The Demoniac from Gadara

The lengthy account in Mark chapter 5 of the young man in Gadara who was tormented and oppressed by demonisation has an incredible depth in connecting with any who have experienced emotional, mental and spiritual anguish; that state of hopelessness where rage seems to be the only means to express or experience feelings. John Piper’s extended poetic re-telling of the story has recently been portrayed in a graphic novel by Desiring God. An amazing insight into the episode and an excellent means to connect with teenagers who might also be suffering from abuse, neglect, abandonment or torment.

 

What’s the Bible all about?

To kick off our new series, “What’s it all about?” we discussed the foundational text of the Christian faith – the Bible.

The joke among evangelicals when teaching children is that no matter what the question is, the answer is always one of 3 things: God, Jesus or the Bible. So it follows that if I ask the question, “What is the Bible all about?” the answer will be either “God” or “Jesus”.

God’s ultimate goal in all He does is to preserve and display His glory. He prizes and delights in His own glory above all things. In short, this IS what the Bible is all about. This is the recurring, unifying theme of redemptive history as revealed in the Bible. The big-picture plot of the Bible is often summarised as ‘Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consummation’ – but the theme that unites each stage or component is the Glory of God.

The term “glory of God” in the Bible refers to the visible splendor or moral beauty of God. Another term that can signify much the same thing is the name of God. When Scripture speaks of doing something “for God’s name’s sake,” it means the same as doing it “for His glory.” The “name” of God is not merely His label, but a reference to His character. It is a short-cut or abbreviated way of talking about, ascribing, attributing and affirming all the accolades, credit, significance and greatness of God as our almighty, majestic Lord and King. Today, when Christians pray, they conclude their prayer with, “in Jesus name“. For some, this is used as a formulaic method not dissimilar to “abra kadabra“. They think it is a magical incantation that somehow makes anything prayed for OK. But the meaning of “in Jesus name” is a short-cut way of saying, “Dear God, please hear and answer my prayer in such as way that gives you all the credit, all the honour, all the praise and in no way allows me to gloat that I am better and bigger than you (or anyone else).”

Over and over throughout the Old Testament, God tells us that the reason for showing us mercy, for acting as a redeemer and a saviour is for “the sake of his name“. In other words, God’s reason’s for acting the way he acted are not because the persons or people in some way deserved or earned his intervention. Rather it is to display and demonstrate his greatness, goodness, glory and grace.

As John Piper notes in Desiring God, to love and glorify God does not mean to meet His needs, but rather to delight in Him and to be captivated by His glorious power and grace and to value Him above all other things on earth. God is totally independent of his creation. He has no needs that we can meet, he has no insufficiency that we can make up. We ascribe glory to God because no other being or object is so purely holy and good and worthy of such worship.

To further emphasise the importance of God’s glory in the Bible as an underlying theme as well as how it relates to us, the New Testament tells us that separation from God’s glory for all eternity is what hell is all about. The imagery used for hell in the bible consists of flames, fire, torment, punishment, suffering, and darkness. These are picture words that evoke intense feelings and reactions. Hell is far worse than just physical elements of pain and suffering. Hell is an absence of the glory of God. God is the source of life, goodness, kindness, mercy, compassion and grace. Separation from that is hell.

2 Thessalonians 1:9-10 ~ will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed

Participation in the Christian life starts with a (God given) understanding and recognition of the greatness and glory of God. Thus we summarise conversion as:

“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ~ Romans 10:13
or
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ~ Acts 16:31

What’s the Bible all about? God revealing his glory to us that we might relish it as revealed in and by Jesus Christ and received in and by the Holy Spirit.

Our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. He is a self-sufficient and inexhaustible fountain of grace and our only salvation.We have no ground for boasting or gloating about attainment of enlightenment, understanding, holiness, righteousness or spirituality apart from the glory of God revealed in Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ~ Ephesians 2:8-9

 

Pastor Great-Heart

I think every genuine pastor, though often falling short, aspires to this.

I am occupied in my small way, as Mr. Great-heart was employed in Bunyan’s day. I do not compare myself with that champion, but I am in the same line of business. I am engaged in personally-conducted tours to Heaven; and I have with me, at the present time, dear Old Father Honest: I am glad he is still alive and active. And there is Christiana, and there are her children. It is my business, as best I can, to kill dragons, and cut off giants’ heads, and lead on the timid and trembling. I am often afraid of losing some of the weaklings. I have the heart-ache for them; but, by God’s grace, and your kind and generous help in looking after one another, I hope we shall all travel safely to the river’s edge. Oh, how many have I had to part with there! I have stood on the brink, and I have heard them singing in the midst of the stream, and I have almost seen the shining ones lead them up the hill, and through the gates, into the Celestial City.

(quote from Charles Spurgeon courtesy of Mark Dever at Desiring God Pastors Conference)

 

What is not Evangelism

Mark Dever presented the following talk at the recent DG Pastor’s Conference. It is too easy to be misled into thinking many other “good” things we may do, replace the proclamation and publication of the gospel. I also find I’m easily distracted and discouraged by lack of “conversions”. However, one thing I learnt on the mission field in Kenya is that “conversion” does not (always) equal or result in a life transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here is a copy of the talk outline:

5 Things We Can Mistake for Evangelism

1) Imposition

We mistakenly take evangelism to be manipulation. But that’s what the world says. In truth, we’re not trying to impose our beliefs on anybody. Biblically, we can’t impose our beliefs on anybody. Force and coercion cannot finally bring about the change that God demands. You can’t expand Christianity by the sword. Evangelism is not some sort of intellectual imposition.

To believe that something is true and to share that with others is not coercion. We don’t impose when we evangelize. We freely offer it to all and do not, cannot, force it on anybody.

2) Personal Testimony

A personal testimony is a wonderful thing. The Bible is full of examples of it, and we should testify to the wonderful experience of receiving God’s mercy.

But consider John 9 and the man born blind. He gives his testimony but doesn’t even know who Jesus is. His words glorify God, but they don’t present the gospel. This is not evangelism.

Unless you’re explicit about Jesus Christ and the cross then it is not the gospel.

3) Social Action / Public Involvement

Mercy ministries display God’s kindness, and they are good and appropriate for the Christian to do. But such actions are not evangelism. They may commend the gospel to others, but only if someone has told them the gospel. They need to have the gospel added to them. Helping others or doing our jobs well, whatever they are, in and of themselves are not evangelism.

4) Apologetics

Apologetics are valuable, but they have their own set of dangers. You can get bogged down in talking about purely intellectual or peripheral matters and never get to the gospel.

It’s fine for us to talk with unbelieving friends about questions that they have, but our attempts to try and answer them without setting the gospel as the foundation does no good. Jesus must set the agenda for evangelism.

5) The Results of Evangelism

2 Corinthians 2:15-16

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,  to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

Note that the same ministry has two different effects. It’s like the parable of the soil: same seed, different results.

We cannot finally judge the correctness of what we do by the immediate response that we get. The need for numbers puts an unnecessary stress on pastors and misunderstands the way that God saves.

We must practice our ministries realizing that some of us will be like Adoniram Judson or William Carey, who had no converts until after seven years of faithful gospel ministry. It’s a fact that most people don’t believe the gospel the first time they hear it.

Don’t let the gospel that you preach be molded by what it is that gets an immediate response. Preach the gospel, trying to persuade–pleading for your hearers to believe–but knowing that you cannot convert a person. And then let God do with it what he will. He alone can call the dead to life. The gospel is powerful, and God is committed to using us to spread this good news.