Decisional Regeneration is the false teaching that the sinner decides when he will be born again (How on earth could someone believe this in light of John 3:8: "The wind blows wherever it pleases," etc.). Usually, the sinner makes a "decision for Christ" by praying the "Sinner's Prayer" and receiving Christ into his heart as his Lord and Savior. In the Bible, however, God calls sinners to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15), not "bow their heads, close their eyes, and repeat after me..." Also, in order to believe, the sinner must first be born again (1 John 5:1 - consult the ESV, which is a literal translation of the Bible that reveals the tense of the Greek verbs). The new birth is emphatically not the result of the will of man (John 1:12-13). I find hte NIV translation extremely interesting: "children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." Some might say that a human decides to be born again, and then God causes them to be born again. This interpretation is ruled out by the simple observation that being "born of God" is contrasted with being born "of human decision." If this is a new concept for you, I recommend this video.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
How to Bear Fruit - A Sermon on John 15:1-11
What is God looking for in your life? If you claim to be a follower of Christ, God is looking for fruit. God not only wants us to profess faith with our lips, but he wants us to produce fruit with our lives. Now if you are a Christian, then you probably already understand the importance of fruit bearing. After all, fruit is a recurrent theme in the Bible.
In the OT God calls Israel his vine. In Psalm 80 God says that he took Israel from Egypt, and he planted her like a vine in the land of Canaan. But in Isaiah 5 God comes to Israel, and he is looking for fruit. However, he finds no fruit on his vine. So he destroys his vine.
In the NT God continues to look for fruit in the lives of his people. In Matthew 3:8 the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to John the Baptist to be baptized in the River Jordan. When they arrive, they are greeted with these words: “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” R.G. Lee, the Baptist preacher, used to say, “John the Baptist ate honey, but he did not preach honey.” In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us that we would recognize false prophets by their fruits. Matthew 7:16 says, “You will recognize them by their fruits.” In John 4:36 Jesus speaks about leading others to Christ as “gathering fruit for eternal life." Perhaps the most famous NT passage about fruit is Galatians 5:22-23, which lists the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Colossians 1:6 Paul says that the gospel is bearing fruit in the whole world. In Philippians 1:11 Paul prays for the Philippian Christians to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” So fruit is a recurrent theme in the Bible because God is looking for fruit in the lives of his followers.
It is no surprise, then, that Jesus would instruct his followers on the subject of fruit bearing on the eve of his crucifixion. In John 15 Jesus tells his followers how to bear fruit. His lesson for his disciples is summarized in verse 5: “I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Verse 5 can be summarized in three words: “Abide in Christ.”
If we want to bear fruit, then we must abide in Christ.
I learned this lesson from my youth pastor, Richard King. John 15:5 must be one of his favorite verses because he continually quoted it. In fact, I do not remember participating in a youth retreat, a mission trip, or a service project without hearing Richard say, “Jesus said, ‘I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.’” As a youth group, we memorized this verse. We even sang this verse. No, I will not sing it for you this morning. Richard was a man who modeled for me what it means to abide in Christ and bear fruit for the glory of God.
But we need to explore abiding in Christ this morning in order to understand how to bear fruit for the glory of God. So I want to unpack the meaning of verse 5 for you. If we understand verse 5, then we understand this entire passage of Scripture. There are four components of abiding in Christ, and they are all found in verse 5 and repeated throughout verses 1 through 11.
First of all, the REALITY. “I am the vine. You are the branches.” Jesus uses the picture of the vine and the branches in order to communicate a spiritual reality. Master teachers speak in images and stories. I remember crawling into my grandfather’s lap as a young boy and listening to his stories. We called him “Poppy,” and my brother Trevor and I would crawl into his lap, and he would take out a piece of Trident gum, split it in two, and give half to my brother and the other half to me. As we sat there chewing our spearmint gum, we would listen to Poppy tell us stories with moral lessons. He told the same stories, but he told them differently each time. Well, here Jesus is teaching his followers, and he speaks to them, not with a story, but with an image, which is just as good.
Even though John 15 falls within the so-called “Upper Room Discourse,” we are confident that Jesus did not deliver his entire lesson in the upper room. In John 14:31 we can see that he and his disciples leave the upper room, and they take a journey that eventually ends up in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Scholars tell us that it would have been common in biblical days to see vines growing on trellises in the Judean countryside. Imagine Jesus walking side by side with his disciples and pointing out the grapevines, which would have grown on lattices about waist high from the ground. He looks at the vine, and he says, “I am the vine.” He then turns his eyes to Peter, James, John, Thomas, and the other disciples, and he says, “You are the branches.”
Why does Jesus speak this way? What is the meaning of this metaphor? He is talking about a spiritual reality. Even as branches are dependent on the vine for life, power, and productivity, so Jesus’ followers are dependent on him for life, power, and productivity. Here is the reality that Jesus is seeking to teach us. If you are a follower of Christ, then Jesus is your lifeline. He is your source of the life, strength, and resources that you need to live the Christian life. You are a branch, and you should remind yourself frequently of your branchlike status. Your life power is in the vine, and you only have life and power in connection with the vine.
