SBTS chapel live blog: Mohler on Rev. 2:8-11, 3:7-13 September 8, 2009

Preacher: R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Text/title: Revelation 2:8-11, 3:7-13; The Devil's Prison and the Lord's Open Door - The Letters to the Churches at Smyrna and Philadephia.

The churches at Smyrna and Philadelphia were churches undergoing persecution. Imagine what it would be like to receive a letter from the Lord Jesus Christ, even as you suffer for Him, even in the midst of intense persecution.

These letters are naturally taken together because they are so similar. In both cities, the main things that marked the experience of these churches was both the present and future reality of persecution.

Something else marks these two letters that is different from the other five letters to churches in Revelation: there is no rebuke, no correction, no criticism. There is comfort, promise, assurance and warning.

These letters offer us a classic biblical understanding of suffering.

The letter to the church at Smyrna

Smyrna was almost assuredly the most dangerous place on the planet to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The allegiance of these citizens to Rome was such that any claim to a rival citizency was viewed as allegiance to another emperor. This church is suffering persecution and is about to suffer an even great persecution.

The Lord Jesus Christ begins his letter noting that He is the firstborn from the dead. He speaks to His own death and resurrection before He speaks to the suffering and persecution that the believers in Smyrna were facing. This is a precious reminder to us that no saint ever suffers anything that Jesus Christ does not know. To suffer in Christ's name is to know that we are safe: we are known by the one who knows our suffering.

The poverty of the church at Smyrna was also great. This poverty was a poverty of faithfulness. Jesus says to the church at Smyrna: I know your poverty, but you are rich. This concerns me when I think of many of the churches in America. If we could not entertain ourselves, if we could not buy ourselves happiness, would we be more spiritually rich?

Jews had a special exemption from emperor worship so that you did not have to burn incense to the emperor on certain occasions. The believers in the Lord Jesus Christ were declared to be "not Jews" by the Jews and thus were not exempt. The Jews in Smyrna had cast out Christians, leading Christ to call these Jews members of a "synagogue of Satan."

Jesus then addresses the believers in the church at Smyrna, telling them to not fear ... what they are about to suffer. This is counter-intuitive to what we would expect. We would expect the words to be, do not fear you will not suffer. But these are not the words. The Lord Jesus Christ exhorts the church, be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life.

This is the crown that an athlete received after finishing a race, a crown received after one endures suffering. The crown does go to those who are faithful unto death.

Those who are faithful will not be touched by the second death. The first death is physical death. The second death is separation from the loving presence of God forever: those who are faithful until the first death are safe from the second death.

The letter to the church at Philadelphia

Jesus identifies Himself as the one who has the key of David. He is revealing Himself as the eternal King in the line of David, the King of an eternal kingdom. The door that Jesus opens no one can shut and the door He shuts, no one can open. And Jesus tells the church at Philadelphia that He has set before them an open door. No one can shut doors that Jesus has opened.

Almost certaintly, this open door refers to the kingdom of God. The people were shut out of the synagogue, but they were not shut out of the kingdom of God. The Gospel has enemies, but it cannot be foreclosed. Those who have been adopted, those who have become heirs to the promises of God, they are the ones who understand the power of the Gospel and they are the ones to whom the door is opened.

Not only is there an open door to God's adopted people, but those who oppose His people will one day bow at the feet of His people. Those who persecute the church now will one day have to bow at the feet of those they persecuted and say, "yes, you were loved."

Jesus tells these people to whom the door is open to hold fast their confession. To persevere in faith. Jesus says He will make those who endure to the end a pillar in the temple of "My God."

What is the Spirit saying in these letters?

1. The Gospel has enemies.

The enemies of the Gospel bring tribulation, poverty and slander. We know that there are enemies without and enemies within. These two letters speak to the enemies without, behind whom the devil himself stands. We are war against principalities and powers, of whom Satan is the chief accuser.

2. The Lord will vindicate His own.

The gates of hell will not prevail against His own. Jesus is the firstborn of the dead. Even as the Father vindicated the Son, so also will the Son vindicate His own. Not even Satan or Death can shut what Christ has opened.

3. The faithful will endure.

This endurance is the sign of people's authentic faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. He who overcomes will be made a pillar in the house of God. Every believer is called to persevere in faith, regardless of their circumstances, regardless of their situation.

