Archives for 2007

I ran across six quotations in my reading recently. A certain thought struck me as I read them so I thought I would test it out on anyone who cares to comment. There are six quotations from six different individuals. They are similar in one respect, but distinct in another. They represent (according to the person providing the quotations) three variations of a certain point of view.

I am not asking you to guess the sources of the quotations. Rather, I am curious which of these quotations you would consider to be closest to the views of John Piper and why. It is possible that none of these views are close to his views.

If you want to guess who gave each quote, that is fine. I will reveal the sources in a later post.

QUOTE ONE

On the contrary, the life that God has given us is the life of His son. All whom He has called He has also justified, and all whom He has justified He counts as already glorified. God never begins anything that He does not bring to an end. The world may start that which it cannot finish, but God says: “He that hath begun a good work in you, will keep on perfecting it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1.6, Gk.). Here are all three of the great doctrines of God’s work within us. He which hath begun a good work in you — that is justification — will keep on perfecting it — that is sanctification — until the day of Jesus Christ — that is glorification. There is no change in God, and there will be no change in His work in us.

QUOTE TWO

The apostle Paul gives us his own definition of the Christian life in Galatians 2:20. It is no longer “I, but Christ.” Here he is not stating something special or peculiar — a high level of Christianity. He is, we believe, presenting God’s normal role for a Christian, which can be summarized in the words: l live no longer, but Christ lives His life in me.

God makes it quite clear in His Word that He has only one answer to every human need — His Son, Jesus Christ. In all His dealings with us He works by taking us out of the way and substituting Christ in our place. The Son of God died instead of us for our forgiveness: He lives instead of us for our deliverance. … It will help us greatly, and save us from much confusion, if we keep constantly before us this fact, that God will answer all our questions in one way and one way only, namely, by showing us more of His son.

QUOTE THREE

I want here boldly to assert that it is my happy belief that every Christian can have a copious outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a measure far beyond that received at conversion, and I might also say, far beyond that enjoyed by the rank and file of orthodox believers today. It is important that we get this straight, for until doubts are removed faith is impossible, God will not surprise a doubting heart with an effusion of the Holy Spirit, nor will He fill anyone who has doctrinal questions about the possibility of being filled.

QUOTE FOUR

The fullness of power is the heritage of every Christian! It may be an unclaimed heritage, but the power of God which enables a Christian to witness for Christ and win souls is the right of every Christian. Not to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not to be endued with power from on high, is to miss the highest good, and fail to claim the Highest blessing, offered to every child of God. … That the power of Pentecost is for every Christian is made clear; first, by the promises which are to all alike; second, by the New Testament examples; third, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every Christian makes the enduement for service logical for every Christian; fourth, by the fact that the soulwinning task demands supernatural power; and, fifth, because the Word of God clearly commands Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

QUOTE FIVE

‘I have been crucified with Christ,’ says Paul. What does this mean? In principle, it means that my right to myself is annihilated, as His concern and love for others is expressed through me. Identification, that’s the first thing. Not simply to die to myself, but to live in Him. Bless your hearts, evangelism isn’t a ‘project’, it’s a way of life! ‘Feed My sheep. Identify yourself with My interests in other people,’ says Jesus. Oh, to be so satisfied, identified with Jesus that my life is spoiled for everything but His will! Am I more concerned with my right to live, than with my daily dying to Him? Which are you more concerned about? Paul says, ‘I die daily’ — do you? Do I? Is that my major passion?

QUOTE SIX

It takes a long time to come to a moral decision about sin, but it is the great moment in my life when I do decide that just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world, so sin must die out in me, not be curbed or suppressed or counteracted, but crucified. No one can bring anyone else to this decision. We may be earnestly convinced, and religiously convinced, but what we need to do is come to the decision which Paul forces here. … I cannot reckon myself “dead indeed unto sin” unless I have been through this radical issue of will before God. Have I entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ until all that is left is the life of Christ in my flesh and blood?

There you have it. Let me know what you think.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

I started a book by Elmer Towns today. It is our current selection for our reading group: Understanding the Deeper Life. I had not been aware that Towns subscribed to Keswick views, but it is quite plain from this book. He spend his undergraduate years at Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University) under Robert McQuilkin. McQuilkin and Columbia are Keswick, hence the influence on Towns.

