Spurgeon on Choosing a Local Church

How to Be a Profitable and Encouraging Church Member

As a pastor, I truly love the local church. In my own context, I love my church that I’m a member of and that I have the privilege to leading. However, as I often explain to my children when we read the Bible together in the evening—I don’t love the church simply because I’m a pastor. Even if I worked at a local business in town and was a member of the church who didn’t hold a given office—I would still love the church and would encourage my children to do the same (Eph. 5:25).

As I prepare to speak in a conference in a little more than a week from now, I’m reflecting upon the given assignment of preaching on the topic: “Loving the Church Like Your Life Depends On It.” As I consider this assignment, I believe we should actually love the church with such passion which will often shape our commitment, service, worship, and various other involvement. So, how do we love the church and become a profitable and encouraging church member?  This list is by no means exhaustive but let me suggest the following 4 ways: 1) Pray for your church (especially it's leaders).  2) Become sacrificial rather then selfish.  3) Forgive one another and love one another.  4) Take worship seriously.

Pray for Your Church

When was the last time you prayed for your church leaders? Did you know that they are often praying for you and your family? Not only that, they are are looking for ways to serve the church (including your family) in areas of physical, practical, and spiritual needs. Without faithful lay leaders, the church will not be able to function properly—therefore, it’s vitally important for you to pray for the spiritual leaders within your local church.

When was the last time you prayed for your pastor(s)? To hold the office of pastor is very demanding. It requires spending time in prayer for families within the church and committing oneself to much time in God’s Word in preparation for preaching and teaching (Acts 6). One of the greatest ways to discourage a pastor is to spend more time complaining about him than you do praying for him. The pastor can’t just leave his work at the office. After praying and studying the Word, the pastor also leaves the office (or home depending on the time) in times of emergency to be with families during times of sickness and death.

In the early days of the Church, we find the people of God praying together and for one another. Consider all of the “love one another” passages in the Bible and how they center upon the intentional care that the church is to have for one another. At the center of this intentional and sacrificial love is prayer. It’s far more difficult to be divided when you spend time praying for one another.  James 5:16 – Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Become Sacrificial Rather than Selfish

As we live life, sometimes our responsibilities of family time, ball practices, education, vacations, marriage enrichment, and work responsibilities will fill up multiple calendars—but as we live life, we must keep the church at the center of the equation. The secular world has zero commitment to the church—and it seems that many things compete to push the church down the priority list. Remember, Satan is crafty in how he works and children are watching how we make decisions. How we use our time, our talents, and our treasure speaks volumes about the priority of the church and the mission of Christ.

When was the last time you considered who actually arrived early to turn on the lights or stayed late to lock up the building? That’s just a couple of examples of many things that are necessary on a weekly basis to benefit the gathering of the local church. It’s more than just showing up. If everyone just showed up at 11:00am on Sunday morning the church would be shallow and disorganized. Have you considered the volunteers who work with children or teachers who labor in the Word? What about the finances? How does the church pay the bills, meet budget, pay salaries, do ministry, engage in missions, and reach a fallen world with the gospel? Have you considered the financial needs of your local church? Where does that need land on your priority list?

The Most Urgent Need in the Church

"Pastor, I wonder if you agree with these two paragraphs from Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book Preaching and Preachers?

But, ultimately, my reason for being very ready to give these lectures is that to me the work of preaching is the highest and greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called. If you want something in addition to that I would say without any hesitation that the most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and most urgent need in the Church, it is obviously the greatest need of the world also. (9)

Do you believe that? Do believe that you have been called to the highest and greatest and most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called? Do you believe the most urgent need in the church is not for better programs or for better leadership principles, but for better preaching? Do you believe. pastor, that the best way for you to serve the world is to study yourself full every week and preach yourself empty every Sunday?

Here is the other quotation.

We are here to preach this Word, this it the first thing, ‘We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word.’ Now there are the priorities laid down once and for ever. This is the primary task of the Church, the primary task of the leaders of the Church, the people who are sit in this position of authority; and we must not allow anything to deflect us from this, however good the cause, however great the need. This is surely the direct answer to much of the false thinking and reasoning concerning these matters at the present time. (23)

Is that right? Do you believe that the primary task Church is not to redeem the cosmos or make a heaven a place on earth, but to preach Christ and him crucified? Do you believe that your primary task as a leader of the church is not cultural transformation but gospel proclamation? Do you believe the word of God will do the work of God?

