God Calls Biblical Masculinity ‘Very Good.’ Stop Caricaturing It.

"A friend of mine on Facebook observed that there seems to be a new procedure for writing on the subject of masculinity: 1.) Pick a typically masculine trait (say, strength). 2.) Create a false dilemma between this trait and an approved trait (say, gentleness). 3.) Pen an article expounding this false dilemma by using corruptions and exaggerations of the masculine trait to prove its incompatibility with the approved trait (for example, “traditionally strong men cannot be gentle”). 4.) Redefine the masculine trait as equivalent to the approved trait (e.g., “The Strongest Men Are Gentle”).

This in fact was the headline of a recent article at Desiring God, which isn’t that bad taken on its own terms, but turns on the bizarre premise that gentleness is in short supply among today’s Christian men (it even includes the awkwardly allusive subheading: “Let’s Bring Gentle Back”).

Here’s the thing: I don’t think gentleness went anywhere. To put it in modest terms, if a visitor from an exoplanet orbiting the hypergiant Arcturus landed in the average evangelical congregation this Sunday, I doubt he would say “Whoa, testosterone overload! It’s like a WWE match in here, you guys need to rediscover gentleness.” On the contrary. Drowning in tensile denim, man-buns, vocal fry and uptalk-inflected sentences that begin almost exclusively with “I feel like,” this extraterrestrial would likely wonder how our species ever found the courage to sail across oceans and colonize new continents, and where we mustered the intestinal fortitude to visit the moon.

All of this makes it even odder that so many Christians are in such a tizzy over “toxic masculinity.” It is, quite obviously to anyone with two working peepers, the vice of which we are least in danger. As premiere news source The Babylon Bee reports, “Least Masculine Society In Human History Decides Masculinity Is A Growing Threat.”

I’m not just picking on one writer, here. Aimee Byrd of Carl Trueman’s popular “Mortification of Spin” podcast recently shared how “triggered” she is by the “pervasive” emphasis on masculinity in the evangelical church. In reaction to a Patheos blog post by one pastor who advised men to give firm handshakes and limit how often they touch other men’s wives, Byrd heaps 1,600 words of scorn and 1950s caricatures on the very idea that we need to raise men to act differently from women. This is the same Aimee Byrd, by the way, who thinks the “Mike Pence Rule” is “pickpocketing purity,” and argues in a recent book that men and women ought to have more frequent and intimate one-on-one friendships with one another (what could go wrong?).

The Key To Making the Most Out of Congregational Singing

"It’s good to go to a great Christian conference or a worship concert and to sing with hundreds or even thousands of strangers. There is something majestic and soul-stirring about gathering with other believers and using the common language of song to join together in worship. But I believe it’s far better still to go to a local church—to your local church—and to sing with fewer people who make that church their home.

To understand why I believe this, we need to establish a key premise: that singing is not just a vertical act, but also a horizontal one. Of course we sing to God, but we also sing for one another. God is the object of our worship, but our singing is also a means of mutual encouragement. In our singing, we all have equal opportunity to proclaim truth. When we open our mouths to sing, we all take on the role of teacher, of encourager. My words go to you—and your words come to me—as challenge, rebuke, edification, comfort, encouragement (see Colossians 3:16).

When you know their story, you know their song.  Christian singing is an act of community and fellowship, and the key to making the most of singing is to know the people who make up that community. This means your enjoyment of singing as an act of Christian community varies with your knowledge of the people around you. The better you know them, the more they can challenge and encourage you—and you can challenge and encourage them—in this way. When you know their story, you know their song. Let me show it to you.

Over there is that man who has told the church how he has battled long and hard to overcome an addiction. He’s told you how he has often grown weary in the battle and how he has sometimes suffered serious setbacks. But he has repented and persevered and seen victory. And as you glance in his direction, he is singing of the assurance he has: “Still the small inward voice I hear, / That whispers all my sins forgiven; / Still the atoning blood is near, / That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven. / I feel the life His wounds impart; / I feel the Savior in my heart.”

Boldly Proclaiming the Word of God: An Interview with D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"In this legendary 1970 interview British journalist Joan Bakewell discusses the biblical truth about man with D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Please spend a little time watching it and studying the way Lloyd-Jones proclaims the word of God.

I would like to use something that Lloyd-Jones emphasized in this interview as a launching point to briefly discuss the nature of the authority by which we proclaim biblical truth, and the necessity of us as Christians refusing to compromise or give any ground whatsoever to those who would challenge the truth of the gospel.

One truly striking aspect of this interview is that Bakewell appears to genuinely enjoy interacting with Lloyd Jones. I suggest that she enjoys Lloyd-Jones so much because when she challenges him with questions to which she would expect some kind of attempt to accommodate or compromise with a differing point of view, Lloyd-Jones is utterly and yet winsomely uncompromising.

Lloyd-Jones is necessarily dogmatic about two main points: First, he rejects the secular view that mankind is autonomous, self-determining, and merely a highly evolved animal. He confesses, in opposition to this, the biblical view that man is created in the image of God, and that man was originally created perfect and righteous but sinned against God. As a result, man is a rebel against God, and that is the reason for all of his troubles. He asserts that man can only function truly and be truly happy when he “lives his life under God.” That is, he submits to and obeys God from his heart. That is the purpose for which he was originally created.

