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Posted by on Apr 16, 2012 in Christian Life | 2 comments

Spirit-Powered, Gospel-Driven, Faith-Fueled Effort

Kevin DeYoung gave one of the more helpful messages I have heard in some time at the recent Together for the Gospel conference. His title was Spirit-Powered, Gospel-Driven, Faith-Fueled Effort (video embedded below).

Justin Taylor has helpful put up his notes on the message. DeYoung started by noting what he thinks this “new Calvinism” or “Young, Restless, and Reformed” crowd is known for that is good:

We are, I believe, known for

  • our commitment to the Scriptures,
  • our commitment to expositional preaching,
  • our commitment to the doctrines of grace,
  • our commitment to biblical manhood and womanhood,
  • our commitment to the uniqueness of Christ,
  • our commitment to penal substitutionary atonement,
  • our commitment to justification by faith alone, and above all
  • our commitment to the centrality of the gospel.

But he indicates that there are two things that this resurgence is not yet known for: (1) a commitment to world missions (I’ll have more to say about David Platt’s message on that topic later), and (2) a commitment to personal holiness. It is to that latter topic that this particular message is devoted. I would suggest that perhaps many in the movement have yet to be committed to biblical ecclesiology as well, but nonetheless, surely these are two key areas.

I would highly recommend watching the whole video and looking over Justin Taylor’s notes, but here are a few things about the message that jumped out at me as being incredibly helpful.

(1) He was incredibly helpful in articulating why we we have to be careful with our language. While sanctification is “faith-fueled” and therefore is “by faith,” that means something different than when we say we are “justified by faith.” While justification by faith means that we contribute nothing to our sanctification, sanctification by faith does not mean that we contribute nothing to our sanctification. It means that we work by faith, that even as we work we trust in the Lord’s power at work in our lives. It seems like the gospel-centered movement, for all of the wonderful things it has contributed to the church in our times, seems to really like bumper-sticker theology that leaves itself open to a lot of confusion.

(2) He powerfully calls us to effort in our sanctification, not as a moralistic motivation to be better people, but a grace-founded call to “work out our salvation with fear of trembling.” Consider the following quote:

We must understand that when it comes to sanctification, we cannot simply tell our people, ‘Look to the Lord.’ We cannot only say, ‘Get gripped by the gospel,’ and then when they struggle say, ‘Well get really gripped and get more gripped by the gospel.’ We must also say, ‘Work! Make an effort!’

He talks about the fact that while there is a sense in which our sanctification and growth in grace flows from our justification and regeneration, there is also a sense in which it doesn’t “just happen.” We do have to work at it–for the right reasons, with the right motivations, always recognizing that our works do not make us acceptable to God. (See Justin Taylor’s notes again for a list of the Scriptures he uses to defend this idea.)

(3) He provided a corrective to some of the talk that happens in these discussions of law and grace. He says that he doesn’t really know any antinomians. Antinomians are those who, “It really doesn’t matter how I live. I can do whatever I want, even if it violates God’s law.” In Reformed circles, even among those who might frame all this differently, there probably aren’t many who really say to forget the law (at least in principle). But DeYoung does describe people who may be “nomophobic,” that is, those who are afraid to hear the third use of the law preached. That seems like an insightful distinction. I myself have thought at times that people were being antinomian, and it likely wasn’t true. But we can, as an overreaction to the legalism that has been prevalent in the American church in the past (and is always a battle in our own hearts), be afraid to hear God’s commands and instructions proclaimed in power as well, and if we would really grow in grace and holiness, we should be delighted as those redeemed by the Son to hear the precious words of the Law proclaimed.

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Posted by on Jun 22, 2011 in Christian Life |

Kevin DeYoung on Being All Out of Whack

As one who has too many more passionate about less important issues than the vital ones, I found Kevin DeYoung’s thoughts on making secondary issues primary issues to be very helpful. Here is an brief excerpt:

A third problem is that some Christians inquire too early and too often about their particular hot-button issues. When a brother visiting the church for the first time asks where I stand on Rushdoony, I’m a little freaked out. It’s like taking a girl out on a first date and asking if her parents have digital cable. What?! Don’t you want to know a few other things first? In checking a church I hope you’d be interested to hear about the role of prayer, the importance of missions, the understanding of the gospel, the integrity of the leaders, their view of Scripture, and a dozen other things before launching into the rareified air of Rushdoony. Besides, I would also hope visitors, as a matter of courtesy, would not land at a church ready to insist on items 16-25 on their theological checklist.

Finally, we must be careful our passions are not out of proportion. There is no problem with Christians who feel strongly about schooling, the placement of the congregational prayer, or the frequency of communion. The problem is when our passion for these issues exceeds our passion for the gospel, for the cross, for the lost, for the afflicted. Not every issue matters as much as every other issue. Not every position deserves out fieriest passion. Save the big guns for the big ones. Get the heart pounding for the doctrine of the Trinity or penal substitution or God’s sovereignty. If your “thing” is Christmas trees or the kind of beverage in the communion cup, it’s time to get a better “thing.” The Christian life allows for lots of passion, discourse, and detailed application—as long as we don’t get everything out of whack.

