Forgiveness and the Justice of God

Have you ever considered that God's justice requires your forgiveness? This may sound strange since forgiveness is mercy and not justice. How can God's justice require I am forgiven? Well, if you are united to Christ through faith, then your sins have been paid for. Jesus is the propitiation (satisfaction of God's wrath) for all your sins (1 John 2:2). This is how John can say, "If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)." God's justice has already been satisfied on Christ so it would be unjust of God to now satisfy his justice against all those in Christ! Have you considered what this means? This means your forgiveness is inextricably tied to the righteousness of God! If God fails to forgive you, God is unrighteous. Is there any more secure ground for your forgiveness than the righteousness of God?

The Fall

I started our Bible storyline of creation by emphasizing that God created all things and is the Sovereign King over all things for His glory. He created us to be God’s people living in God’s presence under God’s rule and blessing. This is what we call being in the kingdom of God. Adam and Eve were in God’s kingdom, as God’s people, in God’s place or presence (the Garden), under God’s rule and blessing. As a result, they were at rest or peace. They had a good relationship with God, with others, and with the creation. However, the incredible creation of God has been corrupted by sin. It was corrupted by the Fall. As a result, man is no longer in God’s kingdom---he is not God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule and blessing.

We find the story of the Fall in Genesis 3:1-6. Satan starts with a half-truth and questions God’s Word. After being properly corrected, Satan tells a flat lie. Satan tempts Adam and Eve with the promise they will know good and evil. And they will know evil in that they will participate in it. God knows evil in that it is the opposite of all He is. He abhors it. Satan also tempts Adam and Eve with the promise of being like God---self-exaltation. Eve was deceived. She thought it would make her wise and her lusts got the best of her (1 Timothy 2:14). Adam was flat out rebellious. He was in the garden, with all God’s good gifts around and he thought I will disobey God and eat from that tree. We are told that as a result of this sin everything changed!

So what all changed? There were 3 relationships effected by the Fall: our relationship with God, our relationship with others, and our relationship with creation.

Our Relationship with God

When sin entered the world we were lost or alienated from God’s presence. We are no longer the people of God in the presence of God under the rule and blessing of God. We are no longer in God’s kingdom. Certainly, God is still ruling this earth but to be in His kingdom in the biblical sense is to be his people, in his presence, under his rule and blessing. This is perhaps the worst part of our spiritual condition because we lose the joy of knowing and being in the presence of God, we are in a state of eternal separation from God, we lose him as our treasure. There are at least 12 effects of the Fall on our relationship with God:

1. We are unable to do any spiritual good or truly seek God.

Rom. 3:10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

Rom. 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

Rom. 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

This is not a reference to our ability to be good in relation to other men, but in relation to God. God can no longer look at man and give the moral judgment “very good.” We were made to reflect His glory---we were made to bear His image---to reflect his holy character back to Him. As sinners, we are now a walking lie.

2. We are those without spiritual understanding.

1Cor. 2:14 ¶ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

This is not a reference to our ability to understand anything. We are unable to understand things pertaining to God---we cannot really know Him. We can try to seek him on our own but we are just groping in the dark.

3. We are those who suffer shame. (Genesis 3:7, 3:10 cf. 2:25)

Adam and Eve attempted to over cover themselves for shame. How do we try to cover-up? What are our fig leaves? We try to cover up our sin by hiding it, lying about it, or minimizing it. We also cover up by talking about sin corporately, rather than personally. We say things like, “all people look at pornography,” to avoid saying, “I looked at pornography.” We cover up by assuming enough time has passed to make our sin go away. We cover up by assuming everyone does it, so I don’t have to feel too bad.

4. We are those who are now hiding in fear. (Genesis 3:8-10)

How do we hide from God? We hide behind intellectual arguments against the existence of God or behind some conception of God in our imagination---that He is not holy and angry about sin. We hide behind busy schedules and the noise of life. We hide behind excuses that others are keeping us from God.

5. We are those who are now experiencing guilt and tend to blame-shift. (Genesis 3:11-13)

We feel guilt because we are guilty. We don’t like to feel guilt so we either minimize our sin, or, most frequently, we find someone to blame. It is the fault of our parents, or spouse, or children, or church, or government. “The man is keeping me down.” We are just like Adam and Eve, saying to God, “It is this wife, or husband, or parents you gave me.”

6. We are faithless and unbelieving as Adam and Eve were and as Cain was.

7. We are prideful and decide we know better than God just as Adam and Eve decided they knew better than God.

8. We are disobedient and rebel against God just as Adam and Eve rebelled against God.

9. We are idolatrous and give glory to other people or things, especially ourselves, because we want to be “like God.”

10. We are lustful and driven by passionate desires for something just as Eve when she saw that the fruit looked desirable.

11. We are liars just as the serpent in the Garden was.

12. We are filled with ingratitude and do not give God thanks for what we have, but desire something more.

Our Relationship with One Another

In Genesis 3:16, we are told there will be strife between the man and the woman due to the curse. There is a role reversal. The woman desires to dominate the man and the man no longer lovingly leads. Instead of a marriage of where the husband humbly and lovingly leads his wife as she joyfully and humbly submits, marriage is degraded to constant conflict between a wife and her husband. This social conflict shows up in all human relationships. We see it first with Cain and Able, but it continues to show up in Genesis 6 and 9 with murder being discussed.

