Main Idea: Many people have an unbiblical view of healing that exalts physical well-being over spiritual maturity. To protect ourselves from this type of misunderstanding, we need to make three commitments to develop a biblical understanding of the doctrine of healing.

I. Understand the Biblical Purpose of Healing
A. Exalt Christ
B. Establish the Church

II. Affirm the Biblical Priority of Healing
A. Salvation is more important
B. Saints are not guaranteed healing
C. Suffering is commended by God as a tool for spiritual maturity

III. Pursue a Biblical Approach to Healing
A. Pray
B. Call for the elders of the Church
C. Examine your heart
D. Acknowledge God’s Sovereignty over the situation
E. Be thankful, even if God doesn’t heal you

Sermon was a little long (1 hour), but God was gracious and the church were encouraged.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Soli Deo Gloria!

New sermon audio preached at Kerusso Bible Church in Pune, India on 19 April, 2009.

Enjoy!

Soli Deo Gloria!

The youth at church are going through a book by Kris Lundgaard entitled The Enemy Within:  Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin.  Using Paul’s great description of the battle with indwelling sin in Romans 7:14-25, the author notes four key truths about sin:

1.  Sin living in us is a “law“

Much like the “law” of hunger or thirst, sin compels and drives us to fulfill it’s desires.

2.  We find this law inside of us

It’s not some philosophical theory, sin is very much present in the lives of all, including believers.

3.  We find this law even when we’re at our best

Even when we try to do good, sin is present to foil our attempts.

4.  This law never rests

No matter how small or minuscule the moment, sin is there waiting to pounce and destroy the believer (and the unbeliever, but he is clueless to the battle).

Further looking at Paul’s battle described in Romans 7, I proposed the following responses to sin for our youth…

1.  Don’t over-estimate your ability to fight indwelling sin

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want to, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.  (Romans 7:18-19)

We need to be reminded that, in our flesh, their is no ability nor power to withstand the lusts of sin.  Apart from the redeeming work of Christ, our very nature is bent toward the fulfilling of its wicked desires.  If you try to do this in your strength…well, be prepared to fall flat on you face!

This is what happens when you trust in yourself…spiritually speaking!

2.  Recognize it is an inward battle…and feed the “Good” side!

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. (Romans 7:21-23)

Indwelling sin is a battle, constantly seeking to destroy us.  War ends in death…and to defeat sin, we must seek its death!  You kill by starving sin in your flesh.  Don’t feed sin with the things that awaken it’s lusts in your life.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts. (Romans 13:14)

Flee the evil desires of you, and pursue…..(2 Timothy 2:22)

Don’t feed sin…feed your soul with nourishment from God’s Word.

3.  Flee to the Savior

Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25a)

This is actually the FIRST thing you are to do when dealing with sin!  Turn to the Lord Jesus for He is the One who is the ultimate victor over sin and death!

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

When we sin, the first Person we need to run to is Jesus Christ.  The shame of sin may seek to drive you away from him, but that is false.  When we sin, we need to run to Jesus quickly and repent, acknowledging our sin and rebellion…and ultimately receiving that grace which is freely bestowed upon the penitent heart!

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Shack...don't go there.

Okay, so I finally finished The Shack.  Like I said earlier, it is not popular here in India, and I was not going to spend the money to buy it and have it shipped to me.  So I waited until one of the youth at church was given a copy and asked her to let me have it.  Even though I wrote an earlier post about a few things I was concerned with, I have been busy and just now go around to actually finishing it.

I stand by my earlier assertion that the book strongly devalues important Christian doctrines, especially Sola Scriptura.  William P. Young also spins Adam’s sin in the garden to just trying to be independent.  Actually, it makes one think that sin is really just us foolishly wanted independence from God (p.165,190, 191, 202).  It seems overly concerned with the “potential” of mankind (p.132, 154, 158, 167), even going so far as to insinuate that we are worthy of God’s love (p.163).   There are many other things I noticed, but I will just focus on one.

