Justin Taylor's Blog, page 247

How to Influence a Younger Christian

D.A. Carson:

If I have learned anything in 35 or 40 years of teaching, it is that students don't learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again. That had better be the gospel.

If the gospel—even when you are orthodox—becomes something which you primarily assume, but what you are excited about is what you are doing in some sort of social reconstruction, you will be teaching the people that you influence that the gospel really isn't all that important. You won't be saying that—you won't even mean that—but that's what you will be teaching. And then you are only half a generation away from losing the gospel.

Make sure that in your own practice and excitement, what you talk about, what you think about, what you pray over, what you exude confidence over, joy over, what you are enthusiastic about is Jesus, the gospel, the cross. And out of that framework, by all means, let the transformed life flow.

Gospel-centered discipleship employs both show and tell. In his little book From the Resurrection to His Return: Living Faithfully in the Last Days (Christian Focus), Carson asks: "Do you ever say to a young Christian, 'Do you want to know what Christianity is like? Watch me!' If you never do, you are unbiblical."

The Apostle Paul hit this theme a number of times in his letters. For example:

1 Cor. 4:15-17: "For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church."

1 Cor. 11:1: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."

Phil. 3:17: "Brothers, join in imitating me. . . ."

Phil 4:9: "What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

2 Thess. 3:7-9: "For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you,nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.

2 Tim. 3:10-11: "You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. . . ."

In Paul's discipleship of fellow pastors he likewise exhorts them to serve as examples for other believers to emulate and imitate:

1 Tim. 4:12: "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."

Titus 2:7-8: "Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. . . ."

In the book referenced above, Dr. Carson recounts a story from his student years related to this issue:

As a chemistry undergraduate at McGill University, with another chap I started a Bible study for unbelievers. That fellow was godly but very quiet and a bit withdrawn.

I had the mouth, I fear, so by default it fell on me to lead the study. The two of us did not want to be outnumbered, so initially we invited only three people, hoping that not more than two would come. Unfortunately, the first night all three showed up, so we were outnumbered from the beginning.

By week five we had sixteen people attending, and still only the initial two of us were Christians. I soon found myself out of my depth in trying to work through John's Gospel with this nest of students. On many occasions the participants asked questions I had no idea how to answer.

But in the grace of God there was a graduate student on campus called Dave Ward. He had been converted quite spectacularly as a young man. He was, I suppose, what you might call a rough jewel. He was slapdash, in your face, with no tact and little polish, but he was aggressively evangelistic, powerful in his apologetics, and winningly bold. He allowed people like me to bring people to him every once in a while so that he could answer their questions. Get them there and Dave would sort them out!

So it was that one night I brought two from my Bible study down to Dave. He bulldozed his way around the room, as he always did. He gave us instant coffee then, turning to the first student, asked, 'Why have you come?' The student replied, 'Well, you know, I think that university is a great time for finding out about different points of view, including different religions. So I've been reading some material on Buddhism, I've got a Hindu friend I want to question, and I should also study some Islam. When this Bible study started I thought I'd get to know a little more about Christianity—that's why I've come.'

Dave looked at him for a few moments and then said, 'Sorry, but I don't have time for you.'

'I beg your pardon?' said the student.

'Look,' Dave replied, 'I'll loan you some books on world religions; I can show you how I understand Christianity to fit into all this, and why I think biblical Christianity is true—but you're just playing around. You're a dilettante. You don't really care about these things; you're just goofing off. I'm a graduate student myself, and I don't have time—I do not have the hours at my disposal to engage in endless discussions with people who are just playing around.'

He turned to the second student: 'Why did you come?'

'I come from a home that you people call liberal,' he said. 'We go to the United Church and we don't believe in things like the literal resurrection of Jesus—I mean, give me a break. The deity of Christ, that's a bit much. But my home is a good home. My parents love my sister and me, we are a really close family, we worship God, we do good in the community. What do you think you've got that we don't have?'

For what seemed like two or three minutes, Dave looked at him.

Then he said, 'Watch me.'

As it happened, this student's name was also Dave. This Dave said, 'I beg your pardon?'

Dave Ward repeated what he had just said, and then expanded: 'Watch me. I've got an extra bed; move in with me, be my guest—I'll pay for the food. You go to your classes, do whatever you have to do, but watch me. You watch me when I get up, when I interact with people, what I say, what moves me, what I live for, what I want in life. You watch me for the rest of the semester, and then you tell me at the end of it whether or not there's a difference.'

This Dave did not take up Dave Ward on the offer literally. But he did begin to watch him and to meet with him, and the Lord drew him. Today he is serving as a medical missionary.

Carson writes:

You who are older should be looking out for younger people and saying in effect, 'Watch me.'

Come—I'll show you how to have family devotions.

Come—I'll show you how to do Bible study.

Come on—let me take you through some of the fundamentals of the faith.

Come—I'll show you how to pray.

