Christ Is All

There are a great many differences among believers, but there is no difference as to this essential point. Unhappily, the Christian church has been divided into sections, but those divisions do not affect our agreement upon this one point, that Christ is all.

It is no uncharity if I say that the man who does not accept this is no Christian, nor is it too wide a liberality to affirm that every man who is sound in heart upon this point is most certainly a believer. He who trusts alone in Christ, who submits to him as his sole teacher, king, and Savior, is already a saved man; but he who gives not Christ the glory, though he should speak with the tongues of men and of angels, though he should have the gift of prophecy, and all knowledge, and though he should have all faith, and could remove mountains, and he should appear to have all virtue, yet he is no Christian if Christ be held in light esteem by him, or be anything less than all in all; for in the new creation this one thing stands as the mark of the newly created, that “Christ is all, and in all” to them, whatever he may be to others. _chs

May I treasure Christ as all through my thoughts, passions, actions, and love!

Who Is Jesus?

[Click the picture to listen to a sermon jam that I made]

"The sermon jam that Brent made is possibly the most important sermon clip that you'll ever hear."
-Joseph Edward Mejia

Why I Didn't Preach On Mothers On Mother's Day

For the past forty three weeks I have been preaching through the gospel of Matthew. This past Sunday our journey brought us to Matthew 15:21-28.

Matthew 15:21-28 [21] And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. [22] And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” [23] But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” [24] He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” [25] But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” [26] And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” [27] She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” [28] Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

When I read this passage I had this fleeting thought, "This would make a great passage for a Mother's Day sermon. Here we find a great example of a godly mother." In a flash, that went through my mind followed by these thoughts:

1. Christ is the focal point of all Scripture. Every passage of scripture is like a spoke on a wheel with the hub being Christ.

2. While the mother mentioned is a key figure in the story, putting the emphasis on her is like putting the emphasis on the little boy who gave his lunch so that Jesus could feed the multitudes. The account is turned upside down and instead of Christ being the "hero" who gives grace, the "hero" becomes the secondary figure.

3. While the mother in this account does seem to provide a good model to follow, preaching the text in this way turns the account into "Law" and not "Gospel." The focus becomes "what must I do" versus "what has God done for me." Knowing that faith is a gift of God, even Jesus' response that commends her faith should be understood in a way that reminds us that the kind of faith that GOD GIVES has a certain quality and substance about it. Thus, the glory in the passage goes not to the woman but to the God who gives great faith that we may receive deliverance from our great enemy. Grace, grace, grace.

4. Honoring mothers is what scripture commands us to do. A quick glance at the Ten Commandments reveals that this is to be the normal part of our life. And to obey God in this matter is to also give worship to Him. Our daily lives are acts of worship to God. And there is nothing wrong with putting emphasis on mothers in a Christ-centered way if that is what the text leads us to say, but we shouldn't mangle the text to fit the social calendar.

5. Special services are often misleading. Every Sunday is special Sunday because Christ should be supremely exalted. And I think we do a disservice to our congregation when we make special days. People can sometimes think that some Sundays are more important than others when that is not the case. And then they'll show up on Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, Ground Hog Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Back To School Day. We ought to be getting our people hooked on Christ, not special Sundays. Now obviously there are moments in a worship service that may be less regular than others: like the installation of an elder, corporate church discipline, etc., but even these should be seen as a normal part of the church life and related to the gospel of the glory of Christ. The church is not Israel in that it is commanded to observe all sorts of memorial services, festivals, new moons and jubilees.

6. Jumping on the bandwagon with the rest of society really commercializes the church. The world will see no difference in what we do on Sundays if we're just doing the same thing they're doing. How about we show them what really matters and why we really gather on Sunday. Not only that but as I said early, we should be honoring our wives and mothers all the time. Yesterday I took my wife out to eat with our little girl, then we went to Home Depot to get some trees. Then we came home and worked in the yard. I told my wife, "You know, I'm sorry today wasn't extra spectacular. We just kinda did the norm." She said, "You guys treat me special all the time. That's what really matters." And she's right. To honor your mother or wife only on Mother's Day is actually a disgrace. The world makes a big commotion out of days like this. Shouldn't Christians be doing this all the time, thus separating themselves from the crowd in order to display the glory of God?

