No Matter What...

Not matter what you face today or tomorrow or next year, remember one thing: You can trust God. Just as we saw in Acts 27-28, God's sovereign grace sustains his people for the glory of his own name. Here are a few quotes to

A. W. Tozer:

With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? (Knowledge of the Holy, 64)

J. I. Packer:

[Regarding Romans 8:32] the meaning of ‘he will give us all things’ can be put thus:  one day we shall see that nothing – literally nothing – which could have increased our eternal happiness has been denied us, and that nothing – literally nothing – that could have reduced that happiness has been left with us.  What higher assurance do we want than that?” (Knowing God, 270)

by Joey

Missions when God says “Not Yet

From Restoration Church Member, Whitney K:

Today I listened to Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions, a sermon delivered by David Platt at the recent Together for the Gospel conference.  In this sermon, Platt demonstrated that a high view of the sovereignty of God fuels death-defying missions. He articulated the theological truths of our God who is in control of all things, the hopeless state of man without Christ, the glorious news of our hope in Christ, and what the gracious, powerful atonement means for all people of this world. I would fail to convey these truths as faithfully and Biblically as Platt did, so I won’t try; however, I will urge you to listen to the message here.

To list my reactions to the sermon would take days. Suffice it to say, I tend to be one of those people who are easily stirred, and must be cautious to see that I am not only stirred, but also changed. That said, I was not at all surprised to find my heart moved when Platt spoke of the 2 billion unreached people in the world or that I was quickly inspired to google missions opportunities, asking myself “what are you still doing here?”

I have been praying about my own next steps as I expect to finish my graduate degree in the coming months, and earlier this week had the opportunity to discuss this with my pastor. I have had a desire to go for some time now (though I have to admit, my motives are not always unselfish), and so have been trying to work through what that may look like for me. On the one hand, I am single, without children, and so am in many ways unhindered to pursue missions in hard places. On the other hand, like many young people, I have student loans.  To make a long story short, through prayer and godly counsel, I feel confident in saying that going now, under my current circumstances, would likely be forced and not honoring to God. For better or worse, I have student loans.  These are my obligations, and I believe that paying debt is godly (Romans 13:7, Psalm 37:21). Barring a large check in the mail, or another act of God, I cannot pay that debt if I go now.

So what does this mean? Is this a cop-out to let someone else go? An opportunity to rest easy while others pursue this mission God has graciously and lovingly called us to be a part of? My absolute, and emphatic answer is “no”. I believe that this means while I may stay in Washington, DC, I am still without a doubt called to be part of God’s sovereign work among the nations. I believe this is true for all Christians, though of course in different ways (Platt affirms the need for local ministry clearly at the start of his message). For now, I think this means I have to ask myself some tough questions. What does it look like to work on behalf of this mission while I’m here? How should I be preparing to go, if and when God allows? Here are my initial thoughts:

1. Am I faithful to fast and pray on behalf of the lost, especially those who have no access to the Gospel and the hope of Christ (Luke 10:2)?
2. Am I wisely and generously giving on to see the Gospel spread to unreached people?
3. Am I stewarding my income to aggressively pay off those loans that would keep me from going?
4. Am I cultivating the personal holiness that honors God regardless of where I am?
5. Am I preparing my heart, body, and mind to serve in difficult places, should the opportunity present itself?
   1. Do I have a love for people that is deeply rooted in devotion and love for God? When I pray for the lost, or try to work among them, will that be out of pity, guilt, or out of a core desire to Jesus be worshipped among the nations as He deserves? These are questions that point to the preparation of my heart.
   2. Am I conditioning my body to serve in not just spiritually difficult, but physically grueling, places? As Platt reminds us, there is a reason unreached people groups are unreached—it is difficult, and I am foolish to neglect physical preparation.
   3. Is my mind equipped to serve well and stay strong in faith in the midst of challenges? There are ways to “do missions” well, and ways to do it poorly. I should make every effort to know these. Are there languages I could learn? Do I know scripture? Is the Word of God imprinted on my heart in mind so that it can be quickly called upon?

With most of these questions, the answer is “no” or “not enough”. I have been convicted and challenged, and by the grace of God, I will strive to be both stirred and changed for the glory of God among all nations. My brothers and sisters in Christ, would you pray along with me, and hold me accountable?

