Raising the Spiritual Bar

Pastors should not be afraid to set the spiritual bar for their people as high as it is set in Bible. Of course, the bar the Scripture sets is Jesus Christ, Himself. He is the One against whom we all are ultimately measured. He is the One whom we all are being conformed into, and it is Him that we all will be like on that day (Ephesians 4:11-15, Romans 8:29, Colossians 1:28, I John 3:2). If this is true, rather, because this is true, then pastors should be concerned with the personal holiness of their people, not their personal happiness.

Pastors need to exhort their people to be great Christians. They need to lay out an expectation for them to be the best Christians they can be. They need to entreat their flock to love the Lord with all their heart, so they will be filled with an ongoing desire to please Him. They must to encourage them to pursue Christ. They need to keep the Gospel fresh, so that the joy of  salvation will not grow stale. Pastors need to extol the greatness of God, so that the people's reverence for Him will not wane. They must not hide the cost of discipleship, but encourage their people to press on. They must prepare them to be diligent and to persevere, and cheer them on to not grow wearing in doing good.They must be faithful in giving them the Word, so by it all under their charge and care may grow with respect to their salvation.

This is tough and demanding, because if pastors raise the bar for their people then they must also raise the bar for themselves. They must then raise the bar for their own personal holiness and its pursuit; raise the bar for their personal Christ-likeness; raise the bar for their preaching and teaching; raise the bar for their spiritual leadership; raise the bar for their own diligence and perseverance; raise the bar for their worship; raise the bar for their prayer life; raise the bar for how they do church. But is that not the task pastor's have been assigned, is it not the stewardship they have been given? Is it not why the warning is given in James 3:1? Daunting as that may seem, His grace is sufficient, and it is the Lord that makes us all adequate as His servants.

Pastors, press on in the fulfillment of your calling. Press on to be the best shepherd you can be. Press on to be great shepherds of the sheep, as any less of an effort is a disservice to them, a dishonor to your calling, and a disappointment to the Master.  And on that day may you all hear, "Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master."

Made Clean in Christ

To the pure, all things are pure; 

but to those who are defiled and 

unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both

their mind and their conscience are

defiled.  They profess to know God,

but by their deeds they deny Him,

being detestable and disobedient and

worthless for any good deed.

Titus 1:15-16

What makes people worthless (unfit, unqualified, incapable, examined and rejected as useless) for any good deed?  Is it because they are detestable or disobedient?  No, because these are the by-products of the real issue.  Is it because they profess to know God, but deny Him through their deeds?  No, again, this hypocrisy is but a by-product of the root cause.  Is it because their mind and conscience are defiled?  Once again, no, as these are the result of their real condition.  Well, then, what is the root cause that renders one unfit for any good deed?  It is the one fact, the ultimate condition of their being...they are unbelieving...unbelieving in the Gospel, unbelieving in Christ as their sin-bearing substitute, unbelieving in the work of Christ, unbelieving in the person of Christ, unbelieving in the necessity of Christ, unbelieving in the awfulness of their own sinfulness and wickedness, unbelieving in their own personal defilement and its stench before God, unbelieving in God's own holiness and its demands upon them.  

What then does this mean in regards to unredeemed and unbelieving man's place before God?  It means that no matter what he does, it is not good.  It cannot be good.  It will never be good.  Why?  Because man's unbelief has defiled him and rendered him incapable of doing anything good; and, in fact, according to Titus 1:15 everything he touches becomes impure.  Well, what if they are fighting aids in Africa?  Impure!  Okay, what about feeding the hungry and clothing the poor?  Impure!  What if they are doing something to stop the sex-trafficking of young girls? Impure!  What about the person who donates a kidney or bone marrow?  Impure!  Surely, if they give their life to save another that would be good enough?  Sorry, still impure!  Why, you ask?  Because God has said so (Isaiah 64:6...and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.). Because God Himself is the standard (Matthew 5:45..you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect). Because He alone is good (Luke  18:19...Why do you call Me good?  No one is good, but God alone.) Because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  

What then makes the believer pure, so pure, in fact, that all things are pure to him?  He is baptized into Christ, and Christ's righteousness has now become his (Romans 6:3-4).  Yes, he now has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and he is seen as righteous, just as Christ is righteous (II Corinthians 5:21, I Corinthians 1:30). He has been washed and made pure by Christ (John 13:8,15:3, Ephesians 5:26, Hebrews  10:22, I John 1:7).  This is the reality of being united with Christ.  We are now capable of performing good works (Titus 2-3, James 2), whereas before, nothing we did was good because we were incapable of doing anything good.

