What the Reformation Was Really About

With Reformation Day quickly approaching, I thought a week full of posts related to the Reformation would be appropriate. Here's a quote from Michael Reeves about what the Reformation was really about:

The closer one looks, the clearer it becomes: the Reformation was not, principally, a negative movement, about moving away from Rome; it was a positive movement, about moving towards the gospel.

--Michael Reeves, The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation

Talking Back with the Truth

A great reminder to talk back to sin with the truth of the gospel:

Nobody sins because they want to be deceived.  We sin because we believe what sin offers is true....Sin lies to us.  We need to get in the habit of talking back with the truth.

--Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

No Graduation from the School of Grace

"No disciple will ever graduate from the school of grace.  Every follower of Jesus needs to know, and be reminded, that the gospel that makes disciples is the very same gospel that matures disciples.  We are born in grace and we breathe by grace, all bought by the blood of Jesus."

--Jonathan Dodson, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

Three Words at the Heart of the Gospel

"The utter uniqueness of the Christian message — the heart of the gospel — is found in the three words of Christ from the cross, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). The message of every other religious system, without exception, is predicated on some variation of another three words, which stand starkly opposed to the gospel’s three words. Religion’s three words are: ‘Get to work.’ And this is the heart of the bad news behind every approach to spirituality, enlightenment, or salvation that is not Christian."

--Jared Wilson, Gospel Wakefulness

HT: Of First Importance 

The Unfathomable Depths and Innumerable Implications of the Gospel

"We do not move on from the Gospel. Instead, we move on in the Gospel, for its depths are unfathomable and its implications for life and teaching are innumerable."

--Gary Parrett and Steve Kang, Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful

HT: Of First Importance

The Gospel and Race

Invitation to Piper and Keller on Race & the Christian from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Next Wednesday evening, March 28, there will be a live webcast of a conversation between John Piper and Tim Keller, moderated by Anthony Bradley, about the gospel and race. This conversation will be streaming live at desiringGod.org/Live if you want to watch.

For more details, click here.

Drinking from the Same Fountain

"Perhaps all that is necessary to expose the shallowness of our songs and to cause us to praise God as we ought is for pastors and poets and musicians to drink from the same fountain. Then biblical exposition will issue in song and our hymns will be full of the gospel."

--Alistair Begg

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 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 Gospel's Seemingly Contradictory Work

"The gospel gives us a new identity that is so majestic that we would be the most arrogant people in the world - except that we know we don't deserve it, it cost Christ his life, and it is all a free gift of grace....Only the gospel can do two seemingly contradictory things: destroy pride and increase courage. Destroy self-exaltation and increase confidence. Destroy the pushiness of self-assertion and deliver from the paralysis of self-doubt."

--John Piper, Bloodlines

The Sweet Stench of the Gospel

To some the gospel is the sweet smelling fragrance of life; to others it is the stench of death. The same gospel is simultaneously a message of salvation and judgment.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).

The Historicity of Adam and the Basis for the Gospel

"Why must God the Son become incarnate, live our life, die our death, and be raised for our justification? Scripture's answer is clear: We need a redeemer because Adam as the first man and covenantal head of the human race brought sin, death, and destruction into this world, and it is only by the last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, that it can be paid for and reversed. The fact of human sin and death is grounded in a real, historical Adam who was created upright and morally good, but in history revolted against God and by that action took down the entire human race with him. If this is denied, the basis for the gospel is undercut, and the entire Christian position is destroyed."

--Stephen Wellum, The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology (Spring 2011)

Dressing Up the Gospel

From the folks at The Sacred Sandwich:

Welcome News To Sinners

The first and last stanzas of William Gadbsy's hymn, "The Gospel Is Good News Indeed," are a beautiful reminder of how sweet it is for sinners to hear the good news of the gospel:

The gospel is good news indeed,
To sinners deep in debt;
The man who has no works to plead,
Will thankful be for it.

The man that feels his guilt abound,
And knows himself unclean,
Will find the gospel's joyful sound
Is welcome news to him.

The Most Humbling Force in the World

"The gospel has more power to humble than any other force in the world."

--Jim Hamilton, "The Lord's Supper in Paul," in The Lord's Supper

The Church Is the Gospel Made Visible

"Christian proclamation might make the gospel audible, but Christians living together in local congregations make the gospel visible (see John 13:34-35). The church is the gospel made visible."

--Mark Dever, "The Church," in A Theology for the Church, Daniel Akin, ed.

Religious Hubris vs. Gospel Humility

Theological Antonyms
© 2011, Justin Wainscott

The opposite of
religious hubris
is gospel humility.

Religious hubris breeds superiority
on the grounds of moral performance.
But it's a misplaced superiority,
because it's built on a lie.
All who gather on those grounds
will surely fall.

Gospel humility yields unity
at the foot of the cross.
And it's an appropriate unity,
because it's built on the truth.
All who gather there
stand on a sure and firm foundation.

Religious hubris
sees no need for a Savior.
Gospel humility
sees not only the need for a Savior,
but the Savior himself
meeting that very need.

Religious hubris stands tall,
but will one day be brought low.
Gospel humility bows low,
but will one day be exalted.

Glorying in the Gospel, Knowing the Plague Within

"The man that does not glory in the gospel can surely know little of the plague that is within him."

--J.C. Ryle

The Gospel and Giving

We should not give out of a misguided legalism, thinking that this action somehow earns us God’s favor. Nor should we give out of a Pharisaic self-righteousness, assuming that this practice of piety puts God in our debt. And neither should we treat giving as a means to manipulate God to bless us with more material wealth, as prosperity theology encourages. No, the reasons and motivations for our giving should be shaped by the gospel that we profess to have shaped us.

So, here are five ways that giving is shaped by the gospel. These are by no means exhaustive, but I would encourage you to think over these ways and reflect on them as you give.

1. We give gladly because we are grateful for what God has graciously given to us in and through the gospel.
   


2. We give faithfully because we trust God to meet our needs, which the gospel assures He will do.
   


3. We give sacrificially because in doing so we reflect the sacrificial giving of God in the gospel.


4. We give generously because the gospel has changed us from lovers of self and lovers of money into lovers of God and lovers of people.
   


5. We give intentionally because we desire to see the gospel made known to all peoples.

Brothers and sisters, let us never forget that we are receivers long before we are givers. And reflecting on how much God has given to us through Christ should cause gratitude in our hearts, which should overflow into cheerful, faithful, sacrificial, generous, and intentional giving.

A giving heart is a grateful heart – it really is as simple as that. If you’re glad in Christ, you’ll give to Christ and for Christ. And if you rightly understand the gospel, how could you not be glad in Christ?

Two Ways to Be Your Own Savior and Lord

"There are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord. One is by breaking all the moral laws and setting your own course, and one is by keeping all the moral laws and being very, very good.

...[T]he prerequisite for receiving the grace of God is to know you need it."

--Tim Keller, The Prodigal God