4. The example and witness of the martyrs serves the Gospel.

There were a series of martyrs in the church at Smyrna that we know of early in church history. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is subversive to every empire and every regime. Christ has set forth an open door, which no one can shut.

More

SBTS profs on first pastorate: Chuck Lawless September 4, 2009

This is the third post of a seven-part series running each Friday. Chuck Lawless serves as dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at Southern Seminary. Lawless has years of experience in pastoral ministry. Lawless blogs at Biblical Church Growth.

First position/length:  Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Harrison, Ohio. Two years.

Early mistakes/lessons: My worst early mistake was thinking that I was somehow supposed to solve all issues, fix any problems, heal any wounds and lead the entire city to Jesus just because I was a pastor. I almost burned out before I was 21 years old. From that hard lesson, I learned two simple truths that I should have already known:

1. I'm not the Messiah and

2. God's people are incredibly forgiving and loving.

That small congregation loved me when I failed, stood beside me as I was learning and forgave me when I admitted my mistakes.

Words of wisdom: Five pieces of advice:

1. Ask God to give you a mentor.  Look for an older man in ministry whom you trust, and seek his advice and prayer support.  Always be a learner at the feet of someone who has already walked where you are now walking.

2. Learn to pray.  Read books on prayer, listen to sermons about prayer, find a prayer partner, do Bible studies on prayer -- do whatever it takes to learn how to pray.

3. Live in the Word. It sounds like a cliché, but reading and loving the Word really does make you a better pastor.

4. Love the people.  No church is perfect, and no church will ever live up to the ideal you set in seminary.  Some people will struggle with your leadership.  Others will not grow spiritually as quickly as you want them to grow.  Most will not care how many degrees you have.  But, they are still God's church whom He loves.  Some of the greatest people in the world are in God's church -- look for them, and count it a privilege to lead them.

5. Keep good records. My pastoral mentor, Jack Tichenor, challenged me to keep records of marriages, baptisms, funerals, visits, meals, trips, conventions, articles -- everything you do in ministry.

More

Wright’s view of justification is defective and unbiblical, SBTS panelists say

(L-R) R. Albert Mohler Jr., Denny Burk, Tom Schreiner, Mark Seifrid and Brian Vicker at a panel discussing N.T. Wright's doctrine of justification. Photo by John Gill
(L-R) R. Albert Mohler Jr., Denny Burk, Tom Schreiner, Mark Seifrid and Brian Vicker at a panel discussing N.T. Wright. Photo by John Gill

N.T. Wright's doctrine of justification subverts the core of the Gospel and must be rejected, Southern Seminary professors agreed at a panel discussion, Sept. 3, in Alumni Memorial Chapel.

Though Wright has made many significant contributions to evangelicalism defending the resurrection and historicity of Christ, his views on justification are cause for alarm, said Southern professors Tom Schreiner and Mark Seifrid.

"Wright has had a massive impact in New Testament scholarship," said Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and associate dean of Scripture and interpretation at Southern. "He would be in the evangelical movement. He has written a fabulous book on the resurrection of the Son of God. I think that is the best book out on the resurrection. He has written very helpful material on the historical Jesus."

Seifrid noted that Wright's view of justification as a progressive reality deviates from Scripture.

"Wright's view shifts the nature of salvation from the once and for all work of God in Jesus Christ to some sort of gradual transformation in your life or my life," said Seifrid, Mildred and Ernest Hogan Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern. "Wright thinks of Jesus fundamentally as example, as this paradigm of what a human being is to be, while He is also God at the same time. (For justification) everything then depends on transformation in our lives."

Boyce College Dean Denny Burk disagreed with Wright's differentiation between initial and final justification.

"Wright argues that initial justification is by faith, but final justification is based on works, whereas we would say that initial and final justification are based on Christ's work," Burk said.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern, moderated the panel, which featured Schreiner, Seifrid, Burk and Brian Vickers, associate professor of New Testament interpretation at Southern.

Wright, who has served as bishop of Durham since 2003, is the author of "Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision" (2009). Wright's work came out after John Piper wrote "The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright" (2007). Some have called Wright's book a response to Piper, pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minn., but Mohler said the work doesn't read that way.

"Wright doesn't actually take on the most crucial and critical arguments made by John Piper," Mohler said.

Burk said Piper's critique of Wright's distinction between initial and future justification is the most important part of "The Future of Justification," a view Wright reaffirms in his new book.

