How could God remain just and not call injustice wrong? By necessity, he cannot. So, how can a Christian, who takes on the name of God, fold his hands at the sight of injustice? As a new creation, he must not. If he does, something is wrong. Just to be clear, in this essay I am using the term social justice and biblical justice as synonyms. I am doing that because all true social justice should flow from our ideals of what biblical justice is all about. I favor the use of the phrase biblical justice to social justice because it tends to remove the very problem the rest this essay seeks to avoid.

So why do some believers remain aloof while injustice occurs in their backyard? I believe it is due to paralysis. Particularly, I am referring to the paralysis of “fear”. It is a fear of perverting the gospel by pursuing social justice. So the argument goes, if I pursue social justice, I will pervert the Gospel by implication since a pursuit of social justice is a pursuit of the social gospel. But that’s a non sequitur. It raises a false dichotomy between the goal of protecting the Gospel and the goal of pursuing biblical justice in the world. To come to the conclusion that protecting the Gospel means staying away from issues of social justice is the wrong conclusion. So, we avoid the issue all together because we are paralyzed by fear. This, however, is an example of a good fear gone bad. It’s a good thing, for example, to fear the perversion of the Gospel. It’s a bad thing, however, when that fear of perverting the Gospel turns into a failure to pursue biblical justice at all. The real dichotomy, then, is the disparity between a quest to protect the Gospel, and a failure to be moved by the very Gospel it is protecting.

Converts to Christ must address the issues of social Justice. But let me be clear about one thing - defending the rights of the unborn, and taking a biblical stance on marriage is not the “social gospel”. They are social pursuits to be sure, but they are not be confused with the pursuit of a social gospel. In fact, pursuing social justice is not the social gospel precisely because we do not view it as the Gospel. It’s the pursuit of biblical justice. And while categories of the Gospel intersect with categories of biblical justice they remain distinct. They are distinct because the goal of the Gospel and the fruit of the Gospel are distinct. The goal of the Gospel is the glory of God in the salvation of man. The fruit of the Gospel, among other things, is a changed life, a life that pursues not only the salvation of men through the preaching of God’s word, but the justice of God through the alleviation of injustice. You see, alleviating injustice provides a platform for proclaiming the alleviation of man’s greatest problem, his enmity with God. In fact, it is the justice of God that is man’s greatest problem. God’s hatred of injustice stems from the fact that he is a just God and he will not simply let man “off the hook”. So alleviating injustice through social justice is an opportunity to proclaim that God’s means to alleviate your greatest problem, through the justice of forgiving your sin through the penal substitutionary death of his Son. In this way, he establishes his justice and mercy at the same time.

Some important distinctions are being made.
1.) The pursuit of biblical justice, is not the same thing as the social gospel.

2.) The pursuit of biblical justice, while a fruit of the gospel, is not the Gospel itself.

3.) The goal of the social gospel and the Gospel are radically different. The goal of the social gospel is peace on earth and good will toward men, while the goal of the Gospel is the glory of God in the salvation of man.

4.) The fruit of the social gospel and the Gospel are radically different. The fruit of the social gospel is the aggravation of man’s greatest need by not meeting his most important need, while the fruit of the Gospel is the alleviation man greatest need by meeting his most important need.

5.) The pursuit of social justice is intended to serve the pursuit of the Gospel, not the social gospel.

So, the pursuit of biblical justice is not at odds with the Gospel. It serves the Gospel. Be like Christ. Love what he loves. Hate what he hates. Believers in union with Christ will share his priorities. They will be angered by those defrauded by unjust court systems (Isa 11:4). They will oppose those who seek to snuff out the lives of the helpless (Ps 72:4). And they will do all this while proclaiming the message that meets their greatest need, the Gospel itself.

Labels: Social Gospel, Social Justice

Posted by Jonathan at Wednesday, December 02, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Thanksgiving has come again. So what are you thankful for? Have you stopped to consider? His mercies are new every morning. Another year is gone and how many of his mercies have passed our way? It's amazing to think about, isn't it? Well, I am thankful for so many things. I thought I would just write some of them here. It is good to give public thanks to God.

I am thankful for...

Being "in Christ" and not having a righteousness of my own. I am thankful for God's patience to me, a great sinner. I am thankful for forgiveness and restoration, repentance and renewal, hunger for God and his Word. I am thankful for the Bride of Christ and the joy of knowing that the Bride of Christ loves me. I am thankful for my pastors, mentors, friends, family and a phenomenal, grace-filled, loving fiancee whom I do not deserve! "Praise the Lord, for a song of praise is fitting!"

