Heirs of God: Click | View Series

Romans 8:17—"And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

Paul sets before us a golden ladder, and from every step he climbs to something yet higher: from sonship he rises to heirship, and from heirship to joint-heirship with the Lord Jesus.

OUR HEIRSHIP DEPENDS ON JESUS

"And fellow heirs with Christ."

1. This is the test of our heirship. We are not heirs except with Christ, through Christ, and in Christ.
2. This sweetens it all. Fellowship with Jesus is our best portion.
3. This shows the greatness of the inheritance. Worthy of Jesus. Such an inheritance as the Father gives to the well-beloved.
4. This ensures it to us, for Jesus will not lose it. His title deed and ours are one and indivisible.
5. This reveals and endears his love. That he should become a partner with us in all things is love unbounded.
• His taking us into union with himself secures our inheritance.
• His prayer for us attains it.
• His going into heaven before us prepares it.
• His coming again will bring us the full enjoyment of it.
6. This joint heirship binds us faster to Jesus, since we are nothing, and have nothing apart from him.

Let us joyfully accept the present suffering with Christ, for it is part of the heritage.

Let us believe in the glorification which is sure to follow in due time, and let us anticipate it with immediate rejoicing.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

Missional Ecclesiology

Re:Train professor Gregg Allison explains the missional church in his blog series on Missional Ecclesiology.

Heirs of God: Click | View Series

Romans 8:17—"And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

Paul sets before us a golden ladder, and from every step he climbs to something yet higher: from sonship he rises to heirship, and from heirship to joint-heirship with the Lord Jesus.

OUR INHERITANCE IS IMMENSE

"Heirs of God."

Our inheritance is divinely great. We are:

• Heirs of all things. "The one who conquers will have this heritage" (Rev. 21:7). "For all things are yours'' (1 Cor. 3:21).
• Heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14).
• Heirs of eternal life (Titus 3:7).
• Heirs of promise (Heb. 6:17).
• Heirs of the grace of life (1 Pet. 3:7).
• Heirs of righteousness (Heb. 11:7).
• Heirs of the kingdom (James 2:5).

Since we are said to be "heirs of God," it must mean that we are:

1. Heirs of all that God possesses.
2. Heirs of all that God is: of his love, for God is love. Hence, heirs of all possible good, for God is good.
3. Heirs of God himself. What an infinite portion!
4. Heirs of all that Jesus has and is as God and man.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

Gospel-Centered Discipleship

In this book, Jonathan Dodson calls us to fight the good fight of faith in the strength of the gospel. Read a free chapter and get the book here.

Heirs of God: Click | View Series

Romans 8:17—"And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

Paul sets before us a golden ladder, and from every step he climbs to something yet higher: from sonship he rises to heirship, and from heirship to joint-heirship with the Lord Jesus.

ALL HEIRS ARE EQUAL

"Children, then heirs."

1. The principle of priority as to time cannot enter into this question. The elder and the younger in the divine family are equally heirs.
2. The love of God is the same to them all.
3. They are all blessed under the same promise (Heb. 6:17).
4. They are all equally related to that great Firstborn Son through whom their heirship comes to them. He is the Firstborn among many brethren.
5. The inheritance is large enough for them all.

They are not all prophets, preachers, apostles, or even well-instructed and eminent saints; they are not all rich and influential, they are not all strong and useful, but they are all heirs.

Let us, then, all live as such, and rejoice in our portion.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

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Alienation from God

Recently, there has been talk about spirituality and Christianity, which has made me wonder what fellow Christians mean when they use the words “spiritual” and “spirituality.” When discussing these topics, it is important to focus on the very heart of Christianity—that we are not “spiritual.”

We do not practice spirituality because we have climbed the ladder to God through human means. Rather, Christianity teaches that our alienation from God is remedied by Christ, who absorbs the sin that separates us from God. God came near to us in Christ, so that Christ could consume that which separates us from God, and thereby, draw us near to him.

Faulty Views

We are not “spiritual,” but Christ was “spiritual” for us. In other words, without God nothing is strong and nothing is holy. We are weak and unholy. Our natural inclination is to substitute anything for God. We repel the holy and opt for manageable and convenient versions of God.

We tend, by a secret law of the soul, to move toward our mental image of God. In his book, Your God Is Too Small, J. B. Phillips describes inadequate ideas of God. Just looking at the chapter titles can be helpful:

• The Resident Policeman
• The Parental Hangover
• The Grand Old Man
• Meek and Mild
• Absolute Perfection
• The Heavenly Bosom
• God in a Box
• The Managing Director
• Second-hand God
• Perennial Grievance
• The Pale-Galilean

How many of these ideas have become prominent ways of understanding God both in the church today and in our contemporary culture?

Condescension

The incarnation eviscerates these faulty views of God. Through the incarnation, God disarms us our self-reliant spiritual efforts. As a result, we have a problem with God. God is morally and spiritually separated from us, and we are separated from God and from one another. Christian spirituality, then, is ultimately created not by reason or emotion, but by condescension.

John Calvin uses the notion of accommodation—“God accommodates to our human capacity.” God condescended and became a human. God condescended, spoke our language, and gave us a book so that we would remember the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus.

Spirituality Properly Understood

The most fundamental spiritual lesson we learn from this is a caution against the fetish of spirituality itself. Spirituality includes beliefs and practices, theology and rituals, ideas and activities. These are all things that contribute to a rich and vibrant Christian life, both individually and communally. But at the heart of Christian spirituality is a reminder that no spiritual practice or ritual alone can draw us near to God. God must come near to us. That “God-coming-near” is what has happened in the incarnation and that is what we celebrate as Christians. Christian spirituality ultimately rests in God’s condescension to us. It is not that we have risen to spiritual heights, but that heaven has come down to us.

A Book You'll Actually Read

Clear, biblical answers to some of the most common questions. Mark Driscoll boils down the big ideas into little books.

To answer any significant question about where we come from, why we are here, what is right and wrong, who God is, and where we are going when we die requires doctrine. Subsequently, everyone has doctrine. The only question is whether it is truthful, biblical, and helpful.

Admittedly, in the name of being doctrinally vigorous, some people go too far and put secondary issues—those that are unworthy of battling over—in the closed hand of conviction. Conversely, some people do not go far enough and put in the open hand primary issues that are worthy of battling over. In writing Doctrine, my coauthor, Dr. Gerry Breshears, and I sought to follow the storyline of the Bible and focus on the major unifying, liberating, and life-changing doctrines of the Bible.

The timing of this book is incredibly significant. At the very least, evangelical Christians in general, and younger evangelical Christians in particular, seem incredibly confused on doctrine. One study revealing the incredible need for Doctrine is the third wave of the National Study of Youth and Religion (2008) (see note below). It reports the beliefs of the 13.5% of emerging adults (ages 18 to 23) in the United States today who self-identify as Protestant Christian and who attend an evangelical church at least “two to three times a month”:

• 97.2% believe in God.
• 96.6% believe that Jesus was/is the Son of God who was raised from the dead.
• 96.4% believe that God created the world.
• 89% “definitely” believe in angels.
• 76.2% “definitely” believe in demons.
• 82.5% “definitely” believe in any form of afterlife.
• 83.0% believe in astrology “not at all.”
• 83.2% believe in reincarnation “not at all.”
• 94.8% “definitely” believe in miracles.
• 95.0% believe in a coming judgment day, when God will reward some and punish others.
• 91.2% believe that God is a personal being who is still involved in the world today.
• 81.9% believe that only people whose sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus go to Heaven.
  Corollary: 5.3% say that only good people go to Heaven; 2.5% say that all people go to Heaven; 4.9% believe “something else” about Heaven, and 2.2% “don’t really know or care” who goes to Heaven. 3.3% don’t believe in Heaven at all.
• 1.6% tries to include practices from Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, or other Asian religions.
• 85.5% say that it is “okay for religious people to try to convert other people to their faith.”
• 71.8% say that Christians should only practice one religion.
• 24.6% say that it is okay for Christians to practice other religions as well. (Another 3.6% don’t know.)
• Less than two-thirds (66.2%) say that “only one religion is true.”
• 70.8% say that it is not okay for Christians to “pick and choose their religious beliefs without having to accept the teachings of their religious faith as a whole.”
• More than one-quarter (27.0%) thinks that it is okay to “pick and choose.”
• 89% say that they have “a lot of respect for organized religion in this country.”
• Almost one-quarter (24.3%) agrees with or is still undecided about moral relativism.
• 36.0% “agree” or “strongly agree” that “we should adjust our views of what is morally right and wrong” to reflect changes in our world.
• 52.0% “agree” or “strongly agree” that people should not marry someone of a different religion.

REMEMBER: These statistics are from the 13.5% of emerging adults (ages 18 to 23) in the United States today who self-identify as Protestant Christian and who attend an evangelical church at least “two to three times a month.” In Doctrine we hit all these issues and many more in a readable manner.

Note: The National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) is the most comprehensive and rigorous social scientific research ever conducted on the religious and spiritual lives of American youth. It is based out of the University of North Carolina and the University of Notre Dame. The wave 1 survey was conducted among American youth ages 13 to 17 between July 2002 and April 2003, and produced a total N = 3370. Most recently, a third wave of the survey was conducted from September 24, 2007 through April 21, 2008 with the same respondents—when they were between the ages of 18 and 23 years. (This is during the first half of what developmental psychologists call “emerging adulthood.”) The National Study of Youth and Religion was generously funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and is under the direction of Christian Smith of the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. For methodological details and related publications, visit: http://www.youthandreligion.org/.

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Heirs of God: Click | View Series

Romans 8:17—"And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

This chapter is like the Garden of Eden, which had in it all manner of delights. If one were shut up to preach only from the eighth of Romans he would have a subject which might last a lifetime. Every line of the chapter serves for a text. It is an inexhaustible mine. Paul sets before us a golden ladder, and from every step he climbs to something yet higher: from sonship he rises to heirship, and from heirship to joint-heirship with the Lord Jesus.

4 WAYS WE CAN'T ESTABLISH HEIRSHIP

"If children, then heirs."

1. It does not follow from ordinary creation. It is not written "if creatures, then heirs."
2. Neither is it found in natural descent. It is not written "if children of Abraham, then heirs" (Rom. 9:7-13).
3. Nor can it come by meritorious service. It is not written "if servants, then heirs" (Gal 4:30).
4. Nor by ceremonial observances. It is not written "if circumcised or baptized, then heirs" (Rom. 4:9-12).

Our being regenerated or born again to God by his Holy Spirit is our one ground of heirship.

Let us inquire:

• Have we been born again (John 3:3)?
• Have we the spirit of adoption (Gal. 4:5)?
• Are we fashioned in the likeness of God (Col. 3:10)?
• Have we believed on Jesus (John 1:12)?

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

Luke Sermon Series

The current Mars Hill sermon series traces the life of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. Watch the preview.

Bought with a Price: Click | View Series

1 Corinthians 6:19-20—"You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

He slays our sins at the cross. "You were bought with a price." Let us consider this argument, that we may find therein death for our sins.

WHAT THE REDEEMED SHOULD DO

"So glorify God in your body."

Glorify God in your body:
By cleanliness, chastity, temperance, industry, cheerfulness, self-denial, patience, etc.

Glorify God:

• In a suffering body by patience unto death.
• In a working body by holy diligence.
• In a worshipping body by bowing in prayer.
• In a well-governed body by self-denial.
• In an obedient body by doing the Lord's will with delight.

Glorify God in your spirit:
By holiness, faith, zeal, love, heavenliness, cheerfulness, fervor, humility, expectancy.

Remember, O redeemed one, that:

1. You will be closely watched by Christ's enemies.
2. You will be expected to be more gracious than others and rightly so, since you claim to be Christ's own.
3. If you are not holy, the sacred name of your Redeemer, your Proprietor, and your Indweller will be compromised.
4. But if you live a redeemed life, your God will be honored.

Let the world see what Redemption can do.

Let the world see what sort of men "God's own" are.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes, which are in the public domain.

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The suffering of the Haiti tragedy is immense and heart-breaking, and brings to mind so many questions. Those who claim Christian faith are often the first to question or be questioned in times like these. In a stimulating BBC Magazine article entitled, "Why Does God Allow Natural Disasters," philosopher David Bain recently raised a key question based on an age-old syllogism:
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?"

How Can an All-Good, All-Powerful God Permit Haiti?

Bain argues that the implications of this syllogism lead us to conclude that either

• God is good but not all-powerful
• God is evil and all-powerful
• There is no God

This syllogism is misleading. It assumes that God has not done anything in the past and that he will do nothing in the future to address the problem of evil and suffering. It is an incomplete framing of the issue. We could flip it around and ask: “How can an All-Good, All-Powerful God permit good to bad people?” I’ll leave you to ponder that.

To the point, although the reasons for an all-good, all-powerful infinite God in human suffering may not be clear to finite minds, it does not follow that there are no good reasons.

Just because our minds can't plumb the depths of God and the universe to find complete answers to evil and suffering doesn't mean there aren't any. To make this claim is to put inordinate faith in finite intellect, which is itself a leap of faith.

Are We Asking Enough Questions?

Perhaps we aren’t asking enough questions? Is it possible that the way we frame the problem of suffering and evil is limited? In order to grasp some of the answers to this great problem, I suggest we bring more questions into the picture, to fill it out, and to see ourselves and suffering more clearly.

Ask yourself this question: “Am I placing too much faith in myself to discern answers to a cosmic dilemma?” To state it another way, “Am I holding myself, my intellect, in too high esteem?” Just think about how we come to the conclusion that God is neither good nor powerful. From a small and very limited perspective, we make some grand, totalizing claims. We stack ourselves as high as this omnipotent God to evaluate him as a peer. We make awfully big assumptions. We assume that we possess an individual intellect and moral capacity that rivals that of an eternal and holy God.

If we are content with these assumptions, then the Christian answer to suffering and evil will not make sense. However, if we are willing to drop these assumptions, to humbly evaluate our intellect and morality, then humility may lead us to more satisfying answers.

Reaching an Answer

I believe some of the reasons for suffering and evil are within grasp, and others are not. One of these great reasons is that God wanted to enter into our suffering in Jesus, to redeem it, and make much of his mercy and grace towards undeserving people. Although this reason does not account for the origin of evil (another topic altogether), it certainly disproves the syllogism. It tells us that God has done something about the problem of evil. In demonstration of his goodness and power, the cross of Christ began overturning evil on the very day of Jesus’ resurrection—the defeat of his own death and the vindication of his innocence, promising relief from suffering and establishing justice.

But God’s answer does not remain in the past; it works in the present. His goodness and power flow through his true followers today, many of whom are working day and night to alleviate suffering in Haiti. The ardent, compassionate, and humble faith of Christians must tell us something, though certainly not everything, about God.

The confident hope of the Christian faith is that God has done, is doing, and will do something about the problem of evil and suffering. He defeats evil at the cross, releases “aid workers” at the resurrection, and promises total peace at his return. In the language of Bain, God promises a “Magical world,” where reason, morality, and joy will flourish with the absence of any evil at all. As I see it, the alternative of placing faith in my intellect and morality, or in some other philosophical system, dims in comparison to the Christian vision of what is and what will be. God crucified, God resurrected, God returning to defeat and redeem suffering and evil and make all things new.

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Bought with a Price: Click | View Series

1 Corinthians 6:19-20—"You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

He slays our sins at the cross. "You were bought with a price." Let us consider this argument, that we may find therein death for our sins.

THE CONSEQUENCE OF BEING BOUGHT

"You are not your own."

Negative. It is clear that if bought, you are not your own.
1. This involves privilege.

• You are not your own provider; sheep are fed by their shepherd.
• You are not your own guide; ships are steered by their pilot.
• You are not your own father; children loved by parents.

2. This also involves responsibility.

• We are not our own to injure. Neither body nor soul.
• Not our own to waste, in idleness, amusement, or speculation.
• Not our own to exercise caprice, and follow our own prejudices, depraved affections, wayward wills, or irregular appetites.
• Not our own to lend our service to another master.
• Not our own to serve self. Self is a dethroned tyrant. Jesus is a blessed husband, and we are his.

Positive. "Your body and your spirit, which are God's."

• We are altogether God's. Body and spirit include the whole man.
• We are always God's. The price once paid, we are forever his.

We rejoice that we know we are God's, for consequently:

• We have a beloved owner.
• We pursue an honored service.
• We fill a blessed position. We are in Christ's keeping.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes, which are in the public domain.

Troubled Souls

Part of a pastor’s job is “pastoral care”—shepherding troubled souls that are dealing with the effects of sin and suffering.

Life has amazing joys, but also a lot of suffering. Jesus says: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The pastor’s calling is to hear about and comfort people in the middle of “troubles” and to communicate the good news that Jesus has overcome all troubles by his atonement for sin and its effects.

In the Gospel accounts, when people had troubles they ran to Jesus because they were desperate and he was compassionate. Compassion is a very good word to describe Jesus. The word literally means “to suffer with.” God’s solidarity with suffering is surprising, unanticipated, and unpredictable. It is not what religion expects. Other religions say suffering is either deserved as punishment from God, or it’s just the unfolding of karma. Only Christianity looks at suffering as a motivation for God’s love and care.

Shepherding Tools

The good shepherd’s compassion for those suffering should influence our shepherding of troubled souls. Here are some examples we can learn from:

Martin Luther, Letters of Spiritual Counsel

Ministry to troubled souls is a ministry of the gospel. Luther wrote letters of spiritual counsel to his friends and contemporaries in the midst of sickness, death, sadness, imprisonment, anxiety, famine, persecution, and despondency.

Because of his role as the instigator of the Protestant Reformation, it is sometimes forgotten that Luther was a pastor. For Luther, pastoral care is always concerned with faith—establishing, nurturing, and strengthening faith. Because faith is about the gospel, when people needed pastoral care, his aim was not to get people to do certain things or disciplines so much as to get people to have faith and to exercise the love that comes from faith.

Here is an excerpt from the letter Luther wrote to his dying father: “The longer a man lives, the more wickedness and sin and plagues and sorrow he sees and feels…I commend to you Him who loves you more than you love yourself. He has proved his love in taking your sin upon himself and paying for them with his blood, as he tells you by the gospel.”

Soren Kierkegaard, Sickness Unto Death and Concept of Anxiety

Kierkegaard explains that we were made for relationship with God and that recognizing this is foundational to understanding oneself. Through self-deception and sin against God, we are consistently resisting our own true, God-given happiness and fighting against our own best interest. This leads to despair, which is “the sickness unto death,” and despair is connected to anxiety and sin.

Kierkegaard discusses various expressions of despair: unconscious despair, despair of weakness, despair of defiance, despair over the earthly, and despair over the eternal. This is relevant to everyone: “Not being in despair, not being conscious of despair, is precisely a form of despair.”

Kierkegaard’s talk of despair, anxiety, and sin is far from being pessimistic and nihilistic. It is deeply pastoral, because he calls for gospel despair. In his Concept of Anxiety, he writes: “Whoever has learned to be anxious in the right has learned the ultimate.” If properly understood, anxiety can be excellent preparation for the gospel: “He who in relation to guilt is educated by anxiety will rest only in the Atonement.”

Vintage Jesus

A theological journey chasing Jesus through Scripture and pop culture. Timeless answers to timely questions about the most important man who has ever lived. Find out more.