Tuesday Trainings : Redemptive-Historical Preaching - 3

Redemptive-historical preaching is preaching every passage of Scripture, in light of its redemptive-historical context, showing how each passage relates to the grace of God which is ultimately revealed in Jesus Christ. This Christ-centered approach to preaching is much needed if one desires to see gospel-centered ministries flourish in our day and age. 

In his first part, Dr. Bryan Chapell, president of Covenant Theological Seminary, spoke about the necessity of Christ-centered preaching, if we are to be true to Christ’s own hermeneutic. Then, last week, he began to talk about how that Christ centeredness can be excavated from all the Scriptures. He talked particularly about that grace message in its various forms that either prepares for or predicts or reflects or results from the work of Christ. Dr. Chapell also discussed macro-interpretation and micro-interpretation. A “macro” way of looking at the text would be when we ask where a text fits in the grand scheme of Genesis to Revelation. “Micro” ways of looking at the text involve when we ask whether there is a doctrinal statement there that is reflective of the grace of God or whether there are relationships, either of God toward His people or them toward one another, relational reflections of God’s grace that will ultimately be more fully represented in the work of Christ.

In this third part on Redemptive-Historical preaching, Dr.Chapell moves to the issue of using redemptive principles in the application of Scripture in order to provide biblical motivation and enablement.  Dr.Chapell explores the many dominant themes that come from the excavating the grace from all of Scriptures and discusses how the Bible motivates believers to obedience and holiness. He discusses at quite a good length, what could rightly be described as a Christ-centered theology of change. Very insightful and beneficial for preachers to preach Christ-centered sermons with powerful application of Scripture that is inline with redemptive principles.

Christ-Centered Interpretation for Redemptive Application Read |  Listen  |  Download 

Tuesday Trainings : Redemptive-Historical Preaching - 2

Redemptive-historical preaching is preaching every passage of Scripture, in light of its redemptive-historical context, showing how each passage relates to the grace of God which is ultimately revealed in Jesus Christ. This Christ-centered approach to preaching is much needed if one desires to see gospel-centered ministries flourish in our day and age In his first part last week, Dr. Bryan Chapell, president of Covenant Theological Seminary, introduced the redemptive-historical approach to preaching, its necessity, what it entails and how it is different from other approaches.

In his second part, Dr.Chapell deals with developing Redemptive-Historical sermons. He begins with a three-step basic process for preaching Christ from any text in the Bible. He then discusses interpretive approaches to be employed in Christ-centered preaching. His third and final section in this study is dealing with expounding historical narratives with Christ-centered lenses. He concludes with recognizing the entire bible as comprised of texts falling into four main categories  – 1. Predictive of the Work of Christ, 2. Preparatory of the Work of Christ, 3. Reflective of the Work of Christ and 4. Resultant of the Work of Christ.

Developing Redemptive Messages   Listen |  Download  |  Read

Wednesday Word : What is Gospel-Centered Ministry?

“Gospel-centered” is  a popular term these days, used by many Evangelicals, predominantly Reformed who give much emphasis on the centrality of the gospel in one's theology, life and ministry. Here at Beacon of Truth, we have Jay Dharan’s articulation of the centrality of the gospel as follows: “Doctrinally, canonically and thematically, the center of the Bible is the gospel. The gospel thus dictates our understanding of every single doctrine, orients our hermeneutics and brings coherence to our grasp of the Bible storyline. Thus it is only by keeping the gospel at the center of our theology, life and ministry, we would faithfully uphold the supremacy and sufficiency of the gospel. We thus want to be as gospel-centered as the Bible is.”[1] Thus being gospel-centered affects our systematics (understanding of doctrine) and makes it thoroughly Evangelical; affects our hermeneutics (understanding of texts) and makes it thoroughly redemptive-historical in approach; and finally it affects our understanding of the biblical metanarrative (understanding of the whole story line) and makes it Christocentric.

What kind of a ministry would this result in the church? Tim Keller, very much a veteran in gospel-centered ministry expounds 1 Peter 1-2 to explain how a ministry profoundly shaped by the gospel will look like. He lists seven aspects of the gospel from this passage and then reflects on ministry implications of each of these. The seven facets of the gospel that Keller expounds from this passage are  :  Historical, Doxological, Christocentrical, Personal, Cultural, Transformational and Wonderful. For each of these, Keller has a very profound ministry application and thus lets the listener see how each of these ought to shape the ministry of a church. When the gospel shapes the ministry of a church, it is a gospel faithful ministry and as Evangelicals, the people of the Evangel, that is what we should yearn for the most in our churches.