Our relationship with Creation

The curse of the Fall also includes physical ramifications. There is pain and suffering through child-bearing and through hard work and toil (Genesis 3:16, 17-19). Ultimately there is physical death as man is swallowed up by earth (Gen 2:17, 3:19 cf. 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27).

The Fall of the created order left man in a desperate and terrible condition. He is without God and without hope in the world. If I left you there at the Fall, you would be tempted to either despair and say “forget it, I may as well run after my sin,” or, try to clean up your act and assert your own righteousness. Either way, you would be missing the Gospel---the good news! You would be missing Jesus!

A couple of years ago, I sat at high school graduations and I saw people who were lost all around me. I saw students and teachers and administrators and parents (1000’s of people). And, I realized that when I get up to speak to these crowds I will breaking the law if I say the one word they all need to hear. I thought about saying it. I wanted to say it. But, I did not want the district to suffer a lawsuit if I did. So, I did the “mature and responsible” thing and kept my mouth shut. I kept from them the one name that they needed to hear. I joined the chorus of voices that told them to go out there into the world and try hard! I knew this was going to be the case, and I sat there thinking how crazy is it, how indicative of the Fall is it, that in our society “JESUS” is the one word it is illegal for public officials to say to students! Yet, what people need to hear is Jesus! They need to hear of their only hope out of their spiritual death and lostness. They need to hear the gospel. Jesus is our only hope out of the fallen mess we are in. We do not despair and we do not try to clean things up ourselves, because we have Jesus!

The Fall brings unrighteousness, Jesus is our righteousness!

The Fall brings us spiritual ignorance, Jesus is our Wisdom!

The Fall makes us lost, Jesus seeks and saves the lost!

The Fall makes us guilty, Jesus takes our guilt upon himself!

The Fall leaves us naked and ashamed, Jesus is our covering!

The Fall leaves us fearful of God, Jesus reconciles us to God and gives us boldness to approach the throne!

The Fall leaves us faithless, Jesus is our Faithfulness!

The Fall leaves us full of pride, Jesus humbled himself!

The Fall leaves us in disobedience, Jesus was obedient even to death on a Cross!

The Fall leaves us as idolaters, Jesus glorified only the Father!

The Fall leaves us in lust, Jesus was tempted in every way, yet without sin!

The Fall leaves us in our lying, Jesus is the truth!

The Fall leaves us in broken relationships and conflict, Jesus is our peace!

The Fall leaves us in racism and social strife, Jesus makes one new man!

The Fall leaves us in pain and suffering, Jesus suffered for us and is the ultimate healer who will restore all things!

The Fall leaves us to physical death, Jesus is our resurrection!

The Fall leaves us blind, Jesus opens our eyes!

The Fall leaves us deaf, Jesus gives us ears to hear!

The Fall leaves us hard-hearted, Jesus gives us new hearts!

The Fall leaves us in slavery to sin, Jesus gives us freedom!

The Fall leaves us in darkness, Jesus is the light of the world!

The Fall leaves us groping for treasure in this world---and awaiting certain eternal punishment, Jesus is our treasure and our eternal reward!

In the Beginning God...

In the Beginning God…

Genesis 1-2

As we begin to unfold the story of the Bible, we must start with the beginning. The Bible gives us the story of the beginning of the story of creation in Genesis 1-2. It tells us how we were God’s people (Adam and Eve) living in God’s place (The Garden) under God’s rule and blessing (perfect rest and harmony with God, one another, and the Creation). This is the 1^st chapter you might say in the great story of God’s grand story. Interestingly, these 2 chapters and the final 2 chapters of Revelation are the only 4 chapters of the Bible where sin and death are not present. So, you might say that the whole Bible is bracketed by the story of the original perfect creation and the finally restored and perfect new creation. As we look at Genesis 1-2, I want us to focus on 3 primary lessons we learn about the storyline of the Bible.

1. God is the King who created everything for his own glory.
2. God’s image bearers are the pinnacle of creation.
3. God’s rest is the goal of creation.

God is the King who created everything for his own glory.

We learn at least 3 truths about God from the story of Creation in Genesis 1-2:

God is Separate and distinct from (transcendence) yet related to and with His Creation (imminence).

Transcendence is shown by how he speaks the universe into existence (out of nothing) through just speaking it. He is separate from and above His creation. He is not like the gods of eastern religions who are part of the creation. He creates everything by the word of His power, and it all points to Him but he is not to be confused with it. He is not a God who needs man. He is a God who is in an eternally satisfying relationship within Himself. We call this the Trinity and we see this at work even in Genesis 1:1-2 (see also John 1:1-3). God is not “the big man upstairs.” We must stop lowering him, and making him altogether like us. We are made in God’s image. He is not made in our image! We do not have the freedom to say, “My God is this kind of God…” As if we have a designer God. God is God. He is wholly transcendent and separate from His creation.

He has revealed Himself through creation and most fully through His Word. He is a God who wants to be known and even described, thus why He gave His Word. But, just because we can describe him through his Word does not mean we can circumscribe Him. It does not mean we know everything. We can understand Him, otherwise He would not speak to us expecting us to understand Him. However, we cannot understand him exhaustively! When Job wonders why God has dealt with him by allowing his children to die, and by allowing him to lose everything, and suffer physical pain, God responded, “Job, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” God wants Job, and us, to understand that He is God and we are not!

