Tag: cite

Global Mission = Integrating our Christian Identity into All of Life

~ Bob Hayton

What Can I Do? Making a Global Difference Right Where You Are by David LivermoreI’ve been away on a business trip to the Philippines for 2 weeks now. I have been finding time to keep up on my reading, and turned to a book I’ve had on my shelf for quite some time. What Can I Do? Making a Global Difference Right Where You Are by David Livermore (Zondervan, 2011) is a couple years old now, but the message is proving to be as impactful now as ever. I wanted to share this exceprt from one of the opening chapters in this book because it is so true. Conservative evangelical Christians like myself and many of my readers, are instilled from a young age with the idea that somehow full-time Christian ministry is where the big stuff for God gets accomplished. This excerpt displays how this way of thinking is so untrue.

To live out our part of this story as the church means weaving our priestly identity into every part of our lives. Politics are not somehow off-limits for Christians, but they need to be reformed. The domains of art, business, and science should be reclaimed for Christ, not segregated as secular distractions from the “real” work of ministry. My dad used to proudly declare, “Both my sons are in full-time ministry,” and almost as an afterhought he would add, “and my daughter is a nurse.” I realize that “full-time ministry” is sometimes a shorthand way of referring to people who earn their paycheck from full-time employment in a church or ministry. But what could more closely resemble full-time ministry than the work my sister does daily as a nurse, caring for cancer patients and their family members? We have to reject the notion that it’s the really spiritual people who should become the pastors and missionaries. We are all invited to partner with God–as nurses and truck drivers, aunts and uncles, engineers and musicians, and, yes, pastors and missionaries. The problem isn’t that the Christian community lacks doctors, farmers, businesspeople, or musicians in our midst. The problem is that there are so few doctors, farmers, businesspeople, and musicians who are truly living out their priestly identity in their profession. That’s the central idea of this book. Most of us don’t integrate our Christian identity into our daily tasks. While serving as a missionary overseas is one way of fulfilling our priestly calling, so also is serving in a local hospital near home. What matters most is how you live out your unique vocation as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Global mission is something we all get to be inolved in. It might involve uprooting yourself and traveling overseas, but just as likely it might mean making subtle changes in the way you go about your work and life, all without ever pulling out your passport. We all get to be part of this. This is who we were created to be.

— pp. 40-41, What Can I Do? Making a Global Difference Right Where You Are by David Livermore (Zondervan, 2011), emphsis original

Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher, via the Amazon Vine program. I was under no oblgation to post a favorable review.

G.K. Beale’s “Three Angles of Assurance”

~ Bob Hayton

I’m almost finished making my way through G.K. Beale’s A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New (Baker Academic, 2011). It has truly been a rewarding experience in so many ways. Some may question the sanity of reading through a 1,000 page theology book. I have found Beale’s work, however, to be not only intellectually stimulating but also spiritually moving. He unpacks the soul-thrilling message of both testaments of Scripture and like a master jeweler, brings out the innate beauty of the Gem of the Bible in all its brilliance and power. Reading Beale is reading the big picture of Scripture.

Beale also repeatedly brings application and pastoral concerns to bear. He is a theologian with a pastor’s heart, and he never fails to provide the takeaways and connect the dots from theology to Christian living. A perfect example of this is his treatment of assurance. The graphic pictured below is my attempt to reproduce a drawing on pg. 867, in an excursus on assurance, which I found incredibly helpful. I hope my readers will as well.

Beale's 'Three Angles of Assurance'

[Since] Christians do not reach perfection and they sin to varying degrees and in varying ways, and even the most righteous saints become increasingly aware of how sinful they are, how can they be assured that they have a true saving relationship with God? There is no simple answer to this, but there is what may be understood as a cumulative answer that comes from different angles of consideration. We may view the believer’s assurance from three angles, with each angle contributing to an aspect of assurance.

Each point of the [above] triangle represents a truth about how a Christian receives assurance.

Trust in God’s Promise of Salvation through Christ

First, God promises throughout the NT that those who place their faith in Christ and his redemptive work will receive an inner assurance that they have truly benefited from Christ’s work (the top of the triangle). [Beale goes on to discuss 1 John 5:9-15 in support of this point and continues] in this passage from 1 John assurance of true faith comes from (1) the internal witness of the Spirit; (2) the reliability of God’s word that he will give life in the Son to those who believe; (3) the confidence that God hears and answers the faithful prayers of those who ask for salvation in the Son. In fact, the purpose of the entire epistle of 1 John is to give this assurance (v. 13).

