Grace Blog
Gospel and Poor: Implications from the Resurrection of Christ
To date, I have addressed the gospel implications related to the poor from the life and death of Jesus Christ. The third reality of the gospel that I want to bring to our attention is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The seven implications I have touched on are intended to show how the vertical realities of the gospel bring forth horizontal implications as it relates specifically to the poor.
Gospel and Poor: Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the vindication of God’s character and fulfillment of all God’s promises through the life and death of His Son. A quick glance at the early church and you will find that the fundamental doctrine and reality that irritated crowds and caused others to retaliate was the faithful preaching of Jesus Christ risen from the dead (e.g. Acts 4:2, 33; 17:18, 32; 23:6; 24:21). In his powerful argumentation in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains that without the resurrection of Jesus, all preaching is in vain and all faith is in vain (1 Cor. 15:14). Furthermore, everyone who has testified about Jesus Christ is a liar and has misrepresented God (1 Cor. 15:15). The outcome of a Christ crucified and not risen is a world remaining in their sins without hope or rescue in this world (1 Cor. 15:17).
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church, Jesus, Poor, Resurrection | posted by TimBrister at 12:20 am | Categories: Gospel, Jesus, Poor |
Gospel and Poor: Implications from the Death of Christ
Picking up where I left off on the horizontal gospel implications regarding the poor, I want pick up on the death of Jesus Christ. I mentioned that the gospel realities from the life of Jesus should horizontally cause us to work out His righteousness in us through dwelling with the poor (presence), intentionally pursuing relationships with the poor (community), and demonstrating personal hospitality towards the poor (welcoming).
Gospel and Poor: Death of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ lived the life we could never live (righteousness) and died the death we all deserve to die (substitute). Jesus was motivated to give Himself on the cross “for the joy that was set before Him” (Rom. 12:1)–a joy to please the Father by completing His earthly mission. At the very heart of the gospel message is the reality of substitution (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18): His death that we might experience everlasting life; His righteousness for our sinfulness; His condemnation for our acceptance: His taking the wrath of God that we might know the love of God; His bearing God’s judgment for sin that we might know God’s infinite mercies; His becoming cursed that we might experience God’s blessing, etc.
Labels: Cape Coral, Cross, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church, Jesus, Poor | posted by TimBrister at 10:04 pm | Categories: Gospel, Jesus, Poor |
12 Observations about the Poor from the New Testament
Why should we take up the subject of the poor in our studies of the gospel-centered life? From the New Testament alone, let me provide you with twelve observations for your consideration.
Jesus and the Poor
1. Jesus began his earthly ministry by defining it according to prophecy fulfilled regarding the preaching of the gospel to the poor (Luke 4:16-21).
2. The proof that Jesus chose to give to John the Baptist that he indeed was the Messiah was ministry to the poor (Matthew 11:1-6).
3. Jesus lived on earth as a poor man (Luke 9:58) and enjoyed community among the poor and needy.
4. Jesus links the fulfillment of the second table of the Law in reference to having mercy and compassion upon the poor and needy (Luke 10:25-37).
5. Jesus indicates that our confidence in the resurrection should lead us to welcome the poor to the banqueting table of our lives (Luke 14:12-14).
6. The basis of Jesus’ judgment upon his return is grounded in how we cared for “the least of these my brothers” (i.e., the poor) (Matthew 25:31-46).
Early Church and the Poor
7. The early church believed (and practiced) that caring for the poor was fundamental to their identity such that there was “not a needy person among them” (Acts 2:45; 4:34-35).
8. When Paul was received by the apostolic leadership in Jerusalem, they left him with a simple charge: remember the poor, something that Paul was eager to do (Galatians 2:10). Of all things they could have said, apparently this was very important to leaders of the early church.
9. It was a common practice for the early church to take up contributions/offerings to help meet the needs of the poor (Romans 15:25-26; 2 Corinthians 8-9).
10. When Paul exhorts the Corinthians believers, he reminds them that God has chosen the weak, the lowly, the despised in the world (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). As history reveals, not many of the early church were rich or of noble birth.
11. James declares that justifying faith is authenticated by good works in reference to the poor (James 2:1-26). Ignoring the poor is an indication that you may not rightly understand what it means to be justified by faith in God.
12. John questions whether or not we have come to know the love of God through the sacrifice of His Son if our hearts are closed to the poor and needy (1 John 3:16-18). The love we have received vertically ought to be demonstrated horizontally in deeds to the poor.
These observations strike at the heart of the New Testament community of believers–what they believed, how they lived, and why they embraced the poor and needy in their community. May God grant us an understanding of the gospel that fuels a passion to love, serve, and bless the poor in our city!
