May 27th, 2008 Jeff
“God did not create us to get the cosmic, infinite joy of mutual love and glorification, but to share it. We were to join in the dance. If we center our lives on him, serving him not out of self-interest, but for the sake of who he is, for the sake of his beauty and glory, we will enter the dance and share in the joy and love he lives in. We were designed, then, not just for belief in God in some general way, nor for a vague kind of inspiration or spirituality. We were made to center our lives upon him, to make the purpose and passion of our lives knowing, serving, delighting, and resembling him. This growth in happiness will go on eternally, increasing unimaginably (1 Corinthians 2:7-10 ).”
- Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 219.
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May 25th, 2008 Jeff
“The ultimate reason that suffering exists in the universe is so that Christ might display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God by suffering in himself to overcome our suffering. The suffering of the utterly innocent and infinitely holy Son of God in the place of utterly undeserving sinners to bring us to everlasting joy is the greatest display of the glory of God’s grace that ever was, or ever could be. This was the moment—Good Friday—for which everything in the universe was planned. In conceiving a universe in which to display the glory of his grace, God did not choose Plan B. There could be no greater display of the glory of the Grace of God than what happened at Calvary. Everything leading to it and everything flowing from it is explained by it, including all the suffering in the world.”
—John Piper, “The Purposes of God in Suffering,” Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, p. 82
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May 2nd, 2008 Jeff
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . . The gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any [person] is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that comprises the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.”
- A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy , chapter one, "Why We Must Think Rightly About God," p. 1
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April 17th, 2008 Jeff
Today at Cornerstone School of Ministry we are studying perhaps the most important paragraph in all the Bible. It’s truths are so compellingly beautiful I can hardly contain myself; teaching God’s Word ignites my soul. Romans 3:21-26 is the paragraph in view, and verse 20 sets the stage.
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April 13th, 2008 Jeff
John Stott writes in Between Two Worlds:
It is my contention that all true Christian preaching is expository preaching. Of course, if by an “expository” sermon is meant a verse-by-verse explanation of a lengthy passage of Scripture, then indeed it is only on possible way of preaching, but this would be a misuse of the word.
Properly speaking, “exposition” has a much broader meaning. It refers to the content of the sermon (biblical truth) rather than its style (a running commentary). To expound Scripture is to bring out of the text what is there and expose it to view. The expositor pries open what appears to be closed, makes plain what is obscure, unravels what is knotted and unfolds what is tightly packed. The opposite of exposition is “imposition”, which is to impose on the text what is not there. But the “text” in question could be a verse, or a sentence, or even a single word. It could equally be a paragraph, or a chapter, or a whole book. The size of the text is immaterial, so long as it is biblical. What matters is what we do with it. Whether it is long or short, our responsibility as expositors is to open it up in such a way that it speaks its message clearly, plainly, accurately, relevantly. . . .
(John Stott, Between Two Worlds, pp. 125-26)
Quoted by John Piper in “How My Pastoral Ministry Shapes My Pulpit Ministry,” under the heading “16 Foundational Convictions that Shape How I Preach,” point 13: Therefore preaching is always more but never less than the exposition of Scripture. (Feb. 26, 2008 at the National Resurgence Conference.) [See notes | audio | video ]
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April 11th, 2008 Jeff
God glorifies Himself toward the creatures also in two ways: 1) By appearing to . . . their understanding. 2) In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in and enjoying the manifestations which He makes of Himself . . . . God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart.
(Jonathan Edwards, The “Miscellanies,” ed. by Thomas Schafer, The Works of Jonathan Edwards , Vol. 13, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), p, 495, Miscellany #448; see also #87, pp. 251-252; #332, p. 410; #679 (not in the New Haven Volume). Emphasis added.)
Quoted by John Piper in "How My Pastoral Ministry Shapes My Pulpit Ministry," under the heading “16 Foundational Convictions that Shape How I Preach,” point 10: This form of speech—preaching—is designed by God to correspond to his aim in creation and redemption to be glorified by his creatures, namely, his aim to be known and enjoyed. (Feb. 26, 2008 at the National Resurgence Conference.) [See notes | audio | video ]
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March 19th, 2008 Jeff
“It is radically humbling to confess that the source of all our joy resides outside ourselves.”
