Be the Opposite of a Hypocrite

Knowledge doesn’t terminate on the knower. We don’t learn in order to conceal, just like a lamp isn’t lit to be put under a basket (Matthew 5:15). We learn in order to express — to lead others in seeing and savoring what we have seen and savored. And that means we don’t merely say it, but that we say it effectively.

To encourage this kind of communication, John Piper recently explained four characteristics of helpful speaking and writing to new graduates of Bethlehem College and Seminary. He counsels communicators to say what they’ve seen with truth, with logic, with pictures, and with love.

It’s perhaps that first point, though, that might surprise most of us. It could seem redundant to say that communicators of truth should communicate with truth. But as Piper explains it, he doesn’t mainly have in mind that we be the opposite of liars, but that we be the opposite of hypocrites. He then continues by giving a profile of hypocrisy:   Continue at Jonathan Parnell

How Churches Can Care for Their Pastor's Children

A young pastor recently asked for my advice over lunch. His church plant was maturing, and he was looking down the road. His own children are ages 6, 4, and 1. Knowing the problems that pastors' kids can have, he wisely desired to cast a vision of care for his children.

Too many children of pastors are casualties in the spiritual battle. After seeing the inner workings of the church, many do not want anything to do with the Lord or his people. As a teenager, I almost walked away from my faith because of the hypocrisy and disunity I saw in my church.

But in my conversation with this pastor, I was momentarily speechless as I realized how little I had thought about this important question. Why? Because the church that I had shepherded for 25 years had done an excellent job caring for my own children. Today they are 22, 20, 18, and 16, and have fond memories of our relationships there.

What had my own church done that so few churches do well? What can churches learn?   Continue at Chap Bettis

A Church Without Masks

Matt 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

2 Cor 1: 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.   Continue at John Samson

10 Tips for Destroying Your Children’s Souls

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. (Mark 9:42 ESV)

The above text is actually more about not being the means by which disciples falter, but it can also be applied to being a daddy.  It goes without saying that I do not desire the destruction of my children.  One because I love them.  Two because a millstone seems like a really uncomfortable necklace—especially for swimming in the sea.

If you, however, think a millstone necklace would be fashionable attire here are 10 ways that you can work towards making your children stumble and turn away from Jesus.  In no particular order

1. Be an unrepentant hypocrite.  We all have elements of hypocrisy.  It’s when we are unrepentant in our hypocrisy that it becomes deadly.
2. Display with your life and lips that things are more precious than Christ.  The thing you pick can be as insignificant as parking spaces or as significant as a large house.  It doesn’t matter.  Set something other than Christ as your affection and you are well on your way to shopping for a new millstone.
3. Neglect teaching.  Leave it up to the Sunday school teacher, the television, their peers, or favorite musician and you can start picking out millstone colors.
4. Don’t pray for them.  Discipleship is a work of God.  Your own sanctification as well as that of your children demands a prayerful life.
5. Be silent in times of danger.  You wouldn’t let little Sally have a tea party on a freeway but will you let her give her heart to an unbeliever?  You probably won’t let junior have a pet cobra but do you let him be saturated with the not so subtle advances of our sex-crazed culture?   Continue at Mike Leake

Christians in Name Only

The first charge of general defilement Christ brings against the church in Sardis was that they had a vast deal of open profession, and but little of sincere religion. "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" (Revelation 3:1).

That is the crying sin of the present age. I am not inclined to be morbid in my temperament, or to take a melancholy view of the church of God. I would wish at all times to exhibit a liberality of spirit, and to speak as well as I can of the church at large; but God forbid that any minister should shrink from declaring what he believes to be the truth.

In going up and down this land, I am obliged to come to this conclusion, that throughout the churches there are multitudes who have "a name to live and are dead." Religion has become fashionable. The shopkeeper could scarcely succeed in a respectable business if he were not united with a church. It is reckoned to be reputable and honorable to attend a place of worship, and hence men are made religious in shoals. And especially now that parliament itself doth in some measure sanction religion, we may expect that hypocrisy will abound yet more and more, and formality everywhere take the place of true religion.  Continue at Phil Johnson

The Tragic Hypocrisy of Joyless Calvinism

Gospel wakefulness. That's Jared Wilson's term for the Christian's experience of treasuring Jesus more greatly and savoring his power more sweetly than ever before. For some it happens at new birth. For some it's a gradual dawning over time. And for many, it's a kind of spiritual quantum leap, almost like a kind of sanctification warp speed. You'll want to learn more. . . .

So join us this Monday, November 14 at 3PM (EST), for a DG Live interview with Wilson, pastor in Vermont and author of the new book Gospel Wakefulness. We'll ask him all about this reality of gospel wakefulness, its implications, and how to pursue it.

