Why Should God Let You Into Heaven?

If we are burdened about revival, then what kind of gospel message lies at the heart of the life of the convert and the church? We want to be revived to a biblical gospel. The larger question is: what IS the gospel? 

What IS the Gospel?
 

In Michael Horton’s interview in this month’s Christianity Today, pp. 46-49, “Christ At The Center,” He focuses on a critical idea which has come to me as a confluence of weaknesses. Two of our elders, for example, volunteered that some members, when questioned re: their salvation, failed to define their conversion in terms of what Jesus had done for them, that is through the atonement, justification, etc. (This takes into consideration that not everyone would be familiar with theological jargon). But we usually pose the well-used question:  “If you died and stood before God, and he asked you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ What would you say?” Even when given hints, “what do you think about justification,” they still couldn’t see it. Now, apart from the obvious lesson that is for us in leadership, I see another larger issue when conjoined with Horton’s interview. Most today tend to define their salvation in terms of what it means for them or to them (which is fine on one level). And from there they tend to think of Christianity in terms of what they do to stay, as it were, on the good side of God. And this is very unfortunate especially in light of the fact that this is promoted by pastors in the pulpit! But . . .

The gospel-driven life is not following a list of imperatives even good and necessary ones, like: read your Bible, pray, study these books, learn the spiritual disciplines, evangelize. Paul’s “power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16) is more than the power of God “to conversion,” as Horton opines. Salvation is not based upon what happens inside of me, but on what Christ did outside of me. It is what God has done FOR us in Christ. What we find, then, is that this is more than one man’s point of view. It is, unfortunately endemic to the church culture at large.

My assessment, not just from the above indicators, but from my years in Christendom, is that an unhealthy number within the church have become unintentional victims of imperative overload. The end result has been a weakening of the gospel message and a relocating of our salvation in the results or fruits of that salvation. This has serious implications for many doctrines, including the atonement, repentance, evangelism, and even for how we pray for revival.

The gospel, in short, and according to Scripture is:

. . .that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

Christ died and rose again and demonstrated this by showing himself AFTER his resurrection to too many people for this to have been considered myth. Christ did it all. We get into heaven by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and in his exaltation in heaven. There is infinite merit in the precious blood of Jesus Christ!

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

. . . "Dressed in His righteousness alone, 
Faultless to stand before the throne. 

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; 

All other ground is sinking sand."

-Edward Mote (1834)

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How To Begin Monday With God

Monday is my day off. It is for many ministers. But I find on my day "off" that I want to communicate the importance of exciting our relationship with God by means . . . whatever means helps us "see" God rightly in order to love him intimately.

One word of advice I pass along to the church family when the chance arises, is (assuming Bible reading) to pray a short prayer for enlightenment. Even a mere 10 seconds will do wonders in diverting interruptions and focusing our attention where it needs to be.

A second means to help comes from John Piper, which came out in our Sunday School lesson, his DVD series entitled, "When I Don't Desire God." This, along with several related resources can be found here. It has a been a spiritual boon to our souls. In our adult class we chose to view it twice, pausing it the second time though whenever we needed to delve into his instructions a little deeper. It has been a marked blessing.

So, How Do We Start Monday?

I'm sitting here in my "easy chair" reflecting on this waiting to get back to the Bible to do what I am writing! Piper uses an acrostic to direct himself, an acrostic which utilizes only Scriptures--many familiar to the seasoned believer. Any one of these references is beautiful, but the combination is immensely helpful in opening our hearts rightly to God. And who doesn't need that? Here they are with my comments:

I.O.U.S.

First. "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain" (Psalm 119:36). Frankly, our hearts are quickly and easily turned toward other things, even when I am sitting down to read God's Word! Perhaps, "especially" when?! "To be forewarned is to be forearmed" applies well to our own hearts. Know your heart, and if it is like so many, "hedge your bets" by praying against such spiritual dullness. Ask for your heart to "incline" in God's direction.

Second. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things out of your law" (Psalm 119:18). They're there--"wonderful things" that is. We often have a difficult time detecting them. Hunters have an uncanny ability to spot deer way out in an open field, when non-hunters see nothing. Their eyes have been trained to "see." We need much the same when it comes to the things of God. And we do well to pray for it.

Third. "Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name" (Psalm 86:11). Unite my heart. What does this mean? It can be easily understood when we realize that we can know things two ways, in our heads and in our hearts. Most of us understand this and have often heard it said, "It's not good enough to believe it in your head, but it must sink down 18" to your heart." The book of James is all about uniting our hearts. In fact, the opening salvo reveals that we need God's unlimited wisdom precisely because we can become "double-minded." In other words, our minds believe one thing while our hearts go in another. When the two are brought together it can be described as "purity," or "single-mindedness." Unite my heart to fear your name. Very good prayer!

