What we want
February 4, 2011
A great expression of what a gospel-driven church should want, adapted to FPC Kosciusko’s context. The original is from Kevin DeYoung of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan. It makes an excellent prayer guide. I used it as such in our Session meeting a couple of days ago.
We want what God’s people have always wanted:
• We want God to bless us that we might be a blessing.
• We long to see sinners saved by God’s free grace.
• We aim to raise up pastors and missionaries to serve near and far.
• We want to see neighborhoods and apartments converted.
• We want the stony hears of teenagers and children, and of colleagues and neighbors, to be turned to flesh.
• We want a church where the good news of justification by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone to the glory of God alone is preached boldly and gladly to as many as the Lord brings.
• We want children nurtured in the word of God.
• We want to make disciples and teach them to obey all that Christ has commanded.
• We want to shepherd wisely and faithfully the flock that God has entrusted to us.
• We want to cultivate a caring, loving communion of saints that use their gifts to build up the body and fan out into our community to promote Christ in word and deed.
• We want to keep doing the things we do well, and grow in the things we can do better, all to the glory of God, by the power of the Spirit, for the joy of all peoples.
• We want to help one another know Christ, serve Christ, tell of Christ, and live for Christ.
Grammar of the gospel
January 18, 2011
I’m in the stage of parenting where I’m a popular resource for homework help. Algebra is a lot more enjoyable now than it was when I was a teenager, even when I have to teach it to myself again. I find a particular joy in English grammar. I have a bachelor’s degree in English, but I avoided taking the Advanced Grammar class–probably because I had heard about how difficult the class was. My wife, however, took it. She still has the textbook…and I love it. I am fascinated by the way language works.
My affection for grammar was the hook that snagged on Justin Taylor’s “notes” on the 2010 Basics Conference. Below he summarizes a session with Dr. Sinclair Ferguson on “The Grammar of the Gospel.”
One of the sections I enjoyed was when Dr. Ferguson began talking about the structure—or grammar—of the gospel. Natively, the gospel is a foreign language to us and we need to learn that the grammar of the gospel is shaped by the gospel itself. He noted how hard it is for us as Americans to learn Latin. The verbs go at the end end. We are a doing community and it’s hard for us to put the “doing” at the end. But the gospel teaches us to put our doing word at the end and Jesus’ doing word at the beginning—but our native tendency is to drag back the doing word and put it at the beginning, and then top that up with Jesus’ doing, just to make life a little better.
There’s a very clear grammar, he said, in the gospel. . . .
The Mood of the Gospel
We need to learn that the grammar of the gospel has its appropriate mood.
In our languages today we speak in the indicative mood and the imperative mood. The indicative mood is saying these are the things that are true. The imperative mood is saying these are things you need to do. And in the gospel, the structure of the grammar is always indicative gives rise to imperative….
The Tense of the Gospel
There’s also a tense of the gospel: the present is to be rooted in the past. You need to go backward to what Christ has done in order to go forward in what you are to do. There is an emphasis of the already and the mopping-up operation of the not-yet.
The Prepositions of the Gospel
Do you remember how Paul uses prepositions in Galatians 2:20-21, where in a few words he summarizes the work of Christ:
The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me;
and therefore I am crucified with Christ;
nevertheless, I live, but not I; Christ lives in me.In these three prepositions the apostle Paul has, in a sense, summarized the basic structure of our union with Christ. Since we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, he came as our substitute and representative—there is this sense in which we now know through faith that we were crucified with Christ. And the past that dominated us has been nailed to the cross; the dominion of sin that reigned over us has been broken—so that he has died for us and we have been crucified with him, and wonder of wonders there is this third dimension of our union with Christ: a mutual union, in which not only are we are said to be in Christ, but Christ the Lord of glory, in all the fullness of his role as our benefactor comes to dwell in the heart of the merest believer.
What you wear matters
September 29, 2010
From The Resurgence, part of a short post entitled, “What You Wear Matters.”
5 Scriptural Principles For What You Wear
- Understand that clothes communicate something about those who select and wear them. Christians should dress sensibly, being conscious of their selection in clothing.
- Avoid ostentatious clothes that draw attention to one’s status of wealth and privilege.
- Dress modestly, not sensually, avoiding seductive clothes that draw attention to one’s sexuality.
- Dress properly, using good judgment and avoiding clothes that associate the wearer with rebellion and evil.
- Spend wisely and fittingly on clothes, guarding against purchasing so as to overtax one’s budget and considering what is appropriate in light of personal, family, church, and world needs.
Clearly, these principles apply as much to men as to women. Even the clothes Christians wear should confirm their profession of the gospel.
Read the entire post here by clicking the link above.
Paul Tripp has written a short piece about how the gospel affects life right now. The original appears at Desiring God.
