Towards a Gospel-Centred Church

I recently wrote a paper defending the doctrine of God’s absolute, meticulous sovereignty over all things. The paper also included a discussion of the applications of this doctrine. May we give glory to our sovereign Lord, who is worthy of all trust, praise, and adoration! Here’s an excerpt from the paper:

In The Pleasures of God, John Piper writes poignantly about the death of his mother in an accident. He recalls: “I never doubted that God was sovereign over this accident and that God was good. I do not need to explain everything. That he reigns and that he loves is enough for now.” This is a powerful example of the value of the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. It is not a dry theological truth but, as A. W. Pink puts it, “a divine cordial to refresh our spirits.”

            First, God’s exhaustive and meticulous sovereignty should humble us. A right understanding of this doctrine ought to disabuse us of any man-centered notions of self-sufficiency. All ground of boasting is removed from us when we realize that God is the one who made us alive together with Christ even when we were still dead in our trespasses. We are humbled when we see that our salvation—from our election in Christ before the foundation of the world to our perfect conformity to Christ in eternity—is entirely due to God’s sovereign grace. As this doctrine humbles us before an awesome, omnipotent God, so it also lifts our hearts up to him in adoring worship. We exclaim, together with Paul, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! To him be glory forever!”

            Second, God’s sovereignty strengthens our trust in him. Since God exercises efficacious and universal control, we can rest assured that he is never caught off-guard by anything that happens to us. Faith in a sovereign God engenders stability and joy amid all the changing seasons of life. God’s sovereignty assures us that things are not getting out of control.

            Our trust in God ought to give us confidence in our planning and decision-making. We do not have to be paralyzed by anxiety and doubt when confronted with life choices. Instead we can seek to make wise decisions with the assurance that even if our planning is imperfect, God will, through his infinite wisdom, work out the results of our bad decisions in such a way as to accomplish his sovereign will. 

            Third, God’s sovereignty provides us with lasting security. God’s people will persevere unto the end, because they are being “guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:5). The words of Jesus also remind us of the security that all believers enjoy because of God’s sovereignty: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29). Absolutely nothing shall ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We need not fear because we know our lives are not subject to chance, to the whims of nature, or to the actions of other people. We can rest securely in God’s sovereign preservation of us.

            Fourth, God’s sovereignty is a source of comfort for believers who are going through sorrow and suffering. Jerry Bridges writes: “God’s sovereignty over people does not mean we do not experience pain and suffering. It means that God is in control of our pain and suffering, and that he has in mind a beneficial purpose for it. There is no such thing as pain without a purpose for the child of God. We may be sure that however irrational and inexplicable it seems to us, all pain has a purpose.”

            Exhaustive and meticulous divine sovereignty assures us that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. The trials and suffering that we endure in this life have a purpose—to make us more like Christ. We can have confidence that our slight momentary afflictions are “preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). Comfort in God’s sovereignty was what prompted William Cowper, who suffered from periods of severe depression, to pen these words:

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs

And works His sov’reign will.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flow’r.

Blind unbelief is sure to err

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

            Fifth, the sovereignty of God encourages us in our prayers. Here, the question might be asked: If God is absolutely sovereign, why pray since we cannot change his will? The answer is that we need to apply biblical compatibilism to our practice of prayer. God is sovereign, but he has also commanded us to pray. Our prayers are not outside of God’s control, but they are also addressed to a personal God who expects to be pleaded with in our intercessions. Daniel furnishes us with an example of how the sovereignty-responsibility tension can be maintained in the practice of prayer. In Daniel 9, the prophet reads of Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning how the exile will last for 70 years according to God’s sovereign decree. This does not lead to a passive fatalism on Daniel’s part. Instead, he turns to God in a prayer of confession and repentance, asking that the Lord might be merciful and restore Israel from exile. His confidence in God’s sovereign ability to accomplish his purposes actually becomes an incentive for prayer. The sovereignty of God should therefore make us bold in our prayers.            

            Sixth, God’s sovereignty encourages evangelism. Scripture attests to the fact that a strong view of divine sovereignty is not inimical to zeal for the spread of the gospel. Here, as in prayer, believers need to bring biblical compatibilism to bear on their understanding of evangelism. In Acts 18:9-10, the Lord encourages Paul to persevere in his work in Corinth because he has many in the city who are his people. C. Samuel Storms comments: “Precisely because (Paul) knew that God had sheep in Corinth, he labored there diligently. Nothing is more of a stimulus to evangelistic zeal and effort than the assurance of success, which the truth of sovereign election alone can give.” God’s sovereignty assures us that he is able, by his irresistible grace, to bring sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. Historically, a firm belief in God’s sovereignty has fanned into flame the evangelistic zeal of many preachers and missionaries. One need only think of George Whitefield, William Carey, David Brainerd, Adoniram Judson, David Livingstone, C. H. Spurgeon, and John Paton.

            Not only does God’s sovereignty impel our evangelism, it also encourages us to be biblical in our evangelistic methods. God alone possesses the sovereign power to save sinners. We can therefore preach the gospel boldly and faithfully, trusting that God is the one who gives the growth. J. I. Packer writes: “If we forget that it is God’s prerogative to give results when the gospel is preached, we shall start to think that it is our responsibility to secure them. And if we forget that only God can give faith, we shall start to think that the making of converts depends, in the last analysis, not on God, but on us, and that the decisive factor is the way in which we evangelize.”

            In this brief survey of the practical applications of God’s sovereignty, I have sought to show the value of this doctrine. The exhaustive and meticulous sovereignty of God is a truth that, when rightly understood, has a profound impact on the lives of Christians. It fortifies believers, as well as spurs them on in prayer and evangelism. More fundamentally, it cultivates a God-centered vision of the Christian life, so that in all things, God alone might be glorified.

Hi guys, just an update. After a couple of months of thinking, praying, talking, arguing in seeking after God’s will, my wife and I have decided to join Simon at Redemption Hill Church. A bit more info here. Do pray for us as we take this step of faith, as we seek to build something that will honour Christ and the Gospel here in Singapore.. We desire to walk humbly but boldly, in light of the Cross..

This is something we wrestled with recently.. I think D A Carson wrote about it in a succint, accurate, and well nuanced way in “The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God”. Its good stuff, and worth reproducing (IMHO):

“One evangelical cliché has it that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. There is a small element of truth in these words: God has nothing but hate for the sin but it would be wrong to conclude that God has nothing but hate for the sinner. A difference must be maintained between God’s view of sin and his view of the sinner. Nevertheless the cliché is false on the face of it and should be abandoned. Fourteen times in the first fifty psalms alone, we are told that God hates the sinner, his wrath is on the liar, and so forth. In the Bible, the wrath of God rests both on the sin (Romans 1:18ff) and on the sinner (John 3:36). 

Our problem, in part, is that in human experience wrath and love normally abide in mutually exclusive compartments. Love drives wrath out, or wrath drives love out. We come closets to bringing them together, perhaps, in our responses to a wayward act by one of our children, but normally we do not think that a wrathful person is loving.

But this is not the way it is with God. God’s wrath is not an implacable, blind rage. However emotional it may be, it is an entirely reasonable and willed response to the offences against his holiness. But his love, as we saw in the last chapter, wells up amidst his perfections and is not generated by the loveliness of the loved. Thus, there is nothing intrinsically impossible about wrath and love being directed toward the same individual or people at the same time. God in his perfections must be wrathful against his rebel image-bearers, for they have offended him; God in his perfections must be loving toward his rebel image-bearers, for he is that kind of God.

(page 79-80, from The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God – D A Carson)“

For a useful article by Carson on the biblical gospel, check this out. 

