Mark Dever is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in downtown Washington DC. He is the Executive Director of 9Marks Ministries, whose purpose is to help local churches re-establish their biblical bearings and re-think their ministry methods, by helping local church pastors and leaders in the discovery and application of the biblical priorities that cultivate health and holiness in the local church. His books include Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Read more… wwWelcome to Louisville! Pray for our timewLess than 48 hours. That's not much time together every other year, but praise God for the fruit that He has given us over these last two years from the small investment of time we made in April of 2006. Now, we're here again. And more have joined us. (And, we're glad to say, in a larger space!) Much will be the same, but there will be a few new things. Not least among those is a GREATLY expanded bookstore, which we're sure pastors will appreciate. Pray for us as we finish preparing our messages. And thank God for the hundreds of volunteers who got here at their own expense yesterday morning in order to do set up for the bookstore, prepare registration today, and do other things to enable us to meet together in a way that we hope to you will just seem natural and effortless. OK, almost effortless. I guess you did have to get to Louisville! If you can find a volunteer at Registration, the bookstore or elsewhere to thank, thank them, too! Again, on behalf of Ligon, CJ & Al, welcome to Louisville. We look forward to once again being together for the Gospel! Posted on April 15, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Pray for usWe (the speakers) are all working on our messages. Pray for us. And pray for our time together next week. Many thanks! We're looking forward to seeing all 5,000 of you there, together for the Gospel! Posted on April 9, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Last T4Free and T4G REGISTRATION CLOSES SUNDAYThe winner of the last T4Free question is Brian Main of Warren, Ohio. “My friend's mom used to cry when she returned to college after visiting home. As her daughter became more intent on pursuing missions in a Muslim country, it was not easy for the mom. But she grew to see the need for such work. After 9/11 she said to her daughter, ‘You need to hurry up and get back over there. They need you.' She sacrificed much by encouraging her daughter - now married and carrying baby #3 - to remain on the mission field. For many, sending your kids can be a bigger sacrifice than going yourself.” Registration closes this coming SUNDAY NIGHT. We have to have time to finalize plans for all kinds of stuff. So if you have friends who want to come, we’re in the Convention Center (it’s gigantic) but we’ll have to close registration to work on the specific preparations. Praise God for all the planning coming together. Bob and I have even agreed on all the hymns! (He's been a joy to work with.) Pray for the speakers as they work on their talks. I don’t like mine right now. And pray for all who are planning to come, that God would bless His work and encourage His ministers. Posted on March 25, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Promo VideosThe 2006 T4G promo videos are completed and can be seen here: www.t4g.org/promoPosted on March 24, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Winners of T4Free #7 and #8Lots of great book title ideas from all of you on what to name a book with this year's T4G sermons. We'll probably continue to weigh a number of them when we come to actually deciding on a title. Thanks again for your input! In the meantime, a free T4G registration goes to the first entry which came in, simply because (whether or not we use it) it satisfies the criteria of all good titles--it's both creative and concise: Sound Systems or Sound Doctrine? Subtitle: "The triumph of truth over technique." That answer comes from Larry Knowles of Vernon, Vermont. Congratulations, Larry! AS FOR Question NUMBER 8, it's extremely tempting for me to select the brave brother who nominated the Baptist Hymnal as the "most read book" (aside from the Bible) among the T4G 08 attendees. But I decided to base my decision on statistics. Out of 59 answers provided, several went to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress; several to John Stott's Cross of Christ; a couple to C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity; and several to CJ's books. Ten votes were placed for J. I. Packer's Knowing God. But a whopping TWENTY went to John Piper's Desiring God. If over one-third of the answers went to Desiring God, it's not unreasonable to think that it may be the most read book among T4G attendees. So the question becomes, which of the twenty nominees shall we credit with the best answer? Whether it's the best or not, we're going with Andy Naselli's short and sweet proposal. Naselli, who lives in Deerfield, Illinois, writes, "This richly theological and warmly devotional best-seller has been the means for sending countless Christians on a trajectory towards theology that is increasingly joyful, robust, God-centered, Christ-exalting, and gospel-treasuring." The only thing missing from Naselli's answer is the additional descriptive "hyphen-making"! Thanks to everyone for their answers. And be praying for the conference, and particularly the speakers as we (I!!!!) work on our addresses. Posted on March 21, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T4G REGISTRATION TO CLOSERegistration will be open until March 30, 2008. However, there are only about 300 registration spots left. Registration will close when all the spots sell out, so be sure to register soon if you plan to attend. Posted on March 19, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments LAST T4FREE QUESTION!With the last question for a free T4G 08 registration, we turn to the inspirational. Are you ready? Here it is: Piper is going to talk about radical Christian Sacrifice. Provide a true example of radical Christian sacrifice. Contest rules:
Posted on March 19, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T4Free question #8 (NEXT TO LAST ONE!)Okay, we're down to the second to last free T4G 08 registration contest question. Here it is: What Christian book (other than the Bible) do you think has been read by the most people attending T4G 2008, and why? Contest rules:
PS--TELL YOUR FRIENDS--Registration closes soon. Posted on March 17, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T4Free winner #6Is Steven Hall of Coarsegold, CA. The question was answering the question of Al's T4G address "Why Do They Hate It So?"--substitutionary atonement. Steven's answer is: Substitution is offensive because it means:
We look forward to Al's answer at the conference. Pray for our brother as he prepares to address us. Posted on March 14, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T 4 Free question #7Friends, okay, we're really serious about this question because we need some help! A number of us have gone back and forth trying to come up with a good book title for the 2008 talks, once those talks are converted into a book--Lord willing--by Crossway. And we've not found any title that everyone likes. So what do you have for us? That's question # 7. Take a look at the list of talk titles for the 2008 conference, and then suggest a book title for a book comprised of those talks. Instead of giving you the usual 24 hours, you have all weekend on this one. We'll cut it off sometime on Monday. What do you got?! Here's the rest of the rules:
Posted on March 14, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Winner of T4Free question #5 is . . .David Bissett of Clifton Park, New York
Dave wrote in answering the question: Of the four T4G hosts, who is most likely to change their mind on a theological issue and what issue would it be? We got a lot of answers. If the majority wins, Ligon, you're becoming a Baptist sometime pretty soon! Some answers were over the 100 word limit (and so disallowed) but thanks for sending them in. Here is David's answer: "This is really tough, since all these guys hold such solid, biblical positions. But my guess is that C. J. -- surrounded by spiritual brothers with such fine heads of hair -- is likely to finally accept the validity of the OT 'Nazarite' vow, and decide not to let a razor touch his head! 'Let go, and it grow C. J. !'" Posted on March 12, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T4Free Question #6True to form, Al Mohler has given his T4G talk a provocative title: "Why Do They Hate It So? The Doctrine of Substitution." Today's question for a free 08 conference registration is Why do you think the doctrine of substitution, as Al Mohler's talk puts it, is hated so? Contest rules:
Posted on March 12, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T4Free question #4 WINNER!is Matt Rawlings of the Sovereign Grace church of Greenville, South Carolina. How approrpriate that a SovGrace pastor would best advise CJ on what to have in the final talk at T4G! There were a lot of good answers, a good number giving similar answers. Anyway, here is Matt's cousel to CJ: "Confidence in God's Care for His people, even when you feel yours is no good.