Now some of you who claim to be followers of Christ are trying to draw life and power from another vine. It may be a job. It may be a spouse. It may be family. It may be possessions. It may be money. It may even be church activities. But even though these are good things, they are not the “true vine.” Jesus is the “true vine” (verse 1).
Let me tell you about a follower of Christ who makes a job his vine. He stops coming to church because his job is so important. He is too tired, or maybe he has to work. He stops reading his Bible and praying because it does not fit into his “work schedule.” Before you know it, this man no longer has any spiritual appetite. He is self-centered, rude, and crude. And he shakes his head wondering why his spiritual life is not flourishing.
Let me tell you about the man who makes his family his vine. Family is good, but it is not the vine. A man loves his family and supports his family. He is a true family guy, but before long he is missing church to take his children to extracurricular activities. Before long his children make getting ready for church so difficult that he no longer wants to come. He begins to make excuses about not coming to church, not reading his Bible, and not praying. And after some time, he wonders why his life is stagnant.
Here is the reality. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. He is the source of life and power, and we will not bear fruit until we come to terms with this in our experience. You may say, “Logan, I know all that.” Yes, you probably do know all that, but do you experience all that?
Let me make an application to camp staff and counselors. The purpose of camp is to make campers fully devoted followers of Christ. But, camp staff and counselors, guess what? You cannot give what you do not have. If Jesus is not your lifeline, then you have absolutely nothing to give these campers. This is a reality, and if we want to flourish as fruitful Christians, then we must understand. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches.
So Jesus is talking about a reality. Ok, number two: RESPONSIBILITY. “Whoever abides in me and I in him…” Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. It is our responsibility to abide in Christ. Let me provide you a definition and a description of abiding in Christ.
Definition. The word “abide” or your translation may say “remain” is the Greek word meno, and it means “to abide, to remain, to dwell, to continue, to stay.” It is not a religious word. It simply means to stay. When it is used of the branches, it means to stay connected. So here is my definition of abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ means "maintaining a close, constant, and continual connection to Christ." I like the way the ESV Study Bible defines abiding: “to continue in a daily, personal relationship with Jesus, characterized by trust, prayer, obedience, and joy.” That’s it. So here we have a definition; what about a description?
Description. Scripture interprets Scripture. In order to understand a biblical phrase we must not only define our terms, but we must also seek to understand how the phrase is used in context. As we look in John 15 we can see that when Jesus speaks of abiding in him, he is talking about abiding in his word and his love.
Abiding in Christ is informed by his word. Look in verse 7. “If you abide in me and my words abide in you…” In other words, abiding in Christ includes abiding in his word (cf. John 8:31-32). More specifically, his words must abide in us. In the words of Colossians 3:16 the word of Christ must dwell in us richly. Jesus said that the word of God is our food. Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. When we eat the word of God, we take it in. We read it, but it is not merely head knowledge. We must seek to understand it and obey it. This requires more than reading. It requires prayerful study and meditation. You cannot abide in Christ, if you neglect the word of God. Yes, we have a personal relationship with Christ, but that personal relationship is by means of the written word of God.
Abiding in Christ is inspired by his love. Look in verse 9. “As the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Abide in my love.” Now what on earth does that mean? How could we not abide in God’s love? God always loves us. Well, yes, God does always love us, but we may refuse to expose ourselves to the warmth of his love for us in Christ. The sun of God’s love is always shining, but our sin and shame may cloud and shade us from the warmth of his love. When Jesus says, “Abide in my love,” he is saying, “Stay in the sunshine of God’s love in Christ.” In the words of Jude 21, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” We must remember moment by moment that we loved by Christ perfectly. O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
So then, abiding in Christ means that we maintain a close, constant, and continual connection with him. It is abiding in his word and love. Our relationship with Christ must be informed by the word of Christ and inspired by the love of Christ.
There is a reality, a responsibility, and, number three, there is a RESULT. Believe it or not, there is a result for abiding in Christ, and there is a result for not abiding in Christ. Essentially, it is fire or fruit.
Fire. If we do not abide in Christ, the result is fire. Look in verse 6: “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown in the fire, and burned.” If we do not abide in Christ, then we demonstrate that our faith is false. If our faith is false, then the vinedresser will take us away from the vine (verse 2). Branches that do not bear fruit are not true disciples. If they were true disciples, then they would abide in Jesus’ word and bear fruit (John 8:31-32). When Jesus speaks of casting fruitless branches in the fire, he is referring to the fires of hell. He is not talking about the loss of heavenly rewards. He is talking about the loss of heaven. Such branches only had superficial and artificial contact with Jesus, but they did not abide in Jesus. They did not bear fruit. As such, they are thrown into the fire.