7. Lastly, I didn't preach on mothers for Mother's Day because I didn't want our women getting a false sense of flattery because the service was about them. I would rather have them built up in Christ...I would rather have them see the greatness of Christ...I would rather have them reminded of the gospel...than to create a fleeting sense of sentiment in order to make them feel special. John Piper has an illustration that says you don't go to the Grand Canyon to have others tell you how great you are...you go there to see how great the Grand Canyon is. And on Sunday I had an object that was greater than the Grand Canyon and helping our people to see the vastness, greatness, beauty, splendor, awesomeness, glory and immensity of this object would bring them more delight than had I tried to make much of mothers. That object was Christ.

I love my mother. I love my wife. I love my daughter, too. The Bible commends godly and faithful mothers throughout. But I do love my Savior more--although imperfectly. His saving grace is what makes our godly mothers so worthy of honor. So let's honor Him above all.

Imputed Righteousness and Your Soul

There are essentially three ways that the doctrine of the imputations of Christ righteousness can be used to preach to the believers soul and cultivate and sustain a love for God and a focus on God. First, we need to move away from our subjective tendencies to listen to our feelings but instead look upward to behold Christ as our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30) who has fulfilled all righteousness for us on our behalf (Rom. 5:19). As we focus on this reality by beholding Christ, we will be transformed and become more like Him (2 Cor. 3:18).
Second, we should identify our tendencies to be legalistic, self-righteous, and favor-seeking and put them to death by preaching the doctrine of imputed righteousness to ourselves (Phil. 3:8-9). Ultimately it is not what we do for God, but what God has done for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Our righteousness can never be associated with ourselves because it is Christ’s, given to us by a sheer sacrificial act of divine grace (1 Cor. 1:26-31). Also, when we try to seek the favor of others, especially God, we need to remind ourselves that God’s demeanor towards us will never shift because by faith we have been justified and received the righteousness of Christ (Rom. 8:31-39).
Third, we should speak the doctrine of imputed righteousness into our souls when Satan is trying to lead us to self-condemnation. If we find ourselves thinking that we are not saved because we can’t earn it, we should agree with that thought and say, “You’re right; I can’t earn it, but Christ has earned it and given me His righteousness” (5:12-19). If we find ourselves thinking that God looks down upon us with disappointment, we should dismiss it and tell ourselves that Christ bore the disfavor that God once had for us and He gave us His righteousness so that there is now no condemnation (Rom. 8:1).

Here is a video of Sinclair Ferguson talking about some of the glories of the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ:

Gaining in the Midst of Losing

As I was sitting in church on Sunday Pastor Francis Chan was teaching on Philippians 3:1-11 and I was driven to this thought:

Today we say we'll believe in Jesus IF:
-We can be COMFORTABLE
-We can be HEALTHY
-We can be WEALTHY

Because we value our COMFORT and our HEALTH and our WEALTH more than Jesus.

But Jesus calls us to believe in Him EVEN IF:
-We lose our comfort (Mt. 8:20)
-We lose our health (Mt. 16:25)
-We lose our wealth (Mk. 10:21)

Because JESUS knows that HE is more WORTHY than our comfort and our health and our wealth.

Paul captured this idea best when he said, "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ..."

Not only did Paul 'count' everything as loss (as though he was just give lip-service to Christ) but he 'suffered' the loss of all things (making his words a reality) and still could say that He was 'gaining.'

Now how could Paul say that he was 'gaining' in the midst of his 'losing'?

Because he knew the person who's saving grace could abound even to the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).
Because he knew the person who although he was equal with God took the form of a servant and humbled himself by becoming obedient to death on a cross (Phil. 2:6-8).
Because he knew the person who took upon his sin and gave him perfect righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).
Because he knew the person who died on his behalf so that he would never be separated from the love of God (Rom. 8:31-39).

Paul could say he was 'gaining' in the midst of his 'losing' because he knew CHRIST.

Muting the Gospel by Minimizing Missions

When Paul mentions in Romans 1 that God has clearly revealed Himself through creation so that man is without excuse, he is not trying to make a case for the saving knowledge of General Revelation (God revealing Himself in creation Ps. 19:1-6). Instead Paul wants to portray how people without the Special Revelation of God (God revealing Himself in Scripture Ps. 19:7-11) are justly condemned for not worshiping the creator of the universe. He wants to show that Gentiles (all non-Jews), like Jews, sin but in a different way. Jews sin because they disobey the Special Revelation God has given them in the Law. On the other hand, Gentiles sin when they disobey the created order that has been revealed through creation.