Second, Lloyd-Jones asserts that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about giving us a better life or making us more wealthy or comfortable, as it was so often falsely portrayed by segments of the professing church in both his day and still is in ours. The gospel of Christ is about “reconciling us to God”(Rom. 5:10).

Do You Love the Word “Propitiation”? Why we should use, study, and explain the big words the Bible uses in our preaching and Bible study

"Do you love the word “Propitiation”? Why we should use, study, and explain the big words the Bible uses in our preaching and Bible study.  Two months ago I (Pastor Counts) was preaching a series on the gospel, and in one sermon I preached Romans 3:21-26 which includes this gold nugget, talking about Jesus: “…whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:25) Recently, I exposited1 John 2:1-6 as part of our verse-by-verse study through the book of 1 John, which includes this jewel: “He (that is Jesus) is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)

They were some of the most encouraging sermons I have preached for months, not only for me but also for the church family as we rejoiced in the gospel together.

I believe that in our preaching and Bible study, when we come across technical, “big” words that the Bible uses, we should use, study, and explain those words, rather than skirting around them or simply glossing over them with an alternative phrase.

We Use “New To Us” Language All the Time- When we moved to Vermont from the West Coast my family and I woke up the next morning and drove around town to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings. It was May, and we kept seeing signs that said “Tag Sale.” They often looked like Yard Sale or Garage Sale signs, and once we followed a few of those signs and saw a Yard Sale happening, we incorporated this new phrase into our thinking and speaking. We now don’t give it a second thought to say, “We should clean out the garage and have a Tag Sale this summer.” To function well in a new environment, you have to learn some of the new vocabulary that will help you to understand things you encounter.

When somebody becomes a Christian or begins to really study the Bible on their own, they need to learn some of the new vocabulary that they will come across in the Bible or they will always struggle with those passages. Pastors need to slow down in effort to define some of the more challenging key terms in Scripture (atonement, propitiation, reprobation, etc)

Why You Should Love the Word “Propitiation”-  With less educational resources at their fingertips, the Bible writers of both the Old and New Testament did not flinch to use technical words when they taught about God. Although the same could be said for Bible words dripping with meaning like “justification,” “redemption,”and “regeneration,” let me give you an example using the word that recently made me pause and ask how to teach it, “propitiation.”

As I studied to preach Romans 3:25 and then 1 John 2:2, I was amazed to discover that the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) uses a form of the same word 6 times. It is often used to talk about the Day of Atonement, but one use made my jaw drop. In Psalm 130:4 the Psalmist rejoices: “But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” Yes, it is forgiveness, but he didn’t use the word for “forgiveness,” he used the word for “propitiation.” Those who sang Psalm 130 understood that in order for forgiveness to happen, their sins needed to be paid for.

Joining and Being a Member of a Church

"From the promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3) to the ultimate fulfillment of those same promises pictured in the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven (Rev. 21), Scripture is clear—God is saving for Himself a people.

Notice, I said people, not persons. In saying it that way, I don’t mean to suggest that salvation is not a personal matter or that God has no interest in individuals. He clearly does (Rom. 10:9–10). No, I chose people over persons to emphasize Scripture’s emphasis—that Christian identity is necessarily communal (1 Peter 2:9).

As our physical birth includes a network of family relationships, so too does our spiritual birth. This is why, when Scripture speaks of the church, it employs metaphors that call to mind profound connection.

Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches (John 15:1–17).
Jesus is the cornerstone, and we are living stones being built into a temple (Eph. 2:20; 1 Peter 2:5).
Jesus is the Head, and we are members of His body (Eph. 4:1–16; 1 Cor. 12:1–27).

There’s not a hint of individualism or independence anywhere in those images. Nowhere does Scripture describe, much less prescribe, the Christian life as something that can be lived alone. In Christ, each Christian is related to every other Christian, and together we are the family of God (Rom. 8:14–16; Eph. 2:19–22). Deep commitment to and active participation in the church are nonnegotiable.

All this raises a question, though: How can we build and maintain real, vital, life-giving connection to the church over the long haul? Let me offer four suggestions.

First, we must become active members of a church. When we hear the word “member,” we might think of paying our dues and fulfilling the requirements, and then we’ll get the benefits of the club. Church membership, though, is a reflection of Scripture’s language concerning the nature of the church. Paul writes in Romans 12:4–5, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Paul is saying that in the same way your hand is a member of your body, so every Christian is membered with Jesus Christ and other Christians. We are literally a part of one another. When we realize this, placing membership in a local church becomes a natural extension of what it means to be and live as a Christian.

We need the church. And the church needs us.   The marks of a faithful church member can be reduced to three commitments: Attending/Belonging, Serving, and Giving (2 Cor. 8-10; 1 Cor. 16:2)

Why Biblical Elders Are Vital to Church Health

I have always been blessed to serve alongside faithful laymen.  This was my experience as an Assistant Pastor in Carmel, Indiana, as a Senior Pastor in Illinois, and now as a Senior Pastor in Nashotah, Wisconsin.   Faithful lay leaders are the backbone of the local church.  As such the following article is well worth your time.