Natalie and I have a peach tree in our backyard, and my aunt is able to make delicious peach pie from those peaches. So those peaches are extremely important to me. When I mow the lawn, I often find a few branches that have fallen away from the tree. The branches need to be moved, but it has never occurred to me to save them or try to reunite them with the tree. Instead, I take the branches, and I throw them in the lawn waste trashcan. Branches that do not bear fruit are good for nothing. So I dispose of them. So the vinedresser will do to any professing follower of Christ who does not produce fruit.
The biblical example of a fruitless branch that only had superficial and artificial contact with Jesus is Judas. Even though Judas spent a good deal of time with Jesus, he did not have faith in Jesus. He had contact with Jesus, but he was not connected to Jesus. That is the problem with many church people. They have contact with Jesus. They come to church. They hear sermons. They know the Bible. They may even pray on occasion. But they are not connected to Jesus, and hell, not heaven, awaits them. We should beware the failure to bear fruit! If we do not abide in Christ, the result is fire.
Fruit. If we abide in Christ, then the result is fruit. “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” Fruit is the inevitable result of abiding in Christ. Also, if we bear fruit, then the vinedresser will prune us (verse 2), and we will bear more fruit. Pruning occurs when the Father takes his shears and cuts the shoots of sin and selfishness that inhibit us from bearing abundant fruit. Note well: if you are a fruit bearing Christian, then the Father will come to you with his shears, and he will cut you. When he cuts, he cleans (verse 3). But he does not cut you to inflict pain. He cuts you to make you a more productive, fruit bearing branch.
Ok, so there is fruit, but what does this “fruit” include? We cannot spend a great deal of time on this, but we can comment that this fruit bearing includes: prayer answered (verse 7), God glorified (verse 8), faith proven (verse 8), love demonstrated (verse 9-10), and joy fulfilled (verse 11). When we abide in Christ, the result is fruit. An abiding faith produces abundant fruit.
So we have a reality, a responsibility, a result, and, finally, we have, number four, a REASON. “For apart from me you can do nothing.” Notice that Jesus says, “nothing,” not something. But what does this mean? This means that we can do nothing of eternal significance apart from Christ.
John Piper says, “Without [Christ] you can do nothing truly good, truly God-honoring and Christ-exalting and self-abasing and eternally helpful for others” (What Jesus Demands from the World, 63).
Maybe you have heard the poem, which says, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ shall last.” Well, I want to rephrase one preposition in that poem, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done in Christ shall last.”
I do not care how talented and gifted you are. If you do not abide in Christ, then nothing you accomplish in this life matters. It will all burn in eternity, unless it is accomplished in, through, and for Jesus Christ. One Christmas my brother and I had asked for a Playstation (1, this way before 2, or 3) for Christmas. On Christmas morning, we opened our presents, and we received a Playstation with several games. Of course, we immediately began to set up the Playstation to our television. There was only one problem. We had an older television, and we needed an A/C adaptor in order to connect the system to our television. Think about this. We had a wonderful Playstation, and we had wonderful games, but since we were not able to connect the Playstation and television together, we were not able to play. In the same way, if you are not able to connect to Jesus Christ, you will not be able to accomplish anything for eternity.
In the OT God calls Israel his vine. In Psalm 80 God says that he took Israel from Egypt, and he planted her like a vine in the land of Canaan. But in Isaiah 5 God comes to Israel, and he is looking for fruit. However, he finds no fruit on his vine. So he destroys his vine.
In the NT God continues to look for fruit in the lives of his people. In Matthew 3:8 the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to John the Baptist to be baptized in the River Jordan. When they arrive, they are greeted with these words: “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” R.G. Lee, the Baptist preacher, used to say, “John the Baptist ate honey, but he did not preach honey.” In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us that we would recognize false prophets by their fruits. Matthew 7:16 says, “You will recognize them by their fruits.” In John 4:36 Jesus speaks about leading others to Christ as “gathering fruit for eternal life." Perhaps the most famous NT passage about fruit is Galatians 5:22-23, which lists the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Colossians 1:6 Paul says that the gospel is bearing fruit in the whole world. In Philippians 1:11 Paul prays for the Philippian Christians to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” So fruit is a recurrent theme in the Bible because God is looking for fruit in the lives of his followers.
It is no surprise, then, that Jesus would instruct his followers on the subject of fruit bearing on the eve of his crucifixion. In John 15 Jesus tells his followers how to bear fruit. His lesson for his disciples is summarized in verse 5: “I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Verse 5 can be summarized in three words: “Abide in Christ.”
If we want to bear fruit, then we must abide in Christ.
I learned this lesson from my youth pastor, Richard King. John 15:5 must be one of his favorite verses because he continually quoted it. In fact, I do not remember participating in a youth retreat, a mission trip, or a service project without hearing Richard say, “Jesus said, ‘I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.’” As a youth group, we memorized this verse. We even sang this verse. No, I will not sing it for you this morning. Richard was a man who modeled for me what it means to abide in Christ and bear fruit for the glory of God.
But we need to explore abiding in Christ this morning in order to understand how to bear fruit for the glory of God. So I want to unpack the meaning of verse 5 for you. If we understand verse 5, then we understand this entire passage of Scripture. There are four components of abiding in Christ, and they are all found in verse 5 and repeated throughout verses 1 through 11.
