More than Just a Ghost- Al Mohler on the Holy Spirit

October 24, 2008

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” -John 14.25-26

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” -John 15.26

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” -John 16.7-8

Growing up I did not have much church exposure, but, what exposure I did have came at services and camps which fell under the pentecostal denomination. Because of this, I had a strong initial presentation to belief in the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Now some 12-15 years later, and 7 years since joining a Southern Baptist church, a strong view of the Spirit is still a part of my faith (though with certain necessary orthodox changes from the pentecostal beliefs in spirit baptism, etc). However, as a Southern Baptist denominationally and a Calvinist soteriologically, I would have to say that the view portrayed of the Spirit in typical SBC life leaves something to be desired.

A couple of weeks ago Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern seminary, gave legs to this complaint. As one who shares the same reformed convictions as myself, Dr. Mohler knows all to well the necessity of a strong view of the Spirit in the work of regeneration and the inner testimony of assurance of salvation. He also knows the propensity of Baptists to avoid the idea of an active Spirit for fear of placing too much emphasis on seeking signs and gifts among the body of believers. Therefore, when approaching the topic of the Holy Spirit as spoken of in the Apostles Creed, Dr. Mohler delivered a thorough explication of the him as revealed to us by the words of Christ in John chapters 14 through 16, without going overboard into the more murky waters of the involvement of the Spirit in the life of the church a la the book of Acts.

I think his message, which was part of Southern seminary’s Heritage Week, is a must listen, particularly for those among us who err too frequently on the side of a passive, unimportant Spirit. As Dr. Mohler points out, the Spirit does not come to testify about himself (John 16.13), yet without his presence the church would be lost in the world (John 14.18).

Dr. Albert Mohler- The Apostles Creed: The Holy Spirit

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Posted by Todd Burus

God Decides 2008!- Answers to Common Objections of this View (part 2)

October 22, 2008

Continuing on with common objections, let’s look at two more. First,

Objection: If one believes that election is effectual for salvation then they will no longer take part in evangelism.

This objection is almost a continuation of the John 3.16 objection, and usually accompanies it, but also has its’ own individual flavor.  Basically, the reasoning behind this question is, if God has chosen his elect, and if all and only his elect will be saved, then why should we participate in evangelism?

The first, and most to the point and terse answer to this, is the one RC Sproul so bluntly makes, that being that we do so because evangelism has been commanded of us by Christ: Matthew 28.19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Mark 16.15, “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.’“

This certainly is good enough of a reason, but for the sake of thoroughness, I would like to look a little deeper.  To do this I want to call upon some passages in Acts which I think illuminate to us what the apostles knew of election and how they proceeded.  Acts 18.9-11 recalls for us a vision of Paul’s in which the Lord speaks to him:

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

In the vision, the Lord instructs Paul to “not be silent . . . for [the Lord has] many in [that] city who are [his] people.”  In other words, Paul is instructed to continue evangelism because of God’s election.  God had elected many in the city of Corinth to salvation, and it was by the means of Paul’s preaching which he had determined to awaken their souls (cf. Romans 10.14-17).  Then what was Paul’s response?  “And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them” (v.11).

Elsewhere in Acts, we see Luke give account of a gospel work in the city of Antioch in Pisidia in which he expresses similar sentiments about God’s electing and its effectualness for salvation for all and only the elect: Acts 13.48, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”  This is almost unmissable, that God had preordained a section of the Gentiles to be saved, and that that preordination found effect in the preaching of the Word by Paul and Barnabas.  Once more a testament to the necessity of sharing and receiving the Gospel message as a vehicle for carrying out God’s electing graces, and an indictment on anyone who would say that believing in this view of unconditional election causes one to neglect the call to evangelism.

Objection: If God elects people to salvation, then necessarily those who he does not elect to salvation he is just electing to hell.

This is a tough one.  Yet, though it may be the hardest to answer, it is also probably the most esoterically useless.  The point is, a lot of people will try and argue that the specific view of unconditional election which has been voiced here necessarily leads to determinism, and that that philosophical position is incapable of standing with the nature of an Almighty loving God.  I have spoken towards this charge previously and so will not be answering it in too much depth, but I feel that one short illustration will do.