Gospel Centered Ministry  Listen |  Download  |  Watch

Footnotes  

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[1] Jay Dharan, The Gospel and Worshipping The Lord At Any Cost, Beacon of Truth.

Tuesday Trainings : Redemptive-Historical Preaching – 1

Redemptive-historical preaching is preaching every passage of Scripture, in light of its redemptive-historical context, showing how each passage relates to the grace of God which is ultimately revealed in Jesus Christ.  In Luke 24:27, our Lord Jesus Himself employed this approach to the Scriptures, while preaching to the disciples on the road to Emmaus and showed how beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, spoke ultimately about Him. Thus according to our Lord, “the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” were pointing ultimately to Him (Lk 24:44). Hence to properly interpret the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is to see every text in its redemptive-historical context.

This Christ-centered approach to preaching is much needed if one desires to see gospel-centered ministries flourish in our day and age. Despite the many objections hurled against redemptive-historical preaching, it is the approach which the New Testament itself follows in interpreting and applying texts. Redemptive-historical does not mean no application for the listener, as some have opposed, rather it is applying the text  within the bounds of the redemptive-historical, Christocentric and eschatological nature of the text.

Dr. Bryan Chapell, president of Covenant Theological Seminary, is well known for his teaching of redemptive-historical preaching. His book Christ-Centered Preaching won "Book of the Year" from Preaching Magazine and has established him as one of the most recognized teachers of homiletics. In this first part of his teaching on redemptive-historical preaching, Dr Chapell introduces the redemptive-historical approach to preaching, what it entails and how it is different from other approaches. He bases this theology of preaching directly on the New Testament. Chapell says “Jesus Himself said.. in Luke 24:27. The scene is after the resurrection. Jesus was walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. There we read, ‘Beginning with Moses and all the prophets he said what was in all the Scriptures concerning himself.’ For a biblical theologian, those “all’s” are all important. “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets he said what was in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Since Jesus says that all Scripture is about Him, when we try to explain a text without explaining His redeeming work, then we neglect to expound the very thing Jesus said the text reveals. That is a rather amazing hermeneutical principle. He says it is about Him. So if we are explaining the text and fail to relate it to Him, then we have failed to say the very thing He said it is about. Not to relate the text to Jesus is to fail to say what the text is about… The point is not to force the text to mention Jesus. It is to identify where the text stands in relation to Jesus. Where does the text stand in relation to what God will be accomplishing in His Son?”

In light of this understanding Chapell calls redemptive-historical preaching as Christ-centered preaching. He says,  “The term “Christ centered” is synecdoche for all of God’s redeeming work that makes us know and depend on His grace, ultimately provided in Christ. A Christ-centered sermon does not attempt to make Jesus appear where the text does not speak of Him. It rather demonstrates the relation of the text to either His person or His work or both. Thus these are also referred to as redemptive messages or grace-focused messages. Our goal in Christ-centered preaching is not to make Jesus magically or allegorically appear in every text. It is rather to demonstrate the redemptive principles evident in the text that are most fully revealed in Christ’s person or work and are necessary for our growth in Christ-likeness”. Here is the first of this four part series and it is hoped that pastors and preachers will benefit much from this outstanding and significant contribution of  Dr. Bryan Chapell to homiletics. May much gospel-centered preaching be fueled and fostered by God in our day and age.  

A Redemptive Approach to Preaching  Listen | Download  |  Read

Gospel Driven Piety

Gospel-driven piety is one which is careful to find its motivation and efficacy in the person and work of Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed in the gospel of God's grace. It relentlessly avoids any ascetic or mystical attempts to piety, as embraced by Catholicism or even some modern day Evangelicals. It does so as both asceticism and mysticism undermines the sufficiency and efficacy of the gospel to mature believers in Christ.

As an example of how gospel-driven piety thinks, here is an excerpt from the recent report of Jay.M Nair on his Sabbatical from all ministry. After having described how his sabbatical went and the valuable lessons he learned, he goes on to a section on improvement. He lists areas of improvement in his life and explains how using the gospel, he aims to tackle each of these issues.  He lists : 

• Moodiness - to be less moody and have emotions that are in-line with the hope of the gospel.