"Church leadership models always seem to be going through a type of cultural renovation. Trying to stay relevant, influential evangelicals try to innovate at every turn; trading in biblical roles like elder and deacon for newer, less biblically stringent leadership positions. Some churches avoid having elders altogether because of bad experiences or horror stories from others who warn, “Don’t have elders, they will try and control you beyond what is written in the Scriptures!”  Still, there are churches who have yet to raise up elders or don’t know how. Whatever the scenario, biblical eldership is not always taken as seriously as it should be, and yet, it is incredibly vital to the health of a church (note Hebrews 13:7, 17).

Elders are important to the church because, first and foremost, they are the leaders that Christ has appointed to oversee His church. This is not mere suggestion – it is the biblical mandate. A church cannot be a fully healthy church without elders/pastors, and a church can most certainly not be a healthy church without qualified elders (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). At the very least, there should be elders being raised up where there are no qualified elders yet. Elders are so important that one of Paul’s first apostolic decisions in the churches that he established was to appoint elders there (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5).

Besides their biblically mandated presence in a church, there are several specific ways that elders are important to the vitality and health of a church. Here are are six to consider:

1. The church needs elders who are spiritually minded

Far too many elder boards are nothing more than a decision making board when instead they should be pastoral. The church doesn’t need corporate CEO's, it needs shepherd-leaders (see this book for practical application related to this vital ministry role). True elders are ultimately put in their position by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28), not by being golfing buddies with the senior pastor or a wealthy influencer in the church (though having money is not a sin). The term elder, in the Bible, is reserved for spiritual men who shepherd the flock. The terms πρεσβύτερος (presbuteros), ποιμήν (poimen), and ἐπίσκοπος (episkopos) are all used to describe the same office in the New Testament. Overseers, pastors, shepherds, and elders are all operating as the same kind of servant leader(s) of the church (see John 13; Phil. 2:1-10). Therefore, elders are spiritual men who are spiritually minded. Men that are truly called to serve in this office aren’t concerned with holding a position of power, but rather, being a faithful steward of what Christ has entrusted them with.  The authority they have comes under the authority of God's Word alone.  Jesus Christ alone is the Chief Shepherd of every true Church.  Pastors and elders are undershepherds of Christ! 

5 Myths About Abortion

Myth #1: Christian pro-lifers impose religious arguments on a pluralistic society and thus violate the separation of church and state.

The “religion” objection is a dodge, not a refutation. As Francis J. Beckwith points out, "Arguments are either true or false, valid or invalid. Calling an argument “religious” is a category mistake like asking, “How tall is the number three?” Pro-lifers argue that it’s wrong to intentionally kill innocent human beings, abortion does that, therefore, it's wrong. If critics can refute that argument with evidence, go for it. But it won’t do to dismiss it with a label.

Moreover, pro-life Christians aren’t imposing their views any more than abolitionist Christians were imposing theirs or the Reverend King was imposing his. Rather, we’re proposing them in hopes we can persuade our fellow citizens to vote them into law. That’s how a constitutional republic like ours works. We’re not looking to establish a theocracy we impose on non-Christians, only a more just society for the weakest members of the human race.  All human life is precious to God because we uniquely bear his image (Genesis 1-2).

Indeed, it is no more religious to claim a human embryo has value than to claim it doesn’t. Both claims answer the same exact question: What makes humans valuable in the first place? That is an inherently religious question with no neutral ground. Either you believe that each and every human being has an equal right to life or you don’t. The pro-life view is that humans are intrinsically valuable in virtue of the kind of thing they are. The abortion-choice view is that humans have value only because of an acquired property like self-awareness or sentience. Notice that both positions—pro-life and abortion-choice—use philosophical reflection to answer an inherently religious question, What makes humans valuable in the first place? Thus, if the pro-life view is disqualified for asking religious questions, so is the abortion-choice one. At issue is not which view of abortion has religious underpinnings and which does not, but which view of human value does a better job of accounting for human rights and human dignity.

Finally, what do we mean by the separation of church and state? Do we mean it in the modest sense that the state should not establish a denomination or in the strong sense that religious believers have no right to bring their values to the public square and argue for them like everyone else? Why the constant harping about the separation of Christianity and the state but not the separation of secular metaphysics and the state or feminist theory and the state? In short, do believers get to participate in their own government or is that right reserved only for secularists? If only for secularists, where is that found in the Constitution?

What makes humans valuable in the first place? That is an inherently religious question with no neutral ground.

Myth #2: Men have no moral authority to speak on abortion.

Signs the Christian Authors You’re Following are (Subtly) Teaching Unbiblical Ideas (pt. 2)

The following are 5 more signs that the Christian authors you’re following may be subtly teaching unbiblical ideas. I say “subtly” because I think most people would spot a problem immediately if a Christian said they didn’t believe in the Trinity. But it’s just as important to identify when less obvious warning signs—like the following—are present. We must be aware so we can beware...