The problem for those who detail the objection in the way that if God is unconditionally electing some to salvation then this implies he is also unconditionally “electing” the rest to damnation, is that this seems unfair.  That is because, in this view, one is picturing God before the foundation of the earth with a bag of neutral souls in his lap, picking out each individual soul, and placing it unconditionally either in heaven or in hell.  In this case, God places all of us where he wants us and that is where we stay, which, I agree, sounds appalling.

However, for the consistent 5-point Calvinist who adheres to the stated view of unconditional election, what they actually see is God before the foundation of the earth with a bag of neutral souls, picking out some of the souls and placing them in heaven and just leaving the remaining souls in the bag.  Then, God creates the earth, man falls, and through the sin of Adam all of the souls move to place themselves in hell.  The ones that were just sitting in the bag actually make it there and are thus condemned (John 3.18), whereas the ones which God had originally placed in heaven are guarded by his power and kept from making the jump (1 Peter 1.3-5).  Thus, human responsibility is culpable for leading the condemned to condemnation, whereas God’s sovereign grace is the cause of the salvation of the elect, and nowhere does full determinism come into play.

*     *     *

Well, this has been a fun series of posts, but I think with that we will draw it to a close.  I do not expect this to be the last word on election in this blog, as it is one of my favorite doctrines to look at, but for now I think I have said all I feel led to say.  Please continue to post with questions/objections and I will do my best to respond to them.  Thanks for your readership.

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Posted by Todd Burus

Calvinism in the SBC- Some Verses Addressing Evangelism

September 26, 2008

“If a Calvinist is a soul winner it is in spite of Calvinism, not because of it.” -Dr. Jerry Vines, a sermon entitled Calvinism: A Baptist and His Election

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” -Acts 1.8

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? . . . So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” -Romans 10.14, 17

“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” -Esther 4.14

Looking back at the debate over whether Calvinism is acceptable in the SBC, I will give the opponents the benefit of the doubt in saying that their main concern is with a Calvinists commitment to evangelism. I agree, if Calvinism leads people to not share the Gospel with the lost nations of the world then it is a thing which needs to be fought against. However, what I am here to say is that, not only is consistent Calvinism not non-evangelistic, but in fact evangelism should be at the core for any Calvinist.

How can I say that, you may wonder, seeing as how the generic mindset of a Calvinist is that “God will save who he will save”? Well, simply because Calvinists do believe that God will save who he will save, and that whomever he has elected he will ensure that they hear the Gospel and are irresistibly drawn to it, the fact remains that the only authorized vehicle ordained by God for making sure people hear the Gospel is by the preaching and teaching of his word. As Peter says in Acts 4.12, “For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved [than Jesus Christ].” And, if that is the case, then combining this with Paul in Romans 10, we find that the only way people will be saved by that name is by the sending forth of preachers and missionaries to deliver it.

Yet still we are left with that balance: if we are certain that God will accomplish the work, what is it that keeps us from being lazy and just leaving it to someone else to do? Well, the first reason I would give is because what other activity under the sun could be more personally rewarding than seeing a fellow human being come to the knowledge of their Savior through what God does in your personal ministry? The excitement of knowing that God chose you to be the deliverer of the Good News to a soul which no longer has to live under fear of dying and going to hell is a priceless experience that one would have to be a fool to pass up. Still, maybe Calvinists are those fools, what then?

If this were possibly the case then I guess my next retort would be to turn to a passage we just looked at on here, that being Esther 4.14. This is where Mordecai is pleading with Esther to step up and work to secure the preservation of the Jewish people under the hand of her husband Xerxes and he says to her,

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

To me this statement embodies what a consistent Calvinist should be about when it comes to evangelism. Yes, God will save who he will save. But, is it worth the disobedience to his commands (Matthew 28.18-20, Acts 1.8) to just sit back and let others do it? And, for someone who cherishes the role of God’s providence and sovereign decrees, as any 5-point Calvinist must, who are you to say that God isn’t planning on using you to do his work here?

