Like anything that becomes a movement, we must be wary of the potential drawbacks. As I see it, there are at least two dangers in being gospel-centered, and they are both rooted in this one reality: In the past, whatever the fad, it typically became popular because of the promise it offered. Being Purpose-Driven or Seeker-Sensitive or Emerging or whatever held people’s attention only so long as it could promise power (power to draw numbers, power to help people change, etc.). But when those movements were unable to deliver the promised goods, people flocked away from them as quickly as they had flocked to them.

What is at stake in the gospel-centered movement, however, is much, much more serious. If we preach the gospel as the answer to everything, but people don’t find the fulfillment of the promise, then they will flock away. But this time they won’t be flocking away from a celebrity pastor or mega-churches or coffee-house-gatherings, they’ll be flocking away from the gospel itself, more convinced than ever that they must add something to the gospel in order to find ‘the good life.’

Since there is infinitely more at stake, the risk and the danger are greater than ever.

1. There’s More Danger Now Than Ever in Not Being Practical

We simply cannot afford to preach in ethereal, abstract categories. If the gospel is going to be the answer to everything, it must be applicable to everything. People can understand the concept of being gospel-centered easily enough, but are we actually helping them figure out how the gospel applies to individual scenarios in their own lives? Simply telling our people to ‘be gospel-centered’ is no more helpful than simply telling our children to ‘be good’; it’s devoid of any real meaning or power.

If the people in our churches can speak the rhetoric of gospel-centered but can’t explain how the gospel relates to their marriage, we have failed. If the people of Grace Fellowship Church are not able to apply the gospel in very practical ways to their work, the structure of their home, and the type of friendships they have, then I have failed as their pastor. If the gospel has all the power and I’m not equipping them to use it, I’m setting them up for frustration.

Without reducing to one practice we must give our people categories to know how to engage the story of the incarnation, righteous life, death, resurrection, and reign of Jesus in their grocery shopping and mothering and everything else so that it is ultimately practical. If we fail our people here, we set them up for Satan’s temptations to disbelieve the power of the gospel.

2. There’s More Danger Now Than Ever in Being a Hypocrite

More than teaching about how the gospel is practical, we must ‘set an example for the flock’ (1 Pet 5.3). Being gospel-centered is something that must be caught as well as taught. If people do not see us deliberately engaging the gospel in the way we serve, love, forgive, deal with sin, deny ourselves our freedoms, and pursue fellowship, they will have more reason than ever to disbelieve the power of the gospel.

If we are hypocrites here, proclaiming gospel-centered power and freedom, but living as unchanged and unchanging people, we make the gospel seem like a lie. More than discrediting ourselves, we’re discrediting the God who claims that the gospel is his power (Rom 1.16-17).

With so much at stake, we must remember to be those who carefully watch both doctrine and life so that both we and our hearers may be saved (1 Tim 4.16).

What else?

What else am I missing? Are there other dangers that you see?

Post from: Julian Freeman

The Dangers of Being Gospel-Centered

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I appreciated this insight from John MacArthur, dealing with the evangelical obsession with the nuclear family.

With all the material available to help families, why are so many Christian families in trouble?

May I suggest that our preoccupation may be part of the problem? We have become so engrossed in the family itself that we are losing our perspective on why the family is important to God and where it really fits in His kingdom plan.

… not all teaching that claims to be pro-family is genuinely biblical. In fact, some of the popular ideas that have attached themselves to Christian pro-family movements are clearly a threat to the true purpose God designed for families.

His point that our obsession with our family may border on (or even be grounded in) narcissism is worth pondering. As is this warning:

Scripture never suggests that we should elevate the temporal family at the expense of God’s family. We dare not turn our backs on the kingdom for the sake of our families (Luke 9:61-62).

May God give us wisdom to know just how exactly to balance the care for our own family with the responsibility of loving Christian brothers and sisters.

Read all of How Can We Rescue the Family?

Post from: Julian Freeman

John MacArthur: How Can We Rescue the Family?

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This got me thinking about a post I put up here about 4 years ago and so I decided to repost it.

——–

Wise Words from James

Even though we’ve moved on to chapter 5 in our study on James at GFC, I’m still marvelling at many of the things my Lord has been teaching me from his word.

Preaching big passages like I’ve had to do is great for seeing the big picture and covering more of God’s word, but it necessarily means that there are lots of stones left unturned in each passage. Particularly, I’ve been thinking through James’s promise in chapter 4: ‘Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.’

