I am so not going to “live blog” our vacation.  Well, maybe just a tidbit to satisfy our one groupie.  But it’s not “live.”

So here’s the summary of our day:

We dragged the children out of bed at 6:15am this morning, drove up to San Francisco Int’l Airport, and at 8:00 am boarded an airplane headed to Maui.

The children did well, considering; had a few moments of crying and fussing, but the younger three napped, and my laptop lasted over 4 hours playing a Curious George DVD for my oldest.

We arrived just after 11am local time (read: 2pm pacific), had lunch at Da Kitchen near the airport, swung by Costco for some supplies, then drove 40 minutes to our condo in Kahana, where we’ll be staying through Sunday.

After unpacking a bit and decompressing for a few moments, we walked around the neighborhood for a few minutes… to discover that our two middle children were paralyzed to the point of tears in fright at being near the edge of the ocean (we passed by and attempted to have them walk on a very small beach area by the road).  Hopefully, future efforts this week will be met with better success.

We then returned to our condo complex, and went to the otherwise vacant swimming pool, where the boys had a blast with me   After a half hour at the pool, we went to dinner at Aloha Mixed Plate in Lahaina, swung by a Safeway across the street for an item or two, then retreated to our condo at 7:40pm (10:40p pacific, which is 2 hours past the children’s normal bedtime), and put them down over the past hour or so.  Hopefully that helps to transition them to this time zone.

Exciting.  Vacationing with four children under 6 years old is a challenge… but I’d rather parent in Maui than back home. =-)  All four kids are piled into one room with two twin beds: the girls sharing one, our oldest sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor, and the other son on a twin.  They’re out cold as I type

Okay, that’s it,  groupie.  No more after this. =-)  Just pray my sore throat doesn’t get any worse than it is right now, so we can fully enjoy our vacation.

So I live-blogged the 2008 Shepherds’ Conference.  Which amounted to quite a few posts.  And I just realized that in the process (early on, at John MacArthur’s second message) I messed up the numbering of the sessions, thus resulting in inaccurate blog titles/links.  Oh well.

If you’d rather not scroll through pages & pages of our blog, here are direct links to each session that I blogged on

General Sessions

1. “Why Every True Calvinist Must Affirm a Biblical Ecclesiology” - John MacArthur
2. “The Blessed Life” (Psalm 1) - Tom Pennington
3. “The Danger of Growing Too Familiar with God” (Lev. 10) - Rick Holland
4. “The Poor Widow” (Luke 21) - John MacArthur
5. Q&A with John MacArthur
6. “He Is Not Silent” - Al Mohler
7. “The Preacher’s Invincible Weapon” (Hebrews 4:12-13) - Steve Lawson
8. “On Culture, Contextualization, Conversation, and Charitableness” (Acts 17) - Phil Johnson
9. “Slaves of Christ” - John MacArthur

Seminar Sessions

1. “A God-Entranced Vision” (Andy Snider)
2. “Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs” (Clayton Erb, Bill Brandenstein)
3. “To Protect and Serve” (Rob Iverson et al)
4. “Delivery and the Powerful Pulpit” (Alex Montoya)

The 2008 Shepherds’ Conference is now over, for many of the conferees, including me. Now what remains is the real test: to go home and be faithful in building up our local churches for the glory of God and salvation of sinners.

A couple of notes:

• I hope to post some reflections on this year’s conference within the next couple of days or so. Today, I’ll mostly be on the road, carpooling back to Northern CA with men from my church.
• Some have referred to my live-blogging of the speakers as a “transcript.” While I’m flattered, and while my notes are certainly more detailed than most have done in the past; I want to make it clear that they do not have the accuracy of a transcript, and there were several occasions where I missed a few nuances or possibly even qualifications on statements. So while my notes may certainly be consulted for the overall flow and content of the messages preached, they should not be considered authoritative as verbatim of what the speakers spoke, e.g., in quotation. Nevertheless, I think that my notes are reliable, if not 100% complete, representations of the sessions at the conference.
• The conference staff requested that I not upload the video clips from the conference that I took, i.e., of several of the musical offerings and congregational singing times.  Thus, they’ve been removed, in order to respect those wishes.
• Thank you to those of you who left comments and / or clarifications.  It has been a pleasure knowing that I’ve been of help to some.  This has been really fun for me, typing like a mad man, capturing the exposition of God’s Word into my laptop.  On the flip side, it’s not something I’d like to do every time I sit under preaching, as it significantly hampers my own ability to fully process what’s being spoken.
• Our blog traffic more than doubled over the course of the conference.  Cool.  Come back and visit us again. =-)

After a call to worship from Scripture and the choir, Clayton Erb led the congregation in singing together three hymns, all of which centered on the church: “I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord,” “O Church, Arise,” and “The Church’s One Foundation.” After this he conducted the orchestra and choir to sing an anthem titled “One Faith, One Hope, One Lord”:

One faith, one hope, one Lord, one church for which he died,
One voice, one song we lift in praise to him who was and is and shall be evermore.
There is one body, one spirit, as you were called to one hope.
One Lord, baptism and faith, one God and Father of all, one God and Father of all,
One God and Father of all, who is in you all.
Though we be many people, diverse with various gifts,
We are given to each other for the unity of faith,
That we grow in the knowledge of the Son of God, in the fullness of Christ.

There is something remarkably dignified and awe-inspiring about music that lifts the heart up in consideration of the great truths of God’s Word.

Christian Ebner then came up and shared a song with us, accompanied by the orchestra, singing a song whose words were taken from Psalm 103:2-6:

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits;
Who pardons all your sins, Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with love and compassion;
Who satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

John MacArthur then came to the podium and we stood for the reading of 1 Peter 5, followed by prayer.

We were then treated to another beautiful song by a vocal trio leading the choir & orchestra presenting a rousing anthem titled “Worthy the Lamb”:

Hear the cries of the shackled from the onset of time
For the chains of defeat there’s no key
See the tears of the broken the cries of the slaves
Is there no one worthy to set us free?

When the crying is stilled as the chorus rings out
Then the shackled released from their chains
And the thousands of voices are swelling the song
Worthy the lamb that was slain

Worthy, worthy, worthy the lamb that was slain
Worthy, worthy, worthy the lamb that was slain

Then all the arch angels, the saints of all time
Holding their crowns in their hands
Fall down before Him, joining the song
Worthy, worthy the lamb

Worthy, worthy, worthy the lamb that was slain
Worthy, worthy, worthy the lamb that was slain
Praise Him, praise Him, praise the lamb that was slain
Praise Him, praise Him, praise the lamb that was slain

Clayton Erb then invited us to stand and sing as a congregation once more, singing “To God Be the Glory.” ‘Twas a rousing and electrifying experience.

Finally, John MacArthur took to the pulpit, inviting the congregation to give thanks to Clayton Erb with a round of applause for his service to his; which was truly marvelous. Rick Holland had leaned over and said, “That’s a tsunami of male praise.” (laughter) There were a number of people who stood up when John invited all who came from another country to rise. He also publicly thanked all those who had ministered the Word of God to us over the course of the conference. He then announced that this year’s keynote speakers would return for next year. He also expressed his joy at seeing the many men who love the truth who came to the conference.

(The remainder will be from the perspective of the speaker)

Tonight will be the first chapter of an old book that I will be redoing, called The Gospel According to Jesus. Through the years, this book has continued to have a ministry. I was asked to do a 20 year anniversary edition of this book, to be released next month. I agreed to do that, to make some updates; with some proviso that I could add a new beginning chapter, which is one of the most overarching arguments of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. What I’m going to preach tonight is the essence of that chapter.

Last year I preached in England at Leicester University. One of the differences from usual was that I was in a dorm room, rather than a hotel or a home. I was in a tiny dorm room. I had this little tiny bed made of metal with a rather old mattress that allowed you to experience the metal. (laughter) There was a funny little shower and showerhead that hit me in the side of the head. There was a tiny metal table with a quintessential English tea pot on it. I was there seven days. There was no restaurant. I walked two miles in the morning to get a loaf of bread and some cheese; and tried to store enough for a day. I was locked up in that room. And it was one of the best things to ever happen to me. I was able to focus. I put on my Bose noise-cancelling headphones, put on classical music, and studied the theme I want to address tonight. I was deeply refreshed in my understanding of the whole of the NT and the whole of my relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Along with a brief prep for the message I was giving every day, this captured my heart in profound ways, esp. by the end of the week. As I got on the plane, I was handed a book Pierced For His Transgressions which I finished on the plane. What dominated my thinking as I thought about the sacrifice of Christ was the concept that I am and all Christians are slaves of Jesus Christ.

In John 15:14 we read this: “You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” This is one of the richest of all passages. The word of note here is slaves. No longer do I merely call you slaves, no longer only slaves; I now call you friends. But you are friends who are slaves, because you are my friends if you do what I command.