Remember, pastors, as you step into the pulpit tomorrow you are charged in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word."

Article by Pastor Kevin DeYoung.  Key thoughts by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Last Things: The Final Judgement; Revelation 20:11-15 (pt. 1)

Even in Christian circles, hell is often viewed as a “four-letter” word. Why is this?

Emotional difficulties-

Intellectual objections-

Many in our day avoid Rev. 20:11-15 like the black plague. Why is this immensely problematic?

To help us wrap our hearts and minds around the Final Day of Judgment and in effort to make the Text-driven application more attainable-we’ll highlight 7 Key Statements over the next few weeks:

1) The ABSOLUTE NECESSITY of this Great and Final Judgment

(Revelation 20:7-15; John 3:19-20)

What God reveals in Revelation 20:7-9 helps us come to terms with verses 11-15. Unbelieving humanity would rise up in rebellion against Christ and the people of God over and over again.  Their would be no "heaven" if God did not judge the world once and for all (study Revelation 20:11-15 in view of what comes before it- the Horrific Tribulation period, Rev. 6-18, and the Final Rebellion of Satan and Hell-bent Humanity, Rev. 20:7-9).

2) The PERFECT CHARACTER of this Great and Final Judgment

(Revelation 20:11; Hab. 1:13; Psalm 1:5-6;)

How should we respond to the biblical truth that’s been preached this AM?  Now what?

For Further Reflection/Application:  We must be doers of the Word and not merely hearers

Why is it “emotionally” difficult for sinful man (even redeemed sinners) to embrace the reality of a final Judgement Day?  Romans 2:5; John 3:36; Hebrews 9:27, Luke 16:19-31.

John the Baptist’s message was bold and direct yet it was also powerful and saving. 

Read Matthew 3:1-11.   Ask God to give you holy boldness like John the Baptist.

The Injustice of Social Justice

The Injustice of Social Justice.  Pastor MacArthur's biblical commentary needs to be given careful attention.  John writes, "The besetting sin of pragmatic, style-conscious evangelicals has always been that they shamelessly borrow fads and talking points from the unbelieving world. Today’s evangelicals evidently don’t believe the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God (1 Corinthians 3:19). Virtually any theory, ideology, or amusement that captures the fancy of secular pop culture will be adopted, slightly adapted, perhaps cloaked in spiritual-sounding language, propped up with specious proof texts, and peddled as an issue that is vital for evangelicals to embrace if we don’t want to become totally irrelevant.

That’s precisely how evangelicals in the mid-twentieth century became obsessed for several decades with positive thinking, self-esteem, and “Christian psychology.” After that, it was marketing savvy and promotional strategies. By the beginning of the twenty-first century it was postmodernism, repackaged and aggressively promoting itself as the Emerging Church movement.

Today, critical race theory, feminism, intersectional theory, LGBT advocacy, progressive immigration policies, animal rights, and other left-wing political causes are all actively vying for evangelical acceptance under the rubric of “social justice.”

Not every evangelical leader currently talking about social justice supports the full spectrum of radical causes, of course. Most (for the moment, at least) do not. But they are using the same rhetoric and rationale of victimhood and oppression that is relentlessly employed by secularists who are aggressively advocating for all kinds of deviant lifestyles and ideologies. Anyone who claims victim status can easily and effectually harness the emotional appeal of a plea for “social justice” both to gain support and to silence opposition.

Is the Controversy over "Social Justice" Really Necessary?

Is the Controversy over "Social Justice" Really Necessary?  Pastor John MacArthur writes, "I do not relish controversy, and I particularly dislike engaging in polemical battles with other evangelical Christians. But as my previous posts in this series demonstrate, when the gospel is under attack from within the visible church, such controversy is necessary. And if it seems fierce disagreements within the church have been the rule rather than the exception, that’s because relentless attacks on the gospel from people professing fidelity to Christ have come in an unending parade since the very beginning of the church age. There has never been an extended period in church history when it has not been necessary for faithful voices to mount a vigorous defense of one or more cardinal biblical principles.

