Ligon Duncan has been the senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi since 1996. In 2004, Dr. Duncan was elected the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in America – the youngest minister to serve as moderator in the denomination’s history. Read more…

T4G '08 Duncanian Debrief, part one

by lduncan

Thanks again to all of you who have blogged about, or emailed us, or written comments here on the T4G site about your experience at T4G last week. That you have been helped and encouraged brings us much joy because our desire and aim was bound up in serving you and encouraging radically Gospel-oriented life and ministry.

For those of you interested, Tim Challies has a good roundup of T4G resources here. The Christian Post weighed in on T4G here. Collin Hansen (Christianity Today) has offered his account here. Ken Sande (Peacemaker Ministries) gives his take here. And Marshall Shelley (Leadership) submits his mostly positive assessment here.

I plan to walk through a review of T4G here on the blog over the next few days (and maybe weeks) and share some things I learned, and comment upon some particularly meaningful points of edification of which I was a beneficiary.

Posted on April 24, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments

T4G '08 Booklist

by lduncan

A bunch of you have asked for a list of the books that we gave away at T4G last week. Matt Schmucker has come to my rescue with the list. Thanks Matt! Oky friends, here it is:

Posted on April 22, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments

T4G Books

by lduncan

One of the things i love about T4G is that pastors get lots of really good books, really good books for free! In fact, when you come to T4G, you pretty much make your registration costs back in books. I loved this picture of the stack of T4G book giveaways, by Peter Privitera at "Crossway Life."

Posted on April 21, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments

Gratefulness

by lduncan

Friends, just a quick word of thanks to all of you who joined us for T4G'08. I'll be doing some reflecting on what happened in our midst last week, in the days to come on this blog. But for now, let me simply express (on behalf of all of us who had the privilege of serving you at T4G) my appreciation for your fellowship with us in Louisville. Your fellow servant, Ligon

Posted on April 20, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments

Ligon the Baptist?

by lduncan

[See post below for context]

But Mark, some of my PCA colleagues would say that I already am!

Your friend,

Lig

Posted on March 12, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments

Unity around the evangel, not evangelism

by lduncan

“It is because we are committed to Evangelism that we must speak in antithesis at times. If we do not make clear by word and practice our position for truth and against false doctrine, we are building a wall between the next generation and the gospel. The unity of evangelicals should be on the basis of truth, not evangelism itself. If this is not so, "success" in evangelism can result in weakening Christianity. Any consideration of methods is secondary to this central principle.”

Francis Schaeffer

Posted on March 7, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments

Christianity and Power

by lduncan

Often we hear people say that Christianity dispenses with the very idea of power. That power is not a category deployed in the Christian life. That the true Christian eschews the exercise of power. This is wrong. And clearly unbiblical.

Yes, Christianity objects to the worldly concept and usage of power, but it does not object to the idea of power itself. The Gospel is power. Truth is power. The Spirit empowers.

No, power is a vital category in Christian life and experience. It is just that the power is of an utterly different kind, of a different origin, operates by a different standard, is based on a different dynamic, acts with a different motive and aims to a different end than does worldly power.

Posted on February 21, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments

Ligonier Streaming T4G '06

by lduncan

I have just heard from the good folks at Ligonier Ministries that they’re streaming the T4G’06 messages and panels on the Ligonier site. It started last Friday and will run sequentially on weekdays until the end. These messages will live on for 45-days after they air. Check them out at - <http://www.ligonier.org/rym_archive.php>

For instance, check out:

The Pastor's Understanding of His Own Role
By Mark Dever
Basing his message on 1 Corinthians, Mark Dever discusses the three marks of a faithful pastor. Such a pastor has a cross-centered message, a cross-centered life, and cross-centered followers.

Here.

And

Panel Discussion #1
By the T4G posse
The Together for the Gospel Panel Discussions provide an opportunity to hear the speakers discuss the themes of the conference informally amongst themselves.

Here.

Posted on January 29, 2008 | Link to this Post | Comments

Thabiti on Elders

by lduncan

If you are thinking about what the Bible teaches about the leadership of the church, or if you have upcoming officer elections and you are wanting to inform both the candidates and the congregation of the qualifications of biblical eldership, then Thabit Anyabwile has a treasure trove of useful information nd wise counsel, here:

Posted on December 14, 2007 in Leadership | Link to this Post | Comments

Yes, we really are Together for the Gospel

by lduncan

If you've been following the internet discussion of the last week or so in which John Piper, Wayne Gruden, Sam Storms, Mark Dever and others have engaged one another on the issue of whether paedobaptists should be allowed to be members of Baptist churches and to commune at the Lord's Table in Baptist churches. These men are dear friends and heroes of mine (to whom I owe so much) and their debate has been both passionate and respectful. That is, they have manifested simultaneously a godly zeal for truth, rigorous theological scholarship and deep regard for one another.

Perhaps I can add some perspective on this discussion, from my Presbyterian, paedobaptist standpoint. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, Adrian Warnock has rounded up most of the posts here. And Mark Dever has just added another post here. Justin Taylor has done a helpful summary here. This post is just a start, because it will take me a few to do even meager justice to this debate.

The long and the short of it is that honored friends and colleagues have asked "How can you be 'together for the Gospel,' but not together at the Lord's Table or in church membership?'" Their point being that Mark Dever, in holding to a classic baptist position on communion and church membership, would not allow someone who had not received believer's baptism to be a member at his church or to share in the Lord's Supper, and thus, subsequently, they wonder how he can think of being 'Together for the Gospel' with a paedobaptist like me who couldn't me a church member at CHBC.

First, let me say, that I fully appreciate the force of this question, and the deep, biblical passion behind it. When John Piper says: "when a person looks a true and precious brother in the eye and says, 'You may not join this church,' he is doing one of two things: Seriously diminishing our spiritual union in Christ, or seriously minimizing the importance of church membership." —John has my full attention! When Sam Storms says: "the claim to be 'Together for the Gospel' rings a bit hollow to me when some would decline to fellowship with others around the Lord's Table because of their disagreement on the proper recipients of baptism." — I take the concern expressed seriously.

And, for the record, John Piper, Wayne Grudem, Al Mohler, Mark Dever and Sam Storms would be welcomed with open arms as members at Frist Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi where I pastor. They would be joyfully invited to the Lord's Table too.

Second, and just for starters, let me say that this significant difference (on baptism and church membership), far from being fatal to our unity, is precisely one of the reasons that Mark and Al and C.J. and I are in fact "Together for the Gospel." It is precisely one of the things that makes Together for the Gospel so different and extraordinary. Let me attempt to begin to explain.

The unity of T4G is not a unity in spite of doctrinal differences, in which we gain unity by downplaying doctrine, minimizing ecclesial differences and going with a lowest common denominator. Our unity is instead a unity of respect for the truth and for truth-in-practice, that sees in each other such a dogged commitment to God's word in both faith and practice that we want to be together promoting biblical Christianity, even (and especially) in the way we handle the points of principle on which we seriously disagree.

I like the way Al Mohler expresses this. He says: "We (speaking of Bible-believing, Christ-exalting, Gospel-preaching Baptists and paedobaptists) are among the last people on the planet that can have an honest disagreement, because we both believe in truth and that truth matters." It is precisely that commitment that invincibly unites my spirit to Mark, Al and C.J.

I would never want to say to Mark or Al, "I will be with you 'Together for the Gospel,' as long as you relinquish your Baptist principles or as long as you do not follow your Baptist convictions in church practice." No, it is precisely their love of truth and their desire to see Gospel truth and love worked out practically in the life of the local church which causes my heart to love them as Jonathan did David.

I love Mark and Al's deep concern for truth and biblical church practice (even and especially at the points in which they disagree with me). I love the fact that they are not willing to compromise on points of biblical conviction, and yet at the same time they work so hard to promote principled unity. I love the fact that even though they believe me to be in serious error on this issue of baptism, they truly love me, constantly co-labor with me (and invite me to do the same with them), and reach out to numerous other non-Baptist evangelicals regularly, deliberately, nationally and internationally to build biblical consensus and cooperation among the churches. To know Mark and Al is to know two men of unshakable conviction and broad sympathy, and I deeply value that.

There are actually good reasons why this debate should not be an easy one to resolve (and I'll elaborate on that in future posts), but in the meantime I want to say this. 1. I am greatly moved by John Piper's and Sam Storms' comments on Gospel unity as it is expressed at the Lord's Table. Thank you brothers, you have instructed and edified me. 2. Mark and Al, I profoundly appreciate your willingness to stand on biblically-formed conviction and principle, even against the tide. Your example of and your desire for biblical fidelity instruct and edify me. I am your debtor. 3. To John, Sam, Mark and Al, thank you that you all are concerned for both truth and unity, doctrine and fellowship. Though you have different views on how to hold those together on this particular issue, thank you that none of you is ready (as are so many today) to jettison biblical fidelity and truth in the interests of unity. This is hugely important in the present climate.