Let me show you how to be a Christian husband and father, or wife and mother.

At a certain point in life, that older mentor should be saying other things, such as: Let me show you how to die. Watch me.

A Good Model of Brotherly Interaction

You can read some emails exchanged between Kevin DeYoung and Jeff Bethke. What a difference when two brothers recognize they are on the same team, seeking for truth rather than for a "win," and talking by email and phone about what they each could have done differently. I wish more give-and-take came out like this.

On the Cross and the Giving and Receiving of Criticism

A good post here from Jared Wilson on giving and receiving criticism. Jared has been a good role model for me on both ends.

I think it's worth reposting a summary "The Cross and Criticism," a helpful article written by Alfred Poirier (PCA pastor and Board Chairman for Peacemakers) and published in The Journal of Biblical Counseling. It is very much worth your time to read, digest, and apply.

Some notes below.

Definition:

I'm using criticism in a broad sense as referring to any judgment made about you by another, which declares that you fall short of a particular standard.

The standard may be God's or man's.

The judgment may be true or false.

It may be given gently with a view to correction, or harshly and in a condemnatory fashion.

It may be given by a friend or by an enemy.

But whatever the case, it is a judgment or criticism about you, that you have fallen short of a standard.

Key Point:

"A believer is one who identifies with all that God affirms and condemns in Christ's crucifixion."

In other words, in Christ's cross I agree with God's judgment of me and I agree with God's justification of me. Both have a radical impact on how we take and give criticism.

Application:

Critique yourself.
Ask the Lord to give you a desire to be wise instead of a fool.
Focus on your crucifixion with Christ.
Learn to speak nourishing words to others.

How to give criticism in a godly way:

I see my brother/sister as one for whom Christ died (1 Cor. 8:11; Heb. 13:1)
I come as an equal, who also is a sinner (Rom. 3:9, 23).
I prepare my heart lest I speak out of wrong motives (Prov. 16:2; 15:28; 16:23).
I examine my own life and confess my sin first (Matt. 7:3-5).
I am always patient, in it for the long haul (Eph. 4:2; 1 Cor. 13:4).
My goal is not to condemn by debating points, but to build up through constructive criticism (Eph. 4:29).
I correct and rebuke my brother gently, in the hope that God will grant him the grace of repentance even as I myself repent only through His grace (2 Tim. 2:24-25).

Does Jesus Hate Religion?

Three days ago Jefferson Bethke's spoken-word YouTube video was uploaded; it has now been viewed over 6.5 million times. You can watch it below:

Then read some wise and measured responses by Jared Wilson and Kevin DeYoung.

Jared writes:

It's important not to push back on Jefferson Bethke and his video simply to be contrarian or to avoid liking something because everybody else does. The heart displayed in the video is solid, and he says a lot of right things. But he says a few wrongs one too, and while they aren't wrong enough to overreact, they are wrong enough to note with some cautions.

You can read the whole thing here.

Kevin DeYoung writes:

This video is the sort of thing that many younger Christians love. It sounds good, looks good, and feels good. But is it true? That's the question we must always ask. And to answer that question, I want to go through this poem slowly, verse by verse. Not because I think this is the worst thing ever. It's certainly not. Nor because I think this video will launch a worldwide revolution. I want to spend some time on this because Bethke perfectly captures the mood, and in my mind the confusion, of a lot of earnest, young Christians.

You can read his thoughts here.

Profile of a Christian Soldier Almost Killed in Afghanistan

My brother Jeremy—not only a high school English teacher and an Iowa state representative but also a chaplain candidate in the Iowa National Guard—has a moving profile on Dustin Morrison, a young solider almost killed in Operation Enduring Freedom, barely surviving one of the largest IED explosions in the war in Afghanistan. God has used this near-death experience to make him a bold ambassador for Christ.

Here's a portion of the profile when his mom walks into the hospital room in Germany, prepared to say her final goodbyes to her son in a coma:

When she walked into his hospital room for the first time, Pedersen could hardly stifle the shock at seeing her son's swollen body resting on pillows stained with blood flowing from his ears. Listing the injuries line-by-line took more than a page to describe: burst lumbar vertebra, internal bleeding, failed lungs, and a shattered left femur, right ankle, and right hand. Morrison remembers wryly, "You know you're bad when a broken jaw, lacerated spleen and kidneys aren't a top priority to address."

When doctors gave the family the report, Pedersen responded, "I am not in denial about how serious Dustin is, but God is so much bigger than all of this so we are not giving up."

Still, Morrison seemed to be losing the battle. Pedersen and the rest of Morrison's family prayed out loud. She told Dustin, "I don't know if you can hear us or not, but I want you to receive what we are praying for you."

Doctors told the family they had one last option: ecmo therapy. With less than a 25 percent survival rate in adults, this treatment involved cutting Morrison's jugular vein and inserting a tube passing oxygenated blood from the femoral in his thigh in order to bypass the lungs. And it would involve a life flight to Regensburg, Germany.

