Mind Potter

I have worked with youth for about nine years and one comment that I have often noticed is that we should be careful not to go too deep with the kids or it will just go over their heads and they will lose interest.

It seems that by saying that we don’t want to go too deep with our youth group kids means that we are giving them just enough of the gospel to inoculate them. Rather we want to give them the fullness of the gospel so that they can see that they have been given a deep pool of grace, the depths of which will take them the rest of their lives (even eternity) to plumb. Even that in any and every circumstance they will be able to dive into grace and find genuine salve for every wound.

Ask a kid what it means to be saved and he will likely respond, “Jesus forgives me of my sins.” And yet the kid observes that church, and especially youth group, seems to be about what God says to do and what God says not to do. How are these two basic teachings of the church compatible? How is it that God seems to demand so much, but forgives so easily? It almost seems like two different religions are being taught. One says that if we follow God we will avoid destructive behaviors. The other says that it doesn’t matter what you do God will forgive you. All you have to do is ask.

The confusion and lack of depth leads to all kinds of mess for graduates. They realize that they just can’t keep up with all of God’s demands and it seems like everyone has a different take on what those demands are anyway. And God forgives in the end so what does it matter? Christianity as a practiced religion becomes irrelevant. In the end what the youth group has produced is a youth that is morally ambivalent and to whom God has become a contradictory side show. The youth may not be willing to become an atheist due to core convictions that there must be a God; therefore, God is placated by minor religious activity and the youth continues to live in a moral and spiritual tension that stands as wall barring genuine reconciliation and relationship with his creator.

It seems that greater depth of understanding and teaching by leaders among youth is the only antidote to the inoculation above. The leaders must ask questions not only of the morality and forgiven status of the youth, but also of his depth of understanding the workings of redemption. Redemption is purchase of pardon, reconciliation, the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer, escape from wrath with Christ as the substitute, and so much more. Think of what happens to the tension above if the youth can see salvation does not mean sin is no big deal so God just forgives it, but rather that God has utter wrath and hatred of sin and that the cross is the perfect place to see God’s wrath upon sin.

We must guard against the shallow teaching that the gospel is the launch pad to a positive moral life. The gospel is basis of regeneration. The gospel is the sustenance of our daily life. The gospel our reconciliation to God. The gospel is the depth out of which flows our daily worship. Plumb the gospel for our youth. Plumb the gospel with our youth.

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The best way that I can think of to “plumb the gospel” is to find a passage of scripture that specifically summarizes some aspect of the work of Jesus in either His life, His death, or His reign (and they are all of the whole of scripture) and:

1) Read it
2) Dwell on it.
3) Sing songs that relate to it.
4) Ask questions about exactly how this redemption thing works.
5) Ask how this relates both to the beginning of the Christian life and the sustaining of the Christian life.
6) Let the youth ask questions of the text.
7) Begin to enjoy and appreciate all of what Christ has done.

Just a couple of scriptures: Philippians 2; The various divisions of Hebrews 9-10; John 3; Genesis 12 and many, many more.

I can’t say that I care much for the intro part of the video … I’m not sure that the state of the pulpit is RIP, but I do think that Mark Driscoll here does a good job of explaining why the message of Joel Osteen is at odds with not only the message of Jesus, but also the life of Jesus.

Let me first say that in this clip that Mark Driscoll shows of Joel Osteen preaching is the first time that I seem to think that Joel Osteen is trying to point people to God. There is so much that is true about what Osteen preaches. If we are believers in Christ’s work on the cross we are genuinely “children of God”. “We have royal blood flowing through our veins.” But Osteen seems to be confused regarding both:

1) The Center of the Message - The glory of God in the faithful perseverance of His children in the midst of suffering as they are preserved by the power of the Spirit in the hope of the promise that they have received in the work of Jesus of an eternal inheritance.

and

2) His Sense of Timing - The blessing that we have received in the present age is surety of the promise of a future eternal inheritance of which the Holy Spirit is a deposit.

AND YET … Osteen describes “complete victory” as three things that simply are not the key items of the gospel.

1) Healthy Body
2) Good Relationships
3) No Anxiety (especially as it relates to finances)

I would like to mention a few core problems with these three components coming together to be what the gospel describes as complete victory.

1) What does sin have to do with any of this? If there is no discussion of sin when we talk about victory then there is no need for the cross. When Jesus cried out that “It is finished” it was a cry of victory over sin’s curse and a claim of reconciliation between the redeemed and God.

2) This description slanders the thousands of saints and martyrs throughout history that have cried out “How long, Oh Lord,” as they suffered in their body and in their relationships and in their livelihood even to the point of death. Christ’s vindication of their cause is yet to come at the end of time.

3) Where is the need to persevere under trial or to intentionally place ourselves in the way of persecution for the sake of the gospel? It sounds as though I should avoid situations of persecution because I’m royalty after all.

