I'm aware of how much blogs like this one can become nothing more than an echo chamber for others' thoughts. But sometimes I run across others' thoughts that are too good not to echo. And with my dad being in the hospital so much lately, I haven't had time to do much serious thinking, much less write any of it down.
Here's Tullian Tchividjian's blog post from today on preaching the gospel.
Showing posts with label Tullian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tullian. Show all posts
23 March 2011
25 January 2011
Purpose-Directed, but Promise-Driven
This tidbit was too good not to pass on. Mike Horton wrote a fantastic article (found here) in Modern Reformation magazine called, "The Great Announcement". Here's a good summary of the article-
This is just another reminder of how often we miss the idea that gospel imperatives (the things we are commanded to do) are always stated in context with gospel indicatives (what Jesus has already done).
Rick Warren's book (Purpose Driven Church) got a lot of attention, but I fear it only reinforced many of us missing the main point. Go read the Horton article for all the details. If you want the Cliff's Notes version, Tullian Tchividjian has summarized it here.
"The Great Commission actually begins with the declaration,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18).
This is the rationale for everything the church is called to do and to be.
The church’s commission is indeed directed by a purpose
(“making disciples of all nations”), but it is driven by a promise."
This is just another reminder of how often we miss the idea that gospel imperatives (the things we are commanded to do) are always stated in context with gospel indicatives (what Jesus has already done).
Rick Warren's book (Purpose Driven Church) got a lot of attention, but I fear it only reinforced many of us missing the main point. Go read the Horton article for all the details. If you want the Cliff's Notes version, Tullian Tchividjian has summarized it here.
30 November 2010
The Tyranny of the Contemporary
A year or two back, Al Mohler gave a talk at one of the conferences he regularly speaks at which he titled, The Tyranny of the Contemporary. He had many good points (as usual), but a couple were especially relevant to our culture today, and particularly to this part of the country. One of these points was about how we are told that the gospel is offensive to folks today, and that this is a new problem. Funny. I think the New Testament writers made clear that this problem existed two thousand years ago, and Christian leaders since that time have continually reinforced the idea that the gospel was offensive to non-regenerate folks ever since.
Another point that Dr. Mohler made was in regard to the idea of full churches and empty preaching. At least in the Southern Baptist denomination (in which I participate), this is true to some degree. We measure pastoral success by baptisms, giving levels, and above all, attendance levels. One will often hear pastors and laypersons alike asking each other at state or regional meetings how 'big' their church is. "Whatcha runnin' these days?" is a common question. I've never been asked how deep the church is. Just how big. Maybe it happens, but not when I've been listening. And on top of that we keep reading about how we are losing our youth to secularism. As Michael Horton puts it, we are not only not reaching the lost, we are losing the reached. I won't say this is completely due to poor preaching and the abandonment of the gospel in preaching, but I'd be willing to bet some lunch money a good statistician could find a fairly strong correlation between these things.
Dr. Mohler also talks about the universality of these issues. Citing John 6, he notes that 'seekers' never seek what ought to be sought and needs to be found. He reminds us that after Jesus fed the five thousand, those in attendance looked not for spiritual truth from the source of this miracle, but rather they looked for more food. Physical food. Bread. Not the bread of life.
And people say the offense of the gospel is a new problem?
So in response, we look to new ideas and programs to try and outfox the problems. We look to contemporary technologies, contemporary worship styles, contemporary dress and mannerisms, contemporary programs, contemporary advertising campaigns, contemporary church names, and on and on it goes. But where'd the gospel go? I don't recall Paul saying anywhere that contemporary ideas were the power of God unto salvation, but we certainly tend to live like he did.
Every time we are tempted to buy into a new idea about anything, we ought to run it past Romans 1:16-17 four or seven times just to make sure we are keeping the main thing, the main thing.
Here's what Tullian Tchividjian said about it about a month ago-
The original citation can be found here.