First of all, the REALITY. “I am the vine. You are the branches.” Jesus uses the picture of the vine and the branches in order to communicate a spiritual reality. Master teachers speak in images and stories. I remember crawling into my grandfather’s lap as a young boy and listening to his stories. We called him “Poppy,” and my brother Trevor and I would crawl into his lap, and he would take out a piece of Trident gum, split it in two, and give half to my brother and the other half to me. As we sat there chewing our spearmint gum, we would listen to Poppy tell us stories with moral lessons. He told the same stories, but he told them differently each time. Well, here Jesus is teaching his followers, and he speaks to them, not with a story, but with an image, which is just as good.
Even though John 15 falls within the so-called “Upper Room Discourse,” we are confident that Jesus did not deliver his entire lesson in the upper room. In John 14:31 we can see that he and his disciples leave the upper room, and they take a journey that eventually ends up in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Scholars tell us that it would have been common in biblical days to see vines growing on trellises in the Judean countryside. Imagine Jesus walking side by side with his disciples and pointing out the grapevines, which would have grown on lattices about waist high from the ground. He looks at the vine, and he says, “I am the vine.” He then turns his eyes to Peter, James, John, Thomas, and the other disciples, and he says, “You are the branches.”
Why does Jesus speak this way? What is the meaning of this metaphor? He is talking about a spiritual reality. Even as branches are dependent on the vine for life, power, and productivity, so Jesus’ followers are dependent on him for life, power, and productivity. Here is the reality that Jesus is seeking to teach us. If you are a follower of Christ, then Jesus is your lifeline. He is your source of the life, strength, and resources that you need to live the Christian life. You are a branch, and you should remind yourself frequently of your branchlike status. Your life power is in the vine, and you only have life and power in connection with the vine.
Now some of you who claim to be followers of Christ are trying to draw life and power from another vine. It may be a job. It may be a spouse. It may be family. It may be possessions. It may be money. It may even be church activities. But even though these are good things, they are not the “true vine.” Jesus is the “true vine” (verse 1).
Let me tell you about a follower of Christ who makes a job his vine. He stops coming to church because his job is so important. He is too tired, or maybe he has to work. He stops reading his Bible and praying because it does not fit into his “work schedule.” Before you know it, this man no longer has any spiritual appetite. He is self-centered, rude, and crude. And he shakes his head wondering why his spiritual life is not flourishing.
Let me tell you about the man who makes his family his vine. Family is good, but it is not the vine. A man loves his family and supports his family. He is a true family guy, but before long he is missing church to take his children to extracurricular activities. Before long his children make getting ready for church so difficult that he no longer wants to come. He begins to make excuses about not coming to church, not reading his Bible, and not praying. And after some time, he wonders why his life is stagnant.
Here is the reality. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. He is the source of life and power, and we will not bear fruit until we come to terms with this in our experience. You may say, “Logan, I know all that.” Yes, you probably do know all that, but do you experience all that?
Let me make an application to camp staff and counselors. The purpose of camp is to make campers fully devoted followers of Christ. But, camp staff and counselors, guess what? You cannot give what you do not have. If Jesus is not your lifeline, then you have absolutely nothing to give these campers. This is a reality, and if we want to flourish as fruitful Christians, then we must understand. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches.
So Jesus is talking about a reality. Ok, number two: RESPONSIBILITY. “Whoever abides in me and I in him…” Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. It is our responsibility to abide in Christ. Let me provide you a definition and a description of abiding in Christ.
Definition. The word “abide” or your translation may say “remain” is the Greek word meno, and it means “to abide, to remain, to dwell, to continue, to stay.” It is not a religious word. It simply means to stay. When it is used of the branches, it means to stay connected. So here is my definition of abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ means "maintaining a close, constant, and continual connection to Christ." I like the way the ESV Study Bible defines abiding: “to continue in a daily, personal relationship with Jesus, characterized by trust, prayer, obedience, and joy.” That’s it. So here we have a definition; what about a description?
Description. Scripture interprets Scripture. In order to understand a biblical phrase we must not only define our terms, but we must also seek to understand how the phrase is used in context. As we look in John 15 we can see that when Jesus speaks of abiding in him, he is talking about abiding in his word and his love.
Abiding in Christ is informed by his word. Look in verse 7. “If you abide in me and my words abide in you…” In other words, abiding in Christ includes abiding in his word (cf. John 8:31-32). More specifically, his words must abide in us. In the words of Colossians 3:16 the word of Christ must dwell in us richly. Jesus said that the word of God is our food. Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. When we eat the word of God, we take it in. We read it, but it is not merely head knowledge. We must seek to understand it and obey it. This requires more than reading. It requires prayerful study and meditation. You cannot abide in Christ, if you neglect the word of God. Yes, we have a personal relationship with Christ, but that personal relationship is by means of the written word of God.
