R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 79

The Untimely Church

It has become abundantly clear that the contemporary church is fully convinced that the effective church (and the effective Christian) is “timely” (That is, in step with the times). Obviously, this is true to a certain degree. Acts 13:36 declares, “David . . . served the purpose of God in his own generation.” Clearly, David’s life and ministry were “timely,” as they landed “in his own generation.” Our ministries should likewise be “timely” and land in our own generation. But it is equally true that the effective church (and Christian) must be “untimely” in two ways if we are to be faithful to “the purpose of God.” First, we are to be “untimely” because we are always “behind the times.” Second, we are always “ahead of the times.” Effectiveness is not in just being “timely” but also in being “untimely.”

We must be timely, addressing the day’s needs and challenges in the day’s language and with the day’s technology. Yet, we must also be untimely, because the answer to the issues of the day was given yesterday — at Calvary. The answer is the gospel of grace “delivered to us” in the past.

We must also be untimely for another reason. The same gospel delivered in the past, putting us “behind the times,” declares that we are “now” redeemed but have “not yet” received the fullness of our redemption. The gospel of the past points us to the future for our ultimate victory. Therefore, the effective Christian is also “ahead of the times.” We, today, anticipate a future day of glorious gospel fulfillment when Christ returns and brings an end to time, ushering us into eternity, where our joy will be complete. To be effective, we must land in our generation with timeliness while embracing the untimeliness of salvation secured in Christ historically, and with the anticipation of fulfillment in Christ, eschatologically, when our returning victorious Savior will bring us into a new heaven and new earth to be joyously sinless with Him forever.

Until that glorious day of His return, we will suffer, succeed, falter, run, fail, triumph, confess, repent, obey, trust, and, at times, be untrustworthy. In a word, we will live as sinners, saved by grace yet “growing in grace” until Christ returns to consummate His grace. At that moment, we will be delivered into the unalterable glory of the perfections of Christ and, together, we will be with Christ forever.

Therefore, the church and believers must neither dismiss the past nor live in the past. We must learn from the past yet avoid becoming a museum of the past. We are called to live in the present, not to accommodate the present by seeking to be “trendy.” Moreover, we are called by God’s grace to impact the future while anticipating the future but never passively waiting for the future. Peter affirms this dynamic with his call to live in a way that hastens “the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). He means that in God’s sovereign plan, believers impact the future through our gospel faithfulness as we live the gospel in our own generation.

Os Guinness, addressing this issue, made some comments that could be rephrased this way: “Harry, you are in danger of ‘setting the church back fifty years.’” The reply should be, “If that is true, I have failed.” Actually, we need to set the church back two thousand years to effectively meet the challenges of this year and impact the coming years. Let me rephrase yet another author’s commentary on the untimeliness of the effective Christian life. To sing “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” we first need to go “backward as Christian soldiers” — back to the gospel and the cross, the authority of God’s Word, the power of prevailing prayer, the priority of preaching and teaching, and the ever-present call “to make disciples of all the nations.”

At the risk of being untimely, let’s look to the future and land in the present from the heights of the past — the heights of Calvary’s hill declaring Christ’s victory over sin, death, hell, and the grave. The timeliness of living in the present thoughtfully must be joined with the untimeliness of living in the present boldly by declaring the glorious truths of the past because our Savior is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). From the untimeliness of the past, exalting Jesus our Redeemer, and the untimeliness of the future, anticipating eagerly the return of Jesus our King, we impact the present and future so that God may say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21).

We want to be faithful servants, effectively and consistently serving our Lord from the untimely past while insistently pointing to the untimely future, thereby creating a timely ministry of the present. Our Savior is before time, above time, outside of time, beyond time, and is invading time, all the time, by the power of His Spirit through His children. The answer to relevance is not so much timeliness but Christ who delights in making us both timely and untimely. 

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.

Stand with Us on #GivingTuesdayNow

As you know, in response to COVID-19 and this time of quarantine, we have opened our deep library of teaching series, making them available to stream for free. In addition to other initiatives, we have also made the group study feature on Ligonier Connect available for free. The response to these efforts has been significant. Online access to our resources has almost tripled, and we’ve seen over 10,000 new groups started in Ligonier Connect as churches around the world are using this platform to support their Bible study groups.

Your sharing with others about Dr. R.C. Sproul and the timeless teaching at Ligonier helps even more people discover the riches of God’s grace in the gospel. Thank you. We rejoice to see thousands of new people encountering life-changing biblical teaching, both locally and around the world.

