The Gospel Coalition

Seven links for your weekend reading, all dealing with the events of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting this year:

1. SBC Wrap-Up: SBC Spotlights Ethnicity, Unity, and the Unengaged

2. New Day for the North American Mission Board and Church Planting

3. Powerful sermon from Afshin Ziafat. Highly recommended!

4. David Platt: Millions upon millions need Jesus

5. After Rob Bell Controversy, Southern Baptists Affirm Belief in “Eternal” Hell

6. Mark Dever and Paige Patterson engage in a wide-ranging discussion

7. Thom Rainer reports on LifeWay

Hear the Christian gospel:

We are all rebellious traitors against God and his kingdom, and for that we are dying now and are destined to suffer forever in the ultimate despair of hell. We are actually God’s enemies (not merely in our imagination), and we deserve whatever torment we have coming. Worse, we are entirely unable to lay down our weapons and change sides, for as the apostle Paul reminds us, we are “dead in our transgressions and sins… by nature deserving of wrath… without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:1-12). We are unwilling to change, and unable to change our hearts and minds so we would be willing.

God justly could have been content to destroy our insurrection and wipe us from the earth. But he took pity on us, and while “we were God’s enemies,” “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, 10). The cross is a most unusual weapon of choice, but the death of his beloved Son was the only way that God could defeat our sin and death. Satan had become the functional ruler of us and of this world when he tempted Adam and Eve, God’s appointed rulers of creation to switch their allegiance to him. Now a Son of Adam, the Son of God, had come to earth to win us back.

Jesus did not conquer Satan in some heavy-handed way, using his overwhelming force to throw him down. God beat Satan on a level playing field. He became a creature, vulnerable to Satan’s attacks, and defeated the devil through weakness rather than shock and awe. In this way he did not so much overpower Satan as outwit him. He showed Satan and his demons to be fools, for, “having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15).

Demons shrieked and danced around the cross, deliriously surprised by how easily Jesus had fallen into their trap. What they didn’t realize was that they had walked straight into his. Jesus knew what C.S. Lewis – in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - called the “magic deeper still,” that “when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward”. Death died in the death of Christ, for Jesus bore our penalty in our place.

Jesus took our sin and death down with him into the grave, and when he arose he left them in the dust. Paul explains, “He was delivered over to edeath for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Jesus’ spectacular resurrection is not merely an authoritative illustration of a general truth that is embedded in creation. Rather it is the turning point of world history, for that is the moment that God reversed the cruse, releasing forever those who put their faith in Jesus. Jesus’ death and resurrection don’t merely reveal that death leads to life; they are the very things that make it true. Jesus triumphed over sin, death, and Satan by his cross and empty tomb, and anyone who trusts his finished work alone will join his victory.

- Michael Wittmer, Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins (148-150)

Clarifying “Congregationalism” – another great response to those who believe congregationalism to be unbiblical:

Many church leaders today don’t understand the importance of polity, and choose instead to treat it as a matter of indifference. But the rising generation of church leaders would benefit from observing how urgently MacDonald has treated these topics. Here’s why congregationalists might especially benefit from MacDonald’s latest post: it challenges us with the question of whether we can really point to a place in Scripture where the entire congregation has been authorized by Jesus with final rule.

The Intolerance of the “Tolerant”:

Traditionalists charged with intolerance are seldom guilty of that crime, for they passionately defend others’ rights to hold and champion their own positions, however bizarre or obviously self-destructive they might be. No, their crime is to claim that they have truths that others lack, much as Jeremiah proclaimed the faith of the Patriarchs at the expense of idol worship and as Paul preached the gospel at the expense of legalism.

Why is America the “no-vacation” nation?

Let’s be blunt: If you like to take lots of vacation, the United States is not the place to work. Besides a handful of national holidays, the typical American worker bee gets two or three precious weeks off out of a whole year to relax and see the world — much less than what people in many other countries receive.

A couple months ago, a friend sent me some information about a video documentary series that offered a glimpse of Christian mission work taking place in difficult places. My wife and I watched several of the DVDs and were moved by what we saw. Tim Keesee is the producer of the Frontline Missions Dispatches DVDs. Today, I’m excited to introduce him and his ministry to readers of Kingdom People.

Trevin Wax: The world continually produces documentaries about the war-torn areas of the world. As I’ve watched secular documentaries, I almost always ask myself, “What’s going on with the church here? How is the church affected? Are there believers in this area?” The Dispatches series has taught me a lot about what missions looks like in difficult places. What was the event that prompted you to consider doing a video series?