Abiding in Christ is inspired by his love. Look in verse 9. “As the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Abide in my love.” Now what on earth does that mean? How could we not abide in God’s love? God always loves us. Well, yes, God does always love us, but we may refuse to expose ourselves to the warmth of his love for us in Christ. The sun of God’s love is always shining, but our sin and shame may cloud and shade us from the warmth of his love. When Jesus says, “Abide in my love,” he is saying, “Stay in the sunshine of God’s love in Christ.” In the words of Jude 21, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” We must remember moment by moment that we loved by Christ perfectly. O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
So then, abiding in Christ means that we maintain a close, constant, and continual connection with him. It is abiding in his word and love. Our relationship with Christ must be informed by the word of Christ and inspired by the love of Christ.
There is a reality, a responsibility, and, number three, there is a RESULT. Believe it or not, there is a result for abiding in Christ, and there is a result for not abiding in Christ. Essentially, it is fire or fruit.
Fire. If we do not abide in Christ, the result is fire. Look in verse 6: “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown in the fire, and burned.” If we do not abide in Christ, then we demonstrate that our faith is false. If our faith is false, then the vinedresser will take us away from the vine (verse 2). Branches that do not bear fruit are not true disciples. If they were true disciples, then they would abide in Jesus’ word and bear fruit (John 8:31-32). When Jesus speaks of casting fruitless branches in the fire, he is referring to the fires of hell. He is not talking about the loss of heavenly rewards. He is talking about the loss of heaven. Such branches only had superficial and artificial contact with Jesus, but they did not abide in Jesus. They did not bear fruit. As such, they are thrown into the fire.
Natalie and I have a peach tree in our backyard, and my aunt is able to make delicious peach pie from those peaches. So those peaches are extremely important to me. When I mow the lawn, I often find a few branches that have fallen away from the tree. The branches need to be moved, but it has never occurred to me to save them or try to reunite them with the tree. Instead, I take the branches, and I throw them in the lawn waste trashcan. Branches that do not bear fruit are good for nothing. So I dispose of them. So the vinedresser will do to any professing follower of Christ who does not produce fruit.
The biblical example of a fruitless branch that only had superficial and artificial contact with Jesus is Judas. Even though Judas spent a good deal of time with Jesus, he did not have faith in Jesus. He had contact with Jesus, but he was not connected to Jesus. That is the problem with many church people. They have contact with Jesus. They come to church. They hear sermons. They know the Bible. They may even pray on occasion. But they are not connected to Jesus, and hell, not heaven, awaits them. We should beware the failure to bear fruit! If we do not abide in Christ, the result is fire.
Fruit. If we abide in Christ, then the result is fruit. “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” Fruit is the inevitable result of abiding in Christ. Also, if we bear fruit, then the vinedresser will prune us (verse 2), and we will bear more fruit. Pruning occurs when the Father takes his shears and cuts the shoots of sin and selfishness that inhibit us from bearing abundant fruit. Note well: if you are a fruit bearing Christian, then the Father will come to you with his shears, and he will cut you. When he cuts, he cleans (verse 3). But he does not cut you to inflict pain. He cuts you to make you a more productive, fruit bearing branch.
Ok, so there is fruit, but what does this “fruit” include? We cannot spend a great deal of time on this, but we can comment that this fruit bearing includes: prayer answered (verse 7), God glorified (verse 8), faith proven (verse 8), love demonstrated (verse 9-10), and joy fulfilled (verse 11). When we abide in Christ, the result is fruit. An abiding faith produces abundant fruit.
So we have a reality, a responsibility, a result, and, finally, we have, number four, a REASON. “For apart from me you can do nothing.” Notice that Jesus says, “nothing,” not something. But what does this mean? This means that we can do nothing of eternal significance apart from Christ.
John Piper says, “Without [Christ] you can do nothing truly good, truly God-honoring and Christ-exalting and self-abasing and eternally helpful for others” (What Jesus Demands from the World, 63).
Maybe you have heard the poem, which says, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ shall last.” Well, I want to rephrase one preposition in that poem, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done in Christ shall last.”
I do not care how talented and gifted you are. If you do not abide in Christ, then nothing you accomplish in this life matters. It will all burn in eternity, unless it is accomplished in, through, and for Jesus Christ. One Christmas my brother and I had asked for a Playstation (1, this way before 2, or 3) for Christmas. On Christmas morning, we opened our presents, and we received a Playstation with several games. Of course, we immediately began to set up the Playstation to our television. There was only one problem. We had an older television, and we needed an A/C adaptor in order to connect the system to our television. Think about this. We had a wonderful Playstation, and we had wonderful games, but since we were not able to connect the Playstation and television together, we were not able to play. In the same way, if you are not able to connect to Jesus Christ, you will not be able to accomplish anything for eternity.
***
What fruit are you bearing? God wants us to produce fruit that abides (cf. verse 16). What will be the impact of your life, your marriage, your employment, and your ministry on eternity? It will be significant only if it is done in Christ.