I am thankful for the character of God, that He takes pleasure in his people, providing us with hope for the future and security today. I am thankful for His glorious being with all of His stately attributes: his infinity, immutability, impassibility, holiness, eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, justice, wisdom, goodness, love, mercy, graciousness, jealously, sovereignty, and utter independence. I am thankful that God does not need me. I am thankful that I have learned to need God. "His mercies are new every morning! Praise be to God!"

I am thankful for the means of grace: prayer, preaching, the Word of God, the Lord's table, biblical fellowship, the Church, prayer meetings and sabbath rest. I am thankful for good, close friends who will get in my face if I walk away from God. I am thankful for a church who has the guts to do the same, and obey God's word by actually practicing church discipline. I am thankful for the safety and accountability that provides for us all. "Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary!"

I am thankful for good health, a mind that works and a body that moves. I am thankful for the faithfulness and perseverance of my brothers and sisters who do not have good health, or bodies that move, quadriplegics like Jonny Erikson Tada and other broken people with testimonies worth publishing. I'm thankful that they serve steer me away from self-pity to God-worship. Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song!

I am thankful the calling God has placed on my life to proclaim the Gospel to a lost and dying generation. I am thankful for the awesome prospect of shepherding the people of God for a lifetime. What a privilege, what an honor it is! I am thankful that through that shepherding God is already changing lives, rescuing some from all sorts of dangers, toils and snares. I am thankful that he even uses me, despite my many inconsistencies and weaknesses. "I give thanks to you, O God; I give thanks for you are near".

I am thankful for the missionary movement, the people of God among every tribe, tongue, people and nation. I am thankful for the privilege of traveling overseas to be humbled by my brothers and sisters who live more like we are supposed to be living. I am thankful for Arif and Kathy Khan of whom the world was not worthy. I am thankful for all my brothers and sisters presently suffering for the gospel in the hardest places of the word. Some being tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffering mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. Some being stoned or killed with the sword. Others going about destitute, afflicted, mistreated— living in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. I am thankful that they have not bought the lie of the prosperity gospel, and have helped me avoid the same. I am thankful for churches sounding the alarm for missions and calling us to get outside ourselves for the sake of others. I am thankful for my beloved India and all that God is doing there. O God, save a generation in India! I am thankful that I burn to see Jesus formed among the unreached people of the world. "Let all the peoples praise you O God; let all the peoples praise you!"

I am thankful for being thankful because without God's grace I would be nothing but an ungrateful man the rest of my miserable life. But instead, God has called me to a beautiful life in Christ. He has washed me with his precious blood. I am a new creation in Christ. I am thankful that there is nothing I can do to cause God to love me less. I am thankful that the knowledge of that fact does not lead me to abuse grace, but serves my desire, hunger and faithfulness to God. An undeserved life I live before you you O God. "I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations."

Labels: Praise, Thanks, Thanksgiving, Worship

Posted by Jonathan at Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Mark Driscoll at the Resurgence interviews R.C. Sproul, asking him the age-old question: "Does God Desire All People To Be Saved?"

Labels: God, Mark Driscoll, R.C. Sproul

Posted by Jonathan at Thursday, November 19, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

A guest post by Sam Emadi

We tend to look at the cross only from the side. That is a tragedy. Tragic because it fails to behold glory; tragic because it fails to wonder at love; tragic because it fails to see the heart of the Gospel.

A “horizontal perspective” of the cross will not reveal the deepest sufferings of Jesus. Of course the physical agony from nails thrust into Jesus’ hands was real. And the emotional suffering of man betrayed and abandoned by His closest friends was real. And the anguish of being unjustly condemned and mercilessly mocked was real. But to see only these pains is to fail to see the Gospel.

What we need is a “top-down” look at the cross, that is to say a “vertical perspective.” The most important question we can ask ourselves when we are gaze at the agony that is happening on the cross is not how big the nails are, or how lonely the Savior felt after being abandoned by His friends, or how traumatic it was to be unjustly condemned. The most important question we can ask is “what is happening between the God the Father and His Son at the Place of the Skull?”

What does this “vertical look” at the cross reveal? It reveals the Savior “Smitten of God.” It reveals the Father pouring out furious, righteous wrath on His Son. It reveals the Son suffering the torment for our sin. Jesus is not like other men when He dies on the cross; He is not like the thieves on His right and on His left. His suffering is not like their suffering; His pains are not like their pains. On the cross the Savior is absorbing infinite wrath; crushed in the hands of an angry God.