None of the controversies I’ve described in my previous posts sprang up suddenly. The lordship controversy, for example, was a conflict many of us saw coming more than a decade before I wrote The Gospel According to Jesus. The twisted gospel of the prosperity preachers has its roots in the Pentecostal movement going back to the early twentieth century. Normally we can see storm clouds brewing and anticipate where the next major assault is coming from.

But occasionally a new threat to the simplicity or clarity of the gospel seems to erupt with stunning force and suddenness. The current controversy over “social justice” and racism is an example of that. Four years ago, I would not have thought it possible for Bible-believing evangelicals to be divided over the issue of racism. As Christians we stand together in our affirmation of the second great commandment (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”—Leviticus 19:18). We therefore stand together against every hint of racial animus.

Drawing the Line: Why Doctrine Matters

Drawing the Line: Why Doctrine Matters
by R. Scott Clark

"Imagine Mike. He’s an unusual mechanic. Where other mechanics find natural laws (such as gravity) unavoidable and even useful, he suspects them to be arbitrary, invoked in order to stifle his creativity. We can imagine how the story ends. Cars brought for repair are returned in worse shape than before. Mike goes out of business. Whatever Mike might think, the laws of physics are built into the nature of creation.

So it is with doctrine in the Christian faith and life. Throughout Christian history, folks have proposed to do without Christian doctrine, the good and necessary inferences drawn from the implicit or explicit teaching of Scripture. Like Mike, some Christians have suspected that doctrine is just an invention, a way to control people. Such a position is just as false as Mike the mechanic’s. Doctrine is inescapable because it is revealed in Scripture and necessary to Christian faith and life.

Doctrine is Biblical

Our English word doctrine is derived from a Latin word, doctrina, which means, “that which is taught.” In Christian usage, it refers to Christian teaching about Scripture, God, man, Christ, salvation, church, and the end of all things. It is fitting that the English word doctrine was first used in the 1382 Wycliffe Bible translation (from Latin to English), because in the old Latin Bible, the word doctrine occurs more than one hundred times. The King James Version (1611) used the word about half as often, and contemporary translations use it more sparingly. Nevertheless, the idea is present throughout Scripture.

One of the root ideas in the word doctrine is instruction. Moses received instruction from the Lord on the mountain (Ex. 24:12), which occurred after the Israelites had sworn a blood oath (v. 7) to do all that the Lord had spoken. That instruction included truths about who God is, what He had done for His people, and what He expected of them. That pattern is repeated throughout the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, Titus, a young pastor on the island of Crete, was exhorted to “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught” so as to be able to “give instruction in sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9). There are several such passages in the New Testament, some of which we will survey below. Clearly, the teaching and preservation of divinely revealed doctrine is basic to the office of the minister and to the function of Christ’s church.

Doctrine is Evangelical

The universal church and her greatest teachers have always taught and confessed certain basic doctrines. The early church focused on the Bible’s doctrine of God and Christ. After considerable Bible study and debate, the church concluded that God’s Word teaches that God is one in essence and three in person, and that Jesus, God the Son incarnate, is one person with two natures (divine and human).

Appreciation of Truth is not Application of Truth

"Think about it. Endless translations and editions of the Bible, conferences, blogs, mp3 downloads, live streams, video sermons, books, Christian music, CDs, podcasts, radio shows, social media, and the weekly classes and sermons we take in.

Never has there been a generation with more access to biblical truth.

But is the church any better for it? Are believer’s more holy, more content, more committed to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18) because of this access?

Here is the challenge that my own heart faces daily. With so much truth available, it is easier to appreciate the truth than apply the truth. It’s too easy to think that if we have appreciated, or just plain liked, a quote, a book, a sermon, a blog post, etc., that we have accomplished the intended effect of that truth. Appreciation and application are two very different things.

Don’t misunderstand. We should have a deep and abiding appreciation and attraction to biblical truth. Saying something like, “I loved that book,” or “I really enjoyed that sermon,” those are good things. Would we really want to say the opposite?

