Saving Truth, or Da Good Book (Part V)

As the new school year begins, we’re confronted with an influx of people who simply need to be saved. Whether they grew up in church or not, year after year people come our way who don’t know the Gospel, who don’t know Christ, and so are still lost in their sin. And so the question is, what are we going to do about it?

There’s a temptation in ministry to focus on things like programs or relationships. It can be easy to think that if only we have another event, another social, if only we plan  better, more, then we’ll start seeing fruit. Or maybe if we’re kind enough, friendly enough, if we cook enough, people will start to get involved and eventually find their way to Christ. We can easily start to view things like Large Group or Church as places where we can get to do real ministry to people, except when the preacher’s preaching.

Now while things like events and certainly relationships are good, and useful, and even, to an extent, necessary, they’re not what saves. Friendship is not what saves. Programs are not what saves. It’s the Spirit of God through the Word of God that saves. Let’s look to what Scripture itself says.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:13-14)

Salvation comes through the proclamation of the truth, of the Word of God, and not through any other means. The Word of God saves. The Word of God contains the Gospel, contains the truth of God’s salvation, and nothing else we can do comes even close to its worth in the saving of souls.

And this should guide the way we do everything in ministry. Programs are great, but they should be for the purpose of getting people to the Word, getting them to the Gospel. Relationships are great, but they should be from lives living out the Word, proclaiming it not just in action, but in word. Our conversations around a sermon should bring us back to the Word, pointing back to the danger shown, the salvation offered, the God revealed.

If we want to be a people of outreach, a people of evangelism, above all we must be a people of the Word. We must be a people who speak, live, bleed the Bible. If we are to have any hope of seeing salvation, we must trust in the power of the Spirit of God through the Word of the Spirit. We must pray that He act, that He bring us and those around us to see the beautiful, saving truths of His word.

“My soul longs for your salvation, I hope in your word” – Psalm 119:81

-djstevens

Christians Who Don’t Evangelize, May Be Athiests in Disguise

A wise man once said, “There is no such thing as a Christian who doesn’t evangelize.” Now before you jump on me for legalism, I want  you to ask yourself an honest question.

Do you consider yourself a Christian? If so, do you have a heart to spread the gospel?

Do you evangelize the gospel? Do you make it your goal and mission in this life to further the kingdom of God? Or is your faith your part time job?

Do you evangelize about evangelism? Do you talk about evangelism, promote it, fund it and encourage others to do it, without actually doing it yourself? Evangelism isn’t only for the A-Team of Christians, those who have a “gift”, its for all who understand the gospel and claim allegiance to Christ. Personal, intentional evangelism should be the game plan of each and every day. Do you wake up asking yourself how you can further God’s kingdom? Or do you wake up asking how you can further your career? Christ crucified must be our declaration, sovereign grace our creed, and Jesus resurrected our battle cry.

But why is it that so many talk about evangelism instead of actually doing it on a regular basis? Now I admit that I’m not a perfect example but a long shot, but these are a few things I’ve observed:

1) Missions trips have become divinely sanctioned Christian vacations. Now I’m not opposed to missions trips, I think they are amazing and a huge encouragement, but in many churches, (especially emergent churches) people have adopted the mentality that missions trips are a 2 week long trip where you plan six months in advance to do something crazzyyyyy. You share the gospel. And maybe to . . . . dare I say, complete strangers? Why is it that people ask for thousands of dollars for a short community service project in Ghana that may or may not have actual gospel furthering purposes, when these same people have not been living missional lifestyles on a day to day basis? People take the Great Commission of Matthew 28 that says “Go and make disciple of all nations” and they tend to focus on the “going” aspect. But the real focus is the  “making of disciples.” Everyday should be a missions trip. After all, America is part of “all nations.”

2) “I don’t know enough.” Now why there is some legitimacy to this excuse, it’s still an unacceptable once, as are all excuses. If you know you have a final on friday but don’t know anything about it and thus don’t show up, that doesn’t justify your failure in class. In the same way, if you know that your knowledge of the Bible and the gospel is inadequate, then that doesn’t excuse you from the Great Commission. Now while we’ll never be adequate before God because there is an infinite amount of things we don’t know and will never know, that is no excuse to not share the gospel. And if you don’t know enough, that means you should read the Bible, listen to sermons, talk to godly men and women. There is no excuse to ignore Jesus’ last call to arms.

3)  A Crippled Conception of the Cross. In the end, our failure in evangelism is linked to our weak and dispassionate view of the gospel. Think about the last time you had an amazing meal, or saw an especially captivating movie, or how about a breathtaking piece of art? After the initial revelry, did you go around and tell your friends about it? Did you . . . evangelize about the greatness of the new korean bbq restaurant you just found?

How about the gospel? Do you cherish it as the sweetest gift life has to offer? Do you love it so much that you want everybody to know about it? Your understanding and appreciation of the gospel is proportional to your drive to proseltyize? Do you understand how real God is and how great is the sorrow of hell? Do you understand that immediate death results in immediate damnation for the unsaved? Is the nectar of God’s grace truly so amazing and “delicious” that you need to Yelp about the gospel instead of food reviews.

