Gospel Translations - User contributions [en]

User:Mahra

2023-12-28T20:35:30Z

Mahra: Blanked the page

Main Page

2017-03-07T11:26:29Z

Mahra: Undo revision 62011 by Mahra (Talk)

{| width="99%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"
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| style="padding: 0pt 10px 0pt 0pt;" rowspan="3" | <div style="text-indent: 20px;">This website is a project to make gospel-centered books and articles freely accessible in as many languages as possible. We do this through the help of our generous volunteers and [[Gospel Translations:Partners|partner organizations]].</div>
You can volunteer in a number of different roles to help us improve, or simply browse the site and enjoy the resources we have available. Everything here is available completely for free, no strings attached. In fact we encourage you to give our content away to others, too.

To learn more you can watch the video below, visit our [[Gospel Translations:FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions page]], or [[Special:Contact|send us a question]]. <br><br>
<center><videoflash type="vimeo">4905485</videoflash></center>
| width="325" bgcolor="#fcfcfc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 0pt 7px 7px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);" | <div style="padding: 5px 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(148, 163, 196); background-color: rgb(236, 239, 245); text-align: center; margin: 5px 0pt 18px;">'''Volunteer Opportunities'''</div> <div style="font-size: 11px;">'''[[Volunteer:Getting started|You can join]]''' hundreds of translators, content managers, and developers who are making a difference in the global church by lending their talents to Gospel Translations. [[Volunteer:Getting started|Read about existing roles]] or [[Special:Contact|email us]] if you have other ideas for advancing our mission.</div>
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Main Page

2017-02-28T16:05:14Z

Mahra:

{| width="99%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"
|- valign="top"
| style="padding: 0pt 10px 0pt 0pt;" rowspan="3" | <div style="text-indent: 20px;">This website is a project to make gospel-centered books and articles freely accessible in as many languages as possible. We do this through the help of our generous volunteers and [[Gospel Translations:Partners|partner organizations]].</div>
You can volunteer in a number of different roles to help us improve, or simply browse the site and enjoy the resources we have available. Everything here is available completely for free, no strings attached. In fact we encourage you to give our content away to others, too.

To learn more you can visit our [[Gospel Translations:FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions page]] or [[Special:Contact|send us a question]]. <br><br>

| width="325" bgcolor="#fcfcfc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 0pt 7px 7px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);" | <div style="padding: 5px 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(148, 163, 196); background-color: rgb(236, 239, 245); text-align: center; margin: 5px 0pt 18px;">'''Volunteer Opportunities'''</div> <div style="font-size: 11px;">'''[[Volunteer:Getting started|You can join]]''' hundreds of translators, content managers, and developers who are making a difference in the global church by lending their talents to Gospel Translations. [[Volunteer:Getting started|Read about existing roles]] or [[Special:Contact|email us]] if you have other ideas for advancing our mission.</div>
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Gospel Translations:Copyrights

2013-08-13T09:33:45Z

Mahra:

{{Sectionnav|About Us}}====What You Can Do====
You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute the resources on this website in any format. You may not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of duplication.

'''Important''': This policy reference only those translations that have been marked as "Final Version". Please do not reproduce or redistribute any translations from this website that are not marked as final.<br>

====Copyright Citations====
Wherever you post our material, please include a citation in this format:
:<nowiki>By [author's name]. © [publisher]. Website: [publisher's domain name]. Copied from </nowiki>[article link].

For example, this would be a citation for [[Gospel Implications]]:
:By Mike Bullmore. © 9Marks. Website: 9Marks.org. Copied from [[Gospel Implications]].

Main Page

2011-10-18T14:56:38Z

Mahra: Changed protection level for "Main Page" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))

Main Page

2011-09-28T19:47:17Z

Mahra:

Main Page

2011-07-29T18:47:50Z

Mahra: Reverted edits by Lingming (Talk) to last revision by Pcain

{| width="99%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"
|- valign="top"
| style="padding: 0pt 10px 0pt 0pt;" rowspan="3" | <div style="text-indent: 20px;">This website is a project to make gospel-centered books and articles freely accessible in as many languages as possible. We do this through the help of our generous volunteers and [[Gospel Translations:Partners|partner organizations]].</div>
You can volunteer in a number of different roles to help us improve, or simply browse the site and enjoy the resources we have available. Everything here is available completely for free, no strings attached. In fact we encourage you to give our content away to others, too.

To learn more you can watch the video below, visit our [[Gospel Translations:FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions page]], or [[Special:Contact|send us a question]]. <br><br>
<center><videoflash type="vimeo">4905485</videoflash></center>
| width="325" bgcolor="#fcfcfc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 0pt 7px 7px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);" | <div style="padding: 5px 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(148, 163, 196); background-color: rgb(236, 239, 245); text-align: center; margin: 5px 0pt 18px;">'''Volunteer Opportunities'''</div> <div style="font-size: 11px;">'''[[Volunteer:Getting started|You can join]]''' hundreds of translators, content managers, and developers who are making a difference in the global church by lending their talents to Gospel Translations. [[Volunteer:Getting started|Read about existing roles]] or [[Special:Contact|email us]] if you have other ideas for advancing our mission.</div>
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Volunteer:Translation and review

2011-06-10T21:03:08Z

Mahra:

=== Role description ===

Volunteer translators are responsible for creating accurate, easy-to-read translations of our [[Special:Browse/Topic:Index|available English content]] and helping other volunteers review and improve the quality of their work. You are free to work on your own schedule and at your own pace—all we require is that when you hand in your projects, they be as accurate and readable as your skill allows.<br>

Once enrolled, volunteers work closely with one of our Translation Coordinators to select and complete a project. In other words, they will handle all of the administrative details for you; all you need to do is translate.

Also, some people ask if they can ever get paid for translation work with us—the answer is no. We have a tremendous amount of respect for the work that professional translators do. In fact, most of our volunteers ''are'' professional translators. But the goal of this project is to make things available for free, which means we need to rely on volunteers to do just about everything (which includes our CEO).<br>

=== <br>How to enroll ===

To become a volunteer translator, [https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/gospeltranslations.org/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDkydVpPX3RXYTJyX1B5UUhBWGFkUUE6MQ complete our sign-up form] and we will reply to you within a few days. By submitting an enrollment application, you are verifying that you agree to our Translator's Agreement, which is printed below. Questions about the agreement or other aspects of the volunteer role can be sent to us via our [[Special:Contact|contact page]].

=== <br>Translator's Agreement ===

#You agree to translate the text to reflect the original author's intention. If you're not sure about the original author's meaning, you will check with your Translation Coordinator for clarification.
#You agree not to contextualize any parts of your translation. If an author's words or ideas will be difficult for people in your culture to understand, you can add explanations via footnotes.
#You agree to release all ownership and rights over the work you submit to us. We will credit you by name on every translation you do, whether published in print or online, and we will require others who use our website to do the same.
#You agree to cooperate with the rest of the Gospel Translations community by sticking to the guidelines of the Translator's Handbook, including, whenever possible, use of a preferred Bible translation for your language.