In his introduction, Towns alludes to his experience as the president of Winnipeg Bible College (now Providence College and Seminary) and makes a very interesting observation:

Later, my experience as president of Winnipeg Bible College refined the principles by which I lived. I had some Christian mysticism that was not based on the Bible. I was tested and found wanting. (I prayed all night on several occasions for money but I did not get it. The problem was I only prayed. I learned that my walk with God must be based on biblical principles, not feelings. (The colleged prospered when I not only prayed for money, but organized a financial outreach campaign. God honors both faith and works.)

In thinking about this, I immediately made some application to our ministry and the need for growth and souls. We are praying for souls. We are praying for growth. We aren’t doing much. In years past, we have done many things – tried different types of outreaches, etc. I confess that the paltry results are demotivators.

A few years ago I was talking to a friend who planted a church over in the Lower Mainland. It is self-supporting now and pastored by another friend. I asked him what it took to build a church in Western Canada. He told me this: “You aren’t going to like my answer. … It’s knocking on doors.” He was right, I didn’t like his answer. But he went on to explain, “I can’t say that knocking on doors by itself did anything to build the church. We used to go around door-knocking offering in home Bible studies. We had some who were interested, most not. But as we worked, the church grew. The Lord blessed our efforts, often in ways we hadn’t expected.”

Well, I still don’t like knocking on doors. But the point expressed by Towns and illustrated by my friend resonates with me. It is time to be doing something, not just praying. Faith is good, but let’s work out our faith, eh?

While I can’t imagine just doing a strict doorknocking campaign, I do think that we must be more active in evangelizing our community. That will mean becoming more visible to the community in some way, making contacts, and encouraging people to respond. I have a few notions percolating around in my brain, it is high time to take action on them and move forward.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Burmese riot police attack monks: “Monks’ shaved heads stained with blood could be seen at the Shwedagon Pagoda where police charged against protesters demanding the end of military rule.”

The news out of Myanmar (Burma) call to mind the life of Adoniram Judson and his missionary enterprise in the very shadow of the famous Shwedagon Pagoda mentioned in this article. Here are links to pictures of the Buddhist shrine:

• on mir.com
• on zininfo.com
• on trekearth.com

I wonder what the results of this unrest will be for the Christians in Burma, especially for a good friend and colleague who is a member of our mission. Whatever happens, I hope greater freedom for the gospel is the result. I suppose the unrest doesn’t make that promising.

For a life of Judson, I can think of no finer work for easy reading than To the Golden Shore by Courtenay Anderson. It is well worth your reading, and especially I think well worth reading to children. Some parts are hard to get through, the tears will flow.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Online couple cheated with each other | The Daily Telegraph: “Online couple cheated with each other”

Larry Rogier has an excellent comment here.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

David Cloud is one of those figures with whom I find myself alternately in agreement and disagreement. I agree with him in many of his emphases and especially on his condemnation of ‘easy believism’ which he calls ‘easy prayerism’. I disagree with him profoundly on his promotion of King James Only views, although I don’t begrudge his holding them.

The subject of this post is not a matter of theological disagreement or agreement. It is a matter of integrity in reporting. In a headline item in his ‘Friday News Notes’, he sent out just last Friday this jarring headline:

BJU PROFESSOR RECOMMENDING NEW EVANGELICAL MINISTRIES

In the short article that follows, Cloud criticises a presentation by Nathan Crockett at the Whetstone Conference this last summer at Mount Calvary Baptist Church, specifically criticising Dr. Mark Minnick and alleging that Dr. Minnick gives blanket endorsement to New Evangelicals. Cloud attempts to slime Bob Jones University with the same charge. [Nathan Crockett is Dr. Minnick’s son-in-law.]