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Another point that Dr. Mohler made was in regard to the idea of full churches and empty preaching. At least in the Southern Baptist denomination (in which I participate), this is true to some degree. We measure pastoral success by baptisms, giving levels, and above all, attendance levels. One will often hear pastors and laypersons alike asking each other at state or regional meetings how 'big' their church is. "Whatcha runnin' these days?" is a common question. I've never been asked how deep the church is. Just how big. Maybe it happens, but not when I've been listening. And on top of that we keep reading about how we are losing our youth to secularism. As Michael Horton puts it, we are not only not reaching the lost, we are losing the reached. I won't say this is completely due to poor preaching and the abandonment of the gospel in preaching, but I'd be willing to bet some lunch money a good statistician could find a fairly strong correlation between these things.
Dr. Mohler also talks about the universality of these issues. Citing John 6, he notes that 'seekers' never seek what ought to be sought and needs to be found. He reminds us that after Jesus fed the five thousand, those in attendance looked not for spiritual truth from the source of this miracle, but rather they looked for more food. Physical food. Bread. Not the bread of life.
And people say the offense of the gospel is a new problem?
So in response, we look to new ideas and programs to try and outfox the problems. We look to contemporary technologies, contemporary worship styles, contemporary dress and mannerisms, contemporary programs, contemporary advertising campaigns, contemporary church names, and on and on it goes. But where'd the gospel go? I don't recall Paul saying anywhere that contemporary ideas were the power of God unto salvation, but we certainly tend to live like he did.
Every time we are tempted to buy into a new idea about anything, we ought to run it past Romans 1:16-17 four or seven times just to make sure we are keeping the main thing, the main thing.
Here's what Tullian Tchividjian said about it about a month ago-
"I once assumed the gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in order to be saved, while afterward we advance to deeper theological waters. But I’ve come to realize that ” the gospel isn’t the first step in a stairway of truths, but more like the hub in a wheel of truth.” In other words, once God rescues sinners, his plan isn’t to steer them beyond the gospel, but to move them more deeply into it. All good theology, in fact, is an exposition of the gospel.
Martin Luther often employed the phrase simul justus et peccator— 'simultaneously justified and sinful.' He understood that while he’d already been saved from sin’s penalty, he was in daily need of salvation from sin’s power. And since the gospel is the “power of God for salvation,” he knew that even for the most saintly of saints, the gospel is wholly relevant and vitally necessary. This means heralded preachers need the gospel just as much as hardened pagans.
Martin Luther often employed the phrase simul justus et peccator— 'simultaneously justified and sinful.' He understood that while he’d already been saved from sin’s penalty, he was in daily need of salvation from sin’s power. And since the gospel is the “power of God for salvation,” he knew that even for the most saintly of saints, the gospel is wholly relevant and vitally necessary. This means heralded preachers need the gospel just as much as hardened pagans.
In his book The Gospel for Real Life, Jerry Bridges picks up on this theme–that Christians need the gospel just as much as non-Christians–by explaining how the spiritual poverty in so much of our Christian experience is the result of inadequate understanding of the gospel’s depths. The answer isn’t to try harder in the Christian life but to comprehend more fully and clearly Christ’s finished work for sinners and then to live in more vital awareness of that grace day by day. The main problem in the Christian life, in other words, is not that we don’t try hard enough to be good. It’s that we haven’t accepted the deep implications of the gospel and applied its powerful reality to all parts of our life."
The original citation can be found here.
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23 September 2010
Finding Christ in the Old New Testament
I hope the title, 'Finding Christ in the Old New Testament', is catchy, because the irony there is important for understanding a subtlety we often miss.
My Sunday School class is going through the books of First and Second Peter this year. We are still in 1 Peter 1, and have not yet reached verse 13 (that's next week). The importance of verse 13 is that it is the first time a command is issued in the book of 1 Peter. Peter spends the first 12 verses of his letter (I know he didn't write it in verses, but that's the easiest way to refer to it) proclaiming the glory of God and Christ, and our place in Christ.
I constantly remind the class that being a Christian is not about finding a way to write God into their stories, but about finding a way to write themselves into God's story. We often hear about 'finding Christ in the Old Testament' but we take for granted that we'll find Christ in the New. Not necessarily so...we can often too easily pass over the proclamation of the gospel to get to the commands (passing over the indicative to get to the imperative) since we want to put 'shoe leather' on the text. That passing-over is a mistake, and a serious one.