It is that about which I want to speak. If I were to ask you what is the fundamental truth, the foundation reality, the distinguishing fact of Christianity in three words, what would you say? What essential core confession should boldly mark your church, your ministry? What theological absolute should govern your life and church? Jesus is Lord! That is the great Christian confession. “If you will confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you shall be saved!” And “no man can say Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3).

That’s not how contemporary evangelism is done. We are told Jesus wants to be our personal Savior. The ambiguity of that phrase suits the current view of the gospel. I did a radio interview on a large metro talk show, Christian station, who did the three hour afternoon Christian counseling talk plan. It was clear to me that her understanding of the gospel was superficial. So off-the-air I asked “How did you become a Christian?” “Oh, it was great. One day I got Jesus’ phone number and we have been connected ever since.” “What exactly does that mean?” She replied, “What do you mean, ‘What does it mean?’ How would you explain how you became a Christian?” She had a personal relationship with Jesus, which meant that she had a personal relationship with a Jesus she defined. Guess what? Satan has a personal relationship with Jesus, as does every unregenerate person, and it’s not a good one, and they don’t define it. He does. If you listen to current psychological thinking today, you think Jesus thinks your sins are funny.

When you listen to Jesus, at the very core of his teaching is that He is Lord, not your buddy. He didn’t tone that down, he said that to everybody. He is absolute sovereign master, and has never hesitated to declare it to friends and enemies. All who trust in Jesus completely have yielded to His Lordship. Listen to John 13:13: “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.” The true reality of Christ’s Lordship has been eclipsed not only in the contemporary church, but for centuries. I wrote the book 20 years ago not because something just happened, but because it had been going on for a long, long time.

I want to make two points tonight. One, Jesus is Lord. Kurios. This word is used 747 times in the NT. In the book of Acts, 92 times. Soter (savior) is used twice. Kurios means “one who has power, absolute authority, total right to command.” It is a synonym with despotes, from which we get the word “despot.” If we could come to the finest point where these words have different nuance, we’d say kurios is “sovereign lord” which means he is at the pinnacle, where despotes refers to “absolute lord” meaning he’s over everything and there is no other lord. Both words are part of the vocabulary of slavery. Both words are essential to the world of slavery.

Both words are used together in Jude 4: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master (despotes) and Lord (kurios), Jesus Christ.” It’s not used to identify Christ as deity. It’s to acknowledge Him as absolute, sovereign ruler. In the culture to say someone is Lord, means he owns slaves. You’re not the absolute lord or ruler of no one. You’re not the sovereign over people with an option. Any denial of that aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ is heresy. The church, including all pastors, elders, deacons and people; is an assembly of people who have confessed Jesus as Lord (Ro. 10:9). Our life is not defined by our own will, wants, desires, ambitions, self-conceived purposes, dreams, hopes. As true Christians our lives are defined as subjected to, submitted to, under the total power & control of our Lord. That is why Jesus could say in his invitations, “let him deny himself.” You give up all control if you want to follow Jesus. That’s absolute lordship.

Who would really imagine that this great glorious truth, most basic to the Christian gospel, would be lost in the so-called church and we would have people getting Jesus’ phone number and getting connected to him on their terms? These are strong words, and bold words. Let me make the obvious connection. There’s no such thing as a kurios without a doulos - a slave. This is all part of slave language. One word axiomatically, self-evidently implies the other. If He is Lord, He has slaves. And those who call Him Lord are necessarily His slaves. He makes the obvious comment in Luke 6:46: “Why do you call me Lord and do not what I tell you?” It is the defining simple world-dominating idea. The numbers stretch out to the millions of slaves in that time, who understood what Jesus meant.

The second point: Christians are slaves. You might have a hard time buying into that. Doulos is used 130 times in the NT, and with other forms up to 150 times. And in 1 Cor 7:22 we are called Christ’s douloi. This word means one thing: “slave.” It’s all it ever means, nothing else. It’s a person owned, a person with no rights, no freedom, no standing. A slave could not own property, give testimony in a court of law, could not seek reparations from a civil court of law. No autonomy and no freedom. Doulos means that! There are 6 other Greek words that can be translated servant; doulos is not one of those words.

As I was working on this, I reached up on my shelf and pulled down my Kittel tome, the most comprehensive Greek dictionary and went to the entry on doulos. It says “the meaning is so self-evident that it doesn’t need to be explained. And it says it’s distinct from servant. And defined as someone who is not free to make his own choice, but subject to an alien will. He is under obligation and total dependence to his kurios.” Though the word doulos always means this, it is rarely ever translated “slave.” The only time it’s translated “slave” is when it’s referring to an inanimate object or an actual slave. But they won’t translate it as “slave” when referring to relationship with Christ, they’ll use “bondservant” or “servant.” Why? One scholar’s survey of 20 English translations of the NT. Only one, the Goodspeed translation, consistently translated it as “slave.” Since then, I’ve discovered that Jay Adam has a translation of the NT, and the Holman Christian Standard Bible as well is consistent in its translation of doulos. I sat down and asked a publisher of a newer translation and asked, why translate doulos as servant? The response? “It’s offensive.” I said, “lots of things in the Bible are offensive.”

I have the first study Bible in the history of the world. First edition, first printing (1560) of the Geneva study Bible. Doulos, doulos, doulos: servant, servant, servant. From the very outset, English Bible translation has shielded us from the impact of this word. And it has contributed to this necessity to battle for the issue of Lordship, because it’s sucked out the meaning of “slave.” Doulos simply means you are owned, without freedom, under the total control of an alien will. Once you understand that, you get why Jesus said (Mt. 6:24), “No man can be a slave to two masters.” If you translate it “servant” it loses impact. If you’re talking about serving someone, you’re a waiter, you’ll serve all number of tables. But if you translate it right, it makes sense, because you cannot be owned by two people, only by one. Here’s the difference: A servant works for someone, a slave is owned by someone.

A Christian journal article says early translators wanted to avoid the cruel connotation of slave. If you come to someone and tell them that He is commanding you to bow your knee to him, confess Him as Lord and become His slave… that’s biblical evangelism. You’d better think about the gospel: self-denial, counting the cost. Once you understand this concept, the whole NT opens up like a flower. Then when you read, “You’re not your own, you’re bought with a price,” you understand it! Listen to Peter: “False prophets… denying the master who bought them.” Any denial of the Lordship of Christ is a damning thing. Any denial of slavery on my part is a horrendous misunderstanding of what Christ asks of the sinner. You were bought, purchased with His blood (Acts 20, 1 Peter 1:18). Put yourself in the position of the early church. They’re going out to evangelize. They’re going to preach Messiah is God, who is killed by the Jews using the Romans as the executioner. This is a very hard message for any Jew to believe. That’s why it’s a “stumbling block.” You’re trying to convince Jews that God died on a cross. Killed by Gentiles, that’s ludicrous. Then you’re trying to convince Gentiles that a crucified Jew is the God of the universe, which is “foolishness!” Then you’re telling them that they need to become slaves of this God and submit their entire lives to an alien will, giving up everything and denying themselves to follow him even to the death. That’s counter-cultural evangelistic strategy!

I was at a pastor’s conference in N.C. recently, and heard someone say it’s hard to refer to slavery, we have such history, how do I deal with that? I told him that the Bible doesn’t commend slavery, nor condemn it. It simply borrows the metaphor. The Bible doesn’t damn the institution of slavery, but it says masters should treat the slaves right. For some it was good especially with a benevolent master. Jesus didn’t come to abolish slavery, because if He did, He failed. He simply borrowed the metaphor because it’s so perfect! In fact, when the gospel began to move out into the world, the apostles understood it. In Acts 2:18, God is referring to His people as slaves. In Acts 4:29, when persecuted, they said, “Grant that your slaves.” They lived in a world of slaves, and understood it very well. That pastor was concerned about 5 generations ago, but these folks in the NT understood about it in the immediate generation. A slave was like a tool, you could kill your slave if you wanted to! To say that this crucified man is asking you to become his slave is beyond absurdity. Everyone who is free wanted to stay free; most slaves wanted to be free.

In Acts 16:17, there’s a slave girl with a spirit of divination. “Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are douloi of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” Even the demons knew it. This is how it goes.

Col. 4:12, “Epaphras, who is one of your number, a doulos of Jesus Christ.”

2 Tim 2:24, “The Lord’s douloi must not be quarrelsome…” That’s how we’re defined.

1 Peter 2:16, “Act as free men, do not use your freedom as a covering for evil. Use it as douloi of God.” Again, the general statement, he recognizes he’s a slave, demons’ recognize it, and here all believers are slaves of God.

Revelation 1:1, “which God gave him to show to his slaves… to his slave John.”

Revelation 7:3, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.”

Revelation 10:7, “but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His slaves the prophets.” Preachers are slaves. Servants take their money and go home. Slaves are bought and work only for their master.

Revelation 19:2b, “He has avenged the blood of his douloi on her.” Even in heaven we’ll be slaves.

Revelation 22:3, “… and His slaves shall serve Him.” V. 6, “to show to His slaves the things which must soon take place.”