6. They focus almost entirely on Christian action to the exclusion of belief.

Someone recently told me that people in his denomination don’t value apologetics (why there’s good reason to believe Christianity is true- 1 Peter 3:15) because their apologetics are in their actions. This attitude, effectively, is what you see with many popular Christian authors today, even when they say nothing about apologetics specifically. For them, Christianity is all about what you do in the world; it’s no longer about believing in Jesus as Lord and coming to a saving knowledge of Him (Romans 10:9). This kind of Christianity is hardly different than secular humanism. It just comes with a fond but relatively mild appreciation for Jesus on top…like a candied cherry on a sundae of good works that can easily be removed.

The Bible is clear that belief matters…in an eternally significant way.  Orthodoxy (Galatians) and Orthopraxy (James) are interconnected; (it's creeds and deeds not one or the other).  We are justified by grace through faith alone and believers are called to walk each day in faith.  True faith works itself out in Spirit-filled deeds of love and obedience (Eph. 2:8-10).

7. They use the word “faith” to mean some kind of unbounded belief system about God.

One bestselling Christian author shared the following quote on social media recently: “Faith is not a belief. Faith is what is left when your beliefs have all been blown to hell.” This, sadly, was met with thousands of likes, loves, and shares. It’s also a biblically inaccurate definition of faith (Hebrews 11:1-6).

The Bible does not present faith as blind belief. The Bible repeatedly shows that faith in Christ is reasonable and is based in objective truths about God, man, sin, eternity, etc.

10 Signs the Christian Authors You’re Following are (Subtly) Teaching Unbiblical Ideas (pt. 1)

"My friend, Alisa Childers, recently wrote a review of the bestselling book, Girl, Wash Your Face, by Rachel Hollis. It started a firestorm of online discussion about what makes someone a “Christian” author, what responsibility a self-identified Christian author has in promoting ideas consistent with biblical faith, and what harm there can be for Christians reading books that contain nonbiblical ideas.

I personally haven’t read the book, so I’m not going to comment on it specifically. But I will say I was extremely disappointed and saddened to see the kinds of comments supporters of the book wrote:  “It wasn’t meant to be a devotional.”  “She’s not teaching theology.”  “Our job is not to seek people out and hate them.”  “Stop competing! Just imagine what the non-Christians think about the McJudgies! We need to focus inward because the project within ourself is the most important work we will accomplish. Don’t use your blog to bring someone down.”

Unfortunately, such comments are representative of the lack of discernment common in the church today. If Alisa fairly characterized the claims of Hollis’s book, Hollis is promoting ideas that conflict with a biblical worldview. And when there is a concern that millions of women are consuming content from a Christian author that can lead them to embrace unbiblical ideas, we should be raising a warning flag and calling out for discernment in the body of Christ.

It’s not about being a “McJudgey.”  It’s about discerning biblical truth from non-truth…something the Bible consistently tells us to do.

While this post isn’t directly related to parenting (which I normally write about), it’s something that affects parenting. When parents readily incorporate popular but unbiblical ideas into their worldview, those ideas will affect how they raise their kids and the nature of the worldview they pass on.

The following are 10 signs that the Christian authors you’re following may be subtly teaching unbiblical ideas. I say “subtly” because I think most people would spot a problem immediately if a Christian said they didn’t believe in the Trinity. But it’s just as important to identify when less obvious warning signs—like the following—are present.  We must be aware so we can beware.

1. They say, “I love Jesus but…”

It’s become popular for writers to trumpet that they love Jesus but (fill in the blank). When you see a sentence start this way, be prepared for one of two things to follow.

First, it may be something that the author knows is contrary to what Jesus would have approved of. For example, if you Google “I love Jesus but,” you’ll find a whole industry of shirts, mugs, and other things that say “I love Jesus but I like to cuss.” Is this really something that glorifies the God you say you love (see John 14:15-31)? If you have to use “but” as a contrasting word between loving Jesus and making a statement about what you do and/or say, it’s probably not something to be proud of. When authors do this to be more likable to their audience, it’s often a sign that other unbiblical ideas will follow.

Second, it may be something that isn’t in contrast to loving Jesus at all, but the author wants you to think they’re different than the negative stereotype of Christians. For example, they’ll say something like, “I love Jesus but I’ll never claim I have all the answers”…implying, of course, that Christians normally claim they have all the answers. Non-believers may think Christians feel this way because Christians believe Christianity is a matter of objective truth, but that doesn’t mean Christians claim to have all answers or that acceptance of objective truth is problematic.  We do not have all the answers but we do know the One who does (He is the God of truth).

2. They make it a point to separate a relationship with Jesus from religion.

Unfortunately, the idea that Jesus somehow hates religion has become popular even amongst Christians who otherwise hold biblically solid beliefs. If Jesus truly hated religion, the popularity of this idea wouldn’t be an issue. The problem is that Jesus doesn’t hate religion. He hates false religion. Without writing an entire post on this the bottom line is that there’s no need to separate Jesus from religion that is true. Christianity is simply the name for the religion whose set of beliefs center on who Jesus is (1 Cor. 15:1-4) and that calls us to know, worship, serve, and obey Him. In other words, Christianity is a religion centered on relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6f).