However, what a difference there is in being able to point to measurable and evident changes made in our thinking or behavior because of something we have learned. Appreciation of the truth should lead to application of the truth. Otherwise it is like putting a great Christian classic on the bookshelf for eye candy rather than actually reading it. I once heard a sad anecdote that the definition of a Christian classic is a book that everyone has, but no one has read. This illustrates the point.

So what steps can we take to move from appreciators to appliers? Here are 5 suggestions.

1.  Write it down. Get a notebook or journal and put into writing your responses to the biblical truth you are accumulating. Write out prayers pleading for the Spirit to apply the truth to your life. When taking notes from a sermon, don’t just write the outline, but note the things that you discern the Holy Spirit doing in your heart in response to the sermon.

2.  Talk about it. This is another way of saying we need to become accountable. Foster relationships in which you can discuss not only the truth you are learning, but also the appropriate responses you should have to those truths.

3.  Review. Because truth is flying at us at light speed, take the time to read through that notebook or journal often to refresh your applications.

4.  Pray. Yeah, you knew that was coming. But I would encourage you to speak to God about the things you are learning. Go over your notes with Him in your prayer time and request specific grace for specific application of His truth.

5.  Slow down. I have found that I get more out of a book read slowly or a blog read repeatedly than trying to keep up with everything that comes out at an almost hourly rate.

Don’t let your mind become a museum for truth."

Article was written by Dr. Rick Holland.  Rick Holland is one of ten TES campus professors, having served as Senior Pastor of Mission Road Bible Church in Kansas City, KS since 2011.

Does Doctrine Really Matter?

"Is it enough to "believe in Jesus" in some amorphous sense that divorces "faith" from any particular doctrine about Him, or is doctrine—and the content of our faith—really important after all?

Scripture plainly teaches that we must be sound in the faith—which is to say that doctrine does matter (1 Timothy 4:6; 2 Timothy 4:2-3; Titus 1:9; 2:1). It matters a lot.

"If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing" (1 Timothy 6:3-4, emphasis added).

Sound, biblical doctrine is a necessary aspect of true wisdom and authentic faith. The attitude that scorns doctrine while elevating feelings or blind trust cannot legitimately be called faith at all, even if it masquerades as Christianity. It is actually an irrational form of unbelief.

God holds us accountable for what we believe as well as how we think about the truth He has revealed. All Scripture testifies to the fact that God wants us to know and understand the truth. He wants us to be wise. His will is that we use our minds. We are supposed to think, meditate, and above all, to be discerning.

The content of our faith is crucial. Sincerity is not sufficient.

Consider, for example, these well-known verses. Note the repeated use of words like truth, knowledge, discernment, wisdom, and understanding: "Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part Thou wilt make me know wisdom" (Psalm 51:6).

The Long Struggle to Preserve the Gospel (pt. 2)

"A previous blog post by Dr. MacArthur focused on some of the past few decades of conflicts within the evangelical movement that have provoked me to preach and write in defense of the gospel. It wasn’t an exhaustive list—that would be tedious, I suspect. Evangelicals as a group have shown an unsettling willingness to compromise or unnecessarily obfuscate all kinds of issues where Scripture has spoken plainly and without ambiguity.

For example, despite the clarity of 1 Timothy 2:12 (“I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man”), leading evangelicals have been debating for several years whether women qualify to be elders or pastors in the church. Many capitulate to cultural preference rather than submitting to biblical authority on this and other similar issues. Some have tried to redefine the role and proper functioning of the family. Others seem to want to deconstruct—or simply ignore—what the Bible says about divorce and remarriage.

More disturbing yet, over the past few years some evangelicals have begun to borrow moral rationalizations from secular culture in the wake of America’s sexual revolution. For years there has been a slow but steady softening of evangelicals’ stance against sex outside of marriage. More recently, and more ominously, several vocal evangelicals (including some in positions of leadership or influence) have been tinkering with novel ideas regarding gender fluidity, sexual orientation, transgenderism, and homosexual marriage. Those are issues that generations of believers would never have dreamed of putting on the table for debate or redefinition in the church. But at this very moment there is a burgeoning campaign to reconsider and abandon the church’s historic stance on LGBT issues under the banner of “social justice.”