One thing that amazed me the other night as I sat and thought this through is the similarity between this saying and that declaration of Jesus that the one who is forgiven most loves most. On the surface, they don’t seem that connected, but I think there is a profound connection.

Our Desire is to Love

Every Christian wants to know how to love God more. The first and greatest commandment we have is this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.’ The reason why we still sin, why we become discouraged, or why we fall back into old patterns of living is because our love for God falls short of our love for ourselves.

Our Enemy Wants to Hinder Our Love

The devil is our enemy. His greatest goal is to stop us from achieving our greatest goal, which is love for God, resulting in joy in God. We want to love God, but he’ll do anything to stop that. Every Christian wants to love God more; but how do you practically increase your love for God?

James connects resisting the devil’s work with drawing near to God. In response to our drawing near to God, God draws near to us. What kind of drawing near does James have in mind? He clarifies for us in the next couple of sentences, where he describes radical repentance, open confession of sin and sinfulness, and proper humility. In other words, draw near to God in humility, repentance, and brokenness, acknowledging the greatness of your sin.

Connect the Dots

We can begin to connect the dots here a little with Jesus’ saying. We will love God more if we acknowledge more readily the reality of what we’ve been forgiven. But our enemy will have none of that–which is why we need to resist him. How do you resist Satan? By confessing your sins and drawing near to God.

It is the work of Satan to get you to think little of your sins. He desires that you not confess specific sins, that you not be heart-broken over the ways you’ve denied God. He wants you to just ignore sin in your life and not confess to brothers and sisters. The smaller you think your sin is, the less your love for God will grow, and the happier your enemy will be. ‘He who is forgiven little, loves little.’

If your love for God has grown cold, you can probably draw a straight line back to your lack of confession of sin in your own heart, to God, and to others. When you don’t realize what you’ve been forgiven, you don’t love.

How do you grow to love more? Draw near to God in repentance. Acknowledge how horrible and ugly your sin is, and be specific in your confession. What at the things you have rejected him for? What are the things you’ve loved more than him? What are the lies you’ve believed instead of his truth? Confess to him that you deserve death and hell. The more you draw near to him, the worse you’ll see your sin is, the more you’ll see how much you’ve been forgiven and the more you’ll love — which will overflow into a life of God-glorifying joy in obedience.

Post from: Julian Freeman

How to Love More

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A little while ago John MacArthur did a series of posts critiquing the ‘Young, Restless, and Reformed’ movement. Needless to say, it created quite a stir.

Those who disagreed with MacArthur argued that he was using sweeping generalizations that were unhelpful and uncharitable and that his tone was unloving and combative. We felt scolded as if by an absentee father who hadn’t invested in us, but stopped by to spank us anyway.

The response from those who sided with MacArthur was, by and large, ‘He has pastored faithfully for 40 years, you need to listen to him.’ To be sure, the response was more than that, and included biblical justification of gaining wisdom from elders, etc. In the end, I argued that the responsibility remains on the younger ones of us to make sure we’re listening, even if we’re not being addressed as we’d like.

History Repeats

Isn’t it interesting how history seems to repeat itself? Recently James MacDonald came under fire for his public schmoozing with TD Jakes. One of the responses to the criticism that I’ve heard has been this: ‘James has faithfully pastored for 30 years, has led Harvest, sent out church planters, and people have been saved! Let’s show some respect!’

Both times (with MacArthur and MacDonald) the defenders of these public figures appealed to past faithfulness as a defence for present action. That’s worth noting.

Ad Hominem by Any Other Name

In logic an ad hominem attack is when you criticize a person rather than their idea. What I find fascinating in both of the above cases is that the defence being used is actually ad hominem. In other words, rather than defending the actions or ideas of the person which have drawn the scrutiny, the defenders of these individuals have resorted to speaking about the men themselves. But who the men are and what they have done in the past was never the issue.

On Balance

We need to attempt to avoid extremes. On the one hand, wisdom acknowledges the experience of the aged and proven faithful:

The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendour of old men is their gray hair (Prov 20.29)

Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old (Prov 23.22)

And we must ‘walk’ with those who have a proven track record of faithfully displaying wisdom:

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm (Prov 13.20)

That being said, we must not pre-judge a matter based on past faithfulness or wisdom alone. Whether it is MacArthur, MacDonald, Don Carson or Tim Keller — or any of the heroes of that faith for that matter — we must hear a matter out fully, weigh the opposing views in the balance and prayerfully seek wisdom.

