Jeff Ling

“Doing justice means not showing partiality, not stealing, not swindling, not taking advantage of the weak because they are too uninformed or unconnected to stop you. We dare say that most Christians in America are not guilty of these sorts of injustices, nor should they be made to feel that they are. We are not interested in people feeling bad just to feel bad, or worse, people thinking there is moral high ground in professing most loudly how bad they feel about themselves. If we are guilty of injustice individually or collectively, let us be rebuked in the strongest terms. By the same token, if we are guilty of hoarding our resources and failing to show generosity, then let us repent, receive forgiveness, and change. But when it comes to doing good in our communities and in the world, let’s not turn every possibility into a responsibility and every opportunity into an ought. If we want to see our brothers and sisters do more for the poor and the afflicted, we’ll go farther and be on safer ground if we use grace as our motivating principle instead of guilt.”

- Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert

I have always enjoyed J. Sidlow Baxter’s (1903 – 1999) material. I regularly still use his classic “Explore the Book”, a complete Bible survey course that is outstanding. It’s still in print and there’s also a Kindle edition.)  His devotional writing style, reverent approach to scripture and keen insights into God’s Word, make him a joy to study. In 1974 he released a book entitled “Rethinking Our Priorities: The Church, It’s Pastor and People.” It covered a wide range of subjects and while much in it was very helpful, it also reflects the values and upbringing associated with a man born in Australia in 1903 and raised in Lancashire, England. Baxter’ like all of was a product of his time. He attended Spurgeon’s Theological College in London and was a pastor in Scotland and England. Even so, some principles and priorities are timeless and deserve to be revisited.

What struck me when I read the following was just how true the statement is that “the more things change, the more things remain the same.”  What many perceive as a problem now, Baxter did then.

Preachers and Sex – From “Rethinking Our Priorities” by J. Sidlow Baxter

(I’ve abbreviated the article. If you’d like to read the rest, click here.)

J.D. Grear (author of Gospel), Trevin Wax (author of Counterfeit Gospels), and Greg Gilbert (author of What Is the Gospel? and co-author of What Is the Mission of the Church?):

Don’t Be More Gospel-Centered Than Jesus from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Steve Fry, pastor of The Gate in Nashville and director of Messenger Fellowship, is the author of today’s post.

In his book, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, Gordon Fee, recounts a time during his tenure at Regent College, when some of his students asked him this question: “ If you were to return to pastoral ministry, what would you do?” Fee says that his answer was immediate: “No matter how long it might take, I would set about with a singular passion to help a local body of believers recapture the New Testament Church’s understanding of itself as an eschatological community.”

I think that in large measure, the average local church in America doesn’t really grasp this. In the charismatic world, the emphasis on the ‘baptism in the Spirit’ is often highly individualized. Most believers – even if they do have the sense that the Holy Spirit is a person – see the Spirit’s infilling work more in terms of personal empowerment.

But what Fee is recognizing here is that our sense of self definition as a church has alarmingly shifted from that of the primitive church we read about in Acts. The first Christians knew that they as a people were to be the taste of the future for their generation in the present. The Apostle Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as “the down payment” of our future glory. What the Acts Church understood was that the Spirit’s power coming upon them and flowing through them was the sign of the future. They didn’t just look to the future; they knew that in a sense they were the future!

A wise marathon runner studies and knows the course of his race. He knows where the finish line is. Because he knows that that finish line is perhaps twenty miles away, he knows how to run his race at every point.

Knowing where the finish line is determines the way he paces himself and runs his race. For us as The Church it ought to be the same. Because the Holy Spirit indwells us individually and corporately, we should possess a keen awareness of what the ‘end’ looks like and adjust our present priorities and lifestyles in the light of that end.

To put it another way, let me ask a question. What will the end-time people of God look like? If we hold to a biblical worldview – regardless of our particular eschatological viewpoints – we know that there will be a generation who will actually witness the second coming of Christ .

We often hear talk of end time revival and ‘the glory of the lord covering the earth as the waters covers the sea.’ I for one do believe that there will be a manifestation of the glory of God in such a global fashion. What would a fully empowered Church look like just months prior to the coming of Jesus? I think there would be a passion to see lost men and women come to Jesus; I think there would be a passion to worship with abandon; I think there would be a release of authority over the enemy and power to do the works of Jesus in an unprecedented way.

I suggest that to live eschatologically, or as Gordon Fee says to define ourselves as an eschatological community, is to do precisely this: to live with the end in mind. To let the reality of the victory of Jesus at the end of the age shape who we are and what we do in the present time.

“Moved by the perfection of His holy love, God in Christ substituted Himself for us sinners. That is the heart of the cross of Christ.” –John Stott

John Stott passed from this world into the presence of God on the 27th at the age of 90. A leader of leaders and pastor to multitudes through his writing, may God multiply the investment he made in all of us many times.