I downloaded the presentation earlier this summer but had not yet listened to it. Since Cloud so unfavorably reviewed it, I took some time in my travels today to listen to the presentation. If you would like to hear the presentation, it is available here for purchase. Here is my take:

Far from a blanket endorsement of new evangelical ministries, Bro. Crockett repeatedly made disclaimers throughout the presentation: “we wouldn’t agree with many things said on this site”, “they don’t take the kinds of stands we would take”, “we don’t endorse their positions”, etc. The point of the presentation was to provide awareness of on-line resources especially with a view to using the internet as a source of information for sermon preparation and for being able to be aware of things our people may bring up (such as movies — and you know that you will be dealing with people commenting on the movies they see, don’t you?) A wise pastor should be aware of current events, both as a resource for sermon illustration and for awareness of what the people are thinking about. Cloud criticises Crockett for mentioning the New York Times as a source of news… (eyes roll!!) Bro. Crockett did mention that the NYT is a liberal paper, but it is a NEWSpaper, is it not? And, quite frankly, it is an excellent resource for news on the web, with an eye into the liberal mindset. The people we are trying to reach in North America think this way, how do you expect to reach people you don’t understand? (And the NYT is a great source of crossword puzzles, my own little on again, off again addiction!)

Could Bro. Crockett’s presentation have been better? I suppose. I suspect that Crockett himself would confess so. I found the presentation to be quite helpful. He mentioned sites which I wasn’t really aware of, but think could be quite useful as resources. From my perspective, there were generally more than sufficient disclaimers throughout, anyone who listens to the actual presentation would not come to the coonclusion that either Minnick or Crockett offered any kind of ‘endorsement’ of new evangelicals in any way. One can only wonder if Cloud isn’t miffed that his own efforts weren’t mentioned!

In short, I am quite disappointed by Cloud’s comments. In my view, he dishonestly misrepresents Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Mark Minnick, Nathan Crockett and Bob Jones University.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

I am sailing up the Strait of Georgia as I type this. It is an absolutely gorgeous evening. Blue skies, a low sun setting over Vancouver Island, the hills and mountains of the Island a purple haze, merging into the few clouds hanging low in the West where the sea meets the sky. The waters of the Strait are calm, quietly rippled. Even a prairie boy like me can admit admiration for this part of God’s wonderful creation.

I am heading home from a day down to Seattle. As I mentioned in my last post, my dear mother-in-law is very ill. My wife has gone to Nashville to spend a few weeks with her, perhaps the last weeks our dear one will spend on earth. It is lung cancer. The name of the disease is the name of decay and the curse. The fruit of Adam’s sin wracks our mortal bodies, bringing them down to dust in the end.

All our labours, hopes, and dreams come to an end at last, at least as far as this life is concerned. Even now, in my own body, decay is evident. I cannot run so far as I once could. Run? I can barely run at all, and not for long. One day, if the Lord tarries, it will be my turn to lie at death’s door and answer the call of the curse as well.

The purple glory in the west seems to belie the dread and despair my soul feels. What congruence hath this glory in this world of sin and shame? The sight of the setting sun brings to mind the hope of the kingdom to come, the glories of the King who died for all men, and especially for the household of God. The sun is setting on this world, but the Son is rising. One day, in all his brightness and glory, the curse will be gone and done. All His saints will reign with Him … now that is an incongrous thought, as I think of the weary body of my dear wife’s mother, coming close to the end of her earthly span. She will one day stand with the Son, in His glory. And so will I, and all who love Him and look for his appearing. We are not significant players in this world of might and men, but we will reign with the Son.

The Son in his Book promises these things to us. Believest thou this?

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

P.S. For a look at some Vancouver Island sunset images, these are the best I’ve seen on the Web:

Stubbs Island Sunset

BC Coast Sunset

Sunset Nootka Sound

It is so beautiful around here we tend to take it for granted.

Well, we began our series in Romans today. I managed the exposition of the first word: “Paul…” I was quite pleased with the result. Our title and subtitle for the message is this: “Paul: or, what would it be like if Osama got saved“

In a real way, the name Paul represents the whole theme of Romans. If ever there was a name emblemantic of ‘a soul set free’, it is that of Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, the apostle to the Gentiles. His biography occupied the bulk of our message, causing us to consider in vivid personal illustration the gospel of God, the theme of Romans.