Imputation

The panel identified the doctrine of imputation as a fundamental area of disagreement with Wright, who believes the Protestant Reformers got that cardinal doctrine wrong.

"Wright's claim is no less than that the Protestant Reformers and their heirs have misunderstood not only Paul and not only first-century Judaism, but the doctrine of justification and thus, the Gospel," Mohler said. "That is an audacious claim."

Burk noted that Wright believes it would be unjust for God to impute Christ's righteousness to people.

"He doesn't believe in the imputation of Christ's righteousness," Burk said. "He says that there is not the exchange of Christ's righteousness being imputed to us and our sin being imputed to Him, because this would be unjust."

Vickers noted that Wright's new book often mixes truth with error. While he speaks of Abraham, Israel the Messiah and the world in his tracing of the broad storyline of Scripture, Wright fails to develop a key theme.

"What is missing in Wright's new book is: where is Adam?" Vickers noted. "The traditional view (of justification) is all about Paul boiling the human race down to two people: Adam and Christ. People are either in Adam or in Christ. That is not dealt with at all in Wright's book."

Schreiner said the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther and Wright would be talking about two different things if they had a discussion about justification.

Tom Schreiner
Tom Schreiner

"I think they define it very differently," Schreiner said. "Wright defines justification as covenant faithfulness. Wright says that justification is all about inclusion in the people of God, it is about ecclesiology. Luther would say it is about being right with God; it is about how you get saved."

The New Perspective on Paul

Schreiner noted that one foundation of Wright's view of justification is E.P. Sanders' argument about first-century Judaism in "Paul and Palestine Judaism" (1977). Schreiner said Sanders argues that Judaism was not a legalistic religion, that it was not a religion of works-based righteousness.

Despite the fact that many respected New Testament scholars have questioned the validity of Sanders' reading of Jewish sources that accord with his view -- including Seifrid, D.A. Carson, Peter O'Brien and Simon Gathercole -- Wright simply assumes Sanders' view is correct.

While Wright has not made any theological or philosophical contributions to the New Perspective, Schreiner said that the bishop's popularity among evangelical circles has been a boon for that interpretative movement.

"Wright is a lot closer to us (evangelicals theologically)," Schreiner said. "So, when he speaks he resonates with evangelical audiences. He holds Scripture to be the Word of God. He has a plan to put the whole Bible together: we want to do that as evangelicals. He is enormously gifted, has a wonderful personality and really speaks to people today."

Despite his popularity, the panelists agreed that Wright's defective view of justification is a threat to orthodox Christian teaching not only exegetically and theologically, but pastorally as well. Schreiner said he recently read a book by Wright that was a compilation of sermons Wright gave at a church in England during the week of Easter. In the sermons, Schreiner said Wright failed to preach the Gospel even once.

"He did not proclaim the Gospel in a whole week of Easter sermons. I find that mind-boggling," Schreiner said. "Why did he never proclaim the Gospel? Because it is not at the forefront of his thinking. It is not at the forefront of his thinking that people need to repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. What is at the forefront of his thinking is social transformation.

"I think he misses what is happening with ordinary people and their stance before God. Nothing is more important than one's stance before God."

More

CBMW leader “very encouraged” by NIV announcement September 1, 2009

Randy Stinson, president of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood said Tuesday afternoon that he is both grateful and hopeful after Zondervan announced earlier in the day that it will revise its New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible to correct the "mistake" it made in publishing a gender-neutral version of the NIV.

Evangelical scholars associated with CBMW were concerned with more than 3,000 changes that appeared in the TNIV when it was published in 2002, changes that flattened gender language, eliminating many references such as "son," "he," "him," "his," "father," and "brother," references that diverged from the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.

Translators from Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society), admitted in a press conference announcing the new NIV that many concerns regarding the faithfulness of gender-neutral translations to the original languages were legitimate and that such translations had divided the evangelical community. In his comments, Biblica CEO Keith Danby referenced the gender-neutral NIVI which was published in 1997 in the United Kingdom.

"It is very humble of Zondervan and Biblica to admit mistakes and acknowledge the controversy that they brought to the evangelical community over the past several years," said Stinson, who also serves as dean of the School of Church Ministries at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

"We are grateful for the godly approach to try to reconcile this. We are hopeful for the new product. I don't have any reason to believe that they are not sincere about their willingness to revisit the more than 3,000 gender changes to which we were opposed."