And here is how Carson presents the gospel according to the storyline of Scripture:

“Thus the gospel is integrally tied to the Bible’s story-line. Indeed, it is incomprehensible without understanding that story-line. God is the sovereign, transcendent and personal God who has made the universe, including us, his image-bearers. Our misery lies in our rebellion, our alienation from God, which, despite his forbearance, attracts his implacable wrath. But God, precisely because love is of the very essence of his character, takes the initiative and prepared for the coming of his own Son by raising up a people who, by covenantal stipulations, temple worship, systems of sacrifice and of priesthood, by kings and by prophets, are taught something of what God is planning and what he expects. In the fullness of time his Son comes and takes on human nature. He comes not, in the first instance, to judge but to save: he dies the death of his people, rises from the grave and, in returning to his heavenly Father, bequeaths the Holy Spirit as the down payment and guarantee of the ultimate gift he has secured for them—an eternity of bliss in the presence of God himself, in a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. The only alternative is to be shut out from the presence of this God forever, in the torments of hell. What men and women must do, before it is too late, is repent and trust Christ; the alternative is to disobey the gospel (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17). ”

9 Marks’ latest eJournal has many useful articles for young pastors. Editor Jonathan Leeman writes: 

“Clear vision but little depth perception.” That’s how I’ve heard Mark Dever characterize young pastors.

Young pastors see their doctrine with utter clarity. They know exactly what a church should look like. But they don’t know how to assess what’s important, what’s really important, and what can be overlooked. Their gauges haven’t developed.

Probably, the best solution for this is plain old experience. Yet a little battle wisdom from older men can’t hurt, either. So we turned to several pastors who have walked a few miles down ministry’s road, asking them to pass on a morsel or two of counsel.

Bob Johnson and Ken Swetland talk about getting started. Matt Schmucker, Mark Dever, and Phillip Jensen offer their thoughts on making changes. Philip Ryken and Robert Norris help us persevere to the end. And a couple of younger guys, like Aaron, Greg, and me, throw in our two cents.

One word of caution about an eJournal full of practical advice: Wisdom can be found in principles of the sort you’ll find here. But wisdom always begins with a posture of heart—a heart the trusts and fears the Lord. Only this heart finds the wisdom to know which principles apply when: “Is now the time not to answer the fool according to his folly (Prov. 26:4)? Or is now the time to answer him according to his folly (Prov. 26:5)?”

Only the Lord will make your paths straight.

That means that we cannot tell you exactly how to pastor your church, unless the matter is plainly Scriptural. You’re God’s man for that job. So take what’s offered here. Consider how it might apply in your context. But above all else, guard your heart, that it would fear only him.

We’re praying for your pastoral work, reader. Pray, too, for us.

The eJournal can be accessed here.

Knowing who we are as the people of God is one of the most helpful things we can learn in the Christian life. Christianity is personal but never private. God through Christ has redeemed us and grafted us into body of believers. This is so that we might display his glory by proclaiming the excellencies of Christ. On March 1, Mark Dever preached on the doctrine of the church at Capitol Hill Baptist Church.  Here’s a summary: 

The Church 
Dr. Mark Dever

Many people say they love Jesus, but will not commit to a church. They may even like the church, but church membership is not a priority or even a necessity. The concern with this outlook is that if you don’t love the church, you may not really love Jesus. We have a strong ability to deceive ourselves about our walk with God, and one of God’s means of grace to us in this is the church.

The church is important in God’s plan. It wasn’t a human idea. If we are to be Christ’s followers, the church must be important to us.

1. What is the church?

The body of people called by God’s grace through faith in Christ to glorify Him together by serving Him in this world. This corporate relationship has been important since creation, through the flood and exodus and establishment of Israel. Jesus is the fulfillment of all that Israel pointed toward.

Church is fundamentally an assembly. The church is the people of God, the new creation, the body of Christ. Christians constitute the kingdom of God in that we recognize the King and submit to His authority.

2. What is the church like?

In short, the church is like God. We are to reflect His character: His unity, His holiness, His desire for the salvation of man. This is seen in the church being one, holy, universal, and apostolic.

Could our church be defined as anything other than Christ? How are we doing in our unity, in our set-apartedness from the world? Have we given ourselves to understanding God’s Word?

3. How do I know if a church is good?

The right preaching of God’s Word and the right administration of the ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Specifically, a church must preach the gospel, the message that has been preached since Christ to now: that we are created in God’s image, but we are in rebellion against Him. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, came and lived a perfect life, died bearing God’s righteous wrath against sin, and God demonstrated His acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice by raising Him from the dead. Preaching this gospel is central to a good church.