However, this does not mean God is distant and uncaring. God is not uninvolved with His creation either. He is not the God of deism, who wound up creation and sat back to watch it. He is the God who is intimately related to and involved with His creation. He is imminent. We see this through how he speaks to His creation. While God’s speech shows us his transcendence and sovereignty. It also shows us his intimate relationship with His creation! God intimately relates to His creation through his word. He relates to his created universe by His Word (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). He relates to man by His Word (Gen. 1:28, 29; 2:16, 18). Even his image bearers relate to one another through “word”. (Gen. 2:23).

Do you understand the implications of this? You have a powerful God, who is altogether different from you but who desires to be intimately related to you! He is the God who wants to communicate with you and thus gave you His Word. He is the God who is not far from you but who is always there. He is the God who loves His people and who if you draw near to God he will draw near to you. He is the God who will help you. Call on Him to help you.

God is the Sovereign King over his creation.

We see God’s sovereignty and his rule through the manner in which everything obeys his Word. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God spoke and the universe leapt into existence! Therein is power and sovereignty. God ordered everything. There was no one commanding him. He did not ask anyone’s advice or permission. He created it all and he owns it all. He is the King!

We even see God’s rule in a partial answer of what it means to be made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27-28). Man is not only commanded by God what to do but he is, as an image bearer of God, given dominion or rule over the earth. To rule is to be like God. God even sets down a law for man in Genesis 2:16-17.

People will object and ask how we can counsel people in suffering if we have such a strong view of God’s Sovereignty. They say, “Well, if someone’s child dies, and God is Sovereign over that, then what do you tell them? Do you tell them this was God’s plan? How is that helpful?” First, let me say the answer is, yes, God planned it. Psalm 139 says he numbered are days before there was yet one of them. But, let me ask the counter question to this. If your child dies, and God is not Sovereign over that, then who is? Was God taken by surprise? Did he not care enough to intervene? Was it because you were totally irresponsible parents, or your child was completely irresponsible? Is this completely out of God’s hands and thus he is helpless to bring good from it? I guess this must be true if God is not Sovereign but I am not sure how that counsel is more comforting.

When the 5 year old daughter of Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman died. She was accidentally run over in the drive way by her older teenaged brother. What do we tell them? Is the brother responsible for the accidental death of his sister, in the sense that he was driving the car? Yes. Was God surprised? No. On the blog dedicated to their daughter they talked of how they just celebrated her 5^th birthday 10 days before this incident. They say the following, “…These words are unthinkable to type. And yet we trust in a God who was not surprised by this and because of Jesus I am certain through faith in Him we will see Maria again.”

God’s glory is the purpose of His creation.

Why did God create everything?

Psa. 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Psa. 19:2 Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

God did everything to bring fame to His own Name. He did it all to show He is glorious. To display His unsurpassed character and attributes. This gives me great hope. Why? Because my good is grounded in God’s glory! God created, ultimately, to show the riches of his glory---His goodness and His grace to the objects of His mercy! As those who believe in Jesus Christ we are the objects of His mercy! Everything was created so that he might show us how glorious He is! Romans 9:22-23 addresses this,

Rom. 9:22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

Rom. 9:23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

My eternal destiny is as certain and secure as God’s desire to bring glory to His own Name is! You want security? You want assurance? There it is! It is found in God’s jealous desire to make His own glory known to us in His Son!

God’s image bearers are the pinnacle of creation

Not only do we learn that God is the King who created everything for His own glory from the creation account, we also learn that God’s image bearers are the pinnacle of creation (Genesis 1:26-27). Now, while we are a central figure in Scripture, we are just not the central figure in Scripture God, in Jesus, is the central figure of Scripture. This does not mean man is unimportant. We are the pinnacle of God’s creation in the material universe. Arguably everything was created the way it was to serve the needs of man. God created us and gave us rule over all the earth. When God created everything and declared it good it is not until God creates man that he says, “it is very good.” Why? Why are we so important? Because we are His image bearers. In other words, we are created as those who reflect the image of God. So while the rest of creation certainly bring Him glory, nothing brings Him the glory of man properly reflecting His glory. We are created to be like Him in many ways. First, we are like Him in our ability to rule and reign (Gen. 1:28). God has given us dominion over his creation and over people in various relationships---and we are supposed to rule lovingly as he does. Second, we are like Him in our ability to have relationships (Gen. 2:18) God is not alone. He has been in relationship with Himself eternally. He has designed us so that we would not be alone but would be in relationships. This is why he saves us into a community called the church, which is essential to our growth. Third, we are like Him in our ability to make moral decisions (Gen. 2:16-17). No other creature can analyze the morality of a decision prior to making it. God doesn’t give a law to animals. They do not sin and they do not have a Savior.

This is why human life is so precious and why God instituted the death penalty for anyone who would dare take the life of a man. In the death penalty God is affirming the seriousness of murdering a person and the value of human life. This is why we fight against anything that mars or destroys the image of God. Our culture has thrown out God, is it any surprise we are now destroying His image?

• We abort millions of babies every year, killing the image of God.
• We pervert sex, which was given to man and woman to bring unity and reflect God’s image, thus perverting God’s image.
• We participate in divorce, and thus tear apart God’s intention to bear his image through a married couple.
• We have rampant homosexuality, and now gay marriage, completely perverting God’s image as most fully shown through man and wife.
• We are participating in genetic experimentation that has frightening ethical implications!

And on and on our perversion and destruction of God’s image goes! What is amazing is how sin has messed up God’s original goal in Creation

God’s goal in creation is “rest”

God’s original goal in creation was that we would have “rest” with Him (Gen. 2:1-3). So, what is meant by rest? Do you notice that the 1^st 6 days all have---and there was evening and there was morning---but the 7^th does not? This is because God completed his work of creation on the 7^th day. I don’t mean God stopped working. God obviously continues to sustain the universe. What I mean is that God stopped creating because it was perfect. He did not need to keep creating. He finished the job and it was perfect.

In Genesis 1, man’s place and role in the created order is just part of a list of many other days of creation. But, in Genesis 2, we get a greater focus on man’s place and role. We learn that God created human beings to live in the perfect creation he had made with Him. They are to work. However, their work is not a burden but a joy. To be in God’s “rest” means to live in the perfect creation as he intended it. It means to live in the creation in which we are God’s people in a completely harmonious relationship with God and one another.

We were to live in God’s place, the Garden, in a perfect and completely harmonious relationship with the creation. We were to live under God’s rule and blessing, with perfect and completely harmonious life that does not include death, conflict, and sin. Yet, we sinned in Adam. We fell.

The good news is we already see themes here in Genesis that are picked up by the Gospel. God created and we ruined it with sin but through Christ God has promised a new creation. A new creation which will restore all things as they were originally intended. A new creation in which we will “rest.” While that promise is future, it is also present. When you trust in Jesus you are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). God brings you to life spiritually and fills you with the Spirit. You are once again God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing.

A Person, not a set of principles...

“Our faith is a person; the gospel that we have to preach is a person; and go wherever we may, we have something solid and tangible to preach, for our gospel is a person. If you had asked the twelve Apostles in their day, 'What do you believe in?' they would not have stopped to go round about with a long sermon, but they would have pointed to their Master and they would have said, 'We believe him.' 'But what are your doctrines?' 'There they stand incarnate.' 'But what is your practice?' 'There stands our practice. He is our example.' 'What then do you believe?' Hear the glorious answer of the Apostle Paul, 'We preach Christ crucified.' Our creed, our body of divinity, our whole theology is summed up in the person of Christ Jesus."[1]

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[1] C. H. Spurgeon, "De Propaganda Fide," in Lectures Delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association in Exeter Hall 1858-1859, pages 159-160.

Defying the Devil

Luther had a friend named Jerome Weller who was discouraged, who felt condemned, a failure, and who was under the accusation of Satan. He was often focused in on all manner of trivial issues in life. He was becoming in some sense paralyzed by the small stuff. So, Luther wrote him a letter in 1530. Here is some of what he said:

"Whenever the devil pesters you with these thoughts, at once seek out the company of men, drink more, joke and jest, or engage in some other form of merriment. Sometimes it is necessary to drink a little more, play, jest, or even commit some sin in defiance and contempt of the devil in order not to give him an opportunity to make us scrupulous about trifles. . . .

When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: 'I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also.'"[1]

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[1] Theodore G. Tappert, editor, Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, page 86.

Why Plant Churches?

The following is the article that inspired me to be a church planter and to plant Sovereign Grace...

John Piper

Planting a Passion for God

Dream for Bethlehem Church

1 Corinthians 3:1-11

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men? 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

My aim this morning is to blow a trumpet for a church-wide dream called "Planting a Passion for God." What I mean by "Planting a Passion for God" is the focusing of our mission as a church onto a very specific strategy this year that will take tremendous energy and deep faith and church-wide risk, namely, planting a new, strong, God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated, mission-mobilizing, justice-pursuing church somewhere else in the Twin Cities.

The mission of our church is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. Planting a passion means giving birth to another church that has this same mission to spread a passion for God. So instead of merely saying that we aim to plant a church, we say that we aim at "Planting a Passion for God." The aim is not just to plant a church, but to plant a strong, God-centered seedbed for spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. We are more persuaded than ever that if it is good to have a strong home base for such God-centered gospel spreading, it would be good to have other strong home bases for such spreading.

What an extraordinary grace it has been to this church to have a clear reason for our existence. We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. That is our mission statement. It brings focus to our labor again and again. It gives unity and coherence to ministry. It helps establish priorities. It makes God central and evangelism urgent. And God uses it to energize us when we are languishing and floundering.

For years now the elders have dreamed about starting other churches as part of this mission. When we conceived of Education for Exultation (the new building, debt free, and all that it stands for in seeing and savoring Jesus Christ in all the generations), a part of that vision was called Growing without Growing. What that meant was: keep on winning people to Christ and gathering people into the fellowship of the church (that's "Growing"), but do it not just by getting bigger and bigger on this site, but by incubating and sending out other churches with the same God-centered passion that drives us (that's "without Growing").

We knew when we took aim at Growing without Growing that it was humanly unlikely because all church-growth wisdom says that giving birth to new churches does not limit the growth of the mother church. A few months ago the elders met to assess this part of our vision. The upshot of that meeting was a shift in our thinking. The shift was to turn our thinking from church-planting-as-crowd-control to church-planting-as-spreading-a-passion-for-God. We ended that meeting saying: We are committed to start new churches not primarily to manage crowding here, but primarily to plant outposts of passion for God. And to do it whether it helps us manage crowding here or not.