Once again we see the wonderful and magnificent benevolence, the gracious favor of God to those who come to Him in faith.  We are now able to please Him, to perform works appropriate to Him, and these works will follow us when we come back to rule and reign with Christ (Revelation 19:7-8).

So, my friends, are you depending on your own good works to save you?  Are you hanging your eternal destiny on what you have determined as meritorious?  Have you determined for yourself what is good? If so, how good is good enough?  How many deeds will it take?  Where is the bar of righteousness set?  How will you know if you have hit the mark?  Don't be blinded by your own self-righteousness.  Obtain the righteousness of Christ, the only Righteous One, by placing your faith on what He has done in your stead, by placing your faith in Him instead of yourself, by confessing that you are a sinner who can never be not just good enough, but good at all in the eyes of God.  Come to God acknowledging your own defilement, and ask Him to cleanse you and give to you the righteousness of His Son, which He will gladly do.

If you have already done this.  If you have already been made clean in Christ.  Then take this time to praise Him and thank Him for the Holy Spirit who indwells you and the righteousness He has placed you into.

Giving to the Lord

Giving to the Lord is an act of love,

not an act of duty.  When He has captured 

your heart, the money will follow.

Rejoice this Day

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice and be glad, 

rejoice and let your heart exult in your

salvation.  Give thanks to the Lord for

the greatness of His mercy to you.

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice in the eternal

love with which you have been loved, and 

in which you will be loved for all time.  Be 

thankful with a heart full of gratitude for His

bestowal of His great love upon you.

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice that your name

is graven upon His hand, and written in 

His book, never to be forgotten.  Give 

thanks that you are kept by the 

power of God. 

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice in the reality

of His indwelling presence.  Rejoice 

in the reality of His power at work

in your inner man.  Rejoice that sin

no longer has its way with you.  Give

Him thanks for sharing His holiness 

with you.

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice that He

is conforming you to the image of

His Son.  Rejoice that you are being

made complete in Him.  Give thanks

that the old self becomes less, and 

the new self becomes greater.

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice in the hope

laid up for you in heaven.  Rejoice in

the imperishable, undefiled and unfading

inheritance reserved in heaven for you. 

Give thanks to the Lord for preparing a 

place for you, and the reality of His

coming back for you to take you

to Himself forever.

Rejoice this day!  O, yes, rejoice this 

day for all the Lord has done for you.

Is it Us or God?---Enabled by the Spirit

By by the grace of God I am what I am,

and His grace toward me did not prove

vain; but I labored even more than all of them,

yet, not I, but the grace of God with me.

I Corinthians 15:10

...sinners are moved from death to life, from passivity to activity, as they are enabled by the Spirit to participate in Christ.  The new life of the Spirit in sanctification is received as a gift.  But it activates our capacities.  As we see in Jesus Christ, true humanity (in harmony with God) is active humanity--actively obedient to the Father, active in loving God and neighbor.  While Christians receive participation in Christ as a gift, the result of this reception is an enlivening of our capacities by the Spirit.  As Calvin says in the Bondage and Liberation of the Will, God does not "cause" faith or action in us without our assent. Yet "assent is properly called ours, but not in such a way that it should be understood to derive from us."  Declaring that God deserves the credit for the fruit of the preaching of the gospel, Calvin warns that "this is not because in doing everything by the power of his own Spirit [God] excludes the ministry of his servants, but so as to secure for himself the entire praise for the action, just as the effectiveness derives from him alone, and whatever labour people do without him is empty and barren."  Thus, communion with the Spirit is what makes our faith and action our own.  Stated differently, God does use our will , our mind, our ministry, and our efforts to preach the gospel and to live faithful Christian lives.  But wherever there is fruit, the credit should not be divided between God and us.  When we pray and the prayer is answered, we should not congratulate ourselves for praying with wisdom and diligence.  No.  In all things, we should give praise to God, because even sanctification is a gift, first and foremost, that we receive from God.

