Archive for July, 2009
Podcast of the Second London Confession of Faith of 1689
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Outta This World
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Monday, July 27, 2009 at 11:49 am
For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself? (Lk 9:24,25) We tend to think that self-denial is something like letting another person go ahead of us in traffic or turning off our favorite TV show to help tidy up the house or tend to the kids. It is not that such sacrificial conduct isn’t commendable as bona fide Kingdom behavior, but Jesus’ description of self-denial is much more penetrating and all-encompassing than occasional deferential courtesies.
Jesus uses the vocabulary of commerce to press upon us the value of our selves: our souls or lives. Certainly Jesus is telling us that obtaining eternal life is of greater value than obtaining this world. We immediately interpret Him to mean that we must be willing to relinquish material things in order to make priority of Him and His Kingdom. We think of the rich young man who refused to sell his possessions and give to the poor and did not follow Jesus (Mt 19:16-22). We cannot be Jesus’ disciples and worship Mammon. Yet Jesus’ words here are more expansive than simply a summons to eschew materialism.
We obtain insight into Jesus’ summons by noting the parallel structure of Jesus’ words. A man’s attempt to save his life (v24) is explained by the words gains the whole world (v26). The pursuit of self involves an attempt to gain the whole world. Our culture has conditioned us to see ourselves in isolation, disconnected, detached. Modern life is lived like a flat stone skipping across the top of the water: shallow, hardly touching the surface as we bounce across relationships, jobs, churches, locations, moving superficially through a sound-bite society. That view of the self is, however, self-deception.
In reality, our lives are lived in connection to God, to people, to our labor, to the world. Jesus sees us as God created us. We are God’s image-bearers integrally interwoven into His creation. The self is set in this cosmos. Jesus sees us as connected in accountability to God, in relationships with others, entrusted with stewardships in this world. He is calling us to see ourselves in the interconnected web of this present age and to deny, say “no” to, not validate or identify with, that self in this world.
When the selfolater seeks to save his life, he does so by attempting to establish himself in this world and hopes to reward himself with the bounties of this world. Jesus’ parable of the rich fool (Lk 12:16-31) pictures what self-denial is not. The fool thought he could establish his life in the context of this world, but he lives just moments away from losing both his world and his soul. His worshipful pursuit of self is simultaneously a pursuit of this world. The sinful love of self is concurrently a sinful love of the world (cf. 1 Jn 2:15-17)
How radical and extreme is Jesus’ call to discipleship! We are made by God to be knit into the fabric of this world. Now Jesus is calling us to refuse to live in this world? What’s wrong with seeking our lives in this world? Well, what’s wrong is we’re wrong and this world has gone wrong. We and this world, the whole thing has gone bad. This world in its present state is fallen, cursed, slated for the purging fire of God’s judgment. To pursue our lives in this world in neglect of discipleship to Jesus is eternal folly. Only when the sons of God are resurrected will this world be liberated from futility and corruption to become the habitation of the glorified children of God (Rom 8:18-25). To seek to find one’s life in this passing world is vanity. Just ask Solomon. He had it all and he tells us that, apart from God, it is all vanity. This world, and those who seek their lives in it, is already passing away.
Jesus would have us find our lives in a new world. Certainly that new world is the glorified cosmos to be revealed in the resurrection. But, in a real sense, that new world has already come in the person of Jesus. Entrance into that new world, that eternal Promised Land, is obtained now in Jesus. He who truly finds his life, finds it in Christ. Christ is what we aspire to gain. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ (Phil 3:8).
Would we gain Christ? Would we follow Jesus who travels through this world suffering, being rejected, hated and finally crucified? Would we trust in Him as the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25) and confess that He did indeed rise on the third day? Would we acknowledge that He is now exalted to the throne of God from whence He will return to resurrect us and usher us into His glorious Kingdom? If we would be such believing disciples, we must, by faith, turn from aspiring to establish our lives in this world. Yes, we are to be in the world, but not of it (Jn 17:11,14). As Christians, we embrace God’s creation and His creation ordinances. We endeavor to fulfill foundational creation morality with the vivacity and transformational power of the Spirit as we bring resurrection life and gospel love to our families, our vocations, our environment. We are already alive in Christ and we are to glorify Him in this fallen world as a testimony to our hope for the world to come. Yet there is a radical breach that we experience in our attachment to this present age. If our hope lies in the age to come, then we must say good-bye to who we would otherwise be in this world and follow Jesus as new creations (2 Cor 5:17), living now as men alive from the dead (Rom 6:13), as citizens of heaven (Phil 1:27; 3:20). For you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory (Col 3:1-4).