<br>

<br>

Volunteer:Getting started

2011-05-09T12:15:44Z

Mahra:

=== Our mission together ===

We want to see every Christian in the world equipped to understand and proclaim the good news of the gospel. Our contribution to that cause is to make biblically sound resources freely accessible in every nation and language. We've made very encouraging progress already—3500+ resources available for free in more than 40 languages as of 2011—but we still have a long way to go and more than ever we need the help of dedicated volunteers. <br>

=== '''Where we need your help''' ===

*[[Volunteer:Translation and review|'''Translation and review''']]—Translate from English into any language, and give constructive feedback to other translators on their work<br>
*[[Volunteer:Development|'''Development''']]—Code Mediawiki extensions and API-driven web apps to help us distribute content, automate processes, and optimize the SEO and usability of our wiki network<br>
*[[Volunteer:Spreading|'''Spreading''']]—Leverage your blog, website, and social networks (and those of your friends and contacts) to help us spread free, gospel-satured resources<br>
*[[Gospel Translations:Financial support|'''Publishing''']]—Fund the publication of free resources around the world by making a financial gift to Gospel Translations<br>
*[[Volunteer:Content management|'''Content management''']]—Format and save English and translated documents on our wikis.<br>

=== '''<br>''' ===

User:Mahra

2011-04-13T17:33:41Z

Mahra:

===About Me===
Thanks for visiting my user page. My name is Andrew Mahr and I have the privilege of serving as the director of Gospel Translations, which means that I get to serve the amazing individuals who do all of the '''real''' work.

If you have questions about Gospel Translations, please don't hesitate to email me or post a message on my Talk page.

Thanks!

Andrew

Category:Mark Dever

2011-03-15T13:58:33Z

Mahra: Redirected page to Special:Browse/Author:Mark Dever

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2011-02-16T20:41:54Z

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This Great Salvation

2010-12-31T22:21:28Z

Mahra:

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This Great Salvation

2010-12-31T22:17:27Z

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Main Page

2010-11-05T16:59:39Z

Mahra:

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|- valign="top"
| style="padding: 0pt 10px 0pt 0pt;" rowspan="3" | <div style="text-indent: 20px;">This website is a project to make gospel-centered books and articles freely accessible in as many languages as possible. We do this through the help of our generous volunteers and [[Gospel Translations:Partners|partner organizations]].</div>
You can volunteer in a number of different roles to help us improve, or simply browse the site and enjoy the resources we have available. Everything here is available completely for free, no strings attached. In fact we encourage you to give our content away to others, too.

To learn more you can watch the video below, visit our [[Gospel Translations:FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions page]], or [[Special:Contact|send us a question]]. <br><br>
<center><videoflash type="vimeo">4905485</videoflash></center>
| width="325" bgcolor="#fcfcfc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 0pt 7px 7px; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);" | <div style="padding: 5px 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(148, 163, 196); background-color: rgb(236, 239, 245); text-align: center; margin: 5px 0pt 18px;">'''Volunteer Opportunities'''</div> <div style="font-size: 11px;">'''[[Volunteer:Getting started|You can join]]''' hundreds of translators, content managers, and developers who are making a difference in the global church by lending their talents to Gospel Translations. [[Volunteer:Getting started|Read about existing roles]] or [[Special:Contact|email us]] if you have other ideas for advancing our mission.</div>
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File:9marks logo.jpg

2010-08-05T19:59:55Z

Mahra: uploaded a new version of "File:9marks logo.jpg"

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church/A Biblical Understanding of the Good News

2010-04-16T16:46:36Z

Mahra:

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=== The Gospel is the Heart of Christianity ===

It is particularly important to have a biblical theology in one special area of a church's life--our understanding of the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel. The gospel is the heart of Christianity, and so it should be the heart of our faith. All of us as Christians should pray that we would care more about the wonderful good news of salvation through Christ than we do about anything else in the church's life. A healthy church is filled with people who have a heart for the gospel, and having a heart for the gospel means having a heart for the truth--for God's presentation of Himself, of our need, of Christ's provision, and of our responsibility.

=== God, Man, Christ, Response ===

When I present the gospel to someone, I try to remember four points--God, man, Christ, response. Have I shared with this person the truth about our Holy God and Sovereign Creator? Have I made it clear that we as humans are a strange mixture, creatures made in the image of God and yet fallen, sinful and separated from Him? Does the person I’m talking with understand who Christ is--the Godman, the only mediator between God and man, our substitute and resurrected Lord? And finally, even if I've shared all this with him, does he understand that he must respond to the gospel, that he must believe this message and so turn from his life of self-centeredness and sin?

=== The Gospel is a Radical Offer of Salvation ===

To present the gospel as an additive to give non- Christians something they naturally want (joy, peace, happiness, fulfillment, self-esteem, love) is partially true, but only partially true. As J. I. Packer says, "a half truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth." Fundamentally, everyone needs forgiveness. We need spiritual life. To present the gospel less radically than this is to ask for false conversions and increasingly meaningless church membership, both of which make the evangelization of the world around us all the more difficult.

Our church members scattered in our homes, offices and neighborhoods will, this very day, see far more non- Christians, for far longer, than they will ever spend with Christians on a Sunday. Each of us has tremendous news of salvation in Christ. Let's not barter it for something else. And let's share it today! George W. Truett, great Christian leader of the past generation and pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, said:

:The supreme indictment that you can bring against a church . . . is that such a church lacks in passion and compassion for human souls. A church is nothing better than an ethical club if its sympathies for lost souls do not overflow, and if it does not go out to seek to point lost souls to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

A healthy church knows the gospel, and a healthy church shares it.

=== Questions for Reflection ===

#The author believes that we as Christians should care more about the good news of salvation through Christ than we do about anything else in the church’s life. Do you agree? Read I Corinthians 2:2. Why is the message of Jesus Christ so important?
#To have a biblical understanding of the gospel, what does a person need to understand about God? What does a person need to understand about man and his state under sin? What must a person understand about Christ? According to Jesus in Mark 1:15, what should be man’s response to the good news? What is involved in each of the two main parts of that response?
#The author writes that "to present the gospel less radically than this is to ask for false conversions and increasingly meaningless church membership." What is this "radical" message of the gospel? How does that differ from the way the gospel is sometimes presented as a way for non- Christians to be happier and to feel better about themselves?
#How does your church measure up to George W. Truett’s challenge on page 24? How passionate is your church to share the good news of salvation through Christ with lost people?

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Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

2010-04-16T16:40:33Z

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The Other Dark Exchange: Homosexuality, Part 2

2010-03-26T16:36:11Z

Mahra:

{{info}}
<blockquote>
'''Romans 1:24-28'''

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, </blockquote>
==== Seeing God at the Center ====

I confess that my main aim in these two messages is not to persuade you that homosexual behavior is wrong. It is wrong. But you can believe that and not be a Christian. So what does it profit a man if he knows everything that's wrong, and loses his own soul? My aim is much higher than to persuade you that there are many sexual disorders in the world - both homosexual and heterosexual. My aim is to transform the way you see Reality, and to put the glory of God back at the center, like the sun in the solar system of sexuality (and everything else) that holds all the planets of our passions in their proper order. When you exchange the sun for a man-made satellite all the planets leave their orbit and head for oblivion.

The murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, was committed by men who had exchanged the centrality of God's glory for the satellite of self-exaltation. And self-exaltation or self-determination over against God cannot hold the planets of passion in their orbit. I learned this from verses 28 and 29. Look at them with me. Romans 1:28-29a: "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, (29) being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder . . ."

There it is. Where does murder come from? It comes from this: "They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer." Or as verse 23 says, "They exchanged the glory of God for images" - in this case money and hateful power. Or as verse 25 says, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie."