Finally, what about you?  I have to humbly ask that in light of this mission, are you also considering whether you should go, and how God may want you live in light of that—whether the answer is “yes”, “no”, or “not yet”.

by Joey

Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions

David Platt opened up Revelation and put before me (Nathan) a Sovereign God that you can put your faith in for Tuesday afternoons and devastating phone calls. He stirred me to be jealous for the nations that are His possession. He reminded me that apart from Christ I would weep, but with Him I can rejoice. He left me to wonder at a God, so big, so beautiful, so majestic, that I stood amazed that I get to be a part of His Sovereign plan to bring in His people for His glory. Listen/watch and wonder at a God so Sovereign that you can trust Him for Future Grace.  If you want to read a summary of the message, it's below the video.

One Overarching Truth

A high view of God’s sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions.

Three Underlying Premises

This will clarify where we’re going, and maybe even disarm you a bit from objections that may already be rising in your mind and your heart.

(1) Local ministry and local mission are totally necessary.

I am not saying tonight—or advocating at any point—that we should neglect local ministry, in the local church or the local community.

(2) Global missions is tragically neglected.

The northern part of Yemen has 8 million people. That’s twice the population of the entire state of Kentucky. Do you know how many believers there are out of those 8 million people? 20 or 30. There are more believers in a Sunday School class in your church than in all of northern Yemen. Over 2 billion people in the world today are classified as unreached—which means more than “unsaved” but that the gospel is simply not accessible to them.

(3) Pastors have the privilege and responsibility to lead the way in global missions.

Over 6,000 people groups with over 2 billion people in them are not yet reached with the gospel. This is a problem not for mission boards and mission agencies to address—this is a problem for every pastor and every local church represented in this room to address.

Four Theological Truths From Revelation 5:1-14

(1) Our sovereign God holds the destiny of the world in the palm of his hand.

Revelation 5:1, “I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll. . . .”

Revelation 4:11, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy:

Almighty God, just because he is almighty, needs no support. The picture of a nervous, ingratiating God fawning over men to win their favor is not a pleasant one; yet if we look at the popular conception of God that is precisely what we see. Twentieth-century Christianity has put God on charity. So lofty is our opinion of ourselves that we find it quite easy, not to say enjoyable, to believe that we are necessary to God. . . .

Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help. We commonly represent Him as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world. . . .Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God. An effective speaker can easily excite pity in his hearers, not only for the heathen but for the God who has tried so hard and so long to save them and has failed for want of support.

I fear that thousands of younger persons enter Christian service from no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation His love has gotten Him into and His limited abilities seem unable to get Him out of. Add to this a certain degree of commendable idealism and a fair amount of compassion for the underprivileged and you have the true drive behind much Christian activity today.

(2) The state of man before God apart from Christ is utterly hopeless.

Revelation 5:2, “I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.”

The scroll contains the grand purpose of God in the world. And the silence of heaven testifies to the sinfulness of man. No one is worthy, and John is weeping. There is no hope apart from Christ. The state of the unreached in the world: they haven’t heard of God—and yet they have heard him and seen him (cf. Rm. 1:18-23).  They only have enough knowledge to condemn them, but not to be saved.

But you ask, what about the innocent man in Africa?  That’s easy – the innocent man in Africa goes to heaven—the only problem is that he doesn’t exist. There are no innocent unreached people in the world. They are guilty before God and thus they need the gospel! There are over 2 billion people in this world at this moment whose knowledge of God is only sufficient to damn them to hell forever. But there is hope!

(3) The greatest news in all the world is that the slaughtered Lamb of God reigns as the sovereign Lord of all.

“One of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’” (Revelation 5:5).

Throughout history, from the beginning of time, men have come and men have gone, women have come and women have gone, all of them, the noblest of them, the kindest of them, the strongest of them, the greatest of them—all of them have fallen prey to sin. All of them—every single man and every single woman—a slave to Satan. All of them—generation after generation, century after century—every single man and every single woman succumbed to death.

But then came another man—unlike any man or woman before. This man did not fall prey to sin; He possessed power over sin. This man was not enslaved to Satan; He was enslaved to righteousness. And this man did not succumb to death; He triumphed over death.

How? By suffering as a lamb.

He was marred / despised / rejected / stricken / smitten / afflicted / wounded / chastised / oppressed/ pulverized in our place—and all who hide under the banner of his blood will be saved. The Lamb of God has not only endured death in our place; he has defeated death by his power. He bears the scars of death, yet he is sovereign over death. The consummation of the kingdom comes through the crucifixion of God’s Son.