Fourth. "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days" (Psalm 90:14). All of humanity wants to be happy. Of course, there are many aberrant ways in which to seek it. But we urge others to seek satisfaction in God alone. After a long build-up to the weekend, and an especially long (and wonderful) Sunday, I still want (yes, especially want) satisfaction in my Lord on Monday morning when I tend to be weary. The worth of our satisfaction falls in direct proportion to the thing doing the satisfying. Whether it's my wife, my job, or the football game. Each can satisfy me, but in a different way. But when GOD does the satisfying, there is NOTHING like it, because there is no one like God! Pray that we not be satisfied by lesser things. Think BIG!!

Again, these are astute prayers; they take into consideration my fallible heart and pave the way to overcome it, directing me into a wonderful unfolding of the ways of God. May I urge everyone who loves God to pursue such prayers ere they open the Word of God.
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5 Ways Sin Is Serious

The following was posted yesterday by John Piper. He touches on a subject so close to every true believer that I felt constrained to re-post it to my readers. Of course, for those who receive Piper's blog posts, please forgive the duplication. Speaking of David, Piper offers:

In Psalm 51, as he laments and repents of his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, David confesses at least five ways that his sin is extremely serious.

1. He says that he can’t get the sin out of his mind.

It is blazoned on his conscience. Verse 3: For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Ever before him. The tape keeps playing. And he can’t stop it.

2. He says that his exceeding sinfulness is only against God.

Nathan had said David despised God and scorned his word. So David says in verse 4, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

This doesn’t mean Bathsheba and Uriah and the baby weren’t hurt. It means that what makes sin sin is that it is against God. Hurting man is bad. It is horribly bad. But that’s not the horror of sin. Sin is an attack on God—a belittling of God. David admits this in striking terms: “Against you, you only, have I sinned.”

3. He doesn't justify himself.

David vindicates God, not himself. There is no self-justification. No defense. No escape. Verse 4: …so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

God is justified. God is blameless. If God casts David into hell, God will be innocent.

This is radical God-centered repentance. This is the way saved people think and feel. God would be just to damn me. And that I am still breathing is sheer mercy. And that I am forgiven is sheer blood-bought mercy. David vindicates the righteousness of God, not himself.

4. He intensifies his guilt by drawing attention to his inborn corruption.

Verse 5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Some people use their inborn corruption to diminish their personal guilt. David does the opposite. For him the fact that he committed adultery and murdered and lied are expressions of something worse: He is by nature that way.

If God does not rescue him, he will do more and more evil.

5. He admits that he sinned not just against external law but against God’s merciful light in his heart.

Verse 6: Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

God had been his teacher. God had made him wise. David had done so many wise things. And then sin got the upper hand. For David, this made it all the worse. “I have been blessed with so much knowledge and so much wisdom. O how deep must be my depravity that it could sin against so much light.”

So in those five ways at least David joins the prophet Nathan and God in condemning his sin and confessing the depths of his corruption.

No Ordinary People

Salvation does far, far more than merely qualify us for heaven (as unbelievably wonderful as that is). It changes the very makeup of every convert of Jesus, transforming them into nothing less than a child of God, "with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereunto." As Paul lays out so beautifully for us in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44:

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. 

C. S. Lewis highlights the degree of such a transformation:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption which you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations... It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspections proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.     

The Weight Of Glory

Restoring My Soul. The "Ah-h-h!" of Faith & Love.

A morning meditation. 

Familiar, perhaps, too familiar words . . .

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want [lack]. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake" (Psalm 23:1-3).

I don't want to read these words to come up with something fancy. Or study to prepare a sermon. Let me just drink in the love, the peace, yes, especially the "mercy" (v. 6) that goes with me all my life long. I call the LORD "My" Shepherd in order to own the relationship, to celebrate it, to personalize my need, and thus my provision.

My Shepherd Provides

"I shall not lack." Lack what? Anything. Anything? . . . Really? REALLY. Every sin is traceable to some perceived lack on our part. "I need respect and hate that others don't affirm me." No, I don't need that. My Shepherd affirms, and that's enough. "Well, I must lust after that . . . whatever, whoever, because I need . . . something." No, Shepherd Jesus fills all in all. PERIOD. In fact, He IS my life!

My Shepherd Restores

"He restores my soul." This is the ah-h-h part. Much within and without threatens our peace, destroys it. Sin within unsettles me, creates guilt, promotes lies, causes me to glance away from truth for fear of being seen. I fall and perhaps even sink into a sort of despair. Sins without attack me at work, in the local community, in the world. "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Ps. 36:1), and I feel it. It tugs at my heart. It wells up within my breast that so few even care. BUT. But my Shepherd restores. He not only forgives (wonderfully healing in itself), but my Shepherd RESTORES my soul. The very meat of my existence, the marrow of life--He renews, restores to health and perfect relationship. Unmitigated. Without alloy . . . or apology. And especially without regret. Oh, none of that! Restored.

RESTORED.

That's MY Shepherd!

