I have highlighted some of the work of Propaganda in the past (here, here, here, and here), and most recently, he has come out with a new album entitled “Excellent.” My friend Joe Thorn has been chopping it up on his blog this week, including the controversial(?) song “Precious Puritans“. I encourage you to check out this album. It is currently #4 on iTunes Rap/Hip Hop charts, and if you are wondering if it is worth buying, just check out Thabiti Anyabwile stream of tweets about the album…
I’ve really enjoyed the recent weeks of devotional study in the gospel of John. As I studied the book on a macroscopic level, I noticed a triperspectival structure to the book, especially in three sequential themes. For those new to triperspectivalism, bear with me while I try to explain.
In simplest terms, triperspectivalism is three (tri) perspectives (perspectivalism) most commonly understood in terms of (1) knowledge (epistemology), viz. normative, existential, and situational; (2) the offices of Christ (Christology), viz., prophet, priest, and king; or (3) practically speaking, the common three-pronged approach to the Christian experience in head, heart, and hands.
GLORY
I find triperspectivalism in the Gospel of John with three word themes: “Glory”, “Believe”, and “Follow/Keep”. John makes it clear in John 20:30-31 there is an intentional purpose to the structure of His book (built around “signs”). The signs are glimpses of the glory Christ. They are windows which unveil the true identity of Jesus as Messiah, God’s Son. The purpose of God revealing His glory in Christ is so that sinners would believe. Bringing his book to conclusion, John writes:
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)
Signs were performed for the purpose of creating faith. Faith born in the heart of sinners brings life in the name of Jesus. When we see the first “sign” Jesus performed turning the water into wine, John’s commentary confirms this very purpose. In John 2:11, John writes:
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
I am reminded regularly in my reading of Octavius Winslow’s Morning Thoughts why this devotional is, in my opinion one of the best, Christ-centered resources available for daily intake. Today’s reading is such a reminder. If you have not picked up this book, I encourage you to do so. You can also get it on Kindle for $.99.
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“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13
GOD speaks of it as involving two evils-the evil of forsaking Him, and the evil of substituting a false object of happiness for Him. Dear reader, the true painfulness of this subject consists not in the sorrow which your heart may have felt in seeing your cisterns broken. Ah no! the true agony should be, that you have, in your wanderings and creature idolatry, sinned, deeply sinned, against the Lord your God. This, and not your loss, ought to lay you low before Him. This, and not your broken scheme of earthly happiness, ought to fill you with the bitterness of sorrow, and clothe you with the drapery of woe. Oh! to have turned your back upon such a God, upon such a Father, upon such a Friend, and to have supposed that even a universe of creatures could have made you happy without Him, ought to bring you to His feet exclaiming, “God be merciful to me, the chief of sinners!”
Is it no sin to have said to God, as you have a thousand times over-”I prefer myself to You-my family to You-my estate to You-my pleasure to You-my honor to You”? Is it no sin to have taken the gifts with which He endowed you, or the wealth with which He entrusted you, and forming them into a golden image, to have fallen down before it, exclaiming, “This is your god, O my soul?” Oh yes, it is a sin, the guilt and the greatness of which no language can describe. And is it no sin, O believer in Jesus, to have turned away, in your unbelief and inconstancy, from the glorious redemption which the Lord has obtained for you at such a price, and to have sought the assurance and the joy of your salvation from other sources than it? What! is not the atoning work of Jesus sufficient to give your believing soul solid rest, and peace, and hope, but that you should have turned your eye from Him, and have sought it in the polluted and broken cistern of self? Oh, slight not the precious blood, the glorious righteousness, the infinite fullness, and the tender love of Jesus thus. No, you dishonor this precious Jesus Himself!