• Despair - to be less disappointed over past failures, but be driven by the promises of the gospel of God's grace.

• Critical Spirit - to be less judgmental of human shortcomings (whether in me or others) but be affirming the evidences of grace (both in me and others).

• Temperament - to be less irritated by weak and difficult people, but be tender and kind, in light of the condescending grace of the Lord towards me as revealed in His gospel.

• Patience - to be less grumbling over life's circumstances, but be patient knowing   the gospel truth of the Sovereign orchestration of all things for my good and that the God who did not spare His own Son, will not withhold any good thing from me.

• Bitterness - to be less angry, but be forgiving knowing how much I have been forgiven by His Sovereign Grace in the gospel.

• Thankfulness - less taking for granted anything or anyone, but be always moved by gratefulness, flowing from the knowledge of His love in the gospel.

• Guilt - to be less scared to confront sin, knowing the freedom of the gospel that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

• Boasting - less boasting over earthly and human things, knowing all my boast is in the Lord, by whose perfection I stand accepted before the throne of grace. [1]

The whole report can be read here.

 

Footnotes  

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[1] Jay. M Nair,  Back From Sabbatical – A Report, Beacon of Truth, 2011

Him We Proclaim

Redemptive-historical preaching is preaching every passage of Scripture, in light of its redemptive-historical context, showing how each passage relates to the grace of God which is ultimately revealed in Jesus Christ.  In Luke 24:27, our Lord Jesus Himself employed this approach to the Scriptures, while preaching to the disciples on the road to Emmaus and showed how beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, spoke ultimately about Him. Thus according to our Lord, “the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” were pointing ultimately to Him (Lk 24:44). Hence to properly interpret the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is to see every text in its redemptive-historical context. 

In this way, then, the Bible is seen, not as a collection of abstract moral principles, but rather as an anthology of the events of God’s great works in history. The Bible is dynamic, for it is the unfolding story of the coming Christ, progressively revealing more and more about him throughout salvation history. This, then, is to be the way in which the narratives are to be preached: with a view towards showing how the text points towards Christ.[1]

Dr. Dennis Johnson, author of the 2007 book Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ in All the Scriptures, speaks to Dr. Michael Horton on how we can preach from all the Scriptures, with Christ at the center.  Highly recommended for pastors and preachers, if you desire to be gospel-centered in your preaching ministry.

Him We Proclaim   Listen  | Download  

Footnotes  

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[1] Redemptive-Historical Preaching, Wikipedia

Gospel-Centered Sanctification

Ever since the Fall, the human heart is bent on a theology of works-righteousness and thus the whole discussion of sanctification is one that is to be carefully studied by Christians. There is an inherent danger in our pursuit of holiness to slip down a performance-driven lifestyle,  where it is our doing to God that determines our acceptance before God. Thus to make our justification before God depend on our sanctification is a grave error and one to which many have fallen in the history of the church. Over the years, many a systems of sanctification have been devised in the church for Christians to follow. However a vast majority are nothing but mere strivings of human flesh and in the final analysis, undermines the cardinal truth of our justification by grace alone in Christ alone.  How do the two – justification and sanctification relate to each other? How can Evangelical Christians pursue holiness keeping the gospel and thereby Christ at the center? 

Jerry Bridges, well-known Evangelical author has written a very informative and easy to read article on gospel-centered sanctification. First he explains, quite autobiographically, how he came to see that the gospel is not just for the conversion of unbelievers, but even for the growth of believers. Bridges then expounds key passages from Galatians and Romans and shows how the gospel believed every day is the only enduring motivation to pursue progressive sanctification. Sanctification is thus to live with gratitude, in the present reality of our justification in the gospel. 

Avoiding the extremes of legalism and antinomianism, a gospel-centered approach to pursuing holiness, which as Bridges shows is the biblical teaching on growing in grace, is the only truly sin-mortifying, Christ-exalting and God-glorifying way to grow in holiness.

Gospel-Driven Sanctification | Read

Monday Musings : Being Christocentric

Theoblogy is starting a new series in its weekly postings : Monday Musings. Every Monday, we will post a small reflection written by Jay.M Nair on various topics like theology, doctrine, church matters, culture etc.