Jason sat in front of me with the head-down, humped-shouldered posture of a confused and disappointed man. It wasn’t that Jason’s life had been a sad narrative of personal suffering. Sure, he had faced some hard things, but they were the typical things that you face when you’re living in a world that has been broken by sin. It wasn’t that Jason was alienated and friendless. He was surrounded by a group of less than perfect, but pretty faithful companions. It wasn’t that Jason was impoverished or homeless. No, he had a decent job and an adequate condo.
Jason’s problem was that he was lost in the middle of his own faith. It had become harder and harder for him to connect the beauty of what he believed to the gritty and often difficulty realities of his daily life. Jason’s problem was that he carried a gospel around with him that had a great big hole in the middle of it.
Jason could explain to you what it meant to say that he had been “saved by grace,” and he knew that he was going to spend eternity with his Savior. His problem was in the here and now. Day after day, in situation after situation and relationship after relationship, Jason didn’t carry with him a vibrant and practical sense of the nowism of the grace of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jason believed in life after death, but he desperately needed to understand life before death; the kind of radical life you will live when you understand what Christ has given you for the life he has called you to right here, right now.
Let me suggest four critical aspects of the nowism of the gospel (there are more) that Jason seemed functionally blind to.
1. Grace will decimate what you think of you, while it gives you a security of identity you’ve never had.
Grace will expose your sin, but it will not leave you without identity. Grace had liberated Jason, but he didn’t know it or live like it. He had not only been forgiven and empowered, but he had been given a brand new identity. Jason had been freed from looking inward for his identity. No longer did he have to measure his potential by his track record or the size of the problems he was facing.
His potential was as great as the grace of Christ. He had been freed from looking outward for his identity. No longer did he have to search for identity in his Read the rest of this entry »
Cream of blog 07.22.10
July 22, 2010
- Advice for parents of college-bound students from John Mark Reynolds.
- Shared link from Dr. David Jones on the Christian ethics of cremation.
- C.J. Mahaney answers a father’s question about the heart issues behind a son’s obsession with video games.
- Owen Strachan gathers some powerful points from Jonathan Edwards on the question of how you can discern if you truly are a Christian.
I like a well-turned ankle as much as the next guy, but…
June 17, 2010
Lately our friend Ligon Duncan has been offering up “classics” from his “Pastor’s Perspective” piece in the FPC Jackson newsletter, The First Epistle. Here’s a still timely excerpt from his October 16, 2001, column re: modesty…
…regarding modesty, I have been approached recently by a number of godly women in our congregation who have, independently of one another, expressed their concerns to me about the lack of modesty in the clothing of many of the girls and young women in our own church. Now, I realize that fools rush in where angels fear to tread, but allow me to venture a few comments.
Current styles of dress are not exactly helping our young people in the direction of modesty. The headmaster of our Day School spoke to our Session Monday night and spoke in passing of the “Britney-ization” of our girls (referring to the famous pop icon, singer/dancer, and pin-up girl – Britney Spears). Of course, this is nothing new. Fashion has always posed certain challenges for Christians. However, we seem to be in a phase of particular, acute and widespread compromise.
I saw a column by Terry Johnson (Senior Minister of the Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia) a few weeks ago addressing this issue in his own congregation. He said: “I remember long ago reading Eric Segal’s description of the heroine in Love Story (through the thought of her ‘preppie’ suitor) that there had never seen so much as an additional button left unbuttoned on her blouse. This was Segal’s way of describing her modesty. She exposed nothing! Somehow I can’t imagine a novel today having such a line. Our culture is so far gone in the direction of immodesty that Jennifer (no puritan herself) seems quaint, almost Jane Austenish. The spandex revolution has taken its toll. In addition to shorts and skirts that are way too short (what’s wrong with the top of the knee?), and necklines that plunge way too low, we must now contend with tops and bottoms that are ridiculously too tight.”
Elisabeth Elliott has raised a timely point abut modesty in her newsletter. She quotes a letter from a listener: “Where are the men? Why are they so passive on this issue? I’m speaking particularly of husbands and fathers who allow their wives and daughters to appear publicly in an inappropriate and immodest fashion. This issue is close to my heart because we have been blessed with three sons and three daughters. My heart’s desire is to teach them the responsibility that goes with purity and abstinence, to appear and behave in such a way that God is honored. But what do we say to our children when many of the Christian girls they meet and with whom they interact do not practice modesty? Though they profess the name of Christ, their appearance certainly causes godly young men to strive valiantly with their thoughts. I thank God for a godly husband, who guards and gives guidance to our daughters and to me. May our children have the strength to respond in a godly way in spite of the tremendous pressures to compromise. I realize this is not a popular issue to talk about, but it is a concern that is close to my heart and I believe close to the heart of our Heavenly Father.” (From Gateway to Joy, May 24, 2001).