Labels: Cape Coral, Grace Baptist Church, Jesus, New Testament, Poor | posted by TimBrister at 8:42 am | Categories: Jesus, Poor |
2010: A Clear, Close, and Continual Looking to Jesus
I had the privilege of preaching on the first two Sunday’s of 2010, and during preparation the Lord led me to a familiar passage–Hebrews 12:1-3. Although familiar, this passage proved to be very fruitful and engaging to my own heart, and I pray that you were encouraged as well. It is my hope that this year we will have a clearer, closer, and more continual looking to Jesus. The kind of endurance we need this year is nourished in the gospel, and the danger we face each day is to allow weights to distract us or unbelief to blind us from beholding the author and finisher of our faith.
For your benefit, I am making my sermon manuscripts available here for you to download. If you would like to listen or download the audio, go here for the first sermon and go here for the second sermon.
To download my two manuscripts put into one (PDF), simply click here.
Labels: Gospel, Hebrews 12:1-3, Jesus, New Year | posted by TimBrister at 12:02 am | Categories: Jesus, Resources, Sermons |
He’s Here - The Jesus Storybook Bible
The Jesus Storybook Bible has been a great gift to our family for our family worship. We are close to completing it for the second time, and our boys are increasingly loving their Bible with each time of learning about Jesus. Below is a video narration of the birth of Christ. I encourage you to share this with your children sometime during this advent season. You can pick up a copy at Westminster Bookstore for just $11 and change.
Labels: Advent, Jesus, Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible | posted by TimBrister at 12:17 pm | Categories: Advent, Jesus, Parenting/Family |
Power of the Cross
Lest we forget, the power of the cross changes everything.
Labels: Forgiveness, Jesus, Power of the Cross, Salvation | posted by TimBrister at 3:33 pm | Categories: Jesus, Worship |
The Kingdom, the Community, and You, Part 2
In my last post, I made the case that kingdom of God should have preeminence in our lives and serve as the foundation for all we do in our lives. We should seek first the kingdom of God, pray for His kingdom come, and not look back when we’ve put our hands to the plow in following Christ. Because is pleased the Father to give us the kingdom, it should bring us pleasure to give God our hearts and lives in service to the advancement of His kingdom and glory, for to that we are called to live in a worthily manner.
With a kingdom perspective that prioritizes your life according to the things our King values the most, we should realize how good citizens of the kingdom are to relate to one another in community and to the larger community of unbelievers in the world around us. When Christ is king, we do not consider people for what they can offer us but rather how we can serve them. We are not looking to take advantage of them but rather take advantage of the opportunity to bless them. This approach to community is only possible as we appropriate the example of Christ by His Spirit who came not to be served but to serve (Matt. 20:28). At the moment when Jesus knew the Father had given all things into His hands, you would think such knowledge, power, and greatness would be encapsulated in the recognition of this fact by Himself and others in public praise, adulation, and worship. Yet, such a moment led Jesus to a towel and basin where he performed the most humbling of tasks in washing the feet of disciples (John 13:1-20).
True kingdom community is possible when we have the humble heart of our King who served others by giving His life away in loving sacrifice. Paul exhorted the Philippian believers this very thing when he wrote,
“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus . . .” (Phil. 2:3-5)
Outside of Christ, no one is more significant than ourselves. Repentance in the heart where the kingdom of Christ is present deals continual blows against pride and self-centeredness in order to liberate our thinking so that we may have the mind of Christ which humbly considers others more significant than ourselves.
The Christian community is heaven on earth where the mind and heart of Jesus is expressed through His body being knit together in love. The church becomes a more visible sign of the kingdom when those subject to the King are being conformed to His will and pattern their lives according His commands - and do in the context of a broader community outside the kingdom whose attitudes and actions are daily challenged by the reign and rule of Jesus Christ among His people. This is where the presence of the kingdom spreads a passion for the advance of the kingdom. Only in community can we demonstrate the kind of humility, love, and sacrifice for others where our preeminent interest in the kingdom fuels our personal interest in blessing of others in kingdom word (gospel) and kingdom deed (service).
Labels: Community, Gospel, Humility, Jesus, Kingdom, Service | posted by TimBrister at 7:04 am | Categories: Community, Gospel, Humility, Jesus |
The Kingdom, the Community, and You, Part 1
Over the past several weeks, we have been discussing the future of community groups in the life of Grace Baptist Church. Last Sunday night, I presented the nuts and bolts of a Great Commission vision focusing on the roles that community groups and church planting would play in our future. The elders and pastors recognize that this is a bold and aggressive vision–one that is exceedingly beyond us. In a time like this, there are real temptation and challenges we face, including facing our fears, owning up to our comfort zones, challenging our preferences and feelings in light of Scripture, and just simply counting the cost of being a faithful follower of Christ full of faith in His promises and power to perform might things in our midst.
