Controversy Is Essential — and Deadly
00:00:00.000 | (music)
00:00:04.000 | In his first 17 years of pastoring, John Piper never preached a sermon series on the meaning of baptism.
00:00:11.000 | He would come to call it a "gaping hole" that needed to be filled, and it was.
00:00:16.000 | In 1997, during the month of May, he led his church in a four-part sermon series on the biblical importance and practice of water baptism.
00:00:23.000 | Part three of the series is titled "What is Baptism, and Does it Save?"
00:00:28.000 | It delves into baptism controversies.
00:00:31.000 | And knowing that, he began the message with a helpful word about controversies in general,
00:00:36.000 | and I want to share that word today on the podcast.
00:00:40.000 | Last Wednesday, in episode 1658, we talked about controversy and how to argue like a Calvinist.
00:00:47.000 | And there we looked at the gentleness of John Newton in the midst of a dispute,
00:00:51.000 | a model he took directly from the Apostle Paul's warning that pastors "must not be quarrelsome, but kind, able to teach,
00:01:00.000 | and know the art of correcting opponents with gentleness."
00:01:05.000 | 2 Timothy 2, verses 24 and 25.
00:01:08.000 | What is clear, clear in Paul's day, clear in Newton's era, and clear in our own day,
00:01:13.000 | is that doctrinal controversies cannot be avoided.
00:01:17.000 | They are essential to upholding the truth, but controversies can also become deadly,
00:01:22.000 | and Pastor John explains why today.
00:01:25.000 | In this sermon, he's going to read an excerpt from Puritan John Owen,
00:01:28.000 | talking about the deadly dangers of theological debate.
00:01:32.000 | And it's so good, I want to begin by reading that John Owen quote, what he wrote over 300 years ago.
00:01:38.000 | Listen to this as John Owen explains the importance of the heart in theological controversy.
00:01:44.000 | Owen writes this,
00:01:47.000 | "We are cast indeed into the mold of the doctrine that the mind embraces,
00:01:51.000 | when the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us,
00:01:56.000 | when not only the sense of words is in our heads, but the sense of the things abides in our heart.
00:02:03.000 | When we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for,
00:02:08.000 | then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men."
00:02:15.000 | That is in controversies.
00:02:17.000 | "And without this all our contending is, as to ourselves, of no value.
00:02:22.000 | What am I the better if I can dispute that Christ is God,
00:02:26.000 | but have no sense or sweetness in my heart from this, that He is a God in covenant with my soul?
00:02:32.000 | What will it avail me to demonstrate by testimonies and arguments that He has made satisfaction for sin,
00:02:38.000 | if, through my unbelief, the wrath of God abides on me,
00:02:42.000 | and I have no experience of my own being made the righteousness of God in Him?
00:02:47.000 | If I find not in my standing before God the excellency of having my sins imputed to Him and His righteousness imputed to me?
00:02:56.000 | Will it be of any advantage to me to profess and dispute that God works the conversion of a sinner
00:03:03.000 | by the irresistible grace of His Spirit,
00:03:05.000 | if I was never acquainted experimentally with the deadness and utter impotency to do good,
00:03:12.000 | that opposition to the law of God which is in my own soul by nature,
00:03:16.000 | without the efficacy of the exceeding greatness of the power of God in quickening,
00:03:21.000 | enlightening, and bringing forth the fruits of obedience in me?
00:03:26.000 | Let us then not think that we are anything the better for our convictions of the truth,
00:03:31.000 | of the great doctrines of the gospel for which we contend with men,
00:03:36.000 | unless we find the power of the truths abiding in our own hearts,
00:03:40.000 | and have a continual experience of their necessity and excellency in our standing before God and in our communion with Him."
00:03:51.000 | End quote.
00:03:53.000 | Wow, that is a powerful warning.
00:03:56.000 | And with this warning in mind, Pastor John opened his controversial sermon on baptism,
00:04:01.000 | explaining why doctrinal dispute is essential and why it's also potentially deadly.
00:04:07.000 | Now, unfortunately, this sermon is one of the rare messages in which the audio recording has been lost.
00:04:13.000 | So I'm going to now read what Pastor John wrote in his sermon manuscript.
00:04:19.000 | Quote, "Let me begin today with a brief introductory word about controversy.
00:04:24.000 | The main thing I want to say is that doctrinal controversy is essential and deadly.