Attending a Charismatic Sunday service recently, I was introduced to, probably one of the worst songs written on God. The song listed the different names of Yahweh like Yahweh-Jireh, Yahweh-Shalom etc and had a brief explanation of what these names mean to us. What made this song detestable in my eyes was first of all, the way the song was sung, was so below anything that could be called proper reverence to God. For the tune was at best a nursery rhyme. Secondly and more seriously, the words especially the interpretation of these names by the writer was pitiful. The interesting thing is that this song is not an odd one out. There are many songs sung today which follow the same method of interpretation when it comes to understanding these names of God. I stood there baffled over the song being sung with much enthusiasm by believers around me. I started prayerfully thinking over what is wrong here. The thing that struck me was that every single name of God is interpreted in the song within the context of our felt needs. Therefore Yahweh-Jireh is always about God being the provider for our earthly needs and Yahweh-Shalom is always about God bringing peace in the midst of the storms of this earthly life. However if anyone cares to know how these words are used in the Canon of Scripture, then it would be clear that this is not the emphasis of Scriptures.  What illumined my mind that day was the fact that if these names are understood in the broader canvas of the Canon, then we would see how all of these names are pointing to Jesus Christ. In other words, if these names are to be properly understood, then they are not to be interpreted with in the context of our felt needs, but rather in their redemptive historical context.

Thus for example, take Yahweh-Jireh, meaning  "The Lord Will Provide". In Genesis 22:14, Abraham memorialized the place  with this name, where God provided a ram to be sacrificed in the place of Isaac. In its immediate context, God did indeed provide a ram to spare Isaac. However if we understand this in the broader canvas of the Canon, then its not difficult at all to see that the lamb, God ultimately provided for sparing us is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Thus we who are New Testament believers, when we sing about our God being Yahweh-Jireh, it should essentially be all about God’s provision of the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins. This however is never stressed in any song that I have ever heard on the name of God as being Yahweh-Jireh.

It could be shown how all such names of God point to the person and work of Jesus Christ, if they are properly interpreted in their redemptive historical context. Here is a sampling :

Yahweh-Elohim, meaning "LORD God”. Found in Genesis 2:4 and Psalms 59:5, it refers to God being the Lord of Lords. In the New Testament, Jesus is affirmed as the Lord of Lords (Rev 17:14, Rev 19:16).

Yahweh-Rapha, meaning "The Lord Who Heals". In Exodus 15:26, God promised the Israelites on the basis of their obedience, protection from diseases He brought upon the Egyptians. God thus does heal our bodies from sicknesses, however in the broader context and as explicitly taught in the New Testament, the healing that God gives us ultimately is the healing from our sins which comes through Jesus Christ. (1Pet 2:24)

Yahweh-Nissi, meaning "The Lord Our Banner". In Exodus 17:15 after their victory over the Amalekites, Moses set up an altar and called it Yahweh-Nissi. The word banner speaks of a sign or a flag of our victory and also a rallying point. Today the covenant people of God has a banner which speaks of the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the ultimate victory of God and His people, where by we are lead by His spirit in a triumphant procession (2Cor 2:14).

Yahweh-M’Kaddesh, meaning "The Lord Who Sanctifies”. Found in Leviticus 20:8 and Ezekiel 37:28, God emphatically declares how He alone makes us holy. This truth finds its ultimate basis in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose life, death and resurrection accomplishes our salvation. (Jn 17:19, 2Ti 1:9, Heb 10:14).

Yahweh-Shalom, meaning “The Lord Our Peace”. Gideon built an altar and called it this name when God assured him how he shall not die after seeing Him. Thus the peace referred here has nothing even in its immediate context to do with psychological relief in the midst of the storms of this earthly life. The peace here is explicitly peace with God for a sinner who deserves to be dead when he faces God. This peace thus speaks of a sparing of oneself from the due wrath of God and a grace that one does not deserve. It is in this light that this name refers ultimately to our Peace – our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. (Eph 2:13-14a, Rom 5:1)

Yahweh-Tsidkenu, meaning "The Lord Our Righteousness”. In Jeremiah 33:16, the prophet prophesies how the people of God shall be saved, not on the basis of their own merits but rather on the basis of the merits of their Lord. This prophetic passage is foretelling how God’s salvation is on the basis of imputed righteousness. This is explicitly gospel truth. We are saved on the basis of an active and perfect obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Law of God during His entire earthly life. (Rom5:19b)

Yahweh-Rohi, meaning “The Lord Our Shepherd”. In Psalm 23:1, David declares how the Lord takes care of him like a shepherd takes care of his sheep. The New Testament is full of affirmations both from the mouth of our Lord (Jn 10:11, Jn 10:14) and from His Apostles(Heb 13:20, 1Pet 2:25, Rev 7:17) that Jesus Christ is the great and good shepherd of the sheep of God.