One of the things I encourage you to consider is Christ as King and the advance of His kingdom, specifically as it relates to our lives. When Christ inaugurated His kingdom, the kingdom of God was tied to repentance. Radical changes were being made of cosmic proportions. A quick word-study on “kingdom” in the gospels will show the majority focusing on entrance into the kingdom and what it is like. When God establishes the kingdom in our hearts, it will come about through the changing of our thinking, our believing, and our living. It is nothing short of a reversal of the world’s pattern of thinking about life and conforming our lives to the pattern of God’s revealed will in Scripture. Therefore, when we pray, “Your kingdom come . . .” we are also saying, “Lord, reveal whatever is in my life that needs to change so that you have complete rule and reign in my life.” To pray for Christ’s kingdom to come without submitting and surrendering to His rights as King over our lives makes the Lord’s Prayer impersonal and our repentance superficial.
Practically speaking, daily repentance in light of God’s kingdom involves a new perspective with new priorities for our lives. Outside of Christ, we are king. The world revolves around us–what we need, what we want, who we like to have in our lives, etc. It’s a life shaped by comfort and ease, seeking a happiness with daily attempts to make the circumstances fair, painless, and pleasant. We determine our priorities because we are convinced we have the best perspective for our lives.
Until the King and His Kingdom comes.
When that happens, everything changes. Our world does not revolve around us but around Christ–what He wants for our lives, what He requires of us, and how to please Him. It’s not a comfortable or easy life; rather, it comes with cost and is illustrated by a disciple taking up his cross daily to follow Jesus. We don’t seek to make life easy, but do seek to make it glorious. As we understand His perspective for our lives, we then go about the business of repentance (changing) so that our priorities are His priorities, our passions are His passions, our purpose in life is arrested by his death on the cross.
Principally, what should dominate our lives when Christ is King is the advance of His kingdom. Jesus told His disciples to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33). Nothing should have a higher priority than His rule and reign in and through our lives. Even the most respectful and legitimate reasons fall short to the preeminence of the kingdom. At one point in his ministry, Jesus called a would-be disciple to follow him. The man offered what seemed to be a most reasonable excuse–the need to bury His father. In a moment some might call divine insensitivity, Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-62). There are some things spiritually alive people can do that spiritually dead people cannot, namely proclaiming the kingdom. Consequently, our entire lives should be invested in the kingdom, knowing that anyone who puts his hands to the plow and looking back is not fit for the kingdom of God.
Followers of Christ know that “it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Because of that reality, our lives should be radically different from the world around us. Things like selling our possessions, giving to the needy, storing up treasures in heaven rather than places where thieves and moth have access, for example. When we have discovered that God has given us the treasure of His Son, our affections should follow our chief possession. When the kingdom’s advance is our leading priority, we will know something of what it means to “walk worth of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:12).
In my next post, I will share how the preeminence of the kingdom in our lives leads us to a passionate commitment to community.
Labels: Community, Gospel, Jesus, Kingdom of God | posted by TimBrister at 2:01 pm | Categories: Community, Gospel, Jesus |
Together at the Cross
One of my favorite blogs on the internet is called “Of First Importance.” This blog is dedicated to posted gospel-centered quotes on a daily basis, and I encourage you to add them to your list of online reads for the edification and encouragement in the gospel. A few days ago, they posted an excerpt speaking about the work of the gospel in our hearts together as a community of repenting and believing followers of Christ. In light of our discussion on community of late, I felt it was appropriate to include it here.
“We stand as sinners together at the cross needing to be cleansed. When true love shines, we find it easy to share with and trust one another as we repent together and find grace in the sinner’s place. We grow to understand and feel safe with one another. There is nothing so sweet on earth as this simple fellowship of Christians who repent. Jesus stands among us shedding His holy light until it seems that nothing evil or unreal can linger there. It becomes easy to repent but hard to hurt one another. Our hearts are melted together and we lay down our lives for the brethren.”
- Stanley Voke, Personal Revival (Waynesboro, Ga.: OM Literature, nd), 77.
Labels: Community, Gospel, Jesus | posted by TimBrister at 6:48 am | Categories: Community, Gospel, Jesus |
That’s My King!
Labels: Jesus | posted by TimBrister at 7:53 am | Categories: Jesus |
Fueling a Gospel-Saturated Lifestyle
The third mark of a healthy church member is that he/she is gospel-saturated. Thabiti Anyabwile begins with the following argument:
“The greatest need in the world today is the gospel. It is the greatest need of the world because men, women, and children are perishing without a vital knowledge of God through the good news of our Savior and his Son, Jesus. The greatest need in the church today is the gospel. The gospel is not only news for a perishing world, it is the message that forms, sustains, and animates the church. Apart from the gospel, the church has nothing to say–that is, nothing to say that cannot be said by some other human agency. The gospel distinguishes the church from the world, defines her message and mission in the world, and steels her people against the fiery darts of the evil one and the false allurements of sin. The gospel is absolutely vital to a vibrant, joyous, persevering, hopeful, and healthy Christian and Christian church. So essential is the gospel to the Christian life that we need to be saturated in it in order to be healthy church members.”
Because the gospel is our greatest need, it should occupy all of our lives. In order to fuel a gospel-saturated lifestyle, I want to point you to some links that are directories of links, sermons, articles, and other resources on the gospel.
Gospel Blogs:
* Of First Importance
* Recover the Gospel
* Gospel-Driven Blog
Gospel Directories:
* Tim Keller
* Monergism
* Desiring God
* Church Matters
* The Resurgence
* Acts 29 Network
* The Gospel Coalition
* Together for the Gospel
Gospel Confessions:
* The Gospel Coalition Foundational Documents
* Together for the Gospel Affirmation and Denials (PDF)
* The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration
Labels: Gospel, Grace Baptist Church, Jesus, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 6:01 pm | Categories: Gospel, Resources, Sunday School Stuff |
What’s Next?
Formerly New Attitude, Next is a ministry focusing on college age students and twenty-somethings under the direction of Josh Harris. While this promo video is geared for their upcoming conference, I think it is very thought provoking not only to consider about the NEXT conference but also the next day, the next hour, the next five minutes. Take a look.
Labels: Jesus, NEXT | posted by TimBrister at 8:42 am | Categories: Jesus |
Jesus Makes All Things New
On the first Sunday of the new year, Pastor Tim Brister preached a message entitled “Jesus Makes All Things New” from Matthew 9:14-17. We live in a season of the new year filled with new hopes, new resolutions, new dreams–all in pursuit of renewal. Renewal movements have existed since the creation of society and certainly were existing during the time of Jesus, including groups such as the Zealots, the Essenes, and the Pharisees. However, the only movement of hope and renewal that is lasting and eternal was created by Jesus Christ and ultimately will culminate in a new heaven and a new earth. His kingdom is established in the hearts of men who, when they repent and believe, become a new creation in Christ where the old is passing away and all things are becoming new (2 Cor. 5:17).
Pastor Tim’s main point was that, because Jesus Christ is the one who makes all things new (Rev. 21:5), the Christian life is one of both feasting in His presence and fasting for His purposes. From Matt. 9:14-17, Pastor Tim explained the three illustrations that answered one question with two truths, followed by personal application. Jesus Christ did not come to do a patch-job to the garments of Jewish traditionalism but rather came to cleanse it and renew it with the fulfillment of the new covenant promise through His blood.
To listen to the sermon, click here.
To download the sermon, click here.
To subscribe to the podcast, click here.
Labels: Jesus, Matthew 9:14-17, Tim Brister | posted by TimBrister at 9:20 am | Categories: Jesus, Reflection and Review, Sermons |
Our Greatest Need: A Fresh View of Our All-Sufficient Savior
This past Sunday, Pastor Tom Ascol preached a year-end message entitled “A Fresh Vision of Our All-Sufficient Savior” from Revelation 1:9-20. In his message, Pastor Tom articulated from Scripture that our greatest need and deepest desire should be to have a fresh view of Jesus Christ for the new year. God has blessed us (already) with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, and we know that He will meet our needs according to His riches in glory. Yet, many are ignorant of what God has done for them in Christ. Finding Jesus as the Treasure God has made Him to be shows us biblically what God has given us in His Son.
To listen to Pastor Tom’s sermon, click here.
To download the sermon, click here (right click, “save as”).
To subscribe to GBC Podcast, click here.
Labels: Christ, Grace Baptist Church, Jesus, Tom Ascol | posted by TimBrister at 9:13 am | Categories: Reflection and Review, Sermons |
The Birth That Changed the World
This past Sunday (December 14), Pastor Tom Ascol preached a message entitled “The Birth That Changed the World” focusing on Isaiah 9:5-7. Jesus’ birth was good news then, and it is good news for everyone who is willing to receive it. Pastor Tom’s three main points were:
1. Who He [the One who is born] is—God in flesh (incarnation)
2. What He [the One who is born] does—reigns as Eternal King
3. Why this matters
The one who is born is a Son given bearing and fulfilling the titles of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. He came to take the government on His shoulder and expand it forever, and all this matters because of what God is doing in this world–more specifically what God has done for us. “Unto us” a child is born. This birth indeed has changed the world, and Jesus Christ continues to change lives.
Click here to listen online :: Click here to download (MP3)
Labels: Christmas, Incarnation, Jesus | posted by TimBrister at 5:34 pm | Categories: Reflection and Review, Sermons |
