Mark Dever

Can one belong to the church without belonging to a church? Not likely, says Mark Dever.

   Sometimes theologians refer to a distinction between the universal church (all Christians everywhere throughout history) and the local church (those people who meet down the street from you to hear the Word preached to and to practice baptism and the Lord’s Supper). Other than a few references to the universal church (such as Matt. 16:18 and the bulk of Ephesians), most references to the church in the New Testament are to local churches, as when Paul writes, “To the church of God in Corinth” or “To the churches in Galatia.”
   Now what follows is a little intense, but it’s important. The relationship between our membership in the universal church and our membership in the local church is a lot like the relationship between the righteousness God gives us through faith and the actual practice of righteousness in our daily lives. When we become Christians by faith, God declares us righteous. Yet we are still called to activity be righteous. A person who happily goes on living in unrighteousness calls into question whether he ever possessed Christ’s righteousness in the first place (see Rom. 6:1–18; 8:5–14; James 2:14–15). So, too, it is with those who refuse to commit themselves to a local church. Committing to a local body is the natural outcome—it confirms what Christ has done. If you have no interest in actually committing yourself to an actual group of gospel-believing, Bible-teaching Christians, you might question whether you belong to the body of Christ at all! Listen to the author of Hebrews carefully:

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (Heb. 10:23–27)

   Our state before God, if authentic, will translate into our daily decisions, even if the process is slow and full of missteps. God really does change his people. Isn’t that good news? So please, friend, don’t grow complacent through some vague idea that you possess the righteousness of Christ if you’re not pursuing a life of righteousness. Likewise, please do not be deceived by a vague conception of a universal church to which you belong if you’re not pursuing that life together with an actual church.

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 21–22.

My church isn’t perfect. I could write a medium-sized post listing the improvements I’d like to see. How about you? Does your church fall short of your expectations? Mark Dever has a word for us:

Does a particular church fail to meet your expectations in terms of what it does, as in whether or not it follows what the Bible says about church leadership? If so, remember that this is a group of people who are still growing in grace. Love them. Serve them. Be patient with them. Again, think of a family. Whenever your parents, siblings, or children fail to meet your expectations, do you suddenly throw them out of the family? I hope you are forgive and are patient with them. You might even stop to consider whether it’s your expectations that should be adjusted! By this same token, we should ask ourselves whether we know how to love and persevere with church members who have different opinions, who fail to meet our expectations, or even who sin against us. (Don’t you and I have sin that ever needs to be forgiven?)

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 36.

Mark Dever on expositional preaching:

   The practice of expositional preaching presumes a belief that what God says is authoritative for his people. It presumes that his people should hear it, and need to hear it, lest our congregations be deprived of what God intends to use for shaping us after his image. It presumes that God intends the church to learn from both Testaments, as well as from every genre of Scripture—law, history, wisdom, prophesy, gospels, and epistles. An expositional preacher who moves straight through books of the Bible and who regularly rotates between the different Testaments and genres of Scripture, I believe, is like a mother who serves her children food from every food group, not just their two or three favorite meals.

Back to the Heart of Worship
During a daylong seminar on Puritanism that I taught at a church in London, I remarked at one point that Puritan sermons were sometimes two hours long. A member of the class gasped audibly and asked, “What time did that leave for worship?” Clearly, the individual assumed that listening to God’s Word preached did not constitute worship. I replied that many English Protestants in former centuries believed that the most essential part of their worship was hearing God’s Word in their own language (a freedom purchased by the blood of more than one martyr) and responding to it in their lives. Whether they had time to sing, though not entirely insignificant, was of comparatively little concern to them.

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 65, 67.

A Biblical Understanding of the Good News is, according to Mark Dever, one of the marks of a healthy church. What is the good news? Is it “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”?

Gospel Basics
The Gospel is not the news that we’re okay. It’s not the news that God is love. It’s not the news that Jesus wants to be our friend. It’s not the news that he has a wonderful plan or purpose for our life. As I discussed at greater length in chapter 1, the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross as a sacrificial substitute for sinners and rose again, making a way for us to be reconciled to God. It’s the news that the Judge will become the Father, if only we repent and believe.
   Here are four points I try to remember whenever sharing the gospel, whether in private or in public—(1)God, (2) man,(3) Christ, and (4) response. In other words:

• Have I explained that God is our holy and sovereign creator?
• Have I made it clear that we humans are a strange mixture, wonderfully made in God’s image yet horribly fallen, sinful, and separated from him?
• Have I explained who Jesus is and what he has done—that he is the God-man who uniquely and exclusively stands in between God and man as a substitute and resurrected Lord?
• And, finally, even if I’ve shared all this, have I clearly stated that a person must respond to the gospel and must believe this message and so turn from his life of self-centeredness and sin?