Stinson said he has been in conversation with scholar Doug Moo, chairman of the Committee on Bible Translation (the committee that is responsible for the new translation) and believes that the evangelical concerns over the accuracy of so-called "gender neutral" language will be taken seriously.

When Zondervan first announced a revision of the NIV in 1997, a group of evangelical leaders and scholars including CBMW, Focus on the Family, God's World Publications (publisher of WORLD) and others, met in Colorado Springs and developed a set of guidelines for biblical interpretation as it relates to gender language.

The guidelines were to serve as a baseline for translation of the gender language in the TNIV, but translators did not abide by them. Stinson said he is encouraged that the translation committee for the newest NIV may at least loosely follow the Colorado Springs Guidelines.

"It is my understanding that the Committee on Bible Translation does not see themselves as obligated to the Colorado Springs Guidelines, but still may end up translating some of those passages or maybe many of those passages in a way that is commensurate with those guidelines when they revisit their decisions from the past," Stinson said.

"We will reserve judgment and we are going to be watching this closely with hope and giving the benefit of the doubt to the people revising the NIV. We will evaluate the product based on things like the Colorado Springs Guidelines and other parameters we think are important in the debate.

"It sounds like they are very genuine about involving other scholars who would have been in opposition to the changes to gender language in the TNIV and who desire to engage in genuine dialogue."

More

SBTS chapel live blog: R. Albert Mohler Jr. – Rev. 2:1-7

Preacher: R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Text/title: Rev. 2:1-7; The treason of lost love - Christ's letter to the church at Ephesus

Introduction

Ephesus was one of the most important cities in Asia Minor. It was geographically strategic, right at the opening of a river with a natural harbor.

At the time Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, it is estimated that 250,000-500,000 people resided there in a space not much larger than several of our campuses strung together: it was an urban center.

It was politically important: Caesar Augustus made Ephesus one of his four main cities of emperor worship. It was religiously pluralistic.

Paul spent two years in Ephesus, ministering there. We learn from Acts 19 and 20 that Paul had a minister of exorcism there. In 19:17-20, we see something of the evangelistic harvest there: the Word of God continued to increase and prevailed mightily.

The epistle, the letter, to Ephesus contains a great body of Christian teaching. Paul notes that in love God predestined people for adoption as sons. Paul prays for the body of believers there, giving thanks to God for their faith and love toward all the saints. The letter includes with Paul saying, "Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible" (Eph 6:24).

Letter to Ephesus in Revelation

This letter was written to the church in Ephesus, not to the city. It was a letter that was intended to be overheard, for it is a call to all of the churches to hear what the Spirit writes. In speaking to His church in Ephesus, Jesus Christ speaks to His church everywhere in all places and at all times.

Jesus speaks to His church as one who holds them, establishes them and rules them. Initially, Jesus provides words of commendation, but then there is a turn: I have this against you.

Commendation (2:1-3, 6)

The commendation is an incredible commendation.

First, the church at Ephesus is not known merely for words, but for its deeds. They are known for the common, ordinary deeds of ministry; deeds that are extraordinary. Here is a church that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself judges to be a church of good works.

This is a church that isn't sitting still. Faith is not dead in Ephesus: the works are the demonstration of this. We know that so many churches simply because they do not do the deeds. Instead of good deeds, there are lethargy, death, sloth and paralysis.

Second, this is a church that has persevered in the midst of trouble. This is a church that gospel makes claims that the enemies of the gospel well understand. And the enemies of the gospel were present, organized and numerous in Ephesus. This is a church that had been tried. Lesser churches might have scattered, but not this church. This church endured. And endurance is held out in the New Testament as the proof of faith. Their endurance is not passive; it is active.

Third, Jesus speaks of their orthodoxy. This is a church that demonstrated doctrinal discernment and discrimination. It defended the truth; it suffered for the cause of the truth. We are living in such a day of theological compromise. How few are the churches that Jesus would commend in this matter. In Acts 20:29, Paul exhorted the church at Ephesus to watch out for ravenous wolves, for false teachers. It is tremendous to see that this church was doing exactly what Paul, what the Word of God, told them to do.

Fourth, Jesus said the church at Ephesus hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans were an accomodationist heresy. They blended religions. They failed at the test of integrity that the church at Ephesus passed. The Lord Jesus Christ hates the perversion of His Gospel; we must do the same.