Simply said, to claim that adherence to the classical 5-points of Calvinism makes a person naturally inclined against evangelism is a faulty argument and one which needs to be considered more carefully if we are to choose to drive a wedge through the SBC over it.

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Rebuilding the City- A Final Thought

September 24, 2008

“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” -Esther 4.14

Though I may return to this idea later, I think I have said what I feel convicted to say for now about the necessity and process for rebuilding the church in America. However, after spending a number of posts going over how we can move towards returning the church to the place where Christ left it, there is one final thought that I would like to share, and this, breaking with the theme of the looking into the post-exilic books of Nehemiah, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, comes from the book of Esther.

The key verse from Esther, what so many people know, is Esther’s great declaration of submission in “If I perish, I perish” (4.16). Yet what I want to focus on is the words of Mordecai which led her to make this declaration. Mordecai, speaking as a devout Jew who was supremely concerned with the future of Israel, nevertheless knows that in the face of adversity, God will provide someone to save his people (”For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place.”). In like manner I am coming to you guys fully aware that no matter what happens to the church in America, in the end God will raise up his people to deliverance.

That said, the second part of verse 14 is the challenge I meant to lay out here initially in quoting Nehemiah 2.17 (”Then I said to them,’You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.’“), that being “who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” If you are reading these words, please test where the Lord is directing you, where his call is on your heart, and if you feel him leading you to stand up among the church in America, among the body of believers that is beat down and derided in the culture, and call them back to Acts 5.13 status (”None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem“), then by all means do it.

There is no time to be fearful. As has become one of my most favorite verses of late, I call all of you to embrace Hebrews 13.13-14, “Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” The church is waiting, crying out for people to lead it back to greatness in this culture, to being a city on a hill and a light unto the world. Join me and be those leaders!

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Rebuilding the City- What We Are Building Towards

September 23, 2008

“Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.’” -Nehemiah 2.17

I have quoted numerous times already Nehemiah 2.17 which gives us the call to rebuild the city (church), but still I think we may ask the question of, Why should we do this?

Many people today are wont to look into Acts and say “What is the true New Testament church? Let’s return to that,” and more often than not this quest leads them into Acts 2.42-47, speaking of living “with all things in common.” Now, as much as I believe that this is the true design for the church, to me the more important aspect is what we see in Acts 5.13,

None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

To me this is the goal that we should be striving for, that the people may still not be convicted of their sins and come to repentance, but it will not be because they didn’t have the body of believers executing the teachings of Christ correctly.

A common “reason” for avoiding Christianity these days is to say, “Well, I know a bunch of Christians and their Christianity hasn’t made them any better.” Of course, we can be assured that this argument barely touches the surface of why they really aren’t repenting from their sins, but it is hard to argue with the premise when we all know these same “Christians” for who their relationship with Christ does not appear to have made any difference in their life. Thus, if we were to return to the words of Acts 5.13, what I want to call “Acts 5.13 Status,” we would at the least be removing this excuse and thus causing people to be more directly confronted with their sins instead of being able to deflect their failings off onto others.

Is this going to be easy? Certainly not. But I think that reanalyzing the things I have already posted in this series will help put us on the right path. As I’ve said before, quoting Jesus of course, the church, the body of believers in our culture, is meant to be a light unto the world and a city on a hill (Matthew 5.14), and our work of rebuilding the city should be meant to direct us to this Acts 5.13 status; that in seeing us, though the world may not change, they will at least hold us in high-esteem and thus be glorifying God through us. That should be our goal.

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Everything May be Spiritual, but Only the Gospel Saves- A Commentary on Acts 10.1-11.18

September 2, 2008

“And Cornelius said, ‘Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.” So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.’” -Acts 10.30-33

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” -Romans 10.14-17

One of the most overlooked New Testament stories, in my opinion, is the interaction between Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10 and 11. And even when we do focus on this it seems that all we say is “And here we see the Gospel opened up to the Gentiles” (which is true, don’t get me wrong, but just read on). However, I think in focusing on that we miss a really interesting commentary which speaks to a large objection to orthodoxy arising in our emerging culture these days.