Up next - Why we are still Together for Gospel (1). What I'll try to explain (historically, theologically and practically) in these posts is why this discussion/difference/disagreement, far from being a fatal contradiction of our unity in the Gospel is precisely a picture of the uncompromising unity that we enjoy.

Posted on August 21, 2007 in Church Membership | Link to this Post | Comments

The Local Church - the place Jesus chose for discipleship

by lduncan

Okay, okay, I'm going to say something very soon about the current conversation on baptism, church membership, the Lord's Table, and the togetherness of Bible-believing, Christ-exalting, Gospel proclaiming Baptists and paedobaptists. But first, let's celebrate some significant unity on a timely and vital question.

"The local church is the focal point of God’s plan for displaying his glory to the nations" (as my good friends at 9Marks like to say). God intends our life together in a local congregation of Christians to reflect his character and to display his Gospel grace to the watching world. This is just one biblical reason that church membership is so vital and necessary.

There are many ways and places that the Bible teaches us the importance of church membership. But one important way is in how it identifies the local church as the Jesus-appointed place for Christian discipleship. Where do we see that spelled out in Scripture?

Well, for instance, in the Great Commission! In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing . . . and teaching them." So where does Jesus say that the discipleship he commands us to foster is supposed to take place? What is the context of discipleship, according to Jesus? Where does he want you to be discipled? The answer is clear and simple. We are to be discipled in the place, in the context, in which baptism is administered. And where is that? The para-ministry? The campus Christian fellowship? Our favorite Christian voluntary organization? The small group of Christian friends who gather regularly to pray in one anothers homes. No, not primarily. These may all be good things. But Jesus answer here is different and fundamental.

His answer? In the local church. Jesus wants us to be discipled in the context of the believing community where the vows of baptism are taken and where a whole fellowship of Christians is committed to mutual encouragement and accountability - "make disciples, baptizing and teaching them," he says. In other words, real Christian discipleship is inescapably corporate and ecclesial. The discipleship and teaching that Jesus enjoins is to take place in the context where baptism is administered, right smack dab in the middle of the baptized community. Jesus says that’s the place where discipleship happens – the local church. And that’s just one reason why church membership is so important.

Posted on August 20, 2007 in Discipleship and Growth | Link to this Post | Comments

David Wells on the Great Challenge of "Our Time"

by lduncan

Mark Dever's latest 9Marks interview is not to be missed. It is with David F. Wells, one of the most brilliant theologians and cultural analysts of our day. Listen to it here.

In the course of a conversation that you need to listen to, take notes on, reflect on and then listen to three more times, Wells says:  "In our time, understanding our culture takes on an urgency because this culture is so intrusive and so powerful in its capacity to shape our souls and minds that if we are not pushing back from an explicitly biblical, Christian point of view – we are going to get swallowed up."

This is one thing that T4G is all about. And one reason that brought us "together for the Gospel" in the first place.

Posted on August 18, 2007 in Culture | Link to this Post | Comments

Monday Morning with Mark

by lduncan

Okay, if you are one of the 14 remaining people who hasn't read Mark Dever's brilliant series on "Where'd All These Calvinists Come From?" over at the relatively new 9Marks blog, here they all are in one place.

Read, think, learn and enjoy.

1. The Writings of C. H. Spurgeon

2. The Ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

3. The Publications of the Banner of Truth Trust

4. Calvinists Evangelizing - Jim Kennedy and Evangelism Explosion

5. Calvinist Leadership in the Inerrancy Controversy

6. The Founding of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)

7. J.I. Packer and Knowing God

8. The Teaching Ministries of R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur

9. John Piper

10.The rise of secularism and decline of Christian nominalism

Posted on August 13, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments

And speaking of really big - John Piper Gets Gold

by lduncan

Thanks Mark. Can't wait to see you, and see those pics - my beloved and persistent Baptist friend! Adrian Warnock has just posted a comment and wants to see them too. By the way, was it Augustine who called his baptistry "the Red Sea"? At any rate, I think Tenth Presbyterian in Philly has some architectural features that allude to a church in Ravenna.

But anyway, our dear T4G friend John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life (Crossway Books, 2003) recently received a Gold Book Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). Congratulations John. This means among other things that more than a half million copies of this book have been sold. Praise God for this wonderful influence!

Crossway describes Don’t Waste Your Life, as "John Piper’s plea to a generation to make their lives count for eternity." And this Gold Book Award is an indication that John's message is resonating with many. As you all know, you can learn more about John and his ministry over at www.desiringgod.org.

Posted on May 17, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments

Gospel Growth vs. Church Growth

by lduncan

Allow me to plug an upcoming event that is being jointly sponsored by 9Marks and Matthias Media, and hosted at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. It is called Gospel Growth vs. Church Growth.

Here's what the conference is all about. It is designed for pastors, evangelists and ministry trainees, and it aims to provide instruction in biblical principles and practices for the promotion of God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, Gospel-growth, as opposed to the kind of things often peddled as key to "church growth."

Why is there a need for a conference like this? Well, here's how the good folks at 9Marks explain it: "It's hard for pastors not to be mesmerized by church growth. Who doesn't want their congregation to grow? Who doesn't want to see numbers and budgets increasing year by year? And who isn't greatly interested when the latest growth model comes along, the latest research, the latest insight that promises us the key to such growth? But there's growth and there's growth. Understanding what the New Testament means by growth, and how that growth happens, sets us free. It liberates us from anxiety and self-doubt, and from the slavery of chasing the latest program."

The speakers are Phillip Jensen, Mark Dever and Tony Payne. There will also be a forum with all three speakers answering questions and engaging in further exploration of the ideas. The conference is slated for Tuesday, October 30 through Thursday, November 1, 2007. Registration will begin at 2:00pm on Tuesday, and the conference will conclude by noon on Thursday.

Posted on May 14, 2007 in Church | Link to this Post | Comments

The Noble Calling: Motherhood

by lduncan

The disparagement of the noble vocation of motherhood is virtually epidemic in our culture. But today, we have an culturally-supplied and providential opportunity to begin to put that right in our own thinking, attitudes, families and churches. Mother's Day! Yes, the U.S. version has some has some dubious historical associations (though the U.K. "Mothering Day" has an older and more wholesome pedigree) and one of its early promoters/advocates/founders in the U.S. herself lamented its commercialization to the point of becoming an opponent of it! And no, I'm not advocating that we follow the "Hallmark Calendar of the Christian Year" in our churches.

But it is important for all Christians to take stock of the huge blessing of mothers whose primary vocational preoccupation is with their family, especially since so many today find it difficult to believe that familial duties and delights are in themselves capable of providing women with a sense of fulfillment or significance, or of being an adequate deployment of a woman's gifts and abilities. Thabiti Anyabwile's excellent post will get you thinking about how we can honor our mothers.

By the way, in exhorting Christians to honor their mothers and to appreciate motherhood, I do not intend any disrespect to or oversight of the many, many wonderful Christian women who are not mothers. On the contrary, we honor them. But we recognize that many today find it difficult to believe that motherhood is a sufficient expression of a Christian mother's inherent gifting and potential.

So, I simply wish to remind those who are Christian mothers of the supreme importance of motherhood in the plan of God and to encourage them in their great task. For whatever else you are and do, nothing will be more important, more crucial, or more significant in the life of your children than your being a faithful Christian mother. I do not wish anyone to rob you of your sense of the value of what you do as a mother, or of your sense of the critical position of influence which the Lord has given you.

May I remind you how history has hung in the balance because of the influence of mothers? A casual glance at the record of Israel's kings will remind you of the power which a mother can wield, for good or evil (cf 2 Kings 8:25-27; 11:1-2). Mothers are absolutely crucial in the formation of the spiritual character of their children. Think of Timothy, Paul's "son" in the Lord. Yet his initial commitment to the Lord was not due to Paul's influence. Under God, his mother (and grandmother!) had shown him the way of the Lord (2 Timothy 1:5). And remember Augustine -- that great theologian of the early Church? It was his mother Monica who prayed him into faith in Christ, and trained him in word and deed about the life which Christ intends for his people. When he wrote his great devotional book --Confessions-- after his mother's death, he said: "I will not omit a word that I can bring to mind about my mother!" Praise be to God for good Christian mothers! May your husbands and children rise up and call you blessed (Proverbs 31:28).