Romans 1:1, “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus.” Or Php 1:1, “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus.” Or James 1, “a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Or 2 Peter, “Simon Peter a slave..”, or Jude, “Jude a slave of Jesus,” or Revelation, “John a slave.”

How do you think that flew in a slave world? This is so missing from Christian vocabulary. But once you get it, when the Bible says you were chosen, you say, “You mean like when a master went into a slave market and chose a slave? And then you were bought like when a master paid a price for the slave? And then you were owned, subjected, called to account; but also protected, provided for and rewarded.” That’s all slave talk! The gospel is a call to slavery. We just have to decide whether you’d rather be a slave to Jesus Christ or the devil.

That was the introduction (laughter), and you think I’m kidding. Returning to John 15:10ff, it refers over and over to Christ commanding which is slave talk. The fundamental issue in slavery is obedience. Submission. But it doesn’t end there. I don’t just call you slaves. I now call you friends. That was really rare. But that’s what Paul asked Philemon to do when Onesimus went back, to embrace him as friend and brother. It was rare but it happened, in the church. But here is the distinction. We now know what our master is doing! The master says, “Go do that and don’t ask me why! Do what I tell you!” But among the slaves, there would be slaves who became privy to the master’s intentions and motivations. They got on the inside, to know his heart; and needed to know why he did what he did, and he needed to tell somebody that; and they became the master’s friends. You were a friend when you knew why he was doing what he was doing. “I have called you friends for all things I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” That’s what takes you from hoi polloi to the inner circle. Illustration: Caesar was lord over everybody. But there were people in his inner circle, who were also drawn to intimate friendship with him and knew his motives. This is just magnificent. Obedience does not make you Jesus’ friend, it proves you are his friend because you can’t be obedient unless you know his intentions. We are slaves, no question. But we are slaves who have become the most intimate friends because He’s told us everything. 1 Cor 2:16 - “You have the mind of Christ.” All has been revealed.

The Lordship controversy with the silly notion of Christ as Savior and not Lord would’ve been far less acceptable & influential if this had been translated correctly. It’s the only issue I know of in Scripture like this. Consider what this truth would mean for the prosperity gospel: gone! Or the market-driven philosophy that appeals to people at the level of their fallenness and promises them what they want in their fallen condition. Or the postmodern concept of truth, or your “personal Jesus.” All obliterated by the kurios-doulos relationship.

He is master, we are slaves. But we are also friends, and He is also perfectly wise, kind, generous. But He is master, He alone provides all I need; my only protector. In the spiritual realm, I have only one provider, protected. He’s my great High Priest (Hebrews), my Discipliner (john 15), my Rewarder. If you’re struggling with this, turn to Philippians 2:3ff:

3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; [that’s slave talk!] 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a SLAVE, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

If you think slavery is beneath you, know that Jesus became like a slave!!! He denied Himself. He perfectly obeyed the will of the father, taking up His cross and denying Himself.

By the way, v. 9ff: “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will boy, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

I thought we were sons. Yes, but don’t mix your metaphors. We’re also branches, we’re a bride. The dominant component in the NT is slave talk.

Close with Luke 17:7ff:

7 “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, `Come immediately and sit down to eat’? 8 “But will he not say to him, `Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? 9 “He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.‘”

In prayer: We have been enslaved but our captor is a despot of mercy who makes us slaves, then sons, then heirs. Sweet master, sweet slavery. Teach us to observe all things that you have commanded us. To your glory we ask these things, Amen.

After a simple lunch of grilled hot dogs, we came into the worship center for the second-to-last general session message from Grace To You executive director and web-guy Phil Johnson. Those of you reading this blog likely already know this; but if you don’t you should check out his prominent websites:

• Pyromaniacs
• The Spurgeon Archive
• The Hall of Church History

The organist provided a prelude to our post-lunch general session with “Grace Greater Than Our Sin,” “Be Thou My Vision,” and “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” After a call to worship from Psalm 40:3, we were led by Bill Brandenstein in singing “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” and “How Firm a Foundation.” Then Andy Snider, a professor at Grace Church, and his wife Pam & daughter Emily sang a song, “Jesus Draw Me Nearer.”

Rick Holland then introduced Phil Johnson to the audience, emphasizing that while Phil is definitely a bulldog apologist, he is also known in Grace Church as tremendously pastoral, overseeing the large Grace Life fellowship in the church.