==== The Root of all Our Disorders, and God's Judgment ====

We saw this in the text last week. The root of all our disorders - sexual and social and physical and emotional - is the exchange of the glory of God for other things. The solar system of our soul and our society was made to orbit around the glory of God as its all-controlling sun. And the entire human race has exchanged the glory of God for weightless, substitute satellites that have no gravity and can hold nothing in its proper orbit. Therefore all the world is disordered and decaying and moving toward destruction.

But we saw something even more stunning last week from this text. This disorder and decay in our lives and in our society and in our universe is the judgment of God, and is meant by him to be seen as a terrible drama of a horrific underlying spiritual evil. We saw this three times. After each statement that we have exchanged God for other things (verses 23, 25, 28), it says, God therefore hands us over to our depravity so that our soul and our society disintegrates into all sorts of evil deeds and dreadful diseases and death and destruction.

For example, verse 24: "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." Verse 26: "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions." And here in verses 26-27 he details homosexual behavior as one outworking of these degrading disorders. Then verse 28b: "God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper." And here in the following three verses (29-31), he details twenty-one other outworkings of a depraved mind. No one escapes here. Homosexual, heterosexual, male, female, old, young, religious, irreligious - all of us are under the sway of a depraved mind. As Romans 3:9-10 says, "Both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one."

The root of all our problems in this world is that the human race has exchanged the glory of God for other things and that God has handed us over to bear the fruit of this exchange in ten thousand troubles - all of which should call us to repentance and worship rather than rebellion and atheism. And when I say all our problems, I really mean all. I mentioned last week that even our physical diseases and our natural calamities are owing to God's judgment on creation for our exchange of his glory for other things.

==== What if there Were Genetic Origins for Sexual Disorder? ====

This is crucial for dealing with the origins of homosexuality. I don't think anyone knows for sure what the physical components of homosexuality are. But what if genetic origins were found? What would this imply about the morality and fitness of the behavior? Very little, if nature itself is disordered and in need of redemption. So let's look at this matter more closely this morning.

Consider Romans 8:20-23, "The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope." Notice that all of creation has been subjected to futility: things don't work the way they were originally designed to work. Winds, rains, rivers, volcanoes, bacteria, viruses, Swiss Air jet electrical wiring, brake linings, heart-attacks of 86-year-old men driving through a crosswalk while a blind student crosses the street, wild white blood cells, trisomy of the 21st chromosome, and ten-thousand heartaches from a fallen world - the creation was subjected to futility.

By whom? Verse 20 says, "By Him who subjected it in hope." That's not man and not Satan, but God. God subjected the world to futility "in hope." All the futility of this world is meant to waken us to the horrors of exchanging the glory of God for other things and to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:8-9) and restores the glory (Romans 8:18-19).

Keep reading. Verses 21-22: ". . . that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption (= futility) into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." Paul pictures the miseries and futilities and pains of creation as childbirth before the resurrection when all the pain of our disordered bodies and sexuality will be replaced with glory of God among his people.

And Paul even addresses the crying question that we raised last week: But surely, if all this misery and disorder and dysfunction in the world is owing to God's judgment - his handing us over to the outworking of our ungodliness -then would he not lift the misery and the disorder and the dysfunction and the pain from his children who repent and believe the gospel? He gives his answer in verse 23: "And not only this [that is, not only does the "whole creation groan"] but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our body."

The answer is: No, God does not deliver his people all at once from the futility of this fallen, judged creation. He turns the effects of judgment into the means of grace for his people (Romans 8:28). And he saves us in stages. "Having been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved" (Romans 5: 9-10). We have forgiveness for sin now; we will have freedom from all sinning later. We have reconciliation with God now; we will have complete intimacy later. We have the firstfruits and the downpayment of the Holy Spirit now; we will have the full harvest of his power and presence later. We have some healing now (from our sexual disorders!); we will have full wholeness later. We see his beauty through a glass darkly now, later we will see face to face. We have peace with God now; we will have perfection later. That's the meaning of Romans 8:23.

What is "Natural"? The point of all this is that, whatever the physical or social or personal origins of the homosexual disordering of our sexuality, none of that would define it as good or "natural" or "normal." In a world where God is the Creator and Designer of life, "natural" means in sync with God's purpose and design, not just anything that has physical causes. Having a physical root makes nothing right. Physically-based, aggressive tendencies may lead to violent behavior, but we don't condone it. Physically-based lethargic tendencies may lead to laziness and neglect, but we don't condone it. Frenetic tendencies may lead to disruption and workaholism. A gloomy bent may lead to suicidal thoughts. An anxious bent may lead to paranoia. Addictive tendencies may lead to alcoholism or bondage to gambling or deadly smoking. A low frustration threshold may lead to outbursts of rage. Strong sexual desires may lead to lust or pornography or fornication or adultery or polygamy.

In other words, in a world where the effect of sin permeates to the roots of nature and disorders all of life, we cannot define as good and natural whatever has physical roots. There must be a higher norm than fallen nature. There are many physically-based abnormalities in the world. Therefore having a physical base or root is not sufficient reason for condoning anything as natural or good.

How then shall we live and love in this disordered world? At the risk of oversimplification and selectivity, let me try to give some brief biblical counsel concerning the personal, family and social dimensions of homosexuality.

==== Biblical Counsel for Someone with Homosexual Desires ====

First, a few words to those among us who have homosexual desires.

1. Acknowledge the presence and pain of a disordered sexuality, with all the ambiguity of where it came from - much like other disorders and disabilities -and do not define your God-given personhood by your disordered sexuality.

2. Put your faith in Christ alone for the forgiveness of all your sins and for the gift of God's righteousness and for the fulfillment of all his promises to you (Romans 1:16-17). The only sinner who can successfully battle his sins is a justified sinner. In other words, you fight against sexual sins from relationship, not for a relationship.

3. Begin to reorder your entire life around the centrality of the glory of God as your highest treasure. Homosexual sinning, like all other sinning, is an echo of exchanging the glory of God for other things. So restore the sun of God's glory to its place at the center of your soul and all the planets of your desires will begin to return to their God-given orbit.

4. Resolve to live a chaste and, if necessary, celibate life by the power of God's Spirit, with the confidence that if God does not heal now, he will in the age to come; and all the patience of purity of will be worth it (Romans 8:18). May God grant all the single people (and married!) at Bethlehem a passion for purity.

5. Seek wholesome friendships with both sexes, especially in groups. Here the burden lies heavily on the church to be a place where this can happen. We don't do very well at this. And so I call on us - especially families - to go out of our way to have people (especially single people) over for meals and other gatherings. The more we do things in groups rather than pairs, the more opportunities we create for wholesome non-sexual relationships.

6. I probably don't need to tell you that there are ministries like Outposts here in our cities that have insights and experience and encouragement and Biblical counsel from a depth of awareness that goes beyond what most of us can bring. This may be something God would use in your life.

7. Take a bold and compassionate stand for truth the way Joe Hallett did, and hold up God's purposes for human sexuality, namely, as an expression of Christ's love for the Church dramatized in the covenant love of marriage between one man and one woman.

==== Biblical Counsel to Parents ====

Now let me say a few words to parents.

1. For Christian parents, wayward children are more painful than a child's death. Because death usually is not intensified by feelings of guilt and failure and shame. How many of these feelings are legitimate is impossible to know for sure. The only hope for parents is the gospel - that whatever we have done poorly we may be forgiven by trusting in Christ for a righteousness that is not our own (Romans 1:16-17).

2. If we know our shortcomings, we should confess them to our children, and seek their forgiveness.

3. If we have grown children with homosexual desires we should love them and pray for them and speak Biblical truth to them when they will hear it.