Tullian Tchividjian posted a blog entry today about this. In his blog entry, Christ-Centered Preaching, he uses an example from the Old Testament (where we consciously look for Christ), but I want to apply it to the New Testament also, as a reminder to not overlook the gospel we find there in our well-intended efforts to find how to live the Christian life. After all, living the Christian life is first about who Jesus is and what he has done rather than who we are and what we should do.
I need to get a patent on a new line of wrist bands called, "WHJD" ('What has Jesus done?'), but I'm guessing somebody already has. However, I have a funny feeling that they wouldn't sell nearly as many as the old WWJD bands, simply because the reality of the focus of the gospel isn't nearly as important to many people, believers or not, as is living a moral life.
And that's exactly why we struggle so much trying to live up to God's requirements for us...we take the focus off of Christ and put it on ourselves, as we are woefully bent to do.
My Sunday School class is going through the books of First and Second Peter this year. We are still in 1 Peter 1, and have not yet reached verse 13 (that's next week). The importance of verse 13 is that it is the first time a command is issued in the book of 1 Peter. Peter spends the first 12 verses of his letter (I know he didn't write it in verses, but that's the easiest way to refer to it) proclaiming the glory of God and Christ, and our place in Christ.
I constantly remind the class that being a Christian is not about finding a way to write God into their stories, but about finding a way to write themselves into God's story. We often hear about 'finding Christ in the Old Testament' but we take for granted that we'll find Christ in the New. Not necessarily so...we can often too easily pass over the proclamation of the gospel to get to the commands (passing over the indicative to get to the imperative) since we want to put 'shoe leather' on the text. That passing-over is a mistake, and a serious one.
Tullian Tchividjian posted a blog entry today about this. In his blog entry, Christ-Centered Preaching, he uses an example from the Old Testament (where we consciously look for Christ), but I want to apply it to the New Testament also, as a reminder to not overlook the gospel we find there in our well-intended efforts to find how to live the Christian life. After all, living the Christian life is first about who Jesus is and what he has done rather than who we are and what we should do.
I need to get a patent on a new line of wrist bands called, "WHJD" ('What has Jesus done?'), but I'm guessing somebody already has. However, I have a funny feeling that they wouldn't sell nearly as many as the old WWJD bands, simply because the reality of the focus of the gospel isn't nearly as important to many people, believers or not, as is living a moral life.
And that's exactly why we struggle so much trying to live up to God's requirements for us...we take the focus off of Christ and put it on ourselves, as we are woefully bent to do.
09 September 2010
The Ongoing Need for the Gospel
Why should Christians worry so much about the gospel being present in church, if after all, worship is for the regenerate believers (as I believe it is)?
I have been listening to a sermon series by Tullian Tchividjian of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida the last few weeks. Pastor Tullian (who I've cited here several times before, here, here, here, and here) does a good job explaining exactly why the gospel is important in the church-
"One of the most important discoveries of my life has been that the Gospel is not just for non-Christians; it’s for Christians too. I used to think the Gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in to be saved, while afterward we advance to deeper theological waters. But what I’ve come to understand is that once God saves us he doesn’t then move us beyond the Gospel. Rather he moves us deeper into the Gospel. The Gospel, in other words, is every bit as important for growing as a Christian as it is for becoming a Christian in the first place. The Gospel is the fuel that makes Christians go."
In one of the sermons, Tullian uses this analogy to make the point- A new believer is a bit like a new sailboat owner. He (or she) buys the boat, gets all the right equipment on board, takes lessons on how to operate the sailboat, studies the wind and current patterns, and all the other stuff necessary to safely and effectively operate a sailboat. Then the owner hops in the boat and promptly goes nowhere. The sails are hanging limp, and the boat does not move. What's missing? The wind is missing!