Is your view of the gospel too small? Is it a child’s lesson you’ve long since forgotten? I pray that you never graduate the gospel because once you’ve done that, you won’t evangelize, because you didn’t treat the gospel for its full worth as God did. And if you don’t evangelize, then you probably don’t understand the gospel, and its very real realities of heaven and hell. And thus, if you don’t understand the gospel, then you may have never been a Christian to begin with.

Jerry Bridges says that we should “preach the gospel to yourselves daily.” Because if you’re doing that, then you’ll only naturally want to preach the gospel to others.

While I think there is no sure fire way to stir up your heart for evangelism, I believe that it begins with a right understanding of the gospel, it is after all, the cornerstone of our faith.

What I said should not lead you to judge the salvation of others, but to check your motives, your heart, and your faith. If you’re a Christian who doesn’t evangelize, you just might be an atheist in disguise.

-rbchew

Upon Rereading the Law

One of the hardest things in Christians’ devotionals is reading the Old Testament, especially the first five books. Usually most people make it through Genesis okay (unless a genealogy takes them down), and they feel pretty good as they’re going through the plagues, pestilences, and Pharaoh’s of the Exodus. But then, it happens.

They, in the back alleys of Exodus, run into the Law.

They hit the Law and if they’re lucky they make it past the Ten Commandments. Ever been there yourself? Ever just lose your steam and your dedication to your Bible reading plan when you hit those “Thou shalt nots?” It’s certainly easy to. It’s easy to start to ask, “Why am I reading this? What’s the point? I don’t even have to follow these laws anyway, so why shouldn’t I just skip ahead to the good part, the Jesus part.”

But the thing that we don’t realize is it’s all the Jesus part. The Law is about Jesus. The stories are about Jesus. Even the genealogies are about Jesus. For example, here’s a little thought that hit me when I was reading through a portion of the Law: the sacrifices are about Jesus.

Now anyone who has ever read Hebrews would agree with that, but usually we only see the sacrifices as pointing to Jesus because he was the Sacrifice. But it goes deeper than that. Let’s look at some of the major categories of sacrifice and see how they relate to Christ.

The Sin Offering is about Jesus, because he atones for, he takes away every last bit of our sin. There’s no punishment for us anymore.

The Guilt Offering is about Jesus, because he takes away every last bit of our guilt. There’s no reason to bear it through life, no reason to fear or to shrink away any more.

The Peace Offering is about Jesus, because he is our peace. Because of him, we’re not just no longer enemies of God, we’re dear children, we’re the beloved bride. We are loved.

The Thanks Offering is about Jesus, because in light of what he’s done we give not just grain or an animal but our whole lives, showing how much better the salvation through him is.

The Law is worth reading, because the Law is about Jesus.

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” Psalm 119:18.

-djstevens

P.S. I have some thoughts on the burnt offering, but they’re less solid.

Simple Salvation

Recently I had the opportunity to go with some friends to the Santa Monica Beach to pass out food to the homeless and share the Gospel.

We parked in the mall a few blocks from the beach, which was just recently renovated, and I had to admit, this mall was amazing. It reminded me of a shopping center from the future. There were metallic catwalks all over the place, LCD video monitor advertisements everywhere, extravagant stores with even more pricey products. It reminded me of some kind of sci-fi movie. There were people with expensive cars and brand name outfits, stores charging a hundred bucks for a simple handbag and restaurants requesting a small fortune in exchange for a salad and a slice of meat.

But amidst the glits and glamor, it only took a short two minute walk before we found handfulls of homeless Americans. We began passing out food and talking to them, and all kinds of awesome things happened. We heard sad stories, received encouraging words and shared the amazing grace of God. It was by far the highlight of my summer.

But one thing that really stood out to me was how little they had, and yet how content they were. All of them claimed to believe in God and had at least some understanding of the gospel. And whether each of them were saved or not is for God alone to know, but I was so amazed at their joy in the little that they had. One homeless brother I met had read the entire Bible several times, spent most of his time praying and reading the Bible while helping minister to the homeless, though he was homeless himself. And on top of that, he still tithed!

These people physically have so much less than we do, and yet, they are in many ways so much happier. They don’t have to deal with the difficulties of setting up cell phone plans, configuring internet connections, or dealing with a personal yoga instructor. They have less things, and thus less things to get in the way of God. And they may not understand every aspect of depravity, regeneration, justification, propitiation and sanctification, but they have salvation. Their faith is simple ans sweet.