Yahweh-Shammah, meaning “The Lord Is There”. Found only in Ezekiel, it speaks of the returning of the once departed glory of God to the temple and Jerusalem. Eschatologically, the presence of God especially through His Son Jesus Christ is the temple for the people of God.(Rev 21:22) The New Testament Canon begins with Matthew identifying Jesus as the Emmanuel spoken of by the Prophet. Thus the ever present, temple or meeting place whereby we can meet God is Jesus Himself and thus in the ultimate sense even this name is speaking of Jesus Christ.

Yahweh-Sabaoth, meaning “The Lord of Hosts”.  Found in Isaiah 1:24 and Psalm 46:7, it means God is the Lord of the whole host of heaven and earth. The name thus speaks of His majesty and authority over heaven and earth. After His resurrection, Jesus Christ tells His disciples how all authority over heaven and earth has been given to Him and thus how His mission on earth – to build His Church, shall not fail.  Thus this name which speaks of how God is able to accomplish every thing he has purposed to do, points ultimately to Jesus Christ.

The point I am making here is not in anyway that all the names of God refer to Jesus Christ alone, or that there is no distinction to be made between the Persons of the God head. There are other names of God which cannot be applied to this treatment.  These names however should be understood in their redemptive-historical context. The reason being the very nature of these names. These names does not tell us who God is (His attributes), which apply to all the Persons of the Trinity. But rather these names reveal the Person and Work of God as experienced in due course of redemptive history. It is no wonder that these names then point to the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, in whom is bound all of God’s redemptive purposes.

The presence of the afore mentioned song and the enthusiasm with which some Christians are singing it should cause all biblically informed Christians to lament.  It is a sad thing that most pastors, especially in India seems to have no Christocentric approach to hermeneutics, when it comes to interpreting redemptive history as unfolded in the Scriptures. Thus much of the Bible is reduced to a mere moral science text book or a bunch of cute little stories about how God meets our felt needs. Unless we recover this simple yet inevitable Christocentric hermeneutic, both our preaching and our worship will lead the church to dwindle down into a Christ-less Christianity .

May the Lord spare us from it, for Christ’s sake.

Why Justification Is Not By Works

The Bible is emphatic in its teaching that God’s justification of sinful mankind is not by works of the law, but by faith alone in Christ alone. Despite the clarity of the Scriptures regarding this most crucial doctrine, much of Christendom is caught up in a works-driven religion. Justification as a free gift appropriated by faith alone is truly a humbling doctrine for our proud race. 

  

Expounding Paul from Galatians 2:15-21, Jonathan Christman, pastor of Heritage Baptist church, Owensboro, Kentucky, states four main reasons why justification is not by works alone. Christman argues that justification by works of the law is first of all futile, secondly sinful, thirdly self-centered and finally blasphemous. This message is not just for unbelievers but also for believers to know what kind of salvation they have received. To fully grow in our salvation, we need constant reminders of our justification and how it is entirely by grace alone and through faith alone. This will help believers from drifting into a works based relationship with God and enable them to stand on Christ alone.  At the end of the day, none of us are accepted before God due to our piety or devotion or obedience. Rather it is only on the basis of the atonement work and  the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. Grasping this truth is of utmost importance in a believers life. A believer who embraces this liberating truth of God’s gracious justification in Christ would make much progress in his sanctification, daily disciplines and in his ministry to others.

A large section of Christians sadly do not believe in preaching these gospel truths to believers. They have moved away from the gospel into some “weighty doctrines”, not understanding that we cannot divorce our teachings on the Christian life from the central message of the Bible – the gospel of God’s grace. At the center of this central message lies justification by faith alone in Christ alone.

