospel imperative to repent and believe.[6] It is through this message that God's creates faith and enables sinners to believe.
This "bare bones" outline constitutes the basic presuppositions about God, creation, man, sin and salvation, that we must have clearly before our minds before we engage in evangelism. This constitutes the "truth" we must tell non-Christians in love.
D. As Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out, these theological presuppositions translate into certain fundamental principles for Reformed evangelism:
1. The supreme object of the work of evangelism is to glorify God, not save souls.
2. The only power that can do this work is the Holy Spirit, not our own strength.
3. The one and only medium through which the Spirit works, is the Scriptures; therefore, we "reason out of the Scriptures," like Paul did.
4. These preceding principles give us the true motivation for evangelism--a zeal for God and a love for others.
5. There is a constant danger of heresy through a false zeal and employment of unscriptural methods.[7]
E. A man-centered vs. a God-centered approach to Evangelism[8]
Man-Centered Approach
View of God
Point of contact with non-Christians is love (God loves you). Therefore, God's authority is secondary,
Love is God's chief attribute.
God is impotent before the sinner's will.
The persons of the Trinity have different goals in accomplishing and applying salvation.
God is a friend who will help you.
View of Humanity
Fallen, yet has the ability (or potential) to choose the good.
Seek truth but lacks correct facts.
Needs love, help and friendship.
Makes mistakes, is imperfect, needs forgiveness.
Needs salvation from the consequences of sin - unhappiness, hell.
Humanity is sick and ignorant.
View of Christ
Savior from mistakes, selfishness, hell.
He exists for our benefit.
His death was more important than his life.
Emphasizing his priestly office - Savior.
And attitude of submission to Christ's lordship is optional for salvation.
View of Response to Christ
Invitation waiting to be accepted now.
Our choice is the basis for salvation - God responds to our decision.
Will give mental assent to truths of gospel - decision.
Appeal is made to the desire of the sinner.
Saved by faith alone-repentance omitted for it is thought of as "works."
Assurance of salvation comes from a counselor using the promises of God and pronouncing the new believer saved.
Sinners have the key in their hands.
God-Centered Approach
View of God
Point of contact with non-Christians is creation (God made you). Therefore, God has authority over your destiny.
Holiness and love are equally important attributes of God.
God is able to empower the sinner's will.
The persons of the Trinity work in harmony - salvation accomplished for and applied to the same people.
God is a king who will save you.
View of Humanity
Fallen, and will not come to God by own will power.
Mind at enmity with God; none seek God.
Needs new nature (mind, heart, will), regeneration.
Rebels against God, has a sinful nature, needs reconciliation.
Needs salvation from guilt and the power of sin.
Humanity is dead and lost.
View of Christ
Savior from sin and sinful nature.
He exists to gather a kingdom and receive honor and glory.
His death and his life of obedience equally important.
Emphasizing his priestly, kingly, and prophetic offices.
An attitude of submission to Christ's lordship is necessary for salvation.
View to Response of Christ
Loving command to be obeyed now.
God's choice is the basis for salvation - we respond to God's initiative.
We respond with our whole person (mind, heart, will)-conviction.
Truth is driven home into the conscience of the sinner.
Saved by faith alone-saving faith is always accompanied by repentance.
Assurance of salvation comes from the Holy Spirit applying biblical promises to the conscience and effecting a changed life.
God has the key in his hand.
V. Contingency-- "Telling the Truth in Love"
Now that the basic Biblical and theological presuppositions regarding God, creation, sin and grace have been identified [coherence], we need to move on to a discussion of contingency-- "How, then, do we apply this fixed body of truth in dynamic situations?" "How do we tell non-Christians the truth in love?"
