Quote of the Day

……Adding to the fertile soil for legalistic parachurch gurus to adversely influence churches and individuals is the modern idea that we must have experts in every area of life.  Rarely does a week go by that I (as a pastor) fail to receive a call informing me of a new video series that is "must viewing" for every church body.  The expert on marriage relationships; the expert on child rearing; the expert on interpersonal relationships; the expert on this; the expert on that has made a video series.  Surely no mere pastor can keep up with 'the experts.'  And so, we are encouraged to turn our churches over to Dr. ___________.  After all, he or she supposedly knows more than any of the rest of us, and if we will just do what he or she says, we will all succeed in our Christian lives.  This is not intended to be a blanket condemnation of everything and everyone who is part of what might be called a parachurch ministry.  However, any and every time the parachruch dictates to the church rather than the other way around, parachurch is out of place.  And any individual who follows a parachurch ministry more closely than his own local church has a definite problem with his priorities, since parachruch organizations are never mentioned in the Bible…….If you listen to those trying to sell many of these products you are likely to conclude that pastors just aren't necessary anymore.  And why would anyone in the pew want to listen to old 'what's -his- name' week after week when they could be listening to 'the expert!'

Robert Pruitt

Quote of the Day

How did the early Church ever function without the “expertise” we have today? Yet those Christians turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6), and they did it without any celebrity testimonies, without modern management techniques, without psychotherapy, without mass media, and without most of the means the contemporary church seems to view as essential. All they had was God’s Word and the power of His Spirit, but they knew that was sufficient.

John Macarthur

Quote of the Day

(Matt. 5:28-42) This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law.  The Church is not to be a national community like the old Israel, but a community of believers without political or national ties.  The old Israel had been both - the chosen people of God and a national community, and it was therefore his will that they should meet force with force.  But with Church it is different: it has abandoned political and national status, and therefore it must patiently endure aggression……At this point it becomes evident that when a Christian meets with injustice, he no longer clings to his rights and defends them at all costs.  He is absolutely free from possessions and bound to Christ alone.  Again, his witness to this exclusive adherence to Jesus creates the only workable basis for fellowship, and leaves the aggressor for him to deal with……By his willingly renouncing self-defense, the Christian affirms his absolute adherence to Jesus, and his freedom from the tyranny of his own ego.  

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote of the Day

Their (the Christian's) breach with the past is an accomplished fact.  Their "former" manner of life has come to an end (Eph. 4:22).  "Ye were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8).  Whereas they had once performed the shameful and "unfruitful works of the flesh," the Spirit now produces in them the fruit of sanctification. 

This is why Christians are no longer to be called sinners, in the sense of men who are still living under the dominion of sin (the only apparent exception is in 1 Tim. 1:15, but that is a personal confession).  On the contrary, they were once sinners, ungodly, enemies (Rom.5:8, 19, Gal. 2:15, 17), but now through Christ they are holy.  As saints they are reminded and exhorted to be what they are.  But this is not an impossible ideal, it is not sinners who are required to become holy, or that would mean a return to justification by works and would be blasphemy against Christ.  No, it is saints who are required to be holy, saints who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote of the Day

STAYING SINGLE TO SHOW THE TRUTH.

Keep your marriage vows in such a way as to tell the truth about the unbreakable covenant love of Christ.  But to close this chapter, I want to emphasize that what Jesus says here in Mark 10:10-12 is incredibly good news - even to those who have been divorced and are remarried.  Here's why:  Jesus says, 'Don't divorce your spouse and marry someone else.  If you do, you've committed adultery."  Why is it adultery?  Ultimately, it is adultery because it betrays the truth about Christ that marriage is meant to display.  Jesus never, never does that to his bride, the church.  He never forsakes her.  He never abandons her.  He never abuses her.  He always loves her.  He always takes her back when she wanders.  He always is patient with her.  He always cares for her and provides for her and protects her and, wonder of wonders, delights in her.  And you - you who are married once, married five times, married never - if you repent and trust Christ - receive him as the Treasure who bore your punishment and became your righteousness - you are in the bride. And this is how he relates to you. ….The radical call of Jesus never to divorce and remarry is a declaration of the gospel by which people who have failed may be saved.  If  Christ were not this way, we would all be undone.  But this is how true, how faithful, how forgiving he is.  Therefore, we are saved.

John Piper