4. In the fellowship of the church, search the Scriptures and seek counsel concerning the incredibly complex and painful issues of how to relate to your children if they go on living in sin.

5. If your children are still small or yet to come, realize that, in large measure, their healthy sexuality hangs on your healthy attention and teaching and touching and loving. I say this especially to you fathers. For both boys and girls, the development of a healthy sexuality hangs more on strong, loving, godly male figures in their lives than on the women in their lives -though both are very important. Biblically and experientially and psychologically this can be shown - that the role of the father (or of some crucial man) is paramount for normal sexual development of boys and girls.

If you ask, what is normal, healthy sexuality - what does it mean for a boy to grow up to be a man and not a woman, and what does it mean for a girl to grow up to be a woman and not a man - if you ask this, I urge you to think it through. I have done my best to answer that question in What's the Difference: Manhood and Womanhood Defined according to the Bible, Crossway, 1990). In addition, I would urge you to read chapter 17, by George Rekers, in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, (Crossway, 1991) Dr. Rekers is a Christian psychiatrist who teaches at the University of South Carolina and has devoted much of his career to demonstrating that you can take five-year-old boys who already act in homosexual ways and direct them toward normal heterosexual development when mother and dad are willing to realize their own needs to make necessary changes. The chapter is called, "Rearing Masculine Boys and Feminine Girls."

==== Speak the Truth in Love ====

Finally, one brief word about the social issues surrounding the controversy over homosexuality: marriage, domestic partners, housing, employment, parenting, adoption, education, diversity training, multiculturalism. Each of these issues requires serious reflection. I don't think the answers are easy. And I call you all to think and study and pray and discuss. How does a democratic, constitutionally-governed society determine its values, shape its laws around those values, preserve the inalienable rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" while limiting destructive behaviors and protecting minorities from majority hostilities? These are not easy questions, and they demand our best thinking, not sound bites or shrill slogans.

I would give one guideline and a closing declaration. The guideline is this: normalizing wrong behavior and endorsing wrong behavior and dulling the "reflexive recoil"* from wrong behavior is, in the end, harmful for persons and destructive to society. One example: the normalization and endorsement of homosexual behavior will profoundly weaken the fragile norm of long-term, committed heterosexual marriage and child-rearing which are essential to social survival.

My closing declaration is this: God has not called us to win elections, but to win souls and hearts and minds; he has not called us to control Congress, but to preach the gospel; he has not called us to be safe, but to tell the truth. He has not called us to avoid conflict, but to love everyone (1 Thessalonians 3:12). So speak the truth in love, entrust your cause to God, and keep the glory of God in the center of your soul, so that all the planets of your passions will be pulled into their proper orbit.

Make Your Mouth a Means of Grace

2010-03-25T14:24:43Z

Mahra:

{{info}}
<blockquote>'''Ephesians 4:29-30'''

Let no rotten word come out of your mouth, but if something is good for the upbuilding of a need, (let that come out of your mouth) in order that it might give grace to those who hear.
</blockquote>
I remember one time as a child that my mother actually washed my mouth out with soap. She took me to the bathroom sink, rubbed the bar of soap around in my mouth, and then rinsed it out and made me go to my room. Do you know what I had said? I think I had said, "Shut up!" to my sister.

==== The Battle for Purity of Mouth Starts in the Heart ====

Now why should my mother wash my mouth out with soap for saying, "Shut up!" to my sister? She did it because she believed Jesus when he said, "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man" (Matthew 15:11).

I had made myself dirty by saying, "Shut up," to my sister, and my mother had a white-hot zeal for my purity. So she used an unforgettable object lesson. I think she did right and I have risen up to call her blessed even this past week on her birthday.

"But really!" someone will say, "What's the big deal with saying, 'Shut up,' to your sister? It's not swearing. It's not taking the name of the Lord in vain. It's not a dirty word. Why get so worked up? What's really so bad about it?"

The answer is that when I said, "Shut up!" to my sister, it was mean. There was no affection and no good will and no kindness in it. It was ugly. There was no moral beauty, no holiness, no love. To use Paul's phrase in Ephesians 4:29, it was a "rotten word." It came from a garbage pile of pride and one-upmanship and anger and resentment—all very normal between siblings, and all very sinful. Beware lest you grow accustomed to sin because it is so normal!

But what I thank God for more than that my mother was intensely moral is that she was intensely Christian. She knew that soap in the mouth couldn't touch the dirt in my heart. If she had thought it could, she wouldn't have cried.

So she taught me the truth of Ephesians 4:22–24: "You must put off your old self-assertive, mean, uncaring self, son, because it is corrupt with deceitful desires. And put on the new meek and kind self created by God in his own likeness in righteousness and holiness. In other words, son, you need to be deeply renewed in the spirit of your mind."

In the end the battle for purity in the mouth is fought in the heart, because "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." If you don't like what comes out of your mouth, listen carefully this morning, because the apostle Paul is at pains in this text to clean up your mouth from the inside out.

==== Rotten, Evil, Unwholesome, Corrupt Words ====

Let's look at verse 29. I said a moment ago that Paul used the phrase "rotten word." The RSV translates it, "Let no evil talk come out of your mouths." The NIV and NASB use the word "unwholesome." And the KJV says, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth." What is this idea behind the words, "evil," "unwholesome," and "corrupt"?

The Greek word (''sapros'') is used in only one other context in the New Testament, namely, the places in Matthew and Luke where Jesus says, "It is not the good tree that bears bad fruit "(Luke 6:43; Matthew 7:17f.; Matthew 12:33). The term for "bad" fruit here is the same word for evil or unwholesome or corrupt in Ephesians 4:29—"Let no evil talk come out of your mouth!" The image in Paul's mind is probably one of rottenness and decay, something that is spoiled.

This kind of rotten language must be taken off like the old garment. It is part of the old self of verse 22 that needs to be stripped away when a person becomes a Christian. The garment of a rotten mouth must be taken off and thrown into the fire, just like the Ephesians had burned their old books on magic in Acts 19:19.

==== Four Kinds of Language That May Be in Mind ====

Now what sort of talk does Paul have in mind when he says, "Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth"? Let me suggest at least four kinds of language that I think Paul would include as "rotten" or "decayed" or "spoiled."

===== 1. Taking the Name of the Lord in Vain =====

First would be language that takes the name of the Lord in vain. It is a great contradiction of who we are as Christians if we say, "God!" or "My God!" or "God Almighty!" or "Christ!" or "Jesus!" just because we are mad or surprised or amazed. No one with a good marriage would stomp on his wedding ring to express anger. It stands for something precious and pure. And so does the name of God and Jesus Christ.

===== 2. Trivializing Terrible Realities =====

The second kind of language that Paul would call rotten would be language that trivializes terrible realities—like hell and damnation and holiness. What's wrong with saying, "What the hell!" or "Hell, no!" or "Go to hell!" or "Damn it!" or "Damn right!" or "Holy cow!" or "Holy mackerel!"?

Among other things these expressions trivialize things of terrible seriousness. It's simply a contradiction to believe in the horrible reality of hell and use the word like a punctuation mark for emphasis when talking about sports or politics. The same is true of damnation. And if the divine command, "Be holy as I am holy," carries for you the same weight it carried for Moses and Jesus and the apostles, you will simply find that "Holy cow" or holy anything will stick in your throat because it treats something infinitely precious as a trifle.

