Fore more info on this course click here.

Want a first-rate, university-level, gospel-saturated theology education, but don’t have the time or thousands of dollars to put into it?

Of course, you do.

Well, The Gospel for OC is excited to announce a brand new opportunity just for you!

We’re teaming up with Dr. Thaddeus Williams for the launch of TerraNova University right here in Orange County. Dr. Williams currently teaches Theology and Biblical Studies at Biola University. He has lectured internationally at seminaries in Nepal and Francis Schaeffer’s L’Abri Fellowships in Holland and Switzerland, has written God-centered books in philosophy and theology, and has been our guest for many TG4OC interviews. The young Dr. Williams is driven by a passion to help Christians raise their biblical IQ and make a big gospel impact on Orange County.

Terra Nova University courses are open to anyone who wants to grow theologically—and that means you! It kicks off Monday night April 23^rd from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Hub in Lake Forest (for directions click here). The first course—“Theology 1: Knowing and Enjoying God”—runs four consecutive Monday nights and will explore such questions as:

Can we know God is there?

If God is sovereign over His universe, is there any room left for human freedom?

How can we integrate biblical realities about God into our everyday lives so that our walk matches our talk?

For more info and to register for TNU simply click here or visit: http://www.ourterranova.com/tnu/

We hope to see you there!

(written by Dustin Smetona)

Many Christians find the word “doctrine” to be a downer. Some may wield the cute adage “doctrine divides” as they describe, with disdain, “churches who focus too much on doctrine.” This stance betrays a misunderstanding of doctrine’s definition. It actually is a doctrine to espouse the idea that “doctrine divides.” All churches—even those who claim they don’t focus on doctrine—are filled with it. Therefore, we must not criticize something which we all utilize and which has done no wrong.

On the contrary, doctrine is, by nature, practical and helpful. A doctrine is, simply, “something that is taught.” If you have ever benefited from another’s teaching, then doctrine is your friend! Holding this to be true, I’d like to briefly examine a Christian teaching that is not universally loved nor thought to have much (if any) practical benefit: the doctrine of election.

A Quick Definition

Wayne Grudem in his tome, Systematic Theology, describes the doctrine of election in these terms:

 Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.

Let’s consider a beloved passage, well-known and widely quoted, that expresses the practical benefit of election: Romans 8:28-30.

Instilling Hope

The eighth chapter of Romans is predominantly about the present comfort that Christians find in the many wonderful things God has done and will do for them. Paul explains that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (v. 1), freedom from the law of sin and death (v. 2), the presence of God’s Spirit with believers (v. 9-11), adoption into God’s family (v. 15), co-inheritance with Christ provided that we suffer with Him (v. 17), and bodily redemption (v. 23) to name a few. The aim of all these glorious realities is to build faith by drawing attention to God’s incalculable kindnesses to His people. When Paul brings up election (v. 29-30, 33), he is using it to achieve the same end as all these other truths: hope. He wants to instill hope. If his readers are convinced that the Sovereign God who rules over absolutely everything has set His particular affection upon them, then they will have an unshakable hope.

Providing Stability

Anyone who has been a Christian for some time has known another believer who struggles with feeling accepted by God. This struggling individual rightly laments their sin but lacks assurance that God truly delights in them. If we are honest, all of us wrestle with this during certain seasons. The gracious act of election by God can help stabilize our minds in these tumultuous times if it finds a treasured spot in our hearts. When you grasp that God has picked you for Himself, you can have the elusive assurance which you seek. He does not “faint or grow weary” (Isa. 40:28) and will not allow you to be snatched out of His hand (John 10:28-29).

If you are struggling, rest in the persistent grace of God that is put on display in the ransoming death of His Son. If He did not love you and had not chosen you, He would never have sent Jesus. But rejoice knowing that He did! He has chosen you. He does love you.

Justin Taylor writes:

Critique—done well—is a gift to the one being criticized. We should welcome the opportunity to have our thinking corrected and clarified. We see through a glass dimly, and God has gifted the church with teachers who often see things more clearly than we do at present. In God’s providence and through the gift of common grace he may also use unbelievers to critique our views, showing our logical mistakes or lack of clarity.

Critique done poorly—whether through overstatement, misunderstanding, caricature—is a losing proposition for all. It undermines the credibility of the critic and deprives the one being criticized from the opportunity to improve his or her position.

It’s impossible in a blog post to set forth a comprehensive methodology of critique—if such a thing can even be done. But there are at least three exhortations worth remembering about criticism: (1) understand before you critique; (2) be self-critical in how you critique; (3) consider the alternatives of what you are critiquing.

Wise words. Read the whole thing.