Finally, we should all remember that Mother's Day can be a difficult time for many godly Christian women: those who have longed for the call to motherhood, but who have not received it; those who have suffered the loss of children; those who have straying children; those who once had the help of a spouse, but who now face the challenge of parenting alone; those who have painful memories of or difficult present relations with their own mothers. So, even as we honor our mothers, let us remember too these sisters in Christ in prayer, that they too may know God's blessing, approval, and comfort.

By the way, our friends over at girltalk have some superb reflections for those struggling with wounded hearts on Mother's Day.

Posted on May 12, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments

A Short Version of the new T4G Video

by lduncan

Well, a number of you have mentioned that you'd like to see a shorter version of the new T4G video.

Here it is, Short T4G Video courtesy of the good folks at Ligonier Ministries. It may take a little time to download.

It is very quick-paced in comparison to the longer video housed at this site. But I'll try to get this to the technical geniuses that service the T4G site so that they can upload it in a larger, better format. This video also has some cutaways that will give you a visual feel for the T4G '06 gathering.

And don't miss the out-take after the final fade. Can you hear what Al says, and how Mark responds?

Posted on May 11, 2007 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

Introducing Thabiti

by lduncan

Well, Mark's away in Italy now, and I still haven't answered his question about Ridderbos (though I will), but right now I want to tell our T4G friends a little more about the recently unveiled T4G mystery guest.

Thabiti Anyabwile our "surprise" speaker for T4G ‘08 is a dear friend. He is perhaps no stranger to many of you, because of his preaching/speaking, blogging and book-writing. Thabiti has recently spoken at a number of major national ministers’ conferences (including the 2007 Desiring God Pastors’ Conference and the 2007 Twin Lakes Fellowship), he authors a superb blog called Pure Church, and he has also recently authored two books that are already making quite a splash.

The first one is called The Faithful Preacher: Recapturing the Vision of Three Pioneering African-American Pastors (and has a foreword by John Piper), and was just published by Crossway this year. This volume unearths hidden treasure for all ministers who would be faithful today from the lives of three outstanding African-American pastors from the past, who teach us, by precept and practice, what faithful ministry entails. As the Crossway site puts it: "Lemuel Haynes (1753–1833) reminds pastors that eternity must shape our ministry. Daniel A. Payne (1811–1893) stresses the importance of character and preparation to faithful shepherding. And Francis J. Grimké (1850–1937) provides a vision for engaging the world with the gospel."

The second book is still forthcoming, and is provocatively entitled: The Decline of African American Theology: From Biblical Faith to Cultural Accommodation, with a foreword by the outstanding historian Mark Noll (IVP, 2007). The title contains the thesis, which is documented by Thabiti across the years of his survey of prominent African-American theologians over the course of American history.

Thabiti (which is pronounced "tha-BEE-tee" - with the last syllable dropping off kind of like a "ty" at the end of a word like treaty) is a former elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. He is now the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. He is a devoted Christian husband and father. Kristie is his loving wife, and they have three children – two daughters, Afiya and Eden, and a son, Titus. Thabiti holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in psychology from North Carolina State University, and also pursued doctoral work in that discipline. He is a former high school basketball coach and bookstore owner, and so (naturally) loves reading and sports.

Indeed, the last time the T4G posse was together in Louisville, Thabiti, C.J. and Johnny Mac put on a hoops clinic for the lads at SBTS (I’m told that John was draining threes – "Dr. J" anyone?). I, too, was once a basketball coach (about fifty pounds ago) – yep, at the University of Edinburgh [Scotland]; Go Dukes! – so if I can drop about "three stone" (you Scots out there will know what I mean) I may try to get out on the court with Thabiti, C.J. and John next time (while Mark and Al hang out in the bookstore!).

And, Thabiti loves Jazz. I mean real jazz, not the pop stuff. But he’s kind enough to humor my enjoyment of Bob James, Earl Klugh, George Benson, The Crusaders, and the like. Indeed, we’ve even reminisced by laying down a few riffs from the greatest pop R&B group of all-time – EW&F (fans will need no further identification of the incomparable "Elements"), not to mention rehearsing some lines from George Clinton’s "P-Funk" together. And Thabiti, as a man of impeccable discernment, properly understands the superiority of ACC basketball.

More seriously, Thabiti says: "I love the Lord because He first loved me. I love His people because He has given me a new heart. I was once a Muslim, and by God's grace I have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ. By God's unfathomable grace I am a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in which I hope to serve Him until He returns or calls me home!" Not surprisingly, Thabiti has often engaged in Christian apologetics in a Muslim context and some of his recent efforts are available on the web.

I cannot wait for you to get to know Thabiti, and to hear him preach. He is a gift to the church, and a treasured friend.

Posted on May 9, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments

Al is out of the hospital!

by lduncan

This just in.

Dear Friends of Southern Seminary:

I am very pleased to share with you that a short while ago Dr. Albert Mohler was discharged from Baptist East Hospital in Louisville, KY. After a two week hospitalization that included extensive abdominal surgery and a four day stay in the Intensive Care Unit due to pulmonary emboli in the lungs, he and the family are overjoyed to be home. This, indeed, is welcome news and a much anticipated milestone in Dr. Mohler's recovery.

Please now pray that Dr. Mohler will gain the rest and strength he needs while recuperating at home in the days ahead. As you may guess, he is eager to resume the full rigor of his Presidential and ministerial duties.

The Mohlers are deeply grateful for the many prayers that have been offered and the expressions of concern so many of you have shown over these past couple of weeks. On behalf of the Mohler family, thank you once again for the Christian love and support you have shown them.

Jason K. Allen

Posted on January 10, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments

Russ Moore reports on Al Mohler's Health

by lduncan

Our friend Al Mohler, was moved out of intensive care and into a private room at Baptist Hospital East this afternoon and continues to improve following complications from abdominal surgery that was performed Dec. 28.

Russell D. Moore, dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern, and a good friend to the T4G team, said Mohler is in good spirits following a difficult weekend: "I am extremely encouraged after having just left his room. He is eating, he is in good spirits and it looks as though the situation is completely under control at this point. He looks strong, is in remarkably good spirits and is even cracking jokes."

“[Al] is very appreciative of the prayers of God’s people and the outpouring of support from the churches and from the community.”

Al had been placed in intensive care Friday after developing blood clots in both lungs. After nearly a week of intense abdominal pain, he was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 27 and underwent surgery the following day. While physicians reported that the procedure went well and that Mohler’s abdominal issues were remedied, the development of blood clots led doctors to move Mohler to the hospital’s intensive care unit.

It is not yet known when Mohler will be released from the hospital, however Russ said the improvement in Mohler’s condition along with his high spirits were readily evident. “He has a stack of books and articles in his bed along with a massive number of highlighters, so the Albert Mohler I know is back.”

Posted on January 8, 2007 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

Update on Al

by lduncan

A number of you have written in asking about Al, his surgery and his recovery. Thanks so much for your encouraging expressions of loving Christian concern. He's a quick report from my friend Jason Allen, Al's able assistant.

"Dr. Mohler continues to recuperate from abdominal surgery at Baptist East Hospital in Louisville, KY. Daily he is gaining strength and making progress, but he still has a good deal of recovery before him. Please continue to pray for his complete and expedient recovery and for the Lord to grant him abundant grace during this time of convalescence.

"Dr. Mohler has expressed deep appreciation for all the gestures of encouragement that have come from so many and looks forward to being back in action at Southern Seminary, and behind the microphone at the Albert Mohler program (www.albertmohler.com).

"Thanks again for your prayers and support.

Jason K. Allen

Executive Assistant to the President

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Posted on January 4, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments

Update on Mark in South Africa

by lduncan

Mark Dever has just emailed us this report from his ministry sojourn in South Africa.

"Here's a quick summary of what's going on in South Africa with me. It's been great having Paul Curtis here with me.  I preached at 2 different churches on Sunday, in the same clothes I flew over in the 2 days before!  My luggage only joined me on Monday night!!  Anyway, here at the Grace Minister's Conference, Don Carson is the other speaker.  I'm speaking on expositional preaching, church membership, church discipline and such things.  What you'd expect.  Q&A sessions in the evening.  The first conference ran from Tuesday until this morning.  The second began this afternoon.  I think we've sold out of 9marks books in the first conference (2 more to go) and we've gotten a good number of names & email addresses for 9marks.  Don Carson spoke on John 1:1-18 & I spoke on Expositional Preaching this afternoon, as the second in the series of 3 conferences got started.  Saturday it's off to Cape Town, where I'm to preach at 2 different churches on Sunday.  We repeat all the teaching again in Cape Town next week!  And then I'm to do a separate conference that following Saturday (Jan. 13)!  Whew!"