It’s cool to be semi-universalist. On the heels of Rob Bell’s tour Everything is Spiritual and in light of past comments by figures such as Brian McLaren and Billy Graham, we see a swelling tide towards, if not universalism, at least a universalism where all “spiritual people” are saved. The idea from Bell is that the Gospel is Jesus telling us that we live in an “integrated holistic spirituality” and so, as in his title, everything we do is spiritual, and de facto, everything we do is worship to God (a thesis which, think about it for a minute, is completely false).

But, instead of fighting over the words of men, let’s look at what the Word of God says in Acts 10 and 11. This passage presents us with the story of a non-proselyte Roman centurion who, though not officially a Jew, nevertheless offered devotion to and feared the one-true God (Acts 10.1-2, 28 ), and as a result of his devotion God decides to use him as the entry point of the Holy Spirit and salvation to the Gentiles. This we usually state and then move on to Peter’s vision and the eventual evangelization and regeneration of the Gentile gathering. But, let’s take a closer look at the setup.

Who are we presented with? A non-Jewish Roman who through some set of circumstances and interactions has taken to worshiping the one-true God. We know that his worship is of the God of the Jews because the text states that he was “a devout man who feared God with all his household.” So, not only is Cornelius spiritual, but his spirituality is directed towards the living God, even though he is not a member of God’s covenant people Israel. And what does this spirituality get him? Under popular theology that is enough. Cornelius is a spiritual person, living a spiritual life, and doing his best to please whatever God is there. This seems to be the criteria in our society, and certainly in the theology expressed by people like Graham, for salvation. For all intents and purposes Cornelius should expect to find himself in heaven when it’s all said and done just by what he has already demonstrated.

Yet is it enough? Is his spirituality and devotion enough? Using no other text besides Acts 10 and 11 I would argue that the answer is a resounding “No.” Why do I say this? Well, look what happens. First, we see that an angel comes to him and delivers a cryptic message about sending men to Joppa to retrieve the apostle Peter (10.3-6). Then, when the men return with Peter we see that Peter’s response to why God called him was to preach the Gospel of Christ crucified and resurrected to this gathering of Gentiles (10.34-43). Upon hearing the Gospel the Gentiles receive the gifting of the Holy Spirit and are baptized by Peter and the believers that accompanied him as a sign that they have gained salvation and been brought into the covenant people of God (10.44-48). Finally, after all of this, we see Peter testify to the fact that he was brought to give the message of how Cornelius “[would] be saved” (11.14).

Do you see it? Peter came to preach how Cornelius “[would] be saved.” As in, he wasn’t saved already. Regardless of his spirituality and devotion, it was not until he believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that Cornelius was saved. He was even devoted to the one-true God and yet that still was not enough without his ascending in faith to the message of the Cross. If Peter or someone else had not come and presented the Gospel then Cornelius would never have been saved, no matter how spiritual and good of a life he led.

And still people miss this. It is clear as day. If Jesus saying “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life” is not enough (as Rob Bell argues in Velvet Elvis) then hopefully this testimony will be sufficient to convince us. There is no salvation without faith in Christ. “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12). Please get this, lives are at stake. It may not be cool, but at least people won’t be going to hell because we wanted to feel good about ourselves and be liked.

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My Favorite Old Testament Figure is Jesus- A Reflection on Acts 28.23

August 30, 2008

“When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.” -Acts 28.23

“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” -Luke 24.44-45

This past week, when I was preparing for my Sunday school lesson over Acts chapters 27 and 28, I was reading through the material to get an initial overview of what was said and the above passage in Acts 28.23 really struck me. It didn’t strike me as unique or as some sort of new revelation, in fact, it was its familiarity which caught me. Not the familiarity to this passage in particular, but the familiarity of this same action being recorded as an action of Christ in the Gospel of Luke.

Upon deeper reflection I found that in Acts 28.23 and Luke 24.44, as well as Luke 24.27 and Acts 8.35, 24.14, and 26.22, this action of showing Christ in the Old Testament (the “Law and the Prophets”) was a common form of apologetic used by the apostles in the early church. Again, this wasn’t a new revelation to me, but for whatever reason it really spoke in my heart of the awesomeness of God’s supreme plan anew.