In this message, a good deal of introductory material prefaced the body of the message. I dealt with my method of exposition [glacial], noting it’s similarity with D. M. Lloyd-Jones. In fact, I shared this quote:

I do not announce a programme, and for this reason, that when you are studying the Word of God you never know exactly when you are going to end. At least, I have a very profound feeling that such should be the case, believing, as we do, in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We know from experience that He suddenly comes upon us û He illumines the mind and moves the heart û and I believe that any man who expounds the Scripture should always be open to the Holy Ghost. That is why some of us do not broadcast sermons, because we find it difficult to reconcile ourselves to a time-limit in these matters. I wonder what would happen to an occasional broadcast service if the Holy Ghost suddenly took possession of the preacher! Well, it is exactly the same on an occasion like this. I may have planned to map out a certain portion and to say certain things, and I might therefore draw up a syllabus, but, as I say, it is my profound hope that the Holy Ghost will overrule me and my ideas, and any little programme I may have. So I will thus go on from week to week trusting to that leading and that guidance, not promising to do any given amount every Friday.

I also dealt with the importance and place of Romans, with a few additional quotes. If you care to see them, you can check the pdf of the outline, linked above.

I took the proposition entirely from v. 16: “The gospel of Christ … is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Three points covered the message, with the emphasis on the first point: The likeness of Saul’s sin to every man’s sin. Saul’s sin (threatenings and slaughter) is only separated from hatred by a matter of degree. In this way all men are connected in their sins, whether they be an Osama or a me. The second point: A life changed by the supernatural work of Jesus Christ. Here we see the confrontation of Paul by Christ, after goading Saul towards the truth of the gospel by means of things like conscience, his knowledge of God’s standard of righteousness revealed in the OT, and the testimony of believers whom he persecuted. In the vision, Saul is confronted with his sin, with the revelation of Christ, and essentially with the call to ‘Follow me!’The closing point is this: The likeness of Paul’s new life to Christ’s holy life. Immediately he is baptized, stands for Christ in the Damascus synagogue, experiences the persecution he once performed, goes on to faithful pastoral and evangelistic service in the work the Lord separated him to. What a transformation. What would it be like if Osama got saved? Well, Saul (meaning ‘desired’) was changed to Paul (meaning ‘little’) and Paul made much of Christ, and little of self. Paul’s name stands at the head of the epistle as exhibit A of the transforming power of the gospel, the theme of the whole book.

~~~~

In our afternoon service, we returned to our discussion of my philosophy of the local church. Last week was ‘It’s a Body’, this week was ‘It’s a Growing Body: it grows into the head by the ministry of the parts‘. In this message, we went through Eph 4.11-16 talking about the process of the church, looking at ‘the body’ not as a static body but as a living, growing organism, growing up into its head, which is Christ. The Lord gave gifts to the church (men in authority) to equip the saints to do the work of serving and building so the body can grow to the goal of Christlikeness, unswayed and undeceived. For this to succeed in the local church, the saints in the body need to see themselves as essential role players in Christ’s body – the effort needed to ‘grow the church’ must come from saints (who are equipped by the leadership). The growth process can break down at several points: the leaders may fail to equip, the saints may fail to serve, the ‘neophytes’ in the body may fail to grow to take their place as servants in the body and the whole body can collapse when one part of the body fails to fulfill God’s plan.

~~~

In my last post I said I had planned three more posts right away… they didn’t happen, but there is still a plan. I don’t know when I will get a chance to update the site next, however. My wife’s mother is very ill and we are getting my wife down to the airport in Seattle for Tuesday to go be with her. We are a bit in busy mode over the next few days.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

It is time for my regular sermon summaries, wherein I think my messages over. This way, I get to preach them twice, once to everyone in church, and once to myself as I try to summarize them.

The morning message concluded our short series on Discipleship and Child Training. I got the main ideas for this message from an outline by Wayne Mack, referenced in earlier posts. The message was entitled The Necessity of Discipline. We covered first the necessity that the disciple-maker be a disciple, then we discussed the notion of ‘admonition’ or ‘correction’. Disciple-making is the process of challenging and changing the thinking of men who are habitually in the mode of flesh-dominated, world-influenced thinking. From that mindset, we must admonish in such a way as to develop biblical thinking processes.

