It’s Called, “Observing Evangelicalism with Don Carson” (right click and “save target/link as…”)
(HT: Andy Naselli)
November 26, 2008
November 19, 2008
New Carson audio
1. Trials and Temptations (James 1) – preached at Evanston Bible Fellowship (10/26/08)
2. 4 talks from Proclamation trust for free – two on Genesis 39, Isaiah 6, and 2 Samuel 7. You have to register with them.
3. Studies in Revelation – preached at Aberystywth Conference in August 8-11, 1995
4. Studies in John – preached at Aberystywth Conference in August 11-14, 1992
November 15, 2008
November 11, 2008
6 reasons to formally commit to a church (membership), part 3 of 3
(see previous: part 1, part 2)
Category 3: Leadership
5. You need to obey your leaders
1 Tim. 3:1-2 (ESV) – 1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach…
Gospel communities were to have an office in the community, and it is called in this passage overseer. You can’t have an overseer if you are not formally committed to a church. There should be a mutual understanding between you as a Christian and an overseer in a church that he is overseeing you and you are being overseen by him/them.
Titus 1:5-6 (ESV) – 5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach…
Gospel communities were to have elders in their communities. I’d argue, as many have already, that the position of elder is synonymous with the office of overseer. Just looking at Titus 1:5ff in comparison with 1 Timothy 3:1ff shows the similarity of qualifications with the main difference in title (overseer vs. elder). The point here is that if you are a Christian you should have an elder or elders who are your servant-leaders.
Heb. 13:7, 17 (ESV) – 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith… 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Three commands to the Christian in verse 7, two in verse 17. Remember your leaders. Consider your leaders’ lives. Imitate your leaders’ faith. Obey and submit to your leaders. Let the leaders watch over you with joy. You cannot do this unless you are in committed to a local church where there is mutual understanding between you and the church leaders that (1) they are leading you and (2) you are submitting to them. But if you have established this mutual understanding, you’ve formally committed to a church.
6. You need to encourage your leaders
The other side of obeying your leaders is you encouraging your leaders (“let them [watch over you] with joy”). If you obey and submit to them, you are an encouragement to them and you let them serve and lead you with joy. You must encourage the local church leaders to lead you with joy.
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November 7, 2008
6 reasons to formally commit to a church (as a member), part 2 of 3
Category: Accountability
3. You need to lovingly hold others accountable
Matt. 18:15-17 (ESV) – 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Here Christ tells you how to love and help your brother/sister who is in sin. You must tell him his fault in private. If he fails to listen, then you must tell another brother/sister to go with you as you confront the sinning brother/sister again. If he/she still refuses, tell it to the church. Then the church will seek to restore the sinning brother/sister. If he/she refuses to listen to the church in their pursuit and love, then, to the church, the unrepentant sinner must be treated like an unbeliever. You must lovingly and radically hold other Christians accountable.
1 Cor. 5:1-2 (ESV) – 1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
When someone is unrepentant and sinning, he must be “removed from among you” so that unbelievers don’t misunderstand what a Christian is and who Jesus Christ is and what the gospel is. You also don’t want that unrepentant sinner comfortable in his “Christianity” as if he is ok with God when he is not. Therefore you must lovingly hold others accountable and remove the unrepentant sinners from among you.
To summarize, you as a Christian must hold Christians accountable for sin and call them to repentance in love. If they refuse, then you must confront them to the point of removing them from the church and treating them like an unbeliever. How can you do this unless you are in a group that has drawn a line of who are believers and who are not? That is what the local church does, and so you should formally commit to one to hold others accountable the way Jesus Christ wants you to.
4. You need to be lovingly held accountable by others
This is simply the other side of the coin again. Not only do you need to hold others accountable and seek to restore them from their sin, you need someone to hold you accountable and restore you when you are in sin. You need others, and you need the church as a whole, if necessary, to plead with you and pray for you to not remain unrepentant in sin. You need others, in a church, to be able to remove you from among them if you are deluded by sin, in hopes that them removing you would awaken you to the sin and delusion to which you were given. I am not strong enough and knowledgeable enough on my own to keep from sin. God didn’t design humans to be alone. You need to be lovingly held accountable by others.
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