The Glorification of the Grace and Power of His Son

“The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but the well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose in the universe – the glorification of the grace and power of his Son – the grace and power that bore him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done. That’s what God is building into our lives. That is the meaning of weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, [and] calamity.”
- John Piper

HT: Symphony of Scripture

The Courage of Persecuted Believers

By Mary-Sue Leigh

In recent days I have been thinking about courage as it relates to our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. I looked up the definition of courage in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and it defines courage as “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” Even though these words definitely describe persecuted believers worldwide, my thoughts centered on the relationship between their inspiring courage and their faith. I believe the Holy Spirit reiterated to me that persecuted believers can persevere and withstand danger, fear or difficulty because of their dependence on the Lord. He supernaturally endows them with the strength to endure hardships with joy. It is hard to imagine whether our persecuted brethren would continually stand for Christ if they depended on their own physical strength during times of persecution. Take for example house church leader Pastor Zhang Mingxuan and his family, who are constantly hounded by the Chinese government. In recent weeks, they have been evicted from their home, constantly harassed and arrested, and yet through it all they praise God and count it all a blessing. In the persecuted believer’s testimonies they always relate how praying during times of persecution helps them deal with the challenges. Praise God for their faithfulness and unwavering trust in the Lord. He has shown Himself faithful, in all circumstances, at all times. I also remember hundreds of believers in Eritrea who were beaten and imprisoned in shipping containers by the government, because of their faith in Jesus Christ. On August 5, Eritrean authorities locked eight high school students in a metal shipping container and burned hundreds of Bibles at Sawa Defense Training Center. The incident occurred after authorities confiscated 1,500 Bibles from students arriving at the training center for the 2008-2009 school years. Praise the Lord for the courage of these students. I believe they are excellent examples of many believers around the world who are relying on God’s strength and encouragement to withstand persecution. I encourage you to pray for believers worldwide who are constantly required to show “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” I know our prayers make a difference. Praise God for persecuted believers, whose courage inspires us.

Some Shepherds Shame the Name of Jesus

Test Revival With Doctrine

The wreckage of the Lakeland Revival was followed by a flurry of posts in the blogs on discernment. The comments by John Piper stood out as some of the best… -JB

(Author: John Piper) Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma, one of the main charismatic magazines, has written a lament and critique of the Lakeland “revival” which is now in a tailspin over the leader’s announced separation from his wife. Grady’s summons to pray for the church and our nation is right, and among his commendable questions and observations are these: “Many of us would rather watch a noisy demonstration of miracles, signs and wonders than have a quiet Bible study. Yet we are faced today with the sad reality that our untempered zeal is a sign of immaturity. Our adolescent craving for the wild and crazy makes us do stupid things. It’s way past time for us to grow up.” “True revival will be accompanied by brokenness, humility, reverence and repentance—not the arrogance, showmanship and empty hype that often was on display in Lakeland.” “A prominent Pentecostal evangelist called me this week after Bentley’s news hit the fan. He said to me: “I’m now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the anti-Christ when he shows up because they have no discernment.” Ouch. Hopefully we’ll learn our lesson this time and apply the necessary caution when an imposter shows up.” Charismatics will not be the only ones who follow the Antichrist when he rises. So will the mass of those who today in thousands of evangelical churches belittle the truth of biblical doctrine as God’s agent to set us free (John 8:32). Discernment is not created in God’s people by brokenness, humility, reverence, and repentance. It is created by biblical truth and the application of truth by the power of the Holy Spirit to our hearts and minds. When that happens, then the brokenness, humility, reverence, and repentance will have the strong fiber of the full counsel of God in them. They will be profoundly Christian and not merely religious and emotional and psychological. The common denominator of those who follow the Antichrist will not be “charismatic.” It will be, as Paul says, “they refused to love the truth.” The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) Our test for every Lakeland that comes along should first be doctrinal and expositional. Is this awakening carried along by a “love for the truth” and a passion to hear the whole counsel of God proclaimed?