Phil Johnson opened his message explaining his desire to address the four key tenets of the postmodern “missional” evangelical landscape: culture, contextualization, conversation and charitableness. Opening to Acts 17 as a key text, Phil explained that Paul sets a completely opposite example from the postmoderns of our day who think the way to reach people, to be “missional,” is to be as much like people as possible. They think that the best way to reach the lost is to be just like them. This has become the prevalent way of thinking among evangelicals today, which is a bad thing. The complete opposite is shown to us by Paul’s example from Acts 17. Here is how:

Culture: When Paul arrived in Athens, and saw their false religions, he was so upset he couldn’t contain it. he was obviously well educated and knew the history of greek mythology an dth relgiion of athens. he’d memorized passages from literature. but this was first time personally in athens, and to witness the omnipresent idolatry for himself. Everythwere he looked he saw the signs of it. Completely unspiritual religion with no reference to the true God. It grieved Paul deeply. So he began confronting it by proclaiming Christ.

Paul did not have tea & quiet conversation. He stood somewhere people couldn’t possibly miss him. Then he interacted with hecklers & genuine inquirers alike. Luke uses ‘dialogomai’ to convey the sense of a debate, a verbal disputation. It can also refer to a sermon or polemical argument. In the KJV, it says he “disputed.” Not pugnacious, but he proclaimed Christ, then responded to their false beliefs. Paul deliberately counter-cultural. He didn’t say, “The resurrection is foolish to them, so I’ll low-key it.” He studied the culture and preached the very truths they were prone to reject.

Note v 18, he wasn’t getting any praise from the local intellectual elites. The Stoics were secular determinists. They believed everything is foreordained by random chance, so they thought nothing really matters. Epicureans were at the other end, trying to avoid pain and indulge in pleasure. There was yet another system, Cynicism, who are not spoken of here. Remember, Paul was grieved by athenian culture. He was not embracing any elements of that culture. His message offended all the major philosophies of that culture. He stood in opposition to all of them. It was obvious because of what he preached: Jesus and the resurrection. We know this because they called him a “seed-picker” (babbler). He was clearly out of step with every major system of human thinking at the time (”a proclaimer of foreign gods.”) But he was still articulate enough to catch their attention; and what’s more, he was a novelty, which they loved (v. 19).

Athens was the place to surf the ancient web, and Paul was like the latest viral YouTube video. They brought him to the Areopagus, and wanted to hear what he had to say.

This brings us to Paul’s sermon (v. 22ff):

22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, `TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”

V. 23 is where people say Paul was being relevant and not being antagonistic to their culture. But remember, in context, that was the very part of Athenian culture that grieved Paul — their ignorant worship. That was the main lie he wanted to answer with the truth! They had the trappings of religion, but their ancient religion were nothing but superstition. And all of it had morphed into a simple love of human wisdom (1 Cor 1:22). Philosophy was the only god they served. All of them either were atheistic or deified pleasure, materialism, or nature. Their quasi-spirituality was not spiritual at all. They didn’t believe in a personal God. They were all practical atheists — a mirror of our society today. Their worldly wisdom was not vastly different from what supposedly enlightened people believe today. Paul is clearly being sarcastic here! You had lots of superstitions, traditions; but all entirely devoid of any kind of true faith! The had the same significance as the massive empty cathedrals in your Europe today. They didn’t believe in real deities. They had Olympian gods, ethereal gods, the titans, the nymphs, hundreds of lesser gods. And no educated person really believed any of those gods were real. So when they ran out of things to deify someone decided to put something up so as to avoid overlooking any missed deity.

When Paul saw that altar, he seized on it. It was not an affirmation, but a condemnation of their culture! He was honing in on what was most odious in their culture. The irony was rich because they worshiped human wisdom and knowledge. Paul more or less rubbed salt into their ignorance of the one thing that matters most! It was like someone going amongst a bunch of postmodern college professors and telling them the Bible is true! That’s what this was like! Paul is not using culture as a pragmatic evangelistic tool in order to get into their inner circle; he stands in their midst as an alien to their culture and proclaimed the truth about God to them, in his words.

Conversation. Notice Paul is not sponsoring a colloquium, he’s simply proclaiming the truth! He doesn’t say, “Let’s talk about this, you tell me about your approach, your ideas & philosophies; maybe we can learn from one another.” He hones in on the heart of what he wants them to know!

24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

This is a simple declaration of truth, not an exchange of ideas. He starts with theology proper, the starting place of all Biblical truth. Even though our society wants to weasel around it, and Christians today willing to accomodate, Paul doesn’t. He affirms the authority and spirituality of God, and the sufficiency, sovereignty, transcendence, immanence of God; and His power as the giver and sustainer of life. And all of it was flatly contradictory to what these philosophers believed. No give and take of opinions. He doesn’t assume a false humility, a truth-seeker looking for companions. He declares the truth with authority and conviction. He wasn’t arrogant because he was declaring infallible truth that God had revealed. It would be arrogant for him to pretend he didn’t know for sure. He used an appropriate method: a sermon, not a conversation.

