Apologetics Columbo Style

I've been a fan of Greg Koukl's for some time, mostly for his ability to equip "Joe Average" to naturally and faithfully engage unbelievers in spiritually edifying conversation. This video is an excellent example of Koukl's gift. You can view the video here.

Strength in Weakness

"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10)

There is a constant temptation to believe that we are the most effective in ministry when our families and our churches are the strongest. We are indeed called to an obedient ordering of our families and churches. But we need to remember that God is never hindered by our sinful failings in community, and in fact delights to use our stumblings as so many opportunities to display His ever-readiness to forgive sins for Jesus' sake. It is the proclamation of God's grace that saves the world, not our perfectionistic pursuit of holiness. God's strength is not manifested in our strength, it is revealed in our weakness. As a pastor friend of mine recently observed:

"My postmillennialism is of a particularly robust variety. I believe the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, in spite of all our labors. I believe in a kind of consubstantiation for our mercy ministries -- the grace of God is apparent in, with, and under all our incompetencies. How so? It's a mystery, my son."

Great Commission Both/And

As Spurgeon and others have noted, the doctrines of human respsonsibility and divine sovereignty have no need to be "reconciled" simply because (at least in God's mind) they are already "friends." A good example of this is the two ways in which the the New Testament speaks of the Great Commission and its fulfillment.

At the end of Matthews's Gospel Jesus gives the Great Commission as an imperative when he commands his followers, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19)

But in Luke's account of the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus speaks of the Great Commission as something that will certainly be fulfilled when he informs his disciples, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

So which is it? Is the command to disciple the nations a directive for us to fulfill, or a certainty which God will sovereignly accomplish? Yes, and amen. And neither to the exclusion of the other.

Gospel Priorities

My dear wife Ellen, my "minister to the minister", is constantly on the hunt for quotes and resources to stoke the fires of my teaching and preaching ministry. She is also an ardent fan of Alistair Begg from whom the following George Smeaton quotes were gleaned:

"When we lose sight of the grandeur of the Gospel, the passion for the lost will cease."

"To convert one sinner from his way is an event of greater importance than the deliverance of a whole kingdom from temporal evil."

Following the above quotes, Pastor Begg paraphrased Smeaton by saying, "To convert one sinner from his way is an event of greater importance than the deliverance of Sub-Saharan Africa from the problem of AIDS."

This might, at first glance, seem like an overstatement. But when you "do the math" it really is not. The suffering experienced by untold millions from the horrors of AIDS is, for all its pain and grief, finite suffering. The suffering of one sinner in hell, because of its severity and duration, is infinite suffering.

Smeaton is right, when we lose sight of the greatness of the Good News, we cease to care for those who are perishing in their sin. We cease to be distressed at the prospect of our neighbors spending an eternity in hell. But the opposite is just as true: When we are daily reveling in the gracious extent of God's saving mercies, enjoying sweet communion with God, in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and walking consciously in what David termed "the joy of our salvation", then we are filled care and concern for the lost and are moved, not merely by duty, but rather by joy to invite them to love, worship and enjoy Jesus as we do.

May God restore to us a vision of "the grandeur of the Gospel."

Saved to Save

Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? (Proverbs 24:11-12)

The Christian life is all about rescue. God has rescued us from His just and holy wrath, and doing so, has turned us into the instruments that He will use to rescue others from the same. As Solomon notes in Proverbs 24, rescuing others is not optional. It is an activity for which the LORD will call us to account. And note that the LORD will not accept ignorance as a valid excuse for not attempting to "hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter."

Depth? Accountability? Outreach? Pshaw!

Haha, ouch. Haha, ouch (repeat.)

"An elder must be...hospitable" (Paul)

(Hebrews 13:2) Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

In 1 Timothy 3, Paul outlines the qualifications requisite for a man who would serve the church of Jesus Christ as an elder. One of the character traits listed is “hospitable” which in Koine Greek is a compound of two words, philo (brotherly love) and xenos (alien, stranger, one who is without.) We tend to think of hosting a fellowship meal for our Christian brothers and sisters as practicing “hospitality”, but as Darrin Patrick observes:

“Contrary to popular belief, this qualification doesn’t mean that the pastor and his wife should have potlucks at their house for all the people in the church. Nor does it mean that pastors’ home should be a revolving door for people in the church to come and hang out, watch network television, and “do community.” The word “hospitable” refers to the way the pastor and his family welcome those outside the faith. In other words, to be hospitable is to be a friend of sinners and thus to be like Jesus.”

"Next time someone asks me..."

Ouch. Sadly, those of us who regard ourselves as the guardians of "the doctrines of free grace" are not generally regarded as either the preachers or practitioners of the same. Trevin Wax has some helpful thoughts on this regrettable situation here.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives

Ordinary people, living extraordinary lives, because of Jesus...

Soma Communities - Tacoma, WA from Verge Network on Vimeo.

HT: Scott Welch

The Most Urgent Duty

From the Introduction of Evangelism, edited by John MacArthur

“…the cares of this world and the distractions of daily life vie for our time and attention. Eventually, as the disciple becomes more and more familiar with the gospel, that profound initial sense of wonder and amazement fades somewhat. The gospel is still good news, of course, but we begin to think of it as old news, and that sense of urgency is lost.

It is therefore necessary to remind ourselves constantly how utterly vital the task of evangelism is, and how desperately in need of the gospel this fallen world is. Evangelism is not merely one incidental activity in the life of the church; it is the most urgent duty we as Christians have been given to do. Virtually every other spiritual exercise we do together as members of Christ’s body we will still be able to do in heaven-praising God, enjoying fellowship with one another, savoring the richness of God’s Word, and celebrating the truth together. But now is the only time we have for proclaiming the gospel to the lost and winning people to Christ. We seriously need to be redeeming the time (Eph. 5:16).

A Christian does not need to be individually called or specially gifted to be a herald of the good news; we are commanded to be witnesses of Christ, commissioned to train others to be disciples. This is an individual obligation, not merely the collective responsibility of the church. No duty is more significant, and none bears more eternally rewarding fruit.

Furthermore, the field are white for harvest (John 4:35). The current generation is as ripe for the gospel message as any other generation in history. No matter what aspect of contemporary culture you examine, what you will discover are crying spiritual needs-and people whose souls are parched and famished for truth. The answer to such a spiritual famine in our land is not the artificial arousal of religious sentiment, not more political activism, not a better public relations campaign, and certainly not for Christians to adapt their message to the prevailing secular worldview.” (page 8)

Functional Universalism

Do We Really Believe What We're Saying? from The Church at Brook Hills on Vimeo.

HT: Justin Taylor

Spurgeon on Loving the Lost

Charles Haddon Spurgeon on love for the lost:

To be laughed at is no great hardship for me. I can delight in scoffs and jeers. . . .

But that you should turn from your own mercy, this is my sorrow.

Spit on me, but oh repent!

Laugh at me, but, oh, believe in my Master!

Make my body as the dirt in the streets, but do not damn your own souls.


He also passionately exhorts the church:

If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.

And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay.

If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one person go there unwarned and unprayed for.


Further, he instructs:

The Holy Spirit will move them by first moving you.

If you can rest without their being saved, they will rest, too.

But if you are filled with an agony for them, if you cannot bear that they are lost, you will soon find that they are uneasy, too.

HT: Justin Taylor