At this point, in seeing not only justification but also sanctification as a gift received in union with Christ, we are at the heart of the issue on an experiential level for Christians.  If sanctification is a matter of me drawing deeply on my self to do good things for God, then my own holiness--and my own effort--becomes an end in itself, and preaching should focus on Christ only to the extent that he is a moral exemplar who goads us to work harder.  Why?  Because in this way of thinking, since Christ's justifying work is done, it is up to us to achieve our sanctification.

J. Todd Billings

Union with Christ

Page 46

Our Great Purpose

We are to exalt his name because it is the great purpose of our beings.  For this we have been created.  As the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it in the first answer:  'Man's chief end
is to glorify God...". God has made us to praise, worship, and honour him--to recognize and declare all that we know and can learn about him.  By his Spirit we are to bring ourselves into line with him and his glory--so that, ever more fully, his name will be exalted in the world and heaven will come down to earth more and more......

......We, God's people, are the only beings whom he rescues from hell.  He makes us his children, transforms us into holiness and brings us to heaven, all by the person and work of his Son.  Our redemption displays so much about God--Father, Son, and Spirit.  In no one and nowhere else in the universe can such reality be displayed--'things into which angels long to look' (I Pet. 1:12).  What a wonder it is and will be for us alone to tell this story for all eternity!  Here is why, on earth and in heaven, we are to exalt his name together.  

Edward Donnelly
Let Us Exalt His Name Together
Banner of Truth
August/September 2012
Page 35

Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism = Another Gospel

Post cards, I am sure you get many of them, not so much from friends on vacation, but those which advertise the latest and greatest.  They are a good marketing tool, and a relatively inexpensive one.  And they are a marketing tool which many churches are using as a promotional piece.  I am sure, if you live in the United States, that you have received many over the span of the last decade.  Well, one of our church members gave me a post card he had received in the mail from an area church, which was promoting its up and coming sermon series.  He looked at me with a grin that was anticipating the response he knew was coming.

I did not disappoint him, but at the same time my heart was saddened by the latest iteration of what has come to be labeled as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, MTD for short.  It has become the religious philosophy, the religious viewpoint of our age, and unfortunately several of the churches in our area have knowingly or unknowingly succumbed to it.  MTD as a religious philosophy has also attached itself to a religious methodology that has become prevalent here in our country.  In their drive to be appealing to the masses, the Willow Creek, seeker sensitive, Purpose Driven adherents have assimilated this view of church and religion into their methodology.

This sermon series being promoted by a local church is a great example of how this philosophy has infiltrated the church.  Here is what the postcard said:

Life in the Permian Basin is a little crazy right now.

With unemployment low and the price of oil high,

opportunity is everywhere, but with that opportunity

comes new challenges.  Managing the balance of work,

relationships, finances, and recreation can be difficult 

at times.  But how should our faith influence our normal, 

but crazy everyday life?  Join us for "Babylon, Bucks,

Babes, and Brewskies,"  a new sermon series beginning

August 5.

Pretty catchy, eh, as each B word is the heading of that week's sermon?  You can come learn how to deal with, and find balance in, our crazy life here in the Permian Basin.  Besides being catchy and cool, it sounds as if it will be problem solving, help giving, encouraging, comforting, and anything but convicting or confronting.  You know, I wouldn't be quite as upset if this just wasn't so prevalent in our area.  Here are recent sermons/series from two other major churches in our area:

1. A four week series on God in the movies.

2. How to handle stress, and being too busy.

And these are the sermon topics for the last few months at these churches.  We have had other post cards from these and other churches over the last few years with similar topics.  Honestly, this is not new, as Robert Schuller (Self Esteem, the New Reformation), Emerson Fosdick, and Norman Vincent Peale espoused this philosophy during the last century.  We can also see elements of it during the Down-Grade controversy in England during the time of Charles Spurgeon. However, it has now become mainstream, and is the dominant philosophy/methodology in the religious life of our country, and its adherents know no denominational or tradition boundary.  What has bothered me is the blindness that so many who say they hold to the authority and inerrancy of the Sciptures have in this area.  Yes, even many of the young, restless, and reformed group are caught up in this as well. 