[This is the second part in a blog series on Worldview and Social Change]

Part II: The Nature of Poverty

In Part I, we looked at the concept of social change and how each of us, knowingly or unknowingly, contributes as agent of change from the moment we enter into a missional context.  The question is: Are we serving the poor and promoting change that is Christ-centered and glorifying to God or have we fallen prey to worldly perspectives on this subject?

In Part I of this series, we saw that a biblical worldview of social change can be broken down into 4 broad categories along a continuum of accomplishing a desired change.  In our Worldview and Social Change series, we will take a look at how a biblical worldview informs each of these categories which will hopefully raise discussion on how we can ultimately be agents of change that glorify God!

The Nature of Poverty

Our Poverty before an Almighty God

Prior to jumping into discussions about the causes, interventions, and desired change in poverty alleviation, I firmly believe that a solid theological foundation and heart positioning must be established.  This foundation begins with the gospel of Jesus Christ – that we are in absolute poverty before the face of an Almighty God who has given us His one and only Son Jesus Christ that we might have eternal life (John 3:16).

The common “poverty as deficit” perspective, as it is coined, views the poor as those who are lacking necessary goods which can be provided by those of us who have an abundance of resources.  This is a material only definition.  There are a variety of reasons why this view is much too limited.  First and foremost, God’s Word is clear that we ourselves are impoverished in spirit before the face of an Almighty God. We thereby recognize the magnificent work of our Savior, Jesus Christ on the cross for us (Psalm 63:1-8; Luke 6:21,24-25).  Therefore, we find ourselves in a place of realizing that we are nothing apart from Christ and that all we have and know is by the grace of God alone (Rom. 7:18).  We ought not to enter into a situation of material poverty as the “providers” riding in to town to save the day.  Rather, we ought to recognize our own poverty and enter a situation with a humble, complete, utter dependence upon God to empower and provide, for it is He alone who is the Provider (Psalm 10:14,16-18; Psalm 35:10; Psalm 72:12-14; Isaiah 41:17-20; 2 Co. 9:8).

Realizing our utter dependence upon Christ out of a place of poverty should be our absolute beginning point if we are to share the eternal, lifesaving hope of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord with those who are living in material poverty.  This is the ultimate Good News!  And sadly, we have NO news for the poor if we don’t first recognize our life of poverty before the face of God ourselves.  Furthermore, if we come to the poor out of a place of poverty, then we are positioned to serve the poor as those who are likewise created in the image of God rather than from a place of paternalism, pride, and self-righteousness.  To be poor is to be humble, and we are called to model the humility of our Servant-King, Jesus Christ.  This should always be our starting point when serving the poor.

Poverty as a Result of the Fall

A second point of discussion when reflecting on the nature of poverty is its source: the Fall.  Romans 8:18-24 tells us that sin has pervaded all aspects of human life giving us reason to believe that the nature of poverty is far more than material deprivation alone.  Bryant Myers suggests that poverty is multifaceted and should be viewed in light of relationships that have been broken by the Fall – relationships with God, self, others, and with the rest of creation.  He goes on to suggest that sin has pervaded the spiritual, personal, social, cultural, and physical areas of life, each of which contribute to issues of poverty in different ways (Myers, 27; 81).  Timothy Keller likewise describes the nature of poverty or “human needs” as alienation from God, self, others, and nature.  Keller further suggests that the nature of poverty is theological at its core, extending to the psychological, social, and physical spheres of life (Keller, 46-51).

While it is important to look at the many different aspects of poverty, we need to be reminded that the issues of material poverty are very real and addressed forthrightly throughout the Bible.  Corbett and Fikkert summarize this point well: “The economically poor are singled out in Scripture as being in a particularly desperate category and as needing very special attention (Acts 6:1-7).  The fact that all of humanity has some things in common with the material poor does not negate their unique and overwhelming suffering nor the special place that they have in God’s heart, as emphasized throughout the Old and New Testaments (Corbett and Fikkert, 71).”

I know that some of these terms and ideas may seem a bit esoteric.  However, if we take a moment to consider how sin has crept its way into every facet of life, it may be easier than we think to discover application.  Let’s look at the sex slave industry as one example.  A family gives their child to someone for labor purposes so that they can feed their family (not knowing it’s the sex slave trade).  The child is rescued but left psychologically and emotionally scarred, socially stigmatized, diseased, and containing no practical skills to begin a productive life.  Let’s not forget to mention that the sex slave industry is sometimes allowed under the watchful eye of civil and government authorities.  While this child’s most critical need is found in Jesus Christ and Him alone, we see that the nature of this child’s poverty truly extends to many different areas whose source is the evil that has resulted from the Fall.

In the next post, we’ll take this discussion further in addressing the “causes” of poverty.

