Relationships That Last

Relationships that last are the ones built on truth. They are the ones centered on the Gospel. Of course I am speaking in terms of Christian fellowship. There is a pervasive thought in Christianity that relationships supersede truth. That no matter what the cost friendships must be maintained over something as treacherous as a compromise of the Gospel.

All friendships have a foundation. The question is what is it? For some it is a matter of commonalities of personality, goals, occupation e.t.c.  (not that these are bad things). But when we are talking about relationships in the body of Christ, they must be founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And when the Gospel becomes compromised then the relationship becomes compromised or completely ruined.

Faithfulness to our Master is of far more importance than to any human relationship. It is hard to remain friends with those that mangle the only thing that unites us. Paul was willing to cut off his friendship with the apostle Peter when he became aware of Peter's hypocrisy (which was tantamount to a compromise of the Gospel. Gal. 2:11-14). By God's grace, Peter repented of his hypocrisy and later reconciled to Paul and speaks well of him (Pe. 3:15-18). Relationships that are worthy to be maintained are those which are centered on truth.

I have been recently humbled by two families that have been willing to lose friendships and suffer verbal persecution because they stood for the Gospel when their church has long abandoned it. They called upon the pastor's that were are teaching a different Gospel to repent of this grave error. All to no avail. Now they face ostracization by some people they considered friends in that church. Having met them it is obvious they love Christ and the people of God. So much that they were willing to do something that has caused them much personal grief and suffering. But Christ comes first. He is their foundation and against all odds they spoke up to defend His name and to protect Christ's people. Some of whom they thought were real friends. I have talked with one of the men and his love for Christ has humbled me. His devotion to the truth of the Gospel has been an answer to prayer.

These are the friendships that you hang on to and develop. These are the ones you learn from. You grow together in the knowledge of Christ. You can be honest with each other and spur one another on to love and good works. In simple words- it is genuine fellowship and therefore a true friendship. These are what  we should long for. Superficial friendships last for a time but genuine fellowship, centered on Christ, will remain for all of eternity. 

Remember the friendship of Jonathan and David:

"As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.  And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants" (1 Sa 18:1–5). 

"And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?” And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.” And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before" (1 Sa 19:1–7). 

 "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Co 3:11).

Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando 

Ordained Crisis – The necessity of the Tares

The church today is in crisis, but this is a divinely ordained crisis.

This is what many Christians fail to see, although it was laid out so by not only our Lord, but His apostles.

Consider the parable of the tares told by our Lord: What did He teach here?

Matthew 13:24-29: Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' 28 “And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' The slaves *said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' 29 “But he *said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. (NASB - * stands for an ongoing action with no terminus mentioned.)

Is this not teaching that there will be true confessors and false professors in the same assembly, and that as long as the false professors “act” like the wheat, we are not to uproot them?

Then, consider what the apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 11:17-19: But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.

It is a needful thing that there be factions among the assembled saints, so that those who are true in the faith (body of doctrine) may be shown as true by God, and those who are false are His means of showing those who are true. The KJV is not so kind in v. 19, for it uses the word “heresies,” which are what causes almost all, if not all, schisms in the first place. In the case of obvious heresies, or obvious sins brought about by sin that is visible and an affront to God, the offender is removed, as we have elsewhere in Scripture, until and unless repentance takes place, then restoration also takes place (1 Corinthians 5; cf. 2 Corinthians 7).

Finally, we see the reaction of many of those who are of the tares: “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). So, in many cases, we do not have to enact church discipline, as the Lord Himself ensures that such “go out from among us."

There is much more that can be written on these things (and perhaps will be), as it pertains to fellowship, true and false, among the company of those who in truth, or falsely, profess Christ, as well as the vital necessity of church discipline, which is largely a lost means of the restraint of false doctrine and moral impurity being among those who would call themselves the saints of the most High God.

To God’s glory alone – Bill Hier

More of Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"I cannot help feeling that the final explanation of the state of the Church today is a defective sense of sin and it defective doctrine of sin. Coupled with that, of course, is a failure to understand the true nature of Christian joy. There is the double failure. There is not the real, deep conviction of sin as was once the case; and on the other hand there is this superficial conception of joy and happiness which is very different indeed from that which we find in the New Testament. Thus the defective doctrine of sin and the shallow idea of joy, working together, of necessity produce a superficial kind of person and a very inadequate kind of Christian life. Now this is obviously extremely important, especially as regards the matter of evangelism. It is not surprising that the Church is failing in her mission if her dual conception of sin and joy are thus defective and inadequate. And, therefore, it comes to pass that so much evangelism, whether organized on a large or a small scale (in spite of all that is claimed for it in figures and results), is obviously not affecting the life of the Church deeply. Indeed, the very statistics prove the failure in this respect. For this reason it is surely a very fundamental subject for us to consider. That is why it is so important that we should approach it all in terms of this Sermon on the Mount, which starts with negatives. We have to be poor in spirit before we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Negative, before positive. And here again is another example of exactly the same thing-conviction must of necessity precede conversion, a real sense of sin must come before there can be a true joy of salvation. Now that is the whole essence of the gospel. So many people spend all their lives in trying to find this Christian joy. They say they would give the whole world if they could only find it, or could be like some other person who has it. Well, I suggest that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred this is the explanation. They have failed to see that they must be convicted of sin before they can ever experience joy. They do not like the doctrine of sin. They dislike it intensely and they object to its being preached. They want joy apart from the conviction of sin. But that is impossible; it can never be obtained. Those who are going to be converted and who wish to be truly happy and blessed are those who first of all mourn. Conviction is an essential preliminary to true conversion."* 

"And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Mt 5:2–4). 


Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando

*Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Kindle Locations 746-752). Kindle Edition. 

*Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Kindle Locations 738-746). Kindle Edition. 

*Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Kindle Location 737). Kindle Edition. 

George Smeaton And The Atonement

"We cannot conceive of such a stupendous economy, if it were not necessary. There could be no other reason sufficiently important for God to abase Himself and to be made in fashion as a man, and suffer on the cross; for God would not subject His Son to such agonies if sin could have been remitted without satisfaction. To suppose that all this was appointed merely to confirm Christ’s testimony as a teacher, is a shock to reason; for that could have been effected by a martyr’s death. To hold that it was meant to impress the human mind with a conviction of God’s love, is no better; for the whole historic basis of Christianity would be little better than a mere drama or scenic arrangement, intended to make an inward impression, but nothing real in the moral government of God, if the vicarious sacrifice were not necessary on God’s part for the ransom of sinners, and to put away their sin. The facts are too momentous and solemn, and too closely connected with all the attributes of God and all the persons of the Trinity, to be brought down to the level of an imposing representation. To take this roundabout way of making a moral impression, if the death of God’s Son was not necessary, would be repugnant to the Divine goodness and wisdom."*

*Smeaton, G. (2009). The doctrine of the atonement, As taught by Christ Himself (Second Edition) (23–24). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

 "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me" (1 Co 15:1–8).


Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando

We Have A Winner

Less than ten minutes into it- our brother Aaron from Canada has answered correctly.

Congratulations, Aaron!

Question: Name the soldier who killed a king, made himself king, and killed himself shortly after

Answer: Zimri (1st Kings 16:8-18)

Book Give-Away Question For July 2011

Respond first and correctly (spelling matters) to this question and you shall have won Louis Berkhof's systematic theology book.

Biblical Question

Question: Name the soldier who killed a king, made himself king, and killed himself shortly afterwards:

Answer below in the comment section.

The Gospel Unites (and divides) And The Rest Follows

"Clarifying the Gospel is so critical, especially at the beginning of a work, because you want to ensure, as much as externally possible, the purity of the church’s membership (i.e., that all members are truly converted). The more your congregation is clear on the Gospel, the less likely it is that either tepid nominalism or carnal divisiveness will find air to breathe—and the more likely it is that you will forge healthy and growing unity around the Good News that distinguishes the church from the world..."* 

" (1) Expositional preaching. As people see you being faithful to clearly present the point of the Scripture as the point of the sermon (i.e., as they see you preaching expositionally), it will help them trust that you are submitting yourself to the text and intention of the Bible. Your vision for the church will more likely be biblical if you are preaching through Scripture expositionally. As a result, people will be more likely to see that you are setting a biblical course for them, and that you are being careful to follow Scripture as you lead them. The more clearly you present God’s Word, the more likely God’s people are to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice in yours, and to follow you as you follow Him.

(2) Personal relationships.We are simply less likely to trust people until we have had an opportunity to know them, especially when choosing our leaders. We want to know them—their personalities, their motives, their goals, their struggles . . . the list could go on. Be knowable. One of the biggest mistakes pastors make is thinking that a false demand for “professional distance” precludes us from having friends in the church. You are a sheep, too—you need relationships just as much as anyone else does. That is the nature of the church—it is a godly web of mutually sanctifying familial relationships. Relate—have conversations after church; take people out to lunch during the week; exercise hospitality by inviting people to your home for a meal; take an interest in people, and be open to answering their questions about you; offer to read a book with a younger Christian man; offer to have someone accompany you for conversation as you run errands. Give people a relational context in which they can develop love and trust for you as a fellow Christian.

(3) Humility. As you relate, do so in humility. Two of the most godly and disarming ways to display humility are accountability and correctability. Be accountable. Invite a few men to keep you accountable in the areas of sexual purity, ambition, or other issues that you struggle with particularly. Do this not simply because you want people to trust you, but because you know you are sinful and need other Christians to help you live a trustworthy lifestyle. And when you know you are in the wrong, admit it freely. Be correctable. The mere fact that we’re leaders doesn’t mean we’re always right. In fact, leaders usually have more opportunities to do things wrongly! Get used to admitting that you’re wrong. It’s normal—even for pastors. The sooner you get used to it, the more easily the church will see and trust your integrity. As an incentive, remember that the church you serve will reflect the weaknesses you model over time. An uncorrectable pastor breeds uncorrectable people. Do you really want to lead a congregational meeting with a bunch of uncorrectable members? Genuine humility breeds genuine trust, and growing Christians." * 

*Alexander, Paul (2005). The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel (pp. 45-46). Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition. 

"And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Co 2:1–5).


"We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,  so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia"(1 Th 1:2–7).

Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando