Another Reformation?

On Reformation Day (October 31) Dallas Seminary professor John Hannah provided a compelling call to return to the driving force behind the Reformation — a commitment to the sufficiency of Scripture. He concludes with these insights and admonitions:

Is the real point of Christ’s redemptive mission to create a body of people who grasp the insight that His sole reason for coming to us was to improve our social circumstance, put coins in our pockets, and a Lexus in our garages? When sin is trivialized, Christ is dishonored.

In the late Medieval church, sin was seen not as a nature corrupting judgment, but as a mere personal, voluntary action. If that is the case, then people needed to be instructed about proper or higher choices and given incentives for those choices. The incentive they gave was the gaining of heaven by compliance to ecclesiastical mandates and sacramental obedience. We live in a culture where sin has more to do with chocolate cake than a serious affront to a just and righteous God. The incentive in our day often is not heaven, but a superior quality of pleasurable experiences now. The cross may have been replaced with a temporal crown. If such is the case with sin, and if Christ’s mission related primarily to sin, then it is not a great stretch to see that when sin is not taken seriously, Christ is trivialized.…

[So] the cross is often not the central content of preaching. When sin is treated lightly, and Christ’s work consequently redefined, if not refocused, the end result is a disregard for the centrality of the Scriptures in the life of the church. I do not think that there is a rampant denial of the integrity — even inerrancy — of Scripture in our churches. But I do believe that we may be seeing something worse — the practical denial of the sufficiency of Scripture.

My cry before you today is not for a restoration of our churches to the theological ideals and commitments of the 16th century reformation. It is a plea for you — for me, for us — as God’s servants to consider the possibility of a new reformation. Another — a second — joyous rediscovery of the gospel of Jesus Christ that will set us free from ourselves and turn us onto a zealous quest for the proclamation of the true gospel for a new breed of followers who recognize that the cross always precedes the crown, that eternal glory follows momentary suffering, that a true follower of Christ should not be driven by a success motive, but by a ‘love of Christ and His mission’ motive. I ask you to pray for the recovery of the joyous redemptive message of the gospel — that it will again grip our churches, fill our hearts with profound delight, shape our motives and morals, and turn us into the world with a deep zeal to lift up Christ, exalt the only redeemer from sin, and call folks to spiritual vitality and purpose. Amen. And Amen. To the glory of God alone.

More on marriage

Al Mohler offers more thoughts on the state of marriage in America.

Sunday Leftovers (11/12/06)

While the reality of indwelling sin in the life of the believer is known by most believers, Calvin was right when he said “No one knows the one-hundredth par of the sin that clings to his soul.” When just external activity is considered, disobedience and sin may seem superficial and peripheral. Yet when the activity of the heart — the desires we have, the motives for what is done (both sinful and “righteous”), the thoughts we have that are never enacted (cf. Mt. 5:20-48) — then Calvin’s comment rings true. [John Piper has offered some helpful counsel in his devotional, “Imperfection: the Mark of All the Perfected (Two Things that Relate Directly to Your Life).”]

Yet the great confidence of the believer is the work of Christ on the cross that has provided victory. Victory! Mortification is the result of acting on the truth that Christ has fully defeated sin and death. His death means we are free (Rom. 6:6-7) and that in Him, we are holy and blameless and beyond reproach (Col. 1:19-22).

Yet mortification is more than just an appropriation of the truth that Christ’s work is sufficient for us to say “no” to sin. Mortification is cultivating a satisfaction, love, and delight for Christ above all things. So guarding our hearts (Prov. 4:23) means not just denying sin (as mortification is often understood to mean), but it also means that we foster a passionate love for Christ.

How is this accomplished?

Here Thomas Watson is helpful:

The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God. “When I awake, I am still with Thee” (Psalm 139:18).…By this we may test our love to God. What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think on God? Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory? Oh, how far are they from being lovers of God, who scarcely ever think of God! “God is not in all his thoughts” (Psalm 10:4). A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner thinks of the judge. [All Things for Good, p. 74.]

Chambers on "Fellowship in the Gospel"

In this morning's devotional from My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers addresses the topic of a purpose-driven life that is rooted in the desires of God.

After sanctification it is difficult to state what your aim in life is, because God has taken you up into His purpose by the Holy Ghost; He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself - God has called me for this and that; you are putting a barrier to God's use of you. As long as you have a personal interest in your own character, or any set ambition, you cannot get through into identification with God's interests. You can only get there by losing for ever any idea of yourself and by letting God take you right out into His purpose for the world, and because your goings are of the Lord, you can never understand your ways.

