T4G Day One, Part Two

Next to speak was R.C. Sproul. Dr. Sproul's health did not allow him to travel to Louisville but he presented his talk live via video feed. Dr. Sproul was asked to reflect on his 50 years in the ministry and reveal what he has learned about the defense and confirmation of the gospel. His text was 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1. He said that this passages underscores the two principle problems in the church.

The first problem he identified is syncretism or synthesis. He argued that this has been a problem throughout the history of the church, reaching all the way back to Israel as they sought to synthesize the pagan religion of Canaan with Judaism. Dr. Sproul argued that the modern problem can be linked the 18th century and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant who sought to synthesize Christianity and naturalism. He then outlined how this started a pattern of syncretism that resulted in the loss of orthodox Christianity in some corners of the Christian church. Dr. Sproul argued that the church must embrace antithesis. The truth of Christianity cannot be synthesized; it is radical and the church must declare the unvarnished word of God.

The second problem, according to Dr. Sproul, is the loss of the essential gospel message. He points to a number of different manifestations of this. The first is the lordship salvation controversy that erupted in the 1980’s. He identified this dispute as an intramural debate within dispensational theology but said that what was disturbing was that any evangelical would argue that it was possible for one to embrace Jesus as Savior but not Lord; Dr. Sproul pointed to this as evidence that the gospel itself was under attack. He then pointed to the recent agreement know as “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” Dr. Sproul pointed out that while no essential doctrinal gospel agreement exists between evangelicals and Catholics, a number of prominent evangelicals signed this document which claims that there is in fact essential agreement. Dr. Sproul sees this false unity as a degradation of the gospel. Finally he argued that in recent times a number of evangelicals have sought to improve the gospel by claiming that God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our life or by arguing that the gospel is given to give us purpose that with drive us. According to Dr. Sproul this shows that the gospel itself has been lost to much of evangelicalism.

Dr. Sproul gave two recommendations. He said that we must remember that the gospel has definite objective content. The gospel is about Jesus: who He is, what He has done and how His work is appropriated to sinners (grace alone, faith alone). He concluded by reminding us that if we seek to please men we are no longer a servant of Christ and that we cannot improve the gospel.

After a break for dinner we returned to listen to Dr. Albert Mohler. He looked at the numerous cultural force that press in on the church and, if not rejected, adjust the gospel message. Dr. Mohler identified 8 different trajectories that can produce theological disaster.

1. Modern trajectory - in this it is argued that what is presented in Scripture does not fit with what we know in the modern world. Those who embrace this believe that the church must demythologize itself if it is to be successful in this world. The modern mind thinks in terms of true and false and so must find a way to embrace Scripture without embracing what the believe to be untrue, such as the miracles of Jesus.
2. Postmodern trajectory - the postmodern mind argues that truth doesn't matter and that truth can be whatever you want it to be. They see doctrine as relevant for a community but not absolute.
3. Moral trajectory - those in this category believe that since the morality of the Bible does not fit our modern ethic that it must be abandoned. To the moral mind things like hell, depravity, wrath and judgment are untenable and must be rejected.
4. Aesthetic trajectory - these argue that many of the images in the Bible are ugly and must be rejected or modified (the cross is and example of ugly truth). Dr. Mohler argued that because of the fall man has lost the ability to truly understand what is beautiful and more often than not settles for what is pretty or gaudy. Thus much of Scripture does not measure up to their aesthetic ethic and is rejected.
5. Therapeutic trajectory - those who embrace therapy redefine sin as sickness and believe man needs treatment not redemption. For those one the therapeutic trajectory the Bible is turned into a self help manual.
6. Pragmatic trajectory - the pragmatic theologian judges doctrine by what works.
7. Emotional trajectory - there are many who judge doctrine on the emotional satisfaction it gives. Thus only those parts of Scripture that are emotionally uplifting are preached while those doctrines that might be deemed negative are ignored.
8. Materialist trajectory - this system uses Scripture and doctrine as a guidebook for achieving material fulfillment.

With all of these trajectories it would be easy to point to extreme examples, but Dr. Mohler warned that over time it is possible for all of us to experience "theological fatigue" (growing weary at having to preach the same truth over and over again with seemingly no affect) or simple embarrassment. One experiencing fatigue or embarrassment might give in to these trajectories. Dr. Mohler concluded by reminding us that it is not our task to convince the secular world of the reliability of the gospel, we are commanded to simply preach the word.

