Ligonier Ministries Blog

1. Truth and True Peace

   On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. He did so for the sake of the peace, purity, and unity of the church. His first thesis called the church to genuine and continual repentance, and among his last theses he called the church to true peace through Christ. Luther wasn’t a rebellious schismatic who sought to lead a revolt against Rome; he was an ardent herald and defender of the gospel who, due to his obstinate and unwavering faithfulness, drew Rome’s ire in the midst of its revolt against the truth, the gospel, and the true church. Luther wasn’t a divider, he was a peacemaker. For there to be true peace and true unity, there must first be truth, and truth divides before it can unite. Truth must conquer before it can liberate. Luther did not divide the church—Rome divided the church by infusing the church with the false doctrines of men. The Reformers didn’t leave Rome—Rome left them by leaving the truth, the gospel, and the church. The Reformers sought reform in Rome, and in return, Rome sought their heads. Rome divided the true church from the false church and kicked out the true church. The forerunners of the Reformation (such as Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, and Jan Hus) and the Magisterial Reformers of the sixteenth century (such as Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, and John Calvin) are rightly called Reformers, but they were Reformers in the most basic sense of the word. They sought reform in order to bring the church back to her original form. For something to be reformed, there must first be the form itself—and the form the Reformers sought was the original form of the church found in the only infallible guide for faith and life, namely, Scripture, and Scripture alone. Ultimately, the Reformers were not seeking to change the nature of the church, but to call the church back to her biblical identity and to who she must be in order to be the true church. The Reformers wanted peace, but not at the expense of truth, as Luther cried, “Peace if possible, but truth at all costs.” True peace only comes through true repentance. In calling Rome to repentance, Luther didn’t set out to divide the church but to unite the church and bring about real peace by proclaiming the truth. True peace is found only in the truth of Jesus Christ, and thus real peace and unity can only exist where truth reigns. The true church knows the truth, and the truth sets us free (John 8:32). And when we are free in Christ, we will also seek the truth and, in turn, the peace, purity, and unity of the church for the glory of God alone, soli Deo gloria.