(4) The atonement of Christ is graciously, globally, and gloriously particular.

“Four living creatures and twenty-four elders fell down and they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed/purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth’” (Rev. 5:8-10; cf. Eph. 1:4-11)

Our obedience to the Great Commission of Christ is incomplete if we just make disciples. Our commission is to make disciples of all the nations, of all the peoples. Particular atonement drives global missions. So if we believe Revelation 5:9 (if we believe that Jesus died to purchase people from every tribe and tongue and nation), then let us go to every tribe and tongue and nation. Why? Because we feel guilty that we’re reached, that we have all these resources? Aren’t we just “guilting people” into going overseas to the unreached? We feel bad so we go? No.

What drives passion for unreached peoples is not guilt, it’s glory—glory for a King.

Four Implications of What We Should Do

(1) Let us lead our churches to pray confidently (for the spread of the gospel to all peoples).

Tell them Matthew 24:14. Tell them that “the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Tell them that, and then lead them to pray for the end to come. Ladd said this verse is “the single most important verse in the Word of God for the people of God today.” “God alone knows the definition of terms. I cannot precisely define who all the nations are, but I do not need to know. I know only one thing: Christ has not yet returned; therefore, the task is not yet done. When it is done, Christ will come. Our responsibility is not to insist on defining the terms; our responsibility is to complete the task. So long as Christ does not return, our work is undone. Let us get busy and complete our mission.”

(2) Let us lead our churches to give sacrificially.

God gives his people worldly wealth for the spread of worldwide worship. The sovereign God of the universe has willed for us to be wealthy for the sake of his worship.

(3) Let us lead our churches to go intentionally to all peoples.

We need to have short-term, mid-term, and long-term missions. There’s no question that we see Timothy-type people in the NT and Paul-type people in the NT. God calls Timothy-type people to stay in a church (among the reached) and shepherd the body. God calls Paul-type people to leave the reached and scatter to the unreached.

(4) Let us lead our churches to die willingly.

A high view of God’s sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions. Pastors who believe that God is sovereign over all things will lead Christians to die for the sake of all peoples.

Romanian pastor Josef Tson recounted a time he was being interrogated by six men. He said to one of them:

What is taking place here is not an encounter between you and me. This is an encounter between my God and me. . . . My God is teaching me a lesson [through you]. I do not know what it is. Maybe he wants to teach me several lessons. I only know, sirs, that you will do to me only what God wants you to do—and you will not go one inch further—because you are only an instrument of my God. Every day I saw those six pompous men as nothing more than my Father’s puppets!

Tson again:

During an early interrogation I had told an officer who was threatening to kill me, “Sir, let me explain how I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Here is how it works. You know that my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me, those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know I died for my preaching. And everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say, ‘I’d better listen again to what this man preached, because he really meant it; he sealed it with his life.’ So, sir, my sermons will speak ten times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me.” After I said this, the interrogator sent me home. Another officer who was interrogating a pastor friend of mind told him, “We know that Mr. Tson would love to be a martyr, but we are not that foolish to fulfill his wish.” I stopped to consider the meaning of that statement. I remembered how for many years, I had been afraid of dying. I had kept a low profile. Because I wanted badly to live, I had wasted my life in inactivity. But now that I had placed my life on the altar and decided I was ready to die for the Gospel, they were telling me they would not kill me! I could go wherever I wanted in the country and preach whatever I wanted, knowing I was safe. As long as I tried to save my life, I was losing it. Now that I was willing to lose it, I found it.

So, let us be finished and done with puny theology that results in paltry approaches to missions in our churches. Let us believe deeply in the sovereign God of the universe who holds the destiny of the world (and our lives) in the palm of his hand. Let us see the hopeless state of man before God apart from Christ, and let us lead our churches to pray, to give, and to go to unreached peoples with the greatest news in all the world.

We have been saved by a graciously, globally, gloriously particular sacrifice, so let us lead our churches and let us give our lives—let’s lose them, if necessary—for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom and the accomplishment of Christ’s commission.