Yesterday, June 1st, an important new book hit shelves, nationwide. Love, Freedom, and Evil: Does Authentic Love Require Free Will? rises to address recent controversies over the doctrine of God’s love—does authentic love really require free will?

Author Thaddeus Williams, Orange County pastor and philosophy professor, probes deep into Scripture with a fine-tooth comb to find biblical truths that shed light on the moral issues of love, freedom, and evil.

Does love demand free will? Is humanity free to choose? If God causes someone to love him, does this dehumanize the lover? How does love and freedom relate to the problem of evil in the world?

With truth and grace, Williams tackles these questions and more.

Watch the promo video for the book:

Order the book today.

I think this is a common question many people ask.  What is God’s will for my life?  I’ve heard pastors say that this is the most common question they are posed with.  This is something my wife and I have been contemplating for some time now.  What is God’s will for me as an individual?  What is God’s will for our marriage?  What is God’s will for my family?  What is God’s will for my calling in life or ministry?  I’m sure many of these questions have been asked by you as well.

I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned from my time reflecting on this over the past year or so.

1. God is not required to communicate anything to you.

Many people feel as if God is required to communicate with us as His people.  He is not.  God does as He chooses, and if He did not do as He chose or was not sovereign, He would cease to be God and that is not possible.  God cannot change (Num 23:19; 1 Sam 15:29; Is 46:10; Mal 3:6).  God can choose as He wills (Rom 9:15-16).  Remember, God is not required to communicate with us, but by His grace, He chooses to communicate to us.

2. God can communicate with you.

With that said, God is more than capable of communicating with His people.  He dwells with his people with the Tabernacle (Ex 25-40), through His Son (Is 7:14; John 1:14), through His Spirit (1 Cor 3:16) and He will continue to do so in the New Heaven’s and the New Earth (Rev 21:3).  God is with us as our Emmanuel and wants to be with His people.  He is more than capable of communicating with us.  We see this throughout the Scriptures of God speaking to His people, calling them to repentance, declaring the Gospel to them, and exhorting them in how to live.  It is clear that God has communicated and can continue to communicate to people, especially His people.

3. God’s communication can be a voice, sign, miracle, word, etc.

God can communicate through a voice (God spoke to Moses, and many other prophets in the Scriptures).  God also can give a sign or miracle to lead people as Paul was led by an angel to return to Macedonia (Acts 16:9) or even as God sent the angel Gabriel to communicate with Mary (Luke 1:26-38).

4. God’s primary means of communication is his Word!

Although God communicates through signs, miracles, or even His direct voice, God’s primary means of communication is through the Scriptures.  The Holy Spirit inspires Biblilcal revelation and as a means of communication by God, it is information from the mind of God himself.  Illumination of the text of Scripture leads to an understanding and clarity of the words of Scripture. The Bible has many things to say about life, godliness and holy living, but it is not exhaustive and has never been such.  The Bible is God’s primary avenue of communication, but it is not an exhaustive form of communication where you can play Bible Lottery and find everything and anything God wants to communicate to you.

5. God can, God will, We err.

As the Bible is God’s primary means of communication and he can speak through signs, miracles, and other people, the questions still lingers as to how can I determine God’s will in my life?  What if there is something I need to make a decision on that is not clearly explained in the Scriptures.  God speaks through the Scriptures on specific things he desires from us, but like noted above, it is not exhaustive on all things.  What if I ask God to tell me who to marry?  What if I ask God to tell me where to live?  What if I ask God to tell me what church to serve at?

The Bible does not answer these questions.  So what are we to do then?  How do I know God’s will?  I would suggest that you ask God to begin with.  Ask God to tell you and if He decides to answer He will.  If He decides to not tell you specifically what to do, then just make a decision.  Make a decision by consulting the Bible, close friends, and wise counsel.  Then you can make a wise decision based on a mixture of wisdom and God’s truth. It is almost an educated wise decision based on what counsel you have recieved from others and God himself.

6. What if I make a mistake?

You will make mistakes.  Sorry to break it to you.  God is the only perfect being.  He does not lie, so he will not tell you to do something that is a lie.  He does not err either, so He will not tell you to do something that will not happen.  The problem lies in our ability to hear and make decisions.  If a “mistake” is made it is on our end.  Either we did not make a wise decision, and felt that it was God’s will for us to do something and it ended up not being the case.  Or we did not hear God correctly and our interpretation of what we felt Him communicating was in error.  Regardless, the error comes back to us.  God does not err or lie. God can use our “mistakes” providentially for His will, but this is a different post altogether.  Maybe if I get some interaction I will give some thoughts on this. I’m just now speaking of making a decision based on God’s will.