Why have so many evangelicals openly embraced such compromises? The answer is very simple. It’s the next logical step for a church that is completely ensnared in efforts to please the culture. For decades the popular notion has been that if the church was going to reach the culture it first needed to connect with the style and methods of secular pop culture or academic fads. To that end, the church surrendered its historic forms of worship. In many cases, everything that once constituted a traditional worship service disappeared altogether, giving way to rock-concert formats and everything else the church could borrow from the entertainment industry. Craving acceptance in the broader culture, the church carelessly copied the world’s style preferences and fleeting fads.

The First Two Minutes Matter Most

The First Two Minutes Matter Most- Tim Challies writes, "It’s obvious, I know. It’s been said a million times by a million different people. But, in my defense, it’s been forgotten by a million more. I’ve said it and neglected it too many times to count: The first two minutes matter most.

Today Christians are gathering all across the world for our worship services. We will read the Bible, sing the Bible, pray the Bible, preach the Bible, and learn better how to live out the Bible. Then the service will end and the first two minutes will matter most.

In the first two minutes, visitors will feel either awkward or welcome. In the first two minutes, unbelievers will feel either isolated/alone or accepted. In the first two minutes, the lonely will feel either neglected or comforted. In the first two minutes, so many people will make the decision to stay or to go.

Here’s the challenge: Determine right now that when the service ends, you will do your utmost to give the first two minutes to someone you don’t know or to someone you don’t know well. The temptation will be to turn straight to your friends, to immediately catch up with the people you know the best and love the most. There will be time for that. But first you can make a difference in someone’s day and maybe even in someone’s life if only you’ll make the most of the moments following that final “amen.” It’s the first two minutes that matter most."

The Public Reading of Scripture: A Biblical, Historical, and a Necessary Practice

“Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (1 Tim 4:13).

When we listen to the reading of Scripture, it is as if the Lord is present among us. For all the talk of “incarnational” ministry today, there is no higher privilege than to hear the Incarnate Word declared through the promise and fulfillment of the written Word as we gather for worship. The beginning of theology, exposition, and worship is the sustained public reading of God’s Word in the Church.

Thus, reading the Word of God becomes the very core of worship, affording each hearer an opportunity for ongoing, personal encounter with the divine. In essence, Scripture is God’s voice incarnate for the church in all ages (Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Worship, 220).

I grew up in a tradition that cherished the Bible as God’s inspired Word and rightly upheld inerrancy in its institutions and churches. Yet, it was rare to hear the Word of God read at any length from the pulpit of the church in which I was raised. This is an enduring reminder of the dichotomy that often exists between theoria and praxis. Too many evangelical churches are full (numerically) in the pews but empty in the pulpit because little attention is given to the actual words of the Bible. It is accurate to say “one of the striking things about evangelical corporate worship in our times is the evident paucity of Scripture” (Terry L. Johnson and J. Ligon Duncan III, “Reading and Praying the Bible in Corporate Worship,” 140).

Reading the Bible as we gather for worship is foundational to our ongoing personal and congregational reformation.

Music and Worship Are Not Synonyms: Why I Am Not a Worship Leader

We are blessed to have like-minded, faithful, and gifted believers serving and leading our music and worship ministry at LCBC.  The following article by minister of music Dan Kreider provides a lot of food for thought.  "I lead the music ministry at my church. My role as a musician has several facets. I plan—and arrange, if needed—the music we use. I lead weekly rehearsals for the singers and instrumentalists. Under the guidance of the elders, I set the ideological and philosophical direction of the music ministry as a whole and share that vision with everyone who serves with me. And on Sunday, our weekly preparation culminates in two morning services and one evening service. I lead the music itself, either from the piano or directing from the podium, usually with my voice, and (hopefully) always by modeling the visible exertion of hearty participation. And I lead the congregation through the flow of the planned musical elements, making brief comments or reading Scripture passages that build them up in their faith.

But I’m not a worship leader. Why? Because that’s the wrong title for my role, for two reasons.

1. Music and worship aren’t synonyms.
Worship is a misunderstood term in our contemporary context. At one level, a word means what the collective culture decides it will mean, and definitions can certainly change over time. But it’s a relatively recent trend to refer to music as “worship.” And though the new definition seems fairly universal at this point, its evolution has created a conflict with its previous meaning from Scripture.

