Is Your Gospel Too Small?

"A gospel which is only about the moment of conversion but does not extend to every moment of life in Christ is too small. A gospel that gets your sins forgiven but offers no power for transformation is too small. A gospel that isolates one of the benefits of union with Christ and ignores all the others is too small. A gospel that must be measured by your own moral conduct, social conscience, or religious experience is too small. A gospel that rearranges the components of your life but does not put you personally in the presence of God is too small."

--Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God

The Inward Warfare of Our Souls

Strange and Mysterious Is My Life
John Newton, 1725-1807

Strange and mysterious is my life,
What opposites I feel within -
A stable peace, a constant strife,
The rule of grace, the power of sin;
Too often I am captive led,
Yet daily triumph in my Head.

I prize the privilege of prayer,
But, oh, what backwardness to pray!
Though on the Lord I cast my care,
I feel its burden every day;
I seek His will in all I do,
Yet find my own is working too.

I call the promises my own,
And prize them more than mines of gold.
Yet though their sweetness I have known,
They leave me unimpressed and cold;
One hour upon the truth I feed,
The next I know not what I read.

I love the holy day of rest,
When Jesus meets His gathered saints;
Sweet day, of all the week the best!
For its return my spirit pants;
Yet often, through my unbelief,
It proves a day of guilt and grief.

While on my Savior I rely,
I know my foes shall lose their aim,
And therefore dare thier power defy,
Assured of conquest through His name;
But soon my confidence is slain,
And all my fears return again.

Thus different powers within me strive,
And grace and sin by turns prevail;
I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,
And victory hangs in doubtful scale.
But Jesus has His promise past,
That grace shall overcome at last.

The Reconciling Power of the Gospel

For those of you in and around Jackson, I want to make you aware of a joint service this Sunday at 4 PM that we at First Baptist Church on North Highland are hosting with our sister congregation of First Baptist Church on MLK Drive. We look forward to welcoming our brothers and sisters to worship with us that afternoon and celebrate the reconciling power of the gospel. This joint service is a way for us to express our shared unity and common faith, and it is also an opportunity for us to declare that there is more power in the gospel to unite us than there is in our different colors of skin to divide us.

The service will consist of a combined choir from the two congregations, Scripture readings and prayers led by members of each church, and the preaching of God's Word by Ricky Jenkins, Pastor of the downtown congregation of Fellowship Memphis, an ethnically diverse congregation in the heart of downtown Memphis. A time of fellowship will follow the service. All are welcome to join us.

This service is part of our church's yearlong 175th Anniversary celebration.

The Pulpit Is for Preaching Christ

I'm thankful to Luke Allison for sharing this quote with me, which he found while researching Edward Mote.

You may not recognize Mote's name, but you probably know his hymn, "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand." Mote was a 19th century Baptist pastor beloved by his congregation. And when his church offered to name their chapel after him, he refused, saying:

I do not want the chapel, I only want the pulpit; and when I cease to preach Christ, then turn me out of that.

HT: OneEternalDay

A Sanctuary of Life

One of our church members, Ben Mitchell, preached yesterday morning as part of our celebration of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (and did a wonderful job). He made a comment in his sermon that I believe is worth sharing and worth reflecting on:

The church is a sanctuary of life in a culture of death.

--Ben Mitchell

Thou Wilt Victorious Prove

What Though I Cannot Break My Chain
Augustus Toplady, 1740-1778

What though I cannot break my chain
Or e’er throw off my load,
The things impossible to men
Are possible to God.

Who, who shall in Thy presence stand,
Or match omnipotence;
Unfold the grasp of Thy right hand
And pluck the sinner thence?

Faith to be healed I fain would have,
O might it now be given;
Thou canst, thou canst the sinner save,
And make me meet for Heav’n.

Bound down with twice ten thousand ties,
Yet let me hear Thy call;
My soul in confidence shall rise,
Shall rise and break through all.

Thou canst o’ercome this heart of mine,
Thou wilt victorious prove;
For everlasting strength is Thine,
And everlasting love.