Now that's a word we all need to hear. Thanks, Matt! Posted on March 11, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T 4 Free #5We have a few more free T4G '08 registrations to give away before they close. Here's today's question: Contest rules:
Posted on March 10, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T 4 Free question #3 winner!David Martin of Southport, Indiana gave us the best answer to the question What is the most awkward/unexpected/funny moment you have had when interviewing for the job of pastor? We had a good number of funny, sad, interesting answers. Wow! There are some . . . interesting situations out there! But, here's the one we picked: "While interviewing . . . , a lady asked "the" question. Innocently, she wanted to know what my thoughts were on Santa Claus and his being a part of the Christmas program as had always been the tradition at this church. I was caught a bit off guard, but responded that I did not see the necessity of bringing Santa into the church and confusing the message of Christ with that of the culture. Immediately, what had been a good interviewing session went deafeningly quiet and . . . , I did not get that pastorate because of my postion on Santa Claus." Lesson: watch out for your Clausology? Posted on March 8, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T 4 Free Question #4
Posted on March 7, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T 4 Free question #2 WINNERThe winner of our question why the local church is better than a pastors conference IS moving to New Jersey soon, but now resides in Franklin, TN. Reid Monaghan is the winner! And the winning entry was: Top Ten Reasons Local Churches are better than pastors’ conferences:
Posted on March 7, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T 4 Free question #3For this next question, we may have to post a number of the top answers. Still, we're looking to give a free T4G registration to the top answer. And the question is… What is the most awkward/unexpected/funny moment you have had when interviewing for the job of pastor? Contest rules:
Posted on March 5, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Winner of T4Free #1A lot of you (maybe around 200?) sent in a lot of answers. I have to tell you they clustered around the following: Jesus Christ ("I am of Christ"), Paul, a great one on one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, various other people from Scripture, Luther, Calvin, (a few Sibbes, thank you!), Edwards, Whitfield, Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones. I would love to tell you more about the entries, but I'm working on some talks I'm supposed to give out at Golden Gate Seminary, and in Sacramento on Wed. & Thurs of this week, so I can't do that. Just know that we appreciate all the entries and hope that God will use the speakers we DO have to bless and encourage those who gather at T4G. Now, on to the winner. The winner is Joey Asbury of Greenwood, Indiana. He said that he wasn't at T4G 06 but recently watched the videos on Ligonier. (Thanks, Ligonier!) And that he'll look forward to coming this year. And here is his entry: "I would like to hear George Whitefield preach for two reasons. 1. Whenever I hear the term “Together for the Gospel” I think of the great quote by Whitefield. "Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven? Any Episcopalians? No! Any Presbyterians? No! Have you any Independents or Seceders? No! Have you any Methodists? No! No! No! Whom have you there? We don't know those names here! All who are here are Christians." 2. I would love to hear a man who could preach a Spirit-filled gospel message to 5,000 without the aid of a microphone." Well, in heaven. But isn't it wonderful to sharpen our gratitude for some of the faithfulnesses that God has shown us in servants past. Let's pray that God make us fruitful servants in our own time. Posted on March 3, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T 4 Free #2Time for more fun.
We'll try to post the winning entry from the first question soon! Posted on March 3, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Ummm . . . There Have Been a Lot of Answers,So I/we will need a little more time to sort through these! We'll get back to you . . . Soon! Thanks for your understanding! Posted on March 2, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments T 4 FreeHey Friends,
Any takers? Posted on February 29, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments The Bondage of "Guidance"This will be brief. The way many Christians practice seeking God's will before they make a decision amounts to spiritual and emotional bondage. Christ has died to give us liberty and freedom (Rom. 6; Gal. 5; I Peter 2). We can only know the truth about God's will by what His Spirit reveals to us. He has revealed God's mind authoritatively in His Word. We should give ourselves to study what He has revealed. Personal reading, meditation, sermons, friends and books are all available to us to help us to better understand God's revealed will. I do believe that God's Spirit will sometimes lead us subjectively. So, for instance, I am choosing to spend my life here on Capitol Hill because my wife & I sensed in 1993 that that is what God wanted us to do. However, I realized then (and now) that I could be wrong about that supposition. Scripture is NEVER wrong. I was free in 1993 to stay in England, or teach at a seminary, either of which would have been delightful opportunities. I understand that I was free to make those choices. But I chose, consulting Scripture, friends, wisdom, and my own subjective sense of the Lord's will, to come to DC. And even if I were wrong about that, I had (and have) that freedom in Christ to act in a way that is not sin. And I understand my pastoring here not to be sin. So I am free. Regardless of the sense of leading I had. Most decisions I've made in my Christian life, I've made with no such sense of subjective leading. Maybe some would say that this is a mark of my spiritual immaturity. I understand this to be the way a redeemed child of God normally lives in this fallen world before the fullness of the Kingdom comes, Christ returns, and immediate, constant, unbroken fellowship with God is re-established. A subjective sense of leading--when we've asked for it (as in James 1:5 we ask for wisdom) and when God freely gives it--is wonderful. The desire for such a subjective sense of leading, however, is too often, in contemporary evangelical piety, binding our brothers and sisters in Christ, paralyzing them from enjoying the good choices that God may provide, and causing them to wait wrongly before acting. Beware of the bondage of "guidance." Posted on February 20, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Sweet Reminders Bode WellShort videos at the T4G website are being posted of highlights from the 2006 T4G. Thank God for His kindnesses to us. Watch these as they show up. Send them to friends as encouragements and short reminders. The CJ clip that's just been put up reminds me very much of the whole talk, and challenges me even now as I'm writing this. Pray for our gathering again in Louisville. We can't assume that because the last gathering was so blessed by God that this one will be. Let us pray. And remember. Posted on February 4, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Registration for T4G 2008 closes in a little over a monthIt's been a busy two years, but registration for T4G 2008 will close (DV) in less than 50 days. We've tried to get a much larger venue than last time so that EVERYBODY that wants to come can come. It's still going to be aimed at pastors and church leaders, and structured like last time. New books to give away (which won't be announced until you get them--we gotta have a little mystery!!!). In order to help you prepare, perhaps decide to come, and either way pray for us, I'm going to begin asking the various speakers what they're speaking on, and why. And first up, our own Ligon Duncan. Ligon, I know you're busy, with Al down there right now, but what are you planning to speak on at T4G this year, and why? Posted on February 3, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments Looking Toward T4GIn case you haven't seen the T4G ads floating around, here are four of them! Posted on December 18, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Decision TimeWhoa. Look what's still here! It looks like nobody has stuck their head in here for a while. I bet we'll get more activity as the 08 conference closes in. We'll see. Anyway, speaking of the 08 conference, I've just noticed it's Oct. 26. That means that in just a few days, the cost of attending T4G goes up $50. It's easier on us to plan ahead of time, so we, like all conference organizers, give a discount to those who do our teams the favor of letting us do more of our planning ahead of time by registering early. In our case, it's worth enough to give everyone who does that by Oct. 31 a lower price. I just wanted to point this out to you, in case you knew you were planning to come, and just hadn't gotten around to registering. Now's the time to do it. Just think, if you're planning to bring your staff of 5 along with yourself, that would be a $300 savings for the 6 of you together! It's worth your taking a few minutes to consider if it would be better for you to pay for the extra time to consider (which many may need to do), or if you fully intend to come and just hadn't gotten around to registering. If that second one is you, a little work now could save you a chunk of change. It's decision time! Posted on October 26, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Hotel News for T4G08For those of you looking to connect with other Together for the Gospel 2008 attendees ahead of time, we have created a Google Group where you can post messages back and forth. Feel free to use this as a way to post interest in sharing accommodations, find others in your area coming to the conference, etc! Posted on October 17, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments On the Road AgainI've had a nice month of no travel, but now I'm in England for a week. Pray for me (and Mike Gilbart-Smith) these next few days. And do join us if you're in the area. On Friday I'm to do a couple of lectures and Q&A times in the afternoon at Oak Hill Theological College. Saturday all day are the Theology for All lectures, in London, sponsored by the Tyndale Fellowship. Sunday I have the privilege of preaching at the East London Tabernacle, a congregation that has known a long and faithful pastorate from Kenneth Brownell. Monday is an all-day 9Marks workshop for ministers, and Tuesday I'm giving a couple of talks at Tyndale House up in Cambridge (and seeing old friends). Wednesday, Lord willing, it is back to DC. Posted on September 20, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Cooperation for You!Dear Friends, Thanks for the encouragement so many of you have given us about the idea of having close minister friends (even of other denominations!). I have been heartened, even inspired by the stories many of you have communicated about the friendships you've been deliberately developing with other evangelical ministers in your area. It's to that end that we are intending to develop an online mapping tool here at T4G. We've had many requests for this, but there are more challenges than might first appear. Here's what we've worked out that we think we can do--hire someone to figure it out for us!! If you are a developer or programmer and would be interested in working on this project, we would like to hear from you (or we would like you to pass this on to an appropriate person in your church). Email Josh at [email protected] to review the request for proposal or learn more about the project. Thanks for helping us to help you cooperate for the Gospel! Posted on July 30, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Togetherness and the Real Front LineOn my last evening in Geneva, I reflect briefly on various evangelical ecumenisms. I would not be a part of those that we evangelicals usually refer to as the ecumenists--like the World Council of Churches. (Don't they have offices somewhere here in Geneva?) There is another kind of togetherness that I have publicly objected to--Evangelicals and Catholic TOGETHER. While I wish all of these men well, and some of them are good friends of mine, I fear that some of them--Protestant and Roman Catholic--have so elevated what they understand to be implications of the Gospel to be of equal importance to, and even to be part of, the Gospel itself. And when that is done, moral agreements may seem to diminish the difference, and at least the significance of the difference, between Rome's understanding of salvation, and that which we understand the Bible to teach. And in such a situation the cultural periphery is temporarily shored up, while the theological heart sinks into dangerous confusion. Such togetherness is purchased at too high a price. There is yet another kind of togetherness that I HAVE been involved in--TOGETHER for the Gospel. Here we have come together with NO disagreements over the Gospel, but rather having our disagreements reserved for secondary, though important, issues. In the last few weeks, however, I've been asked a couple of interesting questions about T4G that I thought might be of interest to you, dear reader. One dear friend asked me if T4G was a 5-point Calvinst rally. He (a non 5-point Calvinist) asked me this in the best spirit, and I told him honestly that it was a fine question, and that the conference was more a natural outgrowth of friendships. I even had another friend, an Arminian, tell me how much he appreciated T4G and encouraged me to do whatever I could to "reach out" to Bible-believeing Arminians. This friend was, perhaps, calling for a meeting for another kind of TOGETHERNESS--Calvinists and Arminians TOGETHER! Friends, I will let Al, CJ & Lig explain what they think about cooperation with other evangelicals, but I have always been at least an informal member of Calvinists and Arminians Together! I'm a Southern Baptist! I was involved in Inter-Varsity! I went to Gordon-Conwell! You may look in the recently released What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007) and find that it is dedicated to 3 pastors. Who are they? Harold Purdy was my pastor growing up at First Baptist Church, Madisonville, KY, and he was a prince of a man and a fine expositional preacher. Wally Thomas was, during my high school years, an equally fine pastor of First United Methodist Church, and a warm preacher of the Gospel and lover of God's people. And Ed Henegar was my pastor during my college years, pastor of Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church (then PCUS) in Durham, NC. Ed was a wonderful older brother, minister of the Word and pre-marital counsellor. We had the honor of having Ed marry us. I will always appreciate his meditations on the Lord's Supper, and the confidence I had every time I went to church that I would hear him speak from God's Word. So, I deliberately dedicated What is a Healthy Church? to a Baptist, a Methodist and a Presbyterian pastor. I didn't make it explicit, but I thought that right now it might be a small encouragement to help us realize where the real front line is. The real front line is not between Calvinist evangelicals and Arminian evangelicals. It is between those who are lost in their sins and those who have been saved by God's sheer grace in Christ. And this is not, of course, a war of flesh and blood, but a loving "assault" of sheep charging the wolves with the Good News of Jesus Christ, sheep who were themselves once at enmity with God. Our "weapons" to use the Biblical metaphor (Eph. 6:10-17), are spiritual. Here, on this real front line of conflicting worldviews and God-views, there is much togetherness in the Gospel by evangelical believers. 500 years ago Rome warned us that we Protestants would continue to split into countless groups, if we split with them over this. Well, 500 years of history have passed, and the verdict is in resoundingly. Rome was wrong. The Gospel is clear. Wherever we may mail our checks for missionary support, a Free Methodist evangelist in Brazil, an Assembly of God pastor in the Philippines, an Bible-believing Lutheran pastor in Ethiopia or a conservative Dutch Reformed Christian in South Africa, an evangelical Church of Scotland grandmother, a conservative Anglican in London, and a Southern Baptist deacon in Dallas, when they sit down next to someone on the bus or the plane, and share the Gospel with them, will all share the same Gospel--the good news about the Holy God who sent his Son to die and be raised for the justification of sinners. And that we experience God's forgiveness and new life through faith alone in Christ alone. We don't need a bishop in Rome or anywhere else to tell us this. We don't need a world-wide organization. We just need the Holy Spirit, the Bible and the faithful teaching of this gospel by any one of thousands of congregations around the globe faithful to this gospel. The Gospel is the real front line. And the Gospel is what all of us evangelicals are really together for. Whatever conference we may go to. Posted on June 29, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Church MattersJust a note to let you know that we have now started a 9marks blog called "Church Matters". You can find it at 9marks.org. A number of friends and I will be discussing issues related especially to the local church. I hope it will be a good discussion. Check it out. (Maybe I won't be a lonely blogger over there!) Posted on June 20, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments One for FathersJohn Paton was a Scottish missionary to the Islands of the South Pacific. He died 100 years ago this year. He was born in 1824. He went out to the Islands at the age of 34 in 1858. And there he labored for the rest of his long life. After 31 years, he wrote his autobiography. In it, he remembered the time—almost 50 years earlier—when his dear father had walked him out of his village, and toward Glasgow, where his future lay. And with 50 years having gone, Paton was still obviously affected by this man who so trusted in God, feared Him, and delighted in pleasing Him. I started out from my quiet country home on the road to Glasgow. Literally “on the road,” for from Torthorwald to Kilmarnock—about forty miles—had to be done on foot, and thence to Glasgow by rail. Railways in those days were as yet few, and coach traveling was far beyond my purse. A small bundle, tied up in my pocket-handkerchief, contained my Bible and all my personal belongings. Thus was I launched upon the ocean of life. I thought on One who says, “I know thy poverty, but thou art rich.” My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half-mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence,--my father, as was often his custom, carrying his hat in hand, while his long, flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later years white as snow) streamed like a girl’s down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain! We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: “God bless you, my son! Your father’s God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!” Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him—gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I was round the corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for a time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he had gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his face towards home, and began to return—his head still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonour such a father and mother as He had given me. The appearance of my father, when we parted—his advice, prayers, and tears—the road, the dyke, the climbing up on it and then walking away, head uncovered—have often, often, all through life, risen vividly before my mind, and do so now while I am writing, as if it had been but an hour ago. In my earlier years particularly, when exposed to many temptations, his parting form rose before me as that of a guardian Angel. It is no Pharisaism, but deep gratitude, which makes me here testify that the memory of that scene not only helped, by God’s grace, to keep me from the prevailing sins, but also stimulated me in all my studies, that I might not fall short of his hopes, and in all my Christian duties, that I might faithfully follow his shining example.” (Paton, Autobiography, pp. 25-26) Posted on June 16, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Old Baptistries, old Baptists? and AmbroseDear friends, here are pictures taken by the ever-faithful Matt Schmucker. The first picture is of a 4th-century baptistry in Ravenna.
Evangelicals know about Augustine, but we tend to be less familiar with Ambrose. He was a fascinating figure in his own right. Born in 339AD of an aristocratic Roman family, he trained to be an upper level Roman bureaucrat. But he was elected bishop of Milan in 374, before he had even been baptized! (That's a long story, but let me simply say that immediately upon his election, he was baptized.) He is the first figure from history that we know read silently. He baptized Augustine in this pool on Easter, 387AD. Ambrose was the same age then that I am now. So when I was there, I prayed that God would lead people to Christ through my preaching, and that I would have the joy of baptizing those this year who would be of immense use to the kingdom. There are some things about Ambrose that I don't like. He preached the OT allegorically. (Augustine actually loved this!) And he was one of the first to develop ideas of transubstantiation. But there are many things about Ambrose that I DO like! He thought the pastor's main job was preaching Scripture. Ambrose preferred to preach expositional series. He believed that we would not know anything about God if God did not reveal Himself first. He denied that any bishop was legally superior to any other, or that Peter had taught any kind of supermacy of one bishop over others. He wrote hymns that became popular. He was a staunch opponent of the Arian heresy. He wore no special clerical dress (though neither did any other preachers at the time; that only came much later). Ambrose broke fellowship with French pastors when they first used state power to carry out church punishments. He led the way in using passive resistance to oppose state-sponsored injustices. He made it clear that the power of the church was in no way dependent upon the state. And he made this most clear in his dealings with the Roman emperor Theodosius, who resided in Milan 388-391. During those years, Emperor Theodosius ordered the slaughter of thousands of innocents in Thessalonica. The world was shocked. Ambrose, as his pastor, excommunicated him. He required the emperor to appear in church without his imperial regalia, and to confess his sins publicly and testify repentance of them before Ambrose would again admit him to the Lord's table. Citing Ezek 3:18, explaining that he himself would become guilty of Theodosius' sin if he didn't so rebuke him, Ambrose publicly opposed the emperor for some time. Finally, Theodosius apparently relented, and came and confessed his sins to the congregation, just as Ambrose had required. Theodosius was then again admitted to communion. Ambrose fell sick in 397 and, when asked to pray for his own recovery, responded, "I have not lived among you in such a way, that I would have to be ashamed to live longer; but I am also not afraid of death, for we have a good Lord." He died on April 4, 397. And I also like the fact that Ambrose used a really big baptistry! Posted on May 23, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Augustine's baptismOK, Lig. I'm still here in Italy, land of 4th century baptisteries! We're in Milan this weekend. I stood today where Constantine issued his edict legalizing Christianity throughout the Empire. I'm to preach again tonight and tomorrow morning, and then it's back to the good ol' US of A and home on Monday, Lord willing. In trying to redeem the time here, I have searched high and low for the pieces of early Christian history that continue to instruct us. And today, dear brother, I saw another baptistery! It was here in Milan, underneath the current cathedral in Milan. The crowds of tourists were upstairs. Pastor Sam and Matt Schmucker were the only ones with me, down underneath the floor, looking at the 4th century baptistery in which Pastor Ambrose baptized Augustine. Now I'm not referring to Augustine's (or Ambrose's) theology of baptism; simply how they practiced it--and what kind of baptistery they practiced it in. And Lig, I got to tell you, this one was big, too. Really, really big. Maybe bigger than the one in Ravenna! Matt got a picture with me standing next to it. Can't wait to see if I can get these posted. Thanks for your prayers. Posted on May 19, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments A Really Big OneHey Lig! Thanks for your prayers & posts. If I had known you would blog if I simply left the country, I might have left earlier! I am here speaking in Italy at two conferences (one is done, the other starts day after tomorrow). In the inbetween time, I am usually touring with my host during the day and preaching in the evening. Tonight I preached on Titus 1:9ff in Bologna--the duty of elders to rebuke false teachers and protect the flock. Anyway, during the day we were in Ravenna. There I saw something I cannot wait to show you a picture of--a baptistery that was really old (around the early 5th century, when Augustine was writing!!). And get this, Lig. This is the part that will really interest you--it was really, really, REALLY big! Can't wait to share the pictures with you! Posted on May 16, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Even more Together for the GospelDear Friends, Tomorrow we begin taking registration for T4G 08. If the Lord tarries, and gives us life, we look forward to gathering with many of you again, and many more of you for the first time. We have moved the event a few blocks down in order to double the number of people we can accomodate. A word to the wise, register soon AND book your hotel rooms or make other arrangements to stay soon. We have no way of knowing how many will register, but a number of indications (e.g., pastors saying they weren't there last time, but want to bring their whole leadership team this time) suggest that the registrations could come in more quickly than may seem normal. We shall see. The conference otherwise should be very similar to last time--bare but packed schedule, larger book store, heartfelt singing, lots of speaking and panel discussions, no break out sessions. One new thing--Thabiti Anyabwile agreeing to speak. Thabiti has been given by God great gifts in service of Him. He wields those gifts with a deft humble, self-deprecating manner and gentle style, complete with smile, laugh and yet an intensity and mental quickness which mark him out. He is young in his pastorate (he's in his first year as Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman) but has years of experience in ministry. He was a faithful and effective chairman of our elders at CHBC before God called him on. His ministry has left wonderful fruit in our life, and I know that the ministries of both Thabiti, and his wife Kristie, have left long trails of good behind them in North Carolina. Thabiti is a faithful preacher of God's Word, and I look forward to how we will be built up by his sharing in next year's conference. Something that is meant to be different about the T4G conference, and what it may inspire in your own ministry, is that it is built on, and attempts to model and provoke relational networks for encouragement and accountability. So inviting Thabiti was no mere decision of the 4 of us to send him a letter. First, we had to work at building in relationships, and introducing Thabiti to the brothers who didn't know him. So the delay in announcing his speaking reflects nothing on our confidence in him, but rather highlights the different kind of conference this is. From the moment the idea was born, time would need to be set aside for fellowship together and co-laboring. That has now largely happened. And we are delighted not simply at Thabiti's agreement to speak, but at Thabiti's growing friendships with the other speakers involved in the conference. Friends, you may not feel it best to take time to come to T4G 08. There may be other things you should do. But make sure that you are thinking about reaching your city with the Gospel, and that you are building relationships with other ministers that are doing the same. Pray for one another. Encourage one another. Work for the spread of the Gospel in your city. And if you have time, come to Together for the Gospel 08. Registration opens tomorrow. Posted on April 30, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Together for the Gospel 2008Preaching the Cross, the volume containing the 2006 addresses, just came out from Crossway. I'm delighted they're in print. Now, turning to next year, we're just about ready (I'm told) to open up registration for 2008. There is a new video on the website (which you may have already seen). And we should be announcing any day now the 8th speaker that CJ alludes to in the new video. Posted on April 22, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments How to Pick a SeminaryWhile I'm waiting for Lig to tell me what he thinks of Ridderbos, let me turn to another pressing question for many at this time of year--which seminary do I go to. For a young man feeling called into the ministry, few choices seem more important than choosing which seminary you’ll go to. Friends, family members, your own minister—all these people may give guidance and present opinions on this. Some of it will be helpful. On to five factors for you to consider. 