Why? Because “The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.” Isaiah informs us that the wrath poured out on Christ was wrath reserved for sinners. But Jesus dies in their place. He is tormented for their sin. He suffers the penalty of wrath as a substitute for sinners. He endures what we could not and He conquers what we could not overcome. And by all this “we are healed.” What a tragedy to see the cross only from the side. But when we look at the sufferings of Calvary from the top-down we can, with awestruck wonder, say with Paul, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

__________

Sam Emadi, is currently finishing his M.Div in Biblical and Theological Studies. He has a diverse background in that he has split his time between The Midwest Center for Theological Studies, and Southern Seminary. He is thankful for the time he has spent training for the ministry at both of these excellent institutions. His desire is to pursue further post-graduate studies in Biblical Theology.

Labels: Isaiah, The Cross, The Gospel

Posted by Jonathan at Monday, November 16, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Christian Spirituality is Redemptive
The truth of the above title should be obvious, right? Christian spirituality has everything to do with lost sinners. Any notion of spirituality that that is defined around isolating oneself from the world is in fact not biblical spirituality. It's just not. The gospel gets us outside ourselves. The gospel causes us to look at people differently. We are saved form ourselves to God, for other people. The Pharisees missed this. We are seriously deceived if we do not think that we are equally susceptible to this. If your tendency is to not associate with a lost and broken world, you need to re-examine your commitment to Jesus Christ.

Our Tendency Is To Remain Isolated
The Pharisees could not understand how a spiritual person could have anything to do with nonspiritual 'sinners', as they said when Jesus visited them, 'If He was a prophet He would know who is touching Him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner' (Luke 7:39). Such comments reveal an understanding of spirituality, which desperately needed to be exclusive in order to maintain its purity. Jesus saw spirituality as submission to the purpose of God in the redemption of people. Our spirituality is not in withdrawal but in participation. And participation for redemptive ends.

How To Change
With that in mind, let me give you some practical advice for how to develop a spirituality that is not in withdrawal but in participation. If we are going to order our relationships around Jesus Christ we cannot have stereotypical, shallow and superficial relationships with people. The gospel compels us to get outside ourselves. Here are some ways to start:

1. Be Interested - Ask people questions. Ask and ask away. People like to talk about themselves because they are so self-absorbed. Maybe in a moment of humility they will ask you something back. Always answer more than they ask. Make an identification with Christ on the front end, and back this up with relational stuff.

2. Be Inclusive - Never do anything alone. Do not eat alone, do not work alone, do not play alone, do not drive alone. Invite people to do things with you. Make this a habit. Have someone join your family. Build a context to share Christ.

3. Be Intentional - You have to be intentional with your life. Steering conversations into deeper issues requires intentionality. This does not happen naturally. Learn to think hyper-intentionally, otherwise it will not happen. Have a plan to engage in meaningful conversations with everyone around you.

For more on this, you may listen to a recent message I preached at Heritage Baptist Church, entitled: "The Gospel Saves Us From Self, To God, For Others".

Labels: Evangelism, Gospel, Missional, Missions, Spirituality

Posted by Jonathan at Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

When it comes to spending time alone with God, there are two questions people typically never ask. Answering those questions will help you cultivate a more serious relationship with God.

When? The question of when, has to do with establishing a time each day when you will get into the Word, think, pray and engage with God. Many people never think through this question. The result is that their time with God is quite haphazard and sporadic. Basically, it has become more like, “I will spend time with God, when I can”. Humbly, I do not think you can sustain a vibrant relationship with God like this. You do not do this in your marriage, and if you did, your marriage would not be much more than a peaceful coexistence, if that. Thus, you need to establish a time and place to communicate with God, alone. I am not suggesting that spontaneity is bad. I like it. Sometimes it is actually helpful. However, if your walk with God has become all spontaneous and unplanned you will more than likely have an anemic relationship with God at best. So, plan you time with God.

Example: Working as a pastor, it is essential that I have time to restore and replenish. After the end of a long week and a loaded Sunday, I desperately need to replenish. I need to “fill the tank”, so to speak. For me, that means that I give my Monday mornings to getting alone and away with God for extended hours for the sole purpose of being refreshed and recharged.

How? The second question we must ask ourselves is how. The question of how, has to do with establishing a plan for what you will do when you spend time with God. What do you need to do in order to establish an effective time alone with God? It is not enough to simply have a time, you need to know what you are going to do with that time when it comes. Being really organized by setting aside a regular time each day, only to be sporadic with the use of that time has a canceling effect. In that case, the time you set aside will be wasted because you do not have a plan for how to use that time well. I hesitate to suggest what that should mean for you. I only am stating the fact that you should have a plan. Whatever that plan is, presumably, it should be something realistic and attainable with a proven track record of yielding fruit. If you have a time, place and plan, are being faithful to those things and still not seeing fruit, you need to re-examine your time, place and plan.