Note To Self : Death To Self  Listen | Download

Why Hermeneutics Matter For Pastors

During a new church plant function, a local Charismatic pastor from Kerala, India, told his church members that if they believed, God would cause miracles to be wrought through their handkerchiefs and aprons, just like God did using that of Paul, as written in Acts 19:12. While this was being taught by this pastor, in a nearby church, another local Word of Faith pastor, took the people to Genesis 1 and taught them how they can also create blessings by speaking out the word like God did, when He created all things by speaking out the Word.

Where have these two pastors gone wrong?

The answer to that question in technical terms would be - in their hermeneutics. In other words, it is in their interpretation of scripture that they went wrong.  Their science of interpretation also known as hermeneutics, does not see any difference between descriptive passages and prescriptive passages in the Bible. Both of them took passages in the Bible which are descriptive in nature and preached them as prescriptive. Thus what God does in creation is no longer descriptive, but prescriptive – something which we are also to do. Thus even though no believer in New Testament days imitated the apostles and sent their handkerchiefs to heal anyone, the passage in Acts 19 becomes a prescribed pattern for today’s believers.

Hermeneutics matters as God’s truth matters. The above mentioned error is a common error made by pastors, especially those who have no background in serious theological education – whether formal or not. This error has caused untold damages to Christianity. The constant hunger of Christian leaders to preach mere-moralistic prescriptions has lead to the development of many faulty understanding of and teachings from the Scriptures, especially in the area of sanctification.

In grammatical terms, these two natures – descriptive and prescriptive are explained in terms of verb moods, as indicative and imperative. All pastors should know the difference between the two while interpreting scriptures.

The mood of a verb designates the relationship of the verb's action relative to reality. The following is a simple list of moods of verbs in the New Testament and what they generally signify:

• indicative - mood of certainty, actuality

• subjunctive - mood of probability

• optative - mood of possibility

• imperative - mood of command

As the list indicates, the New Testament uses indicative statements when discussing what God has done, is doing or will do. Imperative statements are used when saying what we should do. It is important to realize, not only that both moods are present in the Bible, but that there is a specific relationship between these two moods in the area of sanctification. Namely, what God commands us to do (the imperative) is based upon what he has done, is doing or will do (the indicatives). God is signifying by this consistent pattern that sanctification depends on God, but involves human volition and cooperation. [1]

Examples :

In the following examples, the imperative mood is underlined, while the indicative is in italics.

Ephesians 4:32 : Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Philippians 2:12b-13 : work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

I Corinthians 5:7 : Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Romans 6:12-14 : Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Sinclair Ferguson exhorts pastors to preach the gospel imperatives as rooted in the glorious indicatives of the gospel. He says,

The great gospel imperatives to holiness are ever rooted in indicatives of grace that are able to sustain the weight of those imperatives. The Apostles do not make the mistake that’s often made in Christian ministry. [For the Apostles] the indicatives are more powerful than the imperatives in gospel preaching. So often in our preaching our indicatives are not strong enough, great enough, holy enough, or gracious enough to sustain the power of the imperatives. And so our teaching on holiness becomes a whip or a rod to beat our people’s backs because we’ve looked at the New Testament and that’s all we ourselves have seen. We’ve seen our own failure and we’ve seen the imperatives to holiness and we’ve lost sight of the great indicatives of the gospel that sustain those imperatives. Woven into the warp and woof of the New Testament’s exposition of what it means for us to be holy is the great groundwork that the self-existent, thrice holy, triune God has — in Himself, by Himself and for Himself — committed Himself and all three Persons of His being to bringing about the holiness of His own people. This is the Father’s purpose, the Son’s purchase and the Spirit’s ministry. [2]

This explains why most of the New Testament Epistles begin with explaining the doctrine and then moves onto practical applications of truth. Apostles first made the hearts of their hearers believe the doctrinal truth and then instructed their minds to apply it practically. In other words, indicatives first and as the foundation of the then coming imperatives.

Pastors do you follow this Apostolic pattern and gospel logic while you preach?

Footnotes  

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[1]  Gary DeLashmutt and Dennis McCallum, The Indicative and Imperative Moods

[2] Sinclair Ferguson, Our Holiness: The Father’s Purpose and the Son’s Purchase, 2007 Banner of Truth Conference.