Good Works

The role of “good works” is a second angle from which to view the nature of assurance (the bottom left part of the triangle). As we have seen, one who has truly been resurrected (Eph. 2:4-6) and thus becomes a part of the new creation will inevitably and increasingly be characterized by good works (Eph. 2:10) instead of behaving like “dead people” in bondage to “trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1-3). Likewise 2 Pet. 1:3-4 explains that Christians possess God’s “divine power” and reflect God’s image (the “divine nature”), and on this basis they are to grow in the fruits of godliness (vv. 5-8). [Beale goes on to discuss verses 10-11 and concludes that] assurance of one’s “calling and choosing” and final “entrance into the eternal kingdom” increases with growth in doing godly things.

Accordingly, believers’ assurance of truly being part of the new creation comes as they look back at their former life and see the changes that have come about since they became Christian. Those who may have grown up from an early age as a Christian may not have such radical differences between their past and present. Nevertheless, they should not be characterized by the kinds of sins that Paul lists in 1 Cor. 6:9-10. Such people also gain a degree of assurance from this recognition. All Christians, to one degree or another, ought to be able to look back and see that they have progressed in godliness during the course of their Christian lives (recalling also that as such growth occurs, ironically so does increasing awareness of remaining sin). This observation ought to bolster Christians’ confidence that they are genuine.

Given time, if confessing believers have not changed the ungodly lifestyles of their former believing lives, then such people should not be given assurance that they have truly believed. Perhaps they are true Christians, but they should not have affirmation that they are…. Possibly, such a lack of assurance might shock them either into the reality of their faith, so that they change, or shock them into truly believing for the first time.

Conviction by the Spirit

The presence of the conviction of sin within professing Christians is a third angle from which to understand assurance… When Christians think or do unholy things, there should be immediate conflict and dissonance with the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is in the process of causing the believer to reach the goal of complete end-time righteousness. Those who are accordingly convicted about their sin will express repentance and change their sinful ways. Those who have no conviction about indwelling sin should have no conviction that they are genuine saints.

Therefore, faithful, growing Christians should receive multiple assurances from these three angles, which have a cumulative force, enhancing the overall sense of confidence about the reality of their Christian experience. What if a Christian is inconsistent in progressing in good works, and an area of life is not under submission to the Lord of the new creation? Such a person should be under great conviction about this sin, and if so, it is a good sign that the Spirit is really in the person, bringing about conviction. Such a person should not doubt knowing God, unless as time goes on the conviction over sin does not issue into repentance, a turning away from the sin being committed.

However, no confidence should exist in those who profess to believe in Jesus but who reflect no discernible change for the good in their lifestyles and who have no conviction about changing their sinful ways.

Generally, the closer people get to God as faith grows, the more such people will desire to please God by what they do, and the more they will be convicted by the remaining sin in them. As a result, they will have even greater assurance as they progress in their Christian lives. [excerpted from pp. 867-870]

I find Beale’s advice to be both important and encouraging. Even our awareness of failure can encourage us, and the very fight against sin is an evidence of being a legitimate child of God (see my post on Heb. 12 on that point). For more on the Biblical teaching on perseverance see any of the following articles:

You can purchase Beale’s book at any of the following retailers: Westminster Bookstore, Monergism Books, Christianbook.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or direct from Baker.

Reformation Gems 5: Wolfgang Musculus on Questioning God

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Reformation Gems are excerpts from selections contained in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, a new commentary series from IVP which gathers the best Reformation-era comments on the text together all in one set. The volumes in this commentary series resurrect long-forgotten voices from the Reformation age and in so doing they recover the piety and vivacity of that era. I hope that by sharing some excerpts from this series, I will edify my readers and promote this important commentary series.
 _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _ 

Today’s selection comes from the Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Volume X (Galatians, Ephesians). Wolfgang Musculus, whom I’ve quoted before, made some observations about questioning God’s wisdom and God’s plan. Believers in every era grapple with questions about God’s fairness when it comes to the fate of those who never hear the gospel. People in today’s skeptical age are all the more eager, it seems, to question God’s actions and judgments or even doubt his very existence. Musculus displays a confident trust in the goodness of God and I think his comments are worth repeating for people in every age.

Here is the excerpt from Musculus’s work originally published in 1561 (with key sentences bolded for emphasis):

God Chose to Save People by the Preaching of the Gospel.

