Letter to a New Christian

Dear New Christian,

I am exceedingly joyful to hear about your salvation! God’s glorious gospel is certainly worth rejoicing, and do not be hesitant to do so. If the defeat of Satan and your own evil, coupled with an inclusion into the eternal family of Christ, is not worth celebrating, surely nothing on this earth is. I am writing this letter to you not simply to call you to rejoice, but to allow you to do so more readily through a more full knowledge of your salvation. What Christ has done for us and the breadth of his gospel will take an eternity to learn, but may this letter give you a starting point to grow from.

First, know that Christ has regenerated you. In other words, you know have spiritual life! The Scriptures tell us that we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2.1), but through Christ’s grace we are now alive (Eph 2.5), raised to life just as he was. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of when he tells the Pharisee Nicodemus that he must be born-again by the Spirit (John 3). We know possess life we did not know before. We are now a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor. 5.17).  This regeneration not only made you capable of holding to the saving faith you now possess (John 3.5; Col. 2.13), but allows us to turn from our sin and become obedient to Christ (1 John 2.29, 3.9). This regeneration is the starting point for our salvation (keeping in mind, of course, that we are eternally elected for God’s salvation).

The moment at which you placed your faith in Christ, and so rejected the things of this world, we have come to call conversion. This involves two things: repentance and faith. We know that faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God (Rom. 10.17), and this has no doubt been your experience. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11.1). As the apostle John says, to all who receive Christ, he gave the power to become children of God (John 1.12), or as the prophet Joel describes it “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2.32). You must have faith in Christ, that he has taken your sin upon him, has paid your penalty, and has risen again, showing his victory. Faith is completely embracing the true Christ, as proclaimed in the Scriptures. This faith is coupled with repentance, or a hate of sin, and subsequence forsaking of it. The apostle Paul talks about a godly grief that leads to salvation (2 Cor. 7:9-10); this is what we mean by repentance. The Christian is to understand, however, that this repentance is not perfect. The apostle John rightly says that the Christian who says he does not sin is a liar (1 John 1.8). What repentance requires is not perfection, but a hate of sin like the apostle Paul describes in Romans 7. So, conversion is a turning from sin into Faith in Christ.

A term often sadly overlooked to a new Christian is the term justification. Although you may not know this term, you already understand the concept. Justification deals with our standing before God. As you already know, we are sinners (Rom 3.23) and therefore rebel against God and separate from him. Legally, we are criminals against the eternal law of the creator of the Universe. Justification is a changing of this legal status. This is done by Christ taking our sin upon him as a sacrifice for our sin (Rom. 3.25). Yet he not only justifies us by taking away our sin, but he gives us his righteousness. This is called imputation. He became sin that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Martin Luther called this the Great Exchange: all of our sin, for all of Christ’s righteousness. This is all only of God’s great love and grace (Rom 3.23-24).

Realize that this salvation also gives you adoption into the family of God. We were not always so, for the Scriptures call us “children of wrath” (Eph 2.3) and “sons of disobedience” (Eph 2.2, 5.6), and even sons of Satan (John 8.42-44) before we were saved by the grace of God. But know, through faith, we are all Sons of God through faith (Gal. 3.23-26). Our prayers are given new power, as we pray to our Father in heaven (Rom. 8.14-17). Further, we are now heirs with Christ, that we may be glorified with him (Rom. 8.17). We will talk more of this later.

A natural outpouring of our regeneration and repentance is sanctification. Sanctification is the term we use to describe God’s progressive work of making us more and more like Christ in our lives. This starts quite certainly at our conversion, where we are washed by the regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3.5). In Romans 6 the apostle Paul sets out several important doctrines in regard to sanctification. As I previously stated, this does not suggest perfection, for while sin no longer holds dominion over us and we have been set free from sin, we still from time to time fall into sin. Yet, as Paul says, the true Christian slowly yields their bodies to the righteousness for sanctification (Rom. 6.19). Yet, while we battle in this life against sin, take comfort that one day we will be like the spirits of just men, and so made perfect (Heb. 12.23).

You must understand that, as a true believer in Christ, you will persevere to the end. The Lord is quite clear when he says that all of his sheep will be saved, and none shall be able to be snatched out of his hand (John 10.27-29). Realize, that all true Christians persevere and keep their faith to the end. If you hold to the truths of God’s gospel, there is no reason by which you should doubt your election. As Paul says, continue in your faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard (Col. 1.23). Continue in your sanctification, making your calling and election sure (1 Peter 1.3-11), and so being assured that you will never fall. No one who perseveres in the gospel will be rejected by Christ.