   Sometimes, it’s tempting to present some of the very real benefits of the gospel as the gospel itself. And these benefits tend to be things that non-Christians naturally want, like joy, peace, happiness, fulfillment, self-esteem, or love. Yet presenting them as the gospel is presenting a partial truth. And, as J. I. Packer says, “A half truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth.”
   Fundamentally, we don’t need just joy or peace or purpose. We need God, himself. Since we are condemned sinners, then, we need his forgiveness above all else. We need spiritual life. When we present the gospel less radically, we simply ask for false conversions and increasingly meaningless church membership lists, both of which make the evangelization of the world around us more difficult.

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 75, 77.

   Each local church has a responsibility to judge the life and teaching of its leaders and members, particularly when either compromises the church’s witness to the gospel (see Acts 17; 1 Corinthians 5; 1 Timothy 3; James 3:1; 2 Peter 3; 2 John).
   Biblical church discipline is simply obedience to God and a confession that we need help. Can you imagine a world in which God never uses our fellow human beings to enact his judgment, one in which parents never disciplined their children, the state never punished lawbreakers, and churches never reproved members? We would all arrive at judgment day never having felt the lash of earthly judgment and so been forewarned of the greater judgment then upon us. How merciful of God to teach us now about the irrevocable justice to come with these temporary chastisements (see Luke 12:4–5).
   Here are five positive reasons for practicing corrective church discipline:

1. the good of the disciplined individual;
2. other Christians as they see the danger of sin;
3. the health of the church a whole;
4. the corporate witness of the church and, therefore, non-Christians in the community;
5. and the glory of God. Our holiness should reflect God’s holiness.

It should mean something to be a member of the church, not for our pride’s sake, but for God’s name sake. Biblical church discipline is another important mark of a healthy church.

—Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church? (Crossway, 2007), 106.

We humans tend to think rather highly of ourselves. Treated well, we generally think we have earned it. Treated badly, we may complain that we “deserve better.” And if we suspect that we might not be thinking highly enough of ourselves, we complain of “low self-esteem.” Christians, who ought to know better, are no exception. We often judge ourselves based on our own subjective feelings, as if having “peace” or “a clear conscience” indicates that we are right. Mark Dever writes:

Paul says . . . “I care very little if I am judged by you or any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor. 4:3–4). Paul is unaware of anything against himself, but knows that he is not acquitted by his self-assessment. It is the Lord who judges him. Of course, Paul is not saying that self-examination is wrong; in fact, he calls for it later in his letter (9:4–27; cf. 2 Cor. 13:5), but our self-assessment—a clear conscience—simply isn’t the ultimate issue. The nature of our fallenness is such that we can have a clear conscience and still be wrong, which is why our conscience must be educated by the Word of God. Self-esteem can’t be the final arbiter because we esteem ourselves too highly! We are called to make provisional judgments (so Matt. 7:6)—as Paul is about to do forcefully in 2 Corinthians 5!—but no mere human is our ultimate judge because, as Paul says in 4:4, we will be judged by the Lord (cf. 2:10–16).

—Mark Dever, Preaching the Cross (Crossway, 2007), 22–23.

Preaching the Cross is a collection of messages from the 2006 Together for the Gospel Conference. You can download the entire message from which today’s quote was taken here.

I have been exceedingly blessed by Mark Dever’s Bible Overview sermons from Capitol Hill Baptist Church. While I am an avid fan of detailed exposition à la John MacArthur, these birds-eye-view sermons are extremely helpful in understanding the themes of the Bible and how they all hang together. See the forest, not just the trees, by listening to these excellent summaries of the whole Bible, both Testaments, and each book. The “Download” link, as you might guess, is a direct download (posted with permission from CHBC). The “Sermon Page” link will take you to the CHBC site. Many of these sermons have a text summary available on the sermon page.

The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of doctrine, Mark Dever writes,

I do not think that the church needs to worry about atheism today. That superstition has never seriously threatened the church of Jesus Christ. As a friend of mine once said, “The real danger is not unbelief, but wrong belief; not irreligion, but heresy; not the doubter, but the deceiver.” Wrong belief, heresy, and deceivers are what concern John.