—John Piper, Future Grace, p. 88.
Posted in Blog, GOD is the Gospel, God-centered, Joy, Theology | 1 Comment »
March 11th, 2008 Jeff
The last two weeks in our Foundations class I taught on the afterlife. The first week focused on everlasting punishment in hell, which is not my favorite topic, and contrasted that reality with what awaits us in heaven by God’s mercy and grace.
Last week we were planning on discussing heaven and eternal rewards. Yet in between one of our classmates passed away, Ron, who is now literally with Christ enjoying Him more than is humanly possible. He sat intently listening to the lesson on heaven and only five days later was transferred into God’s glorious presence. God healed his heart problems in an instant, the culmination of years of suffering. He was only 51 and leaves behind a loving wife, three kids and two grandchildren.
After learning of Ron’s passing on Sunday, Kari reminded me that night as we lay down to sleep, “I bet Ron is now thinking, ‘That Jeff had it all wrong. This place is way better than he described!’” We had to chuckle.
So, last week’s class was somber, as we knew of Ron’s passing and awaited his funeral on Friday. A mixed celebration was our class time, reflecting on Ron’s life, telling hilarious stories about him, and praying for the family and ourselves in the grieving process. Not coincidently our studies were still focused on heaven, but we only considered one page from our book: six truths about heaven to bring us joy.
Psalm 16:11: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
1. Holiness
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25)
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appearswe shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)
2. A glorified body
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Cor. 5:1)
“For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” (2 Cor. 5:4) — the next verse: “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
3. Immortality
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)
“For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1 Cor. 15:53)
4. Satisfaction of all needs
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.” (Rev. 7:16)
5. Sharing of Christ’s glory
“… and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:17)
6. Intimate fellowship with God and other believers
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Cor. 13:12)
Tonight we will finish our delayed study on these truths and expand on the reality of rewards for believers at the Bema seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:10-15). God’s glory never fades nor bores.
Last week my students (all older than me by the way) needed a pastor more than a teacher. I was there to shepherd them and confessed up front that I didn’t know what our time would look like that night. But we need space and time to grieve. It was good, powerful, and in the moment I’m sure much more teaching went on that any of us realized. That experience will stick with each of us the rest of our lives.
Thinking and talking about heaven does indeed make us more earthly good.
“If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were those who thought most of the next …. It is because Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.”
- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 113
Tonight we finish up this study on Heaven - beginning in about 10 minutes.
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March 11th, 2008 Jeff
The audio from the Resurgence Text + Context conference is now available [as well as the sessions from the concurrent Acts29 boot camp].
I’m looking forward to being able to listen to whole messages I only caught glimpses of parts. Stirring Gospel-centered pastoral stuff.
Posted in Blog, Ekklesia, God-centered, Gospel, Ministry, Theology, missional | 1 Comment »
February 27th, 2008 Jeff
Prophet, Priest + King of the New Covenant
Jesus is the great Prophet who reveals God’s nature, will and ways (Heb. 1:1-4; Deut. 18:18), for He speaks with greater authority than all other revelators of God (Heb. 1:1-4; John 1:18). Jesus initiated God’s New Covenant, sealed in His blood (Luke 22:20), and fulfilled all the covenant promises of God’s dealings with humankind (2 Cor. 1:22; see above). As High Priest over His chosen people He is the one Mediator able to bring humankind to God (1 Tim. 2:5), mediating the best of all covenants based on God’s sure promises (Heb. 8:6). He has sanctified and is making perfect forever His specially chosen people (Heb. 10:14). He is the supreme King of all (Luke 19:38; John 12:15; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:15; Rev. 17:14), reigning and ruling from the right hand of the Majesty on High, and will coming again to establish His everlasting kingdom here on earth (Luke 11:2; Dan. 2:44; 4:3; 7:14)
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