Thanks Mark. We're praying for you.

Posted on January 4, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments

Let's Talk

by lduncan

C.J. and Mark:

It's a busy week for you, C.J. and Mark, you are in South Africa, right? But Happy New Year to you both dear friends! It was great to be with you in Louisville in December. I'm still laughing about the comedy video C.J.

I just got off the phone with Al and Mary. Al is hurting but healing. We thank God for the excellent medical care he's received and we pray the Lord's blessing on his recovery - it may take awhile. Meanwhile, since Al was supposed to get the conversation started, I'll step in and try to shuffle along in his large and nigh-unto-unfillable shoes.

All four of us long to see churches that are faithful to the following: biblical expository preaching, biblical worship (both in all of life and in gathered praise), biblical doctrine, a biblical pursuit of godliness, a biblical approach to family life, a biblical understanding of the Gospel, a biblical understanding of conversion, a biblical understanding of evangelism, a biblical understanding of discipleship, a biblical understanding of church membership, a biblical understanding of church leadership, and a biblical view of how the church relates to the world. We are agreed, in the main, as to what this ought to look like. But what in our context militates against these things?

Here's my question: what are the key factors afoot in the culture and in the evangelical churches that compromise the churches' faithfulness in the practice of these things? Mark, you bravely touched on this in your post on "relevance or faithfulness" -- but perhaps it would be helpful to ministers and members alike to reflect on the cultural and ecclesial trends and tendencies that are obstacles to biblical faithfulness.

Phil Ryken (in City on a Hill) suggests that narcissism and relativism share much of the blame. Mark, you have also made some suggestions on this issue in you Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. David Wells has offered a number of thoughts on these matters in the series that began with No Place for Truth. I recently started a topical-expository series called "Biblical Priorities for a Healthy Church" and suggested that individualism, relativism and consumerism have shaped our context and often influenced the churches unhelpfully (both in the expectations of members and the methods of ministers). However, there are certainly less high-flying but just as important factors that we could point to: ministerial professionalism, congregational affluence, the general cultural moral downgrade, etc.

I realize I'm swimming upstream by even posing such a question. Many will recoil from assuming a negative posture towards the culture, asserting that we ought to be more culture-affirming and less critical. However, in my experience, many who advocate the study of the culture in the pursuit of ministry end up confusing is with ought, and basically suggesting that the churches generally aim to sail with the prevailing winds.

I know you three brothers to be both astute observers and critics of culture, as well as faithful to biblical priorities for church life and Gospel ministry, so I value your insights. Feel free to take my question in other directions if you think another approach or angle would be more constructive for those attempting to be both faithful and relevant today. Or just suggest some reading to us.

Posted on January 2, 2007 | Link to this Post | Comments

Packer and Swinnock on Preparation for Public Worship

by lduncan

Is his important chapter on "The Puritan Approach to Worship" in his book "A Quest for Godliness" (the British title is "Among God's Giants"), J.I. Packer, after lamenting our shallowness in worship in comparison to the practice of our evangelical forebears the Puritans, asks:

"How do we begin to get from where we are to where the Puritans show us that we ought to be in our own practice of worship? How can we, cold-hearted and formal as we so often are --to our shame-- in church services, advance closer to the Puritan ideal? The Puritans would have met our question by asking us another. How do we prepare for worship? What do we do to rouse ourselves to seek God?

"Here, perhaps, is our own chief weakness. The Puritans inculcated specific preparation for worship--not merely for the Lord's Supper, but for all services-- as a regular part of the Christian's inner discipline of prayer and communion with God.  ... What we need at the present time to deepen our worship is not new liturgical forms or formulae, nor new hymns and tunes, but more preparatory 'heart-work' before we use the old ones. There is nothing wrong with new hymns, tunes, and worship styles--there may be very good reasons for them--but without 'heart-work' they will not make our worship more fruitful and God-honouring; they will only strengthen the syndrome that C.S. Lewis called 'the liturgical fidgets'. 'Heart-work' must have priority or spiritually our worship will get nowhere."

Then Packer quotes George Swinnock:

"Prepare to meet they God, O Christian! betake thyself to thy chamber on this Saturday night, confess and bewail thine unfaithfulness under the ordinances of God; shame and condemn thyself for thy sins, entreat God to prepare thy heart for, and assist it in, thy religious performances; spend some time in consideration of the infinite majesty, holiness, jealousy, and goodness, of that God, with whom thou art to have to do in sacred duties; ponder the weight and importance of his holy ordinances ...; meditate on the shortness of the time thous hast to enjoy Sabbaths in; and continue musing ... till the fire burneth; thou canst not think the good thou mayest gain by such forethoughts, how pleasant and profitable a Lord's day would be to thee after such preparation. The oven of thine heart thus baked in, as it were, overnight, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be the sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise. If thou wouldst thus leave thy heart with God on the Saturday night, thou shouldst find it with him in the Lord's Day morning."

Packer comments that the style of this admonition is "quaint" and so it is, but he also says that he believes that this is "a word in season for very many of us." Amen.

Posted on December 31, 2006 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

Merry Christmas, and the Year to Come

by lduncan

Watch this blog in 2007!

We are planning to come out of the blocks strong come January 1, 2007. Here's the plan. Al Mohler is going to get us rolling the first week of the New Year - posing a question that we'll all reflect and comment on. The week following, C.J. will follow suit. The third week, I'll prompt the discussion and the fourth week, Mark Dever will lead the cross examination. We'll endeavor follow this rota each month.

Meanwhile, fifth weeks will provide time for special posts, and our occasional topical posting will continue, and perhaps even increase.

Hope your Christmas was filled with Gospel thanks and joy.

Oh, by the way, be on the lookout for a blow-you-away Packer/Goodwin quote on preparing for worship, here on the T4G blog, by the end of the week.

Posted on December 25, 2006 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

José Manoel da Conceição - A name we ought to know

by lduncan

I just received Iain Murray's latest letter and he tells of his time in Brazil. He says: "Brazil is a great country, with a population distinguished by friendliness and warmth (eminently so among the Christians, as we again experienced everywhere). The growth of its cities, and the potential for the future is hard to describe. In Manaus we stayed in a splendid building not built on our last visit in 2001. Our room overlooked part of the mighty Amazon and when there we were often at the window! How many of us have heard of Goiania, yet it is a fine state capital, with a population a good deal larger than Edinburgh. The second conference was held there, with a crowded attendance (over 400), mainly pastors. It was held in one of the Presbyterian churches (there are five presbyteries in Goiania alone!) where the normal attendance on Sunday evenings is over 600. We are not used to such numbers here in Scotland. Often the listening was intense, and the uplifting singing was worth going a long way to hear. The Presbyterian Church in Brazil has seen a marked recovery of historic Christianity in recent decades: as well as several theological seminaries, it owns three large Christian schools, and MacKenzie University in Sao Paulo, with 30,000 students. We spent a number of days with our hosts, Solano and Betty Portela, in Sao Paulo (in its metropolitan area containing more people than the whole of Australia!). On our last day in that city we were taken to see the ‘Protestant Cemetery’ where many of the first missionaries, who arrived in the 1850s, are buried. They were noble men and women, whose lives ought to be better known. [The story that follows is about] the first Brazilian convert to become a Presbyterian minister; it will give you a miniature view of the calibre of these early evangelicals. What a harvest was to follow their early sacrificial labours!"

"On Christmas Eve, 1873, a man in tattered clothes and bare feet fell by the road side, as he attempted the long walk to Rio de Janeiro. Unknown to those who found him, José Manoel da Conceição, died early the next day in an infirmary, age 52. His last words had been to thank his helpers and to request he be left alone with God.  For most of his years since he left the Roman priesthood in 1864, this Christian had been traveling in his native Brazil. An able scholar and linguist, itinerant evangelism became the great concern of his life. He grieved over his years spent in the priesthood, and spoke and preached to all who would listen to him. Thousands did, and many were led to Christ through his words, his love and his humility. Even amid all his labours in the interior of Brazil, Conceição began a translation of Merle D’Aubigne’s History of the Reformation  into Portuguese. Excommunication, persecution and poverty left him undeterred. Buried by strangers in ‘consecrated ground’, the Roman Church demanded the removal of his body; and it was finally laid to rest in São Paulo in 1877. In that city, today, the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church is named after him. One of the first evangelists of his native land, Conceição was a shining light whose example showed the way to many others."