Rebuke (2:4)

The word "but" swings the entire tenor of this letter. This "but" carries the weight of the Lord's judgment in a way that we understand. But...I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

This knife cuts. We must wonder: how is this possible? Jesus warns of this in Matt 24:11-14 when He says that most people's love will grow cold before the end, but those who persevere to the end will be saved.

Israel lost its first love. The church at Ephesus has abandoned its first love. What is this love? What have they abandoned? Have they lost love for Christ or for each other? The answer to this is: you cannot have one without the other. In 1 John 3:14, we read that we know that we have passed from death to life, if we love the brethren. God has loved us magnificently: so we also ought to love one another.

Love is the very substance of the visible love of God. And if we do not love, we are of death rather than of life.

Jesus tells the church at Ephesus to remember from where they had fallen and repent (2:5). What is the result if they do not repent: their lampstand will be removed. The congregation would literally die. And, brothers and sisters, we see congregations all around us dying. There is no need for an autopsy: the main causes of death are heresy or the loss of love.

Conclusion

What we confront in this passage is the treason of lost love. This letter, if we are honest, hits really close to a theological seminary. Our task, as an institution serving the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to hold on to the truth. We want to be found tenaciously faithful. We want to be found as the people of the truth.

But a danger lurks nearby, so close at hand. We desperately must pray that we will not hear the verdict, "but you have left your first love." This is perhaps the closest danger to us all. I hear these words as a warning: persevere. We must pray that we would not leave our first love. Love for Christ, love for His church and love for His people.

More

3 Questions with Ligon Duncan August 31, 2009

Ligon Duncan serves as senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Miss.

1. What should a man have in mind as he beings his first pastorate?

Ligon Duncan: First, he needs to be committed to preach God's Word and then, second, he needs to develop a deep love for His people. (He should pray) for God to really grant him a deep love in his heart for his people, so that when he does have to confront his people with their sins, they know that he does it with a heart of total love and commitment with, and for, them.

Third, I'd say be committed to be a man of prayer for them. So, preach the Word, love his people and be committed to prayer and especially cultivate prayer in the life of the church. Fourth, he should invest himself in his elders or his leaders. Cultivate them so they can come alongside him and do ministry.

Fifth, he should promote family religion in the homes, and then, sixth, he should be committed to living a godly life himself. So I'd say those six things ought to be a standard commitment of every young man going into his first pastorate.

2. How can a young minister have a good accountability structure?

LD: If he's married, then it starts with his wife, because if you can lie to wife, then you can lie to your accountability partner. So, it starts with having the kind of proper relationship of accountability with your wife.

Second, accountability to your church leadership so that they know that you really do submit to their authority and that you are accountable to them in appropriate ways. And then, I do think that it's important for ministers to cultivate special pastoral relationships, preferably with guys that are close to them in proximity, where they can talk about the deep heart issues that they are struggling with, their ministry issues they are struggling with and their temptation issues they are wrestling with.

I think you need webs of accountability because very often, certain sins can slip through one track of accountability and get caught by others, and we need that. We need to hem ourselves in so that we get caught quickly and easily, so I believe in a multi-faceted web of accountability.

3. What is a recent occurrence that made you laugh?

LD: Well, my son -- Jennings, who is 9 -- is very funny. And he says very, very funny things. Jennings recently just had his finger cut off in an accident on a zip line. We were in the hospital having the orthopedic surgeon look at his finger, and her name was Cynthia Pullion. She walked into the room and said, "I'm Cynthia Pullion" and he looked up at her and he said, "They sent you to pull what!?" I laughed pretty hard when he said that.

More

SBTS profs on first pastorate: Bill Henard August 28, 2009

This is the second post of a seven-part series running each Friday. Bill Henard serves as assistant professor of evangelism and church growth at Southern Seminary and as senior pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky. Henard is co-editor of Evangelicals Engaging Emergent: A Discussion of the Emergent Church Movement.

First position/length. Eagan Baptist Church, Eagan, Tennessee.  Eight months-I was a 20-year-old college student, in way over my head.  I had never even attended Vacation Bible School until I led my first one myself.

Early mistakes/lessons. I called on someone to close the service in prayer and he responded, "No, thank you."  I learned that not everyone is on equal ground spiritually or in service.  Be careful to know your people before you put them on the spot.  It was a small mistake (the first of many), but it was one that could have had an adverse effect on my leadership ability if I repeated the same mistake in a much larger venue.  It taught me to start with where people are, not with where they ought to be.