1. Confession of Faith. The first and most important factor for you to consider when choosing a seminary is what doctrine is taught there. The ministry of the Word is all about a particular message. The Gospel is news. The Bible is written; it has a message. Therefore the seminary’s statement of faith is foundational to what it teaches. Look to be trained at an institution which seems to be committed to a right understanding of God’s Word. Do they have a good confession of faith? Do they adhere to it in their teaching? Do their graduates reflect it? 2. Quality of Education. Another consideration in choosing a seminary is the quality of the education offered. While there is no precise way to measure such quality, factors which indicate it are the school's faculty, the required curriculum and the library facilities. Have you read books by these professors, or heard them teach? Have you considered what the course requirements are for the degree you would probably pursue? How many semesters are required in Greek? In Hebrew? How many electives are there in the program? What does this reflect about the seminary’s understanding of the ministry? Are the library facilities adequate? Are they good? What do pastors you respect say about the quality of education at the school you’re considering? 3. Cost. Let’s say you’ve found a seminary that you agree with theologically, and that seems to offer a good quality of education. Then, a third matter you should consider is cost. How expensive is the education there? What are the living costs like in that community? Are there good scholarships or jobs to be had? It would be unwise for you to commit yourself to considerable indebtedness. In that sense, an MDiv is not like an MD degree, an MBA or a law degree. The calling that you are following doesn’t usually pay the kind of salaries doctors, businessmen or lawyers may receive. It is part of your being a good steward to consider the cost of the education you are pursuing. Your ability to pay for it will effect your ministry during and after seminary. 4. Church. Havinglined up a seminary that you agree with theologically, that you think provides a good quality of education and that is affordable, you must also consider if there is a good church nearby that could be a place of ministry and spiritual encouragement and direction while you are in the seminary. Is there a good church in that place? Are you happy to have your own spiritual life joined with this church and cared for by them, by that pastor, by that community? Will they be able to give you the kind of supportive and potentially protective community that you will need? Is there a church which can provide you with a good place to be involved with ministry, and to continue to confirm your gifts? 5. Connections for Life. Finally, it is a legitimate question to consider what connections for the rest of life you might make by attending this seminary or that theological college. Most ministers who go to seminary for training meet there professors and fellow students who continue to be an informal network long after your formal educational work is done. Such questions of network and denomination are questions worth weighing carefully. Seminary is usually a time of making friendships that will last throughout your ministry. Such friendships are means of encouragement and support later in life. They are resources for your ministry. And it can be significant that these people know you, as well. Opportunities for service may come to you because friends you know from seminary are aware of you and your gifts and ministry. Here are five simple matters then that deserve your careful consideration, and that may help you determine where God would have you go to seminary. Posted on April 2, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Hey, Lig!A question to Ligon Duncan: How's Ridderbos? Posted on April 2, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments White PresumptiveDear friends, just a few thoughts for you this weekend, especially on the topic of the unity of races as a witness to the truth of the Gospel. My least favorite sentence in the T4G Affirmations and Denials document comes in Article XVII. It's the 3rd sentence, and it reads:
I think this statement is true. I am sorry that it seems to assume that evangelical Christianity is made up only of those who are other than African American brothers and sisters. This is of course not the case, and it is not what we meant, but I think the statement does seem to imply that. Thanks to those many of you who have both noticed this, and over-looked it in light of affirming our intention. Our inability at this point to express ourselves well, our speaking fundamentally as 4 friends, explains some of the "white presumptive" language of the sentence, but so many others are desiring to appropriate the document that I wish we had found a more accurate way of stating our concern here. Edward Gilbreath has done us a favor by publishing a good and thought-provoking first-hand account of the challenges before us. His IVP 2006 book is called Reconciliation Blues and I would encourage all of you to read it. Mr. Gilbreath is a good writer, a lover of the Gospel, and a brother who transparently shares his longing for a God-glorifying unity in the churches. Mr. Gilbreath, if you should read these words, thank you for sharing yourself with us through this project. Friends, read this book. You might also benefit from listening to Thabiti Anyabwile share his own story in our most recent 9marks interview. It's an interview with Thabiti on his life and ministry. His discussion of his own childhood, of what it meant to be basically growing up father-less are perhaps the most moving moments of my several years of interviewing folks. Listening to this interview, looking at the world through the eyes of an African-American teenager could well be used of God to help you better understand the challenges we face. One of the things I hope will happen through Crossway publishing Thabiti's new book, The Faithful Preacher, is that those of us who are evangelicals but who are not African-American will begin to learn that part of our history that we have so largely ignored. Why would Thabiti's lovely daughters when they were in Sunday School at Capitol Hill Baptist Church only hear stories of white missionaries and white heroes of the faith? Praise God, they didn't only hear those stories. But they mainly did. And it's because of our ignorance. In his new book, Thabiti helps to share parts of family history too often overlooked. African-American Christian history is more fundamentally Christian than it is African-American. I realize that may be a controversial statement, but inside the body of Christ, we must realize that our racial identities (while seeming in Revelation to last into eternity) are not as fundamental as our Christian identity. In Gen. 12:3 God promised to bless all nations through Abraham; in Matt. 28 Christ commanded it; in Acts we see it beginning to happen; and in Rev. 12:9 we see that it has happened. Why deprive ourselves through ignorance of some of the most amazing things God has done? We should proactively investigate getting to know the Christian history of various ethnic groups, because contained in them are, no doubt, amazing stories of God's action for the building up of His united people. Forgive me, for ways my language has been wrongly "white presumptive" and revel in the richness of God's grace as you explore histories newly discovered to you. Posted on March 24, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Two Painfully Learned and Immensely Important LessonsA recent conversation with a good friend reminded me of two of the most painfully learned lessons of my life. I thought I would briefly share them with you. There was a minister I dearly loved (and still do) who proved unfaithful in his ministry. Paul says in I Cor. 4:2 that "it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." None of us do it perfectly. This one friend proved spectacularly unfaithful, that is, the unfaithfulness was of a serious and on-going nature, and it was revealed suddenly. For three to four months it was like I had a second job taking phone calls from around the world counselling with friends--especially young ministers--who were deeply shaken. It was a terrible time, and one in which God's gospel stood as clear and bright as ever, and the hope of heaven became even sweeter. As I reflected on the time, two lessons especially stood out to me. The first is for all Christians, the second especially for pastors. The first lesson was provoked when one dear brother reproached himself for not reaching out more to this mutual friend, not asking more questions about how our mutual friend was doing. I told him that I had met with this friend weekly and often asked him many questions. I didn't think he (my self-reproachful friend) was so much in the wrong as our mutual friend was wrong for not being honest. Lesson number one: no accountability relationships will work if there is not a commitment to honesty on the part of the person in question. The problem wasn't a lack of initiative toward him; the problem was his hiding the truth from us. If I am committed to my sin above a humble, self-revealing honesty, then I can't rely on any accountability structure or loving friendships to expose my sin and protect my soul. I must remember that if I am to war against sin, I must labor to be embarassingly transparent. The second lesson was more particularly for those engaged in public ministry. Many Christians will make pious statements about God refusing to bless a ministry because of sin in the minister's life, or holiness being the essential ingredient in a pastor's ministry. Many other statements like that are in the