I have to learn that the aim in life is God's, not mine. God is using me from His great personal standpoint, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him, and never say - Lord, this gives me such heart-ache. To talk in that way makes me a clog. When I stop telling God what I want, He can catch me up for what He wants without let or hindrance. He can crumple me up or exalt me, He can do any thing He chooses. He simply asks me to have implicit faith in Himself and in His goodness. Self pity is of the devil, if I go off on that line I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. I have "a world within the world" in which I live, and God will never be able to get me outside it because I am afraid of being frost-bitten.

Chamber's devotionals may be accessed and even received daily by email here.

Jerry Bridges on the importance of the gospel

The gospel is not a "one-time" truth, but an everyday truth, as Jerry Bridges has articulated:

To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that He is your propitiation, and that God's holy wrath is no longer directed toward you.

To preach the gospel to yourself means that you take at face value the words of Romans 4:7-8 —

Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.

It means that you believe on the testimony of God that "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). It means that you believe that Christ redeemed [you] from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for [you], for it is written: 'Cursed is everyohne who is hung on a tree' (Galatians 3:13). It means that you believe He forgave you all your sins (Colossians 2:13) and now "[presents you] holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation" (Colossians 1:22).…

It means that you dwell upon the promise that God has removed your transgressions from you as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), that He has blotted out your trasgressions and remembers your sin no more (Isaiah 43:25). (See also Isaiah 38:17 and Micah 7:19 for other assurances of God's forgiveness). But it means that you realize that all these wonderful promises of forgiveness are based upon the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

It is the death of Christ through which He satisfied the justice of God and averted from us the wrath of God that is the basis of all God's promises of forgiveness. We must be careful that, in preaching the gospel to ourselves, we do not preach a gospel without a cross. We must be careful that we do not rely on the so-called unconditional love of God without realizing that His love can only flow to us as a result of Christ's atoning death. [The Discipline of Grace, pp. 58-9; my emphasis.]

Sunday Leftovers (11/5/06)

The truth that a believer may have assurance and confidence in his salvation is rooted in the work of Christ. The believer's confidence is not in being able to keep himself, but in the power of God and the sufficiency of Christ to keep him. This is why it is essential that the believer keep self-examination and confidence in Christ in balance -- beware of emphasizing one to the exclusion of the other.

For instance, it is possible to read judgment and wrath of God passages (Jeremiah 47-51, for example), and assume that God has tht same wrath against him. Yet passages like that are designed to reveal the wrath of God against the unredeemed, not the redeemed. Christ has already born the wrath of God, so that all believers are rescued from that wrath (1 Thess. 1:10).

Those who doubt their assurance also do well to remember that security does not mean perfection. While sin is forgiven and cleansed, indwelling sin still remains. Being a believer does not mean that there must be perfection of life, but that there is a particular direction of life towards God. A believer may sin, may sin repeatedly, may even sin greatly, but he does not sin completely and finally (that is, without confession and repentance).

This is why John concludes his letter with these words: "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life" (5:13). The one who believes in Christ, demonstrates that faith through obedience and a transforming life, has assurance of that life.

Another sad day

The complete truth has not yet been revealed about the circumstances of Ted Haggard's resignation as pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and as President of the influential National Association of Evangelicals. Until that truth is revealed, we would be wise to neither speculate nor gossip about it. Prayer, particularly for the protection of Christ's name and the clarity of the gospel, is a wise choice.

I have long been (sadly) interested to note how often Americans and believers are willing to speculate on and evaluate circumstances when there just is not enough information to make a valid or informed conclusion. The "what do you think" polls that are taken about virtually every event (just wait until next Tuesday!) are just such an example. I really am unconcerned about what the "man on the street" thinks, because the man on the street doesn't have enough information to have a relevant opinion. And right now, this is another example of that very principle.

So until we have enough information, we would be wise to pray for Christ's name to be exalted; and we would be wise to spend time in self-examination of our desires and passions so that our own hearts are guarded from evil temptations.

I appreciate the comments of Justin Taylor, who addressed the spiritual implications of this event for believers, and Phil Johnson, who addresses the topic more broadly. Both sets of comments are well worth reading.

Reformation Week Reflection #4

John Calvin:

As all mankind are, in the sight of God, lost sinners, we hold that Christ is their only righteousness, since, by his obedience, he has wiped off our transgressions; by his sacrifice appeased the divine anger; by his blood, washed away our stains; by his cross, borne our curse; and by his death, made satisfaction for us. We maintain that in this way man is reconciled in Christ to God the Father, by no merit of his own, by no value of works, but by gratuitous mercy. When we embrace Christ by faith, and come, as it were into communion with him, this we term, after the manner of Scripture, the righteousness of faith.