The Sovereignty of God in Missions

One of the characteristic feature of popular missionary movements today, is sadly, a great lack of proper appreciation of the gospel message. Most missions make appeal to Christians to join their cause, by showing how much earthly need - spiritual or physical, there is among the people groups they are serving. Rarely does a missionary organization appeal to the glory of the gospel message and inform the hearers the radical and joyful implications of it - to take it to the ends of the earth. In reality, if someone gets gripped by the message of the gospel, he needs little prodding to be zealous for the Great Commission. 

It is in this matter that Reformed Christians have a distinct approach to missions. Reformed Christians work out their zeal purely by working hard on their theology. For if one properly understands and appreciates the theology of the Bible, then not only would one know that he ought to be taking part in the missionary work of the church, but also would have the proper, biblical, needed and liberating motivation for doing it.  A lot of cheap zeal without knowledge that is so rampant in popular missionary movements can thus be avoided by us.

Dr. Michael Horton, the J. Gresham Machen professor of apologetics and systematic theology at Westminster Seminary California, has written a very excellent article, explaining the rationale for the imperative of the Great Commission to "Go into all the world". Horton seeks to show how the purposes of God are based on the promises of God, by focusing on the triumphant indicative given by Jesus Christ, before He commanded His disciples to go, namely, “All authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to Me”.

Horton begins his article by noting how raw zeal can trump the content of what we have been given to communicate [1] and let the message be subordinate to the mission and the evangel to evangelism. He notices the danger of taking sides on this issue of zeal and knowledge, by noting that if "zeal without knowledge" is deadly (Rom. 10:2-3), then knowledge without zeal is dead. He warns us that the Great Commission doesn't give any quarter to either of these extremes.

In the next two sections, Horton beautifully explains the relationship between the purpose of God and the promise of God, grounding the imperative to “Go” on the triumphant indicative of Jesus' sovereign authority.  He shows how the whole Bible points to God's missionary purpose and how the church's role in missions is purely a derivative of the former. He then goes through the book of John to show how the Father, the Son and the Spirit are equally involved in the historic unfolding of the eternal covenant of redemption. Horton summarizes from the passages in John as follows, The Father chose a people in Christ from the mass of fallen humanity, giving them to Christ as their Mediator, with the Spirit as the one who will give them faith and keep them in that faith to the end. Not one of those whom the Father gave to the Son will be lost.  Horton then appeals to the unity of the Bible and uses this understanding of the covenant of redemption from John to understand what Jesus meant in the Great Commission. Horton argues that the entire covenant of redemption finds it efficacy in the sovereignty of God. It is precisely because Jesus alone has the authority to save and to condemn that there is a Great Commission.

Horton then moves onto discussing the new birth and shows how new birth is only possible for fallen sinners, due to the authority that Christ has to give eternal life to all those whom the Father has chosen. Horton notes, All authority in heaven and on earth is in Christ's hands. If it were in the hands of a despot, we would never be free. If it were in our hands, we would never be saved. Because Christ has the power of life and death, however, there is not only the possibility but the assurance that there will be a church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

After having thus established the truth that the rationale for the Great Commission is the sovereignty of God in Christ, Horton draws some massive implications for those who are involved in missionary work. For that he picks Apostle Paul as his example and observes, After explaining that God "saved us...not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began" (2 Tim. 1:9), Paul—on the verge of his execution in Rome—assured Timothy, "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Tim. 2:10). The greatest missionary in the history of the church was driven by the gospel indicatives. Because God chose sinners from a mass of spiritual death, Christ saved them, and the Spirit gave them faith through the preaching of the gospel, Paul could go on, enduring persecution and knowing that God's purposes would be realized. Not Caesar, nor the Jewish leaders, nor the sinners to whom he preached, nor Paul himself held the personal power to save or to condemn.

Horton then exhorts us to believe in the infallible surety of the success of God’s mission of gathering His elect in Christ Jesus, through our preaching of His gospel.  He says, Because Christ accomplished his mission, ours is guaranteed success—defined by God's purposes, not ours. It is this confidence that motivates a missionary in Saudi Arabia to labor for years before witnessing a single conversion… The Father's decision is irrevocable. Christ's mission is accomplished already, and the Spirit will be just as successful in his labors. Therefore, the Great Commission cannot fail.