The gospel, says Tullian, is the fuel that makes Christians go. It is the wind that is missing in the sails to make the boat go. He points out Col. 1:6 as an example of the gospel being center for the Christian's growth. It goes back to Tullian's major point that every gospel command (imperative) is grounded in, or surrounded by, gospel proclamations (indicative). Even with all the right training and head knowledge about missions, or teaching Sunday School, serving in the children's ministry, serving the homeless, etc., without the gospel, the ministry is really pointless.
The gospel is critical to the unbeliever in justification, because it is the power unto salvation (Rom. 1:16) in that it saves us from the penalty of sin. But the gospel is also the power unto salvation for the believer as well, as it also saves from the power of sin. As Tullian says, "We are not justified by the gospel then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal.3:1-3) and are renewed (Col.1:6)."
What the church needs more than anything these days is not more seeker-sensitive worship styles nor more contemporary music. What the church needs is the gospel, delivered via expository (rather than topical) preaching of God's word.
The sermon series I listened to is called, "Jesus plus nothing equals everything." I highly recommend it (you can download it or listen online for free at the link in the previous sentence).
I have been listening to a sermon series by Tullian Tchividjian of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida the last few weeks. Pastor Tullian (who I've cited here several times before, here, here, here, and here) does a good job explaining exactly why the gospel is important in the church-
"One of the most important discoveries of my life has been that the Gospel is not just for non-Christians; it’s for Christians too. I used to think the Gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in to be saved, while afterward we advance to deeper theological waters. But what I’ve come to understand is that once God saves us he doesn’t then move us beyond the Gospel. Rather he moves us deeper into the Gospel. The Gospel, in other words, is every bit as important for growing as a Christian as it is for becoming a Christian in the first place. The Gospel is the fuel that makes Christians go."
In one of the sermons, Tullian uses this analogy to make the point- A new believer is a bit like a new sailboat owner. He (or she) buys the boat, gets all the right equipment on board, takes lessons on how to operate the sailboat, studies the wind and current patterns, and all the other stuff necessary to safely and effectively operate a sailboat. Then the owner hops in the boat and promptly goes nowhere. The sails are hanging limp, and the boat does not move. What's missing? The wind is missing!
The gospel, says Tullian, is the fuel that makes Christians go. It is the wind that is missing in the sails to make the boat go. He points out Col. 1:6 as an example of the gospel being center for the Christian's growth. It goes back to Tullian's major point that every gospel command (imperative) is grounded in, or surrounded by, gospel proclamations (indicative). Even with all the right training and head knowledge about missions, or teaching Sunday School, serving in the children's ministry, serving the homeless, etc., without the gospel, the ministry is really pointless.
The gospel is critical to the unbeliever in justification, because it is the power unto salvation (Rom. 1:16) in that it saves us from the penalty of sin. But the gospel is also the power unto salvation for the believer as well, as it also saves from the power of sin. As Tullian says, "We are not justified by the gospel then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal.3:1-3) and are renewed (Col.1:6)."
What the church needs more than anything these days is not more seeker-sensitive worship styles nor more contemporary music. What the church needs is the gospel, delivered via expository (rather than topical) preaching of God's word.
The sermon series I listened to is called, "Jesus plus nothing equals everything." I highly recommend it (you can download it or listen online for free at the link in the previous sentence).
27 August 2010
More From Tullian on Why The Gospel is Unifying, Not Diversifying
Tullian Tchividjian has added an additional post describing why his church, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, did away with separate contemporary and traditional services recently. The reasons are summed up by him as, "...the great tragedy of segregation isn’t so much that we see less of each other but that in separating from each other we see less of God."
If you didn't read the first post he wrote, it can be found here. The new post is here.
Nothing would be better for the church as a whole at this time to have many more congregations do the same.
If you didn't read the first post he wrote, it can be found here. The new post is here.
Nothing would be better for the church as a whole at this time to have many more congregations do the same.
15 June 2010
Quote from Tullian
"...the greatest threat to gospel advancement is not unrighteous badness, but self-righteous goodness." -Tullian Tchvidjian
I found this on his blog at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2010/06/13/the-double-reach-of-self-righteousness/
I found this on his blog at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2010/06/13/the-double-reach-of-self-righteousness/
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