Contemplatives and Activists

There’s been a lot of talk about contemplatives (and also controversy). Mark Driscoll has made some very astute observations about contemplatives and activists. There may be more somewhere out there in the blogosphere, but these two posts on that subject are the first I’ve seen.  I found that I was 50% contemplative and 50% activist. Does that mean I’m well balanced or just confused? -JB 

To become skilled at something requires discipline. What good musicians, athletes, and Christians share in common is discipline, which, interestingly enough, shares the same root word as disciple. Therefore, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be a person who lives a disciplined lifestyle patterned after the example of Jesus by the enabling of the same Holy Spirit that empowered Him. The Spiritual Disciplines The spiritual disciplines are varying ways that God works in our lives to mold us to be continually more like Jesus. In this series, I will be examining two spiritual disciplines each month, in hopes of teaching you how they are practiced and aiding you in becoming increasingly disciplined. Being spiritually disciplined is not the pursuit of some mythical balance. Rather, as Ecclesiastes says, there are times and seasons in life; our spiritual life will need to be constantly adjusted to best serve our soul in these various seasons. Therefore, the key to living a spiritually disciplined life is living in tension because that is exactly what the spiritual disciplines create. Contemplative and Active The tension of the spiritual disciplines comes from the fact that they fall into two broad and general categories: contemplative and active. There are many ways to simplify this distinction. The contemplative disciplines are about being, whereas the active disciplines are about doing. The contemplative spiritual disciplines help us to slow down and connect with God, whereas the active disciplines compel us to be busy and connect with others. The contemplative disciplines focus on the world of ideas, whereas the active disciplines focus on the world of projects. Contemplatives are energized by quiet, rest, solitude, and Sabbath. Activists are energized by noise, projects, community, and chaos. Contemplatives are attuned to what is happening in them. Activists are attuned to what is happening around them. Which Are You? The key is to discover whether you are more naturally a contemplative or an activist and then work on your area of weakness. In my years as a pastor I have found that most of us lean heavily toward the contemplative or the active disciplines at the expense of the other. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for people to read about Jesus in their Bible and only see His contemplative or activist scenes at the expense of seeing the healthy tension that Jesus lived in. As a result, when a contemplative thinks of Jesus they are prone to imagine Him sitting alone in the wilderness and silently reading Scripture and praying. Conversely, when an activist thinks of Jesus they are prone to imagine Him performing miracles, preaching, and casting out demons, never sitting down or taking a day off. The truth is that Jesus practiced every contemplative discipline and every active discipline (with the exception of lovemaking). To follow in His example means we must follow in His entire example. Active Disciplines Study Fellowship Speaking Teaching Activism Work Lovemaking Evangelism Service Feasting Contemplative Disciplines Solitude Silence Meditation Prayer Sabbath Chastity Worship Journaling Fasting

Marks of Revival

The Lakeland “Revival” did not measure up. –JB

Sinclair Ferguson on revival:

   In his Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, Jonathan Edwards draws on 1 John 4 to show that all true works of God share several features:
   1. A high esteem for Christ.
   2. The overthrow of Satan’s Kingdom in our hearsts.
   3. A reverent view of, and close attention to, God’s Word in Scripture.
   4. The presence of the Spirit of truth convincing us of the reality of eternity and the depth of our sin and need.
   5. A deep love for both God and man.
   But what does this mean in real-life terms?

A Microcosmic View

. . . Many years ago, I witnessed revival in its most microcosmic form in a sudden, unexpected, and remarkable work of God’s Spirit on a friend. The work was so dramatic, the effect so radical, that news of it spread quickly to different parts of the country. . . . I [asked] my friend . . . What this remarkable experience had involved. The answer was illuminating. Five things seemed to have happened . . .
   1. A painful exposure of the particular sin of unbelief occurred. Listening to preaching was a staple of my friend’s spiritual diet, but what came with overpowering force was a sense that God’s Word had actually been despised inwardly. God’s own Word, preached in the power of the Spirit, stripped away the mask of inner pride and outward reputation for spirituality. There was a fearful exposure to sin.
   2. A powerful desire arose to be free from all sin. A new affection came, as if unbidden, into the heart. Indeed, a desire seemed to be given actually to have sin increasingly revealed and exposed in order that it might be confessed, pardoned, and cleansed. Disturbing though it was, there was a sweetness of grace in the pain.
   3. The love of Christ now seemed marvelous beyond measure. A love for Him flowed from a heart that could not get enough of Christ, ransacking Scripture to discover more and more about Him.
   4. A new love for God’s Word was born—for reading it, for hearing it expounded and applied, and especially for knowing every expression of God’s will, so that it might be obeyed.
   5. A compassionate love for others now flowed. It came from this double sense of sin and need on the one hand and grace and forgiveness on the other. Christian witness ceased to be a burdenand became the ecpression of Spirit-wrought and powerful new affections.
   It was thus for King David:

Have mercy upon me, O God . . . According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight. . . . Purge me . . . Wash me. . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God. . . . My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

—Psalm 51:1–4, 7, 10, 14

—Sinclair Ferguson, In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel Centered Life (Reformation Trust, 2007), 103–104.