Contextualization. Paul didn’t use that tactic either. There is an obvious need to speak a language people can understand. Paul didn’t use Hebrew, he used Greek. But what he did not do was adapt his message to the basic values and beliefs of that culture. That’s what it means when we say he shunned the tactic of contextualization:

28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, `For we also are His children.’

He’s quoting Greek poets who were several hundred years passed in Paul’s time. He was quoting from their ancient literature to express his own worldview, to show that these truths were available to them also in their own ancient writings. He was using it to confront the worldview of that generation. He’s demolishing their worldview, the ideas they held in error. Amid countless temples and superstitions, amidst quasi-spiritualists and materialists, they all denied the existence of after-life or a human soul; much like our secularized culture today.

29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Paul could hardly have said anything more counter-cultural or less “contextualized” for these philosophers. Let me point out at least 6 points that would’ve been deeply offensive to his listeners:

• vv. 24-25: Paul was summarily dismissing all the fundamentals of Greek-style religion and preached authoritative truth from God himself, and stressed God was not just a character in their bucket of gods.
• v. 26: Paul was attacking the common assumption of the Athenian race that the Greek race was superior to every other strand of humanity
• v. 27: Paul emphasizes the immanence of God, which was ludicrous to them
• v. 26: Paul emphasized the sovereignty of God which offended their theology of chance
• He ridiculed their idols (stones, etc.), and called it ignorance!

It looks like Paul was trying to provoke them! And in a true sense, he was. And his call to repentance was no less offensive than it would be today in the U.N. General Council. Every sentence he had said something that would be offensive to those philosophers.

Paul did not employ culture, conversation or contextualization as the primary tools for evangelization.

Charitableness. This is not the biblical version of charity (e.g., 1 Cor 13, “it rejoices in the truth.). This is the postmodern notion of broad-minded altruism where you refuse to take any dogmatic position on anything. You never write off someone else’s beliefs, always looking for ‘common ground,’ full of good will toward the other person’s worldview. “Nothing we believe is any more than a personal opinion.” That approach often uses appeasement rather than confrontation. Did Paul do that here? No. He simply proclaimed the message God gave him to preach (1 Cor 2:4). Once again, he headed for the one truth that would seem like foolishness to these guys: the resurrection. To a bunch of materialists, that was unthinkable. When he got that point, it ended the sermon.

32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Three reactions:

1. Some mocked. You’d expect this, from Greeks seeking after wisdom (1 Cor 1:22-23). Most of these folks simply turned away. But it doesn’t mean Paul failed! His only task as an ambassador of Christ is to deliver the message clearly and accurately. If they had picked up stones to kill him as in Lystra, God would have still judged Paul as faithful.
2. Others had an open door for future preaching.
3. A handful of people chose to follow! This was a moment of conversion. They believed and became disciples.

Real ministry isn’t shaken by rejection, isn’t changed to suit the prefs of the audience. It has one theme: Christ and his death and resurrection. One strategy: to proclaim the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection. And it confronts every worldview, false religion, superstition belief, skeptical opinion; rising above all of them speaking with authority because it is the truth of God.

My poor little point & shoot camera can’t do justice to the delightful goings-on here at the conference.

So treat yourself to the fruit of the official (professional) photography here: http://www.lukasvandyke.com/photos/shepherds2008/

Alex Montoya is a terrific and engaging speaker, combining wit, humor and serious admonition.

He began by noting that many churches in America are dying. The American church is not in a healthy state. Why is that, and what can we do?

First churches are dying for a lack of preachers. Men who are dedicated to preaching the Word of God. We have too many dabblers in ministry. They’re not committed to the Word, to preaching the Scriptures. They’re mercenaries and professionals, and they end up killing the churches.

Churches are dying for lack of preaching. That’s been the focus of this conference, both in example & exhortation. That’s not done around the land, around the world. Churches have confused what preaching is about. In Acts 6, we see they devote themselves to the Scriptures & prayer. But we fail to see, as in 5:42, they’re daily not ceasing to preach & teach Jesus as the Christ. Somehow we’ve used the “attractive model” for preaching: we see the pulpit as the only means to preach the Word. This is wrong. All the energy we spend is only directed to the pulpit, which is not the only calling we have. We are to preach the Word outside the pulpit as well. We need to be preaching in the apostolic way: in the temple and also house to house. We need to unleash men to preach the Word outside the halls & pulpits. We are not devoting ourselves to preaching the gospel to the lost. Many of us never go soul-winning, never confront sinners. We spend all our time just working on one or two sermons a week. We need to prepare sermons, but apostolic preaching is also to get outside & do evangelism and visitation.