Posted on December 4, 2006 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

Belonging to the Church

by lduncan

"The question whether or not to join the church or belong to the church is not one that is open for the Christian believer." (Donald Macleod)

"We don’t go to church; we are the church." (Ernest Southcott)

Posted on December 3, 2006 in Church Membership | Link to this Post | Comments

An Old Time FPC Thanksgiving Story

by lduncan

Thanks Mark and C.J. Happy Thanksgiving! I don't have much to add by way of customs and habits for spiritually benefitting from this great holiday, but a number of years ago, Otho Johnson (one of our elders) pointed me to this interesting historical note, relating to The Rev. L.J. Halsey, who was the minister of our congregation, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson from 1842-1848.

THANKSGIVING AS VIEWED BY A CITIZEN
John Munn, who was born in Connecticut, was a merchant and banker living in Canton, Mississippi, when Governor Brown issued his Thanksgiving proclamation. Mr. Munn recorded in his journal on November 25, 1847:

“An unusual scene has been witnessed in our village and state this day. By appointment of Governor Brown it was selected as a day of ‘Thanksgiving’—and for the first time in this state has such a date been set apart for such purpose. This good old New England custom was a long time confined to those states—in time was adopted by the Western and middle states and for the last few years had gradually come to be observed in many of the Southern states, and on this day and this year about two thirds of the states unite in rendering thanks for the mercies and benefits received during the year now drawing to a close.

“There is something grateful and pleasant to the feeling of any man of right thought and mind in contemplating such a scene, but how much more so to one who was born on the soil of New England as he sees state after state adopting so advisable a custom. Far away from that birthplace, the observance of the day here brings a flood of recollections…

“In our village the day has been observed in a manner that would have given ample satisfaction to the most rigid observer of such days in the times of its earliest appointment. All business was suspended and quiet prevailed in our streets. There was a general attendance at church to listen to the Rev. Mr. Halsey of Jackson and seldom have I listened to a more interesting and appropriate sermon. It was well adapted for a people who were assembled for the first time for such a purpose, and those listening attentively could not but have been instructed in the objects of those who first established the custom and the reasons that demand its observance.”

Posted on November 23, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

Contextualization, again

by lduncan

"I do not think for a moment that the church should aspire to become irrelevant. There is always a need for Christians to speak the gospel into their own context. Rather, my concern is with the ever present danger of over-contextualizing. Consider what happens to a church that is always trying to appeal to an increasingly post-Christian culture. Almost inevitably, the church itself becomes post- Christian. This is what happened to the liberal church during the twentieth century, and it is what is happening to the evangelical church right now. As James Montgomery Boice has argued, evangelicals are accepting the world’s wisdom, embracing the world’s theology, adopting the world’s agenda, and employing the world’s methods. In theology a revision of evangelical doctrine is now underway that seeks to bring Christianity more in line with postmodern thought. The obvious difficulty is that in a post-Christian culture, a church that tries too hard to be relevant may in the process lose its very identity as the church. Rather than confronting the world the church gets co-opted by. It no longer stands a city on a hill, but sinks to the level of the surrounding culture."

Philip Graham Ryken, City on a Hill: Reclaiming the Biblical Pattern for the Church in the 21st Century (Moody Press, 2003), 22.

Posted on October 26, 2006 in Culture | Link to this Post | Comments

John Wilson on the Packer Birthday Bash

by lduncan

Thanks C.J., for your report on the DGM conference. I can't wait to listen to all the messages. And thanks to you, Mark, for your sobering counsel to Thabiti, which is surely good counsel to us all. Speaking of which, you are so faithful to tell the truth, kindly but clearly, whether the crowds like it or not. You are a true and faithful teacher to us all in this way.

You did so recently at important event. John Wilson of Books and Culture gives this brief account of the J.I. Packer 80th Birthday celebration at Beeson Divinity School last week. There, Mark, bravely and kindly expressed his concerns about Packer's endorsement of ECT, and gave the best presentation on Packer, justification and ECT that I've ever read. When the book comes out folks, that one address will be worth the price. We are indebted to you (again), Mark.

Posted on October 6, 2006 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

Spurgeon on the Ministry and Trials

by lduncan

A friend of mine, and a faithful pastor, Tom Myers, recently read these words of Spurgeon to me by way of encouragement. No, I'm not discouraged! Nor am I in a season of trial (though I've seen my share and have so far lived to tell it). But these thoughts were encouraging to meditate on nevertheless. So, I pass along Spurgeon's wise, pastoral words for your edification and encouragement - something that all Gospel ministers need!

SWEET STIMULANTS FOR THE FAINTING SOUL

Sermon No. 2798 - AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL,
Lord’s Day Evening, Winter 1860

Posted on September 28, 2006 in Leadership | Link to this Post | Comments

Chrysostom the Complementarian

by lduncan

John Chrysostom ("golden-mouthed"), bishop of Constantinople (from 398) and "Spurgeon" of the late fourth and early fifth century, known for his deep respect for Christian women (as witnessed, for instance, in his beautiful letter to Olympias) has this to say about Christian wives both loving and respecting their husbands in Ephesians 5:33 -

"How, one may say, is there to be love when there is respect?  Love is most powerfully present when accompanied by respect.  For what she loves she also reveres, and what she reveres she also loves.  She reveres him as the  head and loves him as a member of the whole body.  God’s purpose in ordering marriage is peace.  One takes the husband’s role, one takes the wife’s role, one in guiding, one in supporting.  If both had the very same roles, there would be no peace.  The house is not rightly governed when all have precisely the same roles.  There must be a differentiation of roles under a single head."  (Homily on Ephesians 20:5.33)

I think it's time that Randy Stinson and CBMW establish the complementarian hall of fame in Christian history, and I'm nominating Chrysostom! Here, as the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (IVP) on this passage observes, Chrysostom is saying "The household cannot be rightly ordered or governed on the basis of undifferentiated roles, wherein each voice claims absolute parity without respect for functional differences."

Posted on September 25, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

CT Article on T4G is up

by lduncan

As most of you already know, Christianity Today ran a nice story this month on the resurgence of "Calvinism" among the younger generation. Many of the interviewees were a part of Together for the Gospel (e.g., Mark Dever, John Piper, Al Mohler and C.J. Mahaney). You can read the article online. Here.

Posted on September 22, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

CJ's hoop dogs of choice?

by lduncan

Everyone is dying to know if the new Air Jordan T4G is going to be C.J.'s choice of basketball footwear - as he dishes the rock low after the pump fake from the top of the key?

Posted on September 12, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

William Still on kids going off to college

by lduncan

"Every autumn I have a spate of letters from fond parents, teachers, guardians, and monitors, appealing to me to follow up on such and such a youngster who is away from home at college for the first time, and who has to be hunted, followed, shadowed, intercepted and driven to Christian meetings. I have scarcely ever known this desperate technique to work. I understand the panic of parents and guardians, but it is too late then to try high pressure tactics. Prayer, example and precept, in that order, are the means of bringing up children and young folk in the faith. Nor will high pressure tactics and brainwashing techniques avail when young folk have gone off on their own. Some young folk, alas, will have their fling and sow their wild oats, and come at last to heel, sadly, like the prodigal son. It is where Christians pathetically put their trust in external techniques and artificial stratagems that young folk go astray. Nothing takes the place of the realism of holy living and secret wrestling before God in prayer for our youngsters. We must commit them to God so utterly that we dare not interfere or tamper with their precious souls."

(William Still, late Pastor of Gilcomston South Church, Aberdeen, Scotland) HT: Matt Lucas

Posted on September 12, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

You're on, Mark

by lduncan

Mark, I'll take you up on your challenge. It will give me an opportunity to give praise to God for his providence in my life, and to praise him for giving me friends like you, Al and C.J. It will also afford the opportunity for me to highlight the unique gifts each of you have, and the way you are each suited to be a blessing to the churches.

Meanwhile, we've been working through Ephesians 5 at First Presbyterian, and a Lloyd-Jones quote/thought has recently taken my breath away. While looking at Eph. 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her," we asked -- so what does that love look like? How are we supposed to love? Paul doesn’t leave us without an answer. He points to the cross. What is Christ’s love for the church like? Look at the cross.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones taught me something about Ephesians 5:25 that I had never before grasped. How many times have I read, and preached, this verse and missed it? Then I read his pastoral words of application: "How many of us have realized that we are always to think of the married state in terms of the doctrine of the atonement? Is that our customary way of thinking of marriage?. . . Where do we find what the books have to say about marriage? Under which section? Under ethics. But it does not belong there. We must consider marriage in terms of the doctrine of the atonement." (Life in the Spirit, 148)

That means, by the way, that every time we hear a sermon on the atonement, we as Christian husbands are being shown and taught by our Lord how to love our wives. Yes, certainly, above all, whenever we hear atonement proclaimed, we are always first to consider the matchless work of God on our behalf. The atonement always and foremost is to evoke in us wonder, love, gratitude and praise for saving grace freely given to us at the cost of the Father’s only and beloved Son. It is about what God is doing for us, for our redemption, outside of us, without any assistance from us, or any input from us, or any contribution from us. For the atonement is the awesome display of the stunningly surprising saving love of God at work on our behalf. It is never a mere example of love. It is never a mere illustration. It is never merely a means of moral influence.