What is worship? To answer merely with a simplistic definition such as “ascribing worth” would be an etymological cop-out. One might as well be asked to describe a rainbow in a single word. Here’s a brief distillation of several thoughts that, taken together, should provide enough clarity to address the original statement.

William Temple defines worship this way: “Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose” (from Readings in St. John’s Gospel). This is poetic and certainly true, but David Petersen’s definition is even more expressly rooted in Scripture itself: “Worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with Him on the terms that He proposes and in the way that He alone makes possible” (from Engaging with God).

Shepherding Souls to have All Wisdom

"When Paul instructs Timothy in Colossians 1:28-29 on the job description of a pastor, he makes an important qualifying comment that we often overlook. He says that—as you are admonishing and teaching every man to be mature in Christ—you must achieve this in the sphere of “all wisdom.” Plainly stated, wisdom is the wise application of truth in a variety of circumstances. And any time wisdom is brought up in Scripture, God is assuming we imbed the concept of fearing God in that statement (Prov 1:7). Any true wisdom we have flows out of a God-fearing heart (Jer 32:40). You might ask, why is biblical wisdom so closely connected with fearing God? Because wisdom is not merely an intellectual category, but more importantly, it takes shape in the moral realm. Someone can be very smart, but exceedingly unwise.

To walk in the fear of the Lord means that at every moment of the day you are considering what your God would want you do and then obeying Him rather than your flesh (Rom 6:16). And the only way we know the mind of God, and what we are to obey, is through his Word (Ps 119:9-11). Therefore a wise God-fearing man slows down as he considers every word he speaks and action he takes by saying, “What would my God want me to say or do right now based on what His Word says?” Therefore, to shepherd souls to become mature in Christ “with all wisdom” requires nuanced discussion on the implications of truth for a variety of scenarios. People need us to help them consider their various circumstances, motives, tendencies, past experiences, and current spiritual state (whether mature or immature, weak, faint hearted or unruly). They need help considering what it would look like to most fear God in every decision (Prov 14:16). Then, through careful shepherding, we must show them how to apply the truth with “all wisdom” based on the providential variables.

In our “Gospel-centered” language today, sometimes we’re afraid to just consider moral and ethical principles of wisdom. We’re so fearful of creating moralists that we forget that the Bible wants our people in moral conformity to His will (Luke 17:10).

It's Not About Kaepernick

"To mark the 30th anniversary of its groundbreaking 'Just Do It' ad campaign, the Nike corporation recently announced a new campaign featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, unarguably one of the most polarizing figures in America today, with the slogan: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything."

At first glance, the exhortation by the Oregon-based corporate behemoth seems rather harmless and innocuous. In fact, give it a quick perusal while you're busy making dinner, paying bills online, or toying around with your favorite smartphone app and the entreaty comes across as downright positive, affirming, and motivating. After all, we all believe in something, don't we? Who of us wants to be viewed as merely coasting through life with no sense of conviction or creed to help us navigate a world that all too often proves itself to be morally and ethically rudderless?

Notwithstanding the aesthetic significance of this advertising shibboleth as a successful marketing ploy or motivational axiom, what I find most concerning is the fundamental question the statement inherently begets. That is, should believing in "something," regardless of its veracity or legitimacy, be considered a virtue in and of itself (as Nike® seems to think)?

In Scripture, the word 'believe' first appears in Gen. 45:26. It is the Hebrew verb 'aman and denotes having a firm and settled assurance in that which has been established as objectively true. During His first trial before Pontius Pilate, Jesus declared, "I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice (Jn. 18:37)", to which Pilate retorted, "What is truth (Jn. 18:38)?"

Social Justice Causes and Gospel-Centered Ministry

Photo Credit: Right Now Media

This week I have been posting some of the most helpful articles that I have come across related to the recent craze within the evangelical church that is all things SOCIAL JUSTICE.  Pastor Phil Johnson's post is well worth our prayerful consideration.  "When the morning worship service ended last Sunday, a woman whom I had never met before made a beeline for me and stood between me and the aisle. I was trapped in a row of seats. She said she was a guest from out of town, but she seemed to recognize me, and she said she wanted to help me understand the “social justice” issue.