literature. And certainly holiness is a necessarily present mark of any true ministry--or true Christian life, for that matter. BUT, and here's lesson number two: the public success of your ministry is no indication of the true state of your relationship with God. Yes, preachers should meet the qualifications Paul lays out in I Tim. 3 & Titus 1, but God is not limited to using people who do. In Scripture we see God using beasts (Balaam's donkey), inanimate objects (the burning bush) even Satan himself to do His bidding. We shouldn't be surprised that God can sovereignly have His truth preached through the mouths of hypocrites. My brother minister, are you in a time of public blessing? Don't assume that necessarily has anything to do with how your own relationhip with the Lord is. Those are the two lessons, shared briefly with you. Behind them are months of painful experience, tears, prayers, and countless conversations. I hope they may be useful to you now. That would be a good use of the sorrows of many brothers and sisters. One more thing. CJ is wonderfully loving the ministers he is committed to caring for. Lig is building his congregation and blogging over at Ref21. Al is educating us on all manner of things in the public press today, and also blogging at AlbertMohler.com. We're going to keep blogging here, and we're discussing how we might do that more helpfully. In the meantime, look for a new 9marks blog soon, over at 9marks.org. There I and some others will be taking on issues a bit more narrowly that have to do with components of a healthy church. Remember the CT cover story last year on young, restless and reformed? To get us kicked off over at the 9marks blog, I'm going to begin with a 10-part series on where I think all these folks came from! So it should be a fun discussion. Check us out over there. And don't forget to stop by here. Posted on March 20, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Don Carson vs. Egregious Reductionisms AgainIf you are the kind of person who feels that it's not a good idea, not prudent, and perhaps wrongly human-glorifying to say something good about someone, you should stop reading here. For the rest of you, keep reading. Don Carson has for years put his God-given gift of brilliance and hard academic labor to use for the church. I from time to time have had the privilege to share a platform with him at ministers conferences and other events. I have seen him far away from the Ivy-covered halls of academia, laboring long and hard not simply over language theories or a fine hermenuetical point (good things to do) but with a pastor (whether from South Africa or England or Illinois) helping him think through a Biblical or pastoral issue. Don has shown this in his career as a teacher and a writer as well. He has a passion for God, and a passion for God's truth, and a passion for God's church. First-class Biblical scholars who are not hostile to systematic theology, are themselves orthodox and pious, and have a love for the church which shows itself in doing helpful pastor- and popular-level writing for decades have marked too few people in the history of the church. John Calvin. B. B. Warfield. (OK, even Don Carson will stop reading at this point!) Anyway, from How Long O Lord to Showing the Spirit to The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God to Worship by the Book to The Cross and Christian Ministry--I could go on and on--Don has been a blessing to me and to countless other pastors, rather than putting all his time into forwarding his academic career (though he's done just fine in that area) Don has put his time into helping us. Stop and thank God for the gift that Don is. Well, now to the point of the blog. He's done it again. Don has a book coming out later this year with Eerdmans called Christ and Culture Revisited. He's obviously playing off H. Richard Niebuhr's famous title. And he spends one chapter analyzing Niebuhr's 5-fold typology for how Christ and culture relate. He turns the manuscript in this week, and the book should pop out sometime later this year. In this book, Don interacts with everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Stanley Hauerwas. He has a great section on the central story-line of the Bible. As he says at one point in the manuscript: "much of the rest of this book can be read as a meditation on how a robust biblical theology tends to safeguard Christians against the most egregious reductionisms." Don has read not only widely, but carefully and with understanding. He expresses himself carefully, in a nuanced fashion, and yet clearly. Unlike some other academic popularizers today, Don shares his rich bibliography in a way that enables the reader to do further research if he or she wants to. My own understanding has been sharpened. I've been introduced to some helpful ways to think. I've even found some good things for our church newsletter in this book!! Don Carson's new book promises to be helpful in a number of different ways. Don himself travels more widely, in more different cultures, than any other Chrisitan preacher that I know. He is well suited by birth and upbringing, by education and life-experience, by reflectiveness and ability to write such a volume. Maybe this is the kind of book that only a pastor on Capitol Hill gets excited about! But I don't think so. Buy it. Read it. Pass it along to folks in your congregation. Posted on March 7, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Completely Unavoidable OptimismOur brother Al Mohler once said somewhere that "optimism is naive, but pessimism is atheistic." I think he's right. On non-ultimate matters (our government's fate, our culture's response to the Gospel, the world in rebellion against God) we can be agnostic or even pessimistic. But on ultimate matters--God's glory, His victory in procuring a people to His eternal praise, the triumph of the church--there is nothing but ultimate optimism presented in the Bible--Old Testament or New. Jesus promised in Matt. 16 that His church will prevail. We see from visions in Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, and prophecies in Isaiah and the Gospels that, in the end, and FOREVER, GOD WINS!! This is the kind of joy-giving perception that allowed Jesus to endure the cross, scorning its shame, and so it is for us. The western church has too often allowed Marxist/securlarist critiques to rob us of the joy we should have in our confidence of final and forever fellowship with God. And so hymns about the afterlife vanish. In my own denomination's hymnals, hymns about the afterlife drop in number from over 100 in the late 19th century to about 15 in the latest Baptist Hymnal (1991). Remaining hymns are neutered. The Baptist hymnal (1975 & 1991) both omit the wonderful 5th stanza from Cowper's great hymn "There is a Fountain". If you have the 1956 Baptist Hymnal you can still find it. "When this poor lisping stammering tongue Lies silent in the grave, Then in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing Thy power to Save." Our reluctance to sing about the grave in church on Sunday only reveals how much our hopes have been entrusted to this life--and we do not wish to conceive of them being lost. Our treasures have been put too much in this world. The wonderful optimism that is Christian is all about being adopted by the Father we rejected, and being forgiven by the husband we cheated on. It is about being accepted by the Righteous Judge, and about being embraced by the Friend we betrayed. All of this is sure in Christ. About all of these matters, there is no room for pessimism. On other more temporary issues--how the community will respond to our church--how much our various cultures will affirm freedom for Christian proclamation and practice--we have no Biblical promises, such as "everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will NOT be persecuted." In fact, the Spirit's promise to us is the opposite (see II Tim. 3:12). In this world, God gives times of refreshing and seasons of great Gospel growth, and times of more overt opposition to the Gospel. I'm not convinced that we can read the Bible in such a way as to know what is coming to us in the next decade on this level. But ultimately, in light of Revelation 22:4 and Matt. 16:18 and Ezek. 48:35 and Daniel 12:2-3 and I Thess 4:17-18, there is no room for final pessimism in Christianity. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32. This is seriously good news. And for the Christian, it is completely unavoidable. Posted on February 22, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Where'd we go? And the Missing PersecutionDear Friends, Many of you have written in wondering where we've all gone. CJ has been either sick or travelling. I have been either sick or travelling. Ligon no doubt has been using his time well over at Ref21. And the whole world knows about Al! (Who, by God's grace, is doing well. I was with him last night.) The best laid plans of mice and men go astray, as has our new year's resolve about restructuring this blog. SO, until we get our act together, I'll resume posting my own thoughts, every now and then. And now for the Missing Persecution. I have been studying Daniel and preaching on it here in DC at CHBC. Its main themes are obvious--God's complete sovereignty over those worldly rulers that look so powerful and permanent. A sub-theme, however, that has drawn my attention both in my own meditation and prayers, and in my sermons, is the theme that the saints will be ferociously attacked. Ultimate victory is certainly promised. But there is no thought of an optimistic postmillenial variety that I can find in the dreams and visions of the book. Instead, there is suffering UNTIL God brings an end to it. This fits not with themes of some modern motivational speakers (about having your best life now), but with the Bible--Jesus' theme in his teachings & life of suffering then glory. This theme, however, of the guarantee of persecution sits strangely with we western Christians today. It is, quite simply, not our usual experience. We conservative evangelicals tend to think that NOW is a struggling time for the church in the US and that the past was the glory period when we were at peace with the world, and the world with us. Certainly there were some society-wide moral common assumptions, which functioned, in part, for the good of all. But there was also persecution. Maybe I need to remind myself of ways God has already given the church in America here persecution. State persecutions of other protestants throughout the colonies in the 1600's & 1700's. African-American Christians being treated as property, with all the chilling implications and entailments of that. Giving churches over to heretical teachers. (Can you imagine if many or even most of the otherwise conservative, orthodox churches began affirming homosexuality and performing same sex weddings? And if they did so for centuries? If that seems unimaginable to you, consider the prevailing attitudes to slavery for over 2 centuries in many of the otherwise most orthodox churches in America.) Theological unbelief seizing hold of school after school. There has certainly been persecution of the church here in North America. And yet we seem unacquainted with even the thought of it today. I fear that in my heart (if not my head) I think affluence is normal. And then I read a book like Daniel, and I see prophesies of one "waging war against the saints and defeating them" for a season, the saints being handed over to one who is evil, the saints being oppressed, the power of the holy people being broken. I could go on and on. Oh God, prepare my soul, and those of my brothers and sisters to bring You glory in whatever way would most redound to Your glory. Posted on February 17, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments C. S. Lewis and CalvinismOne of the packages awaiting my return from South Africa the other day was the just-published third and final volume in Walter Hooper's edition of C. S. Lewis' letters. Interesting to read, these letters show that Lewis kept up an amazing amount of correspondence! Correspondence seemed to have been a near daily discipline for Lewis. There is a fine index, though, even from my skimming, it is, of course, incomplete. Mr. Hooper (or whoever compiled it) had a tremendous task before him, and the index is large, and will certainly prove useful. Nevertheless, in simply flipping through the volume, I found a very interesting letter touching on Calvinism which is not so referenced in the index. Here's just a brief excerpt of this remarkable letter. Originally written to Mrs. Emily Mclay, Aug. 3, 1953 (on pages 354 & 355 of this volume). "I take it as a first principle that we must not interpret any one part of Scripture so that it contradicts other parts . . . . The real inter-relation between God's omnipotence and Man's freedom is something we can't find out. Looking at the Sheep & the Goats every man can be quite sure that every kind act he does will be accepted by Christ. Yet, equally, we all do feel sure that all the good in us comes from Grace. We have to leave it at that. I find the best plan is to take the Calvinist view of my own virtues and other people's vices; and the other view of my own vices and other peoples virtues. But tho' there is much to be puzzled about, there is nothing to be worried about. It is plain from Scripture that, in whatever sense the Pauline doctrine is true, it is not true in any sense which excludes its (apparent) opposite. You know what Luther said: 'Do you doubt if you are chosen? Then say your prayers and you may conclude that you are.'" (pp.354-355). Hooper then in a footnote supposes that it is the Arminian view "that the divine sovereignty was compatible with a real human free will." I guess that means that Hooper has dismissed Jonathan Edwards' careful work in "On the Freedom of the Will." With all respect to Hooper, I would have to go with Edwards on that one. But I thought you might find this Lewis quotation interesting. Al, we've all been praying for you, and are thankful that you are home safely. Our time here passes quickly doesn't it? Praise God we have a loving sovereign who alone determines the measure of our days. Posted on January 17, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments Charismatic Questions Spontaneity!Bob Kauflin, tall, humble & happy, classicly-trained worship czar of Sovereign Grace ministries has been behind much good for Christ's church. (Get and listen to Sovereign Grace's new CD's Valley of Vision and Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man.) Bob is now in the process of writing a new book on worship which promises to be good, readable, helpful, even by the standards of this regulative-principle, Calvinistic, hymn-loving Baptist reader. Bob is one of the best, most well-read, most pastorally-senstive conversation partners on the whole topic of worship that God has ever given me. I have learned and do continue to try to learn from him. Here's one good quotation in which Bob is typically clear-headed and carefully reasoned: "I'm a spontaneous guy and love to hear people share freely from their hearts. However, I've learned that in most cases having people read their testimonies is preferable to having them speak without notes. The drawback is that people can sound a little impersonal or stiff. But the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. People don't head down rabbit trails, they stay within their allotted time, their thoughts can be edited in advance for clarity and content, and they are less anxious. Written notes also allow them to deviate briefly when appropriate, but give them something to return to." Bob goes on to give cautions about being too planned. His logic is ours at Capitol Hill Baptist Church for asking our baptismal candidates to write out their testimonies before they are baptized, and really for me writing out my sermons ahead of time! In these comments, as elsewhere, Bob shows himself to be my kind of "decently-and-in-order" charismatic brother! Posted on December 19, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments Thankful for eldersYesterday morning we had a wonderful time together as a congregation. One of the high points was a moment that is fairly rare in our church's life--all our elders came up front in the service. Our new elders were taking vows, as was the congregation, and we were praying for them. Having the elders there together, with the congregation pledging their prayers and support was moving. A number of members commented to me afterwards about how much they appreciated the ministry of the elders in our congregation. They were encouraged to see all these men standing there, from diverse backgrounds, committed to Christ and to our congregation. Some readers may think this is strange stuff for a Baptist to write, but here's what the faithful London pastor John Gill wrote in his commentary on III John 10: “the pastor, and though there is a pre-eminence, which of right belongs to such an officer, as to preside over the church, to govern, guide, and direct, according to the laws of Christ, he being set over the church, as a ruler, governor, and guide; yet this may be carried too far, as it was by this man, who coveted more than was his due, and lorded it over God’s heritage, ruled the flock with force and cruelty, and usurped a tyrannical power over them; whereas every thing in a church ought to be done, by pastor and people, in love, meekness, and with mutual consent. And it may be also, that he sought to have the pre-eminence over the rest of the elders of the church, for in those large churches there were oftentimes more elders and pastors than one (see Acts 20:17, 28; Phil. 1:1)." Posted on December 18, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments Deceptive ProsperityIt can be true of us as individuals. It can be true of our churches. It is the danger of deception, deception which comes with evident prosperity. What if there is prosperity in our life, but also sin? What if there is prosperity in our life right now, but sin God hates? What if there is prosperity in our life, but the sin--hateful to God--is practically invisible to us? We've become accustomed to it. We don't want to "see" it. And yet sin's invisibility to us only increases its danger for us. As Edmund Calamy said to his congregation in his final sermon, when some of them may have been pitying Calamy for his ejection from his pastorate, Calamy, acting even as a shepherd in his last sermon to his flock, was alerting them to the dangers inherent in their own prosperity. A timely word for us. "May be some will say, I have committed many . . . sins, but am not brought into any strait. Remember, it was nine months after David had numbered the people before he was in this strait; but as sure as God is in heaven, sin will bring straits sooner or later; though one sin a hundred years, yet shall he be accursed; may be thy prosperity makes way for thy damnation; and this is thy greatest distress, that thou goest on in sin and prosperity." Posted on December 11, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments Confront or Adapt
