deTheos

‘Tis not that I did choose Thee

" ‘Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Three,
Hadst Thou not chosen me …

My heart owns none before Thee,
For Thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first."
– Josiah Conder, 1836

Found in the front matter of the Jesus Storybook Bible we bought Dutch. Wow, that’s the type of Christ-exalting humility and truth I hope our young son to grasp. We hope to swim with him in the deep end of God’s perfections and grace (even from this young age).

"We love becaus e he first loved us ." [ 1 John 4:19 ]

Posted in Blog, Books, Family, God-centered, Grace, Theology | No Comments »

Three pastoral concerns

Justin Buzzard (normally found here) has written a piece, “Three Pastoral Concerns in 800 Words” on the New Attitude Blog, dedicated to raising up a God-centered, Gospel-living, Bible-saturated generation of men and women who display Jesus Christ is in all their lives.

Good stuff, especially the reminder that the Gospel is not just the entrance to the Christian life, it is also the imperative of all the Christian life, to be related to Christ and live in Him, at all times, in the Gospel. (Or, to use a metaphor I came up with, the Gospel is not merely the diving board into the pool, it is the pool. We need to swim in all its fullness, plunging into the deep end daily.)

Here are a few highlights of Justin’s article:

Issue #1: Gospel-Driven Living

As a pastor I’ve noticed that many of the Christians I come into contact with inadequately appreciate and apply the gospel. Each week I encounter many believers who don’t appear to grasp how radical, how good, the good news is. Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension are reduced to the long forgotten starting line of the Christian life, rather than appreciated as the message, the oxygen, that enables each new stride, all progress forward, in the Christian life.

About one year ago I asked some Christians to grab a pen and paper and answer the question, “What is the gospel?” One answer read: “The gospel is what Jesus did for sinners on the cross. It’s how you become a Christian.” This answer is true, but it’s not true enough. There’s more to it. I could speak to the incomplete content of this answer, but here I’ll speak to the incomplete application of this answer: “It’s how you become a Christian.” If you view the gospel merely as what makes you a Christian, rather than also what matures you as a Christian, you minimize the Savior and maximize yourself.

That’s dangerous.

The nitty-gritty consequences of this, of holding to a mere starting-line gospel, a mere starting-line Savior, are severe. The negative affects I’ve observed are: legalism, joylessness, pursuit of self-glory rather than God’s glory, fear, prayerlessness, pride, and loss of concern for the lost.

I’m seeking to lead people to the comprehensive, robust gospel presented in the Scriptures which teaches that each step forward in the Christian life is made only through reliance upon our Savior. Our sin is that bad and our Savior is that great. I’m seeking to do this both by preaching this gospel to myself as often as possible and by talking about and applying this gospel in any and every preaching, teaching, counseling, and evangelism opportunity I’m presented with.

…

Issue #2: Discipling Godly Men
(read it)

…

Issue #3: Local Church Commitment

The local church stands at the center of God’s design to redeem the world. Jesus died for the church (Matthew 16:16-18). You can’t obey Hebrews 13:17 unless you’re part of a local church: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” And yet many among this generation of Christians view commitment to a local church as a peripheral concern.

For me this is a central issue, especially as I regularly encounter Christian twentysomethings who find their way into our twenties ministry, operating under the unbiblical conviction that this ministry can be a substitute for involvement in a local church. I’ve sought to respond to this concern by talking loudly week in and week out about the importance of the local church.

Six “core commitments” underlie what my ministry to San Francisco Peninsula twentysomethings is all about. The sixth of these commitments, the local church commitment, is a value that I stress as I encounter non-Christians, Christians from other churches, and Christians who claim no home church who visit our ministry for single and married twentysomethings. This commitment reads as follows:

The local church stands at the center of God’s design to redeem the world. Every Christian is called to be involved in a church (not a twenties ministry), a body of people of all ages who travel through life together and meet regularly to worship God, hear the gospel preached, practice the sacraments of baptism and communion, and submit to the leadership of elders. We love our church—being a part of it and serving it.

I’m responding to this third issue by championing this commitment, by seeking to infect young adult Christians with a love for the local church, the church that Jesus died to create.

Okay, that was almost all of it. Just trying to keep it under the 800 words, even though he wasn’t able to. Thanks for the encouragement, Justin.

Posted in Blog, Ekklesia, Gospel, Grace, Sanctification, Theology, godly trajectory | No Comments »