Read the whole article here: All Out of Whack by Kevin DeYoung

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Posted by on May 19, 2011 in Missiology |

Audio: The Mission of the Church

Given my series on Christopher Wright’s The Mission of God’s People, the mission of the church is a subject about which I’m very concerned. Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, at the recent Gospel Coalition Conference, shared a lot of thoughts that preview that topic of their forthcoming book, What is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission.

I hope to post some thoughts interacting with their talk later, but for now, let me say a couple of things that I appreciated about what they had to say:

  1. They both are very committed to letting Scripture speak on the issue. They are intentionally wanting to examine what the Bible communicates as a whole about what the mission of the church should be. Gilbert does this in the audio by examining in particular the meaning of shalom in the Scriptures.
  2. They both seem to want to avoid false dichotomies and overstating their case. In other words, there is a difference between saying that proclamation is the only thing the church is called and saying that proclamation is the primary thing the church is called to do. The other things that they address (social justice, etc) are not written off as simply unimportant, but rather they seek to place them in their appropriate role.
  3. Their tone in addressing what has become somewhat of a tough issue (i.e., when someone cries social gospel and another cries that without social justice we are hypocrites) is refreshing, and it probably arises from their commitment to go to the Scriptures.

Head over to the Gospel Coalition site to listen to the audio, or download it here.

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Posted by on Mar 13, 2011 in Soteriology |

Kevin DeYoung Goes Above and Beyond on Love Wins

Tim Challies may have written the first review of Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins, but Kevin DeYoung has put out a mini-book of his own in an effort to review and respond to it. Here’s the opening part of his review:

Love Wins, by megachurch pastor Rob Bell, is, as the subtitle suggests, “a book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived.” Here’s the gist: Hell is what we create for ourselves when we reject God’s love. Hell is both a present reality for those who resist God and a future reality for those who die unready for God’s love. Hell is what we make of heaven when we cannot accept the good news of God’s forgiveness and mercy. But hell is not forever. God will have his way. How can his good purposes fail? Every sinner will turn to God and realize he has already been reconciled to God, in this life or in the next. There will be no eternal conscious torment. God says no to injustice in the age to come, but he does not pour out wrath (we bring the temporary suffering upon ourselves), and he certainly does not punish for eternity. In the end, love wins.

Bell correctly notes (many times) that God is love. He also observes that Jesus is Jewish, the resurrection is important, and the phrase “personal relationship with God” is not in the Bible. He usually makes his argument by referencing Scripture. He is easy to read and obviously feels very deeply for those who have been wronged or seem to be on the outside looking in.

Unfortunately, beyond this, there are dozens of problems with Love Wins. The theology is heterodox. The history is inaccurate. The impact on souls is devastating. And the use of Scripture is indefensible. Worst of all, Love Wins demeans the cross and misrepresents God’s character.

Read the rest of the review here, or download a PDF version.

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Posted by on Jan 30, 2011 in Book Reviews, Evangelicalism |

Don’t Call It a Comeback edited by Kevin DeYoung

Having just cited some thoughts from Kevin DeYoung on why and when students leave the church, I thought it would be appropriate to go ahead and offer a summary of what Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day offers. You can find the table of contents and some of the endorsements over at Kevin DeYoung’s blog. I’ll just offer a quick summary of whom the book is written for and what you can expect to find in the book.

Audience

DeYoung writes in the introduction, “This book has two main aims. The first aim is to introduce young Christians, new Christians, and underdisciplined Christians to the most important articles of our faith and what it looks like to live out this faith in real life…The second aim of the book is to reassert the theological nature of evangelicalism. In recent years the term evangelical has lost almost all its meaning…But we think there is still merit to the label, provided it can be infused with theological meaning that manifests itself in some key ethical, social, and ecclesiastical stances and practices” (17).

Content

On the first account, the book is a great success. After briefly tracing the history of evangelicalism, Part 2: Evangelical Theology lays out some of the basic truths of the Christian faith, with helpful, well-written chapters by young theologians and writer such as Andy Naselli, Tim Challies, and Russell Moore.

Part 3: Evangelical Practice builds on the doctrines already presented with helpful looks at difficult questions such as vocation, social justice, abortion, homosexuality, the church, worship, and missions. Each author approaches his topic with the conviction that Scripture is the final authority–and thus they come to unpopular answers to some of the questions–but they also approach each topic with a great measure of grace. Hopefully, this part of the book will do something to illustrate to a new generation of Christians that conservative theology does not mean accepting the (popular, though not necessarily correct) label of self-righteous power-grabbers who want to force everyone to agree with them. For the homosexual, for the pregnant single lady, for the poor, this book offers truth from God and yet grace for sinners.

Summary

As Kevin DeYoung intentionally notes in the introduction, there is little that is new in Don’t Make It a Comeback. But that’s not the purpose of the book. The purpose is to lay out evangelical faith and practice from the perspective of some young evangelical leaders who want to be God-honoring, people-loving, Spirit-filled Christians who faithfully represent God to the world.

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