Also, churches are dying for lack of purposeful preaching. We tend to confuse expository preaching as an end. Preaching is not an end, its a means to an end. It is but one of the ministries God has given us for the salvation, sanctification & building up of God’s people. Examples of confused expositors:

1. “Longer sermon”: We think the longer the sermon, the better. You have to be awfully good to preach for over an hour!
2. “Dump truck sermon”: you spend all week on all the exegetical niceties, and pack it up and Sunday morning back it up and dump it on all the people.  “I love filet mignon; I don’t want the whole cow on the table!”
3. “Sausage sermon”: serve it in links & pieces. All you do is explain a verse, then hit the end and say, “let’s continue next week.” A sermon should have its own beginning, climax and finish.
4. “Deep sermon”: you go so deep no one can follow. You have to be understood!
5. “Nowhere sermon”: we get in the text, and go and go, going nowhere! No purpose, no proposition. You have to preach the point of the text with a specific purpose for it!
6. “Boring sermon”: Don’t put people to sleep.

Delivery matters. Put some zeal into your communication. Passion is the life of your sermon; without passion you have a lecture, you have a moral address. People come to be excited about the things of God.  Spurgeon said, “A dull preacher is a contradiction of terms.” There has to be a zeal in you for the Word of God, for the things of God.

How can we be more passionate?

First, we need to preach with spiritual power and purity. Passion originates in the heart of God. “Enthusiastic” = “en theos” = “God in you!” It’s the man who is desperate for God’s help in preaching. “Without you, God, I cannot preach without your power!” The apostles waited in Jerusalem until they were empowered to be his witnesses. We need to preach with clean hands and heart, e.g., “lifting up holy hands without wrath or dissension.” Make sure you’re spending time with God! Be worshipers of God. Baxter says, “Be careful that your graces are kept in vigorous and lively exercise, and that you preach to yourselves the sermons which you study before you preach them to others.” Worship with the saints! Sing, partake, fellowship, don’t just sermonize. M’Cheyne noted, “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”

Second, we need to preach with great conviction. That this is the Word of God, and then to preach it! Let the Word come into your life; not just preaching as an exercise. Preach something that keeps you awake on Sat. night! To preach the Word is not to preach every letter; but to study each truth that is there. You preach it to yourself and then take it to the pulpit and then preach it. Do not preach “I think”: who cares what you think? Also, are your people looking at the text, with open Bibles? Don’t just preach because you have to, or because you’re paid to.

Third, we need to preach with compassion. It’s a soul pleading with other souls. It’s the burden for others which creates compassion. Lloyd-Jones said, “To love to preach is one thing. To love those to whom we preach quite another.” If you love your people, as a pastor, you cannot preach a bad sermon! All preaching is to help people. We’re to make God’s people more Christlike (Col. 1:28) by teaching, admonishing, caring, loving. Have a passion for lost people, please.  John MacArthur said, “Have your people in your heart and you will be in theirs.”  How do we gain compassion?  Look at your own heart.  And live among the people.  Spend time with them, weep with them, rejoice with them.

Fourth, we need to preach with authority.  The same was Jesus preached with authority.  Don’t just give suggestions, say, “thus saith the Lord.”  This is why visitation & house-to-house matters.  “If you don’t come to listen to me, I’ll come to your home & preach to you!”  You’re an ambassador for God to your people!

Fifth, we need to preach with urgency.  Preaching is sanctified madness.  These are not simply Bible studies.  A sermon needs to be urgent.  We’re not dialoguing with people, we’re dealing with souls in need of God’s power!  Richard Baxter: “I preach as a dying man to dying men.”  If your folks are sleeping through your sermon, it should bother you!   Lives are at stake.

As Charles Spurgeon wrote:

How shall we describe the doom of an unfaithful minister?  And every unearnest minister is unfaithful.  I would infinitely prefer to be consigned to Tophet as a murderer of men’s bodies than as a destroyer of men’s souls; neither do I know of any condition in which a man can perish so fatally, so infinitely, as in that of the man who preaches a gospel which he does not believe, and assumes the office of pastor over a people whose good he does not intensely desire.  Let us pray to be found faithful always, and ever.  God grant that the Holy Spirit may make and keep us so.