When authors start writing negatively about “organized religion” in general, and place that in opposition to their own personal relationship with Jesus, it’s often because they are going to 1) challenge the idea of objective truth (thereby suggesting that uniform religious belief found in “organized religion” is bad) and/or 2) value their personal spiritual insights over God’s revelation to humankind through the Bible (personal experience becomes authority).  3) They have an ax to grind with the local church (contra Heb. 10:25-26, 13:17).  It is God's will for every believer to be actively involved within the context of the visible church.  Home groups and family Bible studies are no substitute for corporate worship and everything else that God designed to take place within the local church.

At the end of the day, true religion glorifies God (James 1:27) and isn’t something Christians should denounce.

The Sin that Became an Evangelistic Technique

"Never in its history has the evangelical church been more intentional and more systematic in its efforts to imitate the world than in our day. In fact, worldliness, which used to be a sin-to-be-avoided, has not only become an obsession for the church, today it has become the evangelistic technique of choice.

In the Old Testament, God told Israel, “You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you” (Lev 18:3). In the New Testament, the apostle Paul told the church, "Do not be conformed to this world" (Rom 12:2). Nonetheless, today’s self-appointed evangelical relevance experts tell us that the only way to reach the world is to be like the world: we must talk like them, dress like them, be entertained like them, sport tattoos like them, address human sexuality like them, and so on.

Jesus said, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own” (John 15:18). Clearly Jesus expected His followers not to be mirrors of the world. However, today in a bizarre inversion of Jesus’ intention, the goal of many evangelicals is to be as much like the world as possible in order to be loved by the world, purportedly as a precursor to evangelism.

In the words of John MacArthur, we are being told that, “If we can convince them that our message poses no threat to their way of life and that they have nothing to fear from Christ, perhaps we can then...reach them.... [We must persuade] them that church is fun, Christians are just like everyone else, and they have nothing whatsoever to fear from God” (Ashamed of the Gospel, 3rd ed., 214).

Where did this notion come from? In our era, cosying up to the world as a sure-fire evangelistic technique first flourished in youth groups in the 1970s. Eventually, youth pastors like Bill Hybels spawned the church growth movement by packaging an adult version of that strategy. As a result, imitation of the world touched every facet of church life. The church buildings of the church growth movement were intentionally designed to look like shopping malls and corporate headquarters. On the inside they were laid out to remind “seekers” of rock concerts and coffeehouses. The messages were crafted with worldly desires in mind: light humor, self-help, plenty of sports references, and Hollywood movie clips employed as sermon illustrations.

The next generation—our generation—has gone a step further. Today we don’t design the church to look like a coffee house: cool churches meet in coffeehouses and bars (Grab a brew and share your view is one church’s catchy slogan). And to pull off this new, “We’re just like you” evangelistic technique, Christians have to sport tatts, studs, and drink their share of suds.

Unfortunately there have been two unintended consequences of adopting worldliness as an evangelistic technique. The first is worldly pastors. Kevin DeYoung observes, “To be cool means...pushing the boundaries with language, with entertainment, with alcohol, and with fashion” (The Hole in Our Holiness, 18). The charge toward cool has been led by a young generation of “bad-boy” preachers like Mark Driscoll, always eager to test the fences with their language, risqué comments, and leisure behaviour.

However, it’s becoming clear that preachers who push the boundaries in their sermons do so because they are living beyond those boundaries in their lives. When a preacher spends so much time admiring and courting the world, it has a way of evangelizing him more effectively than he evangelizes it. Ultimately, such preachers don’t sanctify the flock: immersed in an unholy culture, they have no ability to help others escape its clutches.

Luke 24 and the Christological Hermeneutic: Is Christ the Emphasis of Every Biblical Text?

Luke 24 and the Christological Hermeneutic: Is Christ in Every Biblical Text? How do be Christ-centered without violating authorial intent.

"In Luke 24, the resurrected Jesus engaged in a fascinating conversation with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. During this dialogue, “beginning with Moses, and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). Later, Jesus told the Eleven that “all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).

For many today who believe that the Old Testament must be read in light of the New Testament, these verses in Luke 24 justify a “Christological Hermeneutic” for interpreting the Hebrew Bible. For some, this means a full-blown allegorical method of interpretation that sees pictures of Jesus and His work of redemption hidden throughout the Old Testament. To provide some examples: (a) I’ve heard preachers present the story of David and Goliath as a picture of the coming Savior who would slay the giant of sin and death. (b) A well-known reformed theologian insists that “the entire Scripture deals only with Christ everywhere, if it is looked at inwardly, even though on the face of it it may sound differently, by the use of shadows and figures.” (c) Another reformed theologian applies this very method to Exodus 25-30, insisting that the various details of the tabernacle of Moses prefigure New Testament truths about the person and work of Christ.