Here's a little sample from Wilson's book:

I have discussed with other Calvinists just where the (well-earned) stereotype of the graceless Calvinist comes from. Shouldn’t belief in total depravity necessitate profound humility? Shouldn’t belief in unconditional election preclude a spirit of superiority? And yet there is a doctrinal arrogance infecting Calvinist Christianity. This culture then produces doctrinaires like Baum’s man of tin: squeaky and heartless.

Cold-hearted rigidity is not limited to those of the Reformed persuasion, of course. You can find it in Christian churches and traditions and cultures of all kinds. In fact, to be fair, I have found that those most enthralled with the idea of gospel-wakefulness, those who seem most prone to champion the centrality of the gospel for life and ministry, happen to be of the Reformed persuasion. So there’s that. But gracelessness is never as big a disappointment, to me anyway, as when it’s found among those who call themselves Calvinists, because it’s such a big waste of Calvinism.  Continue Reading >>>

IMAGE

False Professors Solemnly Warned

“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.”—Philippians 3:18-19.

 There are many now among us, as there were then, who walk in such a manner that we recognize them at once as the “enemies of the cross of Christ.” I do fear that the evil, instead of having decreased, has multiplied and grown in danger. We have more profession now than there was in the age of Paul, and consequently we have mere hypocrisy.

It is a crying sin with our churches that there are many in their midst who never ought to be there, who would be fit members of an ale-house or any favorite resort of the gay and frivolous, but who never ought to sip the sacramental wine or eat the holy bread, the emblems of the sufferings of our Lord. We have — O Paul, how wouldst thou have said it to night, and how wouldst thou have wept while saying it! — we have many in our midst who are the “enemies of the cross of Christ,” because “their God is their belly, they mind earthly things,” and their life is not consistent with the great things of God.

I never read that the apostle wept when he was persecuted Though they plowed his back with furrows, I do believe that never a tear was seen to gush from his eye while the soldiers scourged him. Though he was cast into prison, we read of his singing, never of his groaning. I do not believe he ever wept on account of any sufferings or dangers to which he himself was exposed for Christ’s sake. I call this an extraordinary sorrow, because the man who wept was no soft piece of sentiment, and seldom shed a tear even under grievous trials. He wept for three things: he wept on account of their guilt; on account of the ill effects of their conduct; and on account of their doom.    Keep Reading>>>

7 Point Strategy for Promoting Gay Marriage

The strategy for promoting gay marriage has been working. Sadly, for the past few decades, the public has been systematically subjected to an irrational manipulation of words to promote a radical redefinition of marriage. My desire to expose this agenda is not to offend or hurt others but to encourage rational dialogue. The seven points below survey the deceptive distortions of truth used to change the way the public thinks.

 

1.   Using the language of civil rights: For several decades we’ve heard increased association of gay rights with battles for racial and gender equality. A desire for homosexual sex (we’re told) is an inborn condition, not a choice. Although a false comparison, the aim is to view gays and lesbians as we would people of different race. If successful, those who oppose gay marriage will be viewed as racists.

2.   Using accusations of hate and irrational fear: The goal has been to convince the public that opponents of gay marriage are bigoted hate-mongers with irrational phobias. They are homophobic and full of venomous prejudice —  not just people who choose to see things differently. They are portrayed as irrational religious fanatics who destroy civility. Supporters of traditional marriage are presented as dangerous people who cling to bigoted ancient laws of a by-gone era.   Keep Reading...

9 Reasons Why Baptizing Children is a Bad Idea

The folks over at IX Marks have raised some very good points on why the church should not be so eager to baptize children:

1. Undermining the family: Church membership of children confuses the responsibilities of discipleship between the family and the church. The instruction is given to fathers to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, not to the church. This confusion can go two ways. Either baptism becomes a ‘family ordinance’ when it is up to parents to discern when a child is ready for baptism, effectively removing the ordinances from the pastoral oversight of the church. Or, the church ends up toaking over the role of the family, where the Sunday School teacher becomes the primary discipler of a child rather than the parents. Keep Reading>>>

Worldly Grief

Redneck Atheism: The Hypocrisy of Secular Humanism

...the past century of humanism, scientific rationalism, and secularist "justice" is—or ought to be—far more embarrassing to Atheism than anything an atheist might criticize biblical Christianity for. The atheist record is even worse than that of religion in general, for that matter. As bad as false religion can be, we need to remember that it wasn't Islamic terrorism, Hindu violence, or suicidal cults that slaughtered the most people in the 20th century. It certainly wasn't Christianity. It was the followers of Darwin and Nietzsche: Nazis, Communists, and other totalitarian rationalists and social engineers. Read the rest HERE