Wolfgang Musculus: Some people ask whether God could not call his elect by a secret and hidden breath of his Spirit, without uttering a word. My answer is that nobody doubts that he can. So in that case, why did he choose to use preaching? Because that is what he wanted to do. Because the world in its wisdom did not know God, he wanted to save believers by the foolishness of preaching. If you ask why he chose to give the law of the letter to his people at Mount Sinai, inscribed on tablets of stone, rather than put the law of the Spirit in their hearts, what better answer could be given to you than to say that that is what he wanted to do? If you want to call the will of God into question and think that he ought to explain it to you, ask the devil to be your judge, because he will side with you against God and you will appear to be wise and righteous with him while God is condemned for being stupid and unjust. This is my answer to those who ask what becomes of people who have not heard or who lived before the preaching of the gospel was spread throughout the world and think that it should not have been deliberately delayed until the last days. A godly and faithful person adores what God has said and done and does not get upset or call him into question. He gives glory to God’s wisdom and righteousness even when he does not understand why God has done things one way and not another…. (pg. 259-260)

About the Reformation-era author: Wolfgang Musculus (1497-1563). Viennese pastor, reformer and theologian. Musculus was an advocate and writer for the cause of reform, producing translations, biblical commentaries and an influential theological text, Loci communes sacrae theologiae (Commonplaces of Sacred Theology), outlining a Zwinglian theology. Musculus began to study theology while at a Benedictine monastery; he departed in 1527 and became secretary to Martin Bucer in Strausbourg. He was later installed as a pastor in Augsburg, eventually performing the first evangelical liturgy in the city’s cathedral. Though Musculus was active in the pursuit of the reform agenda, he was also concerned for ecumenism, participating in both the Wittenburg Concord (1536) and discussions between Lutherans and Catholics. (pg. 429-430)

Learn more about this commentary series at the Reformation Commentary page at IVPress.com, or check out this sampler (PDF). You can pick up a copy of Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Volume X (Galatians, Ephesians) at any of the following online retailers: Christianbook.com, Amazon, or direct from IVP. You may want to consider becoming a member with IVP and getting the entire series on a subscription discount of more than 40% per volume.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by IVP. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

Our Divine Playwright

~ Bob Hayton

I’ve been making my way through Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology again recently, since our pastor is teaching a systematic class for our mid-week Bible studies. I found Grudem’s discussion of divine providence to be especially helpful. In my teaching on Reformation doctrine for adult SS, we’re getting into this area of God’s sovereignty, providence and predestination, too. The following illustration of God as our divine playwright, has been especially helpful in thinking through the area of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. I thought I would share it here for the benefit of my readers.

It seems better to affirm that God causes all things that happen, but that he does so in such a way that he somehow upholds our ability to make willing, responsible, choices, choices that have real and eternal results, and for which we are held accountable. Exactly how God combines his providential control with our willing and significant choices, Scripture does not explain to us. But rather than deny one aspect or the other (simply because we cannot explain how both can be true), we should accept both in an attempt to be faithful to the teaching of all of Scripture.

The analogy of an author writing a play may help us to grasp how both aspects can be true. In the Shakespearean play Macbeth, the character Macbeth murders King Duncan. Now (if we assume for a moment that this is a fictional account), the question may be asked, “Who killed King Duncan?” On one level, the correct answer is “Macbeth.” Within the context of the play he carried out the murder and is rightly to blame for it. But on another level, a correct answer to the question, “Who killed King Duncan?” would be “William Shakespeare”: he wrote the play, he created all the characters in it, and he wrote the part where Macbeth killed King Duncan.

It would not be correct to say that because Macbeth killed King Duncan, William Shakespeare did not kill him. Nor would it be correct to say that because William Shakespeare killed King Duncan, Macbeth did not kill him. Both are true. On the level of the characters in the play Macbeth fully (100 percent) caused King Duncan’s death, but on the level of the creator of the play, William Shakespeare fully (100 percent) caused King Duncan’s death. In similar fashion, we can understand that God fully causes things in one way (as Creator), and we fully cause things in another way (as creatures).

Of course, someone may object that the analogy does not really solve the problem because characters in a play are not real persons; they are only characters with no freedom of their own, no ability to make genuine choices, and so forth. But in response we may point out that God is infinitely greater and wiser than we are. While we as finite creatures can only create fictional characters in a play, not real persons, God, our infinite Creator, has made an actual world and in it has created us as real persons who make willing choices. To say that God could not make a world in which he causes us to make willing choices (as some would argue today; see discussion below), is simply to limit the power of God. It seems also to deny a large number of passages of Scripture.

~ Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Zondervan: 1994), pg. 321-322

A friend at church commented on this analogy along the lines that we have a greater confidence in our God because he has written the script for everything that happens. And He has written in several times where he steps into the play himself. I agree, and want to stress that this whole concept of God being “our divine playwright,” should give us confidence in God and his power and an ability to endure suffering knowing He is on the throne. It should also make us humble and trusting, not proud and boastful. With tomorrow’s holiday on the mind, it should make us incredibly thankful. Thankful that God would intervene and care enough to craft “his story” – history – to include each of us and that He would work all things together for our good (Rom. 8:28).