===== 3. Referencing Sex and the Body in Vulgar Ways =====

The third kind of language I think Paul would include in his command not to let any rotten talk come out of your mouth is vulgar references to sex and the human body. With this kind of language people take good things that God has made, and use them like mud to smear on whatever they get upset about. The whole assumption behind the use of vulgar four-letter words is that they communicate scorn or disdain or hate. How does this happen?

How, for example, does the act of sexual relations, created by God as good to be fulfilled in marriage—how does it get translated into a four letter word and carry the meaning of hate and scorn? The answer is easy: first you get God out of your mind. That's fundamental to all vulgarity. Then you get the sanctity of his creation out of your mind. And then, in your mind, you replace the tenderness of married love with the force of rape, and you've got yourself a four letter word which does verbally the same thing that rape does physically: it expresses selfish, uncaring abusiveness. (Which, incidentally, is why I would say to Christian women, don't spend two minutes with a man who uses this kind of language: rape and rotten language come from exactly the same root.)

===== 4. Speaking in Mean-Spirited Ways =====

The final kind of language I think Paul would call rotten is mean-spirited language—like, "Shut up!" The words themselves are untarnished. But the usage is vicious and loveless.

==== Four Implications of Such Language ====

Those are the four kinds of language I think Paul would include in "rotten talk." Now let's step back and ask what Paul might mean by calling language evil or corrupt or unwholesome or rotten. If we think of spoiled or rotten fruit, like Jesus did, four implications come to mind.

===== 1. It Does Not Nourish =====

First, rotten fruit does not nourish. Neither does rotten language. It does not strengthen or improve or help. It is not useful for food. It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

===== 2. It Will Probably Make You Sick =====

Second, rotten fruit will probably make you sick if you do try to eat it. And rotten language can make people sick, too. In other words, it not only fails to give positive nourishment; it can cause negative harm. Words can wound a person very deeply. Words can be like the virus that transmits the disease of meanness or vulgarity from parent to child or roommate to roommate or colleague to colleague. Rotten language makes people sick if they are forced to eat it.

===== 3. It Smells Bad and Makes the Atmosphere Unpleasant =====

Third, rotten fruit smells bad and makes the atmosphere unpleasant. I recall a couple of men in graduate school in Germany who seemed to carry the aroma of vulgarity about them. All they ever seemed to laugh at was sexual innuendo. The pitiful thing about it was that the nearer they got to the gutter, the more they laughed. With their mouths they created an atmosphere like a stinking locker room. It was unpleasant for everybody but themselves. And it made noble and high and worthy thoughts all but impossible. It's hard to savor beauty from a garbage dump. Can you stand in an "adult" bookstore and look through the window (if there were a window) and be moved by the beauty of a setting sun?

===== 4. It Probably Comes from a Diseased Tree =====

The fourth implication that comes to mind when we think of rotten fruit and rotten language is that it probably comes from a diseased tree. If the fruit is rotten as soon as it appears on the branch (as soon as the words come out of the mouth), then the tree is bad.

Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:34–37).

So if a person takes the name of God in vain, or trivializes the realities of hell and holiness, or turns sexuality into vulgarity, or makes words into weapons of one-upmanship and meanness, then we can say for sure, "There is a rottenness inside the tree as well as outside." If the fruit is bad, the root is bad.

==== A Whole New Way of Thinking About Language ====

If we see this, we won't be as surprised with what comes next in the text. It is not what you might expect. We might expect Paul to admonish us to clean up our language. We might expect him to talk about words that are not vulgar or rotten or corrupt, but are pure and wholesome and creative and clear. But Paul doesn't do what we expect.

Instead of proposing clean language, he proposes a whole new way of thinking about language. Instead of saying, "You don't need dirty language to communicate your intention," he says, "The root issue is whether your intention is love." In other words the issue for Paul is not really language at all; the issue is love. The issue is not whether our mouth can avoid gross language; the issue is whether our mouth is a means of grace. You see he shifts from the external fruit to the internal root. He shifts from what we say to why we say it. That's the issue.

Let's read verse 29.
<blockquote>
Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for edifying, as fits the occasion [literally: good for edifying of need—meeting a particular need is in view] that it may impart grace to those who hear.
</blockquote>
Do you see the shift? He doesn't say, "Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth, but instead let fresh clean talk come out of your mouth." He says, "Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth, but ask this: Is my mouth a means of grace? Am I meeting a need with the words that are coming out of my mouth? Am I building up faith into the people who hear?"

==== The Far-Reaching, All-Encompassing Christian Faith ====

This is a revolutionary way to think about your mouth, just like verse 28 (<u>last week</u>) was a revolutionary way of thinking about your secular work. Do you see the parallel?

In verse 28 Paul said, "Let the thief no longer steal, but let him labor doing good with his hands," and then he shifts from the what to the why, "so that he may be able to give to those in need." In other words, it is not Christian just to stop stealing. It is not Christian just to work honestly in order to have things. It is Christian to work to have in order to give—to meet needs. All our work is to be a display of grace.

This is exactly what Paul does here in verse 29. He says, "Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good," and then he shifts from the what to the why, "for edification to meet a need that it may impart grace to those who hear." It is not Christian just to stop swearing. It is not Christian just to put good language in the mouth instead. It is Christian to ask the deeper, internal question: am I speaking now to edify? Is your mouth a means of grace?

All our secular work is to be a display of grace; and all our speech is to be a display of grace. Do you see how all-encompassing and how far reaching our Christian faith must be? These are amazing verses about the grace of God in our lives.

If my mother had only washed out my mouth with soap, and never prayed and labored to wash out my unloving heart with the gospel of the grace of God, I might today have an antiseptic mouth, but I probably wouldn't be a Christian.

A Christian is a person whose rotten root within has been made new by grace through faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of God has taken the hate and anger and resentment that spill over in mean and vulgar and irreverent language, and has covered them with the blood of Christ and killed them along with the old unbelieving self.

==== Sealed for the Day of Redemption ====

And do you know what the grace of God has left behind in the place of the old hate and anger and resentment? It has left hope. This is the meaning of verse 30. It says, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

What does this mean? It means that a Christian is a person in whom the Holy Spirit of God dwells, and that this Spirit of God seals the believer for the day of redemption. In other words, the Spirit God puts the stamp of his own image (4:24) on the life of the believer and guarantees that he will persevere to the day of redemption. The seal of the Spirit is the assurance of a secured hope.

The hope of all believers, guaranteed by the seal of the Spirit, is that at the end of history we will come to a day of redemption instead of a day of damnation. What, then, is this day of redemption?

It is the day when the long battle with sin will be over. It is the day when the deepest longings of our heart will be satisfied with the sight of the glory of the grace of God in the face of Jesus. No more groaning with imperfection; no more waiting; no more frustrated longings. Our redemption will be complete.

==== The Relationship of 4:30 to Our Language ====

So what is the point of Ephesians 4:30 in relation to rotten language and gracious language?

The point is this: Paul says that the Spirit has been given to seal us and secure us for an infinitely wonderful future. In other words, the Spirit's sealing work aims to give you hope! So how do you grieve this Spirit? By not hoping in the day of redemption! By not hoping in the power of the Spirit to secure you and help keep you. If the Holy Spirit has been sent to give you hope in God, and instead of hoping in God you fret over your problems and become angry and bitter and resentful, then you grieve the Holy Spirit of God. You strive against the very purpose for which he was sent.

And the language that comes out of a heart that doesn't hope in God will not impart grace to those who hear. How can you make your mouth a means of grace for others when you don't hope in the grace of God for yourself? It is out of hopeless hearts of discouragement and frustration and anger and bitterness and resentment that all rotten and hurtful language comes.