A. The Practice of Pre-Evangelism
As Francis Schaeffer once put it, "prevangelism is no soft option." In his book, The God Who is There,[9] Schaeffer makes the following points about what we may call "pre-evangelism," which is, in a sense, doing the prep work enabling people to understand the Christian gospel. Pre-evangelism is communicating the basic categories people need to understand the claims of Christianity, as well as removing potential intellectual objections. According to Schaeffer:
1. Pre-evangelism entails two-way communication between the Christian and the non-Christian: "If we wish to communicate, then, we must take the time and the trouble to learn our hearer's use of language so that they understand what we intend to convey [p. 130]." Thus pre-evangelism entails understanding what the non-Christian is saying. It means listening to them and then communicating to them in terms they can understand. This is what we call finding and establishing "common ground." [10]
2. Pre-evangelism entails a proper understanding of the meaning of love: "Each person must be dealt with as an individual, not as a case or statistic or machine [p. 130]." "We must remember that the person to whom we are talking, however far from the Christian faith he may be, is an image-bearer of God. He has great value, and our communication with him must be in genuine Love. Love is not an easy thing; it is not just an emotional urge, but an attempt to move over and sit in the other person's place and see how his problems look to him. Love is a genuine concern for the individual....Therefore, to be engaged in personal ´witness' as a duty or because our Christian circle exerts a social pressure on us, is to miss the whole point. The reason we do it is that the person before us is an image-bearer of God, and he is an individual who is unique in the world. This kind of communication is not cheap" [pp. 130-131]. Thus while our motive to evangelize is the glory of God, love for neighbor, ultimately brings God glory.
3. Pre-Evangelism entails getting a non-Christian to see the futility of unbelief and leaving him in the tension between the real world and his own set of beliefs: "Every person we speak to, whether shop girl or university student, has a set of presuppositions, whether he or she has analyzed them or not....But, in fact, no non-Christian can be consistent to the logic of his presuppositions. The reason for this is simply that a man must live in reality, and reality consists of two parts: The external world and its form, and man's ´mannishness,' including his own ´ mannishness.' No matter what a man may believe, he cannot change the reality of what is. As Christianity is the truth of what is there, to deny this, on the basis of another system, is to stray from the real world....Non-Christian presuppositions simply do not fit into what God has made, including what man is. This being so, every man is in a place of tension. Man cannot make his own universe and then live in it" [p. 132].
"Every person is somewhere along the line between the real world and the logical conclusion of his or her non-Christian presuppositions. Every person has the pull of two consistencies, the pulls towards the real world and the pull of the logic of his system....The more logical a man who holds a non-Christian position is to his own presuppositions, the further he is from the real world; and the nearer he is to the real world, the more illogical he is to his own presuppositions" [pp 133-134].
Schaeffer calls the exploiting of this intellectual tension, "taking the roof off" [p. 140], by allowing the weight of these non-Christian presuppositions to come crashing down on the non-Christian. It is like preaching the law--since it exposes a non-Christian's intellectual weakness. Schaeffer cautions us not to exploit this tension any more than is necessary because by destroying a non-Christian's presuppositions, we may leave them in despair. This would be like preaching the law to someone, without preaching the gospel afterwards--leaving them under condemnation with no hope of forgiveness.
4. Prevangelism entails making sure that the non-Christian understands that these issues are about objective facts of history and not subjective feelings or opinions of individuals: "we must make sure that the individual understands that we are talking about real truth, and not about something vaguely religious which seems to work psychologically. We must make sure that he understands that we are talking about real guilt before God, and we are not offering him merely relief for his guilt feelings. We must make sure that he understands that we are talking to him about history, and that the death of Jesus was not just an ideal or a symbol but a fact of time and space. If we are talking to a person who would not understand the term ´space time history' we can say: ´Do you believe that Jesus died in the sense that if you had been there that day, you could have rubbed your finger on the cross and got a splinter in it?' Until he understands the importance of these things, he is not yet ready to become a Christian [p. 139]."
"The invitation to act comes only after an adequate base of knowledge has been given....Knowledge precedes faith" [p. 153-154].
Thus pre-evangelism is vital. It is to be seen as the communication of both the categories and truths that someone needs in order to understand the gospel itself. This is where apologetics enters the picture, as pre-evangelism also entails the removal of intellectual objections [real or imagined] that non-Christians may have to the gospel. Here, the task is preparing the way for the subsequent communication of gospel in terms the non-Christian can understand!