This philosophy exalts man and lowers God. It deemphasizes salvation and marginalizes the gospel. It eliminates sin from the church's vocabulary. Its emphasis is on happiness not holiness with the goal of personal betterment, not sanctification; in other words become a better you instead becoming more like Christ (which would automatically make you a better you, right?) The church service is designed to comfort you, not confront you; to entertain you, not train you; to make you feel better about yourself, not feel bad about your sin.  

MTD is nothing more than a refined legalism, with each individual determining his own set of rules. It redefines good to whatever each person determines is good. It bears the slogan, "Deeds not Creeds" proudly. It is a subtle form of self righteousness. It is narcissism with the veneer of religion, and plays to the exaltation of self, instead of the exaltation of God. It is all about what God can do and should do for the individual instead of the individual's responsibility to God. It is truly the religion of self as humility, thankfulness, and gratitude are foreign concepts.

Of course this is a different gospel. It is the gospel of self-improvement, self gratification, self-awareness, the gospel of anything that makes the self feel better....about its self. And we know from the Scripture that a different gospel is no gospel of all. This gospel of self does not save, it damns. It doesn't lead you to Christ, but leads you away from Him. It truly is the broadest of the broad paths that lead to destruction. 

Our Savior, the Savior of the true gospel, was self-emptying, self-denying, and self-sacrificing; and He has called us to do the same, and has said that these are what we must do to be a true disciple. 

My friends, be on guard against the leaven of self, perhaps the most pernicious of all the leaven.  Listen to Michael Horton as he gives us insight into this philosophy and how it is spread.

Michael Horton gives a good thumbnail sketch of MTD in this short interview.

http://youtu.be/OfnJ9lW8XxM

And he gives a more detailed presentation here.
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/christless-christianity-2010-west-coast/moralistic-therapeutic-deism/

The True Christian

The True Christian understands that his good works

are but the product of the grace of God in his life.

The True Christian

The true Christian understands that it is God's glory

to save sinners of every stripe:  from the social 

sophisticate to the social misfit, from upper class

 to no class, from the well-known to the unknown,

from the prince to the pauper.  It is His glory to save,

and to save all whom He saves.  The true Christian  

understands that is God's glory to save those who  

 are not just like him. 

It's Sunday

It's Sunday!

Are you honoring God by your praise?

Are you honoring God in your prayers?

Are you honoring God through your preaching?

Is honoring the Lord your first and greatest priority in your church service?

If not, then why have you gathered together?

The True Christian

The true Christian understands that he has been

united with Christ; and that once united with Christ

he can never be separated, torn, or carried away from Him.

The True Christian

The true Christian looks not at anything he has done,

or can do for his salvation, but looks to what Christ

has done for him.  He looks not at his deeds, but looks

to Christ's deeds.  He looks not at his righteousness,

but looks to Christ's righteousness.  He looks not to 

his own way, but looks to Christ as the way.  He looks 

not to anything else, but looks to Christ and Christ alone.

The True Christian

The true Christian understands that he is

a sinner in need of a Savior.

The True Christian

The true Christian understands that he is saved

not because he is good, but because God is good.

Law and Gospel

The Law is for the self-righteous, to humble their pride; 

the Gospel is for the lost, to remove their despair.

Charles Spurgeon

All of Grace

Page 32

Faith and Good Deeds

Good deeds are faith's constant and faithful companion.

Titus 1:16, 2:7, 2:14, 3:1, 3:8, 3;14

James 2:14, 2:17, 2:18, 2:20, 2:22, 2:24, 2:26

(Who says that Paul and James disagree?)

Revelation 19:7-8

How well will you be clothed?

Spurgeon on Sermon Preparation

...Spurgeon said:  "The ministry demands brain labor.  The preacher must throw his thought into his teaching, and read and study to keep his mind in good trim."  In other words, power in gospel preaching demands arduous study.  He admitted:  "I scarcely ever prepare for my pulpit with pleasure.  Study for the pulpit is to me the most irksome work in the world."  But he understood that if he refused to pay this high price, he would have no business in the ministry:  "An idler has no right in the pulpit.  He is an instrument of Satan in damning the souls of men."  Again, he warned:  "He who has ceased to learn has ceased to teach.  He who no longer sows in the study will no more reap in the pulpit."  Even for a genius like Spurgeon, Bible study was hard work.  But depth in the Word is absolutely necessary if there is to be depth of conviction and soundness of conversions.

Steven Lawson
The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon
Page 32

Embracing the Cross

True Christian expectations centre on the cross and involve an acceptance, if not the willing embrace, of the suffering, weakness and marginalisation which inevitably come to those who follow in the footsteps of the Master.  These are to be the horizons of expectation of the believer as an individual and of the church as a whole.

Carl Trueman
Reformation:  Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Page 53

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take

up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23

Notice that the "was saying" in this verse is in the imperfect tense, which means Christ was saying this repeatedly, over and over, so as to make His point as to the earnest seriousness  one must have in following Him.  He did not want them to miss this important point.  Later in  Luke 14:26-27, Jesus has this to say,

"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.  Whoever does notcarry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Again in Luke 21:17 Christ says, "and you will be hated by all for My name's sake."

The embrace of the cross, for us as Christians, must be a personal embrace of the entirety of the cross.  Too much has been made today of the benefits to Christians of Christ's cross while ignoring the costs and necessity of our carrying our cross.

A Good Thing to Keep in Mind

Keep this in mind, you only have
what you have been given.

For who regards you as superior?
What do you have that you did 
not receive?  And if you did receive
it, why do you boast as if you had
not received it?
I Corinthians 4:7

Where then is the cause for boasting,
arrogance, and pride?  Wouldn't it
be better to concentrate on wisely
using all you have been given, and
to keep in mind that He who has given
you all things will hold you accountable
for how you make use of what He
has given you?

Matthew 25:14-29

Milestone V

Well, on the third Sunday in June Grace Covenant Church passed another milestone, our fifth anniversary.  It certainly does not seem like it has been five years since we started, but by God's grace and in accordance with His eternal purpose we are still here.  And we are thankful for His calling us to this work, and are thankful for the provision of His grace to empower us to do what He has called us to do. 

As with any church plant there have been ups and downs, but I can truly say that even though we have experienced frustration and disappointments at times, we have never been discouraged; and that is because the Lord has been with us and has not let those times of frustration and disappointment turn into discouragement.

And I said all of that to say this, this has been the most interesting year so far, and in some sense the most daunting year.  We have had more families visit this year, and not come back.  We lost four families this last year that had been coming regularly, one for three years.  There were different reasons that we lost them, but lose them we did; and when you are a small church, that is noticeable.  However, we have had a sense of this being God's pruning of us so that not only will we bear more fruit, but that He will receive the glory for what is done.

But the good news is, as a church, we are richer spiritually now than we have ever been, more spiritually attuned, and more spiritually mature.  In the final analysis, this is the purpose of the church, any and all churches, to be the instrument of God in the lives of His people (His people being His people doing what they are gifted and called to do) to bring about a deepening Christ likeness in those He has placed in each church (Ephesians 4:11-16).  It is a deep and abiding joy to me as the pastor to see more of Christ in our people now than I saw in them a year ago. 

This year we finished the Gospel of John, which took about three and a half years to preach through.  We went through the book The Holiness of God, and are half way through Knowing God in our men's group.  We, again, took six of our men to the Shepherd's Conference, and the consensus was that it was the best one our group has attended.  Our ladies went through a couple of Precept studies and several attended the Gospel Coalition's Women's Conference last week.  Our children continue to hear the gospel consistently during their Sunday School time, and we are counting on the Lord's Word not to return to Him void.  Our people do love the Lord, and those that are here are developing and demonstrating faithfulness in their walk and service to the Lord.  It is indeed a great thing to be part of.

We are going through Psalm 119 and Titus over the next few months.  I have already preached out of Psalm 119 for the last couple of months, and will start the series on Titus next week.  I will take a few breaks in Titus to preach on Psalm 119.  In September we will be blessed to have Nigel Shailer, the Academic Dean of the Shepherd's Bible College in New Zealand, come to preach to us and to share with us what they are doing to train, equip, and evangelize in that part of the world; and we are having him come to prepare us, as a church, to support their work. 

All in all, it is a great and glorious blessing to be a part of Grace Covenant Church, to be its pastor, to lead and shepherd its people.  The Lord is indeed good and does good, to Him and Him alone be all glory, honor, and praise.  May His name be blessed forever and ever.