One of my biggest concerns over the book is that it seeks to redefine sin to just  mankind wanting “independence.”  As I look back over my notes, I fail to see one instance where the author talks about our lawlessness, depravity, and sin.  Compare this with what Paul writes about us in Romans 3:10-23 and Ephesians 2:3

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind

My question:  If this guy is wrong on his understanding of sin and our total depravity, how can he properly explain the Gospel?  The Gospel must be understood in the context of our deep and abiding depravity.  It is because we are wicked, evil creatures who rejected the Creator, that there is a Gospel message.  Jesus came to die for sinners, not people who wanted independence!

The sad thing about the state of the church in America is that I wish that I could recommend it to everyone.   I would like everyone to see the extreme errors contained in the book.  But then I look and see how many “Christians” are actually embracing this book, and I realize that we have far too many “novices” in the church that a book like this can negatively influence .  Also, in my humble opinion, the book is not well written and leans toward the highly emotional to overcome it’s literary shortcomings.

I am linking to Tim Challies very thorough review on The Shack.  Tim rightly recognizes the influence of the book and has a well-documented defense against it.  I highly recommend reading this, especially if you do plan on reading The Shack. Click Here for Tim Challies review of the Shack (PDF file at bottom of page)

Also, check out Mark Driscoll’s take on The Shack:

With that being said, I strongly discourage anyone from reading this book.

But hey, this guy approved it!

Speaking of Preaching...Who has 10 fingers and is fascinated with Christ?

I am busy working on sermons for next week.  On Sunday I will be preaching at our church, Kerusso Bible Church, in Pune.  The passage is Colossians 1:15-23 and the title is The Magnificence of the Christ Revealed in Scripture.  There is much in this passage to unpack, especially in 40-45 minutes.  Just in preparing, I am reminded of how truly wonderful and awesome He is!  I hope I am faithful to present Christ as He is presented in Scripture.

On Thursday, I will be preaching in chapel at the Pastoral Training Seminary.  I am preaching from Numbers 20 on the sin and failure of Moses.  I am focusing on challenging the men to develop an endgame, i.e.: preparing now to finish well in the future.  I figure this will be a fitting challenge to future pastors and church planters. (HT: Irish Calvinist)

Personally, I am much more comfortable preaching through New Testament epistles than Old Testament narrative.  But, preaching the whole counsel of God is our goal, no matter the passage.  I appreciate your prayers.  I hope to have audio up by the end of next week.  You will be able to access them by clicking on the “SERMONS” tab at the top of the page, or just clicking here.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Shameless Plug:  FYI, Monergism is a great resource for buying theological books at low prices.  Check out the link from my page, and if you buy something from my referral, I get 8% credit with them.  Great deal for me…and you, when you see the prices.  BTW, I’ve heard great things about the new ESV Study Bible!

Google Docs has been around for a while now, but we are just beginning to discover all the possibilities with this kind of resource.  The premise is that you can do all of your work (including spreadsheets and pdf files) and save them online.  You don’t even use your hard-drive space on your computer.  Formatting is limited, but you can easily copy and paste the whole resource in Microsoft Word and format it to your liking, before printing it out.  The good thing is that you can access that document on any computer anywhere in the world, assuming that computer has internet access, of course.

Sure your asking questions like:  But why is this so great for sermon prep?  Sure it saves me from carrying my laptop everywhere, but my Bible software is on that laptop, so I need it anyway?

Well, one thing Google Docs allows you to do is to share those documents with whomever you want.  So, you are working on your sermon manuscript, and you want a little advice.  You can share the document with Erik over at Irish Calvinist, for a little theological insight.  Or you can share it with Tom over at Satsung, to see if there is enough application and exhortation in your main points.  You can even send it over to one of the Pyromaniacs, to let them do their damage as well!

In other words, the sermon manuscript can become a working resource, easily accessible by men you trust for valued insight into the text.  They can edit or make comments, all in Google Docs, and the document is saved to reflect those changes.  Next time you access it online, you have the edited update.  All without emailing and downloading to your/their personal computer.

Sounds pretty cool to me.

Heck, share your sermon with this guy, and see what he says!