Your garden hose is too small
June 14, 2010
Great post from Pastor Dave Dorr of Cincinnati, Ohio on how you can’t handle a house fire by yourself…and how you can’t handle the guilt and power of sin by yourself either:
Recently a firefighter in our church was told by one of his colleagues that belief in Jesus was for weak people. I found that ironic coming from a firefighter.
I have a fire hydrant in our side yard. I have never looked at the fire hydrant and felt any shame. I drive by a firehouse every day. I never think, “If this community didn’t have weak people than we would never need firehouses.” Every month when I pay my property taxes, which go towards financing fire departments, I never get angry at myself, thinking, “if I could just handle fire myself I wouldn’t have to write this check.”
Imagine a person whose house is on fire. The fire is raging out of control and the fire truck pulls up, sirens blaring. The person runs out of his house in a rage and says, “How dare you come to my house and think that I can’t handle this fire myself! Firefighters are for weak people, not for me.”
What would you think of someone like that? Insane.
We know that fire departments are for “weak” people because a power exists that we simply can’t deal with on our own: fire. Actually, we admire firefighters because they are people who have committed themselves to take on the power of fire at personal expense.
Christians are weak in the same sense that a community is “weak” for having fire departments. They are people who acknowledge that a power exists that they can’t confront and live — the holiness of God. This, however, is not cause for shame, because there was one man who dealt with that power at personal expense, on a cross. And, as every firefighter can admit, when someone is rescued from the flames, they’re not thinking about their weakness; they’re overjoyed that someone would risk it all to save them.
Original post here.
Cream of blog 10.05.11
May 11, 2010
A few blog posts worthy of your time
- Kevin DeYoung on that feeling of perpetual guilt you may have.
- Kevin DeYoung on questions we should ask when people are disappointed with the church. (part one, two, and three)
- Got a “Swagger Wagon”? You might want one after watching these two videos.
- And another thing: Is your worship contemporvant? Let these guys show you how to fix that.
- Jonathan Dodson on 5 reasons you may not be seeing spiritual growth.
Let the one who think he stands…
April 20, 2010
Good post from Nic Batzig over at Feeding on Christ:
If Abraham could hand his wife over to other men–two times!; if Isaac could show partiality to Esau; if Jacob could deceive his brother and steal the birthright; if Gideon, Barak, and Jephthah could doubt the promises of God; If Samson could give his strength to pagan women–twice!; if David could commit adultery and premeditated murder, and in pride count the number of Israelites over whom he ruled; if Solomon could be led astray by many women to worship foreign gods; if Baruch could seek accolades for helping Jeremiah write his book; if Peter could deny the Gospel by trying to stop Jesus from going to the cross, by telling Jesus not to wash his feet, by rejecting the vision of the unclean animals–twice!, and by not sitting with Gentile Christians; if James and John could try to use Jesus to get to the top, and desire to call fire down from heaven on those who would not believe the Gospel; and if the apostle John could fall down to worship Angels–twice!…so could I! Let the one who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Cross and criticism
March 23, 2010
Few things in life are more difficult to handle rightly than criticism. How hard it is to speak and to respond in a gospel-centered way. As a pastor, I am a frequent recipient of criticism–the constructive and the destructive, the accurate, the half-true, and the utterly false, the well-timed and the ill-timed, the gracious and the malicious–I have learned that how I respond reveals a lot about me. What do I do with my critics? Do I shrink them in my field of vision so that I no longer acknowledge them, regard them, pay any attention to them, share with them, or regard them as part of the family? Or do I inflate them in my field of vision so that I brood over their words and think about them constantly, see them as larger than they really are, give them control over my feelings and decisions, or allow them to lead me around like a bull with a ring in his nose?
I commend to you Alfred J. Poirier’s “The Cross and Criticism,” which appeared in the Spring, 1999, issue of The Journal of Biblical Counseling. Here’s an excerpt:
In light of God’s judgment and justification of the sinner in the cross of Christ, we can begin to discover how to deal with any and all criticism. By agreeing with God’s criticism of me in Christ’s cross, I can face any criticism man may lay against me. In other words, no one can criticize me more than the cross has. And the most devastating criticism turns out to be the finest mercy. If you thus know yourself as having been crucified with Christ, then you can respond to any criticism, even mistaken or hostile criticism, without bitterness, defensiveness, or blameshifting. Such responses typically exacerbate and intensify conflict, and lead to the rupture of relationships. You can learn to hear criticism as constructive and not condemnatory because God has justified you.
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? (Rom. 8:33-34a).
Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it (Ps. 141:5).