T4G Day One, Part One

Here is the first of my promised T4G updates. After I registered, which took awhile since there are 7,000 attendees, I visited what could be called Shangri la (the bookstore). It takes up about 10,000 sq. ft. and the selection is unbelievable. I am currently trying to convince Aubrey that we don’t need groceries for the next two months.

Ligon Duncan opened the conference by telling us that here God speaks first and he then read 2 Corinthians 11:16-33. He summarized the reading by telling us that Paul was not great, God is great and that Paul was not glorious, Christ is glorious.

CJ Mahaney then led us in prayer. Before he prayed he asked us to pray. He asked us to thank God for the many volunteers, to pray for our families that had sacrificed to let us attend and finally he asked us to cast all our cares on Christ so we could fully appreciate what God would reveal to us over the course of this conference.

Al Mohler then welcomed us to the conference by emphasizing that it is the gospel that unites us together.

Then we sang. It was unbelievable. I cannot begin to explain the power of 7,000 Christians praising God together; certainly it was a small taste of heaven.

The first speaker was Mark Dever, the pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Christ and the founder of Nine Marks Ministry. His talk was entitled “The Church is the Gospel Made Visible” and was based on Ephesians 3:10. He started by asking the question, how does your church make the gospel visible? Or to phrase it differently, what kind of gospel does your church make visible? His point was that Jesus’ evangelism plan is the local church because the church is the proof of the gospel. He went on to say that the gospel we proclaim must also be displayed in our life together. Dever then gave four ways that the gospel needs to be manifested in our church.

1. Our lives need to reflect God’s nature and character. He emphasized three specific aspects of God’s nature that the church needs to display:

• Holiness – we are sinners but we must make it clear that we are “repenting sinners.”
• Love – we must inconvenience ourselves for the glory of God and the good of others.
• Authority – he explained how authority is life giving and that elders need to exercise godly authority and that those under authority must submit out of godliness.

2. Our lives need to reflect the truth about human beings created in the image of God:

• Because all mankind was created in the image of God we must break down natural barriers (race, age, etc.)
• But we must also not minimize the reality of human depravity. He made one point here that I believe is particularly important, he said we need to interact with one another as sinners. What this means is that we need to learn how to confess our sins to one another and we must learn to lovingly forgive.

3. Since we are the body of Christ and His temple we must manifest Christ in all that we do. He gave some specific ways in which to do this:

• Christ must be at the center – we are called to be His witnesses.
• We must extend grace since grace has been extended to us.

4. To manifest the gospel we must be people of repentance and faith.

• The church is not a club for the righteous.
• Since our Christian life is personal but not private we must live selflessly and in loving unity. The gospel is more visible in our togetherness.
• We must hold out the promises of God to one another.

His bottom line was that the cross is just an abstract idea if we don’t live the gospel.

After tonight’s sessions I will summarize the talks given by R.C. Sproul and Albert Mohler.

Lectures to His Students

This morning I left home and traveled to Louisville, KY to attend the Together for the Gospel conference. The theme for this year’s conference is “The Unadjusted Gospel.” The sessions begin tomorrow morning and it is my goal to post some highlights here on my blog.

I will begin with highlights from my flights to Louisville (I had to fly from San Antonio to Baltimore in order to go back to Louisville). On the flights and in the airports I read Charles Spurgeon’s “Lectures to His Student’s.” Spurgeon’s primary audience was his divinity students, but there are a number of wonderful nuggets of truth that I want to share because I think they can benefit a much broader audience since all believers are ultimatley set apart to proclaim the gospel of Christ.

"Those who praise us are probably as much mistaken as those who abuse us, and the one may be regarded as a set off to the other, if indeed it be worth while taking any account at all of man's judgment. If we have the approbation of our God, certified by a placid conscience, we can afford to be indifferent to the opinions of our fellow men, whether they commend or condemn. If we cannot reach this point we are babes and not men."

"The minister who does not earnestly pray over his work must surely be a vain and conceited man. He acts as if he thought himself sufficient of himself, and therefore needed not appeal to God."

"We dare not flatter our hearers, but we must continue to tell them that they are born sinners, and must be born saints, or they will never see the face of God with acceptance."

"Standing as we do in a position which makes us choice targets for the devil and his allies, our best course is to defend our innocence by our silence and leave our reputation with God."