(BTW, according to this article, Google is going to make it so that you no longer need personal hard drives anyway!  And you spent all that money on that 500GB external…sucker!)

Soli Deo Gloria!

[UPDATE:  check this video out to further explain the possibilities with Google Docs.]

…but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:15

Is the church “relevant“?  A new generation of people are asking that question.  With the waning influence of Christianity on secular society, many feel that the church needs an overhaul, to remain relevant to a post-modern society.  There is even an association of churches that are gathering around the “relevancy” banner.  But what does it mean to be “relevant”?  Well, even these churches fail to give a definition:

Are these churches “relevant”?

We don’t even know what that means. The name of the directory has nothing to do with a church being “relevant” or not, it simply means that this is the church directory by RELEVANT magazine. RELEVANT is not an adjective describing the churches. That idea simultaneously confuses us and makes our skin crawl.

Even without a definition given, we can ascertain what the term is driving at.  Why are there so many people who, after growing up in church, are leaving it the first chance they get and never coming back?  That is a good question, no matter your convictions on the church.

In his letter to Timothy, who was serving the church at Ephesus, Paul writes a rather profound statement regarding the church.  In the above verse, Paul gives us some insight into the nature of the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  First of all, let’s take the word itself.  The term “church (Greek, ἐκκλησια )” quite literally is taken from the Greek verb “to call out.”  Thus the church can be rightly described as “the called out ones.”  But called out of what?  He goes on to describe them as “the church of the living God.”  This is no doubt in reference to the former nature of the Ephesians before Christ.  They were pagan worshipers of Diana (Artemis).  Now they were called out of that wicked practice and identified as a people who worshiped and served the “Living God.”  So you can argue two things be inference.  One, no institution founded by the Living God will ever lack relevance.  Two, the church by its very nature is counter-cultural in many ways, and thus can be viewed as “irrelevant” by those who fail to grasp the significance of Jesus Christ (like many Diana worshipers in Ephesus likely viewed the Christians there).  So, it should not be strange that an institution filled with people “called out” of society will be viewed as irrelevant by those in that society who do not appreciated the supreme value of Jesus Christ.  (NOTE:  I am not arguing for any sort of Christian isolationism from the world, just highlighting the fact that the very fact that conversion to Christ creates in us a “different-ness” that a lost world will describe as weird or irrelevant).

Paul, then goes on to highlight the very nature of the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He describes it as the “pillar and support of the truth.”  John MacArthur writes concerning this:

The imagery of these terms for the church would not have been lost on the Ephesians.  The impressive temple of the goddess Diana (Artemis), one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located in the city.  William Barclay gives the following description of it: ‘One of its features was its pillars.  It contained one hundred and twenty-seven pillars, every one of them the gift of a king.  All were made of marble, and some were studded with jewels and overlaid with gold” (The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 89).  Each pillar acted as a tribute to the king who donated it.  The honorary significance of the pillars, however, was secondary to their function of holding up the immense structure of the roof…Thus in Paul’s metaphor the church is the foundation and pillar that holds up the truth.  As the foundation and pillars of the Temple of Diana were a testimony to the error of pagan false religion, so the church is to be a testimony to God’s truth.  That is its mission in the world-its reason for existing here.  (MacArthur Commentary Series, 1 Timothy, 136)

How could an institution of that nature lack true relevancy?  I honestly believe that what the world sees as “irrelevancy” is something completely different.  I think that the church has failed to actually emphasize the uniqueness of it’s position in the world.  Let’s face the fact, because of mankind’s wickedness, truth is offensive.  And if the church, by God’s divine mandate, is the pillar of truth, will it not create enemies in the world?  Enemies that will devalue and demean it’s nature and it’s importance in society.

What is irrelevant is the seeker-sensitive model of trying to reach people’s felt needs without preaching truth.  The results of this model are well-known after a survey done by Granger Community Church revealed that nearly half of its congregants don’t believe that Jesus is the sole source of Salvation!

Now, that is the type of church whose message has been rendered irrelevant!

What do you think?

Soli Deo Gloria!!!