Wisdom for the Weekend [7]

In Romans 10 Paul argues cogently for the necessity of preaching the gospel if people are to become Christians. His argument implies that there must be a solid content in our evangelistic proclamation of Christ. It is our responsibility to set Jesus Christ forth in the fullness of his divine-human person and saving work so that through this "preaching of Christ" God may arouse faith in the hearer...

Let me invite you to consider the place of the mind in evangelism, and let me supply two reasons from the New Testament for a thoughtful proclamation of the gospel.

The first is taken from the example of the apostles. Paul summed up his own evangelistic ministry in the simple words "we persuade men." Now "persuading" is an intellectual exercise. To "persuade" is to marshal arguments in order to prevail on people to change their mind about something.

The second New Testament evidence that our evangelism should be a reasoned presentation of the gospel is that conversion is not infrequently described in terms of a person's response not to Christ himself but to "the truth." Becoming a Christian is "believing the truth," "obeying the truth," "acknowledging the truth." Paul even describes his Roman readers as having "become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed." It is plain from these expressions that in preaching Christ the early Christian evangelists were teaching a body of doctrine about Christ.

I pray earnestly that God will raise up today a new generation of Christian apologists or Christian communicators, who will combine an absolute loyalty to the biblical gospel and an unwavering confidence in the power of the Spirit with a deep and sensitive understanding of the contemporary alternatives to the gospel; who will relate the one to the other with freshness, pungency, authority and relevance; and who will use their minds to reach other minds for Christ.

John Stott

Wisdom for the Weekend [6]

I have tried to sketch six spheres of Christian living in which the mind plays an essential part -- Christian worship, faith, holiness, guidance, evangelism and ministry. If these things are impossible without using our minds and acquiring some biblical knowledge, we must also recognize the corollary, that the acquisition of biblical knowledge must lead into these things and enrich our experience of them. Knowledge carries with it the solemn responsibility to act on the knowledge we have, to translate our knowledge into appropriate behavior. Let me enlarge on this.

First, knowledge should lead to worship. The true knowledge of God will result not in our being puffed up with conceit at how knowledgeable we are, but in our falling on our faces before God in sheer wonder and crying, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how unscrutable his ways!"

Secondly, knowledge should lead to faith. We have already seen that knowledge is the foundation of faith and makes faith reasonable. "Those who know thy name put their trust in thee," wrote the psalmist.

Thirdly, knowledge should lead to holiness. We have considered some ways in which our conduct could be transformed if only we knew more clearly both what we should be and what we already are. But now we have to see how the more our knowledge grows, the greater our responsibility to put it into practice. Psalm 119 is full of aspirations to know God's law. Why? In order the better to obey it.

Fourthly, knowledge should lead to love. The more we know, the more we should want to share what we know with others and use our knowledge in their service, whether in evangelism or in ministry. Sometimes, however, our love will restrain our knowledge. For by itself knowledge can be harsh; it needs the sensitivity which love can give it. This is what Paul meant when he wrote: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."

Knowledge is indispensable to the Christian life and service. If we do not use the mind which God has given us, we condemn ourselves to spiritual superficiality and cut ourselves off from many of the riches of God's grace. At the same time, knowledge is given us to be used , to lead us to higher worship, greater faith, deeper holiness, better service. What we need is not less knowledge but more knowledge, so long as we act upon it.

John Stott, "The Mind in Christian Life"

Wisdom for the Weekend [5]

The Reformosphere (see if that term sticks) has been buzzing as of late thanks to the release of Colin Hansen's book Young, Restless, Reformed. This book is an outgrowth of an article Hansen wrote for Christianity Today last year.

As one of the young(er) Reformed-sorts, I've been interested to get hands on a copy of Hansen's book. However, before even reading it I think that Scott Lamb's 'review' is an important read. If I can borrow a hip-hop turn of phrase - "We need to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves."

So, a little modern wisdom for your weekend. Read Scott's article here.

[ht: Challies, naturally]

Wisdom for the Weekend [4]

Give me a hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a bit whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth.

John Wesley

I have but one candle of life to burn and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light.

John Falconer

If God calls you to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king.

Jordan Groom

Untold millions are still untold... Here, and abroad. Who will tell them?

Had a missions committee meeting last night... Can you tell?

Wisdom for the Weekend [2]

"Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles." (Matthew 12:18)

And shall God love [Christ] and delight in him, and shall not our soul delight in Christ? ... Does Christ delight in us, and God delight in Christ, and shall not we delight in Christ that delights in us, and in whom God delights? In I Cor. 16:22, the apostle is bold to pronounce a bitter curse ... upon him that loves not the Lord Christ Jesus, a most bitter curse.

Christ shall [became] a servant to do our work for us, to suffer for us, to bear the burden of our sins upon the tree, to become our husband, to bestow his riches upon us, to raise us to the same condition with himself... God loves and delights in him for the work of salvation and redemption by his blood, and shall not we love and embrace him for his love which is for our good? What good has God by it but only the glory of his mercy, in saving our souls through Christ? Therefore if God love him for the good he does to us, much more should we love him for the fruit of it that we receive ourselves.

It should shame us therefore when we find dullness and coldness upon us, that we can hear of anything better than of Christ; and arguments concerning Christ are cold to us. Alas! Where is our love, and joy, and delight; and when we can make no better but a carnal use of the incarnation and other benefits by Christ? We should therefore desire God to shed the love of Christ into our hearts more and more, that we may feel in our souls the love that he bears to us, and may love God and Christ again, for that that he has done for us.

Richard Sibbes, A Description of Christ