What this means is that spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in 2002 becomes focused on Planting a Passion for God. Or another way to put it is that we don't just spread a passion for God, but we create another strong base for spreading a passion for God.

My earnest prayer is that God would waken in all of us a joyful energy for this vision. In other words, that you would hear it and feel a deep "YES!" in your soul. YES, this is right. YES, this smells like kingdom vision, not just human thinking. YES, I am thrilled to be a part of a church where this kind of dreaming is happening. YES, I want to be able to say in years to come, I was part of that – when those strong, God-centered churches came into being. In other words, I didn't just rejoice in the God-centered strength of one church, I poured myself out to bring into being other strong God-centered churches. That's my prayer – that this would look like part of your life calling – along with all the other good things that you do, that this would become for you part of what you dream about and plan for and work for.

I think that kind of commitment and joyful energy comes from seeing the Christ-exalting value of a vision. So let me give you some reasons why Planting a Passion for God is so crucial.

1. The Church-to-Population Ratio

First, let's begin with the least important reason, but perhaps not insignificant. According to the Almanac of the Christian World, "there has been a dramatic decline in the church-to-population ratio in the past century. . . . there were 27 churches per 10,000 people in 1900 compared to just 12 churches per 10,000 people in 1990. However, churches are getting larger. . . . The average church size has tripled in the past century. So even though there aren't as many churches per capita, many people are attending larger, mega-churches."

2. Education for Exultation

Planting a Passion for God would not diminish our commitment to Education for Exultation here. On the contrary, it would give increased reason for it. What makes a building program exciting is that there is a larger vision for its existence than itself. What you will see in the next several reasons is the close relationship between raising up trained Biblical leaders and church planting.

3. Under-Used Leadership Potential

Planting a Passion for God (a new, strong, God-centered church) would capture much of the under-used leadership potential of the saints at Bethlehem. Our church is rich with spiritually mature men and women. Many are under-invested in the ministries of the church. A new church would cry for their engagement. I pray that many of you in this category will feel a fire lit in your bones for this vision.

4. Intentional Leadership Development

Planting a Passion for God (a new, strong, God-centered church) would increase the urgency of intentional leadership development at every level (children, youth, adult, worship, music, outreach, care-giving, etc.). The need for more lay-ministers in every sphere would press us all toward rigorous efforts of nurturing spiritual growth and leadership gifts. The Bible calls the elders to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). New churches press us to make this a priority.

5. Breathing Fire into the Smoldering Embers of Evangelism

Planting a Passion for God (a new, strong, God-centered church) would breathe fire onto the smoldering embers of evangelism because of the fresh feeling of the new church for outreach to its new community and the aggressive efforts to let the community know that it is there and new and welcoming. [As part of this point I want to take an informal survey to see how you came to Christ. Would you fill out the tear-off part of the worship folder and put it in the box at the door when you leave?]

6. Kingdom Effects of Geographical Proximity

Planting a Passion for God (a new, strong, God-centered church) would be closer geographically to some of our people with good kingdom effects. For example, if a church meets nearer to where we live and we don't have to drive so far to get to the gathering, we more naturally invite our neighbors to be involved in the life of the church. My prayer is that the level of excitement and commitment for this vision would be such that some people would even move to be near the new church and give their lives to making it strong.

7. Not Relying on One Man's Ministry

Planting a Passion for God (a new, strong, God-centered church) would reduce the tendency to rely too heavily on one man's preaching ministry. Christ, and no man, is the head of the church. He ordains the ministry of the Word as a means of his grace, and he anoints men for this great work. But he gives all the growth, and does not make his triumphs hang on any man. When the great apostle Paul was in prison, unable to preach, he rejoiced, saying "I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!" (2 Timothy 2:9) When a vision of God and a passion for God flourish in more than one place under more than one leadership, it shows that the vision itself is life-giving and credible and durable. And that is what we long for. Every one of us prays and labors that the Biblical vision of the God we love will long outlast us.

Now right here I want to draw in our text from 1 Corinthians 3:1-11 and linger for a few moments over the word of God. The point I have just made raises the question: how dependent on me is this church? Is it possible that several hundred of you would be so in love with the vision of God and so confident in the mercy and power of God that planting a new church to spread this passion would be more precious and more important to you than hearing me preach every Sunday? If this same God were lifted up for your joy by another preacher in the context of deep, God-centered passionate worship supported by strong ministry to children and youth (that YOU would help make strong) would you be willing to take the risks to be a part of Planting a Passion for God? Oh, how healthy and good for us such ventures of faith are!

Let's put this issue of my role in Biblical perspective. When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, one of the main problems in the church was an excessive attachment to human teachers. Jesus had warned about this when he said, "Do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers" (Matthew 23:8). Three times we read that this is a problem at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 1:12 Paul puts his finger on the problem and says "Each one of you is saying, 'I am of Paul,' and 'I of Apollos,' and 'I of Cephas,' and 'I of Christ.'" Then at the end of chapter 3 in verses 21-23 he says, "So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, (22) whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God." And here in our text (3:4) "For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not mere men?"

You see the problem: excessive attachment to and boasting in a leader. Now that is what Paul is addressing in 1 Corinthians 3:5ff. So let's take one brief look at what he says and let it sink in and free us at Bethlehem to be passionate for Christ, not leaders.