Shall He have wrought such an obedience, shall He have made such an atonement, shall He have died such a death, shall He have risen and have ascended up on high, all to secure your full salvation and certain glory, and will you derive the evidence and the comfort of your acceptance from any other than this one precious source-”looking unto Jesus!” Look away, then, from everything to Jesus. No matter what you are, look away from self-to Jesus. The more vile, the more empty, the more unworthy, the greater reason and the stronger argument why you should look entirely off yourself-to Jesus. His atoning work is finished by Him, and is sealed by the Father. It is impossible that God can reject you, entirely renouncing yourself and fleeing into Christ. Coming to Him in the name of Jesus, God cannot deny you. He has pledged Himself that whatever is asked in that name He will grant. Take Him at His word!
Ask Him for a sense of His reconciled love-ask Him for the Spirit of adoption-ask Him for a filial, loving, and obedient heart-ask Him for a meek, lowly, and submissive will. Yes, pour out your heart before Him: God waits to grant your utmost desire breathed out to Him in the name of Jesus. He has given you His beloved Son-oh largess worthy of a God!-oh gift of gifts, priceless and precious beyond all thought!-what inferior blessing will He then, withhold?
Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints—be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.
1 Corinthians 16:15-18
Like Rufus’ momma, we don’t know the names of those in the household of Stephanas. What we do know from the final instructions of Paul to the church in Corinth was:
1. They were the first converts in Achaia (one of two Greek provinces in the Roman Empire, where Corinth was located)
2. They devoted themselves to the service of the saints
3. They refreshed the spirit of Paul and those in Corinth
As a result of their life and ministry, the Corinthians were to:
1. Be subject to them (and others like them)
2. Give recognition to them (and others like them)
This is beautiful. First converts in a new region became such disciples that they became ministers to the apostle Paul who likely first led them to Jesus. It is not mentioned how much theology they knew or even if they held a positional leadership in Corinth (though some commentators think they may have been elders). What we do know is the kind of lives they lived. They devoted themselves to the service of the saints. This characteristic is attributed to pastoral leadership but to any disciple of Jesus who matures in Christ-likeness. And Paul says such people deserves (a) respect and (b) recognition. They were leaders no doubt, but it was because of their example (devotion in service) and influence (known for refreshing others).
I find this instructive for us today, especially in terms of disciple-making and leadership development. Paul made disciples and matured them to the point where they in turn ministered to him. He modeled what a life of devotion to serving the saints looked like, and they imitated him. Consequently, the investment he made into their lives in turn resulted in personal refreshment and encouragement down the road. Additionally, church leaders often commend those who can win Bible trivia contests (in other words, those who have the most Bible knowledge). I am not denigrating knowledge or being sound in doctrine, but those truly sound in doctrine (mind) will lead to a life of devoted service to the saints (hands). Of all the things that likely could have been said about the household of Stephanas, Paul chose to highlight their devotion and service to the saints. As a discipler and equipping pastor, I am praying that our church would be filled with folks like the household of Stephanas whose reputation preceded them, whose life commanded respect, and whose recognition came from heaven.
Heaven knows the household of Stephanas, and so should we. Not simply because they are written in God’s inspired Word, because because of what that Word says about their lives and what we should aspire to become as well.
We are two weeks away from the PLNTD/Gospel Appliance New England Conference on “Cultivating Gospel Mission”. We are pumped to have Scotty Smith, Caesar Kalinowski, and Jared Wilson speaking to a nice cadre of men and women from around New England on gospel renewal and reviving work of mission in this pioneering region of the country.
Over two months ago, we sold out of the pre-conference, where Caesar Kalinowski will be teaching on “The Story-Formed Way”. We are glad to announce that we have made it possible for 10 more slots for this pre-conference training. In order to take advantage of this opening, those interested need to register on our conference Eventbrite page. These pre-conference registrations will likely go quickly, so be sure to sign up ASAP if you are looking to attend.
I look forward to seeing many of you in Portland! I hear Maine is beautiful this time of year . . .