But some will ask what if a people group who has never heard of Christ acknowledges God through creation and starts to worship Him? Paul goes on in 3:11-20 to show that universally all Jews and Gentiles are under sin (held captive by its power) in such a way that they without exception do not seek God. And lest we think these people are just universally neutral toward God, Paul says they have "all turned aside." So does this mean that those who die apart from the Special Revelation of God found in the Gospel will eternally perish? I admit that this is a tough question, but it's a question that implies that God would not be fair if it were true. And if fairness is what you want from God, you’re begging Christ to undo what He did on the cross. Because when Christ bore our sins on the cross, He paid for our fair and right penalty and purchased eternal everlasting grace for those who believe. So let us not mute the cross by trying to maximize fairness.

But this still leaves the question “Do people need to hear the gospel to be saved?” In Romans 10:13-17, Paul addresses this same question after showing that the gospel message is for all people, whether Jew or Gentile. He starts in verse 13 by citing Joel 2:32, which says "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Then, Paul poses a problem by asking four rhetorical questions: (1) How are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? (2) And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? (3) And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (4) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? In these questions Paul not only poses a problem, but he also proposes the solution by mapping out the process for the spreading of the gospel.

First, someone needs to be sent to preach Christ. Second, that preacher needs to preach Christ so they can hear Christ. Third, when they hear Christ they need to believe in Christ. Finally, they need to believe in Christ by calling on Christ. There is no other way around it. And that is why Paul says at the end of v. 15, after all his rhetorical questions, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" The feet are beautiful because they bring what is missing! The feet are beautiful because they bring the news of Christ.

If after this we still say that it is possible for people to get saved apart from the gospel being preached, we are entertaining the thought that there are people out there who are neutral toward God and on their own have the ability to seek God and gain a righteousness the earns them Heaven. But if this is true, then missions isn't really all that essential. And then it turns out that the American church has got it right after all; we can just stay home and relax because we don't need to go. And if we do go and try to reach people who have never heard about Christ with the gospel, we will actually be doing them a disservice. Because if we bring the gospel of Christ to them and ask them to believe in Christ but they reject it, we have now brought judgment upon them, whereas before we came and preached they were neutral with God. With this perspective, by preaching the gospel to them, we have just become the instrument that sent them to Hell.

My point is this: if we believe that people can be saved apart from the gospel, this is absurd at best and destroys missions at worst. The gospel of Christ is good news to everyone because everyone is opposed to Christ. The gospel of Christ is good news to everyone because everyone is in need of Christ. Missions is essential because sin is universal. Missions for Christ is necessary because Worship of Christ is non-existent. The message of the gospel is good to everyone because the work of Christ is glorious for everyone. We need to be ignited in our passion for missions because the gospel is the power of God to turn Hell-bound haters of God into Grace-bound lovers of God.

I end with this admission by Lecrae:

"You hold the truth that saves so run and shout it to the world;
They can't believe in something they ain't never heard;
Go and run with those beautiful feet."

The Cradle Led to the Cross

Remember that the cradle that held the baby was the beginning of the path to the cross that held the Savior.



“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).



"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18).

Christmas is necessary because we are sinners but Christmas is glorious because Christ is the Savior.

“Repentance has nothing to do with what man has done. Rather it is man’s coming undone in respect to all human righteousness, followed by his going outside himself in faith to Christ alone for salvation.”
-C. John Miller

The Power Of Christ In Church Planting

It is so often hard to know whether a church is doing well or not. We take a peak at the offerings, the attendance, the programs, the sound equipment, the facilities...and then we compare ourselves to the church down the road and try to measure how we stand compared to them. If we got more going on than they do in all the aforementioned categories, then we must be doing pretty darn well. But a word of warning is needed. From outward appearances things can look vibrant and healthy with all the nice facilities and amenities, but inwardly the church members can be anemic. Other times the outward appearance seems to be deficient in worldly goods but inwardly the church is rich in righteousness, faith, love and hope. The outer evidence is not always a great indicator of what God is really accomplishing inside of His people. You can be a wealthy church but in the sight of the Lord be poor, blind and naked. Conversely, you can be dirt poor and be rich in the eyes of the Lord. And His take on the matter is really the only one that matters.