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When you share the gospel with others, you do not merely share your experience (though we certainly can share something about our own experience). Most fundamentally, you share objective truth. You share particular doctrines that are rooted in history about who Jesus is and what he did. You might decide this is not important, but then you would have to take 1 John out of the Bible.

—Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept (Crossway, 2005), 476, 477.

The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of morality, Mark Dever writes,

[T]he most orthodox person in the world, who has every point of doctrine correct, is not a Christian if his or her right thinking is not coupled with right living. Let me use a story to illustrate this point. Suppose Bob starts a business and he puts me in charge of it. Then Bob travels to Europe for some business deals and leaves me with very careful instructions. While he is away, Bob sends me a few more letters with further instructions about what would be done in the office. Suppose, then, Bob returns several weeks later and finds the office in ruins. The receptionist sits listening to the local disco station while ignoring the ringing telephone. Everyone else is playing checkers, chess, or cards. There is trash in the halls. And Bob’s email is filled with angry notes from canceling customers and clients. So Bob walks up to me and says, “Mark, what happened here? Didn’t you get my letters?” I smile and say, “Oh, yeah, I got your letters. Not only did I get your letters, I loved reading them. Bob, those were wonderful letters! You know, those letters were so good that I photocopied them and gave a copy to everybody in the office. And they liked them so much we had letter studies. After work, we gathered to study them together. We also had them framed. There they are, up on the wall! What great letters! Some of us had even begun memorizing parts of them and are having our children memorize them.” Well, you can only imagine what Bob might say at this point. “Mark, why didn’t you do what the letters said to do? And what do you mean, you loved the letters? Of course you don’t!”

This is what John is saying to these Christians: “You might have all your doctrine right and say you believe in Jesus. But why aren’t you obeying his commands?” If we claim to walk in the light, but we walk in the dark, we lie. Words alone, without actions, are empty. You are not a disciple if there are no actions. A disciple is one who follows. You can be as emotionally attached as you want to the word “Christian,” but if you are not following Christ you are not a disciple. Besides, why do you think Jesus lived the life he did if the kind of life you live is not important? Why do you think he died the death he did?

—Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept (Crossway, 2005), 480.

The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of love for God’s people, Mark Dever writes,

Do we love one another as God has loved us? John writes, “And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (4:21). If you have gotten hold of the real thing, not only will you believe Jesus is the son of God; and not only will you obey the commands of God; you will also love the people of God. John is not commanding his readers to love the people of God. He is simply saying, anyone who has gotten hold of the real thing will love the people of God.

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Jesus is our greatest example of the love of God. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

—Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept (Crossway, 2005), 481.

The Apostle John concludes his first epistle rather oddly with the words, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” This conclusion seems strange because idolatry is nowhere mentioned in the preceding chapters. Mark Dever explains:

John concludes his letter with a short verse over which commentators have spilled gallons of ink: “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (5:21). That is the final line. There is no benediction; no prayer for God’s grace to be upon us. No, he just says, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols,” even though idolatry has not been mentioned once in the letter. People wonder, why on earth does he introduce idolatry now?

We have already seen that for John, faith isbelieving, obeying, and loving. Any faith that does not contain all three elements, John says, is false. And then he concludes with the exhortation, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” What he is saying is simple: keep yourselves from a false and distorted Jesus. And you know you have a false and distorted Jesus in one of three ways. First, you might have the wrong doctrine. You might conceive of Christ as an impersonal principle or a spiritual force. Alternatively, you might think he was just a great, human teacher. No, God became incarnate. Keep yourselves from such imposter Christs. Those are just idols to suit your desires.

Second, you might think God is indifferent to sin. No, God incarnate died for our sins. He is deeply concerned for how we live! If you are worshiping a God who is indifferent to sin, you are not worshiping the true God; you are worshiping an idol of your own making.

Third, you might think God is unconcerned with love. Get your doctrine right; don’t do anything grossly immoral; go to church. That’s enough, right? No, the God incarnate died for our sins because of his love for us. He leads his children to love one another with the same love. If you miss this, you have missed the real God and are worshiping some idol.

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” If you keep yourself from those idols, you can know you have gotten hold of the real thing.

—Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept (Crossway, 2005), 484.