As a UCLA student, it can be pretty easy to over-intellectualize the gospel. We can get caught up in debates over predestination vs. freewill, whether salvation is final or if it can be lost, to get caught in a myriad of apologetic arguments, all of which miss the simple truths of the saving gospel. But these homeless people reminded me of what a childlike faith is all about. Yes the gospel is complex and amazing and has an tremendous amount of nuances and facets we could marvel at for the rest of our lives, but at its most basic and fundamental level, it really isn’t that hard to understand. Don’t get me wrong, preach the gospel to yourselves daily and study it, enjoy it, love it. There’s always more to learn about God’s simple truth of salvation. But head knowledge doesn’t save, faith saves. And all god requires is simple faith. The gospel is simple, the truth is simple, and ultimately salvation is simple. Salvation comes down to a simple understanding fo the gospel, that’s all there is to it. Thank God that he doesn’t save those with the IQ to comprehend his gospel, or we’d all be in hell.

Is your faith simple? Or have we infected it worldly excuses and modifications? How many compromises have we made at the expense of our beliefs in exchange for the complex luxuries of this world? Do you take the Bible at its word? Or do we attempt to rationalize, justify and modify the simple faith that God calls us to?

-rbchew

Beautiful Truth, or Da Good Book (Part IV)

In the previous posts in this series, I’ve been dealing mostly with the intellectual aspects of the Word of God (granted, upon knowing them they should not remains purely as such), so I feel reasonably sure that for good measure this post should be here.

Because, you see, the Word of God is not something that is merely to be comprehended. Simple assent is even missing the point. The Word of God, quite simply, is meant to be loved. It is not cold, musty, and dead like any other book on the shelf, but rather it is beautiful, it is delightful, and it is alive. This thing is exciting, scintillating, moving, glorious. But I get beyond myself, to the text, to the text.

If ever we need a reminder of just how good the Good Book is, Psalm 119 is there for us in all its zealous, passionate love for the Word. For our edification I’ll list out just some of the ways the Psalmist praises the Word of God.

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. (v.14)

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. (v.18)

The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (v.72)

I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. (v. 96)

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. (v. 97)

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (v.103)

This is how the Psalmist views the Word of God. Sweeter than anything he could taste. So much worthy of his love that he thinks about it all day. Better than all the wealth of the world. More appealing than anything else. This, this is the quality of the beauty of the Word of God. All the books of all time together do not come close to matching the worth of the Word of God. To keep it is worth losing all others, for there is truly no loss.

Why is this? Why is the Bible so worth our love, so worth our affection and delight?

Because it’s about God. Because it brings us to our Savior. Because it shows us who He is and what He’s done in the most astoundingly perfect collection of the most beautiful truths ever to be. Because it tells us things like this:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). And they crucified him (Mark 15:24). For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20). So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11). What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31, 35-36, 37-39). Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:51-57).

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall their be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4). Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20).

So much more.

Beautiful.

-djstevens

Natural

As Christians, we often wonder “What does God want me to do?” (Or at least I hope you do, since if you haven’t sought God’s will in your life, you’re pretty much behaving like a practical atheist) This is especially true when we are considering whether to serve in a certain ministry. In fact, I always hear the claim “I don’t know if I should serve, because I don’t know if that is what God is calling me to do.”

Why is it that we sometimes hesitate to serve and glorify God? After all, when we’re hungry, we eat food; when we’re thirsty, we drink water. When we feel the need to go to the bathroom, we don’t stop and wonder if God is calling us to go to the bathroom, we just go. Sure, these things are natural needs so it isn’t weird for us to do them without reluctance every day. However, what were we created for? What is the meaning of our lives? The purpose of our existence is to serve and glorify God to the fullest extent of our lives. That should be what comes natural to us. We shouldn’t have to wait for a specific call from God to serve Him because that’s what we were made for. In a way, it can be seen as that He has already called us to do it. Any hesitation on our part to do so is disobedience, plain and clear. I encourage you all to serve God with your fullest capacity and if you’re unsure about a life choice consider this only: Which choice will glorify God more?

-JCLi

The Unicorn Would

Lately I’ve been reading up on the resurrection of Christ for a little bit of preaching I’ll have to do in the near future, and really it’s impossible to think of (or to study) the resurrection of Christ without looking forward to the resurrection of believers, and with that the renewal of creation. So today while reading a pretty good book on the narrative aspect of doctrines, I came across a quote from C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle that I quite enjoy, so I’ll share it.

First though, a note about C.S. Lewis. I love the guy. I’ve probably read more of his works than any other author’s and more times. I’ve even read his science fiction books. Whenever he’s right, he’s pure gold, and the way he expresses things often has a simple, profound beauty to them and I really think he embodies what Alexander Pope praises when he says wit is “What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.” Lewis resonates. When he’s right that is. Otherwise, and quite often, I feel that Lewis gets some doctrines seriously wrong. But that being said, still love the guy, to the quote:

“The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked like it meant more. I can’t describe it any better than that: if you ever get there you will know what I mean. It was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried: “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that sometimes looked a little like this.”

For the Christian, home is coming. Here is just sometimes a little like home. Our native country, the land of our citizenship, where we belong, is with Christ. And it’s coming to us, or we to it. In the meantime, in eager expectation, let us live like we belong there.

-djstevens