All evangelical Christians understand that believers’ baptism is a symbol through which we identify ourselves with Christ. Differences on infant baptism aside, all Protestants agree on believers’ baptism.

Scripture is not explicit concerning how the Lord’s Supper is to be conducted; far more important is the issue of who is allowed to take it. Like baptism, this meal is an identification with Christ’s death and resurrection.

4. Who should regularly take the Lord’s Supper here?

Church members. The idea of a clearly defined community of people is essential to God’s plan in both the Old and New Testaments. Christianity is personal, but it is not private. Christians have an obligation to attend and ensure that church members’ claims of belief both their own and others are being lived out.

Consider the joy of Psalm 84. God’s people don’t need to come to a specific building to experience His presence, but they should yearn for communion with his people.

We have a responsibility to love. Love is the summary of our duties. Scripture fleshes out more of what that means, but love is the thumbnail sketch. Jesus taught that we should show Him to the world by loving one another.

5. How should a church be run?

Church leadership for a local congregation not the church universal is defined in the New Testament. Members of the church are and should be the authority in matters of church membership, church discipline, and settling disputes between Christians (Matthew 18:15). Members, are you relating to others in this church closely enough to make this possible?

Paul’s assumption in Galatians 1 isn’t that Christians can sit in judgment on matters of doctrine. His assumption is that they must make such judgments in the context of the local church. There is responsibility all around for teachers as well as hearers to support good doctrine and reject bad doctrine.

In I and II Corinthians, the whole local church is called on to enact discipline; it is not only a matter for elders and leaders.

The church is finally congregational, which is why church membership is so important. 

6. Should we ever put anyone out of the church?

Discipline happens in both the Old and New Testaments. God expects His children to be holy. Discipline is inextricably bound up in the idea of church as presented by Jesus. A true church is only for sinners repentant sinners. 

7. What is the church for?

To serve as an example of Christ to those who are not yet believers, to commend the gospel to them. To instruct, encourage, and nourish believers a place for us to spur one another on to holiness.

Recall Jesus’ words in Matthew 19:29: “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.” Look around; Jesus was telling us the truth.

The true church ultimately exists for God and His glory. The church is the mirror reflecting the Divine character in this world. Do you want to be part of that reflection?

For what its worth, I did a book review on Carson’s “The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God” recently, where I conclude,

” Carson’s comprehensive survey and synthesis of the Biblical data is very helpful in giving a comprehensive, Biblically balanced view of God’s love. He deals persuasively and piously with the theological issues that arise, and discusses the very practical implications – popular evangelical clichés, such as “God’s love is unconditional”, “God loves everyone exactly the same way”, and “God hates the sin but loves the sinner” are brought under scrutiny and found wanting. Most of all, this book exalts God by emplacing the deepest of mysteries in His very being; and it exalts Christ, by demonstrating how God’s redemption purposes through the cross, draws together all five strands of God’s love.“

You can read the rest of it here, if you really want to

Church discipline is a difficult thing to do well. But when carried out in a biblical manner, church discipline–like the gospel–displays both the kindness and severity of God. Kindness towards the repentant sinner, and severity towards those who refuse to forsake their sins. Church discipline is a good gift to be used for God’s glory and the benefit of his people. Here’s an encouraging article concerning church discipline by Matt Schmucker, the executive director of 9Marks and an elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

Pastor’s Perspective
by Matt Schmucker

“Matt, I don’t understand how you and Steve can be a part of the same church given what you each believe and practice.” This came from a young woman with whom my wife and I had been sharing the gospel.

“I don’t understand,” I replied.

She said, “Steve lives with his girlfriend, which seems inconsistent with what you tell me a Christian should believe and do.”

I was speechless. I didn’t know the young woman knew Steve, nor did I know Steve lived with his girlfriend. Since I did not know Steve that well myself, I went to our pastor, who did. What was the pastor’s response to my suggestion that we should investigate and, if Steve was unrepentant, to discipline? “If we kick him out, how will he hear the gospel?” (Side note: The pastor, too, was later found to be in sexual sin.)

