Dr. Piper began his sermon by sharing his disagreement with those who
think that God can be more glorified by knowing Him less - distance and
ignorance can sustain wonder only so long.
The fullness and the clarity of the doctrines of the gospel are a source
of indomitable and exquisite joy and passionate worship, and national
reformation.
Five Observations:
- Testifying to the gospel of the grace of God is more important than staying alive - v. 24
- Paul's ministry was of such a kind that he was not responsible
for the blood of any of these elders if they should make shipwreck of
their faith - vv. 26 & 31
- He is innocent because, for three years he imparted to them the whole gospel - v. 27
- The job of the elders is to pick up where Paul left off and earnestly shepherd the blood-bought flock of God - v. 28
- The focus of the shepherds in this context is protecting the flock from teaching that twists the apostolic doctrine - vv. 29-30
Pre-eminent in the task of the elders is the impartation and protection of the whole counsel of God - v. 27.
Reflections on the Whole Counsel of God
1. It's Existence
There is such a thing as the whole counsel of God - v. 27. See also - Romans 6:17,
II Tim. 1:13-17.
2. It's Nature
- It is propositional
- Evidence #1 - It is called teaching, it is called sound words
- Evidence #2 - the way Acts 19:9-10 shows the way Paul delivered. Reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus continually for two years. Reasoning = propositional. It had an explosive evangelistic effect on all of Asia.
- Illustration - compare Athanasius and some aspects of the emerging church. Piper doesn't mean all parts of the emerging church, but those parts of it that minimize doctrines and think propositions are not helpful in loving Christ. In Athanasius we see that loving Christ includes loving true propositions about Christ. It was clear to Athasius that propositions about Christ carried convictions that could send you to heaven or to hell. Some of these propositions were that "there was a time when Christ was not," and "Christ was created." These are damnable propositions which, if believed, will send the soul of the one who believes them to hell. Athanasius and the apostle Paul would have abominated with tears the contemporary calls to de-propositionalize the faith. He would have said "our people in Alexandria died for the proposition about the truth of Jesus Christ, what do you young people die for?" If the answer came back "we die for Christ, not propositions about Christ," Athanasius would have said "that is exactly what Arius taught." Athanasius would ask "which Christ you would die for?" To answer that question, you have to make some propositions about Him. Reality, faithfully comprehended in propositions, saves.
Athanasius and the apostle Paul would weep and grieve over the sentence - "it is Christ who saves us and we do not need doctrine." They knew it was the very tactic used by the Arian bishops at the Council to see that a fog prevailed in the council. Those who think Christ unites and doctrine divides have replaced Christ with a word "Christ" which nobody knows what it means, carries no reality content and will save no one.
- It has a fullness, a wholeness, a completeness - it is called the "whole" counsel of God. This means that we should be thrilled that it is whole and full and complete - not partial and truncated and incomplete.
- A practical suggestion for the Reformed community - let's seize the biblical high ground of fullness. When we discuss things with people we need to not focus on the defects of what they believe, but think in terms of it's fragmentary nature and counter that with the fulness of the biblical truth. Instead of focusing on points of disagreeement, focus on points of agreement and then move on to the fulness of the truth. For example, it is possible to win people to "limited atonement" if we say "of course He died for everybody, I believe that with all my heart, I live and preach indiscriminantly." 99% of the people who say they believe that Christ died for everybody are simply saying they believe John 3:16 is true. But, there is more going on with the cross, there is so much more - He bought a wife, He paid a dowry, He completed a covenant. The sad thing about people who don't believe in limited atonement cannot know the fulness of covenant love.
3. It's Effect - Joy
In his new book, even Ron Sider is making the case for the centrality of doctrine in the Christian church.
II John 9 - Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 . Standard Bible Society: Wheaton
What more glorious thing could be said by the believer, than "I have both the father and the Son."
John 15:11 - These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 . Standard Bible Society: Wheaton
We must out-rejoice everyone lest they have reason to think we don't have as much of the Father and of the Son as we ought to.