Self denial is an eschatological act. It is an act of faith in Jesus whereby we define ourselves in relation to Him and live as those who have already left this world and are now alive in Christ, who is our life and the promise of a whole new world.
Alan Dunn, Pastor Grace Covenant Baptist Church Flemington, NJReformation Truth Ministries 2009 Conference : The Reformed Pastor
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Monday, July 27, 2009 at 12:38 am
There is no higher calling in life than to be a shepherd of God’s people.
When many a modern day pastor has become an entertainer, comedian, esteem builder and/or CEO, it is time to call on the church to go back to the Scriptures and be reminded of the qualifications and roles God has established for the high office of pastor.
When we speak of the term “Reformed” pastor we speak of a pastor whose life, teaching and ministry conforms to the Word of God alone as the only standard for faith and practice. In this conference we will plumb God’s Word and church history to discover what a “Reformed” pastor looks like and his vital importance to the local church today.
Speakers: Dr. Sam Waldron; Dr. Andy Davis; Dr. Nathan Finn
For more information click here
Old, Grumpy, and (Actually) Reformed
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Friday, July 24, 2009 at 12:21 am
Eighth Annual Evangelical Forum Meeting, September 25-26, 2009
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Monday, July 20, 2009 at 11:24 amTheme: Of God’s Decrees
A Leadership Conference open to Pastors and Laymen
Friday-Saturday, September 25-26, 2000 at Jefferson Park Baptist Church, Charlottesville, VA 2008
The theme this year will focus on the Doctrine of God’s Decrees, as presented in article three of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689).
Featured speakers:
- Conrad Mbewe, Pastor, Kabwata Baptist Church, Lusaka, Zambia
- Derek Thomas, Professor of Practical and Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi
Schedule:
Friday (September 25):
7:00 pm Session I
- Pastor Mbewe: “The Sovereignty of God and the Love of God”
- Dr. Thomas: “Is God the Author of Evil?”
Saturday (September 26):
9:30 am Session II
- Pastor Mbewe: “Does Calvinism Kill Evangelism?”
- Dr. Thomas: “Double Predestination: Biblical or Heretical?”
Nursery Provided Book Tables: There will once again be a good selection of books to purchase on site.11:30 am Lunch break on site
1:00 pm Closing session: Open dialogue with speakers
2:00 pm Meeting concludes
Recommended near-by hotels for those who wish to make their own local accommodations:
Dissin’ My Wife?
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Happy anniversary to me! As I write this, it is July 1, 2009, twenty years since my wife and I made our vows before God and men to be husband and wife. Twenty years give you a fair amount of time to get to know your spouse. I am thankful that after twenty years of observing my wife, witnessing her struggles, hearing her confess her sins, and watching her bear with me, that we are not only committed to one anther, we actually love and enjoy one another.
I think you would understand and appreciate that though I know my wife well and understand her strengths and weaknesses, that I am also very defensive of her. To have someone speak ill of her, to attack her, to belittle her, to mock her is to raise my ire! I know that she is not perfect, but she is mine and I love her dearly.
Imagine someone seeking to tell me how much they love me, want to be around me, admire me (yes, please, I said use to your imagination!) but that they hate my wife. They always complain about her. They make fun of her. They want me, but they don’t want her. Disgusting you say? And yet many who profess love to Christ act in like manner toward His gathered people.
One of the most striking illustrations of our Lord’s love for His church is to refer to her as His bride. It is a term full of commitment and tender affection. Jesus loves His church, and not just His CHURCH (invisible, triumphant, etc), but His churches (local, gathered). He loves His local congregations. We have every reason to believe that He still walks among them week by week. His relationship with His church is formal, covenantal, committed, and loving. He delights in His gathered people and counts them as the apple of His eye. He rejoices over them with singing (Zep 3:17).
He speaks of Himself as her head, as her shepherd, as His Temple. These are not casual, take it or leave it terms (they are not His bubble gum wrapper, His disposable razor, or whatever cheap term you can think of). We are hearing increasingly that people think highly of Jesus but little of His church. Really? You can do that? He’s happy with that? If you are one of those who say you are committed to him, but not to His body, it simply cannot be. You cannot say to a human, I love your head, but I can’t stand your body! They kind of go together! You can’t say to a shepherd, I love you, but I can’t stand what you do! You cannot say to a priest, you’re great, it’s the Temple I can’t stand! The Jesus you profess to love, loves His churches, do you?