“Thanks for making the entire library of teaching series FREE of cost during this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. The hunger for God’s Word amid fear and uncertainty is growing all the more. Thanks, Ligonier, for this priceless gift.” —Bobby, App User

People everywhere are hurting and confused, asking questions about eternity. Therefore, we know that now is not the time to pause outreach. Yet, the financial impact of this unexpected crisis on Ligonier’s many ministry initiatives is significant. Our help comes from the Lord (Ps. 121:2), and He has used donors like you to prayerfully support Ligonier.

If you have the ability on #GivingTuesdayNow to help us move forward with strength to meet the rising demand for bold gospel proclamation and faithful Bible teaching, your support is greatly needed and deeply appreciated.

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Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, May 2020

The May issue of Tabletalk covers the importance of the twentieth century in the history of the church. The Christian faith takes history seriously, understanding that God works in time and that His people live and move in historical eras that shape them and that are shaped by them in significant ways. As the twentieth century gets further away from us, we are increasingly able to understand how the people and events of those one hundred years have left their indelible mark on the church. Understanding the effects of the twentieth century is vital for understanding where the church is today and how we can be faithful in our generation. This issue provides an overview of some of the most important people, events, and ideas from the twentieth century whose impact continues to be felt today.

For a limited time, the new TabletalkMagazine.com allows everyone to browse and read the growing library of back issues, including this month's issue. You can also purchase the issue or subscribe to get the print issue every month.

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail by Burk Parsons
Overview of the Twentieth Century by S. Donald Fortson III
The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy by John R. Muether
Ethics in Flux by Bruce P. Baugus
Doctrinal Shifts by Keith A. Mathison
Turning the Other Cheek by Michael Aitcheson
Expectations of the Pastor's Family by Brian Croft
Preparing to Encounter Skeptics by L. Anthony Curto
What Is an Apostle? by R. Carlton Wynne

Read the Entire Issue

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How Should Christians Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis?

Now is a time for Christians to demonstrate their trust in Jesus Christ. From our livestream event Made in the Image of God, John MacArthur urges believers to express their living hope amid the continuing crisis wrought by COVID-19.

Just ask Ligonier to get clear and trustworthy answers to your biblical and theological questions.

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Final Day: Save 50% on Reformation Study Bibles

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What Does It Mean to Call God “Father?”

One of the most well-known statements of the Christian faith is the Lord's Prayer, which begins with the words "Our Father which art in heaven." This is part of the universal treasury of Christendom. When I hear Christians in a private gathering praying individually, almost every single person begins their prayer by addressing God as Father. There’s nothing more common among us than to address God as our Father. So central is this to our Christian experience that in the nineteenth century, there were some who said the basic essence of the whole Christian religion can be reduced to two points: the universal brotherhood of man and the universal fatherhood of God. In that context I am afraid we have missed one of the most radical teachings of Jesus.

A few years ago, a German scholar was doing research in New Testament literature and discovered that in the entire history of Judaism—in all existing books of the Old Testament and all existing books of extrabiblical Jewish writings dating from the beginning of Judaism until the tenth century A.D. in Italy—there is not a single reference of a Jewish person addressing God directly in the first person as Father.

There were appropriate forms of address that were used by Jewish people in the Old Testament, and the children were trained to address God in proper phrases of respect. All these titles were memorized, and the term Father was not among them. The first Jewish rabbi to call God "Father" directly was Jesus of Nazareth. It was a radical departure from tradition, and in fact, in every recorded prayer we have from the lips of Jesus save one, He calls God "Father." It was for that reason that many of Jesus' enemies sought to destroy Him; He assumed to have this intimate, personal relationship with the sovereign God of heaven and the creator of all things, and He dared to speak in such intimate terms with God. What's even more radical is that Jesus says to His people, "When you pray, you say, 'Our Father.'" He has given to us the right and privilege to come into the presence of the majesty of God and address Him as Father because indeed He is our Father. He has adopted us into His family and made us coheirs with His only begotten Son (Rom. 8:17).

"What does it mean for us to call God our Father?" and other questions can be found in our Questions Answered section. Learn more by watching R.C. Sproul's video The Privilege of Addressing God as “Father.”

Will You Pray for Awakening? Download Your Free Prayer Guide

We live in a world that needs awakening. Millions of people do not know Jesus Christ. The church itself needs renewed zeal for the truth, for spiritual growth, and for missions. Scripture reveals how this awakening comes about: by a powerful movement of the Spirit of God. It also tells us that when just two men—Paul and Silas—prayed, the earth itself shook (Acts 16:25–26). So we are dedicating the entire year of 2019 to pray for awakening, and we hope you will, too.