But if you as a believer stop and think for a moment that Christ has died for your sin, that God has promised to work all things together for your good, that he has given you his own Holy Spirit for the specific purpose of sealing you for the day of redemption, then surely a deep and confident hope will be the root of your life. And up through that root will flow the sap of grace, and out onto the branches of your life will come the fruit of a whole new way of talking.

The question for your mouth will not merely be the moral question: Am I avoiding dirty words? But the Christian question: Am I building the faith of others by what I say? Is my mouth a means of grace? Am I frightened and anxious and angry about my life, or am I filled and overflowing with hope that the Spirit of God will keep me safe for the day of redemption?

Morning and Evening

2010-03-11T19:52:07Z

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How Can I Change?

2010-03-11T19:49:53Z

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Christmas and the Cause of Truth

2010-02-11T16:27:38Z

Mahra:

{{info}}'''John 18:37''' <blockquote>
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
</blockquote>
The purpose of all that is written in the Gospel of John is to bring people to trust Christ as God's Son and thus give them eternal life. Therefore, since my text this morning is taken from John's gospel, my goal, too, is that those here who do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God might be drawn to Jesus by the power of God the Father working through his Word, and that everyone might leave this place today loving the truth of Christ more deeply and more assured of eternal life.

==== Be Careful How You Listen ====

And let me preface what I have to say with a warning so as to awaken you to the seriousness of listening to the Word of God. When Jesus spoke and no one believed, John explains their unbelief like this (John 12:38-40):
<blockquote>It was that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Therefore, they could not believe. For Isaiah again said, "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and turn for me to heal them." </blockquote>
That is from Isaiah 53:1 and 6:10. There is another passage in Isaiah that helps explain how God blinds the eyes and hardens the heart. It is Isaiah 64:7, where the prophet laments, "There is no one that calls upon thy name, that bestirs himself to take hold of thee; for thou has hid thy face from us, and has delivered us into the hand of our iniquities." Therefore, the way God blinds and hardens is not by coming into a person's life and making it evil, but by withdrawing from the person's life and leaving him in his own sin. Only when we see this will we give God all the glory not only for providing a way of salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ, but also for effectually applying that salvation to our lives by drawing us to Christ in faith. "No one can come to me," Jesus said, "unless the Father who sent me draws him . . . No one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father" (John 6:44, 65).

So the warning is this: Believers, give God all the credit for drawing you into the kingdom of Christ, and let the truth of Christ stir you up to greater reliance on him; do not boast over the lost sheep as if you did not have to be carried into the fold yourself. Unbelievers, give heed to the Word of God and pray that God might open your eyes and soften your heart, lest you be found blind and hardened and without hope. Pray, I say, and listen, because God has spoken these things that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in his name.

The text that laid hold on me several weeks ago for this last Sunday of Advent is John 18:37. Here, several hours before his death, Jesus makes a statement about his birth which I want us to ponder as we enter the last four days of Advent. The situation is that Jesus and Pontius Pilate are together in the Roman praetorium, and Pilate is trying to get Jesus to say something that will show him worthy of crucifixion. Verse 33: "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus' answer to this question is what hooked me on this text, but I think I will talk about it at the end of the message instead of now. It makes a good conclusion.

Jesus says in verse 36,
<blockquote>"My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world." Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." </blockquote>
This is a great Christmas text even though it comes from the end of Jesus' life on earth, not the beginning. The uniqueness of his birth is implied; the purpose of his birth is given; and the pre-condition of approving that purpose is mentioned. The uniqueness of his birth is that he did not originate at his birth. He existed before he was born in a manger: "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world." The purpose of his birth was to bear witness to the truth: "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world: to bear witness to the truth." And the precondition of approving that purpose, that is, the thing that enables a person to agree that Jesus testifies to the truth is that the person is "of the truth." "Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." Let's look at each of these more closely now, so that in seeing Christ and his purpose more clearly, we might approve of Christ's words with all our heart and mind and soul and strength.

==== The Uniqueness of Christ's Birth ====

First then, the uniqueness of his birth. "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world." The personhood, the character, the personality of Jesus of Nazareth existed before the man Jesus of Nazareth was born. There is a great mystery here. Sometimes in quiet pensive moments, I look at my three sons and I observe their uniqueness and their personalities, and then I think of the four years Noël and I were married before we had children. And it hits me: there was a time when these three persons never existed. Nine years ago there was no reality to which the names Karsten, Benjamin, and Abraham Piper could correspond. To be sure, the material substance of which their bodies are made already existed in other forms. But the personhood, the souls that will go right on existing when their bodies decompose in the grave—these were not. But now they are and will be forever and ever. So all I know to conclude is that God created the personhood, the souls of these three boys, out of nothing, just like he created the souls of Adam and Eve. This is a great mystery.

But this is not what happened at Jesus' birth. The theological word to describe this mystery is not creation, but incarnation. The person, not the body, but the essential personhood of Jesus existed before he was born as a man. His birth was not a coming into being of a new person, but a coming into the world of an infinitely old person. Micah 5:2 puts it like this, 700 years before Jesus was born:
<blockquote>But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. </blockquote>
The origin of the Messiah who appears in Bethlehem is from eternity. Therefore, the mystery of the birth of Jesus is not merely that he was born of a virgin. That miracle was intended by God to witness to an even greater one—namely, that the child born at Christmas was a person who existed "from of old, from ancient days." He was not merely born, as John 18:37 says; he came into the world. Listen to how Jesus puts it in John 8:56-59. He says to the Jews:
<blockquote>"Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad." The Jews then said to him, "You are not fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." So they took up stones to throw at him. </blockquote>
What Christ was before Abraham, indeed before all creation, John and Paul and the writer to the Hebrews make clear for us. John says in chapter 1, verse 1: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (And don't let any Jehovah's Witness convince you that the proper translation is "the Word was a God." The argument that they use is not grammatically compelling, and it flies in the face of the rest of John's witness; for example, Thomas' confession, "My Lord and my God." Almost all scholars of antiquity, even those who think he was wrong, agree that John meant to say that the pre-existent Christ was God.) Verse 2: "He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him. And without him was not anything made that was made." Christ himself was not a creature, but was involved in creating all that was created. Verse 14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father." Christ existed before Abraham, indeed, before all creation because he was himself one with the creator God.

The apostle Paul teaches the same general truth in Philippians 2:5-8:
<blockquote>Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. </blockquote>
Before he was born in the likeness of men, he had the form of God, he was equal with God. And the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, whose name we don't know, began his letter with the same truth in different words. He said,
<blockquote>In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. </blockquote>
==== Eternally Begotten, Not Created ====

These passages have helped me to draw a sketch in my mind of how the Son and the Father are one and yet different within the Trinity. I can conceive, though it stretches me to the limit, of a Being who never had a beginning, but has a particular character. And further yet, I can imagine that this God has always been conscious of himself. That is, he has always had his own image before him to contemplate and enjoy because of his greatness and his moral beauty. And could it not be that this image, this form, is so clear and so real in God that it, too, is God, the image of God, the form of God, the Son of God? The advantage of such a picture is that it helps us see that the Son, who is the very image and glory of God, is indeed begotten by the Father and yet is not created. There never was a time when God the Father did not have this perfect, real, and living image of himself. They are co-eternal. The Son is eternally begotten, not created.