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame (Prov 18.13)

The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him (Prov 18.17)

And let’s not forget that it was the youngest witness of Job’s sufferings who had heard all the others speak first, who finally answered with wisdom.

Berean Honour

While we must honour those who have laboured before us and for us, the simple truth is that we do not biblically honour them if we do not weigh the wisdom of their words and actions against God’s word. No matter how faithful a man has been in the past, he is still a man, and still in need of ongoing correcting and perfecting this side of eternity. We must show them love, respect, and the benefit of the doubt, but we must never turn a blind eye to present unfaithfulness simply because we’ve witnessed past faithfulness.

I hope the people of Grace Fellowship Church would honour me and honour God in this same Berean way.

Post from: Julian Freeman

The Faithfulness Fallacy

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The Grace Connexion

One of the greatest blessings I have known in my time pastoring is the fellowship I’ve been able to have with other pastors. The accountability, the friendship, the collective wisdom of more-experienced brothers, and the perspective they have provided has had huge benefits for my soul (and I’m sure for the life of our church as well). I’m well aware that there are many pastors who go many years without having such fellowship with peers, and so I want to give thanks to God for allowing me to have relationships with godly pastors in my first years of pastoring.

That has been great. But I’m eager to pass it on as well. I want our church to have fellowship like that with brothers and sisters! I want our people to know that the church of Jesus is bigger than our little work in Don Mills.

That’s one of the reasons why I love having our church get together with other churches from around the city of Toronto. Fellowship, friendship, partnership, worship together. We get to celebrate what God is doing in calling a people to himself in Toronto.

‘The Grace Connexion’ (name taken from here) is simply a semi-annual event held by four local evangelical churches. Twice per year Grace Fellowship Church Rexdale, Grace Fellowship Church Don Mills, New City Baptist (downtown), and Grace Chapel (Markham) get our people together to worship and sit under the ministry of the word — and then enjoy some fellowship together. I love these events!

This year, we’ll be holding a Grace Connexion service on Monday, February 20, at Richview Baptist Church. We planned it for Family Day so that as many people could come as possible. We’ll be having our worship service, then enjoying lunch together, then taking the Lord’s Supper. What a glorious opportunity for fellowship with believers outside of our own local church!

If you live in or near the city and you’re interested in joining with us, click below for details. If you’re a member of any of these churches, please make sure you get all the details, then RSVP so we know how much food to bring.

I’m so thankful for the chance to see Christ building his church close-up. I can’t wait to see all our brothers and sisters on February 20!

• Click here for details on the Grace Connexion service, February 20, 2012

Post from: Julian Freeman

Grace Connexion!

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I remember the first time I sat and read through the book in a single sitting. It owned me.

Needless to say, this trailer looks fantastic, and I’m glad they’re finding new ways to get this material out to people in order to help them engage the brutal realities of life in a fallen world awaiting its redemption. I can’t wait to see the full film.

Jōb the Film from Chris Koelle on Vimeo. HT: Louis Tullo

Post from: Julian Freeman

Job, the Film

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Being the furthest thing from professional, there may be some glitches. Would you please let me know either via comment or contact form if you notice a bug somewhere?

I’ve also been busy porting some new articles over to this site. Feel free to look around on the articles page and see if there’s anything there that is of interest to you.

Hopefully there will be some more posts of actual substance in the next little while. Thanks for sticking around!

Post from: Julian Freeman

Some Site Updates

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Here’s proof.

Post from: Julian Freeman

My Little Monsters

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Do you desire joy for yourself? Do you desire glory for yourself? Do you desire your own exaltation? Do you want to be great? Then, believe it or not, humility is your ticket. In fact, you should seek humility more than anybody!

This past Sunday I was blessed with the opportunity to preach at Grace Fellowship Church in Rexdale — the church which planted us almost a year ago now — and I had the challenge of preaching on humility. There is so much to say about a topic like this that I felt that I was barely scraping the surface. One of the places I wanted to go, but simply did not have time, was the whole area of the motivation for humility. I wanted to talk about that because biblical motivation for humility can be so counter-intuitive…

What Did Jesus Want?

In Philippians 2, the apostle Paul holds up Jesus as the paradigm of humility. He alone had equality with God, but didn’t grasp on to it. Instead he was willing to come be mistreated, rejected, despised, beaten, and murdered, bearing the hatred of people and the just wrath of his Father. That is humility. A willingness to subject himself to whatever his Father has for him; he alone models perfect humility and contrition, he alone trembles at the word of his Father (Is 66.1-2).