What fruit are you bearing? God wants us to produce fruit that abides (cf. verse 16). What will be the impact of your life, your marriage, your employment, and your ministry on eternity? It will be significant only if it is done in Christ.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Recommended Read: Christ-Centered Preaching
A couple of months back I finally finished a book that had been on my reading list for some time: Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell. Chapell is the president of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. In his work on preaching, he presents a useful and helpful homiletical model that will benefit both the seasoned preacher and seminarian alike. It goes like this:
Explanation---> Illustration--->Application
The careful preacher will weave a web of all three components to most effectively communicate the content of God's Word.
There is a singular statement that stands out to me in Chapell's book: "Explanation is for application." While application cannot properly be done until the Word is explained, application is not merely some component of exposition that can be eschewed under some misguided solus spiritus principle. The audience has the right to ask, "So what?" Many well-meaning, young Reformed preachers (of whom I am one) would do well to heed Chapell's advice here because the temptation to turn a sermon into an "oral essay" is strong. By following Chapell's model of redemptive preaching, sermons will avoid this pitfall. However, by emphasizing each chain of the so called "double helix", the preacher will avoid turning his sermons into therapuetic drivel as well. In his irenic way, Chapell avoids the extremes of turning preaching into either a lecture or a psychological pep talk. To put it simply, he is balanced and that alone should make his discussion of preaching appealing.
Many homiletic texts read in a cumbersome fashion because of the technical language that the discipline involves. Chapell's style, however, is both at once meticulous and perspicuous. He writes in a way that is understandable without marginalizing the reader who is coming to such concepts for the first time. In addition to this, Chapell provides useful helps in the appendices at the end of the book. It does not matter if you are a young preacher or a veteran preacher. Get this book in your library!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Blogging for the Glory of God
I apologize to our small readership for my intermittent blogging as of late. During my hiatus, I have spent time reassessing my goal in blogging. Why do I blog? Am I obeying 1 Corinthians 10:31 in the posts that I make? And most foundationally: why blog? Here are some of the good reasons that I blog:
1. Blogging allows me to communicate gospel truths to an audience that I would not be able to have apart from this forum.
2. Blogging is an easy and accessible way to keep honing and improving my writing craft.
3. Blogging presents an interesting challenge: how to say more with less.
4. Blogging is a way to further interact with the Biblical text you are reading as well as other edifying books.
5. Blogging gives me an opportunity to further assess "aha" moments that I might otherwise miss.
Some dangerous reasons to blog:
1. Narcissism. This is pervasive in our culture today. With the advent of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, it is easy to mistake the right to speak with the right to be heard.
2. Self-preservation. There is a feeling of permanency to what we write. Deep within the human heart is a desire to make something truly lasting. Living for the glory of our name is in direct opposition to living for the glory of God's name however.
3. Relationships. Yes, this can also be a dangerous reason to blog. If you long for genuine, meaningful relationships with someone, don't try to maintain it through a blog.
As with any technology, blogging is not inherently evil. The list above is not an exhaustive one. There are more good reasons to blog and there are more dangers to be avoided. So, I ask you, why do you blog?
1. Blogging allows me to communicate gospel truths to an audience that I would not be able to have apart from this forum.
2. Blogging is an easy and accessible way to keep honing and improving my writing craft.
3. Blogging presents an interesting challenge: how to say more with less.
4. Blogging is a way to further interact with the Biblical text you are reading as well as other edifying books.
5. Blogging gives me an opportunity to further assess "aha" moments that I might otherwise miss.
Some dangerous reasons to blog:
1. Narcissism. This is pervasive in our culture today. With the advent of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, it is easy to mistake the right to speak with the right to be heard.
2. Self-preservation. There is a feeling of permanency to what we write. Deep within the human heart is a desire to make something truly lasting. Living for the glory of our name is in direct opposition to living for the glory of God's name however.
3. Relationships. Yes, this can also be a dangerous reason to blog. If you long for genuine, meaningful relationships with someone, don't try to maintain it through a blog.
As with any technology, blogging is not inherently evil. The list above is not an exhaustive one. There are more good reasons to blog and there are more dangers to be avoided. So, I ask you, why do you blog?
Calvin the Charismatic?
This morning I stumbled upon this while browsing another blog:
The inward attitude certainly holds first place in prayer, but outward signs, kneeling, uncovering the head, lifting up the hands, have a twofold use. The first is that we may employ all our members for the glory and worship of God; secondly, that we are, so to speak, jolted out of our laziness by this help. There is also a third use in solemn and public prayer, because in this way the sons of God profess their piety, and they inflame each other with reverence of God. But just as the lifting up of the hands is a symbol of confidence and longing, so in order to show our humility, we fall down on our knees. (John Calvin, Commentary on Acts 20:36)
Who says that physical expressiveness in worship is incompatible with the Reformed tradition?