Words of wisdom. Personally visit your leadership and listen to their dreams.  Work on your people skills.  Be a people person, but not a manipulator.  Be humble and thankful for the position you have.  Learn to love your people and sincerely tell them that you love them.  Pace yourself.  Don't die on every hill; some are not worth dying on.  Don't be a church hopper, looking for the next bigger and better deal.  Don't go in with both guns blazing; you will hit some innocent people when you do.

More

SBTS chapel live blog: Russell D. Moore — 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:13 August 27, 2009

Preacher: Russell D. Moore, senior vice president for academic administration and dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary.

Text/title: 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:13 -- "God is not a beggar? Why your ministry must become more pathetic before it can become less pathetic."

I heard a speaker who once said, "God is not a beggar and neither am I" and I liked it.

But as I come to this text, I realize that in some ways that pastor was wrong and so am I.

Paul writes to this church in Corinth in some ways defending himself, but in some ways defending his mission. His mission is a mission of reconciliation. Paul was given a message of reconciliation that is to be taken to all of the world, to all the nations.

Paul brought his message with passion, with a kind of throbbing energy that too often is absent from our own ministries.

We live in the generations that are the third, fourth and possibly fifth generations of the Pentecostal movement. And our response is sometimes to retreat into a haughty rationalism with all the sturdiness of a skeleton with about as much warmth or to treat into a breezy, warm moralism. That is not what we have been given.

Paul is saying that it is not just about what we think and choose, but what we feel.

If we hear the Gospel the way we have received it we will hear a God who begs. Not a God who begs as a weakling, but as a sovereign, majestic Creator who loves.

Ministers of reconciliation

When Paul writes about the Gospel, the ministry of reconciliation, there is a sense of awe and wonder. In Christ, everyone is a new creation. The longings that we all have in our heart for a new creation, come to a beginning when we are found in Christ.

We have been handed as messengers this message of reconciliation and we are called to pass it on to others.

As we lead Awana children into a classroom or sit down to parse Greek verbs, I wonder if we realize: it is all true. It is not just a set of things we have been given. It is all true.

When Paul is struck with wonder and joy, God is speaking through Him.

In 2 Cor 5:16, Paul speaks of no longer regarding Christ according to the flesh. We are to do the same with Christ and with everyone that we meet. We are to view everyone in light of the Gospel, through the lens of the Gospel.

We do not regard one another according to the flesh: we see what God sees through the Gospel. We see the beginnings of a new creation in all the world.

I wonder how different our preaching would be, how much more powerful our mission would be, if we would stop considering those who the world thinks is powerful: the football starts and beauty queen, if we would look at each other and see Jesus Christ in each other and evaluate the world the way Christ sees the world.

I wonder what would happen if we had a sense of exuberance when we encountered the mentally retarded person in our congregation. I wonder what would happen if we were able to see the redemption of Christ in the horrible obese man who comes and asks awkward questions after the message. I wonder if we would understand better the mystery and wonder of what Paul is talking about when he says we are given the message of reconciliation.

Ambassadors of Christ

Whatever an ambassador says, he is speaking on behalf of the one who sent him. The hearers don't have to wonder who sent the message: it is already clear. And we are Christ's ambassadors.

Jesus is speaking through you. Jesus is present with you. Judgment day is now hanging over the Awana room, or congregation or street corner.

When you are speaking the Gospel message, you are begging for God as if Jesus was there pleading with the people in that room.

You say, "I can't understand a sovereign God as a beggar." You can't understand a crucified world emperor either: that is exactly the point.

Do you in your ministries, or as you are preparing for your ministries, feel the gravity of begging. If someone were holding your child up against a wall with a gun, you would drop to your knees and plead, "please! don't do that."

What you have been called to as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to speak with all of the sovereign authority of Jesus Himself, which He has given to His church, to a lost world, "please ... don't do that."

Do you feel the gravity of the Gospel?

The affection of Christ

Paul sees people through the Spirit the way that Jesus sees them through the Spirit in a way that he gives no offense to them, except for the offense of the Gospel.

Pau said I am willing for you to say anything about me that you want to say, for he knows that God knows is true and he speaks to them the Gospel, saying "open your hearts." Does your Gospel ministry look that way?