To help as many people as possible, we produced this free prayer guide. Download it today at PrayForAwakening.com, find it in the PrayerMate app, or order the prayer booklet in packs of ten to share with your loved ones.

To use the guide, find the prayer that corresponds to the current week. Each week of the month focuses on a different group to pray for, starting with you and your family and expanding to the world and the global church. You can also share your desire to #PrayForAwakening on social media.

MAY PRAYER FOCUS:

Week 1:  Pray that you and your family will hide Scripture in your heart so that you will be ready to preach the gospel and edify others with God’s Word. “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” (Deut. 6:6)
Week 2: Pray that you and your church will mourn for those who do not know or keep God’s law and be moved to reach out to the community with the gospel of God. “My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.” (Ps. 119:136)
Week 3:  Pray that the people in your city and nation will seek out teachers who will give them the truth of the gospel and not false doctrine. “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” (2 Tim. 4:3)
Week 4: Pray that God’s kingdom will come in power around the world so that many will know Christ and do His will. “Your kingdom come.” (Matt. 6:10)

We hope this prayer guide encourages you this year and in future years. Join us in praying fervently for a mighty movement of God’s Spirit today, thankful that He has graciously promised to hear us, and confident that He will answer our prayers according to His will.

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The Insidious Attraction of Cults

Unless we approach Scripture with great care and precision, it is easy to be led astray from the truth by subtle lies and exciting personalities. In this brief clip, W. Robert Godfrey explains the powerful influence that cults have had in the United States.

Transcript:

There are some people, I think, naturally attracted to the notion that the physical is the most real and other people attracted to the notion it is the spiritual that is the most real. In a country where there is freedom, people can exercise this kind of religion. Why do you think they exercise their religion in that way? I think, often, one factor is really powerful, charismatic leaders. It has to be the Joseph Smith as the first prophet and then Brigham Young as the next prophet who were powerful, charismatic (not Pentecostal), but just very effective communicators, dominant personalities, driven by their own vision in such a powerful way that other people are drawn in. Mary Baker Eddy must have had that same kind of leadership quality about her. And, of course, people are gullible. P.T. Barnum: “There is a sucker born every minute.” I mean, people want to believe certain things. It’s much easier somebody said to get people to believe what they want to believe than to get them to believe what they don’t want to believe. And, of course, ultimately, we believe this is a demonic strategy to lead people away from the truth. I was quoting Luther at the National Conference this year. Luther very wisely said, “Wherever God builds His church, the devil builds a chapel next door, and the chapel is always bigger.” It always has something more exciting. That is sort of the spiritual warfare we find ourselves in. And so, the gullibility of people is a real factor in the rise of cults, but also the fact that too many American Protestants were content not to have education or a real theological system. If you don’t have education and a real theological system, you are much more susceptible to someone opening the Bible and saying, “Now, look at that verse. Your denomination does not take account of that verse. I can explain that to you.” If you really don’t know what you ought to believe, if you don’t have a systematic approach to the Bible, it is much easier to be led astray. I think that has happened over and over again in the history of the American churches.

What Is Your View of Proverbs 22:6?

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Does that mean every Christian parent should expect to have Christian children? From one of our live Ask Ligonier events, W. Robert Godfrey helps us interpret this verse.

Do you have a biblical or theological question? We invite you to ask Ligonier.

Read the Transcript

Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?

Does prayer make any difference? Does it really change anything? Someone once asked me that question, only in a slightly different manner: "Does prayer change God's mind?" My answer brought storms of protest. I said simply, "No." Now, if the person had asked me, "Does prayer change things?" I would have answered, "Of course!"

The Bible says there are certain things God has decreed from all eternity. Those things will inevitably come to pass. If you were to pray individually or if you and I were to join forces in prayer or if all the Christians of the world were to pray collectively, it would not change what God, in His hidden counsel, has determined to do. If we decided to pray for Jesus not to return, He still would return. You might ask, though, "Doesn't the Bible say that if two or three agree on anything, they'll get it?" Yes, it does, but that passage is talking about church discipline, not prayer requests. So we must take all the biblical teaching on prayer into account and not isolate one passage from the rest. We must approach the matter in light of the whole of Scripture, resisting an atomistic reading. Again, you might ask, "Doesn't the Bible say from time to time that God repents?" Yes, the Old Testament certainly says so. The book of Jonah tells us that God "repented of " the judgment He had planned for the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3:10, KJV). In using the concept of repentance here, the Bible is describing God, who is Spirit, in what theologians call "anthropomorphic" language. Obviously the Bible does not mean that God repented in the way we would repent; otherwise, we could rightly assume that God had sinned and therefore would need a savior Himself. What it clearly means is that God removed the threat of judgment from the people. The Hebrew word nacham, translated "repent" in the King James Version, means "comforted" or "eased" in this case. God was comforted and felt at ease that the people had turned from their sin, and therefore He revoked the sentence of judgment He had imposed.