And for those who persevere to the end? We may joyfully await our glorification. As we said earlier, this is because of our adoption with Christ and our sharing as fellow heirs with him (Rom 8.17). We will receive glorified bodies, just as our Lord did when he rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15). Our lowly bodies will be transformed into glorious bodies, like his (Phil. 3.20-21). Greatly look forward to the day of our glorification!

Understand that much of these rewards come as a result of our union with Christ. We wre chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1.4), we are given Christ’s righteousness (Rom. 5.19), and we are raised with Christ (Col. 2.12). In fact, we must think of ourselves as being unable to do anything apart from being “in Christ.” This is healthy and good of you to do.

Now, may the knowledge of the grace of God and His gospel continue to grow within you, guided by the Spirit and God’s Church. Be sure to stay under the teaching of God’s Church, subject to its discipline, and continue in the fellowship of the believers. In Christ,

Andy Smith

Blogosphere 11/18/2011

Here are some great articles I've read recently, check them out:

A great blog on three characteristics from Titus that aren't seen in nearly enough churches today. Please read, this is brief, but well done.

Seven concise reasons the pastor/teacher is vital. Brilliant (in keeping with the British theme)

Very interesting look at Methuselah, and what it truly means that he was the oldest man to ever live.

Kevin de Young gives 7 helpful hints to pastors for having prayer meetings. Insightful and concise; a really good post.

This one is a little longer, but an excellent discussion of the arminian/calvinist question by Michael Horton. Here, specifically discussed, is God's decree of sin and whether this had a purpose or not.

An interesting article on what the idea of "religious freedom" owes to English Puritanism and Oliver Cronwell. I found this article interesting and I'm not sure I agree, as I'm quite sure English Puritanism was out not for "religious libery", by their liberty. They thought their religion was right, and didn't want catholicism or anglicanism to rule the day. You agree?

A phenomenal article on developing spiritual gifts in the church. Great Jonathan Leeman article.

Blogosphere Commentary 10-11-11

A great article on the necessity to fight for Orthodoxy. A reminder that we are always one generation away from losing the precious Gospel. Edward's church fell, Luther's denomination is lost, Calvin's church is no longer used, Zwingli's church is empty, Yale and Harvard are gone. Don't ever think the fight for orthodox is not worth it.

An article reminding the young, restless, reformed that we will one day have to grow up. I consider myself a member of this group, and it is a good reminder that I will not always be what I am, and that's ok.

Manhood has been lost in our modern society. Kevin de Young takes a stab at defining briefly biblical manhood, and what it's not. I think he did a pretty good job.

Blogosphere Commentary 10/7/2011

Can we still believe in our Church government? In this article Matthew Barrett graples the question of church government. The elephant in the room (sorry, couldn't resist) is if we can hold to a single "biblical" view of church leadership while still being within broader evangelicalism, which accepts many theories of church polity. Good article and I agree with Barrett that we can and should believe our church government is biblical. As a side note, I also agree with Barrett that a plurality of elders is the biblical way to go.

 No commentary, just watch this video with David Platt and Lighon Duncan.

  This was an brain shocker. If you were a pastor, would you marry a couple who were living together. Its a tough one, I admit very readily, but the reasons given for why pastors would do this basically come down to the statement "I guess marriage is better than living together, so why not marry them?". What? This completely sweeps sin under the rug, without dealing with it. Is this what the pastor is called to do? We need to be able to stand against sin, even if it is culturally unacceptable. Does that mean I would never perform the ceremony? Of course not. If the party repented of their sin and still wanted to enjoy the benefits of a pure marriage, then absolutely I would marry them. I echo completely the thoughts of Al Mohler:

 "Pastors are stewards of a biblical understanding of sexuality. Marrying cohabiters miscommunicates the teaching function of marriage. I would only marry couples that were repentant, had forsaken the sin of cohabitating, and sought the remedy of marriage. Marriage does not simply validate the long-term commitment of a couple whose relationship has been based upon cohabitation. There's another problem, which has to do with the fact that pastors are not the only stewards of marriage. In other words, marriage is accessible to persons outside the church. So when the church allows a marriage to take place within its life, it should be validating this in a way that goes beyond marriage as a creation institution and gets to what marriage is teaching in the ceremony of the church and the church's stewardship of marriage."

 A very interesting article on evangelicals "canonizing" of C.S. Lewis. Interesting and thought provoking. I like C.S. Lewis, for the record, and am very impressed with his allegories. However, I do agree with Ryken that at times we overlook obvious faults (even in Mere Christianity) because we have such a saint-like image of him.

Tax Collector Prayers-NEW BLOG

Just so everyone knows, I've started a new blog specifically for written prayers.

Check it out at www.taxcollectorprayers.wordpress.com.