I was instructed by Dave Kraft in a recent coaching session to tell people that “you believe” you need to do something as opposed to saying “God told me” to do such and such.  As far as communication is concerned, this leaves the door open that you can be making a mistake, not God.  If for some reason things change or appear to be done in error, God is not called a liar or capable of making mistakes. God can communicate, God might not, God’s Word is our first resource, but God does not make errors or lie.  This must be remembered when we communicate what we feel God “calling” us to do.  Remember, it is us who do the interpreting and application of God’s communication and we are fallible people still dwelling as sojourners on this earth.

And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 7:4)

God’s punishment and wrath are not popular topics—need I even say? Regardless, the Bible tells us God is very concerned with them. If we were not supposed to bother ourselves with God’s judgment, God would not have told us about it so many times in his Word.
Since we see in God’s Word that he is interested in us knowing about his wrath, let us use this verse to try and understand it.

Justice by punishment

One interesting thing we see is that God says, “I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst.” This eliminates any fear of an irrational or unjust God. God does not punish without cause. His anger is provoked rightly by sin, and he rightly punishes sin. If there were no sin, there would be no need for fear. This is why Paul says in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We do not need to fear God’s judgment if we are Christ’s because Christ already bore it. Our God is not a God who inherently love to punish; rather,  he is inherently a God who loves to defend his name and his character.

This is why he will punish sinners while while abominations are in their midst: because unholy actions are an abomination to his holy name, and God will always defend his name. It’s important to know that he does this “while [their] abominations are in [their] midst,” because it frees us from worrying about a God who punishes without cause or who will unjustly continue to punish what has already been paid for.

Now, this first concept is fairly easy for many to swallow—that is, until they ask themselves why God made a world where he would have to defend his name against abominations. While many readers may at this point be bringing out the argument that God did not originally create the world that way, I think that there is a simpler—though more contrary to our nature—answer to be found within the last sentence in this verse.

A God-centered view vs. a man-centered view

The next thing we read is this simple sentence: “Then you will know that I am the Lord.” We see that the reason God punishes them is so that they would know his Lordship. What we may not realize is that when we take issue with God as a punisher, or a judge, we are doing so because we are holding a man-centered—or me-centered—worldview. In this view, God’s  goodness is judged by how favorably he treats man. When we hold a God-centered worldview, the opposite happens. Man’s goodness is judged by his success or failure to treasure and esteem God.

There is one standard of goodness for all things: anything is good to the degree that it willingly displays and exalts God’s glory. Without knowing it, we often take the belief that anything is good to the degree that it is nice to other people. For this reason, God’s judgment is hard for us to reconcile with his goodness, since his judgment is naturally opposed (therefore, “not nice”) to humanity. The truth is that when people love all people, and God judges justly, these two different acts are accomplishing the same thing: namely, the exaltation of God’s glory—not man’s.

When I forgive someone who has offended me, I declare that I do not live for my glory, but for God’s. When God executes judgment on those who offend him, he declares that he does not live for man’s glory, but for his. With these two different actions, God and I are saying the very same thing: that we esteem God’s glory to be of worth, while the glory of any man is worthless.

I believe that this answers the question, “Why must an all-powerful God be a judge?” or, “How can God be good when he behaves in the very way that I must not?”  The answer is that the measure of his goodness is not his kindness; but rather, it is his glory. God punishes because, when he punishes, “Then they will know that [he is] the Lord.” And this is what makes it a good thing: the revelation of his glory.

God’s goal in everything he does is that his glory would be known. He chooses to do this in a variety of ways, and we see in the Bible that judgment, not grace, is the rule.

God’s glory in his grace

However, here is the unbelievably good news: God does glorify himself through his grace! Our God—who does not need to be kind in order to be good—is, in fact, kind. He has made a way, because of his love, to take sinners, and save them by his grace, that his grace might be praised. This is an unspeakable miracle!  If you want to shout out for God’s grace, do it, and realize that his office as a righteous judge does not muffle your cry, it amplifies it.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  (1 Corinthians 6:11)

What joy I have, knowing that I was once a man justly condemned but am no longer. I know that there was a time when God was glorified by the wrath he held against me, when I was unrighteous, immoral, idolatrous, adulterous, thieving, and greedy. It is not only true when Paul says to the Corinthians, “And such were some of you,” but such was I as well. I richly deserved God’s wrath, but he paid my ransom in full on the cross (Matthew 20:28), and is now glorified in me by his love. Praise our God for the immeasurable richness of his glorious grace! (Ephesians 1:6,18-19)

The Truth: We don’t need behavior modification, we need regeneration. You don’t need to become a better person, you need to become a different person—a new person.

Preaching from Luke 6, Mark Driscoll explains:

Luke 6:43-45

43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.