Biblical Discipleship and Counseling Requires Wisdom

"Not every person in every situation should be ministered to in the exact same fashion, and not every sermon preached in every place should emphasize the exact same truths. Take, for instance, Paul’s instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5:14: “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” These instructions provide an invaluable manual for ministry in the Body of Christ. Paul provides three different categories of people that need the truth of God’s Word applied to their life in distinct ways.

First, Paul says to “admonish the idle.” The idle are those who know the truth but refuse to respond to it. Much like a car that is stuck in idle, these individuals remain unresponsive to the truth of God in their spiritual lives. How do we minister to such people? We admonish them. These individuals have spurned the comfort of gospel truth and now need the conviction of reproach in their life. In fact, to comfort such a person in their disobedience would be a detriment to their growth. To put it bluntly, they need a brotherly “kick in the pants” to get them started.

On the other hand, Paul says to “encourage the fainthearted.” The fainthearted is someone who knows the truth and is struggling to respond. They are discouraged by the battle for spiritual growth, but they are still engaged with God’s truth. Whether because of their weakness, immaturities, trials, persecution, or afflictions, they are deflated in their spiritual life. This person does not need admonishment, he needs encouragement. He does not need to be held accountable to God’s requirements; he is well aware of his obligation before God. What he needs is a reminder of the grace God has supplied for him as he seeks to move forward in imperfect obedience. He needs someone to walk with him as he pursues the means of grace and strives for obedience when he doesn’t feel like obeying. He is neither ignorant nor indifferent to God’s truth—he is struggling to live by God’s truth and needs a brotherly embrace.

What Did Jesus Teach about Money?

Tale of Two Kingdoms

"When it comes to kingdoms, there are really only two choices. With every choice, decision, or action, you live out of a deep heart allegiance to the kingdom of self or the kingdom of God. I’m not saying that you are always conscious of this or that your decisions are intentionally kingdom driven. What I am saying is that with everything you do, you are either serving the purposes of God or the desires of self.

This conflict of kingdoms is brilliantly laid out for us by Christ in Matthew 6:19–33, where Jesus argues that if you live for the right-here, right-now pleasures of the kingdom of self, you will tend to invest your time, energy, and money in the physical treasure of this present world. You will attempt to satisfy the longings of your heart with earthbound treasures, that is, with people, places, and possessions. The core lie of the kingdom of self is that by satisfying your self-oriented desires, you will find life. And the corollary lie is that physical things will be the delivery system.

Living for Ourselves

This whole delusional system is driven by the reality that as sinners we tend to live for ourselves, to make life all about us. We tend to be obsessed about what we want, why we want it, how we want it, when we want it, and who we want to deliver it. We invest so much of our time and energy acquiring things for the sole purpose of our comfort and pleasure. We keep telling ourselves that the next thing will be what satisfies us, but it never does, so we go out and buy something else.

The car that we told ourselves we’d always wanted doesn’t satisfy us for long. Soon we have our sights on another that we think we’d like better. The house we bought, vowing that it was the last house we’d ever live in, now no longer seems so special, and we begin to notice other houses in other neighborhoods. We rent storage rooms and fill them with the discarded delivery systems of promises that never delivered. Sadly, so much of our money is spent looking for life in all the wrong places.

Owing Nothing to Anyone

"Lately, I've been meditating quite a bit on Romans 13, both the first seven verses on the topic of submitting to government, and for the topic of this post, Romans 13:8, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."

On a horizontal level, precisely because of this verse, my desire is to owe nothing to anyone except love. This is something which the Scriptures command and exhort us to do. And thus it is—at least conceptually—something possible for us to do, to some extent. Now, when I say that my desire is to owe nothing to anyone, I don't say this in an arms-folded, "I got mine and everyone else can go pound sand" kind of way, but rather in an earnest way that makes the paying of debts and the fulfilling of commitments an affirmative burden on my conscience.

And so it is that the (increasingly rare) occasions I have an empty inbox and task list are a source of great satisfaction for me, as is my gradually dwindling list of financial obligations. Accordingly, it is at best disconcerting when certain people point their fingers at me, and others like me, and claim that we owe them something, when to the best of my knowledge and recollection, I owe nothing to these folks. In many cases, I've never even met them before!

How and when does this happen? Well, in the United States, we often see it in the context of discussions about "privilege" and social justice. The vastly simplified argument goes something like this: Some people were born into more privilege than others, and some of the folks with the least privilege (with ethnicity being the most common category cited by many "social justice" advocates here) even have the deck systemically stacked against them by society. This is fundamentally unfair, and so the ones with less privilege are owed something, with the payors being society, or the more privileged, or both.