2. Christ’s Mercy Is Greater Than Our Failures

   You and I can relate to the Apostle Peter, can’t we? Peter’s journey in the Gospels mirrors our own Christian walk. We see his genuine desire to follow Christ faithfully, even when he faltered. This month, we’ll send you a new book and teaching series on the life of Peter when you give a donation of any amount to Ligonier Ministries. More on that below. On the one hand, Peter was often the first to show trust in our Lord even when Jesus called him to do what appeared impossible—such as walk on water (Matt. 14:28–29). However, Peter often seemed to speak before thinking. He initially objected to Jesus’ teaching that He must go to the cross, and Peter had to be rebuked by the Savior (16:21–23). Who can forget his proud assertion that he would never deny the Lord, only to deny Him a few hours later (26:30–35, 69–75)? I’m sure Peter looked back with regret when he fell short, especially when he denied Jesus. Yet, the Lord was not finished with him. As we see at the end of John’s gospel and in the book of Acts, Jesus continued to mold him, restoring Peter to ministry and using him to help establish the church. Peter’s story reminds us that Christ’s mercy is greater than our failures. Like him, we are graciously being molded in our Master’s hands. The same Lord who transformed Peter is at work in His people today. Amazingly, Jesus uses you and me in that transformation work as He changes us and forms us in ways to minister to others. Friends like you who support Ligonier Ministries are helping to serve people worldwide. Your generous gifts and prayers enable the development and distribution of the world’s largest library of discipleship resources faithful to the historic Christian faith. These resources impart the truth of God’s Word to men, women, and children for their growth in grace. Sanctification is the ongoing process of being molded by Jesus into His image. Ligonier Ministries focuses on this element of discipleship in obedience to the Great Commission. For more than five decades, the Lord has used our discipleship materials in individual lives and local churches worldwide, helping Christians to grow in grace. It seems, however, that discipleship has fallen on hard times. False teaching abounds, even as many professing Christians look for a shortcut to the holiness that God seeks to produce in us. Growing in grace requires intentional discipleship in the things of God. As God works in us by His Spirit, we work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12–13). Dr. R.C. Sproul taught us this: “Sanctification requires diligently attending to the means God has given us. The growth may be slow, almost imperceptible at times, but it is sure.” These means are the Word of God, the sacraments, and prayer. Protestants, looking to passages such as 2 Timothy 3:16–17, have always prioritized the Word. Through the study of Scripture and its doctrines, our minds are renewed and our lives transformed (Rom. 12:1–2). So many questions face us today. How can we help the next generation stand firm in the gospel? How do we help churches in South America, Africa, and Asia avoid the heresies that now plague the West? How can we foster revitalization among God’s people in North America, Europe, and Australia? How do we put our hands to the plow each week, following Christ as we serve our families, labor in the workforce, and love our neighbors? The answer to those questions is the same—by diligently studying and applying biblical truth. That is why Ligonier assists the church in forming people who can know and rightly apply the Bible. Our Always Ready conferences train young people to defend the faith, and Reformation Bible College prepares students for lifelong gospel ministry or another vocation to the glory of God. Our translations of the Reformation Study Bible and other resources into the world’s most-spoken languages are helping the global church. Here in the West, our distribution of existing resources and the development of new teaching assist Christians in understanding, proclaiming, and growing in their faith. In God’s providence, your prayers and donations sustain this work and make even more outreach possible. Two of our newest resources are Dr. Derek Thomas’ teaching series and companion hardcover book: The Life of Peter: Molded in the Master’s Hands. Dr. Thomas, one of our Ligonier Teaching Fellows, takes us through the life and ministry of Peter, showing us how Jesus shaped him into an Apostle to whom we still look for guidance in what it means to be a disciple. We’ll give you lifelong streaming access to the teaching series and send you a copy of the book and DVD when you give a gift of any amount to Ligonier. Together, we can provide a lifeline of biblical truth to people in many places around the world, helping them grow as disciples of Christ. Thank you for supporting this mission to reach the nations with faithful discipleship resources.

3. Glorifying God through Productivity

   The world’s vision of personal productivity promises to help you make more money, secure greater fulfillment, and achieve your desires—it’s personal productivity for personal gain. However, Christians see God’s glory as their ultimate aim, and they see productivity as a set of skills to maximize their effectiveness in reaching that end. Because productivity is often associated with worldly ambition, believers can be tempted to write off the topic as something reserved for the business world or for those who have an ungodly obsession with avarice and achievement. The truth, however, is that there is no group for whom productivity is more important than Christians. Believers in Jesus Christ can leverage the skill of personal productivity to bring glory to God in at least three ways. 1. Personal productivity helps believers glorify God by making us more intentional in bearing the fruit of good works. In John 15, Jesus uses the metaphor of a vine and branches to teach His disciples how good works are a byproduct of their union with Christ, saying: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The fruit of good works comes via our connection with Christ, the true vine. But Jesus goes further, stating, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8). Here, He connects the bearing of much fruit with glorifying God the Father. To be productive in bearing the fruit of good works is to bring glory to God. Personal productivity certainly does not replace our connection with the vine in fruit-bearing. It can, however, act as a trellis for our fruit-bearing. Connected to Christ, Christians can grow in the skills of goal setting, time management, and prioritization in our efforts to bring glory to God. 2. Personal productivity helps us glorify God by improving our ability to redeem the time. Time management is one of the most essential productivity skills. In Ephesians 5:15–16, the Apostle Paul emphasizes its importance for our Christian walk: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15–16). God’s Word calls us to make “the best use of the time,” or as the King James Version puts it, to “redeem the time.” Acknowledging this truth is one thing, but it is quite another to seek to grow in effective time management purposefully. Christians who want to glorify God should eagerly pursue the skill of time management. Redeeming time requires wisely choosing commitments, effectively managing a schedule, and the settled determination to avoid wasting time and employ each moment as faithfully as possible. We live in a fallen world that requires work among thorns and thistles, rest, and attention to unanticipated needs. Even still, as we learn to better manage our time, we increase our capacity for faithfulness and thereby glorify God with the time and tasks He sets before us. 3. Personal productivity helps us glorify God by improving our stewardship. In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14–30, Jesus tells a story of three servants entrusted with varying amounts of money while their master leaves on a journey. The servants represent followers of Christ, and the master is Jesus. In the story, upon the master’s return, the first two servants are praised and rewarded because they invested the money and made a good return (Matt. 25:15–16; 19–23). The third, however, is chastised and punished because he does not even attempt to use the master’s money wisely (Matt. 25:18; 24–28). Both of the faithful servants are commended and rewarded similarly (Matt. 25:21, 23). What differentiated them from the third servant was not the amount the master lent them but their diligence in productively employing those resources in the master’s name. They were efficient, going “at once” to invest the money—effectively, “trading with them”—and as a result, they were productive, earning “five talents more” and “two talents more,” respectively (Matt. 25:16–17). Likewise, faithful Christians wisely and diligently invest whatever God has entrusted to them—be that time, talent, or treasure—motivated by a desire to see His name magnified. We glorify God when we view our lives as a stewardship from God and act accordingly. The Christian life is not something we approach passively. Vigor must mark our pursuit of the kingdom, as we joyfully pursue bearing much fruit, numbering our days, and stewarding our time. So, pursue the skill of personal productivity not for self-aggrandizement but for the glory of God.