Example: Be aware of distractions. It is important, to be aware of where your affections are. On the negative side, what things do you love and have a hard time going without? If it is sleep you love, you need to go to bed at a reasonable hour and get up early to spend time with God. If it is TV you love, you need to get away from that distraction before you try to spend time with God. If it is social networking and tooling around on the internet occupying your affections, you need to get away from that. Practically, this means don’t go to Panera and try to have a quiet time with your laptop on the table.

Some distractions are long-term and have become patters that work to create an overall sense of distraction. Sports are a key example of this dynamic, particularly for men. If you are consistently emotionally affected by whether or not a 20-year-old boy catches a ball, this should be an immediate indication that this has become way too important for you. Think about what that is saying about your affections. Among other things, it communicates that you are more affected by that game, than by the God who made you. Work to crucify inordinate affections.

On the positive side, what are things that create affection for the Lord? Maybe it is singing, listening to a good worship track, hiking on the trail admiring God’s creation, fellowship with a friend in prayer, and hopefully the gathering of your local church on Sunday morning. Whatever the case may be, pursue these things. Learn to create a climate and context that nurtures your affection for God.

In summary, you must have a time, place and plan. You must ask yourself these two questions: When will I spend time with God? How will I spend time with God? If you are faithful to ask these questions and work hard to follow through on them, you will do well.

Labels: Bible Reading, Devotions, Prayer in the Holy Spirit, Quiet Time, Spiritual Disciplines, Time Alone with God

Posted by Jonathan at Thursday, October 15, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Are you a young married couple? Reading lots of books on marriage? Perhaps you're engaged to be married and just beginning the process. Well, whatever the case may be, there are so many resources available. Unfortunately, not all of them are equally beneficial. To be fair, there is some really bad stuff out there! On the other hand, there's some great resources available. So how can you helpfully discern what's good and what's bad? Certainly, it's always helpful to have a trusted guide. 9Marks has served us well over the years by always being a straight guide. Some time ago, I posted a chart from 9Marks reviewing the best and the worst books on marriage, according to 9Marks that is. If you have not seen that post, I encourage you to reference that material here.

With that said, however, I do want to make you aware of a new resource that is out. It is particularly geared toward young married couples. Focus on the Family has built an online community seeking to serve young couples in their journey toward strong marriages. The face of this ministry is their blog is entitled, "Young Married Life". According to Justin Taylor,

"The site is intended to function as a virtual small group for married couples, featuring a group blog, a forum and regular featured articles about the early years of marriage, career, finances, culture, and calling. A key topic on the site is preparing for parenting. Gen X and Gen Y couples are reporting a sharper drop in marital satisfaction when they become parents. Young Married Life will offer candid thoughts on the joys and challenges of starting a family with the hope of providing couples a smoother transition."

“We want to offer a supportive community to couples who might feel a little lost in their transition into marriage,” said Steve Watters, director of Marriage and Parenting Preparation for Focus on the Family. “We especially want to help them realize that they aren’t the only people who have fights about in-laws or how to load the dishwasher the right way.”

You can visit the site and enjoy its resources by clicking the banner below.

Labels: Books, Community, Focus on the Family, Marriage, Marriage Books

Posted by Jonathan at Tuesday, October 06, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Matt McCauley from the Village Church has some helpful advice for parents who are struggling with how to shepherd their kids through adolescence. Among other things, Matt reflects on what your kids may be thinking as they enter the range of 11-15 years of age. Speaking of spending more time in front of the mirror, Matt says,

"As your son or daughter enters into this transition from child to sexually mature adult, expect them to become more consumed with their outward appearance. When they begin to notice the changes a natural curiosity about them will arise. They’ll be looking for answers and explanations to what is going on and why it’s happening.

Sadly, many teens will monitor these changes and self-evaluate them based on the standards of beauty and acceptance portrayed in mainstream media. And this will commonly lead to stress and low self-esteem as no one can measure up to the manufactured, near perfect appearance of those praised in the spotlight. Modesty issues, unhealthy obsessions with exercise, use of performance and growth enhancing drugs, and eating disorders are some of the problems brought on by this stress."

In the rest of the article he deals with the following issues:

1. How can you help? Don't just be a voice be the loudest voice.

2. What's at stake?

He finished with two book recommendations.