My response to these arguments has been that they appear to be based (whether knowingly or unknowingly) on concepts borrowed from secular Critical Race Theory rather than drawn from the Bible. I think Kevin DeYoung said it well in a blog post last year:  I have my concerns with the term "social justice" and with all that it connotes. But what if we press for a less culturally controlled and more biblically defined understanding? Several years ago, I worked my way through the major justice passages in the Bible: Leviticus 19, Leviticus 25, Isaiah 1, Isaiah 58, Jeremiah 22, Amos 5, Micah 6:8, Matthew 25:31-46, and Luke 4. My less-than-exciting conclusion was that we should not oversell or undersell what the Bible says about justice. On the one hand, there is a lot in the Bible about God's care for the poor, the oppressed, and the vulnerable. There are also plenty of warnings against treating the helpless with cruelty and disrespect. On the other hand, justice, as a biblical category, is not synonymous with anything and everything we feel would be good for the world. Doing justice means following the rule of law, showing impartiality, paying what you promised, not stealing, not swindling, not taking bribes, and not taking advantage of the weak because they are too uninformed or unconnected to stop you.

Problems with Illegal Immigration

Problems with Illegal Immigration

"According to a combined study conducted by three US government departments, immigrants entering the United States illegally are responsible for an extremely high number of crimes. The study was based on a sample of 55,322 illegal immigrants incarcerated in US prisons. Members of this group were arrested 459,614 times—an average of eight arrests per person. About 45 percent of the arrests were for drug or immigration offenses. Another 15 percent were property related—burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and propertydamage. About 12 percent were for violent crimes, including murder, robbery, assault, and sex offenses. The balance of the arrests were for fraud, forgery, counterfeiting, weapons violations, obstruction of justice, and traffic violations, including DUI.23

Another rising problem with illegal immigration is its effect on social and government services, which include medical care, education, welfare, policing, and incarceration. Hospital emergency rooms have become the primary care facility for those here illegally. By law, hospital ERs cannot turn away anyone in need. Yet the sheer number of immigrants often clog ER waiting rooms in metropolitan hospitals. When ER beds are filled, ambulance patients are often diverted to more distant hospitals, which can result in worsening conditions or death.

Dallas' Parkland Hospital offers the second-largest maternity service in the United States. In one recent year, sixteen thousand babies were born at Parkland, and 70 percent of them were to illegal immigrants at a cost of $70.7 million. Because few of these patients speak English, the hospital now offers premium pay to medical employees who speak Spanish. This need has forced the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School to add a Spanish language requirement to its curriculum."

The cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants in the United States was estimated at $52 billion in 2010, while the overall cost of all services combined was estimated at $113 billion. This says nothing about the cost in educational quality and efficiency when schools must make special accommodations for significant numbers of students who speak no English.25

Many US cities, counties, and states are facing severe financial shortfalls—even to the point of looming bankruptcy—brought on by the cost of providing free social services to illegal immigrants. This drain on resources may well reach the point that we no longer have the means to provide the blessings that immigrants come here to find. One of the most disturbing aspects of illegal immigration is simply that it is illegal. The apostle Paul was quite emphatic in commanding Christians to obey governmental laws (Romans 13:1-7). He explained that God ordained governments to keep order and protect citizens.

Dereliction of Duty: the Preacher Who Dodges Unpopular Biblical Texts

Dereliction of duty- Definition: "The shameful failure to fulfill one's obligations."

Many pastors today should step down from ministry altogether because they clearly love the applause of men (Gal. 1:10) more than they value the approval of Almighty God. No where is this seen more clearly today then in evangelical pulpits.

God's expectations could not be anymore clear on this matter: "I solemnly charge you 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; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.  But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

The goal of Christian ministry is to lead souls to Christ AND to then teach and preach in such a way as to present every believer "mature in Christ" (Colossians 1:28-29; Hebrews 5:12-14; Matthew 28:18-20).  Being a Word-driven preacher and a Christ-centered congregation is not rocket science.  Faithful Christian ministry requires demands hard work (Col. 1:29) and faith; (trust and obey).  

The state of Christian living in America today is what it is, in part, because far too many Church leaders are more interested in attracting large masses of people then they are in "building up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-16).  Pastor Kevin DeYoung is spot on when he says, "The preacher who dodges or changes a text because he knows there are men and women out there who don't want to hear it.  That man ought not to be a preacher."

6 Ways You Can Put God’s Glory on Display

"…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God – 1 Corinthians 10:31

This is the succinct, simple and direct mandate of Scripture. All of God’s creation is to be absorbed with putting God’s glory on display. When the angels announced the Savior’s birth, they were joined by the heavenly host, glorifying God (Luke 2:14). The shepherds responded by glorifying God following their visit to the Christ-child in the manger (Luke 2:20). Even the physical creation incessantly declares His glory (Ps 19:1-2).

While the importance of this mandate is not lost on most Christians, its fulfillment frequently is. We give lip-service to it, often closing our prayers of petition with the phrase, “and we’ll be sure to give you all the glory.” But when the answer comes, we, like the nine lepers, are often so elated that we fail to make good on our promise.

How can we follow the example of the physical creation or join in the chorus with the shepherds and the heavenly host in glorifying God? The answer, I believe, is found in Exodus 33:18-34:8. When Moses asks to see God’s glory, God puts His glory on display by rehearsing His attributes, and thereby demonstrates how we can give God the glory that belongs to Him. Here are six ways you can put God’s glory on display:

1. CONFESS SIN

When we confess sin, we are putting His glory on display by declaring His righteousness. That is David’s point in Psalm 51:4: “Against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when you judge.”