HT: The Thirsty Theologian

Set Apart for Holiness

Now, dear reader, the children of God are sanctified people, sanctified to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ, and we have no right to do anything but serve God. “What,” you say, “am I not to attend to my business?” Yes, and you are to serve God in your business. “Am I not to look after my family?” Assuredly, you are, and you are to serve God in looking after your family, but still you are to be set apart.

You are not to wear the white robe nor the breastplate (see Exodus 28:4), but still you are to think of yourself as being as much a priest as if the breastplate were on your breast, and the white robe about your loins; for you are “priests unto God and his Father” (Rev. 1:6). He has made you a peculiar generation and a royal priesthood (see 1 Peter 2:9), and He has set you apart for Himself (Ps. 4:3).
- Charles Spurgeon, The Key to Holiness

Modern American Christianity

Paul Washer could be called a “weeping prophet.” He speaks from a wealth of experience and Biblical knowledge. What he has to say is not always pleasant, but it needs to be said. –JB

To Inundate the World

Another great post from Douglas Wilson:

To Inundate the World
Topic: From the River to the Ends of the Earth
As Scripture instructs, we must be adult in our understanding. But we must also cultivate what Luke records in the books of Acts when he says that the early Christians ate their bread with gladness and simplicity of heart. We may be refreshed with both when we come to understand how much of the water of life there actually is.

“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:10-13).

What God gives to His people, He gives according to promise. We should know enough about scriptural language that we do not think the dissolution of the old heavens and the old earth in this passage consists of a meltdown of the periodic table. What we mean by elements is not what they meant by elements. Peter’s word is stoicheia, which I would submit should be referred to the elementary gods, water, earth, wind and fire. Before redemption, mankind was in bondage to these elementals as Paul puts it in Gal 4:3-8. There is perhaps a reference to two of them in Eph 2:2 and Rev 14:18. We have now been set free from them – their power and authority has melted away.

But what does this passage mean positively? The interpretive key is found in Peter’s phrase “according to His promise.” Where were we promised a new heavens and a new earth? Where does the Old Testament talk about this? The answer to this question is Isaiah’s glory. At the great conclusion of the book of Isaiah, the prophet tells how reprobate Israelites would be rejected, and the Gentiles brought in. “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ To a nation that was not called by My name. I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people (Is 65:1-2a). God promises to call His elect by another name – Christian, as it turns out – and the basis of this change is His promise. “For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Is 65:15-17). This is where the promise was made, the one which Peter claimed (Is 66:22). But do not look for a simplistic fulfillment. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?’” (Is 66:1. We are the temple (1 Cor 3:16, 6:19), we are the living stones (1 Pet 2:4-5); we are the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:2,9).

When Jesus teaches us about living water, we should all have learned enough scriptural truth not to look in the bucket. This “water” is everlasting life (John 4:13-15); this “water” is the Holy Spirit of God (John 7:37-39). “But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” Most notably, Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But where does Scripture talk about rivers of living water?

“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east . . . and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed . . . When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed . . . And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live . . . Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine” (Ezek 47:1-12).

This river of Ezekiel is the Spirit; it is everlasting life, and it flows out from underneath the threshold of the Christian Church. We see a great bridal city. The parallels between Ezekiel’s temple and the New Jerusalem make it clear they are a vision of the same thing – the holy Christian church. But how does John introduce his discussion of it? “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev 21:1). The last two chapters of the Revelation are a glorious description of a justified and perfect Church, with healing for the nations. “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17). This water of life was not given to individuals so they could keep a thimbleful in their hearts. This is water that is meant to inundate the world.

Addressing Real Need

from Out of Ur: