No Excuses!

“Nothing can take off a minister of the gospel from seeking the conversion and salvation of souls. We cannot plead anything to exempt us from this work. To plead that the people’s hearts are hard, and that the work is difficult and full of danger, will not serve the turn. No; ‘Their blood will I require at thy hands.’ Therefore, all excuses set aside, we must address ourselves to our work. Acts xx. 23, 24: Paul went bound in the spirit, and the Holy Ghost had told him that in every city bonds and afflictions did abide and wait for him; but, saith he, ‘None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so as I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of my Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.’ He was willing and ready to endure what should befall him at Jerusalem, and reckoned nothing of it, nor of loss of life, if he might successfully preach the gospel, and serve Christ faithfully in the office of the ministry. If nothing be an excuse to us, can anything be an excuse to you? Should your souls be nearer and dearer to us than to yourselves?”

- Thomas Manton, from a sermon entitled No Excuse Against A Speedy Obeying Christ’s Call; volume 2 of Works, page 126

And I would add that in light of the Great Commission, there is not one Christian who is exempt from being concerned with the conversion of the lost seeing in it that we have all been called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ to proclaim the Gospel. So, no excuses!

Christ, Our All

In chapter 2 of the book Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper gets at the heart of having a passion for God. For the Christian, living is all about Christ, only for Christ and there is no other way to not waste our life if our desire is not entirely focussed on Christ and His glory. There is no other! How many of us are wanting less of self and more of Him? What gets in our way?

Here’s Piper

God loves us by liberating us from the bondage of self so that we can enjoy knowing and admiring him forever.

…then what must love do? It must rescue us from our addiction to self and bring us, changed, into the presence of God.  

God’s passion for his own glory gives birth to ours.

Christ must be explicit in all our God-talk. It will not do, in this day of pluralism, to talk about the glory of God in vague ways. God without Christ is no God. And a no-God cannot save or satisfy the soul. Following a no-God—whatever his name or whatever his religion—will be a wasted life. God-in-Christ is the only true God and the only path to joy.

There is no point in romanticizing other religions that reject the deity and saving work of Christ. They do not know God. And those who follow them tragically waste their lives.

When we embrace Christ, we embrace God. We see and savor God’s glory. There is no savoring of God’s glory if we do not see it in Christ. This is the only window through which a sinner may see the face of God and not be incinerated.

-John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, chapter 2 (to read this book, click here)

Because of Wrath

The gospel is necessary because there is such a thing as the wrath of God, because only the gospel of salvation by grace through faith (vv. 16-17) brings deliverance from that wrath.

-Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, page 75

So You Wanna be a Preacher

This was posted today over at The Oak Log blog by Jude St. John:

Six New Testament metaphors for preachers

In chapter four of Between Two Worlds ((Stott, John R. W. Between Two Worlds The Challenge of Preaching Today. Boston: Wm. B. Eerdmans Company, 1994), author John Stott presents 6 different images that the Bible uses to illustrate what a Christian preacher is.

1. The Christian preacher is a herald. (1 Corinthians 1:23)
2. The Christian preacher is a sower. (Luke 8:4-8)
3. The Christian preacher is an ambassador. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
4. The Christian preacher is a steward or housekeeper. (1 Corinthians 4:1)
5. The Christian preacher is a pastor or shepherd. (John 21:15-17)
6. The Christian preacher is an approved workman. (2 Timothy 2:15)

“What is immediately noticeable about these six pictures is their emphasis on the ‘givenness’ of the message. Preachers are not to invent it; it has to be entrusted to them. thus, good news has been given to the herald to proclaim, good seed to the farmer to sow and good food to the steward to dispense, while good pasture is available to the shepherd to lead his flock there. Similarly, the ambassador does not pursue his owm policy but his country’s, and the workman cuts a way for ‘the word of truth’, not for his own word. It is impressive that in all these New Testament metaphors the preacher is a servant under someone else’s authority, and the communicator of someone else’s word.” (136-7)

Click here to see it for yourself.

Morris on The Gospel

Commenting on Romans 1:16, ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.’ Leon Morris yields some passion as he talks about the gospel.

“The gospel is not advice to people, suggesting that they lift themselves. It is power. It lifts them up. Paul does not say that the gospel brings power but that it is power, and God’s power at that. When the gospel is preached, this not simply so many words being uttered. The power of God is at work. When the gospel enters anyone’s life, it is as though the very fire of God had come upon him. There is warmth and light in His life.”

Reading this, I felt as if I had been preached at from the page. Great stuff!