Notice two things about leaders, two things about God, and one thing about Christ.

Don't Be Attached to or Boast in Leaders Who Are Nothing

Verses 6-7: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. (7) So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." In one sense Paul is using a bold overstatement to make a point. So the point must be really important to make: he says that he and Apollos are "nothing." Yes, they are planter and waterer. Yes, they are "servants through whom you believed" (v. 5). But, verse 7 says, "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything." – compared to the role of God. Compared to the importance of God in your life, we are nothing. So don't boast in Nothing. And don't be attached to Nothing. And don't depend on Nothing. That's the first thing he says about leaders.

Be Attached to and Boast in God Who Is Everything

And he says about God: God gives the growth. Verse 7b: God is everything. "So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth [is everything]." Let God be everything to you. Let God himself overwhelm you with his power and his decisive role in all things. Be so attached to God and so in love with God that the role of every human preacher becomes as nothing. That's the first thing he says about God.

Church Leaders Are One

The second thing he says about leaders is that the one who plants and the one who waters are one. Verse 8: "Now he who plants and he who waters are one." In other words, neither one without the other can succeed. Planting without watering gives no plant and no fruit. Watering without planting gives no plant and no fruit because there was no seed of life to start with. So Paul stresses: they are one. So don't boast of one over the other since both are essential. That's the second thing he says about leaders.

God Is the Owner of the Church

The second thing he says about God is that he owns the field. We are only workers in the field, he owns it. Verse 9: "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." So be enthralled by the owner of the church, not the farm hand.

Christ Is the Foundation for the Church

And the one thing he says about Christ is that he is the one and only foundation for the church. He is the seed and he is the life. Verse 11: "No man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Everything we do is based on him. Every church collapses without Jesus as the foundation. Every church dies without Jesus as the seed of life.

In sum, compared to God, church leaders are nothing; compared to each other, church leaders are one. God gives the growth in all the ministries of the church, not man. And God is the owner of the church. He made us and he bought us. So be attached to God and boast in God, not leaders. Bank on God. Trust God. Hope in God. Not man.

The central question for us as we stand on the brink of Planting a Passion for God is this: is God working to make this happen? Will we be fellow workers with God? Will we trust God to give the growth? May God himself give us as a passion for

Focused Prayer, Soul-searching, and a Church-wide Dream

Declare~chapter 2

Declare ~

God’s Power in Our Weakness

Sovereign Grace believes the Gospel is not only the message but the means by which we declare Jesus Christ to the World.

As I have been thinking about and praying about Sovereign Grace and the evangelical church in America in general, I have been thinking about our sin with regard to the Great Commission. We have been commanded to share Christ with every man and woman; yet, we often don’t! How many of us have told someone about Christ and his Gospel in the last week, month, year, ever? We have the greatest message any man could ever hear and we hide it under a bowl (Matthew 5:14-16)! This is our mission, and it is being ignored as we build nice, conservative, family-friendly, and socially pragmatic churches to spend time in! We should be telling everyone about the hope we have in Jesus! Why is it that we do not declare the superior delight of Jesus Christ?

I believe there are three major hindrances that oppose and impede our mission of spreading the glory of Jesus Christ. Each of these hindrances can keep us from proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord even though it is that very Gospel itself that overcomes them! These three hindrances, these three fears, to be precise, that plague our efforts to declare are: self-righteousness, distrust, and selfishness. We can find the Gospel’s answer to all of these fears in Luke 19:1-10, the story of Zacchaeus.

I. The Hindrance of Self-Righteousness

Self-righteousness keeps us from declaring the Gospel. When we consider ourselves righteous by our own power and not by God’s we naturally fall into two lines of thinking in regard to sharing the Gospel.

Self-righteousness keeps us from those that need the Gospel

First, we avoid sinners (the people that need to hear the Gospel most!) because we’re afraid that we might become like them; we fear that to be around unrighteous is to taint our own righteousness before God. We treat them as an unclean, corrupting influence to be avoided. This is the very tactic the Jews in Jesus’ day took. Look at Luke 19:7: “And when they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’” In an effort to maintain their own righteousness, they refused to associate with such unrighteous tax collectors as Zacchaeus. The tax collectors of 1^st century Judea were the lowest of the low in society, and Zacchaeus is the chief of them! Their job was to take the taxes levied by the Roman government – an honest job in itself – but the tax-collectors extorted above and beyond what the government required, robbing their fellow Jews. This is why the people hated them as traitors in way somewhat equivalent to drug dealers of our own day. Yet the self-righteous attitude of the Jews blinded them from seeing Jesus’ ministry to the unrighteous – they failed to grasp the central element of the Gospel: the fact that it was for sinners! Self-righteousness obscures the Gospel by deceiving us that we are already righteous and worthy of God’s pleasure. The Jews succumbed to this lie, and we, the church of America, often do too. How many times have we passed up an opportunity to declare Jesus Christ because we self-determined that this or that person was too unrighteous to receive it, as if we were never that unworthy? And when we consider the Gospel going out to the most hated people in society, we also have the propensity to grumble and say “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner”, claiming that we and we alone are worthy enough to entertain the Lord of Righteousness, Jesus Christ. We too can fall prey to the self-righteous indignation that God cannot possibly care about desperately wicked sinners who truly deserve every ounce of our hatred. Self-righteousness in the Christian cuts off any impulse to declare the glory of the Gospel.