BTW - in case you are interested, I have an extended entry on my personal blog where, at the end of these sermon notes I interact a bit with Piper's comments on the emerging church and the doctrine of limited atonement. So, if you are interested you can find my personal ramblings here.
]]>Eighty percent of the world’s evangelical wealth is in North America—more than enough to fund the Great Commission. Yet American churchgoers give only 2.6 percent of their income to their churches. Patrick Johnson of Generous Giving showed pastors how they can improve this situation by preaching, teaching, celebrating and modeling generosity in their churches.
"It's not really about the money," Johnson said. "It's about the heart." A pastor who grasps this principle will teach his congregation that giving is more than an obligation. It is an opportunity. It’s a chance to participate in Kingdom work and to experience greater joy. It's a chance to build one's faith, finding freedom from the bondage of possessions. In sum, the heart of a pastor's message should be what he wants for his people rather than what he wants from them.
Johnson has found four recurring characteristics among the generous churches he’s observed. (1) The pastor preaches generosity, motivating his people to give. (2) The church teaches generosity, educating members how to become responsible and debt-free stewards. (3) The church celebrates generosity, reinforcing its value by telling the stories of faithfulness. And (4) the leadership models generosity, authenticating the message. Johnson ended by asking these two penetrating questions of pastors. First, knowing that fifteen percent of everything Jesus said related to money and possessions, does my own preaching reflect the priority Jesus placed on stewardship? Secondly, if the people in my church stewarded God’s resources the way I do, would that be a good thing?
Heidi Herberich is a graduate of Covenant College and plans to attend RTS in Orlando this fall. She is a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga and currently works at Generous Giving. Her father is a PCA minister on staff with Harvest USA (Chattanooga).
The Bills and Overture committee's reccomendation is that it be answered in the negative on the grounds that the education of covenant children is best left to the wisdom of Christian parents under the pastoral guidance of local church sessions.
There was a minority report asking GA to affirm the overture..
An immediate substitutionary motion was made to answer the Overture in the affirmative by Steven Warhurst (also sponsor of the Overture) and was seconded (basically affirming the minority report). He then re-read the Overture, slowly.
The substitutionary motion to make the minority report the majority report and therefor affirm the Overture failed.
The majority recommendation to answer in the negative passed and therefor the Overture failed.
So, you can still send your kids to public schools without the PCA declaring you inept in your parental duties. I'm dodging the debate altogether by sending my kinds to a private yuppie school that's neither public nor Christian (joke). I call it "Josiah's Third Way".
*UPDATES & NOTES BELOW*
]]> A motion has been made to amend the substitutionary motion (basically the originally Overture/majority report) saying something to the effect that public schools are evil. It was rejected on procedural grounds and debate returned back to the substitutionary motion (the motion to approve the Oveture i.e. the minority report).A motion was then made to make an amendment to the substitutionary motion's minority report to use far stronger language in its condemnation of public schools and support of Christian education. I don't think it was seconded.
The recommendation from the Bills and Overtures committee is that this overture be answered in the negative on procedural grounds alone, without prejudice as to its content. Those procedural grounds being that the distribution of reports is normally reserved for those reports which the Assembly has considered, debated, and votd to adopt as its own. Further the distribution requested by the MVP might create a "burdonsome precedent". Any interested parties could find the content of the reports in the General Assembly Handbook.
This recommendation passed, and therefor the Overture failed.
*UPDATES & NOTES BELOW*
]]> A substitutionary motion was made to approve, a second motion (described below) was made, it failed, and then the substitutionary motion failed.A motion has been made to suspend the rules governing GA to create a third Ad Interim committee (two is only allowed) to study the Overture. It is being debated.
Dr. Pipa is trying to determine if the SJC (Standing Judicial Committee) will be allowed to make rulings constitutionally on NPP related judicial concerns during the interim period of the Study Committee (before a ruling/study is delivered on NPP).
The motion to suspect the rules and create a third Interim Committee (to study NPP) has failed.
]]>The discussion before us on the floor is one of importance. Overture 10 seeks to add a Bible Content exam to the requirements for Ruling Elders and Deacons.