But here in Ephesians 5:25b, Paul bids Christian husbands to look at the cross, to look at how Christ gave himself for his people there, to look at how he gave himself totally, to look at how he gave himself to the uttermost, to look at how he endured the shame and suffering, to look at how he died – all for his bride, all for his people, all for the church.

And then the apostle Paul applies the atonement to Christian husbands. "Men," he says, "Christ lived, suffered and died for the eternal good of his bride – now, you go love your wives like that. Love your wives like Christ loved the church. Love your wives like Christ gave himself for the church. Love your wives in light of the atonement."

So next time you are wishing that the preacher would talk about something practical, and he’s up there again preaching about the cross, preaching about the atonement, just remember the triple practicality of it – (1) he’s not only teaching you about the love of God, a love so deep you’ll never see to the bottom of it in all eternity, (2) he’s not only teaching you about the glorious work of redemption by penal substitution, a work without which you would not and could not have been saved from an eternity in hell, (3) he’s teaching you as a Christian husband how to love your wife – Christ lived, suffered and died for his bride; you live, and if necessary suffer and die for your wife’s good.

Posted on September 4, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

Norris in Evangelical Times on Dever - The Deliberate Church

by lduncan

Roger Norris has written a nice review of Mark Dever's and Paul Alexander's The Deliberate Church, in the July edition of The Evangelical Times. Here it is (with thanks to ET).

"A few years ago Mark Dever gave us Nine marks of a healthy church — assessments that were deeply embedded in biblical theology and gave nine crucial qualities of a spiritually healthy church. In The deliberate church Dr Dever aims to help pastors and church leaders on the journey towards spiritual health and growth for the local church. Mark Dever is Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

"The book is a reassuring antidote to the many pragmatic approaches of our day, addressing crucial issues of church life with clarity and insight. The authors are careful to trust the Word of God in the work of building the church, knowing that ‘the church itself is God’s evangelism program’.

"The chapters are set out in four sections; 1) Gathering the Church; 2) When the Church gathers; 3) Gathering elders; 4) When the elders gather. The authors make it clear in the first chapter that they do not have a great programme for the church; rather they rely on four basic areas of pastoral responsibility — preaching, praying, personal discipling relationships, and patience.

"Combining biblical principles with practical advice, the book goes on to address such issues as evangelism, membership, worship, fellowship, prayer, leadership and the role of the pastor. There are helpful notes on multiple Sunday morning services and contemporary influences, considered in the light of the biblical data.

"Each section of the book includes a ‘think tank’ of questions and ends with a list of recommended reading.

"The book is ideal for pastors and church leaders, who want to begin with the gospel and take seriously the biblical pattern for the church — and are looking for down-to-earth practical help. At the very least it raises searching and important questions for leaders in our contemporary ‘outcomes-driven’ culture.

"Not everyone will agree wholeheartedly with every point, but the book prompts us to make an honest assessment of the life of the local church. In giving direction to the task of building a ministry, The deliberate church points us away from the pragmatism of programmes to the priority of faithfulness to the gospel; to where the church’s character, privileges and responsibilities are biblically driven — deliberately.

Posted on August 1, 2006 in Church | Link to this Post | Comments

Spurgeon on Audubon on Preachers with a passion for One Thing

by lduncan

Derek Thomas, my dear friend and colleague here at First Pres., Jackson, does a devotional each week for our Ministers' Meeting (which we have every Friday morning, in preparation for our Lord's Day duties and delights, and for prayer for the congregation, for needful sharing of pastoral situations, as well as for mutual encouragement). Derek's remarks are typically a feast of theology, history and pastoralia.

Last Friday, he exhorted us from the words of C.H. Spurgeon out of G. Holden Pike's Life and Work of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1991, vol. 2:352) to this effect -

"We need to muster a band of ministers who live only for Christ, and desire nothing but opportunities for promoting His glory – opportunities for spreading His truth – opportunities for winning by power those whom Jesus has redeemed by His precious blood. Men of one idea – these are they that shall do exploits in the camp of Israel."

You've got to read the whole thing though to get the proper effect. Here.

Posted on July 26, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

Professions of Faith on the Mission Field

by lduncan

Great post Mark. Very important subject. In fact, an evangelist just sent me a book on this very subject today. I may blog a few ideas from it next week. Meanwhile, one of our church-supported missionaries in Africa just sent this report to me in his prayer letter. His observations touch on some of the points you have raised.

"As I sat down to write this prayer letter I thought about what the significant events were that had happened in our ministry in Uganda since we had last written. The most important thing that jumped out at me was that our students at Westminster Theological College have a much better understanding of what the gospel of our Lord Jesus really is than before they came.

"For example, after one of our Congolese students, Joseph, had been in class for several weeks, he came up to me after class one day with tears in his eyes and said, “I have never understood this before. Neither I, nor any other preachers that I know in Congo are teaching this. I will have to go back to Congo and tell my people what Jesus has done for us.” What Joseph was referring to was a simple diagram that we had talked about of Jesus taking our sins upon Himself and Him giving us His righteousness, the only way that we could be acceptable to God.

"Much of the “gospel” that is preached in Africa is a “gospel” of works - going to church, giving money, being a kind neighbor, reading the Bible. Many, many church-goers in Uganda never hear of the free gospel of grace in Christ Jesus. Another example is of one of our students, Allan. Allan is a young Christian, but a very enthusiastic evangelist in his home village. One day in class he seemed confused about what I was saying, so I stopped and asked him what the trouble was. He said, “So you mean that not all of the people who come to the front during an altar call really become Christians?” We had been talking about Christians bearing fruit as evidence of true belief in class that day. Allan was confused because he saw so many people “walk the aisle,” but so few of their lives changing after they did. He didn’t realize that not everyone who “walks the aisle” is actually changed by the Spirit on the inside. His church was teaching what is commonly called “easy believism” – just walk the aisle and pray the prayer and you have your ticket to heaven. Righteous fruit produced by the Holy Spirit after this “conversion” is not emphasized. The number of so-called “conversions” is what matters.

"The most popular “false gospel” that Ugandan churches are teaching is the “health and wealth” gospel, the idea that God wants all believers to be rich and healthy while on earth; if you’re not it’s because you are not exercising enough faith. It’s not the gospel of Jesus because it makes God a celestial genie, with man, not God, as the focus of all creation. It tends to make Christians feel very guilty if they are not rich and healthy. Another student, Henry, gave an example of this in class one day. He said that he and some friends went into a big church in Kampala, all dressed up in their Sunday best. Because of their dress, the ushers must have thought that they were wealthy and seated them very near the front of the church. When the offering basket was passed they only put in a few shillings, all that they had. The pastor noticed their meager offering, came up to them and told them to move back to the back of the church. These seats at the front, he said, were reserved for those who had strong faith, those who could put thousands of shillings in the offering. Needless to say, anyone can guess what that pastor had on his mind!

"This is a very common occurrence in some of the biggest churches in Kampala. The problem is that none of these “gospels” is the true gospel of Christ and as a result the culture here is full of unrighteousness because people’s lives are not being changed by the power of the Spirit working in them. One of the most important things that we teach the students at WTC is that lives are changed only by the power of the living Christ within us. As far as we are concerned this is the only true hope for the African Church and for churches all around the world.

Posted on July 20, 2006 in Conversion | Link to this Post | Comments

Al Mohler on the Gospel of Judas

by lduncan

The Australian Presbyterian is a denominational magazine that you should get to know. Peter Hastie, the editor, is doing a super job. He was at T4G in Louisville this year, by the way.

Here's a good piece from the AP by our friend Al Mohler on the subject of the recently rediscovered, translated and published "Gospel of Judas."

Posted on July 10, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

Relevance, Customer Needs and Faithfulness

by lduncan

Mark, thanks for the though-provoking post ("Assumptions and Pursuits") on relevance and faithfulness (which seems to have generated good discussion in various places on the web), and for your post on why you are a Southern Baptist. I want to follow up on both. But let me make a few brief remarks on the relevance and faithfulness post first.