The Elephant Chaos

In case you haven't heard, a disturbance has rumbled the young, restless, reformed world. James Macdonald, TGC council member, has invited the pentecostal, prosperity gospel spewing, and probably heretical (modalist) Bishop T.D. Jakes to the second round of his "Elephant Room" event. I recently published a series of tweets to catch anyone up who wasn't aware of the controversy. I have listed them below and I encourage you to read these blogs before reading my opinion and forming your own (sorry about the links not being lite up-you'll just have to do some old school copy and pasting).

First, check out the elephant room website to get the feel of the event. Maybe watch videos from the first go around http://bit.ly/grQXce

next, read the negative reaction from such notable voices as Tim Challies Thabiti Anyabwile http://bit.ly/pn7h7w http://bit.ly/qzmrLz

the response from james macdonald and mark driscoll to the controversy http://bit.ly/qcBnoQ http://bit.ly/n3Ehcv

take note that Mark Dever from 9marks bowed out of the event after previously being on the roster

Two more great responses about the situation from Justin Taylor http://bit.ly/qN6WNY and anthony carter http://bit.ly/oaIT4V #elephantroom

Finally, a direct response to James Macdonald's defense from a Master's Seminary prof http://bit.ly/nL1uYm


The real question is if T.D. Jakes is a heretic. It is quite clear that James Macdonald's answer is "no", and Mark Driscoll's answer is "we'll see". It is equally clear that Thabiti, Carter, Taylor, Dever, and Challies answer with an emphatic "yes!" If he is a heretic, the Bible is clear about rejection of false teachers.

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed...If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed" Galatians 1.8-9

"If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing..." 1 Timothy 5.3-4

"If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works." 2 John 10-11

These verses make it clear, especially the 2 John reference, that we should have nothing to do with false teachers. Men like Athanasius and the Cappadocian Fathers fought over a single greek letter, why should we now lie down on the same issue for the sake of unity? Overall, this is a serious lapse in judgement from the normally firm James MacDonald. To be honest, I think TGC should consider disciplining him (in whatever way they can, maybe kicking him off the counsel). He is seriously in danger of taking part in T.D. Jakes's wicked ways.

The positive side of the controversy? It brings the doctrine of the Trinity to the forefront and awaken some sleeping minds to serious issues and the importance of sound doctrine. Just as the Rob Bell controversy of yesterseason made young Christians consider the doctrine of hell (a doctrine that needs to be firmly held), so this controversy will allow deep thought on the doctrine of the Trinity. One friend I was talking with about this actually said, "The Trinity-people still argue about that?" Yes, they do. While Athanasius and the gang closed the issue back in the fifth century with the definition of Chalcedon, Oneness Pentecostalism, Mormonism, and Jehovah Witnesses, among others, deny the doctrine. For an excellent post on the importance of the issue, read Kevin de Young's blog on the Trinity. A book on the topic that would be greatly beneficial to read would be Stephen Nichol's book "For Us and Our Salvation".

Bottom line: I consider T.D. Jakes a heretic. It really isn't hard to agree on the definition of the Trinity. This isn't the second century and we aren't in unknown territory. In these pre-Chalcedonian days, this shouldn't be an issue among brothers. Conclusion? Macdonald and Driscoll are making big mistakes, and I commend Dever for backing out of the event. Best case scenario: T.D. Jakes gets exposed in the Elephant Room, is verbally condemned as a heretic by several voices, and is thrown off the set, unable to even finish the taping. More probable worst case scenario: As one blogger said, Jakes will put on his sheep's clothing and the wolf will get another platform to promote himself; and perhaps worse, be legitimized in the eyes of thousands.

Church Planting in New England

The new American missions field is.....(drumroll).......New England?

Wait a minute. The old stomping grounds of George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Solomon Stoddard, and the Puritans is now behind even the dreaded Pacific Northwest? Well, yes. Chalk it up to years or legalism or the slow secularization of culture, but the facts are facts; this ain't your Valley of Vision Puritan New England. Church planting in New England is difficult, but the Gospel has not lost its power here? Of course not. We need to begin missions to New England. I read a great blog by Jared Wilson, a pastor in Vermont, outlining why pastoral ministry, whether church planting or re-planting, is so hard in New England. But difficulty shouldn't scare us away, but excite and inspire. Where better to see God's power than those places where He appears most invisible (notice the word "appears", for God is never absent, even in the worst of situations).

For this student and future Pastor (Lord willing), these articles excite me. Planting a church in New England sounds like a task I would love to undertake. Of course, I'm not saying I've made up my mind in any sense, but it is a possibility. I still have much time to pray and learn before the day comes when I undertake such an undertaking. For those interested (myself included) through my initial research into this topic I found a great organization, the NETS Institute for Church Planting, which specializes in church planting in New England. Check them out, read the links on this blog, and pray for New England. And maybe, eventually, plant a Church in New England.