I think sometimes we become a victim of reading the Bible as “Old Testament = Stuff about God and the Jews” and “New Testament = Stuff about Jesus and Christians,” when clearly this should not be the case. What is started by Jesus and continued by Philip and Paul is a commentary to the fact that the whole Bible is about Christ and the plan of salvation which God had worked out for us from the beginning of Creation! It is easy to picture Christ as a backup plan which God came up with somewhere down the line when he realized that humans were just going to screw it all up (as groups such as the Mormons do) but this belies the fact that starting in Genesis 3 we see that God knew what he would do thousands of years later in a “rural little hick town” in Israel.

Mark Driscoll gave a list of 25 fulfilled prophecies of the Messiah which are recorded of Christ in the New Testament in his book Vintage Jesus. I copied these down into a Word document to share with my Sunday school class and I am also going to post them here. Being able to look at the sheer number of things which Christ did in accords with Old Testament scriptures (and these aren’t even half of them) is one of the great testimonies we have today to the authenticity of his life and ministry, and as such we should become familiar with them in the way that we see members of the early church being. They knew them well enough to spend “morning till evening” sharing them and making a defense for their hope in Christ (1 Peter 2.15). Do we know them well enough to spend 5 minutes on?

In closing up, I pray that we will stop for a moment and look at the glory of this seemingly innocuous statement. Paul showed them Christ in the Old Testament. Doesn’t sound like a big deal. But when viewed as calling us to the thread of seeing Jesus throughout the Bible, to moving him from the last third of the book into every page from cover to cover, the magnificence of what God has done is that much more magnified. Everything he has ordained, from the start of Creation to the coming end, he has done to show his power, display his glory, and make his name known among his people. That’s something that I am thankful to be a part of and is a praise which I will be glad to sing for all eternity long!

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Posted by Todd Burus

Don’t Say that Name!- A Spectacular Sermon on Preaching the Gospel

June 16, 2008

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.” -Acts 4:13-21

Last night I listened to a sermon delivered by Voddie Baucham on Father’s Day at The Summit Church in Durham, NC and it got me completely pumped up. Pastor Baucham delivers with quick humor and amazing elegance a wonderfully convicting message on the necessity and urgency of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the One True God in the face of our “tolerant” and religiously pluralistic society. If you have 45 minutes to spare at any point I strongly encourage you to listen to this message because I don’t believe it could return void if you do.

Voddie Baucham- Worldviews at Odds

The Summit Church Sermon Page for 6/15

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The Wisdom of God- Thoughts on Acts 6:10

June 11, 2008

“But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” -Acts 6:10

We see Stephen, full of grace and power, engaged in deep theological debate. By the strength of the Spirit, though it was folly to those who he debated, their own wisdom was made foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18-20).

It is acceptable in our society to view Christianity as a weak faith that is easily disprovable by science or history or personal experience, which is what the crowds tried to do with Stephen as they debated his claims of Christ as the Messiah. Yet in this Stephen was submitted to the Spirit and it empowered him to stand firm in the teachings of Christ (and what would now be the Scriptures) and to beat down the attacks of the doubters. In the same way, we must have faith that by preparing ourselves to give a defense for what we believe (1 Peter 3:15) and submitting ourselves to his authority and voice over our own, then the Spirit will strengthen us and give us the ability to hold fast to what has been revealed and to see souls won for Christ away from the “foolish” intellectualism of the world.

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Maintaining Purpose in Persecution- Thoughts on Acts 8:4

June 10, 2008

“Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” -Acts 8:4

We see here that as the first great persecution of the Church begins, following the martyrdom of Stephen, the people were scattered throughout the region. Yet, short of being scared off from Christ, they instead chose to go about preaching the Word so that more may believe. How often do we face trials or persecution with a spirit of fear instead of with a spirit of power and love (2 Timothy 1:7)? How often do we allow for the preaching of Scripture to be our natural response to opposition faced in the world? Even if I feel scorned by nonbelievers I often just coat my self in a shell of false religiosity and self-righteousness thinking “Okay, I will show them through my Godly patience and piousness,” whereas the biblical precedence is clearly to go forth from that trial and proclaim the Gospel message of the one who gives me the strength to move forward.

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