That said, one can often wonder if a church is succeeding! Numbers go up. Numbers go down. Sanctification happens. Sometimes it looks like de-sanctification is happening. Is there any encouragement from Scripture as to whether or not our feeble efforts to serve the Lord in His strength are in vain?

Thank goodness we don't have to ultimately look to circumstances and our finite wisdom to assess the health and ultimate outcome of the church.

1. The Master Builder Will Build His Church And Hell Cannot Stop It!

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Oh, how weak are our efforts to "do something" for God...as if God needed anything from us. And when we do serve Him and the church, we serve in the strength that He gives. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Colossians. So even our service to His is really His working through us. We owe Him for our service! We are indebted all the more. He is building His church.

2. The Master Builder Will Sanctify His Church Through The Word Of God

Ephesians 5:25-27 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

What a rough task it is to help our brothers and sisters grow in the Lord. We are called to edify one another. But here we see that it is the Lord that is ultimately sanctifying us by the Word. He does this for His glory and His good pleasure. That HE might present to HIMSELF the church in splendor. He's building the church. He's sanctifying the church.

3. The Master Builder's Power Will Ensure That His Church Will Be Victorious

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Why are we to go into the world and make disciples? Because all power and authority has been given to Christ. Therefore, GO! We see now why the church will prevail...the power of Christ ensures that it will.

So when you think the church if failing, faltering or flopping...think again. I've had to. From my view "under the sun" it appears--at times--that the church is struggling and failing. That's when I know that I need to take a step back and get a God-centered, Scripture-saturated understanding of the church. If I assess things from my view, then I have discounted the wisdom, power and promises of Christ to do what He said He would do. If I assess things from "beyond the sun" then I can rest in the grace of God knowing that His church will go on triumphantly.

I love the church of God. My mind is continually filled with great desires for it. Thank goodness the love and desires of my Lord are much more grand than mine. Be certain that His purpose and decree will stand. That doesn't discount the role that we play, it only reminds us that the Lord "Authored" our faith...and He will be the "Finisher" of our faith.

Mormon Preaching

My wife was talking to me the other day and telling me about some time that she had spent with a mother of my daughter's classmates. In the course of our conversation I asked my wife, "Does she go to church anywhere?" And my wife replied, "She grew up Catholic but she just started attending a Mormon church." I said, "Wow, how did that happen?" That's like going from worse to worser (excuse the poor English). My wife asked her the same thing and so proceeded to tell me her response. This young lady likes going to the Mormon church because she gets all kinds of advice and principles for marriage, parenting, the workplace and finances. My heart grieved...for several reasons.

The first being that she is going to a church where Christ is not exalted according to Scripture, where much of the same language as Christianity is used but the definitions are different, where law-keeping is a requirement for salvation and God is a man in an exalted state.

The second reason I grieved was because this type of preaching is exactly the way a large portion of Christian pastor's preach. They are under the impression that the unchurched will come to church if you give them principles by which they can better their lives. Some will add a one minute summary of a partial gospel at the end of their messages--a post script if you will, but the substance of preaching is not Christ--instead it is moral principles to live by. They treat Scripture as if it is an owner's manual to live be--not as though Christ is the substance of it all (Colossians 2:11, 16-17, John 5:39, John 5:46, Luke 24:27, Acts 17:2-3). I know some may disagree and say that only portions of the Old Testament referred to Christ, but if you look at how Christ and the Apostles used the Old Testament then you will see that they continually referred to Christ. They didn't call the unsaved together to hear sermons that would supposedly alleviate the stress they feel in this world. They preached Christ who came to deliver His enslaved people.