Tim Keesee: I have kept a journal for as long as I can remember. Over the past 20 years I have traveled for Frontline Missions International and, in some cases, witnessed some remarkable world events—the opening of Eastern Europe and of China; wars in Bosnia, Burma, and Afghanistan; and many places in between. In all of these settings, I have written accounts of what my Christian brothers and sisters are going through and how they live and worship, and witness.

About three years ago a videographer friend named Pete Hansen read some published excerpts from my journal and proposed that if video were added to my writing, it would enhance the sense of being “on the ground.” Pete had recently been “downsized” from his job. He took this as of the Lord and now had time to pursue something like this. So he and I set out—a very simple format of two men and a camera trying to capture the biggest and most amazing thing in the world: the Kingdom of Christ! Opening windows to the Kingdom of Christ all over the world is what drives the Dispatches from the Front DVD series.

Trevin Wax: How have churches been using these videos? Do you see the long-term impact as leading to more missionaries or more missionary thinking?

Tim Keesee: Churches have used these as the “message” for Sunday evening services or missions conferences. Because interactive questions for discussion are included in the bonus features of each episode, the DVDs are also being used in small group settings and Sunday School classes. It has been very encouraging to see how the Lord has used the Dispatches series to grow the vision of believers for what He is doing around the world. We have even heard reports of people responding to His call to join the laborers in the Harvest. We have also seen people’s understanding of missions becoming broader and deeper as a result of watching these episodes.

Trevin Wax: What has been the most difficult obstacle you’ve faced in the filming of these videos?

Tim Keesee: Keeping the episodes to one hour. There is so much to write about as Christ builds His Church that I feel like I’m drinking from a fire hydrant—and then I have to distill it down to one cup!

Trevin Wax: You’ve crossed into many different countries and cultures in order to make these documentaries. What has this cross-cultural experience taught you about the Christian faith?

Tim Keesee: I have learned that the Gospel works. It really is “the power of God unto salvation,” which crosses and crushes every human barrier.

Trevin Wax: How can we make ourselves aware of the needs of missionaries in difficult parts of the world, in order that we might pray for them?

Tim Keesee: Of course, there are a number of different organizations serving in the more Gospel-destitute parts of the world. Becoming involved in such organizations and getting acquainted with their fields and personnel is a good way to deepen intercession for the difficult places. But don’t just pray for “safety for the missionaries there.” Pray for boldness and urgency and for God to do what man cannot. Pray the same for the believers in those areas as well. Often in such settings there is fear and persecution. Pray for just the opposite—joy and Gospel opportunities.

Episode 4: Souls of the Brave from Dispatches From The Front on Vimeo.

A Bold Advance from Dispatches From The Front on Vimeo.

The Giver is the Gift:

More than any other gift, God loves to give himself. Would you care if God was taken away but you still received all his blessings? God is most interested in giving you himself.

Q&A with Owl City (Adam Young):

Young says, “Music is something that I can’t imagine living without, and though it means more to me than the world itself, there is something that weighs significantly heavier on the scale of all things valuable and important in my life, that being my relationship with Jesus Christ. I am completely and utterly bereft of speech at how the Lord has chosen to use music in my life and what I do as Owl City.”

Tim Challies – “How to Start a Blog”:

I am often asked for advice in beginning a blog and I am going to answer a lot of emails via this blog post. Today I want to tell you how I would begin a blog if I had to do it all over again. I’d do it in 6 steps.

Japan Tsunami Comparison Photos after Three Months

From James Hamilton’s new book of biblical theology - God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment:

“Yahweh is the most significant thing about the Ten Commandments. When he gives voice to the inauguration of this covenant, the first thing he does is announce his own identity: ‘I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery’ (Ex. 20:2).

• No gods before him.
• No carved images of him.
• No misuse of his name.
• No work on the day he hallowed and blessed.

“These first four commandments obviously pertain to Yahweh, but perhaps the centrality of Yahweh to the last six commandments is less apparent – on the surface, anyway. These commands come with Yahweh’s authority. They reflect the way that he has created the world. They are to be obeyed because he has spoken them, because he created this world by his word, because this world is made to work according to his word (cf. James 2:11).

• Fathers and mothers are to be honored because God is a Father to his people, and God is to be honored (Ex. 4:22-23; Eph. 3:14-15)
• No murder because God alone gives life (Deut. 32:39), and people are in God’s image (Gen. 1:27; 9:6).
• No adultery because God made man male and female, that the two might become one flesh (Gen. 2:23-24; Matt. 19:4-5).
• No theft because God makes poor and rich (1 Sam. 2:7).
• No false witness because GOd does not lie (Num. 23:19).
• No coveting because God alone is to satisfy, and at his right hand there are pleasures evermore (Ps. 16:11).