4) And how should I pray for those who face persecution in places like China? Should I pray as they have asked, that they would endure and that the Good News of Jesus’ cross would be held up before even the persecutors? Or should I pray that God would make their bodies healthy, help them to make better friends, and that God would send them money so they wouldn’t have anxiety?

Bottom-line … I pray that I would see in Christ my own joy so that I can wear a smile as genuine as the appearance of Osteen. And yet I pray that God would hold before Osteen and Osteen would begin to hold before his church and the world the only source of eternal hope and present joy; that is, the God’s reconciling with man in the person and work of Jesus Christ. May we all become more holy worshippers of the One True God.

This is the seventh post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.

Chapter 7 – The Suffering Servant

Isaiah 53:

• Isaiah – “We esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”
• “On the cross, God’s wrath was poured out on Christ. God did strike Him, smite Him, and afflict Him—but not for any evil in Christ. He was smitten in His role as the vicarious Substitute for the people of God.”

God is Satisfied;

• Isaiah – “He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.”
• “God the Father would look on the travail of His Son, and seeing His work on the cross, He would be satisfied. By His work as the Surety, the Mediator, the Substitute, the Redeemer, Christ would most certainly satisfy the Father’s justice.”

This is the sixth post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.

Chapter 6 – Made Like His Brethren

Utter vs. Total Depravity:

• “Utter depravity would mean that man is as bad, as corrupt, as he possibly could be.”
• “Total depravity … meant that sin—its power, its influence, its inclination—affects the whole person.

Two perspectives of goodness and badness:

• External performance and the “consideration of the heart”

The Just Man:

• “We have one unjust party (man) and two just parties. We have a just God and a just Mediator, Who is altogether holy. The Mediator is the One Who came to satisfy the requirements of the just God on behalf of the unjust race of man. He is the One Who makes the unjust party just. He is the only One Who could do so.”

Is Jesus death enough?

• “If Jesus took all the sins I’ve ever committed on His back and took the punishment for me, that would not get me into the kingdom of God. It would be good enough to keep me out of hell, but I still would not be just. I would be innocent, if you will, but still not just in a positive sense.

Forensic Justification and Imputation:

• “Not only is the sin of man imputed to Christ, but the righteousness of Christ is transferred to us, to our account.”
• “… the righteousness of Christ that is transferred to us is the righteousness He achieved by living under the Law for thirty-three years without once sinning.
  o “… not only did Jesus die for us, He lived for us.”

Justification by Faith Alone:

• “… the only means by which the righteousness and the merit of Christ can come into our accounts and be applied to us is by faith.”

This is the fifth post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.

Chapter 5 – The Saving Substitute

Jesus, the Righteous Substitute

• “Jesus had to submit Himself to every detail of every law God had given to the nation.”

Expiation:

• “… taking away the guilt through the payment of a penalty or the offering of an atonment.”

Propitiation:

• “… brings about a change in God’s attitude, so that He moves from being at enmity with us to being for us. Through the process of propitiation, we are restored into fellowship and favor with Him.

Salvation:

• Generally speaking “any experience of deliverance from a clear and present danger can be spoken of as a form of salvation.”
• Biblically speaking “Jesus ‘delivers us form the wrath to come.’”
• “Therefore, Christ’s supreme achievement on the cross is that He placated the wrath of God, which would burn against us were we not covered by the sacrifice of Christ.”

Substitutionary Atonement:

• A Substitute has appeared in space and time, appointed by God Himself, to bear the weight and the burden of our transgressions, to make expiation for our guild, and to propitiate the wrath of God on our behalf. This is the gospel. Therefore, if you take away the substitutionary atonement, you empty the cross of its meaning and drain all the significance out of the passion of our Lord Himself. If you do that, you take away Chrsitianity itself.”

This is the fourth post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.

Chapter 4 – Ransomed from Above

Mark 10:45

• For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Ransom:

• “a price that was paid to release a slave from bondage or to set free hostages who were being held in military conflicts.”

1st Ransom Theory:

• “Jesus paid a ransom to Satan because Satan held fallen man under bondage.”
• Christus Victor: “If Christ paid a ransom to Satan to deliver us from Satan’s clutches, who is the victor?”

2nd Ransom Theory:

• “… the ransom was paid not to Satan but to God, because God was the One Who had to be satisfied.
• Naomi and Ruth and the kinsman-redeemer.
• “As our elder brother, [Christ] pays the indebtedness that we have incurred before God.”

This is the third post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.

Chapter 3 – Debtors, Enemies, and Criminals

“Sin is cosmic treason”

God is Author: (p34)

• “The word authority has another word in it—author. Because God is the Author of all things, He has authority over all that He has created.”