The inward attitude certainly holds first place in prayer, but outward signs, kneeling, uncovering the head, lifting up the hands, have a twofold use. The first is that we may employ all our members for the glory and worship of God; secondly, that we are, so to speak, jolted out of our laziness by this help. There is also a third use in solemn and public prayer, because in this way the sons of God profess their piety, and they inflame each other with reverence of God. But just as the lifting up of the hands is a symbol of confidence and longing, so in order to show our humility, we fall down on our knees. (John Calvin, Commentary on Acts 20:36)
Who says that physical expressiveness in worship is incompatible with the Reformed tradition?
Thursday, June 18, 2009
C.S. Lewis on Art for Art's Sake
"'How soon do you think I could begin painting?' it asked.
The Spirit broke into laughter. 'Don't you see you'll never paint at all if that's what you're thinking about?' he said.
'What do you mean?' asked the Ghost.
'Why, if you are interested in the country only for the sake of painting it, you'll never learn to see the country.'
'But that's just how a real artist is interested in the country.'
'No. You're forgetting," said the Spirit. 'That was not how you began. Light itself was your first love: you loved paint only as a means of telling about light.'" -C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce p.80-81
While enjoying art for art's sake as an ultimate end of itself is dangerously idolatrous, don't writers, musicians, painters, sculpters who attempt art "only as a means of telling about light" end up producing kitsch? Doesn't this form of didacticism miss the primary point about art?
The Spirit broke into laughter. 'Don't you see you'll never paint at all if that's what you're thinking about?' he said.
'What do you mean?' asked the Ghost.
'Why, if you are interested in the country only for the sake of painting it, you'll never learn to see the country.'
'But that's just how a real artist is interested in the country.'
'No. You're forgetting," said the Spirit. 'That was not how you began. Light itself was your first love: you loved paint only as a means of telling about light.'" -C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce p.80-81
While enjoying art for art's sake as an ultimate end of itself is dangerously idolatrous, don't writers, musicians, painters, sculpters who attempt art "only as a means of telling about light" end up producing kitsch? Doesn't this form of didacticism miss the primary point about art?
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Preaching the Ascension of Jesus Christ
For those of you who may be unaware, this upcoming Lord's Day is Ascension Day, and even though I do not follow the church liturgical calendar in my preaching, my senior pastor asked me to preach on the Ascension. I agreed to do so for at least two reasons: (1) I have always wanted to preach on the Ascension and planned to do so, and (2) the Ascension is a neglected doctrine in the church today, and I must honestly admit that I am unable to answer some questions about the Ascension in my own thinking. In any event, church calendars aside, I was eager to comply with my pastor's request.
As I have studied the Ascension in depth over the past week or so, I have been amazed at the variety of texts that touch upon this important aspect of the work of Christ. Before my study, I knew that Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:9-11 were the major texts. If I really thought things through, and you caught me on a good day, then I might also add Mark 16:19, though a disputed text, and John 20:17. Indeed, Paul assumes the ascension when he speaks of Christ at the right hand of God, as head of the church, as Lord above all, etc. He also explicitly refers to the ascension in Ephesians 4:8-10, which is often avoided because of the controversy over the meaning of his "descent" (earth, hell, etc.) and the alleged misquotation of Psalm 68:18.
Interestingly enough, Calvin seems to make Ephesians 4:8-10 a central verse in his thinking about the Ascension, especially verse 10b, which says, "...that he might fill all things." We also find discussions of the ascension in Calvin's treatment on the Lord's Supper in order to contest the assertion of Luther and others that Christ can be physically present in the bread and wine while remaining at the right hand of God in his physical body. In any event, when you think about the Ascension of Christ, there are many texts to consider (probably more than you ever imagined): Matthew 26:64 and parallels, John 3:13, John 6:62, John 13:3, many references in John 14-17 (going back to the Father, etc.), Acts 2:33-36, Ephesians 1:20-23, Hebrews 1:3, 9:24 and about a dozen other places in Hebrews, 1 Peter 3:22, and others.
With respect to the OT, the Ascension is almost always connected with Psalm 110:1, and in Matthew 26:64 (cf. Gospel parallels, too) Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13-14 are merged into one picture.
The author of Hebrews uses Psalm 110 to establish the fact that the Christ is not only an ascended King (110:1), but he is also an exalted Priest (110:4).
In the book of Acts, I would say that the emphasis is upon Jesus as ascended king, and in the book of Hebrews the emphasis is upon Jesus as ascended high priest. So when considering the Ascension, it is also important to think about the three offices of Christ: prophet, priest, and king.
As you can see, the more you study of the Ascension of Christ, the more you realize that your mind is inadequate to understand the glory of this aspect of his exaltation (Reformed Theology distinguishes four stages of the exaltation of Christ: Resurrection, Ascension, Session, and Second Coming).
Now what does this have to do with preaching? Well, it means that when we preach, we should always be selective. No matter what I preach this upcoming Lord's Day, I will not be able to preach everything there is to preach on the Ascension, which is good news and bad news.
It is good news because it means that this truth is that rich, but it is bad news because it means that I can only preach about 15% of what I have studied and learned over the past week.