Church member Steve’s unrepentant sin — since it remained unchallenged — hurt our church’s evangelism. Not only that, it harmed weaker sheep in the church. And it brought shame on the name of Christ.

God gave a remedy for such situations in passages like Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5 — what the church has always called “church discipline” or “excommunication.”

What is church discipline? In the narrowest sense, it is the act of excluding someone who professes to be a Christian from membership in the church and participation in the Lord’s Supper for serious unrepentant sin — sin they refuse to let go of.

More broadly, church discipline is the act of excluding an individual who carelessly brings disrepute onto the gospel and shows no commitment to doing otherwise. Discipline helps the church to reflect God’s glorious character faithfully. It helps the church to remain holy.

Why should we even care, let alone practice church discipline? Let me give you five reasons:

God’s glory. God’s people should reflect God. Under both the old and new covenants (Mal. 3:18; 1 Cor. 5:11), the people of God are called to be a distinct community. They are to image the one, true, living God, not bow down to lifeless idols. This distinctiveness brings glory to God, because God is distinct, that is, holy.

The unrepentant sinner. In 1 Corinthians 5:5, the apostle Paul calls the church to “deliver this man to Satan…so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” Put the sinner out, so that he might come back in — back into the fold, back into the redeeming hands of the Savior. Church discipline is fundamentally a loving act that holds out the hope of Christ for the unrepentant sinner.

The young believer. In every church there are young believers who are trying to untangle their minds from the world and re-orient themselves around God’s truth. These young lambs are particularly vulnerable when unrepentant sin goes unaddressed. Church discipline helps these young ones better understand what it means to be in but not of the world.

The steadfast Christian. Christians are warned in 1 Corinthians 10:12: “Anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” Church discipline, rightly practiced, should sober every believer, including the mature. When discipline is carefully, lovingly practiced in my own church, the elders often find themselves inundated with a rush of invitations for lunch — sheep asking for accountability. The act of discipline acts as a wake-up call. The mature heed such a warning.

The neighbors. Every church has watching neighbors. When church members live like the world, they send a clear message to those neighbors: nothing different here! The Christian church is to be the aroma of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15), an attraction to unbelieving neighbors. Discipline keeps the church “smelling” good!

Many years ago, after my church had suffered through another brief, failed pastorate, I left our church building after one meeting and headed toward the corner grocery store. On the way, I found myself walking behind two locally well-known homosexual men and was just close enough to hear them mocking my church over its recent troubles.

Do you see how sin brings disrepute on the name of Christ and His people? The world looked on us and mocked. Sin in the church, left unaddressed, hurts our evangelism, leaves the proud unchecked, confuses young believers, hardens the unrepentant, and, worst of all, brings shame on the name of Christ.

God, in His providence, brought a new spirit into our church nearly two decades ago with a clear gospel, biblical faithfulness, godly leadership, right understanding of membership, and the practice of church discipline. We were finally living in the church and before the world the way we believe God called us to live. How do I know?

A few years back, a long-time neighbor of our church stopped a friend and me outside of our church building. The neighbor said, “There’s something different about your church.”

My friend said something sheepish like: “Well, we’ve been trying to clean up the grounds and building.”

The neighbor replied, “No, I’m not talking about the property. I’m talking about the people. There’s something different here now.”

Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!

Good quote from Sinclair Ferguson: 

“A ‘gospel-centered life’ implies several things. First and foremost it implies that we trust in Christ as Savior and submit to him as Lord so that everything in our life is subordinate to Christ himself. This means also that we live as children of the Father and walk in the presence and power of the Spirit. So a ‘gospel centered life’ is also a life that has been bent back from its natural condition to have its center in God the Trinity. But to live a gospel centered life we also need to learn the ‘grammar’ of the gospel. I mean that we need to see that all theimperatives (commands, exhortations) we find in the New Testament are rooted in the indicatives of God’s grace. So we see the gospel’s ‘therefore’ (for example in Romans 12:1) as underlining for us that all of our Christian living arises out of our new life in Christ.”


You can read the rest of his edifying interview with Ligonier Ministries here.