4. The Father’s Gift to the Son

   The motif of the gift of the elect to the Son is expressed by Jesus on various occasions, particularly in the gospel of John: > This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:39-40) In this passage Jesus makes it clear that He is concerned about every believer being raised up at the last day. This qualifies His statements about what the Father has given Him that would never be lost. It is believers who are given to Christ by the Father, and these believers will never be lost. This affirmation builds upon what Jesus declared only moments earlier: > But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. (John 6:36-38) Jesus is emphatic in His assertion that all whom the Father gives to Him will in fact come to Him. The order here is crucial. Jesus does not say that all who come to Him will then be given to Him by the Father. We do not determine by our response who will be the Father’s gift to the Son. Rather our response is determined by the prior election of God for us to come to the Son as gifts to Him. The concept of believers being the gifts of the Father to the Son forms a central element of Jesus’ high-priestly prayer in John 17. Jesus makes repeated references to this “giving”: > “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. (John 17:1-2) Christ speaks of the authority He has received from the Father to grant eternal life to certain people. Those certain people are the ones the Father has given to Him. > “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” (John 17:6-12) In this prayer it is clear that believers are the Father’s gift to the Son, a gift that is not to be lost or destroyed. Jesus prays that these gifts may be kept and not discarded. He thanks the Father that all have been kept except the son of perdition, who is elsewhere described as having been a devil from the beginning. The son of perdition refers here to Judas. The concept of our adoption in Christ as the Father's gift to the Son is also declared by the author of Hebrews: > For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, > > “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” > > And again, > > “I will put my trust in him.” > > And again, > > “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” (Heb. 2:10-13) This text confirms that the elect are given to Christ as His adopted brothers and the Father’s adopted children. This is the astonishing love that would provoke John to utter later, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us” (1 John 3:1).

5. Save 50% on Select Teaching Series

   Taught by gifted pastors, scholars, and theologians, Ligonier’s teaching series are designed to help Christians grow in their knowledge of God’s Word, glean lessons from church history, and apply the truth of the gospel to all aspects of the Christian life. For a limited time, you can purchase select teaching series and study guides at half price. Choose from a wide selection of topics, including theology, apologetics, church history, biblical studies, and much more. Explore the collection today and save 50% on resources that can help enhance your Sunday school, small group, or personal Bible study. Don’t miss your opportunity to stock up on trustworthy biblical teaching at a discounted price. Offer ends September 14. While supplies last.