And let’s not stop until the slaughtered Lamb of God and sovereign Lord of all receives the full reward of his sufferings.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

by Joey

The Lord is My Portion

Alexander Maclaren on Psalm 16:5-6:

No man who takes the world for his portion ever said, 'The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places.' For the make of your soul as plainly cries out 'God!' as a fish's fins declare that the sea is its element, or a bird's wings mark it out as meant to soar. Man and God fit each other like the two halves of a tally. You will never get rest nor satisfaction, and you will never be able to look at the past with thankfulness, nor at the present with repose, nor into the future with hope, unless you can say, 'God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.' But oh! if you do, then you have a goodly heritage, a heritage of still satisfaction, a heritage which suits, and gratifies, and expands all the powers of a man's nature, and makes him ever capable of larger and larger possession of a God who ever gives more than we can receive, that the overplus may draw us to further desire, and the further desire may more fully be satisfied.

Expositions of Holy Scripture, VOLUME I: PSALMS I to XLIX

by Joey

Providing Answers

Suppose someone walked up to you on the street and asked you a few questions about what you believe and why.  How would you answer their questions?  For what it's worth, here are my (Joey's) answers:

Do you consider yourself of be of a specific faith?
When talking about faith, I think the most important thing to consider is the object of our faith. Everyone has faith in something. We can't find empirical proof for everything we believe. For example, to say God does or does not exist is a faith claim -- neither position is a self-evident truth. I think the difference is the object of faith. Many people put faith in reason or feelings or friends or experience. These have all failed me. Knowing that all those are broken, I put my faith in Jesus. He's the one who's never failed me; he's the one who died for my sins; he's the one who rose from the grave and offers redemption and restoration for all those who trust in him. So my specific faith is in Jesus.

What's one thing about Easter that you think most people miss when they think about the holiday?
The reality of the resurrection. Whether you believe in Christ or not, everybody has to do something with the resurrection. History would tell us there was a man named Jesus who truly existed. He predicted his own death and resurrection. If people wanted to stop the spread of Christianity, all they would have to do is present Jesus' body. That's not been done. Everybody has to do something with the historical reality of Jesus' resurrection.

Some Christians would say Christ's resurrection was spiritual, or that Christ is resurrected in our hearts. Why do you think a historical, physical resurrection is so important to Christianity?
Because God has created us to be whole beings, with both material and immaterial parts. A comprehensive view of the world looks at the meaning and destiny of life, and the resurrection speaks to that. We're part of a material world; we can't just separate ourselves from it, like Plato and others claim. Just like thirst points to water and hunger points to food, our universal ache for a better world points to the reality that such a world will exist. Our ultimate hope is not an escape from this world, but a restoration of it.

The physical resurrection is also proof that the debt for our sins was paid. A check is cashed at the bank and said to be good; that's what the resurrection is for the Christian faith. It's saying that Jesus' payment was good. This is unique to the Christian faith -- there's an objective truth claim. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, our own Scriptures say our faith is futile. 1 Corinthians 15:17 says, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sin."

You minister in an intellectual city. What are the biggest roadblocks for the intellectual in coming to faith?
It seems many people are not intellectually honest with themselves. They don't reason themselves to unbelief, but they recognize that if this is true, their life has to change and therefore they don't want it to be true. In order to engage them, you have to get past the intellect. Our problem is not intellectual; it's moral. I try to get them to answer the question, "Do you reject Christianity because you really think it's untrue or simply because you don't want it to be true?"

At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
God is ultimately committed to his glory, which in turn brings his people everlasting joy. God sent his eternal son, Jesus, to bring us the deepest joy our minds can entertain, so that we might be deeply satisfied and God might be glorified in our lives. God has done everything necessary to captivate us with that which can make us eternally happy: God himself. And the only way we can enter into the presence of God is through Jesus Christ.

by Joey

Spirit-Powered, Gospel-Driven, Faith-Fueled Effort

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

As we celebrate what Christ has saved us from, we must also give thought to and make effort concerning all that Christ has saved us to – he has saved us to be conformed to His image; to be holy as He is holy (Lv. 11:44; 1 Pt. 1:16)

But thousands of people in the church feel “not very holy” and they want to move into the category of “more holy.”  What will you do and say? How will you help them get there? How will you get there?

• Will you give them legalism?
• Will you give them license?
• Will you give them platitudes?
• Will you ignore the topic altogether we are gospel people and gospel people don’t talk about personal holiness?
• How do Christians grow in godliness?

Here is the answer: Spirit-powered, gospel-driven, faith-fueled effort.

In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul says he is “working hard,” and he also says “that’s the grace of God at work within me.” Our work is not only a response to grace, but an effect of grace. Two things you need to understand about the pursuit of holiness: (1) You need to work hard, and (2) God’s grace needs to work in you.

Spirit-Powered

• The Holy Spirit give us real, true power to fight our sin and cultivate holiness (cf. Eph. 3:16; Rom. 8:9-13)
• The Spirit sanctifies by revealing sin, revealing truth, and revealing glory (cf. John 14)

Gospel-Driven

• The gospel drives us to godliness out of a sense of gratitude (cf. Rm. 12:1). Humility + happiness from  thankfulness tend to crowd out what is coarse, ugly, or mean.
• The gospel drives us to godliness by telling us the truth about who we are. Most sins become more difficult when we understand our new position in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 2:20)

Faith-Fueled

• We are justified by faith, and, in a different sense, we are sanctified through faith.
• In justification faith is passive (to receive and rest). In sanctification faith is active (to will and work).
• Better to say: the pursuit of holiness is the fight of faith—fueled by belief in God’s word to us.
• The holy life is always a life of faith, (1) believing not just in our justification but (2) believing with all our hearts all that God has promised to us now and in the future, and then (3) acting as if it were really true

Effort

• Not saying:
  • we do it in our own strength,
  • we do it to make ourselves right with God,
  • we get justified by faith and then it’s nothing but work as we get sanctified.
• The call of Christian preaching is never to make effort at godliness apart from the power of the Spirit, the truths of the gospel, or the centrality of faith.
• But  neither do the realities of Spirit, gospel, and faith eliminate the need for human effort.
• “Effort” should not be a four-letter word in your theological vocabulary.
  • Romans 8:13 says by the Spirit we must put to death the deeds of the flesh.
  • Ephesians 4:22-24 instructs us to put off the old self and put on the new.
  • Colossians 1:28 tells us to toil and struggle.
  • Colossians 3:5 commands us to put to death what is earthly in us.
  • 1 Timothy 6:12 urges us to fight the good fight.
  • Luke 13:24 exhorts us to strive to enter the narrow gate.
  • 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 speaks of running a race and beating the body.
  • Philippians 3:12-14 talks of pressing on and straining forward.
  • 2 Peter 1:5 flat out commands us to “make every effort!”
  • Hebrews 12:14 tells us to “strive for . . .  for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Simply put, As gospel Christians, we should not be afraid of striving, fighting, and working. JC Ryle: “The child of God has two great marks about him: he is known for his inner warfare and his inner peace.”

We don’t just say “get more gripped by the gospel.” We also need to work. We don’t hold to Keswick’s “let go and let God.” Sanctification is not by surrender but by divinely enabled toil and effort. When it comes to sanctification, we need to understand two points: (1) holiness does not happen apart from trusting, and (2) trusting does not put an end to trying.

Those who truly get the gospel also “get up” and work.  Hard and work and grace are not opposed – rather, just as Paul said, hard work is fueled by God’s grace.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

by Joey

Practically, What Does it Mean to be Holy?

Each one reading this post is created in the image of God (cf. Gn. 1:26-28).  What does it mean to be created in the image of God?  Most simply, it means we can know God and show God.  The vertical component means we can know and relate with God in a unique way.  Horizontally, it means we can demonstrate the character of God to the watching world.  And if God is anything, He is holy!

So it's no surprise that several times in the Scriptures we are called to be holy because God is holy (cf. Lev. 11:44; 1 Pt. 1:16).  But, practically speaking what does that mean?  What does it mean to be holy on an everyday level?  Here are some helpful thoughts by Kevin DeYoung:

Here’s one to think about being holy as God is Holy: consider growth in godliness as the sanctification of your body.

• The mind is filled with the knowledge of God and fixed on what is good.
• The eyes turn away from sensuality and shudder at the sight of evil.
• The mouth tells the truth and refuses to gossip, slander, or speak what is coarse or obscene.
• The spirit is earnest, steadfast, and gentle.
• The soul rests and rejoices in Jesus.
• The muscles toil and strive after Christlike virtue.
• The heart is full of joy instead of hopelessness, patience instead of irritability, kindness instead of anger, and humility instead of pride, thankfulness instead of envy.
• The sexual organs are pure, being reserved for the privacy of marriage between one man and one woman.
• The feet move toward the lowly and away from senseless conflict, divisions, and wild parties.
• The hands are quick to help those in need and ready to fold in prayer.

When I lose track of what holiness is actually about, I try to scan down the body from head to toe and remember what God desires from me. And just as importantly, I need to remember who Christ is and is making me to become.

by Joey