This is personally frustrating to me and scary at the same time. It is frustrating because the supremacy of the triune God is not exalted in preaching today...unregenerate man's perceived needs are. Much of today's preaching does not end with God Himself but with His gifts, His wisdom, His whatever. But preaching that exalts God is looked down upon as dry, uninteresting, and old-school. One catechism asks in the very first question: Who is the first and best of all beings? The answer: GOD is. And this is true. So for the pastor to get up each Sunday and proclaim God is to point his people and any unsaved in attendance to the One who can capture our hearts and minds forevermore. It is the opposite of dry and boring. During the preaching of the Word it is God Who serves us by showing us Christ in the Word. His gifts are secondary and only are shadows that lead us to HIM! And sadly much preaching today arouses affections towards the gifts that God gives us, but it never arouses any affections towards God Himself. And God's gifts are not to become more important to us than Himself. Such is the case with felt needs preaching. It never arouses love for God. All it does is direct the listener inwardly to focus on how their life can improve. And that is why this kind of preaching is scary to me. The unsaved can feel as though they are at peace with God because they are "practicing" the Bible. It can lead to a false sense of salvation.

If Mormon and Christian churches are giving principles by which to live out your marriages, finances, sex-life, parenting and so on, why should anyone choose a Christian church over a Mormon church. What really separates the two in message? For a lot of Christian churches the answer is nothing. There really is nothing distinct in the message.

Pastors, if your sermon can be preached in a Mormon, Catholic or Jehovah's Witness church and be received as if it is the same message they are preaching and if it can stand with no objections from them, then I dare say that you are not preaching the message of Scripture. You are not preaching Christ. And that is of no benefit whatsoever to so-called seekers. Indeed you are just scratching itching ears. You are giving false hope to the unsaved while you yourself may be deceived that the church is growing--that God is blessing your work--due to larger crowds.

Imagine how the church would be changed if Christ were supremely exalted and shown to be the treasure of all treasures. The worship of God would flourish. Local and worldwide evangelism would explode--for who can keep quiet about the one they love the most. Fellowship would be rampant and would not be based on external things like hobbies, former sins, etc. It would be based on the indwelling Spirit of Christ. And the Lord would sanctify, mature and disciple His people by the very Word which promises to conform us to the image of Christ--our all consuming desire.

Pastor, if your sermons are not weekly arousing affections for Christ, then what in the world are you preaching for? If the gospel message is a one minute P.S. at the end of a sermon, then can you honestly say that you care that the lost are without Christ? Your seeker-friendly sermons are not friendly at all.

Preach Christ.
Preach Christ.
Preach Christ or you have no business preaching at all. Your members and attenders might as well attend a Mormon service this coming Sunday.

The Supremacy Of Christ

In a society where people are easily star struck, it saddening to see that people are not fully enamored with the sheer awesomeness of Christ. Matt Damon's got nothing on Christ. (Did I just state the obvious?)

Colossians 1:15-20 [15] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [17] And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

This morning I had the awesome privilege of preaching through this passage. What a pleasure it was to declare how supreme our Savior is. Despite what the early Gnostics said, Jesus was not a mere man, he was not a created being. Contrary to what they taught, God did dwell in the flesh and salvation is attained by the work of Christ, not some special hidden or secret knowledge.

Christ is superior in being, superior to all creation, superior in power, superior in dominion, superior in life, superior in the resurrection, superior in sacrifice.

Where's The Love?

Yo, bro! How old is that picture? I know that Jeremy & Matt are laughing at it...the whole bottled water thing going on. Unbelieveable!

Anyway, on to a short post.

As a father, I have the awesome privilege of bringing my child up in the faith. Whilst only 5 years old, she is a sinner in need of a Savior. And I want her to know and treasure Christ. There's only one way to ensure that she knows Christ properly--I must teach her the Word of God.

So we have been moving through some of the main Old Testament stories. And I am making it a point to direct her to Christ regardless of where we find ourselves in Scripture. Recently we discussed the story of Joseph and how we was sold into slavery only to become a very prominent leader in Egypt.


(Not quite Joseph)

Among other things I shared with her God's promise to Abraham and how God would bless all nations through him. I reminded her that these people that had come to Joseph for food were the descendants of Abraham and God was going to bring Christ into the world through this bloodline. God was preserving his people so that Christ could come to save His people. Of course, I spoke to her in 5-year-old terms, but you get the point.

For a moment, I was tempted to title our discussion, "How to Survive a Famine,"---I kid, I kid. I say that jokingly because sometime we fail to remember that the Old Testament is not a collection of superhero stories. It's a revelation of God and how He is working out our salvation for His glory. This is what my little girl needs to hear as she is taught these sacred stories.

I pray that one day she'll come to know Christ and regard Him as the Supreme Treasure.