Jim Savastio Reformed Baptist Church of LouisvilleJohn Calvin (1509-1564)
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Dead Men Walking
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 8:28 pmIf anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Lk 9:23). We often think that “bearing one’s cross” means having to endure a difficult situation, or having to tolerate people with obnoxious personalities. But in Jesus’ day, a man carrying his cross was not a man merely in a challenging circumstance. He was a man about to die. He was not committing suicide. Rather, he had been judged by the court and had received the sentence of death. He was en route from the courthouse to the gallows. He was a dead man walking.
Jesus was popular at this point in His Galilean ministry. However He knew that there was an undercurrent of conflict which was liable to surface and surge at any moment. Even while the multitude welcomed Jesus and desired to make Him a king, conflict was ever near. The multitude was confused and unstable. Those in charge of the religious and political institutions were plotting His demise. Herod recently had John the Baptist beheaded. It was time to tell His disciples that the Christ must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day (Lk 9:22). Jesus would be rejected, legally condemned and sentenced to die. If we would follow Him, we must likewise submit to similar condemnation and execution by the men and institutions of this age. The sentence against us is not because we are criminals but simply because we follow the crucified Christ. Cross-bearing is not about having to endure the difficulties common to all men in this fallen world. Cross-bearing is something specific to our discipleship to Jesus. Disciples share in Jesus’ suffering, rejection and persecution. As Jesus’ disciples, we must learn to live in this world as dead men walking.
The limited space of a blog inhibits me from discussing perspectives and passages which qualify, balance and prevent us from developing a morbid martyr-complex. Yet our susceptibility to a martyr-complex is real because we are, in fact, called to embrace our own death sentence as we pursue Jesus and His Kingdom. If we would be balanced, we must give due weight to each specific biblical truth. These words must have weighed heavily upon the disciples. We too must feel the weight of each word: If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him… take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
We need to count the cost and come to terms with cross-bearing. We can’t sugar-coat the picture of a man carrying his cross. He is a dead man walking. He has been condemned to die. He entertains no notion of gaining the approval of the court. He anticipates no sympathy for himself or for the things for which he was condemned. He has been rejected. He has been judged. He has been legally sentenced to die. He has no legal recourse. He has no hope for tomorrow for today he must die. He is despised, discarded, castigated, callously and cruelly cast off. A thought comes to mind, a fleeting ephemeral wish to see his former days restored. But the thought evaporates in the light of the realization that once again seizes the condemned man: he is sentenced to die. He is separated from all he ever was and ever hoped to be in this world. Why? Because the world has rejected him, denounced him, and employed every means at its disposal to see him dead.
Jesus is headed to Jerusalem to be killed, and be raised up on the third day. On the other side of the cross lies the resurrection. All that is entailed in that joyous hope is sufficient to sustain faith and enable Jesus to endure the cross, despise the shame and anticipate the vindicating over-ruling judgment of God demonstrated in His resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2). We hold on to that same hope by faith as we enter into the immediate reality of discipleship in a world that lies in the power of the evil one (1 Jn 5:19) and hates Jesus. We do not have a morbid martyr-complex because we know him who is the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25). Only we possess genuine hope in this world, but our hope is not in this world. And to the extent that we are living as disciples of Jesus, this world will confirm Jesus’ words by rejecting and condemning us.
Judgment stands between us and this world. Paul says. The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6:14). The world judges Paul as worthy of death, and Paul judges the world as unworthy of life. Consider Jesus’ choice and fruitful servants. They seem to be as a grain of wheat, buried into the earth to die, only to spring forth with much fruit (Jn 12:24). They believingly internalize Jesus’ summons to cross-bearing. They embrace their own death in this world and already live in resurrection power. They are truly dead men walking – walking in newness of life (Rom 6:4), walking by faith, obedient through death. They even run their race with their eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb 12:1). Dead men running. Now, there’s a sight to behold!
Alan Dunn, Pastor Grace Covenant Baptist Church Flemington, NJ“Called to be saints.”
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 11:08 am
“Called to be saints.”
— Romans 1:7
We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were “saints” in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are “saints” whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, “We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves.” Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are “called to be saints” by that same voice which constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian’s duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, “looking unto Jesus,” and our saintship will soon be apparent.
C. H. Spurgeon - Morning and Evening.
Al Martin at PRTS Chapel
In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Albert N. Martin preaching at the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary Chapel.