Second, sinners avoid us in our self-righteousness. When we express our self-righteousness to unbelievers, they quickly realize our hypocrisy. Self-righteousness is an imaginary righteousness, and unbelievers see right through the illusion. Even if we might try to explain the Gospel to them, even if we might live the Gospel in front of them, the phony nature of a self-righteous spirituality will crumble from whitewashed walls into the ruins of a meager hypocrisy of religion. The illusion of self-righteousness impinges any effort to declare the Gospel since it offends every unbeliever fortunate enough to see our self-righteous folly. It is only by the righteousness that comes from God that anyone will ever truly see the Gospel declared.

The Gospel kills self-righteousness

Sovereign Grace, self-righteousness ought not be true of us! We, like our Lord, should be the ones hanging out with the worst of sinners. The Gospel is for sinners, not righteous people! Did not Jesus say, “I came not to call the righteous, but the sinners” (Matthew 9:13)? We too must call out the sinners to repentance in the Gospel as our Lord has. Yet how do we combat the self-righteous hindrances that come against Jesus’ command to declare?

First, know that we all were once sinners. Remember what Paul says in Ephesians 2:

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1-4)

We too, like Zacchaeus, were enemies of God, traitors to His goodness. We whole-heartedly rejected Him in rebellion and although we knew God, we did not honor Him or give thanks to Him (Romans 1:21). To kill self-righteousness, we must recall that we too were, on our own, dead in our unrighteousness! We were once called “Not My People”, but now we are called His people (Hosea 2:23)! The prophet Ezekiel delivers the Word of God to Israel put an end to any self-righteousness boasting they may claim:

“I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God” (Ezekiel 16:63)

Sovereign Grace, we too must “remember and be confounded” at the grace God has shown us in atoning for the atrocities of our sin. We have no righteousness apart from our atonement in Jesus Christ; thus we must close our mouths to any contrary boasting. There is no room for self-righteousness in the Gospel of our God! We were once just like those that we pass up in our evangelism! In fact, we may have been worse. The apostle Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees, the chief of the self-righteous law keepers, says, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (I Timothy 1:15). If we are to carry out the great commission of evangelism in our neighborhood, in our city, in our country, or throughout the entire world, we must kill self-righteousness by a steady and fixed contemplation and remembrance of the abounding mercies of God that overcame the abominations of our sins in the Gospel that we declare. Remember that Jesus came and stayed at Zacchaeus’s house, not the Pharisee’s; the Physician came to heal the sick, not the well. Self-righteousness seeks to offer up works of the law to God as recompense for sins when God requires the true, contrite repentance of a humble and broken sinner, over whom there will be much rejoicing in heaven (Luke 15:7). Declare to the sinners!

II. The Hindrance of Distrust

The second hindrance to declaration in the Christian and the Church is the hindrance of distrust. We often pass up opportunities to share the Gospel or fail to pursue an unbeliever further doubting that God has the power to save them. While we may not necessarily admit this to our fellow believers, we express it nonetheless in our attitudes of lethargy in evangelism.

Forsaking trust in God’s power impedes declaration

There are two central questions that proceed from a distrusting heart when it comes to declaration. The first is, “Who am I? I can’t possibly share the Gospel well enough!” We think that our inability to articulate somehow inhibits God’s ability to save. We lose trust in God’s power to save when we think it is only by our power in communication that people believe.

The second question is, “How can that person be saved?” The Pharisees expressed this same attitude when they grumbled and complained against Jesus going to stay with Zacchaeus. They saw Zacchaeus as the sinner of sinners, the least likely person to be saved. Not only did they doubt that he was worthy of salvation, they doubted even the possibility of it! If anyone’s heart was going to be changed, it was not his! We are guilty of this when we abandon our task of declaration because we determine someone as far too wicked to hear the Gospel thinking, “how could their heart ever change?” Yet it is these least likely people that Jesus stays with because He knows that the power of the Gospel, His power, can change any heart.

God’s Gospel is more powerful than our fears

When we doubt the fact that it is God who is responsible to bring results from our declaration and put our hopes in ourselves, we believe that we will fail to declare. Moses doubted in this same way when God called him to lead the people out of Egypt, but God said to him, “But I will be with you…” (Exodus 3:11-12). God is with us, and He brings the power. Understanding that it is by God’s power that our declaration is successful will remove the hindrance of distrust! God’s Word will not fail:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout… so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

God’s Word is powerful and it will not fail. Our responsibility is not to bring people to salvation (that depends on God, Romans 9:15-16), but to simply bring forth the good news to everyone. “And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” Romans 10:14-15. Did not Paul struggle with the same thing? He says in I Corinthians 2:3-4, “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom.” Yet though he struggled to articulate the Gospel, it is not that Paul doubted God’s power; for he says that it was so “your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (I Cor. 2:5). The Gospel is the power of God. Rest in the power of God to bring the effect of the Gospel for His glory and boldly declare His name!