The message of the Gospel is meant to create in you an affection for people that is built not on friendships or already-existing relationships, but on the Gospel. Such affection comes from the Holy Spirit, a Spirit who is not a thing, but a person.

If you really glimpse the majesty of God, if you really love the Gospel and really feel the weight of judgment and hell, then you will plead, implore and beg.

More

Prepare to preach: Both heart and mind must be made ready, say SBTS prof/pastors

Danny Akin calls it "Saturday night fever" and prefers to stay away from it, Mark Dever embraces it and the great Charles Haddon Spurgeon became famous by following the strategy: preparing to preach Sunday's sermon on Saturday.

In his must-read work "Lectures to My Students," Spurgeon revealed that most of his sermon preparation took place on a tight Saturday night deadline.

"I confess that I frequently sit hour after hour praying and waiting for a subject, and that this is the main part of my study," he wrote. "Much hard labour have I spent in manipulating topics, ruminating upon points of doctrine...I believe that almost any Saturday in my life I make enough outlines of sermons, if I felt at liberty to preach them, to last me for a month."

God blessed Spurgeon's Saturday nights remarkably, but many preachers prefer to assemble the sermon throughout the week.

Preparing to preach

While there are probably as many different approaches to sermon preparation as there are preachers, professor/pastors on faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary demonstrate that there are two attributes common to all solid sermon prep: composing the sermon and readying the preacher.

"Being prepared to preach the Word involves much more than just analyzing the text -- although it takes that for sure," said Bill Cook, professor of New Testament at Southern and pastor of Ninth and O Baptist Church.

"It includes being a man passionate for the Lord Jesus Christ. I think in the preparation of the sermon each preacher needs to find the approach to sermon preparation that best suits him. I think this will vary somewhat from person to person based on one's abilities and personality. But sermon preparation and delivery involves both the heart and mind from beginning to end."

Hershael York, professor of preaching at Southern and senior pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, Ky., said he typically assembles a working outline for the upcoming sermon on Monday. York's goal is to have the sermon completed by Thursday so he can send the final outline to his assistant and media team to be published in the church bulletin.

"That imposes a discipline on me that keeps me from procrastinating," he said. "I will tweak and finalize illustrations and other elements on Friday and Saturday, but the basic outline is done at least three days before I preach it. That gives me time to digest and ruminate on the text and the message before I stand to preach on Sunday."

Veteran pastor/scholars such as York, Jim Orrick, Bill Cook and Tom Schreiner have been preparing for Sunday's sermon for as many decades as they have been studying the Bible.

Orrick has been committed to memorizing extended portions of Scripture for many years and has memorized numerous books of the Bible. He memorizes the biblical text, but also commits every sermon to memory and preaches without any notes, taking two to five hours to arrange and customize his thoughts for the particular congregation he is addressing.

"I preach without notes, and this forces me to be thoroughly prepared and thoroughly textual," said Orrick, who serves as professor of literature and culture at Boyce College and has been preaching for more than 30 years.

"The possibility of rhetorical disaster is always near at hand when preaching without notes, so I am forced to depend heavily on the Holy Spirit. I nearly always forget something I meant to say, but I nearly always think of something while preaching that I never prepared to say. Often it moves me deeply. I know that if I want my hearers to be deeply moved, I must first be deeply moved myself. God deliver me from being a preacher who fakes it!"

Schreiner typically spends one day per week preparing sermons. He begins by reading and meditating on the passage several times and seeks to understand it deeply so he will be able to offer penetrating, Gospel-centered application.

"I try to soak myself in it," Schreiner said. "I pray for insight in terms of understanding and application. After I have written a rough draft, which I usually do on Monday, I let it sit a few days, and then I go over it about 10 times on Friday and Saturday and make changes as I meditate on the sermon."

While serving as a pastor, Billy Graham School Dean Chuck Lawless said he spent up to one-half of a typical week in sermon prep. Like most Southern profs/pastors (and unlike Spurgeon!), Lawless preached book-by-book, verse-by-verse expository sermons and had no need to "divine" topics each week.

For Lawless, as for the others, preparation of his own heart to step behind the pulpit and undertake the solemn task of proclamation is a vital element of preaching.

"Heart preparation is a daily event," he said. "Getting ready to preach is not about suddenly preparing our hearts for Sunday; it is about walking with God every day so that we hear His Word properly in our study, order our sermon well in our preparation, and apply the truths well in the context of our congregation."

Russell D. Moore, senior vice president for academic administration and dean of the School of Theology at Southern, and teaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church's Fegenbush Campus, said he spends much of the week in preparation for the sermon and mulls over the text with friends and colleagues before putting together the final outline in the wee hours Sunday morning.

Moore prays throughout the week both for himself and his congregation. He prays that the Lord will keep both preacher and congregation from being mere hearers of the Word, from trafficking in unlived truth.

"I will think sometimes about specific people in my congregation," Moore said. "Then, because our flock is so large and I never know who will be with us on any given Sunday morning, I think about people who I've known over the years and how they would hear this Word, what might they misunderstand, what might drive them to despair, what might counter the ways the evil one would like to snatch this Word away, and then I ask the Lord to give me clarity, passion, love and the power of the Holy Spirit."

More

SBTS chapel live blog: Convocation, Aug. 25 August 25, 2009

Speaker: R. Albert Mohler Jr.

Title/text: The Time is Near - The Emphatically Eschatological Essence of the Christian Ministry; Rev. 1:1-20

Introduction

The backdrop and background of ministry is its end. The foreground is a time of tremendous conflict and controversy. A time of change.

We are here because all around us a world is in confusion and turmoil. The ministry is a place where the gospel intersects with the strangeness of this world. We come to seek to the mind of Christ. We look around and observe poverty and war and confusion: what are we to think?

Revelation 1:1-20

As John speaks, he speaks of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Sovereignty of Christ over time

This theme is repeated. We hear of things that must soon take place. We see in this chapter that the time is near. But let's be honest: it doesn't feel near. The time is near: these things must soon take place. It was near when Jesus spoke these words.

In Rev. 6:10, there is a marker of God's people wondering how long the wait will be. In Luke 18:8, we read that God will vindicate His own without delay. In Romans 16, we see that God will soon crush people underneath His feet. Soon, not in chronological fulfillment, but in light of the collapsing of time in eternal and eschatological reality.

Eternity is always placed as the context of ministry.

The Christian ministry requires an eschatological timeline. There is a yearning that ought to be implanted in our hearts when we think about time collapsing into eternity.

The time is soon. These things will soon take place. Jesus Christ is sovereign over time and that is the only assurance you have that your life and ministry has purpose.

Sovereignty of Christ over kings

Jesus Christ is described as the Ruler over the kings of the earth. Just as the world does not reflect that the end is near, so does much of the world not live as if Jesus is the King of the earth. The message of John in Revelation is the reletivization of all the powers of the earth. The powers that be, whether it be military, or cultural or political, are all reletivized by the Ruler of the kings of the earth. But one day it will be apparent that Jesus Christ was and is the Ruler of the kings of earth.

And this King has established a kingdom. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a kingdom of priests. This is a kingdom that has been bought by His blood. We are made to be a kingdom by Christ's sovereign act. We are His citizens, we are priests. Thus, to Christ be the glory forever and ever.

The kingdoms of this world think themselves to powerful. They can intimidate. They can imprison. But the Ruler of the kings of the earth is the Alpha and the Omega. It is He who is and who was and is to be. It is He will judge. It is made clear that in His appearing all will know that He is King of kings and Lord of lords.

This King is coming in vindication and in judgment. He is coming in a visible context: every eye will see Him. He will be recognized by all, even those who pierced Him. There is glory and power in this. He is no longer riding into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey, nor resting in a manger in Bethlehem.

If you think that your ministry has to be accomplished in your lifetime, then you will die unfulfilled. If you do not live in light of the lordship of Christ you will be intimidated by those around you who think themselves powerful. We will either cower in fear or try to make a deal with the regime.

Sovereignty of Christ over His church

In each of the seven letters to the churches in Revelation, it is made clear the letters are to made known to every church of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the ages until He comes.

Christ tells His church to not be afraid, for He is the one who has the keys to death and to Hades.

John's vision in the book of Revelation is of the One who is Lord over all: He is sovereign over time, over the rulers of the earth and over His church. Jesus gives to John this vision and through this vision He will instruct and edify His churches. Jesus alone has the right and authority to say what He will say to the seven churches in Revelation and to say what He will say to His church.

Each local church belongs to Christ. It is He who is sovereign over His church.

More

Upcoming Events