I was immediately reminded of David Wells' No Place for Truth when I read your thoughts. Remember how he starts off in the preface to NPFT? "those who are most relevant to this world are those who are judged most irrelevant." This instructs us that faithfulness is always relevant, even if our contemporaries don't think it is relevant.

But, as you note, all the problems don't lie with those discounting faithfulness for the sake of relevance. One problem is that we sometimes confuse faithfulness with something in the past that holds great meaning to us, but is not inherent to the faithfulness that the Bible requires for Gospel ministry. Thus, we judge holding fast to that uncommanded thing (or even some less important thing) as faithfulness in our day, and our relevance sinks. The problem in this case is not our desire to be faithful, but our confusion over what faithfulness entails. True faithfulness is never a hindrance to real relevance, only to false relevance.

Of course, there are other dangers as well - particularly thinking that relevance requires us to modify and upgrade God's prescribed message and methods for the work of the Gospel. One problem with this tendency is that we confuse is and ought, what people want and what people need, the opinions of our contemporaries about what we ought to be doing as Christians and what God tells us in his word that we ought to be doing as Christians. Hence, the seeker approach is always vulnerable to problems entailed in the prevalent consumer mindset of our culture. The customer is always right, being one of them (in terms of Christian evangelistic appropriation of that idea, there are problems with both the subject and predicate, "sinners" do not equal "customers" and they're certainly not always right, whatever we might learn from them). Then there is another meta-problem as well.

That's where a famous German grocer can help us. Karl Hans Albrecht (born in 1920 in Essen, Germany) founded a discount supermarket chain and is among the richest men in the world. Albrecht says: "Customer needs have an unsettling way of not staying satisfied for very long." It is the combination of "give them what they want" and "they've changed their minds about what they want" that poses the threat of irrelevance to those most doggedly determined to be relevant. Faux relevance is trying to hit a moving target (and generally is trailing the bullseye by about twenty years).

Posted on June 29, 2006 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

Reading

by lduncan

"Perhaps the greatest gift any father can bestow upon his children, apart from the covenant blessings of parish life and a comprehension of the doctrines of grace, is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives a knowledge of the world, and it offers experience of a wide kind. Indeed, it is nothing less than a moral illumination."

Thomas Chalmers

Posted on June 23, 2006 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

Mark Dever at the PCA General Assembly

by lduncan

Mark, what an outstanding post. Thanks. And thank also for the excellent address last night on the Westminister Directory's instructions on the preaching of the Word, given at the Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly pre-conference "The Westminster Confession for Today." Everyone needs to get the audio and listen to it. Great stuff. You and Al have been the highlights of the conference the last two years. By the way, the Opening worship service of the PCA GA began with a quote from you, Mark, out of The Deliberate Church! A great statement about the Word of God. The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) dinner tonight at the PCA GA went very well. Randy Stinson did a super job in hosting and speaking. More soon, when time allows.

Posted on June 20, 2006 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

Thanks Mark (more on T4G and Complementarianism)

by lduncan

Your post on the complementarian question was excellent Mark. I've waited a week before posting to follow up, in part because I didn't want anything else to deflect attention from your reflections on that important matter. There were dozens of comments left here at the T4G and the conversation was all over the place in the blogosphere.

Two notes before I make a few remarks. First, as I was preparing to post tonight, I think I noticed new formatting for the T4G site going up. Looks good. Way to go team. Second, I plan to start blogging through our T4G statement to give some context to it. Hope you, C.J. and Al will join me.

Now, as to the issue of younger conservative evangelicalism and complementarianism, I think your observations are spot on - though I want to point out that guys like Harry Reeder, Kent Hughes and Ray Ortlund (who were in that meeting and who are over 50) have led brilliantly and faithfully in the whole area of biblical manhood and womanhood, not to mention our own dear C.J. who has been on this issue like white on rice for years. Once again, C.J. shows his world-class discernment!

Allow me to reiterate a few points you made, as a public expression of solidarity, and to explain why I think this is so important, and warranted inclusion in our T4G statement.

One, the denial of complementarianism undermines the church's practical embrace of the authority of Scripture (thus eventually and inevitably harming the church's witness to the Gospel). The gymnastics required to get from "I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man," in the Bible, to "I do allow a woman to teach and to exercise authority over a man" in the actual practice of the local church, are devastating to the functional authority of the Scripture in the life of the people of God.

By the way, this is one reason why I think we just don't see many strongly inerrantist-egalitarians (meaning: those who hold unwaveringly to inerrancy and also to egalitarianism) in the younger generation of evangelicalism. Many if not most evangelical egalitarians today have significant qualms about inerrancy, and are embracing things like trajectory hermeneutics, etc. to justify their positions. Inerrancy or egalitarianism, one or the other, eventually wins out.

Two, and following on the first point, the church's confidence in the clarity of Scripture in undermined, because if you can get egalitarianism from the Bible, you can get anything from the Bible. Paul may be excruciating to read aloud and hear read in a dominant feminist culture, but he's not obscure in his position! In 1 Timothy 2:11-12 he says, "A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet." Elsewhere, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, we find the confirming parallel to this previous pronouncement: "The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church." These verses (and many others) are uncomfortably clear and certainly politically incorrect, and though some of us may be consoled by "exegesis" that shows that they don't really mean that women can't preach, teach, rule in the church, yet there remains this nagging feeling that such interpretive moves are the victory of present opinion over clear but unpopular biblical teaching. Cultural cooption of the church's reading of the Bible, robs the church's ability to speak prophetically to the culture and to live distinctively in the culture, which in turns undermines the church's Gospel witness.

Three, because the very ideal of equality championed by egalitarianism (whether secular or Christian) is a permutation of a particular strand of Enlightenment thought, and because this particular ideal of equality is actually alien to the biblical anthropology and ethic, whenever and wherever it is read into the text of Scripture and its principles are worked out consistently, there is a competition with a biblical view of manhood and womanhood. For instance, try to find this view of equality in Genesis 1 - it's just not there. Consequently, commitment to evangelical egalitarianism opens the door for two competing but incompatible ethical norms and ideals within the individual, family and church. If the egalitarian impulse wins out, the church is compromised precisely at the point where paganism is assaulting the church today. For, as Peter Jones has brilliantly demonstrated, paganism wants to get rid of Christian monotheism by getting rid of the Creator-creature distinction. And one way paganism likes to do that is through gender confusion. Hence, the bi-sexual shaman, the sacred feminine, goddess worship, etc. Paganism understands that one of the best ways to prepare the way for pagan polytheistic monism over against the transcendent Creator God of the Bible is to undermine that God's image in the distinctiveness of male and female, and in the picture of Christ and the church in marital role distinctions, and in the male eldership of the church. Egalitarianism is just not equipped for that fight, and in fact simply capitulates to it.

Four, when the biblical distinctions of maleness and femaleness are denied, Christian discipleship is seriously damaged because there can be no talk of cultivating distinctively masculine Christian virtue or feminine Christian virtue. Yes, there are many Christian ethical norms that are equally directed and applicable to male and female disciples, but there are also many ethical directives in the NT enjoined distinctly upon Christian men as men and Christian women as women. Furthermore, the NT (and the Bible as a whole) recognizes that men and women are uniquely vulnerable to different kinds of temptations, and thus need gender-specific encouragement in battling against them in the course of Christian discipleship. Evangelical egalitarianism, fearful as it is that any acknowledged difference between men and women could set the stage for inequality of role or status, is utterly unprepared to help the believer with these distinctive commands or temptations. Egalitarian discipleship of Christian men and women has, then, an inherent androgynous bias. But that is not how God made us. He made us male and female. Thus Paul warns Christian men against the soul-peril of "effeminacy" without in any way criticizing (and, indeed, admiring and encouraging) the "femininity" of women. We need masculine male Christians and feminine female Christians, and that kind of discipleship requires an understanding of and commitment to complementarianism. Hence, denial of complementarianism compromises Gospel discipleship.

For these reasons and more, Mark, I think we were right to "deny that any church can confuse these issues without damaging its witness to the Gospel." But we'll have a chance to say more on this later.

Posted on June 7, 2006 in General | Link to this Post | Comments

About the Gospel (4)

by lduncan

Mark, it was great to be with you in Philly on Monday and Tuesday. C.J. and Al -- wish you'd been there with us. I'll miss fellowship with you guys on Friday night though, but will pray God's blessings on your time and planning. Mark, thanks for the CDs! And thanks reminding us of that great comment from John Piper on productivity at T4G.