Ah-h-h . . .
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Evangelicals and Catholics Together: On the Blessed Virgin Mary in Christian Faith and Life

VITAL! Read with care. I have been following the Evangelicals and Catholics Together issues. (Actually, my wife and I have) The latest point Evangelicals and Catholic theologians are trying to "flesh out" is the place of Mary in their mutual doctrinal stances. The following is the full text from Guy Davies of Exiled Preacher. I appreciate his clear-headed, Scriptural approach to this topic. We need more voices out there warning of the kind of compromise that would give over critical doctrines that cannot be altered without losing the Gospel of grace, and therefore must not be betrayed. Guy writes:

Evangelicals and Catholics Together have produced a joint-statement, Do Whatever He Tells You: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Christian Faith and Life. ECT continues on the assumption that Evangelicals and Roman Catholics as those who "accept Christ as Lord and Savior are brothers and sisters in Christ". We wish that this were the case, but there has to be real concern that the Roman Catholic negation of justification by faith alone tends to detract from the gospel of grace and obscure the way of salvation.

Now to the statement itself. The opening section attempts to set out the common ground between Evangelicals and Catholics on Mary. Then unresolved differences are spelt out under the headings of, A Catholic Word to Evangelicals and, An Evangelical Word to Catholics. On the whole disagreements are faced honestly rather than fudged. The Evangelicals explain on the basis of Scripture why they do not accept Roman Catholic dogmas such as the Perpetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception, Bodily Assumption and Invocation of Mary. However, the Evangelical signatories seem open to further special revelation on Marian teaching saying,

"As a safeguard against the temptation to idolatry and because this pattern of piety is not found in the New Testament, most Evangelicals today do not include prayers to Mary and the saints in their worship and personal devotions. At the same time, we acknowledge that the sovereign Lord may choose to reveal himself in extraordinary ways whenever and however he wills." [Emphasis added].

What is the last sentence in that quote supposed to mean in the light of Evangelical commitment to sola Scriptura? Yes, we are open to the Spirit giving us more light from the Word, but that does not entail the revelation of new doctrines like the 'Bodily Assumption of Mary' which are not found in the Bible. The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks for all Evangelicals when it says,

"The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture." (WCF I:X).

On this issue the Evangelical signatories have conceded too much in the direction of Roman Catholic thinking. That quibble aside, and it is a serious quibble, there is much that is helpful in what the Evangelicals have to say on Mary and her role in redemptive history. Overreacting against the extravagance of Roman Catholic Marian teaching Evangelicals have sometimes failed to give due consideration to Mary. She is indeed 'blessed among women' as the mother of our Lord. We should admire and imitate her faith and love. All Christians need to give careful heed to her admonition concerning her Son, "Whatever he says to you, do it." (John 2:5). The Evangelicals note that the Reformers seemed to have a much 'higher' view of Mary than their theological heirs and successors.

Surprising as it may seem, this document is able to highlight a considerable amount of common understanding between Bible believing Evangelicals and traditional Catholics on Mary. But even as this joint-statement demonstrates, with all the best ecumenical will in the world, serious disagreements remain. In a sense, the big issue is sola Scriptura. Shall we view Mary in the light of the witness of Scripture alone, or will we supplement what the Bible says with the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church? On that point, Evangelicals and Catholics are not together.

I believe that dialogue between Evangelicals and Roman Catholics is a worthwhile exercise. But the Evangelicals often seem to be the ones conceding ground. As ever Rome wants unity on its own terms. Writing in The Guardian, Roman Catholic theologian Hans Kung despairs of this tendency, exposing the Vatican's ecumenical skulduggery. Evangelicals should take note.

Thank you, Guy.


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Is Evangelism About Getting "Results?"

Has the church done evangelism and missions right? It's especially beneficial at times to listen to the voices of godly men of the past in order to shed light on our day. Certainly one of those "big" voices is Jonathan Edwards. In The God-Centered Life, Josh Moody writes:

Too many of our missionary organizations, whether "foreign" or home mission, develop a piety almost exclusively geared up for getting results. There are too few quiet days, too little sense of the need for personal renewal, too little understanding of the worth of developing personal godliness through times of Bible study and prayer and reading, let alone meditation and reflection. Evangelistic mission tend to be beehives of work and generate a workaholic culture of piety, where godliness is equated to productivity. Edwards was highly productive, yet his personal notebooks and records of the inner life are laced with a desire not for more and more, or larger and larger, "ministries," but for God himself. Edwards is seeking him. Edwards' Resolutions are the best example of this attitude. Here are a few:

 1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory . . .
  
2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the forementioned things.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to, if it were the last hour of my life . . .

11.Resolved, when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances don't hinder . . .

25. Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it . . .

40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking. Jan. 7, 1723. (E. Hickman [ed.], The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Banner of Truth], 1988, vol. 1, pp. xx-xxii)

Taken from Josh Moody, The God-Centered Life: Insights From Jonathan Edwards for Today (Regent College Publishing, Vancouver, BC. 2006).
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