Reading through recent mailouts of upcoming pastors conferences, knowing some of the speakers' books and churches, reading the topics to be addressed, I'm struck again by the carefulness with which a faithful pastor must consider the issue of adapting the unchanging Gospel to his current context. Of course contextualization always takes place, whether acknowledged or unacknowledged. To acknowledge it is better, because then we are more self-aware of choices we're making, and we are also better able to be examined by others on those choices. Such awareness of our contextualizing also encourages humility, and hinders us from claiming alone to be the "I am of Christ" kind of party that Paul warned the Corinthians about. And yet, contextualization presumes either positive or at least neutral cultural images or ways of communication which can be used by the Gospel. Are there any cultural images or ways of communicating that can't be used for Gospel purposes? The answer would have to be "Yes", (though we might disagree about what those are). And what happens when a certain image or mode of communicating is inextricably linked with an anti-Christian worldview? David Wells summarizes the issue: “To put the matter succinctly: those who see only the contemporaneity of this spirituality—and who, typically, yearn to be seen as being contemporary—usually make tactical maneuvers to win a hearing for their Christian views; those who see its underlying worldview will not. . . . When rival worldviews are in play, it is not adaptation that is called for but confrontation.” David Wells, Above All Earthly Pow’rs (2005), pp. 155-156. To find out more of what David specifically uses as an example, you'll need to turn to that section of his book. But in all our concern for evangelism and contextualization (excellent, Christ-like concerns) we should not be blind to implications of our decisions. In a decision you're making right now about your own congregation, could you imagine a situation in which your intention is simply to adapt becoming a situation in which you would have no option but to confront? It's worth thinking about. Posted on December 6, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments Un-Locke the Church!Reflecting on the blessings God has given us in the United States, freedom of religion is certainly chief among them. And for them, we owe God thanks for one certain letter, which began: "Honored Sir, Since you are pleased to inquire what are my thoughts about the mutual toleration of Christians in their different professions of religion, I must needs answer you freely that I esteem that toleration to be the chief characteristic mark of the true church. For whatsoever some people boast of the antiquity of places and names, or of the pomp of their outward worship; others, of the reformation of their discipline; all, of the orthodoxy of their faith—for everyone is orthodox to himself—these things, and all others of this nature, are much rather marks of men striving for power and empire over one another than of the church of Christ. Let anyone have never so true a claim to all these things, yet if he be destitute of charity, meekness, and goodwill in general toward all mankind, even to those that are not Christians, he is certainly yet short of being a true Christian himself.” So John Locke writes in his Letter Concerning Toleration, (p.13). Locke's theology is certainly confused, but he went on to argue in his letter that folks of various theological persuasions had sufficient morality in common to be able to have a common, shared society. 2 quick comments: 1. Whether or not Locke (and the American founders) were right in this supposition is still open to question. When this letter was penned, abortion was assumed to be infanticide and homosexuality was considered immoral. What happens when large parts of the population no longer share such moral conclusions? 2. Locke's toleration somehow slipped from society at large into the church itself. As Robert Oliver has observed, “By the second decade of the eighteenth century it is clear that Locke’s Letter concerning Toleration was being used in a new way. Christians were moving beyond a readiness to tolerate heretics outside the church to a reluctance to discipline them within its bounds.” I leave larger societal reflections to others more qualified than I. About the church, however, surely Christ clearly taught that false teachers would arise, that wolves would imitate sheep, that discernment would be needed and that discipline should be practiced. I just preached this morning on II Peter 2, a clear call for false teachers to be rejected. The New Testament has many other echoes of Christ's teaching in Matthew 24 (and elsewhere). Confusing the world and the church is dangerous on just about any level, but cultivating a "toleration" about differing ways of salvation in the church is absolutely suicidal. Intolerance of serious error in the church promotes the Gospel. Particularly if you are a pastor reading this, join me in agreeing to work to un-Locke our churches! Posted on November 26, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments Thanksgiving ExercisesWhat do we do differently on Thanksgiving? A few quick notes. Personally, I try to have a longer quiet time in which I thank God for much that I've been praying about that year. As a family, we have friends over, generally Christian and non-Christian, American and international. We will, before we eat, sing a hymn or two. We will read a psalm and pray. When people sit down with their food, I will read some early thanksgiving proclamations from the 17th century, perhaps from the revolutionary period, from Lincoln, and the current year's. (Each year the president makes a thanksgiving proclamation, which you can print out from the White House's website.) I'll read a little about the history of Thanksgiving, and ask a few questions about it. (Like, how did it get moved from the last Thursday in November to the fourth?) My wife generally lays out 3 corns on each plate before dessert to remind us of the thanksgiving for surviving the first winter at Plymouth. We go around 3 times, each expressing something that we're thankful for. This time ranges from serious to light and back again. And then we pray. All of this is interspersed with lots of conversation (and eating) and likely some games for those who want to stay around into the evening. (And, ok, maybe we do watch Mr. Bean's Christmas special.) Al, Lig, CJ, any customs you guys would share? Posted on November 22, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments Glory must begin in Grace"Now heaven is begun here, Posted on November 21, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments Haven't Had a Conversation with a Non-Christian Lately?Al, in your next blog entry please list some of your human limitations! Our dear brother Al Mohler is at it again, only this time on the website of the Washington Post! They have begun a new project (along with Newsweek magazine [owned by them]) in which they want to encourage public conversation about religion. And they have asked Al to be one of their regular contributors. If you go to http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/ you will find there Al's blog entry on beginning a conversation with an admission of our faith in God's truthful revelation of Himself. And look at all the responses he's getting! Read them. Scores of them. If you haven't had a conversation with a non-Christian lately, the various, largely hostile, responses to Al's simple statements will remind you of the climate we are in. I pray reading them will inflame our hearts with a desire for God to be vindicated, to be seen to be the gloriously good God that He is, and also with a desire for these readers to learn why they are alive--to know and love and obey our great God. Keep it up, Al. May God make us faithful with our non-Christian friends. And may He bring them in, even as He has us. Posted on November 18, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments Unbaptized Church Members?Here are some more of my musings on this topic. Perhaps they will be of use to you. I give them to you in compact form. IF you think the congregation IS the final judicatory then you will require belief in believers baptism for membership in the congregation. Weaken any one of those three ideas (congregationalism; certainty of truth of believers baptism; importance or significance of believers baptism) then it will cease to be regarded as an appropriate requirement for membership. So, among those who could reject this as a requirement for membership would be those who are *committed congregationalists and baptists, but who simply think the issue is not really very significant; *committed congregationalists who agree that baptism is important, but are not quite certain of the rejection of infant baptism or the truth of believer baptism; *committed baptists who understand the importance of baptism in the church, and yet don’t conclude that the authority in the church should necessarily rest with the congregation as<span style="mso- |
The second and third pictures
are of the 4th-century baptistry in Milan, in which Ambrose baptized Augustine.
Lig, I could even fit in this baptistry!