"The fair maid of truth does not paint her cheeks and tire her head like Jezebel, following every new philosophic fashion; she is content with her own native beauty, and her aspect is in the main the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Facebook Phenomenon

I am relatively new to the world of Facebook. For a number of years I hesitated joining because I was not sure that it offered the best means of communication. Not long ago I joined ranks and have enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and maintaining greater contact with those who are currently a part of my life. While there is much to be appreciated about Facebook I have learned that my initial concerns were valid. There is potential danger inherent in the communication produced by these social network users. These dangers are revealed in two particular types of status updates; they are what I call the vague or mysterious status and the “message” status.

I am sure you know what I am talking about. After reading the vague status you come away knowing less than you did before reading it. This type of status suggests a dire circumstance or a life changing event. Usually the reality is far less significant. The mysteriousness of this type of status can produce unnecessary speculation or apathy – neither is healthy in communication. The other type of status is far more nefarious; I am talking about the “message” status. These updates are designed to deliver a message (usually negative) to a person or group and yet neither is identified. This type of status generally portrays the unidentified individual or group as despicable, ignorant and worthy of scorn. These status updates also have the power to leave one wondering whether or not they are in fact the object of derision. These status updates are relatively common and have the power of hampering fellowship, destroying trust and generating antagonism.

When contemplating our use of social networks such as Facebook, I believe that there are four important biblical principles that ought to guide not only the things we post but the way we handle the frustrations that produce such posts.

1. We are called to be people of integrity and our words must be measured and true.

Matthew 5:37 “But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.”

2. If the issue is sin, Scripture directs us to deal with it directly and discreetly.

Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won a brother.”

3. As we seek to live together in Christian community many times we must silently and joyfully bear with one another.

1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”

4. Sometimes silence is better than words.

Proverbs 11:13 “He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy conceals a matter.”

Proverbs 12:18 “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Bizarro Church

Throughout Scripture we find that those weighed down by sin are shown overwhelming grace while the self-righteous and unremorseful sinful brethren are forcefully rebuked. Yet in our churches it is not uncommon to see sinners rejected (after all they might corrupt us and our children) and self-righteousness celebrated – is it possible that we’ve gotten things backwards?

The Spirit Helps our Weakness

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:26-27

This passage was part of a study I just completed and its truth resonates and comforts. Here is what it teaches:

1. We are weak and don’t know how to pray. I believe that every Christian can relate to this. In fact I don’t think that it is an exaggeration to say that in most instances we don’t know how to pray. We may know what we would like to see happen or we may think we know what is best, but when it comes down to it we are limited in our knowledge and shortsighted in our perspective. This weakness can, and often does, result in frustration and apathy. We know that we don’t know what to pray and so we don’t pray at all or we pray reluctantly, constantly hedging our bets. This in turn only reemphasizes the fact that we are weak and don’t know how to pray. That was the part of the verse that resonates—here is where it comforts.
2. The Spirit intercedes for us and His intercession is far more passionate than our own. We are told in vs. 26 that the Spirit intercedes for us and His groanings are too deep for words. This reveals to us that the Spirit of God passionately intercedes for the people of God. The Spirit of God was sent to be, among other things, our helper and our comforter. There is no depth of despair or frustration that we experience that He does not know. And because of His perfect knowledge of all circumstances and His abiding love for us, He goes before us to the throne of grace and intercedes on our behalf. We are assured by this verse that this is not half hearted intercession but rather it is intense and ardent. On its own this is certainly a nice sentiment and a great comfort, but the story gets even better.
3. He intercedes for us according to the will of God. In verse 27 we are introduced to another; one who searches the hearts (the hearts of believers) and knows the mind of the Spirit. This is Christ. It is by His righteousness that we are allowed to approach the throne of grace and He is the one who directly intercede on our behalf (Romans 8:34). We are told that He knows our heart and he knows the mind of the Spirit. This means that He understands not only our desires but He also understands our weakness and inability to pray as we should. But He also knows the mind of the Spirit who intercedes for us. The Spirit certainly knows what ought to be prayed and when He intercedes for us He prays what should be prayed. The outcome of this dual intercession is remarkable and it is revealed at the end of verse 27. Our prayers, offered in weakness and ignorance, are brought to God, through the ministry of the Son and the Spirit, in accordance with the will of the Father.
   
   I think that it is safe to say that every Christian, when they pray, wants to pray according to God’s will. But the trouble is that we aren’t always able to know God’s will in the specific circumstances that we face. How then do we pray in accordance to the will of God? We pray. And when we pray we pray knowing that the prayers offered by us in weakness and ignorance are brought to the throne of grace by the Spirit of God in accordance with God’s will.

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