So if we’re to imitate Jesus it would be helpful to know what motivated Jesus, right? What moved him to go to the cross in all humility?

For one thing, he desired joy (Heb 12.1-2). He also desired glory (John 17.5). He also desired vindication and exaltation, in the view of people (John 17.24). He also wanted to be great (Mark 10.43-45). Not what you would expect to hear, right? And it begs the question…

Should I Want That Too?

The short answer is ‘Absolutely!’ The reason those things seem so wrong for us to desire is because we are so full of sin that we typically associate the desire for those things with whatever means we determine necessary to get joy, glory, exaltation, and greatness. We’re typically so convinced that God doesn’t want us to have those things that we ultimately want that we refuse to trust him to give them to us. We seek them by our own means.

But the essence of the message of Jesus is this: Trust God, he is for you. He will exalt those who are his… in the mean time, stop fretting about what other people think. Stop fighting for position here and now. Entrust yourself to God fully and be content with his providence. He will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you (1 Pet 5.10). He will freely give you all things; nothing is too good for you (Rom 8.31-32)!

So What Should I Do?

So what is the New Testament message on the motivation for humility? Stop fighting for glory and honour here and now in your time and your way; embrace God’s providence, and trust him to exalt you in his time and in his way (1 Pet 5.6-7).

Believe it or not, God wants your joy, vindication, and glory more than you do. He sent his Son to prove it. So stop contending for his supremacy and seek your exaltation through humility and service. He is for you more than you are.

Post from: Julian Freeman

What Should Motivate Humility?

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Call me Captain Obvious if you like, but the New Testament is shorter than the Old Testament. I was thinking about this the other day and it occurred to me that in some sense the length of the two covenant documents speaks to the relationship between the covenants themselves and what is required of the people who are part of those covenants.

Simply asking the question, ‘Why is the New Testament shorter?’ helps us to see the nature of the covenants in contrast. For example, here are at least two parts of the answer that I would give you to that question:

1. There are no genealogies in the New Testament

One of the things that makes the Old Testament longer is the accumulation of stories of family lines. So, for example, the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38 is vital because it records God’s preservation of the line of Judah. The Old Testament is filled with both genealogies and narratives that preserve bloodlines.

The New Testament, on the other hand, has no genealogies (except for that of Jesus, which is the climax of the Old Testament). There are no stories of fathers and children, no stories of family lines being preserved.

This makes the New Testament shorter. It also illustrates one of the fundamental differences between the covenants. The older covenant was passed on from generation to generation through bloodlines and families (Gen 15.3-5), while the newer is passed on through gospel proclamation and faith (2 Tim 2.2). Therefore, the New Testament simply has the book of Acts which records how the gospel was proclaimed and believed. That’s all there is for narrative. There is no ongoing record of families which must be saved because God’s people will now be made up of ‘all nations’ as they become disciplines… adopted children.

2. There is no case law in the New Testament

A second reason why the Old Testament is longer is because Moses and many prophets after him are forced to belabour the teaching of the Law in any and every imaginable context (and even some rather unimaginable ones!). Every time I read through the Old Testament I’m amazed at some of the case law and think to myself, ‘Really? Someone did that? And they needed to set a precedent law against it?’

In the New Testament, however, there is a distinct lack of laws (note: I didn’t say distinct lack of Law). You would think that as the New Covenant was being received and applied across cultural boundaries and geographical regions and religious backgrounds there would be a lot more Acts 15-type-moments. But in reality, there aren’t, simply because the New Covenant isn’t about setting case law. That’s not the nature of this covenant.

For example, when the Corinthians ask Paul about whether or not they are free to eat meat sacrificed to idols, he does not deliver case law that is binding on all Christians. Rather, he holds up the ideal of freedom and then allows it to be swallowed up by the law of love so that individual Christians simply cannot answer the ethical question without coming face to face with the question, ‘What is love and am I willing to be governed by it?’ (see 1 Corinthians 8-10). He does the same thing again when it comes to the exercise of spiritual gifts (see 1 Corinthians 12-14). Love is the law that governs all of Christian behaviour in the New Testament (John 13.34-35).

And so it is written…

When you’ve only got one law that trumps in any and every situation, and you don’t have to record genealogies and family histories spanning thousands of years, you can write a much shorter covenant document. Which is precisely what we have.

Post from: Julian Freeman

Newsflash: The New Testament is Shorter

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