The Dangers of Market-Sensitive Sermons

Douglas Webster on biblical preaching vs. market-sensitive preaching:

Biblical preaching is God-centered, sin-exposing, self-convicting and life-challenging - the direct opposite of today's light, informal sermons that Christianize self-help and entertain better than they convict.

There are so many illustrations in today's market-sensitive sermons that the hearer forgets the biblical truth that is being illustrated; so many personal anecdotes that the hearer knows the pastor better than she knows Christ; so many human-interest stories that listening to the sermon is easier than reading the Sunday paper; so practical that there is hardly anything to practice.

No wonder nominal Christians leave church feeling upbeat. Their self-esteem is safely intact. Their minds and hearts have been sparked and soothed with sound-bite theology, Christian maxims and a few practical pointers dealing with self-esteem, kids, or work. But the question remains: has the Word of God been effectively and faithfully proclaimed, penetrating comfort zones and the veneer of self-satisfaction with the truth of Jesus Christ?

--Douglas Webster, Selling Jesus: What's Wrong with Marketing the Church

Download Bloodlines for Free

Desiring God Ministries has generously made John Piper's recent book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, available as a free download. Click here for the details.

Whether or not you affirm Piper's theological convictions regarding Calvinism (which are defined and defended in the middle section of the book), the chapters on the front end and back end are well worth the read...especially when it's free.

Celebrating MLK Day

In my opinion, Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech is still one of the great masterpieces of American oratory.



And his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is still one of the great masterpieces of American Christian ethics.

Love That Found Me - Wondrous Thought!

Chief of Sinners Though I Be
William McComb, 1793-1870

Chief of sinners though I be,
Jesus shed His blood for me;
Died that I might live on high,
Died that I might never die;
As the branch is to the vine,
I am His, and He is mine.

O the height of Jesus’ love!
Higher than the Heaven above;
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lasting as eternity;
Love that found me—wondrous thought!
Found me when I sought Him not!

Jesus only can impart
Balm to heal the smitten heart;
Peace that flows from sin forgiven,
Joy that lifts the soul to Heaven;
Faith and hope to walk with God
In the way that Enoch trod.

Chief of sinners though I be,
Christ is all in all to me;
All my wants to Him are known,
All my sorrows are His own;
Safe with Him from earthly strife,
He sustains the hidden life.

O my Savior, help afford
By Thy Spirit and Thy Word!
When my wayward heart would stray,
Keep me in the narrow way;
Grace in time of need supply
While I live and when I die.

What Do You Boast In?

"Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD' (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31).

"If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness....Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 11:30; 12:9).

"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

New 9Marks eJournal on Sunday School

The most recent 9Marks eJournal is dedicated to the subject of Sunday School. It has several helpful and thoughtful articles. Check them out here. Or click here for a PDF of the whole eJournal.

Cling to the Cross, the Burden Will Fall

Free from the Law
Philip P. Bliss, 1838-1876

Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus has bled and there is remission,
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.

Refrain:

Once for all, O sinner, receive it,
Once for all, O brother, believe it;
Cling to the cross, the burden will fall,
Christ hath redeemed us once for all.

Now we are free, there’s no condemnation,
Jesus provides a perfect salvation.
Come unto Me, O hear His sweet call,
Come, and He saves us once for all.

Refrain

Children of God, O glorious calling,
Surely His grace will keep us from falling;
Passing from death to life at His call;
Blessed salvation once for all.

Refrain

Loving God, Loving His Word

"You can measure a person's opinion of God by his or her opinion of God's Word. That's why a person who loves God loves His Word, and the person who hates God rejects what God has spoken."

--Jonathan Leeman, Reverberation

Quotes on "Union with Christ"

Union with Christ is such a central and crucial aspect of the doctrine of salvation, and yet it remains neglected by far too many pastors and therefore largely unknown by far too many Christians. Here are a few quotes that remind us of its significance.

Nothing is more central or basic than union and communion with Christ...it is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. --John Murray

There are no benefits of the gospel apart from union with Christ. --Lane Tipton

Union with Christ is right at the center of the Christian doctrine of salvation. The whole of our relationship with God can be summed up in such terms....Union with Christ is at the heart of the biblical teaching about salvation. --Robert Letham