2. FORGIVE OTHERS

Our God is a forgiving God (Ps 130:3-4; Mic 7:18-19). When we forgive others, we are proclaiming His compassion and eagerness to forgive. It has been said that we are never more God-like than when we forgive. That is why the Lord places so much emphasis on forgiving others in the disciples’ prayer (Mt 6:12, 14-15). Forgiving others puts His glory on display.

How to Grow the Church?

How can you grow the church? Well, I admit that’s sort of a trick question. You can’t. The historian Luke writes about the church in the first century and reports, “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”[i] The Scriptures say that only one person can truly grow the church, and that is the Lord. He alone saves and adds souls to the body of Christ; the invisible church. He alone sovereignly oversees any and every person associated with the visible church. This makes sense because Christ is both Lord and Head of the church.[ii]

But many people today think they can grow the church. Innovation and pragmatism mark our period of church history. Confessional theology and church practice based on Scripture is often considered outdated. Many who chant the mantra Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) hardly apply this central Reformation principle.

But church growth gurus have not merely overlooked one part of one verse in the Bible, simply missing the bit about the Lord sovereignly adding to the number of the church, they have also jettisoned the framework in which the Lord normally brings people into the church. The verses surrounding Luke’s statement in Acts 2:47 (quoted above) are profoundly simple, yet simply profound. They do not offer pragmatic tips on how to grow a church, draw a large crowd, or be effective in garnering “decisions”. Rather, the focus of the early first century church was on what theologians often call the means of grace.

For example, Acts 2:42 says, “And they [the apostles and church] devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” The Westminster Shorter Catechism question 88 asks, “What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?”

It answers as follows:The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances, especially the word, sacraments and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.

In answering this question, the Catechism virtually pulls out several pieces of Acts 2:42 and lays them on the table of the church for them to feast upon. What are they? Well, first lets define means of grace. According to the Catechism, they are “the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption”. So that’s simple enough. In other words, the way God normally works to save and sanctify His elect comes through various activities the church emphasizes. Or, as the catechism suggests, these means of grace are, by Christ, “made effectual to the elect for salvation”. To be sure, one is not saved by the church or through the church. One is only saved upon hearing the gospel and responding in faith and repentance- a faith in Christ and repentance from sin which is sovereignly given by the Holy Spirit. Christ is seen and heard in the means of grace. So what are they? What are these means of grace? Let me mention the three primary ones.

1.  The Word of God

First, God’s Word is absolutley foundational to the church. A church that reads, prays, teaches, and preaches Scripture is a church participating in one of the chief activities that the apostles and their fellow Christians in the first century “devoted themselves” to. A church that only gives lip service to the Word of God, or places other activities (eg. music) above the Bible is an example of an aberrant congregation who has gone astray from apostolic norms.

Children Need Theology Too

Theology isn’t just for adults. Children need to learn theology too.

"It’s not enough for children to read the bible or have it read to them; it’s not enough that they memorize bible verses. Parents need to teach them what the bible means (Deut. 6:7). They need to learn theology so that they know what the bible is communicating.

Children can begin to learn theology even before they can begin to read. There are lots of ways to teach theology to children. In our house, we use a catechism. (The catechism we use is adapted for young children from the Westminster Shorter Catechism and modified to reflect a more Baptistic understanding of scripture.) Catechisms are a great way to begin teaching children Christian theology and doctrine. (They are actually good for adults too.)

Why is this important? Right at the outset children will be able to learn the answer to a question that plagues lots of people, including some Christians: Why are we here? What’s our purpose on this earth—not just as Christians, but as human beings created in the image of God? The answer to this question is stunningly simple but easy to get wrong if we don’t start with the revelation of scripture. It’s so simple that young children can learn the answer and have it impact the way they live for the rest of their life.

As some Christians have tried to answer for themselves the question of why God created mankind, they sometimes speculate that perhaps He needed someone to love. I’ve heard more than one Christian offer this opinion as a possible explanation. But this is a false view of God, and such a god is not the God revealed to us in scripture. What we believe about even this question does matter. It’s important that we get this answer right, not only for ourselves but for our children too.

Resolutions of the Righteous

Best estimates tell us that nearly 40% of the population engages in the annual practice of setting New Year’s Resolutions. Those same statistics tell us that fewer than 8% of people actually fulfill their resolutions and that the majority have failed by the time February rolls around. There a number of reasons people make – and fail – their personal goals. Despite the high rate of failure, many of us recognize the importance of setting goals because we understand that “if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” The setting of and striving towards certain goals is a critical part of personal development and professional achievement.

When applied to personal sanctification, however, this old maxim still rings true. Godliness doesn’t just happen—you must be proactive in pursuing it. That is why we are given commands throughout Scripture towards that end. At the end of the day, there is a single resolution that matters before the Lord and it has to do with selecting the pathway your life will follow. For those reading this article who know and fear God, we know that righteousness is required from all of God’s people. With that in mind, as we look towards setting our priorities for the new year, how do we, as people who desire godliness, plan for righteousness? To help us answer that question let’s take a look at Psalm 1.

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.