But there is something else needed – discipline. This idea is contained in the word ‘paideia’, the word translated ‘nurture’ in Eph 6.4. We went to Heb 12.4-13 where the word is much used and translated ‘chasten’ or ‘chastisement’. Here is our proposition: “Effective Christian training, whether it be children or disciples, requires discipline to form disciples.” In understanding the nature of the discipline we are talking about, we looked at the word ‘paideia’ and the accompanying words in Greek. The word refers to a process whereby the Greeks employed slaves to educate their children, including putting the child completely under the authority of the pedagogue who instructed, corrected, and disciplined the child in order to educate him. Our Hebrews passage is an expositon of Prov 3.11-12, which says, “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” So when we speak of the nature of discipline, it refers to the bands and restrictions placed on the disciple for the purpose of changing his mind and behaviour. The Lord employs this kind of discipline repeatedly, in both testaments. The discipline is intended to make us willing to yield. God could put so much pressure on you to make you do his will, but he doesn’t do that – he puts enough pressure on you to give you the opportunity to yield to his will willingly.

In our world, the solution to bad behaviour is often thought to be ‘more education’. But our society frowns on discipline of any kind. They are willing to multiply words, but that is all that worldly education amounts to, words heaped upon words. Whether you listen and learn is left up to you, no one will make you learn. No one will discipline you in the modern educational system. They will just ‘talk to you’. The current generation is the most “talked to” generation in history, and seems to be among the least restrained and most undisciplined. Could it be that what is lacking is logical, just, loving, firm discipline?

~~~

The afternoon service was much more satisfying to me than last week. Our title was It’s a Body with this sub-title, “it functions by interdependence [servant-fellowship]”. What I am trying to do with this series is to preach my philosophy of local church ministry. This idea, the idea of the body, is an important metaphor for the church. In the message, the first thing I did as a means of extended introduction was to read every passage in the New Testament talking about the church as ‘the body’. That meant we had about ten texts for our message instead of one. I offered a summary statement in each passage to give a bit of an idea of the overall doctrine. Then, for the body of the message, we concentrated on the ideas presented in 1 Cor 12, where Paul is arguing with the Corinthians about their strife over tongues. In essence, they are missing the point of the body. They are being too individualistic, too self-centered. That is not what the church is about, it is about interdependence, or what I call ‘servant-fellowship’. The concept of interdependence is given in 1 Cor 12, the key to interdependence is given in 1 Cor 13 – the love chapter. This is where we need to be, and this is the kind of spirit the Lord himself taught.

The Lord’s teaching really illumines what I am trying to produce in the local church. There is a term that is widely bandied about by many teachers these days: ‘servant-leadership’. I understand what people are trying to say with this term and I agree with it to a point. But I think the term misses the Lord’s teaching. See Lk 22.25-27 and Jn 13.12-17. Jesus totally de-emphasizes the leadership bit. He puts all the weight on ‘serve’. Is it possible that we make a subtle error by including the concept of ‘leadership’ in the mix?

Here is the emphasis in the Bible: “serve” and “among you” – not ‘servant-leadership’ but ‘servant-fellowship’. Proposition: The local church as the body of Christ lives by the bonds by which it is connected through the indwelling and interacting Spirit of Jesus Christ.

How is that lived out in a local church? Well, we love one another and serve one another. I spoke of several ways we do this. I mentioned ‘The Baptist sacrament: fried chicken (or is it coffee?)’ – in other words, taking meals together. I mentioned specific things we have done in our church: a barn raising for one of our members, a current ministry some of our folks have of bringing others with them to church (the Duncan bus, from a town 45 minutes north of the church building), or seniors shopping days where some of our folks are serving our older saints who no longer drive, or meal ministries to those who are sick and unable to feed their families, or even cutting the lawn and building maintenance. All of this is done by people who love one another and who are responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to serve one another.

The body also functions in serving one another by excising cancerous cells. This can involve surgery, chemo, or radiation. It can be painful, but it is necessary. These are means by which we serve one another.

The whole challenge to our church body is to be a body. Some sort of hang around on the periphery, holding to themselves and refusing to wholeheartedly join in. They are missing the point and need to get hold of the concept of ‘body’ and ‘servant-fellowship’.

Regards,
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

PS… I have been laying linoleum today in my bathroom renovation project. In the process I have been filling up my mind with posts I want to put out on the blog… Three more to go, but they will have to wait till tomorrow.