Second, this also means that when preaching the key events of Jesus' saving work, it is difficult to preach a strictly expository sermon. In other words, it is much easier to preach a textual, thematic, theological sermon. This is not a sin, but it may bother some who are committed to strict verse by verse exposition. However, and this is especially true if you are preaching on a narrative text like Luke 24 or Acts 1, the narrative demands to be explained and applied, and since this is the work of the epistles and other NT documents, we should not be afraid to use them to illumine the Scripture when necessary.
Let me provide an example. When I preach from Acts 1:6-11, I will talk under one point about the fact that Jesus ascended into heaven in order to prepare a place for us in heaven. However, when you read through those verses you will look long and hard to find that truth, except for one fact. That fact is the observation that Luke tells us that Jesus went into heaven, which causes us to think, "Why did Jesus go into heaven? Did he tell us?" So in order to understand why, we need to look to Jesus' words in John 14:2. Now here is the key. We would not do this in an exegesis in a critical commentary, but we would and should do this in an exposition in a sermon. We do this to elucidate the meaning and significance of the Scripture. Here I am elucidating the significance, not the meaning, but it is a good thing to do in an exposition. So, when preaching on the saving work of Jesus, we will need to be thematic in order to provide a complete picture.
These are just some thoughts that I have entertained this past week in sermon prep...
As I have studied the Ascension in depth over the past week or so, I have been amazed at the variety of texts that touch upon this important aspect of the work of Christ. Before my study, I knew that Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:9-11 were the major texts. If I really thought things through, and you caught me on a good day, then I might also add Mark 16:19, though a disputed text, and John 20:17. Indeed, Paul assumes the ascension when he speaks of Christ at the right hand of God, as head of the church, as Lord above all, etc. He also explicitly refers to the ascension in Ephesians 4:8-10, which is often avoided because of the controversy over the meaning of his "descent" (earth, hell, etc.) and the alleged misquotation of Psalm 68:18.
Interestingly enough, Calvin seems to make Ephesians 4:8-10 a central verse in his thinking about the Ascension, especially verse 10b, which says, "...that he might fill all things." We also find discussions of the ascension in Calvin's treatment on the Lord's Supper in order to contest the assertion of Luther and others that Christ can be physically present in the bread and wine while remaining at the right hand of God in his physical body. In any event, when you think about the Ascension of Christ, there are many texts to consider (probably more than you ever imagined): Matthew 26:64 and parallels, John 3:13, John 6:62, John 13:3, many references in John 14-17 (going back to the Father, etc.), Acts 2:33-36, Ephesians 1:20-23, Hebrews 1:3, 9:24 and about a dozen other places in Hebrews, 1 Peter 3:22, and others.
With respect to the OT, the Ascension is almost always connected with Psalm 110:1, and in Matthew 26:64 (cf. Gospel parallels, too) Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13-14 are merged into one picture.
The author of Hebrews uses Psalm 110 to establish the fact that the Christ is not only an ascended King (110:1), but he is also an exalted Priest (110:4).
In the book of Acts, I would say that the emphasis is upon Jesus as ascended king, and in the book of Hebrews the emphasis is upon Jesus as ascended high priest. So when considering the Ascension, it is also important to think about the three offices of Christ: prophet, priest, and king.
As you can see, the more you study of the Ascension of Christ, the more you realize that your mind is inadequate to understand the glory of this aspect of his exaltation (Reformed Theology distinguishes four stages of the exaltation of Christ: Resurrection, Ascension, Session, and Second Coming).
Now what does this have to do with preaching? Well, it means that when we preach, we should always be selective. No matter what I preach this upcoming Lord's Day, I will not be able to preach everything there is to preach on the Ascension, which is good news and bad news.
It is good news because it means that this truth is that rich, but it is bad news because it means that I can only preach about 15% of what I have studied and learned over the past week.
Second, this also means that when preaching the key events of Jesus' saving work, it is difficult to preach a strictly expository sermon. In other words, it is much easier to preach a textual, thematic, theological sermon. This is not a sin, but it may bother some who are committed to strict verse by verse exposition. However, and this is especially true if you are preaching on a narrative text like Luke 24 or Acts 1, the narrative demands to be explained and applied, and since this is the work of the epistles and other NT documents, we should not be afraid to use them to illumine the Scripture when necessary.
Let me provide an example. When I preach from Acts 1:6-11, I will talk under one point about the fact that Jesus ascended into heaven in order to prepare a place for us in heaven. However, when you read through those verses you will look long and hard to find that truth, except for one fact. That fact is the observation that Luke tells us that Jesus went into heaven, which causes us to think, "Why did Jesus go into heaven? Did he tell us?" So in order to understand why, we need to look to Jesus' words in John 14:2. Now here is the key. We would not do this in an exegesis in a critical commentary, but we would and should do this in an exposition in a sermon. We do this to elucidate the meaning and significance of the Scripture. Here I am elucidating the significance, not the meaning, but it is a good thing to do in an exposition. So, when preaching on the saving work of Jesus, we will need to be thematic in order to provide a complete picture.
These are just some thoughts that I have entertained this past week in sermon prep...
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