(HT: Matt McCauley)

Labels: Matt McCauley, Parenting, Teens, The Village Church

Posted by Jonathan at Thursday, October 01, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Tim Challies has posted a review of Leland Ryken's new book, Understanding English Bible Translation. The book is not intended to be an academic read but has been written for a more popular audience. With that said, it still promises to be an extremely valuable read as according to Challies, it avoids "the more difficult nuances and focuses primarily on the big-picture." If you have ever wondered why we have so many English translations of the Bible, Ryken's book will be helpful to you in providing an answer to your question.

Challies says, "In the book’s first part, he provides an overview of the issues related to translation and provides answers to common questions associated with translating the Bible. In part two he briefly tells the story of English Bible translation, starting with Wycliffe and continuing to Eugene Peterson and beyond. The third part looks to the two main genres of Bible translation, showing how the two genres are, foundationally, vastly different. They have divergent goals for translation, divergent views of the Bible, divergent views of the Bible’s authors, reader and translators, divergent methods of translation and divergent styles of translation. In the fourth part he provides a vision for the ideal English Bible translation before, in part five, showing how an accurate, high-quality translation of the Bible is of critical importance to the life of the church." Thanks Tim for the Review.

(HT: Tim Challies)

Labels: Bible Translations, English Bible, ESV, Greek, Hebrew, NASB

Posted by Jonathan at Tuesday, September 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

In this short series of posts my goal is to interact with the subject of contextualization as it relates to missiology and ecclesiology. Overall, my desire is to bring some clarity to the whole concept of contextualization as we work toward a definition. Several words have been used interchangeably with contextualization (accommodation, adaptation etc.), to describe some sort of process that involves communicating the gospel to unbelievers either by taking it to them (missiology) or by sharing it with them as they come to us (ecclesiology).

A significant matter of confusion as I see it is an ongoing debate concerning the rightful place of contextualization within the context of the local church. Are we to assume that agreed upon principles of contextualization that apply in missiological contexts equally apply to the Local Church? Of course, to carry on any meaningful dialogue on this point assumes the need for a definition of contextualization that we can work with for the sake of dialogue. I use the phrase "work with" rather than "agreed upon" so that we can at least get the ball rolling by establishing some boundary markers. By doing this we will be able to arrive at a clearer definition for what contextualization is by first establishing what it is not. Let me attempt to do just the following.

Model One

I observed last week that models of contextualization which start with the Scriptures are seeking to translate various biblical meanings into contemporary cultural contexts and forms of expression. This form of contextualization seeks to use images, metaphors, rituals, and words that are current in the culture in order to make the message both understandable and impactful. The underlying conviction, however, is placed on the communication of the Scriptures as the authoritative guide and not the directives of culture.

Model Two

We also observed, on the other hand, that models of 'contextualization' which give priority to the cultural setting attempt to arrive at an understanding of God and His communication to us experientially by using the culture as our foundation and the Bible merely as a guide. This model assigns control not to Scripture but to the cultural context. The goal of this model is to find what God is already doing in the culture rather than to communicate God’s eternal message within the cultural context.

Given the above clarifications, I would like to start with Model One as a working formulation for understanding contextualization. Though there is still much room for debate and discussion within model one, a dividing line needs to be drawn between what has traditionally been called contextualization as opposed to syncretism. The second category, I would argue, should not be called contextualization at all, as it something much closer to what we should be labeled as syncretism. So, in our movement toward a definition for biblical contextualization or accommodation, model one is in view and not model two.

A lot has been written on the subject of contextualization as it relates to missiology. In recent years, however, the subject has shifted in the west to a more focused interaction with ecclesiology. For some, the assumption is that whatever we mean by contextualization has to do with both missiological and ecclesiastical application. This raises the question of the relationship between contextualization to missiology and ecclesiology respectively.

I referenced Andrew Walls and his book, The Missionary Movement in Christian History as a helpful guide. There he distinguishes between what he calls the "indigenizing principle" and "pilgrim principle" in church history. The indigenizing principle witnesses to the Truth that God accepts sinners as they are, on the basis of Christ's atoning death and resurrection alone. Conversely, the pilgrim principle, is a conviction that here we have no lasting city and warns us that we are to be faithful to Christ, and to be faithful to Christ means being out of step with our society.

So as we talk about the relationship of contextualization to ecclesiology, I want to think in light of these two categories with the above working definition of contextualization at hand. We will think about the task of the church to be both indigenizing and pilgrim. As we move this conversation forward I hope it will become clearer to us whether or not contextualization should be stated in reference to the Local church as one of its responsibilities.

Labels: Contextualization, Ecclesiology, Local Church, Missiology, Transcultural

Posted by Jonathan at Monday, September 21, 2009 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post