DEBT:

• Man is the debtor, God is the Creditor, and Christ is the Surety.

ENMITY:

• Man is the enemy, God is the violated one, and Christ is the mediator.

CRIME:

• Man is the criminal, God is the Judge, and Christ is the substitute.
• Illustration: Borrowing and not being able to pay vs. stealing.

Romans 3:26

• God set out “to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

This is the second post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.

Chapter 2 – The Just God

Why the God-Man?

• “… the chief reason a God-man was necessary was the justice of God.”

God is loving:

• “a major part of what He loves is His own perfect character.”

God’s Justice:

• “His eternal, immutable commitment always to do what is right.”

Mercy:

• The very idea of mercy implies justice.

This is the first post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.

Chapter 1 – The Necessity of an Atonement

1Cor 2:2

• “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Holy God and Sin as Offense: (p9)

• “If people understood that there is a holy God and that sin is an offense against that holy God, they would break down the doors of our churches and ask, “What must I do to be saved?”

Justification by Death: (p10)

• “The prevailing notion of justification in Western culture today is justification by death. It’s assumed that all one has to do to be received into the everlasting arms of God is to die.”

Primitive and Obscene: (p11)

• “It is primitive for a blood sacrifice to be made to satisfy the justice of a transcendent and holy God …. And the cross is an obscenity …. The cross was the ugliest, most obscene thing in the history of the world.”

Augustinianism, Semi-Pelagianism, and Pelagianism: (p12)

• Augustinianism – “salvation rests on God’s grace alone”
• Semi-Pelagianism – “salvation rests on human cooperation with God’s grace”
• Pelagianism – “salvation can be achieved without God’s grace”

Necessity?

• Absolutely Unnecessary – “Jesus died as a moral example for men”
• Hypothetically Necessary – “God could have redeemed us by a host of ways”
• Absolutely Necessary – “If any person was ever going to be reconciled to God and redeemed”

I’ve been asked the question, “What is it that a pastor does all day?” enough times that it has led me to ask myself what exactly I am doing.

Well, I read a lot. And it seems that most of my reading just leads to more questions and thus more books. But is reading the end of what a pastor does? Ok, I write sermons and practice preaching them. But are sermons the end of what a pastor does? I visit people in their homes and in the hospital and in funeral visitation lines. Maybe I’m just a professional “kind person” and listening ear who reads a lot and talks about what he has learned.

And then there is the Great Commission to “make disciples”. Ok, maybe I’m a disciple maker. But have you ever really tried that? The problem with having your product be disciples is that disciples are persons. It is really hard, dare I say impossible, to make people do much of anything.

I can tell you a few other things that I do: I lead Bible studies, I pray with people, I meet a lot of people for breakfast or lunch, I have people over to my home, I meet with a lot of people in my office … Really, it seems that most of what I do is either with people or in preparation for being with people.

But again, people can’t possibly be my product because I just don’t have that kind of control over the shape and decisions of people. It sure would be nice sometimes if I could say that I’m in the book business … I make books. Or, I’m in the carpentry business … I make houses. But I can’t say I’m in the people business because I can’t make people do or become much of anything.

And then it hit me. While it may seem like I’m in the people business I really am simply in the obedience business. I’m in the business of obeying God by creating opportunity. The Bible and Christian tradition calls this proclamation. Proclamation is my product. I study the truth so that I can present the truth to people, thus creating opportunity for the person to respond.

Let me explain what I mean by proclaiming, as you might have the image of my suddenly jumping up on a chair and starting to shout the Romans Road.

I can’t make any person do anything. But I can understand the purpose for which each person is made; that is, to glorify their God by reflecting back to Him the beauty of His own image in increasing holiness. My final product isn’t a Holy Image Reflector or even a disciple. The pastor’s final product is simply an opportunity. I open up doors of invitation. I speak the truth in love and wait knowing that I’ve done my job. I am completely ignorant of what the Holy Spirit is doing in this sacred moment in the heart of a friend, or a congregant, or a stranger after he has heard the gospel, but I know when the opportunity is well-received because it is met with repentance and belief. I can’t see the inner workings of the Holy Spirit in sanctification, but I know when my efforts at providing opportunity for discipleship are met with the Holy Spirit’s work when the believer begins to bear the fruit of holy living.

Again, I don’t make repentance. Repentance is not my product. I don’t create belief. And I don’t grow believers even when they show their first signs of new life. I simply study the truth, speak the truth, and hold before persons and myself the call of holiness.

“So, pastor, what do you do all day? Are you in the people business?”

No, not really. I’m more in the business of obedience. I obey God by studying His truth, knowing His truth, practicing His truth, and holding up His truth. What people do with my business isn’t my business (though I admit that it is my great concern). It’s their business to be taken up between the Holy Spirit and their eternal soul.