When God hangs His sword of judgment over people's heads, and they repent and He then withholds His judgment, has He really changed His mind? The mind of God does not change for God does not change. Things change, and they change according to His sovereign will, which He exercises through secondary means and secondary activities. The prayer of His people is one of the means He uses to bring things to pass in this world. So if you ask me whether prayer changes things, I answer with an unhesitating "Yes!"

It is impossible to know how much of human history reflects God's immediate intervention and how much reveals God working through human agents. Calvin's favorite example of this was the book of Job. The Sabeans and the Chaldeans had taken Job's donkeys and camels. Why? Because Satan had stirred their hearts to do so. But why? Because Satan had received permission from God to test Job's faithfulness in any way he so desired, short of taking Job's life. Why had God agreed to such a thing? For three reasons: (1) to silence the slander of Satan; (2) to vindicate Himself; and (3) to vindicate Job from the slander of Satan. All of these reasons are perfectly righteous justifications for God's actions.

By contrast, Satan's purpose in stirring up these two groups was to cause Job to blaspheme God—an altogether wicked motive. But we notice that Satan did not do something supernatural to accomplish his ends. He chose human agents—the Sabeans and Chaldeans, who were evil by nature—to steal Job's animals. The Sabeans and Chaldeans were known for their thievery and murderous way of life. Their will was involved, but there was no coercion; God's purpose was accomplished through their wicked actions.

The Sabeans and Chaldeans were free to choose, but for them, as for us, freedom always means freedom within limits. We must not, however, confuse human freedom and human autonomy. There will always be a conflict between divine sovereignty and human autonomy. There is never a conflict between divine sovereignty and human freedom. The Bible says that man is free, but he is not an autonomous law unto himself.

Suppose the Sabeans and Chaldeans had prayed, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." I'm absolutely certain that Job's animals still would have been stolen, but not necessarily by the Sabeans and Chaldeans. God might have chosen toanswer their prayer, but He would have used some other agent to steal Job's animals. There is freedom within limits, and within those limits, our prayers can change things. The Scriptures tell us that Elijah, through prayer, kept the rain from falling. He was not dissuaded from praying by his understanding of divine sovereignty.

No human being has ever had a more profound understanding of divine sovereignty than Jesus. No man ever prayed more fiercely or more effectively. Even in Gethsemane, He requested an option, a different way. When the request was denied, He bowed to the Father's will. The very reason we pray is because of God's sovereignty, because we believe that God has it within His power to order things according to His purpose. That is what sovereignty is all about—ordering things according to God's purpose. So then, does prayer change God's mind? No. Does prayer change things? Yes, of course. The promise of the Scriptures is that "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working" (James 5:16). The problem is that we are not all that righteous. What prayer most often changes is the wickedness and the hardness of our own hearts. That alone would be reason enough to pray, even if none of the other reasons were valid or true.

In a sermon titled "The Most High, a Prayer-Hearing God," Jonathan Edwards gave two reasons why God requires prayer:

With respect to God, prayer is but a sensible acknowledgement of our dependence on him to his glory. As he hath made all things for his own glory, so he will be glorified and acknowledged by his creatures; and it is fit that he should require this of those who would be subjects of his mercy . . . [it] is a suitable acknowledgement of our dependence on the power and mercy of God for that which we need, and but a suitable honor paid to the great Author and Fountain of all good.

With respect to ourselves, God requires prayer of us . . . Fervent prayer many ways tends to prepare the heart. Hereby is excited a sense of our need . . . whereby the mind is more prepared to prize [his mercy] . . . Our prayer to God may excite in us a suitable sense and consideration of our dependence on God for the mercy we ask, and a suitable exercise of faith in God's sufficiency, so that we may be prepared to glorify his name when the mercy is received. (The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1974], 2:116)

All that God does is for His glory first and for our benefit second. We pray because God commands us to pray, because it glorifies Him, and because it benefits us.

See also:

If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray?
Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?

This excerpt is taken from R.C. Sproul's Crucial Questions booklet Does Prayer Change Things?. Download more free ebooks in the Crucial Questions series here.