“The authority and majesty and identity of Yahweh are central to all ten of the commandments, and ‘moral action is inseparably bound up with the worship of God.’”

- God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment, 99.

Continue praying for the people of Joplin:

In the aftermath of the Joplin tornado, some people who were injured in the storm developed a rare and sometimes fatal fungal infection that’s so aggressive, it turned their tissue black and caused mold to grow inside their wounds.

Seth Godin on “organization vs. movement vs. philosophy”:

The trouble kicks in when you think you have one and you actually have the other.

The politics of being a “good Christian”:

New research suggests there are actually two God Gaps. For some Christians, being more religious makes them more conservative on social issues. For others, going to church, praying, and doing other religious activities actually makes them more liberal on social justice issues.

This week, I am in Phoenix, AZ for the Southern Baptist Convention. Though many of you who read my blog regularly are not Southern Baptist, I hope that you will be in prayer for our Convention. The SBC makes an impact in the wider world of evangelicalism and will continue to do so in the future. Our denomination is seeking to proclaim the gospel in a world that is quickly diversifying and fragmenting. My prayer is that we will be faithful to the Lord, obedient to the Scriptures, and united in Great Commission focus.

If you are on Twitter, read this article to find out how to follow the news and conversation by using the #SBC2011 hashtag.

Below, I have linked to some personal reflections on the SBC that I have posted here in the past, and which will give you an idea of the current situation of the Convention.

(By the way, I’m joining other Southern Baptist authors for a book signing today from 10:00-11:00 a.m. at the LifeWay store at the Convention Center. If you are a blog reader, or you’ve picked up a copy of Holy Subversion or Counterfeit Gospels, I hope you will stop by.)

The Future of the SBC

• Being Southern Baptist Among and For Evangelicals (my most recent article about SBC matters)
• Screwtape on the Southern Baptist Convention (my personal favorite of all the posts I’ve ever written on the SBC)
• Southern Baptist History for the Present – and the Future (a guest post by Robbie Sagers that includes a historian’s look at the SBC)

Previous SBC Meetings

• Reflections on SBC 2010
• The Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Debate (providing an overview of the GCR in a nutshell)

Southern Baptist Discussion

• Calvinism and the SBC: A Review of Whosoever Will
• 7 Types of Southern Baptists

What Southern Baptists Can Learn from Romanian Baptists

• Romanian Baptists on the problem of SBC “Rebaptizing”
• Rebaptism: Diagnosing the Problem
• On the Baptism of Small Children
• On Catechism Before Baptism

Congregationalism is used by Satan… like he uses everything else:

Thank you, James MacDonald, for provoking we who are congregationalists to think more carefully about how Satan would trip up a biblical system. He’s always trying to abuse and misuse God’s good gifts. So we must labor together to fight the good fight of faith.

Top 10 misused English words:

Many people who’ve had to proof read documents start to develop a kind of compulsive “tutting” at misused words. Here’s my top ten words that are misused by either professional writers or public speakers who, let’s be honest, should really know better. I’m not being paid for this, so I don’t feel so bad if there are mistakes!

When the Bible Calls You Stupid:

The Bible is not silent about the importance of giving and receiving reproof and correction.  In fact, both the Father and the Son explain a principle way in which they communicate love to God’s people is through reproving and correcting…

Father, the hour has come.
Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You,
for You gave Him authority over all flesh;
so He may give eternal life to all You have given Him.

This is eternal life:
that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent – Jesus Christ.
I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.
Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed.

I have revealed Your name to the men You gave Me from the world.
They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
Now they know that all things You have given to Me are from You,
because the words that You gave Me, I have given them.
They have received them and have known for certain that I came from You.
They have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them.
I am not praying for the world but for those You have given Me, because they are Yours.
All My things are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I have been glorified in them.
I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You.

Holy Father, protect them by Your name that You have given Me,
so that they may be one as We are one.
While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me.
I guarded them and not one of them is lost,
except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.

Now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy completed in them.
I have given them Your word.
The world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.
I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.
As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
I sanctify Myself for them, so they also may be sanctified by the truth.

I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message.
May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You.
May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.
I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one.
I am in them and You are in Me.
May they be made completely one,
so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am.
Then they will see My glory,
which You have given Me because You loved Me before the world’s foundation.
Righteous Father! The world has not known You.
However, I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me.
I made Your name known to them and will make it known,
so the love You have loved Me with may be in them and I may be in them.

- John 17, HCSB