This week starts a new emphasis with the Roots Reading Initiative. We just completed the focus on “The Man” and are getting ready to close out our first full year of deepening our roots in great books to grow leaders in local churches. If you’d like to get the scoop on what RRI seeks to accomplish and how we are doing this, here’s a great place to start. So far, here are the emphases and corresponding books we have studied:
As you can see, we have covered all 5 M’s so far (Man, Message, Mission, Methods, and Marriage). So we are starting over for Sep-Oct. 2012 with THE MISSION. In our first go-around, we focused on the What? question related to mission. This time we are looking to focus on the How? question – namely how to make disciples of Jesus. The two books we have selected for this focus is Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson and Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow by Eric Geiger, Michael Kelly, and Phillip Nation.
For those interested in joining in the reading, here’s the breakdown we are working off of each week:
September 2-8 Gospel-Centered Discipleship 1-50
September 9-15 Gospel-Centered Discipleship 51-74
September 16-22 Gospel-Centered Discipleship 75-118
September 23-30 Gospel-Centered Discipleship 119-56
October 1-6 Transformational Discipleship 1-68
October 7-13 Transformational Discipleship 69-112
October 14-20 Transformational Discipleship 113-74
October 21-31 Transformational Discipleship 175-225
Let me encourage those of you interested in deepening your roots in discipleship to join us for the next two months, especially those of you who are church planters. At the heart of the mission is the command to make disciples of Jesus. Everything else is secondary. What is your disciple-making plan? How are you going to make, mature, and multiply gospel-centered disciples? I believe resources like these will be a great encouragement to you, so join us!
A couple of weeks ago, I shared some reflections on John 11 and the relationship of God’s glory and God’s love. There is another connection to highlight, namely God’s glory and saving faith.
Jesus was quite transparent with his disciples. In what seems like a contradiction, Jesus both weeps over the death of Lazarus because of His love for him and at the same time is glad that he was not there to heal him of his illness. Why was he glad? Certainly it is not so that he could get blamed for failing to show up on time which happened by Martha (v. 21), Mary (v. 32), and the Jews (v. 37). Jesus’ reasoning was clear – “so that you may believe.”
Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus is passionate about strengthening the faith of His disciples and producing saving faith in unbelievers through His many “signs” (miraculous acts unveiling His identity as the Messiah). As He prayed to the Father, Jesus said, “I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe you sent me” (v. 42). What happened as a result of Jesus bringing a dead man back to life after four days in the tomb? “Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him” (v. 45). Seeing the glory of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ produced faith in the sinner’s heart.
This was a reality the religious leaders could not ignore. They knew the more Jesus performed these “many signs” (thus revealing His glory), the more sinners would be saved by faith in him. They confessed, “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him” (v. 48). The religious leaders knew this, but sometimes I wonder if we really believe this. Do we really believe the glory of God seen through the person and work of Jesus Christ produces saving faith in raising sinners from death to life?
For Lazarus, the story did not end with linen strips removed and the stench of death gone. In the next chapter, the formerly dead man is sharing a meal with Jesus. John wrote that “large crowds” came not only to see Jesus but also to see Lazarus. When you become a trophy of God’s triumphant power, you will face the onslaught of the enemy and be a powerful display of God’s amazing grace. This is what happened with Lazarus. Not because of anything he had done, but specifically because of what Jesus did in and through him, the religious leaders were seeking to kill him (formerly a dead man), and at the same time, “on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus” (12:9-10).
When the glory of God is on display in your life, you should not expect anything else. When Jesus is seen and savored, the devil will do everything to destroy this miraculous work of glory-begotten belief in God. When Jesus is seen and savored, the glory of God will be seen by others and saving faith will be born in their hearts as they come to savor the transforming grace of Jesus Christ.
That’s what I want. I long for it to be a commentary of my life that “on account of him many were going away and believing in Jesus.” But I realize if this happens, it will happen only because the glory of God had been seen through the transforming work of the Jesus in my life.
Lord, may my life require a gospel explanation for the change you’ve wrought in me,
and may your miracle-working power open blind eyes to see your glory and believe.