Even though all true Christians who embrace this truth of the sovereignty of God over all things including missions can be joyfully optimistic, we should be aware of the fact that there will be oppositions to face and persecutions to endure.  Here again Horton comes with a comforting word from the same truth of Christ’s victorious work. He says, Caesars may still rule and demand the proper temporal allegiance of their subjects (Rom. 13:1-7), but they rule at the pleasure of the Sovereign of the universe. Disease may stalk and death may claim our bodies, but it no longer has the last word: "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:55). Our fate does not lie in the impersonal forces of nature. We are not at the mercy of insurance companies and health-care providers. Jesus Christ—not the invisible hand of the market—is Lord of all powers and principalities.... Are you rattled by the magnitude of opposition to the gospel, increasingly even in the nations once nominally committed to a vaguely Christian culture? Does the Great Commission seem threatened by the gathering forces of secularism, militant Islam, consumerism, violence, and moral relativism? These are among the "principalities and powers" that Christ has vanquished objectively, although their effects have not yet been finally and forever eliminated.Oscar Cullman compared Christ's resurrection and return in glory to "D-Day" and "V-Day" during World War II. There was first of all the landing assault that broke the back of the Nazi forces, but insurgent battles raged until victory in Europe was fully realized. Even now, Christ has crushed the head of the serpent and is setting prisoners free. All authority in heaven and on earth is given to him. Are you distressed by your lack of understanding, zeal, or faithfulness in your own discipleship, much less in your appreciation for the Great Commission? Christ is Lord! He has forgiven you all of your sins and has given you a new heart. In spite of every setback, you are assured that your Shepherd-King has already won the war!

Horton concludes his article with an appeal to pause, ponder and wonder at the glorious, triumphant indicative of the gospel before there can be any mission or evangelism. All Christians would do well in taking heed to Horton’s words of wisdom.

The Great Announcement Read

Footnotes

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All quotations taken from :

[1] "The Great Announcement" , Modern Reformation, Jan./Feb, Vol. 20, No. 1 2011, Pages 12-19

What Is The Bible All About?

It is of little wonder that most pulpits today lack preaching flavored with the aroma of the gospel, when pastors to a great degree do not have any clue on how to put their Bible together. This is the reason why, at least in some circles of Christendom, preaching is merely an articulation of ethical and moral imperatives and has nothing to do with gospel indicatives. There is no exegetical faithfulness in making distinctions between descriptive and prescriptive passages.  Little or no thought is given to what unifies the whole Bible. Some even question whether there is any such unity, even venturing to speak against the Old Testament.

 We need to rediscover and appreciate with deeper levels of insight the bond between God’s partial and preparatory words of promise spoken through Israel’s prophets and his final word spoken in Jesus, the Son who is the Word (Heb. 1:1–2; John 1:1, 14). The contemporary sense of estrangement of the Old Testament from the New Testament is an anomaly in the history of the church. From the apostolic period through the Church Fathers, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation, the church maintained a hearty confidence that God’s role as the primary author of Scripture, speaking his message infallibly through distinctive human voices, secures the harmony and unity of the Bible’s message from Genesis to Revelation. Admittedly, some like Marcion denied that the Lord who addressed Moses on Sinai is the Father of our Lord Jesus. The church, however, condemned such aberrant repudiation of the Old Testament as contradictory to the teaching of Jesus himself. Others failed to recognize the diversity within the Bible’s unity, especially the fact that the Messiah, in bringing Old Testament promises and institutions to fulfillment, also has transformed God’s covenantal modes of relating to his people. Nevertheless, despite such anomalies in relating the Old Testament to the New Testament, the heartbeat of the church as a whole has coincided with Augustine’s pithy maxim: “The old is in the new revealed, the new is in the old concealed.” [1]

The answer to all of these is given by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Luke 24, when He expounded the Scriptures to the disciples on the road to Emmaus and showed how the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms were all about Himself. Pastors would do well if they realize how the whole Bible is all about Jesus Christ. We need preachers who are committed to a redemptive-historical reading of the Bible and expounds its central theme – the person and work of Lord Jesus Christ, the full and final revelation of God.

How would a Christocentric reading of Scriptures look like? How would preaching Christ from all of Scriptures look like?

Here is an interesting short clip of Tim Keller giving us a feel of how Christ is all though out the Old Testament. He thus shows how the Bible is basically not about us, but primarily about Jesus Christ. The video ends with an implication for preachers. May those of us who are called to preach Christ take heed.

 

Footnotes

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[1] Dennis. E. Johnson, Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ From All The Scriptures, Pg 4