Dever, Duncan, Sproul, and Sproul Jr: Questions and Answers #1

all right guys what goes around comes around it's my turn to ask the questions I don't have to answer them so I'm just gonna take them as they come showing no partiality and as they go that one came from heaven so we better handle that one here's the question how do you handle worldliness when you're married to an unbeliever I don't I'm not sure I understand the nature the question and certainly the circumstance that calls us to compassion and understanding but there's nothing about the call to worldliness that would be changed by that circumstance if anything one could argue that in that circumstance you have a living breathing illustration of the distinction in front of you I can tell you what you do I it's been my experience that the peculiar temptation for people in that circumstance particularly for wives has been to have a worldly pragmatism that says well because my husband is an unbeliever that somehow limits my call to submission to him and I have to sort of run a separate household almost a shadow government in the house but in fact Paul tells us what for most of us is a counterintuitive instruction but it if you think about it for a moment it makes sense Paul's instruction there is you especially have to bend over backwards and your best strategy is not debating your husband on theology it is not leaving tracks here and there for him giving him maps to keep on getting lost it is to submit joyfully to him yeah the only thing I would add to that I think it's true the only thing I would add is certainly don't try to go it alone join a church and get counsel from people who know you perhaps know your spouse your husband and your wife is unbelieving the question may well revolve around the different vision and values held by the unbelieving partner in the marriage as well and in in that circumstance to add to what these brothers have wisely said I would simply say that in in that circumstance when you are attempting to live in a godly way when there is a partner that doesn't have a vision for making those kinds of choices or having those sorts of priorities in life it's it's also very important for you in that circumstance to keep from assuming a position whereby you are always condemning the other person in the relationship it can be a very it can be a kick for self-righteousness to be in that circumstance I've I've known women who have been in marital relationships for years and years with unbelievers the the women would have perhaps come to faith in Christ after the marriage they had married as unbelievers they were equally yoked in that regard and then had a husband come to Christ later in life and have a difficult time adjusting to that husband who had who has now come to faith in Christ precisely because they've been in the position of being the martyr all those years in the eyes of their Christian friends who were patting them on the back for being so good and hanging in there with this unbelieving man and so I do think you have a you have an internal test regarding hypocrisy and self-righteousness in the way you relate to an unbelieving spouse in a marital relationship that you just need to be on guard for thank you in Matthew 6:19 2:24 we're told not to store up our treasures on earth but in heaven how do we define treasure and does this command tell us not to financially plan for the future I'm gonna dress missed you since you were yeah absolutely not it does not tell us not to plan financially for this is this was not Jesus first blast of the trumpet against insurance salesman or his first blast of the trumpet against financial planners Jesus himself constantly and his own teaching uses illustrations calling on us to be good stewards and so Jesus point is not that possessions are bad or that planning is bad but that possessions and and even the wisest godly planning and stewardship is potentially a trap if our hearts are there if our ultimate desires are there if our ultimate allegiance is there and so a treasure can be any of those things or you could be a lousy financial planner and have no insurance and still be a rank idolaters and worshiping something other than the one true God so the the struggle here is not simply for those who have a lot and are planning well for it this struggle is for everybody no matter how much you have and I think that George Gilder story reminds us of that you can have absolutely nothing and still be completely worshiping and treasuring that which you don't have and that's no less a problem of worldliness than having a lot and having that as your God instead of God alright we are told that we're living in the postmodern age if so how should search leaders adjust their services their preaching and their outreach to the community so how does the most water postmodern age cause you to adjust your services well in the postmodern age I find it necessary to affirm in the preaching of the word the sinfulness of man the provision for having peace with our Heavenly Father through Christ the call to repentance the believing of the gospel and the command to grow and grace and become more like Jesus do you make any special provisions for the this sudden change in the constituent nature of human being know if anything doesn't it make you more urgent in your commitment to biblical teaching well I think what happens is you know what our sees just said about how you keep the gospel the same you do continue to preach the word you continue to have baptism of the Lord's Supper you continue to covenant together in churches I mean you do all the things that are laid out there that Christians do I think it actually makes the witness more striking so for example with our services we have our long sermons not that that's a virtuous thing but that's simply a fact we have old hymns we do also sing some modern songs we have old hymns and yet the average age in our congregation is probably mid to late 20s well this gets common that upon regularly by visitors who have been told by all the things published by various Christian publishers that they cannot reach the coming generation the younger generation if they don't fill in the blank you know some modern thing of technology method and way of doing something and so I think if we just continue on in faithfulness I think that highlights the fact that it's God's work and he uses the gospel to do it now I'm not trying to be a lot light here I'm not saying there's no way you can ever like I'm thankful for this microphone you know I'm thankful for a Study Bible I can be I can be encouraged by a new song I like in Christ alone a new song that many people are singing I mean I could name other things like that so I'm not trying to be a curmudgeon to be a curmudgeon but it is important that we realize that there's not gonna be anything radically new between now and the return of Christ when it comes to what our message and what our Commission is the power the powers in the gospel that doesn't change okay this was addressed to you mark is the modern self-esteem teaching a form of worldliness and if so how well it is very much I think a form of worldliness it's because the worldliness at its at its core its concentrating on that other that which is other than God and self-esteem puts you at the center of your world in a way that's exactly contradicted by the gospel this doesn't mean that you don't need to understand some truths about how God loves you and there may be some reasons you find that particularly challenging so as a pastor particularly the local church I'm not gonna try to run with hobnails all over some weak brother or sister who's particularly sensitive on this matter but since we're at a Christian conference I'm asked that question directly yes as a pastor I'm quite suspicious of the self-esteem movement I see it as a language that's become acceptable in Christian circles for worldly thinking and we could talk about that lots more I'm sure RC and Link could say more on that all right another question is what specific examples of worldly worldliness are you saying appearing in the church now go to any one of you Christians holding juxtaposed beliefs and practices so you may have a Christian who wants to be thought of as a Christian and wants to be a part of a local church but doesn't want to be married and at the same time living with his or her boyfriend or girlfriend or otherwise and and and so it is very common in churches today to see Christians or people who want to profess to be Christians or who claim to be Christians living in ways which are radically contrary to the commands of Scripture with regard to how we live our lives or to what we ought to believe I've for instance had a young person in my office saying that she wanted to marry an unbeliever and she wanted to raise a godly family and she saw absolutely no contradiction in those two things and I think that's an example of an evidence of a worldly mind it's double minded it's not single minded one of the things that strikes me that that's so prevalent and what I was trying to get at my talk is that we so often we just measured these things the wrong way we think if we have one base cover that we're okay one of the things that I see in committed among committed Christians among committed Reformed churches etc which just if you think about it remotest smells to high heaven of the world is a spirit of rebellion that's a spirit that says we will not have anyone to rule over us you know that kind of well whether it is we're gonna go do church over here in a corner by ourselves or we're gonna we'll be under your authority and lesser until you tell us to do something we don't want to do and then we're gonna go this is how we end up becoming the split peas you know so many different Presbyterian denominations because none of them are presbyterian we're not gonna we're not gonna submit to the presbytery we'll just go down the street and start something new that kind of sort of lone ranger' kind of macho here we stand kind of stuff I think it's just incredibly prevalent in places where we don't expect to see it and I just want to quickly agree that as a Baptist it's certainly not just our Presbyterian brethren who were struggling with a lack of a respect for authority Baptists who sometimes have wrongly reveled in that certainly in our own local churches we should know that Hebrews 13:17 is still in our Bibles you know we are today the obey those who are in authority over us who will give account for our souls and yet that's that's often not taught on well in evangelical churches even those whose polity doesn't emphasize it as much as Presbyterian polity another thing that I would mention is you know let's have in each of our congregations if we had somebody come back who was a godly leader 50 years ago 50 years ago God and his strange Providence puts them back in our church what would they comment on I'm pretty sure one thing they would comment on at our church is people's appearance and and and by that what I I don't I don't mean fundamentally Slaven leanness that's an interesting in other and I think