B. Different Evangelistic Contexts
Before we speak of the "how to's" of Evangelism it would be helpful to realize that there are distinctly different evangelistic contexts. Taking a brief look at these different contexts, and analyzing them is important because what may be applicable in one context, may not be to another. There are some evangelistic situations which are more effective than others and in which individual Christians can be every effective.
1. Preaching: Even a quick survey of the Book of Acts demonstrates that the church grew through the proclamation of the word. When those in the audience were Jews, the preaching was from the text of the Old Testament, designed to show how Jesus was the one spoken of in the Old Testament. When Paul preached before pagans, the content for the preaching was adopted accordingly, and tailored for a Gentile audience. This is what I have elsewhere called the "Proclamation--Defense" model.[11]
In our present situation, however, not all sermons lend themselves to the evangelization of non-Christians, and the purpose of worship and the proclamation of the word and administration of the sacraments is for the glory of God and the edification of his people--not evangelism, as the "church growth" types argue. This means that preaching will have a role to play, but perhaps not the sole, nor even the most important role in evangelism, even though truly Biblical evangelism will take place within the context of the ministry of the church.
Today's "crusade evangelism" of American evangelicalism, rightly acknowledges the centrality of the proclamation of the word, but has gutted the word of its content because of Arminian/Semi-Pelagian theological categories. The evangelistic "crusade" is not a churchly function, but a function of an entertainment model now used by the church.
2. Personal conversation--most evangelism takes place within the context of people talking with non-Christian friends and neighbors on an individual basis. Every one has non-Christian friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. Here is where pre-evangelism should ideally take place as non-Christians can be given the basic categories and proper information about Christianity before they are brought to church and sit under the ministry of the word. This is also one of the most effective means of evangelism. The key here is instructing church members so that they can evangelize on their own and is very effective if such people are quickly plugged into a local church for discipleship and catechesis. In this case the personal conversation does not simply lead to the "praying of the sinner's prayer in private," but to the public profession of faith, baptism and membership which takes place in the local church.
3. Hospitality/Small Groups-- many churches provide "non-threatening" opportunities for people to bring non-Christian friends into contact with the gospel through the use of small groups and Bible studies where the basic truths of Christianity can be presented and discussed. Again, these groups can be used with profit, if they are church-sponsored and sanctioned, and if they are give the proper oversight by the local consistory. In too many circles, hospitality groups and home Bible studies replace the centrality of Word and Sacrament on the Lord's day. If they are a means to bring people into the life of a local church, they can be very effective. But the degree to which these groups usurp this role--by becoming an end in themselves--is the degree to which they cause more harm than good. People don't join a particular "group" when they become Christians, rather they are to be baptized into Christ's church.
4. Literature--Let us not forget, that getting the right book, the right information, to someone wrestling with the claims of Christianity is simply vital. Christianity is a religion of the book. Thus it is simply essential the those being evangelized read the Bible, and that they are given basic written instruction. Depending upon the circumstances, there are many good books on virtually every topic with which non-Christians might struggle. Don't forget that the Heidelberg Catechism is a great place for an enquirer to begin. Many, many people have been brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through good Christian literature. Again, they key here, is using literature to supplement these other methods.
VI. "Do's and Don'ts" of Evangelism
1. Be clear about what you believe and why you believe it. Know the Scriptures and know the confessions and catechisms. The more you know about your faith, the easier it is to talk with non-Christians.
2. The essence of evangelism is communicating the correct information about sin and grace, simply and clearly. Talk about the law and the gospel, not about infralapsarianism and divine simplicity! That comes later!
3. Avoid the use of Christian jargon. Speak about real sin, real guilt, real shed blood!
4. Use tact and be charitable! Don't talk about reprobation with someone who has just lost an unbelieving family member. Be kind and courteous! Many non-Christians act and speak out of ignorance, not malice.