I won't push the picture any further now. Perhaps we have already crossed over the biblical bounds of speculation. But I feel so strongly that among those of us who have grown up in church and who can recite the great doctrines of our faith in our sleep and who yawn through the Apostles' Creed—that among us something must be done to help us once more feel the awe, the fear, the astonishment, the wonder of the Son of God, begotten by the Father from all eternity, reflecting all the glory of God, being the very image of his person, through whom all things were created, upholding the universe by the word of his power. You can read every fairy tale that was ever written, every mystery thriller, every ghost story, and you will never find anything so shocking, so strange, so weird and spellbinding as the story of the incarnation of the Son of God. God, how dead we are! How callous and unfeeling to your glory and your story! How often have I had to repent and say, "God, I am sorry that the stories men have made up stir my emotions, my awe and wonder and admiration and joy, more than your own true story." The space thrillers of our day, like ''Star Wars ''and ''The Empire Strikes Back'', can do this great good for us: they can humble us and bring us to repentance, by showing us that we really are capable of some of the wonder and awe and amazement that we so seldom feel when we contemplate the eternal God and the cosmic Christ and a real living contact between them and us in Jesus of Nazareth. When Jesus said, "For this I have come into the world," he said something as crazy and weird and strange and eerie as any statement in science fiction that you have ever read.

O, how I pray for a breaking forth of the Spirit of God upon me and upon you; for the Holy Ghost to break into my experience in a frightening way, to wake me up to the unimaginable reality of God. One of these days lightning is going to fill the sky from the rising of the sun to its setting, and there is going to appear in the clouds one like a son of man with his mighty angels in flaming fire. And we will see him as clearly as we see the IDS building. And whether from terror or sheer excitement, we will tremble and we will wonder how, how we ever lived so long with such a domesticated, harmless Christ. These things are spoken this morning that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came into the world. Really believe.

==== The Purpose of Christ's Birth ====

The second phrase of our text in John 18:37 gives the purpose of Christ's birth: "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth." The connection between this and what we have said till now is that the Christ who came into the world to bear witness to the truth is God, and no one can more reliably present the truth than God. For God is the author of all truth and wills to make it known reliably.

If there were two deities—two gods—equally powerful and opposed to each other in conflict for the rule of the world, neither of these deities could be counted on to reveal truth. If their goals were to rule the world and they were threatened by each other, we might well expect that they would use deceit to gain an advantage. And so truth would not be a priority. Not so with the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the one and only God, and there is none besides him. He is threatened by no one. Even Satan, his archenemy, is completely subordinate with his bounds fixed. Therefore, God has no fault, no weakness, no finitude that he ever needs to hide by deceit. God is so sovereign, so perfect and glorious that the truth will always redound to his honor. Therefore, God is committed to revealing the truth reliably because he wills to be known and glorified for who he really is.

And how better to reveal the truth about God that we might glorify and love him, than to send the Son, the very image and reflection of God, into the world? One time Thomas said to Jesus,
<blockquote>"Lord, we don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me. If you had known me you would have known my Father; henceforth you know him and have seen him." And Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father." </blockquote>
Jesus is the truth because he is the image of the true God. He is the way to the Father because as 1 John 2:23 says, "No one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also." You can't have the Father if you reject the Son. If our heart does not go out in love to Jesus, then we cannot say that we know God. And that would mean that there is no life within us. Because Jesus says in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, that they know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

So there are two wonderful things implied in the statement, "I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth." One is that in revealing God, the origin of all truth, Jesus glorified his Father. This is exactly what he says in his prayer in John 17:4, "I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work thou gavest me to do." The work God gave him to do was to testify to the truth, and in doing that God was shown to be very glorious; sovereign in his freedom, marvelous in his power, and beautiful in his moral perfections, especially his mercy to us sinners.

The other wonderful thing implied in Christ's coming to testify to the truth is eternal life. If, as Jesus said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God," then the purpose of Jesus to bear witness to the truth of God must mean that his purpose is to give eternal life. Which is what John 3:17 says: "God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."

So, the purpose of Christ's coming into the world is to testify to the truth of God, so that man might glorify God for who he is and might thereby come to have eternal life.

==== Those "Of the Truth" Believe ====

But not everyone hears the testimony of Christ to God. Not everyone believes. Which brings us to the third part of our text: "Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." He does not mean that only a certain group of people come within the sound of his voice. He means, among those who are within the sound of his voice, only some hear his words as true. Only some believe and give glory to God and gain eternal life. And this group he describes as those who are "of the truth." What does this mean?

You recall the question Pilate asked Jesus in John 18:33, which I said I would come back to? "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord or did others say this to you about me?" This is a remarkable answer. What matters first in the interchange with Pilate is not that his question be answered but that the root of his question be exposed. Pilate, does your question about who I am come from a true hunger in your own heart? Is there a real soul thirst in you that you are seeking to genuinely satisfy? Are you longing for the truth and yearning in yourself to find it? Or are you like so many others: mouthing the words that others have put into your head? Are you just a second-hander, who only knows to ask the questions others have taught you? Do you care in yourself whether I am King? Or are you just echoing like a hollow cave somebody else's script? Are you an actor, or are you "of the truth"?

I think to be "of the truth" means to love the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 12), to hunger for it and rejoice in it (1 Corinthians 13:6), and to be humbly surrendered to following it no matter where it leads. Jesus said in John 7:17, "If any man's will is to do God's will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God." The will of God is simply an expression of what is true. Therefore, Jesus is saying: "If your will is humble enough to follow truth, you will hear and know the words of truth.

And who are these people who are open and humble enough to hear and love the words of Christ? They are his sheep. Jesus says in John 10:26, 27, "You do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me." To be "of the truth" means to belong to Christ's sheep. Or to put it still another way, Jesus says in John 8:47, "He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." So to be "of the truth" means to have God at work within us enabling us to renounce our own private, proud will and to love and come to the truth. No one comes to me, to the truth, unless it is granted to him by the Father (John 6:65).

So, the sum of the matter is this: Jesus Christ existed before he was born—indeed, from all eternity, as the perfect reflection of God's glory and exact image of his nature. Therefore, he was perfectly suited to come into the world and bear witness to the truth that we might know God, glorify him through faith, and gain eternal life. But even though he came that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10), nevertheless,
<blockquote>this is the judgment, that light has come into the world and men loved darkness (and falsehood) rather than light (and truth) because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true (he who is "of the truth") comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought by God. (John 3:19-21) </blockquote>
O, that everyone here would prove to be "of the truth" by coming to the light this Christmas.

Is it okay to use secular media to teach Christian principles?

2010-02-11T15:20:18Z

Mahra:

{{info}}

''The following is an edited transcript of the audio.''

'''Is it okay to use secular media to teach Christian principles?'''

It certainly is possible in discipleship to take secular things and use them as illustrations of common grace or evil and to teach lessons from them. So, in principle, I can imagine that one might do that.

The danger is this: Is it the most helpful thing to do? Is it the best way to nurture a radical holiness, a radical love for Christ, a radical allegiance to him, and a radical commitment to serve, sacrifice and love? Or is it just playing with the culture in such a way that we merely tantalize young people and justify some of their already existing worldly inclinations?

This calls for tremendous wisdom in the life of our youth leaders. I would be disinclined to think that, in broad and general ways, Harry Potter books and movies would be the best discipleship material to use for drawing out lessons. If they were an unusually gifted group of young people who were bent on the artistic development of their skills, and you wanted to use a Harry Potter film as a piece of analysis by which to understand the world or evil, then sure. That sort of thing is going to be done in higher education and all the way along.

You don't have to avoid engaging with culture if your commitment to analysis is radically biblical and you mean to really distance yourself from anything unbiblical that you may find there.