Five days after the procedure, the lead doctor saw no signs of progress, concluding they were delaying the inevitable. Morrison's entire family and doctors prayed. Morrison's mother—sitting before me now in a brown designer vest with a tiny silver cross hanging from her neck—speaks with her hands pointed my direction: "I made it clear to God that we would use this situation to glorify himself even if Dustin did not make it."

On Easter Sunday, doctors finally removed the machines—not to end his life but because they had witnessed a miracle. Against all odds, his lungs began to breathe on their own. When the news came to the family, Pedersen says that their reaction was overjoyed—but not shocked. "It was just like, 'We know.'" She attributed the recovery in part to the thousands of people who were praying in the small communities of Iowa back home.

Still, the doctors were realistic with Morrison, explaining that despite the miraculous recovery he would never walk again. "I knew if I did," Morrison says, "it would be of God. I've learned never to trust man before God."

You can read the whole thing here.

A Letter from Martin Luther on Spiritual Warfare

The following is from a letter written in July 1530 to Jerome Weller, a 31-year-old friend who had previously lived in the Luther home, tutored his children, and was now struggling with spiritual despair:

. . Excellent Jerome, You ought to rejoice in this temptation of the devil because it is a certain sign that God is propitious and merciful to you.

You say that the temptation is heavier than you can bear, and that you fear that it will so break and beat you down as to drive you to despair and blasphemy. I know this wile of the devil. If he cannot break a person with his first attack, he tries by persevering to wear him out and weaken him until the person falls and confesses himself beaten.

Whenever this temptation comes to you, avoid entering upon a disputation with the devil and do not allow yourself to dwell on those deadly thoughts, for to do so is nothing short of yielding to the devil and letting him have his way.

Try as hard as you can to despise those thoughts which are induced by the devil. In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil.

Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking.

By all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. . .

When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus:

"I admit that I deserve death and hell.

What of it?

Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation?

By no means.

For I know One who suffered and made a satisfaction in my behalf.

His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Where he is, there I shall be also."

Yours,

Martin Luther

Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, trans. and ed. Theodore G. Tappert (orig., 1960; reprint, Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2003), 85.

HT: Jonathan Parnell, Ray Ortlund

Two Lectures by Sidney Greidnaus on Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

Monergism.com:

In his famous work, Lectures to My Students, Spurgeon writes, "Don't you know, young man, that from every town and every village and every hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London? So from every text of Scripture there is a road to Christ. And my dear brother, your business is, when you get to a text, to say, now, what is the road to Christ . . . for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savor of Christ in it." What does it mean to "preach Christ" from every text? Are there legitimate "roads to Christ" in the Old Testament?

The following lectures were preached at the Spurgeon Fellowship on Sept 6, 2011:

Preaching Christ from the OT – Session 1 (MP3)

Preaching Christ from the OT – Session 2 (MP3)

Here are Professor Greidanus's books on this subject:

Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method
Preaching Christ from Genesis: Foundations for Expository Sermons
Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes: Foundations for Expository Sermons (note that this is a limited-time clearance item from WTSBooks at 50% off).

HT: @NWBingham

Packer on Why We Should Meditate on the Four Gospels More than Any Other Book

J. I. Packer:

[We can] correct woolliness of view as to what Christian commitment involves, by stressing the need for constant meditation on the four gospels, over and above the rest of our Bible reading: for gospel study enables us both to keep our Lord in clear view and to hold before our minds the relational frame of discipleship to him.

The doctrines on which our discipleship rests are clearest in the epistles, but the nature of discipleship itself is most vividly portrayed in the gospels.

Some Christians seem to prefer the epistles as if this were a mark of growing up spiritually; but really this attitude is a very bad sign, suggesting that we are more interested in theological notions than in fellowship with the Lord Jesus in person.

We should think, rather, of the theology of the epistles as preparing us to understand better the disciple relationship with Christ that is set forth in the gospels, and we should never let ourselves forget that the four gospels are, as has often and rightly been said, the most wonderful books on earth.

—J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005), p. 70, 71.

Superficial Contextualization

Jonathan Dodson—lead pastor of Austin City Life and the author of forthcoming Gospel-Centered Discipleship—is an advocate of true contextualization, but laments that "most of what is done in the name of contextualization isn't contextualization at all."

Two misuses of contextualization among so-called missional churches are, first, a superficial approach to culture and, second, gospel contamination that results from this approach.

In the superficial approach, "contextualization" addresses a subset of American culture (e.g. white, suburban, middle class). It is surprising to me that so many churches engaged in contextualization look the same, regardless of their location or cultural context.

Moreover, the gospel communication among these varied churches is often identical, using pre-packaged sermon series, teaching materials, and discipleship curriculum in order to "contextualize the gospel."

You can read the whole thing here.

Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins on Saturday?

Owen Strachan seeks to answer that question with winsome wisdom for the readers of The Atlantic.