5. Be sensitive to someone's past--if they've had a bad experience in church, struggle with a particular sin etc., be understanding and compassionate! Non-Christians hate self-righteousness, and they have a right to do so! Do not soft-peddle the law and the guilt of sin, but make sure they understand that you are a justified sinner, not a self-righteous "know it all," who is here to correct them!
6. Stick with the subject--don't get side-tracked. When the conversation wanders, pull it back to center stage--the law and the gospel.
7. Evangelism is not about winning an argument, but leading people to Christ. Discussions may get heated and intense at time--that's okay. But the purpose of evangelism is not to show why you are right and they are wrong. It is to communicate the truth of the gospel! The message is to be the offence! Not you!
8. When people are apathetic about sin--use the law. When people have doubts or are skeptical--use basic apologetic arguments. When people express guilt for sin--present the gospel.
9. Evangelism is about leading non-Christians to Christ. Convincing Evangelicals that Reformed theology is true, falls under the heading of polemics. Don't confuse the two.
10. Stick with what all Christians hold in common wherever possible. Leave the internecine fighting among Christians aside when talking to non-Christians. A non-Christian will not care much about why the Lutheran view of the Lord's Super is in error, or why Baptists are wrong about infant baptism! That will come during catechesis!
11. Wherever possible, speak about Christianity as factually true-- "Jesus did this," "Jesus said this," "people heard and saw him," etc. Keep away from the subjective line of approach-- "it works for me."
12. Pray for wisdom.
13. Trust in the power of God the Holy Spirit working through the word! Cite texts directly from the Scriptures with attribution. Jesus says, Paul says....Not, "I think," or "it seems to me."
14. Don't rush things. Just because someone is not ready to trust in Christ after one encounter does not mean that effective evangelism has not taken place. Pre-evangelism is equally vital. You may plant, but someone else may have to water!
15. Treat people as objects of concern, not notches in your belt! Establish relationships and friendships whenever possible.
16. Don't forget that a prophet is without honor in his own home. The chances of you leading your own unbelieving family members [or someone close to you] to Christ are remote. Pray for someone else to come and evangelize your family!
17. Don't force things. If people balk, ridicule and otherwise are not interested, back off. Find another time and place. If after repeated attempts to communicate the gospel, and someone still shows an unwillingness to hear what you have to say, "shake the dust off your feet and move on to a new town!"
18. Be willing to get people the resources they need: be willing to provide them with a Bible, the right book to read, and certainly an invitation to attend your church or Bible study, etc.
19. Pray for opportunities to evangelize. Pray for your church--that God would bless the preaching of his word, that he would bring non-Christians into our midst, and that he would bless the church with growth.
20. You don't have to become a practical Arminian to be a faithful evangelist! A Reformed approach to evangelism simply means telling people the truth in love.
[1] Will Metzger, Tell the Truth,(Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1981), 24.
[2] Francis Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, Vol. 1 The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer [Westchester: Crossway, 1982), 122.
[3] Calvin, Institutes, I.i.1.
[4] Cornelius Van Til, Defense of the Faith, 14.
[5] B. B. Warfield, "The Biblical Doctrine of Faith," in Biblical Doctrines (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981), 502-504.
[6] Cf. my article in modernReformation, "For the Sake of the Gospel: Paul's Apologetic Speeches," Vol. 7, No. 2 March/April 1997, 24-31.
[7] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Presentation of the Gospel, 6-7, and cited in Metzger, Tell the Truth, 26.
[8] The following is taken from Metzger, Tell the Truth, 32-33.
[9] Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, 129-160.
[10] This is not a "neutral" common ground, but simply a place, says Schaeffer, "where you can talk," with the non-Christian [ p. 137]. While there is common ground between a Christian and a non-Christian in terms of communication, there is no such thing as "neutral" common ground, where Christian and non-Christian can meet apart from their presuppositions.
[11] See my essay, "For the Sake of the Gospel: Paul's Apologetic Speeches."
End of post.