“Despite what you think,” she said, “it is a gospel issue.” “Injustice is everywhere in the world. I am fighting it full time. Right now I have several lawsuits pending against injustice in the health-care industry. Don’t tell me that’s not gospel work. You’re not being a faithful witness unless you’re fighting for social justice. It’s built right into the gospel message: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

I tried to sound as agreeable as possible under the circumstances: “That’s surely one of the most important tenets of God’s moral law, and it does distill the idea of human justice into a single commandment,” I said. “But be careful how you state it. That’s not the gospel. That’s the Second Great Commandment.”

“Oh, right,” she said. “I meant to say the gospel is ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’”

“Well, that’s the First Great Commandment,” I said. “That’s still law, not gospel.”

“What do you mean?” she said. “I can show you those verses in the Bible.”

“Yes, ma’am, I know,” I said. “It’s Matthew 22:37-40. But that’s a summary of the law. It’s not the gospel.”

The Long Struggle to Preserve the Gospel (Part 1)

"From the earliest days of the apostolic era, faithful Christians have been called upon to contend earnestly for the truth of the gospel. The hardest battles have taken place within the visible church, among those who claim fidelity to Christ. That’s because the greatest threats to gospel truth have not come from atheists and other overt adversaries, but always from influential voices that arise within the church who speak twisted things (Acts 20:30). The evidence that this was happening in the very earliest era of the New Testament church is seen not only in Paul’s parting words to the Ephesian elders, but also in his admonitions to Timothy and Titus, and in Christ’s letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3.

When I was studying doctrine and apologetics in seminary, I thought I was equipping myself to defend biblical truth against an onslaught of attacks from the world. I envisioned answering atheism and confronting threats to the gospel that would arise out of secular culture, the entertainment industry, the academic world, and other places outside the church.

Sometime after I entered full-time ministry, it dawned on me (to my profound shock) that the greatest threats to biblical truth typically arise from within the fellowship of professing believers—and it is a relentless parade of attacks. Looking back through church history, I realized that’s how it has always been. There has never been a time when false doctrines, harmful methodologies, unwholesome practices, bizarre beliefs, poisonous ideologies, and false teachers weren’t troubling the church of God—often with seriously divisive and otherwise spiritually destructive results.

In retrospect, it should not have been a surprise to me that the worst troubles come from within. I was born into a pastor’s home. My father was the son of a pastor. Both were part of the historic denominational landscape of planet church. They were in the American Baptist Church (ABC) denomination.

By the time I was a teenager, my grandfather was in heaven, having served as a pastor until the day he saw the face of Christ. My dad left the faltering, compromising ABC to plant an independent church in a building sold by a failing Lutheran congregation.

My father took his stand in the liberal-fundamentalist conflict. The issue then was the inspiration and authority of Scripture. My dad was bold and relentless, always with grace, to defend the Bible as inspired by God in total. He was cut off from lifelong friends who stayed in the ABC, but he was never divided in his loyalty to the true doctrine of Scripture. He encouraged me as a teenager, as a college student, and as a seminary student to learn and acquire all the doctrinal and evidentiary proofs necessary to defend the Word of God against the modernist and liberal attacks.

Social (In)justice and the Gospel

John MacArthur has heard enough.  The Gospel Coalition's regular promotion of social justice and various expressions of critical race theory under the banner of Gospel-centered church ministry demanded a thoughtful response.  Over the past many Sundays at Grace Community Church and via the Grace to You blog Pastor John highlights what many lesser known pastors and bloggers have been saying for years. "Scripture says earthly governments are ordained by God to administer justice, and believers are to be subject to their authority. The civil magistrate is “a minister of God to you for good . . . an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil” (Romans 13:1–4). But it is also true that no government in the history of the world has managed to be consistently just. In fact, when Paul wrote that command, the Roman Emperor was Nero, one of the most grossly unjust, unprincipled, cruel-hearted men ever to wield power on the world stage.

As believers, “we know . . . that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), so worldly power structures are—and always have been—systemically unjust to one degree or another.