Reformation Gems 4: Wolfgang Musculus on Salvation, Past and Present

~ Bob Hayton

Reformation Gems are excerpts from selections contained in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, a new commentary series from IVP which gathers the best Reformation-era comments on the text together all in one set. The volumes in this commentary series resurrect long-forgotten voices from the Reformation age and in so doing they recover the piety and vivacity of that era. I hope that by sharing some excerpts from this series, I will edify my readers and promote this important commentary series.
 _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _ 

Today’s selection comes from the Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Volume X (Galatians, Ephesians). I looked through the comments on Ephesians 2:8 and found a gem. Wolfgang Musculus, a reformer contemporary with John Calvin, made the point that there is a sense in which we are both presently saved, and still waiting for our future salvation. This distinction on different perspectives to the concept of salvation is very important. I have been helped in coming to realize there are three tenses or viewpoints of salvation: a sense in which we are presently “being saved,” another sense in which we have already been saved, and yet from another angle, we are not yet totally saved. These past, present and future perspectives on salvation shape how we live as Christians. Accepting the Gospel one time in the past doesn’t mean that we don’t need to depend on a present and future appropriation of the Gospel to help us live the Christian life now. We must be pressing on day by day toward our future and fully consummate salvation.

Here is the excerpt from Musculus’s work originally published in 1561:

We Are Saved Because We Are No Longer Condemned.

Wolfgang Musculus: Our salvation has two sides to it. One of them relates to its beginning and the other to its completion. The beginning is when we receive the forgiveness of our sins in Christ and are set free from slavery to them and to Satan, as well as from condemnation, and are received into the adoption of children and regenerated by the Spirit of God. Of this aspect, Paul says, “By grace you have been saved,” even though sin is still present in our flesh like a poison and we cannot obtain perfect salvation until we are set free from that. Nevertheless, by the grace of Christ we have already reached a point where there is no longer any imputation or condemnation of our sins in the presence of God, and the remains of the evil by which we were originally lost no longer have the power to kill us, so that we are no longer considered to be lost, sinners and children of wrath, but rather saved, righteous, reconciled and children of grace. because of these basic principles of our salvation and the unfailing grace of God that never ceases to preserve us until we are fully saved, the apostle is right to say that we have been saved by grace.

The completion of our salvation, however, is something that we are still hoping and waiting for. It will come when we have been set free from death and corruption and attain eternal life, not only in the spiritual sense but also in our glorified bodies, so that we shall no longer be subject to any miseries, whether corporal or spiritual. We are waiting for this perect salvation in hope; the apostle says in Romans 8:24 that we have been saved by hope. The health of a person who is mortally ill is thus restored and completed in two stages. In the first stage, the mortal illness is overcome and broken by the power of the medicine and the diligence of the doctor, under the overall guidance of God, so that the illness is no longer lethal, nor does it stop the sick person from gradually starting to eat, drink, rest, get up and walk again. Once that stage has been completed, the sick person is said to be well again and restored, even though there is still great weakness in his body and incapacity in his members, pallor and thinness in his face and other lingering signs of the illness that has been overcome. In the second stage full and complete health is gradually restored so that there is nothing left of the former illness, but the whole body, both inside and out, is restored to its natural wholeness and health. Exactly the same thing is true of the salvation that is made available through Christ, our heavenly doctor, to those who believe in him. (pg. 286-287)

About the Reformation-era author: Wolfgang Musculus (1497-1563). Viennese pastor, reformer and theologian. Musculus was an advocate and writer for the cause of reform, producing translations, biblical commentaries and an influential theological text, Loci communes sacrae theologiae (Commonplaces of Sacred Theology), outlining a Zwinglian theology. Musculus began to study theology while at a Benedictine monastery; he departed in 1527 and became secretary to Martin Bucer in Strausbourg. He was later installed as a pastor in Augsburg, eventually performing the first evangelical liturgy in the city’s cathedral. Though Musculus was active in the pursuit of the reform agenda, he was also concerned for ecumenism, participating in both the Wittenburg Concord (1536) and discussions between Lutherans and Catholics. (pg. 429-430)

Learn more about this commentary series at the Reformation Commentary page at IVPress.com, or check out this sampler (PDF). You can pick up a copy of Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Volume X (Galatians, Ephesians) at any of the following online retailers: Westminster Bookstore, Monergism Books, Christianbook.com, Amazon, Barnes&Noble or direct from IVP. You may want to consider becoming a member with IVP and getting the entire series on a subscription discount of more than 40% per volume.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by IVP. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.