Why is this important? For many, this may seem like a wall going up to the "attractiveness" of serving in office. We all know the fear of exams and the decisions we make out of fear. Will finding godly men to serve as elders and deacons be inhibited by such an exam. The answer we are hearing in floor discussion in an overwhelming "by no means".
]]> Far from inhibiting the election of elders, such an exam will, in my humble opinion, do two wonderful things.1) It will make certain that we do, in fact, elect godly men to those positions of leadership. Scripture calls all leaders to the absolutely necessary requirement of being "able to teach". If we do not know our Bibles, we have nothing to teach. God's Word is to be central to our teaching and shepherding ministries.
2) It will unite our Sessions. The Bible does make the distinction between elders who teach and elders who rule, but it doesn't make this distinction in a way that severes the two. Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders are both called as the shepherds, pastors, bishops, and overseers of the church. This exam aids in placing these men on equal level as they serve they church.
May God bless this overture as it is passed down to presbyteries for voting!
]]>Probably worth getting the tape on this one.
All of the GA sermons can be ordered online here, and are available via the webcast archive here (though this particular sermon isn't posted yet). And, of course, you can watch worship services and assembly business live on pcaga.com.
]]>The basic idea is that TE's and Licentiates must point out their exceptions when preaching an exception, and must state the standards/WCF position on the matter.
So basically, if the recommendation fails the Overture passes if a substitutionary amendment is made to approve the Overture (which has happened), if that makes any sense.
The substitution (to pass the Overture) failed. And the recommendation passed, and therefor the Overture failed.
Notes, context, overview below:
Some commissioners fear that exceptions will be misconstrued as the PCA's standards.
]]>The B&O Committee recommends this be answered in the affirmative, with amendments to eliminate any concerns with respect to language groups other than English. The amended overture would be titled: "Require English Bible Content Examination for Ruling Elders and Deacons."
a. his Christian experience, especially his personal character and family management (based on the qualifications set out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9),This overture will add a new item "b" - his knowledge ofb. his knowledge of the system of doctrine, government, discipline contained in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America (BCO Preface III, The Constitution Defined),
c. the duties of the office to which he has been nominated, and
d. his willingness to give assent to the questions required for ordination. (BCO 24-5)
Also, this will apply only to officers ordained after adoption of this measure and all PCA courts will be encourage those presently ordained to be diligent in their mastery of Bible knowledge and application.
TE David Coffin argues that, for 33 years, what has been required in the BCO has been sufficient and that it is not possible to know the system of doctrine without sufficient knowledge of the Bible. He also points out potential constitutional questions could be raised for churches with a rotation method for officers on how to bring them back on. He points out that a similar issue was dealt with by CCB last year and was defeated.
He recommends that we answer the overture in the negative and offers a substitute that we encourage those presently ordained to be diligent in their mastery of Bible knowledge and application.
TE Paul Fowler wonders if everyone would vote for this if it were retroactive. He believes we have sufficient standards and concurs with TE Coffin in encouraging us to vote this down.
An elder whose name I didn't get argues that knowing the confession and the English Bible are not the same and finds it difficult to believe that we would fear giving an English Bible examine to elders and deacons.
Chairman of the committee cautions us against voting on this year's overture based on last year's vote. He mentions that there is a provision in the overture to address the issue of rotation. He also points out that there is not a uniform standard for examination on any of the elements of examination and that the lack of a uniform standard in this regard should not negate this any more than it would negate the other elements.
4:24pm - The assembly answered in the affirmative, per the B&O recommendation.
]]>On Wednesday evening over 1100 people made their way to the campus of Covenant College on top of Lookout Mountain to celebrate the college's 50th anniversary. Attendees enjoyed a meal on the chapel lawn (including, of course, pulled pork barbeque) and live music by Covenant alumna Jennifer Daniels, along with a whole lot of fellowship.
]]>Overture 3 failed without discussion. The concern of Overture 3 was the apparent necessity in BCO 19-12 of interns to appear and report at each stated meeting.
This overture was answered in the negative, the Assembly understanding it to be a misreading of 19-12. BCO 19-12 deals with the report of the oversight committee and not the of the interns themselves.
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