Even the United States, though founded on the precept that all members of the human race “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” incongruously maintained a system of forced slavery that withheld the full benefits of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from multitudes. Many generations of people from African ethnicities were thus legally (but immorally) relegated to subhuman status. According to the 1860 census, there were about four million in the generation of slaves who were being held in servitude when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Civil War and the abolishment of slavery did not automatically end the injustice. A hundred years passed before the federal government banned segregation in public places and began in earnest to pass legislation safeguarding the civil rights of all people equally. Until then, freed slaves and their descendants in Southern states were literally relegated by law to the back of the bus and frequently treated with scorn or incivility because of the color of their skin.

I got a small taste of what it felt like to be bullied and discriminated against in the American South in the 1960s. I spent a lot of time traveling through rural Mississippi with my good friend John Perkins, a well-known black evangelical leader, preaching the gospel in segregated black high schools. During one of those trips, as we drove down a dirt road, a local sheriff—an openly bigoted character straight out of In the Heat of the Night—took me into custody, held me in his jail, and accused me of disturbing the peace. He also confiscated (and kept) all my money. He ultimately released me without filing charges. I suppose he considered the money he took from me an adequate fine for doing something he disapproved of.

 Revelation 20:4-6, Isaiah 1-66

Future Things: The Way Things Ought to Be

INTRO:  “The Way Things Ought to Be” -VS- the way things often are.

What about the Future Kingdom of Christ so energizes, strengthens, encourages, and mobilizes true believers?

The prophesied future is intended to impact the here and now!  

5 characteristics define the future Millennial Kingdom

As we take a jet tour overview of Isaiah keep track whenever you hear about:

1) Liberty and Justice for All

2) Peace in the Middle East (and beyond)

3) “Universal Healthcare”

4) “Eden-like” Conditions

5) Salvation Near and Far!

For Further Reflection/Application:  We must be doers of the Word and not merely hearers

What aspects of the “curse” have impacted your personal life the most?  List 2-3 things.

When life is too good why is it so tempting/easy to lose sight of “the age to come?” 

God commands believers to live each day in light of eternity (Col. 3:1-4)

How does God use trials in our life to make us more faithful believers? 

Note Romans 5:1-5; James 1:2-4; 2 Cor. 4:16-18

How does biblical prophecy help us get through the darkest valleys of life? 

Related Praise Songs:  Theology fuels Doxology!  We dig deeply in order that we may go high!

Joy to the World-

Crown Him With Many Crowns!

The Hallelujah Chorus-

Jesus Shall Reign- Keith and Kristyn Getty

A Biblical Critique of the "Attractional Church" Model (and a Proposed Solution)

Photo Credit: churchleaders.com

"So Ed Young is at it again. Last week he announced a forthcoming sermon series titled 'Wrastlin’ and did so through a video that is nothing short of absurd. “Over four weeks this September, Ed Young and Fellowship Church welcome four legendary guests from the world of professional wrestling – Ric Flair, The Undertaker, The Million Dollar Man, and Sting!” You can probably guess the premise of the series: “The Bible often compares the Christian life to that of a warrior, a wrestler. Wrestling is a metaphor commonly used in the Christian life and one that will remind us that no matter what, God is ready and able to step in between the ropes and help us overcome any challenge we face!”

This series may represent “peak attractional,” which is to say, it may mark the moment the attractional church model finally hit rock bottom (though you could probably make the case Young already achieved that the day he got into bed with his wife on the church roof). I’m almost afraid to ask: Can the model possibly become more of a parody of itself?

The attractional church is, according to Jared Wilson, a “ministry paradigm that has embraced consumerism, pragmatism, and moralism as its operational values.” It assumes that the greatest and highest purpose of the church service is to evangelize unbelievers rather than to encourage and disciple believers. It assumes we are responsible to do whatever it takes to get people through the doors of the church. It assumes that we shouldn’t do or say anything within a service that may make unbelievers uncomfortable. It assumes that growing numbers are a necessary indication of God’s favor.

The attractional church model has been tried and found exceptionally successfully in its ability to draw massive crowds (though it seems these crowds are less likely to be comprised of unchurched people with genuine spiritual questions than churched people who come from smaller, less attractive congregations). The attractional church model has been tried and found exceptionally wanting in its ability to draw people into a living relationship with the Lord that results in their spiritual maturation and reproduction. Yet it lives on in a thousand megachurches and a million smaller imitators.