Reformation Week Reflection #3

The story of the death of the two English Reformers Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley is well known. Ryle recounts their meeting and death at the stake:

Ridley first entered the place, and earnestly holding up both his hands, looked towards heaven. Shortly after, seeing Latimer, he ran to him, embraced and kissed him, saying, “Be of good cheer, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flames or else strengthen us to abide it.”…

Then they brought a faggot kindled with fire, and laid it down at Ridley’s feet, to whom Latimer then spake in this manner: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

And so the fire being kindled, when Ridley saw the fire flaming I up towards him, he cried with a loud voice, “Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit: Lord, receive my spirit!” and repeated the latter part often. Latimer, crying as vehemently on the other side of the stake, “Father of heaven, receive my soul!" received the flame as if embracing it. After he had stroked his face with his hands, and as it were bathed them a little in the fire, he soon died, as it appeared, with very little pain.

We do well not to forget why they gave their lives for Christ: it was for the purity of the doctrine of communion. Had they agreed that the elements of communion contained the literal body and blood of Christ, their lives would have been spared. But they vehemently refused to agree to the Catholic doctrine because such teaching destroys the doctrines of the finished work of Christ, and the priestly work of Christ.

May God give us similar resolve to stand boldly on gospel truth.

All Saints Day

“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” (Heb. 13:7; NASB)

The typical American neighborhood was inundated last night by an assortment of ghosts, goblins, witches, and vampires, interspersed with a few pirates, angels, cartoon characters, bunnies, puppies, scarecrows and ballerinas. Last night was Halloween, and much ink has been spilled by Christians in the debate over how to handle the day.

What most of us forget is the day after Halloween.

November 1 was established in the seventh and eighth centuries as “All Saints Day,” or “All Hallow’s Day,” the day to remember the great believers and martyrs of the faith. [The night before All Hallow’s Day came to be known as “All Hallow’s Eve” — and ultimately — “Halloween.”] In fact, Chrysostam reported that the practice began as early as in the fourth century in the Eastern Church (though not on November 1). The day was established by the church as an alternative to the pagan ritualistic celebrations of October 31.

The spiritual significance of the day is not just remembering, however. It is in imitating the lives of faithful believers, as the writer of Hebrews demonstrates.

Hebrews was written to a persecuted group of believers who were considering turning away from Christianity and back to Judaism. In the epistle, the writer exhorts these weary believers to stand firm in the faith by considering Jesus and His work and, among others, those faithful men and women who had died for their faith in God and Christ (11:13, 39-40; 12:1).

And then at the conclusion of the letter he offers one more similar exhortation: remember your spiritual leaders; evaluate the outcome of their lives; imitate their faithfulness.

The encouragement is equally significant today.

Remember who God has placed in your life for your spiritual benefit. It might be a parent, a friend, a pastor, a special mentor, a book, or even a passing acquaintance. Many people have contributed, by the providence and direction of God, to your spiritual progress. And don’t merely remember who those people are but examine their lives carefully. Contemplate and consider the result of their faith in their lives.

And if at the end of their lives, it could be said that they were good and faithful servants (Mt. 25:21, 23) who fought the good fight, finished the course that God had established for them, and kept their faith in God to the end (2 Tim. 4:7), then imitate them. They have been a gift of God to you to mentor and guide you spiritually (2 Cor. 11:1). Follow them.

Tozer said it well: “Before we follow any man we should look for the oil on his forehead. We are under no obligation to aid any man in any capacity that has not upon it the marks of the cross....God has His chosen men still, and they are without exception good listeners. They can hear when the Lord speaks. We may safely listen to such men. But to no others.” [The Root of the Righteous.]

Truth and Scripture in the Postmodern World

This morning Al Mohler synthesizes a commentary written by Methodist pastor Rob Renfroe, who offers his analysis of why the Methodist church is debating such important issues in that denomination. Mohler's summary says:

Clarifying the issues is a first step toward answering the crucial questions. Rob Renfroe has done a commendable job of clarifying the issues that face not only his denomination, but all Christians today. All four of these points come down to biblical authority. There is just no way around it. [my emphasis]

The foundational issues for the Methodist church, and all Christians, and all people living in our postmodern world do indeed center around the word of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15).

Reformation Books

Are you curious about the reformation, but don't know much about it?

Here are three books that I've found helpful (this is not intended to be an extensive listing, but just enough to give you an introduction and taste of the lives of some of the key men of the Reformation). They all offer brief biographies on some of the leading men of the reformation, and help explain the theological issues at stake for each of these men. I highly commend them all.

• Catherwood, Christopher. Five Leading Reformers: Lives at a Watershed of History [Luther, Cranmer, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli]. Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2003.
• Piper, John. The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2000.
• Ryle, J. C. Five English Reformers [Hooper, Taylor, Latimer, Bradford, Ridley]. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1999.
  

Reformation Week Reflection #2

John Calvin:

…justification by faith [is] the first and keenest subject of controversy…Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished.

And later:

How comes it that we are "carried about with so many strange doctrines" (Hebrews 13:9)? Because the excellence of Christ is not perceived by us.

So of first importance is the gospel (1 Cor. 15:3) and the glory of Christ. That's a message for today, too!