Category Archives: invitations

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How Did Edwards Identify Genuine Believers? Does It Matter?

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Part 2 of, Can You Tell The Difference And Does It Matter?

As I wrote last time, Jonathan Edwards spent an enormous amount of intellectual energy trying to tell the difference between genuine and counterfeit Christianity. In Marsden’s, An Infinite Fountain of Light, is a chapter, But How Do We Tell? The Signs of Rightly Ordered Loves. Marsden lists twelve “positive signs” of genuine faith (p. 109).

Edwards’s starting point, similar to Augustine, is “a ‘new sense’ of God’s love. (p. 112) That spills over, of course, into a new sense of love for God. The first three revolve around some aspect of love. I have found this such a helpful way to address my listeners. Often I will ask whether this instruction from Scripture makes us love God more. Keeping our affections front and center is a helpful antidote toward any tendency to engage in a more sterile or clinical kind of faith.

I found Edwards’s sixth sign extremely telling: humility (p. 117).

Marsden writes, “Edwards highlights humility as ‘a great and most essential thing in true religion.’ In that emphasis, he stands firmly in the Augustinian and Reformed tradition–and in fact in a note he quotes John Calvin, who in turn quotes Augustine, saying that if asked what was the first precept of the Christian religion, ‘I would answer, firstly, humility, secondly, and thirdly, and forever, humility.'” (p. 117).

Earlier Edwards points out that one of the primary character traits of hypocritical or nominal Christians “is that they are in love with their religious experience; they value it for what they get out of it.” (p. 118)

Of course, humility is tricky: “So Edwards says, ‘An infallible sign of spiritual pride is persons being apt to think highly of their humility.'” (p. 119)

Edwards’s other traits in the list of twelve make for interesting reading.

It’s a reminder to me that each Sunday, I am preaching God’s Word to a mixed crowd. Our preaching portions in Scripture will address various aspects of genuine, saving faith and its opposite. As you look for such things in your Text for this weekend, may our Lord receive “glory in the church and in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Why Jonathan Edwards Was So Concerned About Identifying Genuine Faith and Why We Should Too

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“Edwards…offers every sort of professing Christian some important guidelines for assessing the authenticity of faith.” (Marsden, p. 103)

If you have read some of my earlier material you know I learn a lot from the preaching of Jonathan Edwards. It’s because he thinks at a level I never will. But it’s also because, despite hundreds of years separating us, our ministry contexts are similar.

Marsden makes this clear in, An Infinite Fountain of Light, and the chapter, Edwards and the Churches That Whitefield Built.

That shared context began with the likes of George Whitefield. Marsden reminds us, “The evangelists who succeed best are those who can attract the largest audiences. Think Billy Graham, for instance. This, plus the “populist-based versions” (p. 99) of the Gospel meant that churches were attended by those who professed faith in Christ, but who may not be genuinely saved.

Marsden writes, “Edwards spent almost his whole life wrestling with the question of how to tell the difference between authentic Christian experience and its imitations: self-delusion and hypocrisy.” (p. 104)

[If you haven’t read it, you might consider Edwards’s, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections.]

I will go further in to this next time, but for now I wanted to ask you to consider your ministry context.

One of the scariest things I heard as a young pastor-in-training was something Chuck Swindoll said about his ministry in Fullerton, CA. I will never forget him saying that the longer he pastored, the more he believed that less and less of his people were saved.

It’s probably a good idea for you and me to keep this in mind as we preach and teach God’s Word. You may have noticed how much Scripture challenges the reader to make their calling and election sure (to quote from one place). One of my personal goals is to preach in such a way that there are no surprises at the Judgment for my faith-family.

May our Lord received glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you follow Edwards’s example of making sure your listeners know that their faith is genuine.

Randal

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How to Balance Saint-Sanctifying and Seeker-Sensitive Preaching (part 4)

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This series of blog posts is built off the premise that seekers can be reached with messages that are designed for the saints (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 and the outsider that is reached with an insider-directed message). What follows is another way in which effective preachers, ancient (Jonathan Edwards), past (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones), and current (Tim Keller), reach both kinds of audiences with the same message.

They motivate their listeners through both love and fear.

Edwards, for instance, writes: “No other principles will ever make men conscientious, but one of these two, fear or love….Hence, God has wisely ordained, that these two opposite principles of love and fear, should rise and fall, like the two opposite scales of a balance; when one rises the other sinks” (p. 376 in Carrick’s, The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards, quoting Edwards’ Religious Affections).

First, motivating through love means inquiring about our listeners’ love for God (not God’s love for us). Motivating through fear does refer to our being afraid of the wrath of our holy God.

You’ll notice in Edwards’ quote that he is arguing for both of these elements being included in our sermons. It caused me to look at my preaching and ask, first, if I am motivating my listeners to respond appropriately to the Text and, second, how I am motivating my listeners to respond to the Text.

Some of our preaching portions actually do motivate through one or the other, so when that happens, we simply urge everyone along just as God Himself does. Yesterday I preached on Hebrews 10:24-31 which contains the terrifying warning: “a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries….It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” And that was meant for the Saints!

However, many, if not most, preaching portions do not contain explicit motivation from either angle. In those Texts, during the application segment(s) of our sermons, it is important for us to motivate through love for God and fear of God. According to Edwards, this is one way to unmask the listener and bring him or her to faith.

Preach well for the sake of His reputation in the Church and in the world.

Randal

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Why Did Jesus Always Make It So Difficult?!

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No matter who Jesus encountered, He never made it easy for them to become a disciple. Remember how he handled the rich, young ruler? In Luke 9:57-62, two of the three men stated their intention to follow Jesus (Jesus asked one to follow Him). Jesus made it difficult for both of them. As I’ve studied the gospels over the years, I noticed that Jesus always made it more difficult than I would have. When I detect some interest, I’m too quick to seal the deal. It has made me wonder if I should be careful not to make things sound easier than they are in my preaching.

Robert Schuller once said, “I want to attract [the non-Christian listener], and so I use the strategy that Jesus used. I preach the way Jesus preached” (cf. Modern Reformation, 11, no. 1, 2002, p. 33). Sounds easy enough.

Rick Warren wrote, “Anyone can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart” (The Purpose-Driven Church, p. 220). Sounds easy enough.

In Luke 9:57-62, we don’t know how the three men responded to Jesus’ difficult demands. We do know that Jesus was not afraid of making difficult demands on those who were interested. I don’t want to push people away needlessly or make becoming a disciple harder than it is. However, I do not want to make it too easy, either. Maybe the best thing I can do is preach the Text. Sometimes it’s, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31). Other times it’s, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Happy New Year. Preach well.