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2010-02-11T15:08:24Z

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2009-12-22T06:34:22Z

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2009-12-19T17:52:29Z

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2009-12-19T16:59:53Z

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You can volunteer in a number of different roles to help us improve, or simply browse the site and enjoy the resources we have available. Everything here is available completely for free, no strings attached. In fact we encourage you to give our content away to others, too.</p>
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To learn more you can watch the video below, visit our [[Project:FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions page]], or [[Special:Contact|send us a question]]. <br><br>
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Quest for Joy/es

2009-12-17T21:26:33Z

Mahra:

__NOTOC__

{{Info|En Busca de la Dicha}}''Seis Verdades Bíblicas''<br>

==== '''¿Sabía que Dios nos manda ser alegres?'''<br> ====

''“Que el Señor sea tu único deleite y Él colmará los deseos de tu corazón” (Salmo 37:4)'''''<br>'''

===== '''1) Dios nos creó para su gloria<br>''' =====

''“Trae de lejos mis hijos, y mis hijas de los confines de la tierra,… para gloria mía los he creado” (Isaías 43:6-7)''<br>

Dios nos creó para magnificar su grandeza, de la misma manera en que los telescopios magnifican las estrellas. Él nos creó para manifestar su bondad, confianza, belleza, sabiduría y justicia. La manifestación más grande de la gloria de Dios proviene del placer profundo en todo lo que Él es. Esto significa que Dios obtiene la alabanza y nosotros el placer. Dios nos creó de tal manera que Él es más glorificado en nosotros cuando estamos más satisfechos en Él.'''<br>'''

===== 2) Cada ser humano debe vivir para la gloria de Dios<br> =====

''“Si, pues, coméis o bebéis o hacéis otra cosa, hacedlo todo para la gloria de Dios” (1 Corintios 10:31)'''<br>'''''

Si Dios no creó para su gloria, está claro que debemos vivir para su gloria. Nuestro deber viene de su diseño. Entonces nuestra obligación principal es mostrar el valor de Dios al estar satisfechos con todo lo que Él es para nosotros. Ésta es la esencia de amar a Dios (Mateo 22:37) y confiar en Él (1 Juan 5:3-4) y estar agradecidos con Él (Salmo 100:2-4). Es la raíz de toda la obediencia verdadera, especialmente amar a otros (Colosenses 1:4-5).<br>

===== '''3) Todos hemos fallado en glorificar a Dios como deberíamos''' =====

“''Por cuanto todos pecaron, y están destituidos de la gloria de Dios” (Romanos 3:23)''<br>

¿Qué significa que “están destituidos de la gloria de Dios”? Significa que ninguno de nosotros ha confiado y atesorado a Dios de la manera en que deberíamos. No hemos estado satisfechos con su grandeza ni caminado en sus caminos. Hemos buscado nuestra satisfacción en otras cosas y las hemos tratado como más valorables que Dios, lo cual es la esencia de la idolatría (Romanos 1:21-23). Desde que el pecado vino al mundo nos hemos resistido a tener a Dios como nuestro tesoro que totalmente satisface (Efesios 2:3). Ésta es una ofensa espantosa a la grandeza de Dios (Jeremías 2:12-13).<br>

===== '''4) Todos estamos sujetos a la condena justa de Dios''' =====

''“Porque la paga del pecado es muerte…” (Romanos 6:23)''

Hemos subestimado la gloria de Dios ¿Cómo? Al preferir otras cosas antes que a Él. Por medio de nuestra ingratitud, desconfianza y desobediencia. Entonces Dios está a punto de expulsarnos de la dicha de su gloria para siempre. “Los cuales sufrirán pena de eterna perdición, excluidos de la presencia del Señor y de la gloria de su poder” (2 Tesalonisenses 1:9).

La palabra “infierno” se utiliza en el Nuevo Testamento doce veces; once veces por el mismo Jesús. No es un mito creado por predicadores sombríos y enojados. Es una advertencia solemne del Hijo de Dios quien murió para liberar a los pecadores de su maldición y lo ignoramos bajo un gran riesgo.

Si la Biblia se terminara aquí en su análisis de la condición humana, estaríamos condenados a un futuro sin esperanza. Sin embargo, no es aquí donde termina…

===== 5) Dios mandó a su único hijo Jesús a brindar vida eterna y dicha<br> =====

''“''Palabra fiel y digna de ser recibida por todos: que Cristo Jesús vino al mundo para salvar a los pecadores…” (1 Timoteo 1:15)'''''<br>'''''

La buena noticia es que Cristo murió por pecadores como nosotros y Él se alzó físicamente de la muerte para validar el poder salvador de su muerte y para abrir las puertas de la vida y dicha eterna (1 Corintios 15:20). Esto significa que Dios puede absolver la culpa de los pecadores y aún ser justo (Romanos 3:25-26). “Porque también Cristo padeció una sola vez por los pecados, el justo por los injustos, para llevarnos a Dios” (1 Pedro 3:18). Regresando a casa con Dios es donde se encuentra toda satisfacción profunda y duradera.

===== 6) Los beneficios obtenidos por la muerte de Cristo pertenecen a aquellos quienes se arrepienten y confían en Él =====

''“Así que, arrepentíos y convertíos, para que sean borrados vuestros pecados” (Hechos 3:19)  “Cree en el Señor Jesucristo, y serás salvo” (Hechos 16:31)''

“Arrepentíos” significa apartarse de todas las falsas promesas del pecado. “Fe” significa estar satisfecho con todo lo que Dios nos prometió que sería para nosotros en Jesús. “Aquél que cree en mi” dice Jesús “nunca tendrá sed” (Juan 6:35). Nosotros no ganamos nuestra salvación, no la ameritamos (Romanos 4:4-5). Es por la gracia a través de la fe (Efesios 2:8-9). Es un regalo (Romanos 3:24). La tendremos si la deseamos sobre todas las cosas (Mateo 13:44). Cuando hacemos eso, la misión de Dios en la creación es cumplida: Él es glorificado en nosotros y nosotros estamos satisfechos en Él para siempre.

==== ¿Tiene sentido para usted? <br> ====

¿Desea la clase de gozo que proviene de estar satisfecho con todo lo que Dios es para usted en Jesús? Si es así, entonces Dios está trabajando en su vida.

==== ¿Qué debe hacer?<br> ====

Apártase de las falsas promesas del pecado. Llame a Jesús para que le salve de la culpa y castigo y tormenta. “Porque todo aquel que invocare el nombre del Señor, será salvo” (Romanos 10:13). Empieza a bancar su esperanza en todo lo que Dios es para usted en Jesús; rompe el poder de las promesas del pecado por medio de la fe en la satisfacción superior de las promesas de Dios. Empieza a leer la biblia para encontrar sus grandiosas y preciosas promesas, las cuales le pueden liberar (2 Pedro 1:3-4). Encuentra una iglesia que crea en la Biblia y empieza a alabar y a crecer junto con otras personas que atesoran a Cristo sobre todas las cosas (Filipenses 3:7).

La mejor noticia del mundo es que no hay necesariamente un conflicto entre nuestra felicidad y la santidad de Dios. Estando satisfechos con todo lo que Dios es para nosotros en Jesús, lo magnifica como gran Tesoro.

''“Me mostrarás la senda de la vida; en tu presencia hay plenitud de gozo; delicias a tu diestra para siempre.” (Salmo 16:11)''

Gospel Translations:Financial support

2009-12-17T19:25:49Z

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