a smaller conversation I mean the immodesty of dress that I mean I'm the Southern Baptists and I'm supposed to say things like this but I mean I just I don't mean to play to type here but it's just it is striking maybe just cuz I'm in the middle of a big city but things that I know Christians would comment on it and not not agree with it not allow 30 and 40 and 50 and 60 years ago I think now we we don't bat an eye at is that true League your deep-fried in the South I mean do you think it's true there too and and speaking on it can get you in a lot of hot water quickly if there's anybody out there that has a job open right now wet ways to hide through expositional preaching alright this one's a little bit like that if all truth is God's truth yet the church is getting more worldly how do we deal with pagan practices being Christianized and brought into the church in parentheses here I need some help with pronunciation because I don't know this word my sister and brother-in-law's church has Reiki practitioners rekey Reiki once you know I gave two options and neither one of them was right my sister and brother-in-law's church has Reiki practitioners and Andover Theological Seminary is teaching the different levels of Reiki and helping to set up centers in churches how can I respond to this well I'll I'll be the first to admit that I've never heard of this I'll be the second or I think it's too late guys I was the first you know trying to piece together what this might mean the only thing I could grab a hold of was end over seminary which makes me deeply suspicious that where it says my sister and brother-in-law's church that it isn't a church that one of the things that we have to learn to distinguish is between those places that are churches and those places that though it says church outside the building aren't churches there's plenty of worldliness inside the evangelical church but it was almost a hundred years ago when J Gresham machen wrote his great work Christianity and liberalism and he rightly titled it Christianity and liberalism it's not Christian it's not conservative Christianity and liberal Christianity it's two different things now back in 1993 in Minneapolis the Presbyterian institution in the United States of America a lot together with I think some Methodists and maybe even some Lutheran's sponsored a conference called reimagining something-or-other in which the kind of stuff I don't get I don't know anything about Reiki but in which the goddess Sophia was invoked in which and in some really stunning language she was in vote that I can't talk about here and friends this is not this is not a a weakness in the church this is bail worship which is a completely different thing the problem the when the children of Israel put up the Asherah poll the problem wasn't oh well they've made some theological mistakes or they're a little bit worldly they're worshiping another god and okay maybe this is something different maybe maybe this is a real search I don't know but in general that would be what I want us to be very careful about confusing things that are the world that call themselves the church one good practical simple test can be what does this movement or group say about Jesus now that and of itself isn't sufficient but that is is crucial I found I was in a four years at dialog with three Orthodox rabbis there were three evangelical pastors of different denominations and three Orthodox rabbis and at one point in the discussion we became quite focused on the fact that looked for all the attributes of God we were to say we may agree on because of our common adherence to the Old Testament at least some of us to the Hebrew Scriptures what we Christians are saying is that we're not talking about the same God because when he's turned up at his clearest most fully revealed to us in Jesus of Nazareth and we say that's what we meant that's exactly where you go no that is not God so for all the similarities historically there may be and and I've also conversations like this with Muslim friends well you can use this with other things that people try to bring in just very practically what do they say about Jesus do they understand that Jesus is fully human and fully divine is there anything in this movement that undermines that that's just one example of something okay RC this is for you how often should you have quote family worship and can you describe a good model for family worship how often do you have it I have it every night that I'm home which is most nights but we have it every night that I'm home and I can tell you what we do I don't I don't think I think that there are a couple of fundamental principles that leaves a whole lot of leeway about how you do this and so when I tell you how we do it I'm not saying it must be done this way but I will say this that I'm glad the questioner asked about family worship because our goal when we gather together for family worship isn't simply more instruction we're gathering together in order that we might honor and glorify our Heavenly Father this is how we do it we do it in the evenings after supper before bed the whole family gathers together the little ones sit in laps the bigger ones sit on the couch or on the chair we do catechism in case my son should ever be in battle how to answer his superior officer with weight we know that the way we learn the Catechism it's a very sophisticated system I say to the children daddy says what is man's chief end and you say man's chief and and they say man's chief man it's to glorify God or if I got to enjoy it forever troffer do that a couple times they've got we do that we do Bible memory in the same way my older children are together progressing through the Shorter Catechism my younger children are coming along behind them a little bit further back we all do our Bible verses together we confess our faith together either with the Apostles Creed or with the first question from the Heidelberg catechism I have read from the scripture right now we're in the early part of Matthew we've done proverbs we've done Acts we've done Genesis and we have done children's Bible story books I read the short passage and then I give a 30 to 40 second sermon and then when we pray and when we pray then our particular family as an as an help to me and my children and my wife to help me remember my calling is the head of the house I pray I go around the room and I asked all the children I asked my wife and I asked any guests that are there how can I pray for you tonight and I get a prayer list and then I pray the children have other times during the day which they pray themselves but I pray during a family worship and then we sing shoulder choose songs and we sing hymns and then we're done fundamental principle again this is worship this is not downloading information from my brain to their brain this is worship Marcy you've written about this here and there is I don't think it's any of my books about family developing your children and the responsibility certainly that and what which one of your books most gets into this Bound for Glory battle for glory yes yeah I his stuff shames me because I didn't do that with him what shows yeah moving right along what should I accept this evidence in my own life that I have been truly regenerated and then I'm not just faking myself out emotionally second Peter chapter one says for this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge and to knowledge self-control and a self-control perseverance and to perseverance godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love for if you possess these qualities in increasing measure they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ but if anyone does not have them he is near sighted and blind and has forgotten that he's been cleansed from his past sins therefore my brother's be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you will never fall and you'll receive a rich welcomed into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ another list like that is in Galatians 5 where Paul lays out the fruit of the Spirit and contrasts with the works of the flesh again I think the purpose is to help you tell if you're on the right Road and this is also why I think it's important that you not descend because if you ask that question you or who you're asking for maybe to subjectively focused very helpful to be in a local church where you have other people who know your life and can point to evidences of grace and encourage you along the way first John also gives us three tests a doctrinal a relational and a moral test the doctrinal test is our affirmation of the truth of God in Jesus Christ the moral test is our readiness and our actual obedience to God's command in his word and our relational test is how we love one another and so first John is very much about that whole issue of the basis of assurance and the evidences of that assurance and Don Whitney has a very helpful book on this subject which how can I do I can't remember how be sure I'm a Christian it's great very healthy thank you is there a worldly focus or reason behind the Reformation Study Bible being taken out of print in the NKJV and now published in the ESV or can you explain the reason and then finally do we need another version question mark now you need to answer that artist what I would come on well back yeah well there's there's a fault there's a false assumption in the question the assumption is that it was taken that it's been taken out of prints not out of print well actually the New King James I believe is out of print but Ligonier purchased the last 8,000 or so copies that were in print and that we are still distributing the New King James and we are working to bring it back into print it's certainly I mean the decision to take it out of print had nothing do with Ligonier it says do with the publishing company I don't know what their reasons are but the but we were going to make sure it's still in print and and the reason to have it now in the ESV is because we want to get the Reformation Study Bible and there's many sound translations as we possibly can that's the reason for that do we need another version I don't think so but when there are other versions out there and people are using them then we want to make sure that there have exposure to Reformation thought well if I can say something good about the notes that might be more awkward for RC to say the notes in the new Geneva Study Bible in the Reformation Study Bible are unusually good because you can get bibles that have study notes to help you that have to do with more simply exegetical matters and then you can get others that are more sometimes a theological or practical Christian life filter but to get the two together to get word there's exegetical sensitivity and yet concern for how it systematically fits and thrown in with that an appreciation for the history of Christian thought that's just a great package to have together in study notes so I would encourage you to get that and look at it and use it okay here's here's now an interesting I'm glad this doesn't include me because I've been a speaker today many of the speakers today have an income far above the national average many of the speakers today have several cars homes and other worldly items do you serve us several that's five or six them and other worldly items when actually one would be enough how do the speaker's today square these extra worldly items in God's eyes I understand that they all tithe more than is written and serve the Lord daily but can a devoted Christian have and maintain these extra worldly things and be okay with God at the same time this is a challenge not only for us I mean no doubt my I am remunerated higher than the national average my congregation takes better care of me than I deserve but all of us have this issue in the United States we live in the wealthiest country in the history of the world we're 98 percentile Christians and when you look around the world today we have more than Christians anywhere else in the world we have more than Christians have ever had in history so we're all accountable for how we use what we use and again the Apostle Paul's principle for contentment was not that you had to have nothing you had to learn how to abound and you also had to learn how to be content when you weren't abounding and Paul said he had learned how to do that so it is a constant challenge for all of us who have been given an abundance to make sure that we don't love that more than we love God if we don't treasure those things more than we treasure God that we used them for the sake of God's people again that we love God and we use the world and it's something that it takes a little bit of self analysis and self criticism and occasionally some repentance but accountability in the context of a local church it helps and accountability to our brethren that are also in the gospel ministry or in whatever vocation will you would that we're in where the Lord is blessing us financially and materially is a very important part of that well I have to say that this question does anticipate my message scheduled focus for Saturday on stewardship tithing and and the implications thereof I also have to say that there's something sort of implicit in the question that I find very scary because I think everybody in this room today has possession of things that they don't need if you men out there own two pair of pants you have one more pair of pants than you actually need I'll thank speed of God that God doesn't say you may only have two pair plans or six pair of pants or twelve pair of pants and what scares me about this question is that it indicates to me a possible a possible infection of the politics of envy that are destroying this country right now in the midst of affluence and we have to be very careful about that God calls us to stewardship he calls us to tithing and he also in no place objects to legitimate prosperity there's no particular righteousness inherent biblically in poverty and and sometimes there's a lot of hostility jealousy envy covetousness that then goes down to the you know the heart of the idea the manifesto from each according to his ability to each according to his need I mean again if everybody in this room were restricted to possess only what they need we're hurting and then what's worse is that I decide what you need and what you don't need the great thing about the tithe is that if you are really tithing really tithing and are really sensitive about the needs out there into building the kingdom then you have freedom you have Christian Liberty to enjoy the benefits that God gives you if he so pours out that bounty but you got a be willing to abound and to be a base as you said and Paul interestingly enough said he had to learn that that wasn't something that just came automatically with conversion but we'll talk more about that God willing and on Sunday yes just first Timothy 6:17 command those who are rich in this present world interesting he doesn't say so all they have commandos that are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth which would exactly what league was talking about with the George Gilder the Queen you had all the stuff story that he told which is so uncertain but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment command them to do good to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share and this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life all right music is sometimes accused of being worldly if lyrics are godly can the music be worldly yes of course of course do you really think so when you asked that question earlier about what are some ways that we have worldliness in the church I think one of the great successes that the devil has had is persuading us that media is morally neutral at all times that you can have that that that what carries the message doesn't matter only the message matters all truth is God's truth and I'm gonna quote horrible heathen Marshall McLuhan it was absolutely right when he said the medium is the message that the medium carries a message that it doesn't I don't want to be making ugly sounds but ugly sounds separate from words communicate ugliness you know when we get this sort of relativistic thing about aesthetics I like to tell people now look no one actually believes that one kind of music is the same or as good as any other kind of music but it's just a matter of taste this is the reason we know this I'm gonna make an ugly sound is because nobody buys CDs that go and they might have see these that are closer to that than others right but nobody nobody does that yeah we still understand the difference train noise yes and music absolutely and so music that's designed to provoke inappropriate responses whatever the words might say is worldly of course yeah here's an example Jonin and then that is fitting music for what are the companies and if it's not accompanying that it's still gonna communicate the same thing of what accompanies and if you don't know what that is then that's good now I I agree I think I think we believe that when it comes to aesthetics in our culture that that beauty is only in the eye of the beholder and in that sense that it's all entirely relative and I think that's that's that's ridiculous because God made the world and there isn't standard of what is good and what is beautiful and whereas there is certainly room for diversity of tastes there's a difference between good and bad in the sphere of aesthetics just like there are like just like there is in the sphere of morality okay here's a question from a 14-year old he said if when I became a Christian that my decision was sincere and now I serve two masters am I still a Christian well that's a great question and that's probably the most important thing you'd sort out at this conference so I'm glad you've asked that and you've been honest enough to write that down if you read in Romans Chapter seven it becomes clear that Paul understood what it was like I think as a Christian and I think all these brothers would agree with that that what Paul understood what it was like even as a Christian to struggle with sin the question of how we as people who really want to follow Jesus at the same time do seem to show that we take the world as our master in some ways is the most agonizing question are one of the most agonizing questions that we face as Christians of the Christian life so this is where if your parents are believers you need them to help you sort that out and understand what that means I would just add this that if if you professed and and if you if you trusted in the finished work of Christ alone and you serve one master then you're dead that means you've already gone to heaven but that what you been yes all right there's a new one how do we untangle current popular views of eschatology parenthesis left behind one through twenty from an embedded worldliness that makes it about us rather than God's ultimate glory that's right oh it's me now okay yes we hear some sales are high in Jackson well I you know honestly the first thing is to say don't don't learn eschatology from a series of novels that's that's not where you learn what the Bible teaches about the last things you know go to church sit under the teaching and preaching of the word expounded week after week Lord's Day after Lord's Day and base what you believe about what God tells us about the last days based on a faithful minister of the gospel preaching from his word don't don't base your belief on a novel that's another manifestation of what RC was talking about earlier today in this this feeling sort of age of ours who in the world would have thought to develop what they thought about the end times out of a book written for one's amusement it's just crazy it's part it's part of this media environment that we're in today but there's so many healthy things to read about the end times but the book of Revelation itself is so much simpler than some of its expound errs want to make it I love the story of the of the little boy who was shining shoes and a minister came up to him and he had his Bible open and the minister said what are you reading there son and he said I'm reading the book of Revelation and the minister Laughton's as this boy was shining his shoes and he said well what does it mean and he says we win and that's it that's what that's what the book of Revelation is all about we win all right here's one for you mark how can one avoid legalism white-knuckling while not loving the world and can we be out of the Christian Castle and being in the world to be salt and light without being worldly well the whole thing Jesus prayed for us about and therefore I'm sure it will be answered and is being answered is that we be in the world but not of it so I think you avoid legalism by understanding the gospel so if you're in a church you want to make sure you're in a church where the gospel is clearly preached and you will never be saved because you avoid worldliness sufficiently to save yourself and that's just that doesn't happen you know you you are in this life as RC was just saying a moment ago when you stopped needing a Savior then you're in heaven and that Savior's work has been completed in saving you you know in your glorified so I think in a church the main thing we can do to prevent that kind of legalism is by being clear that we're saved by God's grace through Christ and when people understand that I think that has an invigorating effect they sense my experience it has an invigorating effect on people trying to think through then all of life has something that's part of what God calls them to be and to do and then they begin thinking through what are the implications of following Jesus in the work that he's given me whether it's in the home or in the school or in in my workplace otherwise good can I just - two quick things one I hope this is sufficiently clear if you what basic question again simply if your how do you know okay I got if you're not in the world you're dead okay when Jesus says be in the world it doesn't say I pray that they'll be in the world but not other one he says I pray that you don't take them out of the world because then they'd be with you he's not saying I want you to be a little bit worldly but not too worldly he's saying don't take them off the planet as long as you're on the planet you have managed to be in the world now all you have to do is work on not being worldly now how do you do that without being legalistic well I believe there are three different definitions of the word legalism one dr. Devereux already touched on and that system perhaps the most deadly one is when you think your obedience to God's law will earn his favor that's the Galatian heresy and that's evil evil evil the other is when you start calling things sinful that God doesn't Causton like calling houses and cars worldly but the third one is the most prevalent one and that's when someone begins to try to bring the Word of God to bear on my life when they tell me I'm not allowed to do this or that then I said oh you're a legalist because you're actually trying to make me obey God's law that's what we usually call legalism and you avoid that by making sure that when you're bringing the Word of God to bear in other people's lives you're bringing the Word of God to bear on other people's lives it's amen in biblical counseling can a woman counsel a man parenthetically based on a woman having authority over me the idol order to answer the ones I want to answer so I could be quiet very these one they're obviously biblical examples where women have been involved in spiritual counsel of men such as when Priscilla Priscilla and Aquila took aside Apollo's but they're also bounds of propriety and subject matters that need to be taken very close care of I can imagine circumstances in which a woman will give wise and godly counsel in settings where it's very appropriate to do I can imagine other circumstances especially relating to a man's relation to his own wife where it would be very unwise for a for a Christian woman certainly alone to be giving that counsel because of the attachments that can form there I would agree with what league said my basically the question would be no and then I put an asterisk okay you may be able to describe a situation to me in which that would be appropriate under certain circumstances but my basic answer is that question we know so League at your church in Jackson then do you have biblical counselors that are female who do in fact counsel men all right here's one there are some good pastors using the New Living Translation in the Bible how do you approach them about the issues with its translation gender neutrality and that sort of thing like my guess is that a lot of folks that purchase the New Living Translation did not realize its gender policy the way that many people do realize the gender policy of what's being called today's New International Version the t NIV I think a lot of people found out that the New Living Translation had adopted us a gender-neutral policy after the T and I V New Testament came out a couple of years ago and so first of all I think if a congregation is is using it you want to be sensitive to - disrupting the life of that congregation but at the same time you may want to make your pastor aware of of the policies give them the articles from the council on biblical men womanhood or Wayne Grudem and Vern poythress book on the t NIV and the gender-neutral controversy which not only deals with the DNI V but with the philosophy of trans issues and with the gender issues that are involved and it may well be that a pastor would say oh I had I had not even realized that that particular policy had been adopted but I think the other issue is not just the gender policy of the New Living Translation this is again the fundamental problem of a dynamic equivalence versus a formal verbal equivalence view of translation and and that's not helpful to preaching I think for a preacher to be operating out of an English translation that doesn't have a formal equivalence philosophy well would it be more accurate instead of talking about gender-neutral about gender hostel certainly can certainly again be very accurate from that way but you please comment on how worldliness might find place in a church that is given to studying and celibate celebrating popular Christian books and then in parentheses Purpose Driven Life prayer of Jabez holiness of God no this is asking about popular Christian book too bad I think that that all all of us in the evangelical world are tempted by the next thing syndrome where we're wanting to hop on whatever the next big thing is and be right out in front and on the cutting edge and I I think that's probably where that comes in it comes in not just from the leadership but again from the the culture that wants to hop on board with whatever the next big thing is whether it's the prayer of Jabez jay-bez or the 40 days or a purpose or whatever else the next big trend coming through is and I love the the biblical pattern of just week after week feeding on the Word of God read the word pride of words single word preach the word see the word in the sacraments and not just running after whatever the the next big thing is yeah my concern with the two books that were mentioned in the question particularly would be is there a self focus which does not really faithfully represent Scripture my reticence may come from all kinds of good and bad things but I know part of it is from the fact that I'm used to not being reticent if it's a book by John Shelby Spong or Brian McLaren people I'm more concerned mean to be indifferent to or even attack basic evangelical understanding of the gospel when you get to Bruce Wilkinson or a Rick Warren you've got people who intend to affirm the gospel and I'm gonna be a little bit more careful there we on the nine marks website we have reviews of both those books of both of Rick Warren's popular books and also the prayer of Jabez where we do try to to look more detail and one of the basic criticisms is there too much focused on myself so for example in Purpose Driven Life which is so popular right now one of my concerns in that book in reading through it is that if you read that book and you don't know the gospel somewhere along about chapters five six seven eight I'm concerned that you're going to begin to think that simply because you want purpose and meaning in your life and you have a vague notion of you're sending the fact there's a that means you're then sort of a Christian and now you go along looking for purpose and meaning in life in the rest of the book and I'm concerned that the clear call to understand who God is who you are repent trust in the unique work of Christ I'm concerned the gospel itself is not brought out sufficiently clearly I would just encourage a particular dose of a particular passage that's meant so much to me and in some ways drove what I spoke about I think what dr. Duncan was talking about absolutely than both right but I think I think that part of what drives that bandwagon mentality is we want to be winners we want numbers so that we can feel like we're popular we're in a good place we're winners and that's why I think you know Paul's introduction in 1st Corinthians when he reminds us the message of cross of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing later on where's the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of the age where has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world you know not not verse 26 for you see your calling brethren not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world those which are to put which things are despised God has chosen things which are not to bring nothing the things that are etc so what are we we're not the happy successful yuppie people who have had their territory enlarged and who have purpose in life we are the base fools that's what we are and we need to embrace that all right here's one I have been recently confronted to explain my position on limited atonement and my response has become Christ's death burial resurrection is absolutely sufficient for the atonement for all the sin of all mankind however Christ's atonement is limited by one of two things one by scope or two by application is this correct could be the other way to speak of the issue would be to speak of the intent of the atonement that is what did God intend to accomplish in the atonement I think also that that those of us who speak of loving the doctrines of grace or the Reformed faith actually have a wider view of the atonement than our minions who claim to have a broader view or a universal view of the atonement because we believe that Christ died with the intention of saving a multitude that no man can number whereas the are men saved and they are saved and that the Armenian believes that Christ did not die with the intention of saving anyone but the but everybody in Chile savable but at the same time maybe for nobody yeah and so the the the atonement for the Calvinists is broader in both its intent and in its effect the idea that Christ's death is sufficient for the atone for the term for all people everybody believes that that there's nothing distinctive about that what well I was gonna say as a Southern Baptist I'm an old hand at actually trying to talk to people who disagree with me on this topic because I do very much believe in what the questioners calls limited atonement you know that particular Redemption that Christ as League says Christ intended to die for the elect I have no question the Bible teaches that but I'm around people all the time who disagree with me on that point and I try to first make sure they believe in the substitutionary death of Christ using my mind that's crucial to the gospel and that's under attack today so I first want to make sure they believe in substitution if they do I will try not to fight with them over the relation the hypothetical relation of the death of Christ to the non because I don't know that spoken of directly and particularly in Scripture that I think by implication it clearly is but if we're if we're on that level of speaking they're curious about they want to know more I think it glorifies the atonement it glorifies Christ rather than getting down in the trenches on first John 2:2 or John 3:16 which I think are often off on the wrong foot for the questions being asked I would just pull back and say tell me how the New Testament speaks of the atonement every single metaphor that's used of the atonement in the New Testament is effectual whether it's Redemption whether it's a kind of battlefield and you win whether it's a release and a liberation none of those are potentially there you're either redeemed or you're not you're either brought out of bondage or you're not you're either paid for or you're not you're either dead or you're alive

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

Views: 19,821

Rating: 4.8808513 out of 5

Keywords: worldliness, finances, family worship, assurance of salvation, Bible translations, legalism, separatism, celebrity culture in the church, limited atonement, The Bible (Religious Text), orl05

Id: hyG8ie0sedg

Length: 53min 40sec (3220 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 31 2013