But what about when we encounter people who demonstrate exceedingly hard hearts, hearts so hard, we doubt that they will ever be saved? If God’s Word will not fail, how could there be a heart so hard as to keep Him from succeeding? Didn’t the power of His Gospel save Zacchaeus? Look at Zacchaeus’ response: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 19:8). Zacchaeus was a very rich man because he defrauded everyone. Yet he gave up everything in response to his salvation! And what does Jesus say to him: “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham” (v. 9). The sinner of sinners, Zacchaeus, was changed by the power of God’s word! Despite all of the Jews misgivings and doubts, God demonstrated His power once again in salvation! When Jesus gave his life on the cross he brought every bit of grace necessary to save God’s people. This includes the grace and mercy to change men’s heart, open blind eyes, and raise the spiritually dead! Meditate on the Gospel, know that Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient to save all God’s people – Jesus did not fail! Then, you can be confident you can never fail because you only have to share the message; God does all the work!

God is in the business of changing hearts, and we are merely privileged participants in that great work through our declaration. It is not our responsibility to change men’s hearts; our responsibility is to trust God to work powerfully through our declaration. Whether we doubt our words or God’s power to save, or both, we must return our minds to the Gospel we declare. The Gospel is God’s power to save. Trust Him Sovereign Grace, His Gospel, His power. Then tell people!

“So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come” (Psalm 71:18).

III. The Hindrance of Selfishness

Seeking joy in ourselves becomes the third hindrance to declaring the Gospel. Our selfish joy distracts from the joy of seeing sinners saved; thus, there becomes little value in declaring the Gospel. Yet Jesus’ joy, and the Father’s joy, was in seeing sinners repent and come to salvation.

Selfishness keeps the Gospel to ourselves

Because of our sin, our hearts have become naturally turned inward. Our natural tendency is to be self-consumed, seeking our own pleasure before any other. Like an object falls toward the earth by the force of gravity, our hearts cave-in on themselves in their native sinfulness. As believers we have the spirit dwelling within us, giving us new Christ-like desires. Yet this is not to say that, while we live in this life, we do not struggle with our old sinful desires any more. Paul describes this conflict in Romans 7:21-23: “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members”. Our sinful nature still lies close at hand to keep us from declaring the glory of God by engaging in the perverse pleasure of selfishness. When our hearts are turned away from delighting in God we become dull and apathetic when it comes to declaring. It doesn’t matter how many people around us may be dying only to suffer the eternal wrath of God’s judgment, our hearts will not be moved because of the inward blindness that comes from turning inward on ourselves. We won’t care because we won’t see.

The Gospel turns our joy back to God

The Gospel is the very thing that kills our selfish pleasures that hinder our declaration. Jesus’ joy was to see the Father rejoice as the lost were saved! Look what he says in Luke 19:5:“I must stay at your house”. Why? Look at verse 10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost”. Jesus came to seek and save the lost! Jesus must stay at his house, because Jesus must seek and save the lost, He must do this because the Father’s joy is to save the lost! Consider Luke 15. Jesus tells three parables that all conclude with the joy God has in seeing sinners saved! Jesus is essentially saying, “I want nothing more than the joy of seeing my Father rejoice; nothing gives me more joy. That is why I must stay at Zacchaeus’s house!” We are called to live the same way as Jesus did! We are to complete his mission for the same motive that he was on mission. Our turned in hearts must be turned outward to declare the glory of God. We are to rejoice in preaching the Gospel to every man and woman because it is Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost; it is the Father’s joy to see them saved, and, like Jesus, we should delight in His joy!

IV. In Whatever You Do, Declare!

In the last chapter I dealt sufficiently with personal evangelism, but there’s one more point I want to make clear before we end our discussion about declaring. Now that we’ve discussed what it means to declare, and how we are to overcome hindrance to that declaration, we must consider, in very practical terms, how we are to live this out as members of the body of Christ. Many people have the notion that to truly declare the Gospel one needs to be in full-time ministry as a pastor or missionary. That is not true! We can declare the Gospel in every vocation and activity in which we find ourselves.

In Your Vocation

At the time of the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church, and consequently the majority of Europeans, believed that a monastic life or an ecclesiastical life was the only true calling. Everyone else’s work was unimportant or unworthy. Yet the Reformed preachers began instructing their congregations otherwise. The Reformers often spoke to their congregations regarding how they should live as Christians declaring the Gospel in their jobs. They often put these teachings under the category of “vocation”.

Martin Luther was once asked by a new convert, a shoe-maker, how he should live now that he was saved. Luther asked him in return, “Are you a good shoe-maker?” He replied, “Yes, people know as the best!” Luther gave him this answer, “Then make good quality shoes, and sell them for a reasonable price.”[1] While most of us may be surprised that this learned theologian would give such a mundane and common answer, there is a very simple truth to what Luther said. God is honored when we do the work given to us well. Part of our task in declaring is to do whatever we do well. Paul says in Colossians 3:23 that “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” The first venue for our declaration ought to be in our work, in whatever God has given us to do in life. God is pleased when we complete our work well. In Psalm 90, Moses’ desire is that God blesses Israel’s work (v. 17). He is speaking of ordinary, day-to-day work. God is concerned not just with the pastors and missionaries, but also with all of His children! Therefore, part of our honoring Him part of our declaring Him to others is to do our work well; for we “are serving the Lord Christ”!

One does not have to go to the jungles to declare, although that is certainly a worthy mission. Simply put, to live a life of declaration is not to retreat into a monastery in order to declare Jesus privately, but it is instead to declare Jesus publicly in our vocation in addition to our words. A declaring Christian makes his words as well as his works an extension of the Gospel in which he delights.

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[1] Horton, Michael. Where in the World is the Church. P&R Publishing, 2002, (20).