Now, I'd better get productive and produce some more Spurgeon quotes, about the gospel. These are some bracing thoughts addressed to hearers of the gospel and preachers of the gospel.

"The hearing of the gospel involves the hearer in responsibility. It is a great privilege to hear the gospel. You may smile and think there is nothing very great in it. The damned in hell know. Oh, what would they give if they could hear the gospel now? If they could come back and entertain but the shadow of a hope that they might escape from the wrath to come? The saved in heaven estimate this privilege at a high rate, for, having obtained salvation through the preaching of this gospel, they can never cease to bless their God for calling them by his word of truth. O that you knew it! On your dying beds the listening to a gospel sermon will seem another thing than it seems now." CHS

"Do you know, my dear unsaved hearer, what God’s estimate of the gospel is? Do you not know that it has been the chief subject of his thoughts and acts from all eternity? He looks on it as the grandest of all his works. You cannot imagine that he has sent his gospel into the world to be a football for you to play with–that you may give it a kick, as Felix did when he said to Paul, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee" (Acts 24:25). You surely cannot believe that God sent his gospel into the world for you to make a toy of it, and to say, as Agrippa said to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28), and then put away all thought of it out of your souls. You cannot even speak of it irreverently without committing a great sin." CHS

"Avoid a sugared gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. Seek the gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter into your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord to let his gospel soak into your soul." CHS

Posted on May 24, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

About the Gospel (3)

by lduncan

Today's quotes about the Gospel, come from the prince of preachers, C.H. Spurgeon.

"Never lose heart in the power of the gospel. Do not believe that there exists any man, much less any race of men, for whom the gospel is not fitted." (CHS)

"Let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching - where Christ is everything, and the creature is nothing; where it is salvation all of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus." (CHS)

"If God does not save men by truth, he certainly will not save them by lies. And if the old gospel is not competent to work a revival, then we will do without the revival." (CHS)

"On Christ, and what he has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall be. And if you are lost trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go to hell with you. I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived, died, was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God." (CHS)

And one quote, not from Spurgeon, but which fits will with this last thought:

"I acknowledge myself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure and without hope, except in his sovereign mercy." (from the Presbyterian vows of church membership)

Posted on May 20, 2006 in Gospel | Link to this Post | Comments

About the Gospel (2)

by lduncan

Yesterday I started a series of great quotes about the Gospel, from some giants of Christian ministry. We continue piling on the gems in this post.

"The gospel is a glorious declaration of the mighty acts of God when he invaded this earth in the person of his eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ." (John Blanchard)

"The gospel is not 'God loves us,' but 'God loves us at the cost of his Son.'" (Derek Thomas)

"As there is only one God, so there can be only one gospel." (James Denney)

"The church is the fruit of the gospel." (Hywel R. Jones)

"We have an unchanging gospel, which is not today green grass and tomorrow dry hay; but always the abiding truth of the immutable Jehovah." (C.H. Spurgeon)

"The gospel begins and ends with what God is, not what we want or think we need." (Tom Houston)

Posted on May 19, 2006 in Gospel | Link to this Post | Comments

About the Gospel (1)

by lduncan

Mark, great post on C.J. as Bunyan. So true. His message at T4G continues to pastor me daily.

Mark and I have been together at a Pastor's meeting in Chicago this week, and I've enjoyed fellowship with Mark, as well as benefitted from Mark's wisdom. It was also good to talk to you by phone tonight, C.J. Wish you were here! And happy anniversary - late.

Now, I've still not answered C.J.'s Gospel question, and I'm waiting with abated breath to hear about the non-laser-building bears in Al's woods, but I'll ramp up to my Gospel post by feasting you with a series of great quotes about the Gospel, from some giants of Christian ministry.

"If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself." (Augustine)

"The whole gospel is contained in Christ." (John Calvin)

"Whenever the gospel is preached it is as if God himself came into the midst of us." (John Calvin)

"There is nothing attractive about the gospel to the natural man; the only man who finds the gospel attractive is the man who is convicted of sin." (Oswald Chambers)

"A gospel that elevates man and dethrones God is not the gospel." (Will Metzger)

"The world has many religions; it has but one gospel." (George Owen)

"The man who does not glory in the gospel can surely know little of the plague of sin that is within him. (J.C. Ryle)

"The revelation of the gospel is to a world that is already under indictment for its universal rejection of God the Father." (R.C. Sproul)

"If the Lord's bearing our sin for us is not the gospel, I have no gospel to preach." (C.H. Spurgeon)

"The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ." (C.H. Spurgeon)

"When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed." (C.H. Spurgeon)

Posted on May 17, 2006 in Gospel | Link to this Post | Comments

A Prayer for Ministry, from Thomas Chalmers

by lduncan

Amen C.J.!

Thomas Chalmers was one of the leading lights of the Scottish evangelical awakening in the nineteenth century. From October of 1841 to September 20, 1846, on Sunday afternoons, Chalmers wrote a series of devotional-expositional-supplicational thoughts on each chapter of the New Testament, starting with Matthew 1 and going to Revelation 22. He wrote them, apparently, simply for his own edification, but they have become a source of edification to many a Gospel minister. I am happy to say that Solid Grounds Christian Books is producing a new edition of them! Get it.

Meanwhile, I'll share with you a taste of the riches contained therein. Having begun his notes (written in long hand with no erasures, strikeouts or corrections in any of the volumes!) with the arresting words "All history is subservient to the great work of Redemption," Chalmers is meditating on Matthew 1, on a Lord's Day afternoon (in October of 1841), and journaling—as was his habit over the last six or so years of his life and as described above—and he observes: "And under what an endearing and comforting title is it that he is first announced to us—Jesus the Saviour—and from what? He saves us from our sins—not the guilt of them only, but also the power of them." Then Chalmers records his personal prayer in light of this truth: "—Realize upon me, O God, the whole of this salvation. Give me a part, both in the justifying righteousness which this Jesus hath brought in, and in the sanctifying Grace which He sheds forth on all who believe in him, that I may be regenerated as well as reconciled; and that admitted to the pardon which has been sealed by His blood, I may furthermore be purified—and, meet for the Master’s use, may become one of His peculiar people, zealous of good works." May that be our prayer too.

Thomas Chalmers, Sabbath Scripture Readings (Matthew I), in The Posthumous Works of Thomas Chalmers, Vol. IV, edited by William Hanna (Sutherland and Knox: Edinburgh, 1848), 1-2.

Posted on May 8, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

T4G Hopes

by lduncan

Mark, you are so right – who knows what will come from T4G, but we all long for God to be glorified and his people helped as a result. And you are certainly right that we all want to see the Lord’s work cross-fertilized.

Two things are for sure. 1. We long to see a renewal of the old evangelical alliances, around the Gospel, and a strong coalition of Bible-saturated, truth-driven, God-entranced, prayer-soaked, aggressively evangelistic, Christ-treasuring, Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled, sovereign grace-loving, missions-advancing, hell-robbing, strong-thinking, real-need-exposing, soul-winning, mind-engaging, vagueness-rejecting, wartime-life-style-pursuing, self-denying, self-giving, risk-taking, justice-advancing, Scripture-expounding, cross-cherishing, homosexuality-opposing, abortion-denouncing, racism-resisting, heaven-desiring, imputation-of-an-alien righteousness-proclaiming, justification-by-faith-alone-apart-from-doing preaching, error-exposing, complementarian, joyful, humble, loving, courageous, happy pastors working together for the Gospel. (Thanks to John Piper for so many of these words and thoughts).

2. And we want to see them leading strong evangelical churches who, while they hold as faithfully and biblically as they know how to certain doctrinal distinctives not shared by all other biblical evangelical churches, band together for the Gospel on a basis that is robustly doctrinal, historic, orthodox, reformational, world-opposing-while-at-the-same-time-world-loving, Bible-preaching, Scriptural-theology-inculcating, real-conversion-prizing, deep biblical evangelism-practicing, New Testament church-membership-implementing, church-discipline-applying, healthy and growing Disciple-making, biblical church leadership teaching-obeying – for the display of God’s glory in the churches.

May the Lord raise up such a ministerial fraternity – not on the basis of doctrinal minimalism but rather on the basis of shared conviction of the truth and Gospel forbearance in the areas where we differ; not to the detriment of our convictions regarding our distinctives in faith and practice in the local churches and families of churches we serve, but to their enhancement. And may the Lord raise up churches that are truly a witness to grace in this passing age, a display of the glory and power of God’s saving grace, outposts of heaven, suburbs of eternity. For the church is God’s strategy, and there is no plan B.

Posted on May 3, 2006 | Link to this Post | Comments

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