00:04:31.000 | And the attitude towards controversy in various groups of Christians depends largely on which of these two they feel most strongly.
00:04:38.000 | Is it essential or is it deadly?
00:04:42.000 | My plea is that at Bethlehem we believe and feel both of these.
00:04:46.000 | Controversy is essential where precious truth is rejected or distorted,
00:04:50.000 | and controversy is deadly where disputation about truth dominates exaltation in truth.
00:04:59.000 | The reason controversy is essential in the face of rejection and distortion is that God has ordained that the truth be maintained in the world partly by human defense.
00:05:09.000 | For example, Paul says in Philippians 1.7 that he is in prison for the "defense and confirmation of the gospel."
00:05:17.000 | And Jude 3 says that we should "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."
00:05:24.000 | And Acts 17.2-3 says that Paul's custom in the synagogue was to reason from the scriptures and explain and give evidence that Jesus was the Christ.
00:05:33.000 | So the preservation and transmission of precious truth from person to person and generation to generation may require controversy where truth is rejected or distorted.
00:05:45.000 | But controversy is also deadly because it feels threatening, and so it tends to stir up defensiveness and anger.
00:05:54.000 | It's deadly also because it focuses on the reasons for truth rather than the reality behind truth,
00:06:01.000 | and so tends to replace exaltation in the truth with disputation about the truth.
00:06:09.000 | This is deadly because thinking rightly about truth is not an end in itself. It's a means towards the goal of love and worship.
00:06:19.000 | Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.5 that "the goal of our instruction is love."
00:06:25.000 | And he prayed in Philippians 1.9-11 that our "love abound in knowledge unto the glory and praise of God."
00:06:34.000 | Controversy tends to threaten both love and praise. It's hard to revel in a love poem while arguing with someone about whether or not your sweetheart wrote it.
00:06:44.000 | So controversy is essential in this fallen world, and controversy is deadly in a fallen world.
00:06:49.000 | We must do it, and we must tremble to do it.
00:06:52.000 | A wise counselor for us, and this is John Owen, the Puritan pastor from 340 years ago,
00:06:56.000 | he was involved in many controversies in his day, theological and denominational and political.
00:07:02.000 | But he never ceased to be a deep lover of God and a faithful pastor of a flock.
00:07:06.000 | He counsels us like this concerning doctrinal controversy.
00:07:10.000 | "When the heart is cast indeed into the mold of the doctrine that the mind embraces,
00:07:15.000 | when the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us,
00:07:18.000 | when not only the sense of words in our heads, but the sense of the things abides in our hearts,
00:07:25.000 | when we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for,
00:07:29.000 | then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men."
00:07:36.000 | I think that was the key to Owen's life and ministry. He didn't just contend for doctrine,
00:07:40.000 | he loved and fellowshiped with the God behind the doctrine.
00:07:43.000 | The key phrase is this one, "when we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for,
00:07:49.000 | then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men."
00:07:54.000 | In other words, we must not let disputation replace contemplation and exaltation.
00:08:00.000 | I am keenly aware that this series of messages on baptism is more controversial than usual.
00:08:05.000 | I am also eager that this pulpit avoid two great errors,
00:08:08.000 | losing the truth in the quest for exaltation and losing worship in the noise of disputation.
00:08:15.000 | So let us all pray that in our lives and in our church we walk the tightrope balanced
00:08:20.000 | by the necessity of controversy on the one side and the dangers of it on the other.
00:08:27.000 | End of quote, end of paper.
00:08:30.000 | That's a good warning on controversy.
00:08:33.000 | If you want to see the entire baptism series, it's all online.
00:08:36.000 | Part one is titled, "I Baptize You with Water," May 4, 1997.
00:08:41.000 | Part two, "Buried and Raised in Baptism Through Faith," May 11, 1997.
00:08:46.000 | Part three, the one I just quoted from, "What is Baptism and Does It Save," May 18, 1997.
00:08:52.000 | Part four, "What Baptism Portrays," May 25, 1997.
00:08:56.000 | Audio is available for the other three parts of this sermon series,
00:09:00.000 | just this one that there wasn't.
00:09:03.000 | Well, Friday we return with a sensitive intimacy question
00:09:06.000 | that every couple is going to address at some point, implicitly or explicitly.
00:09:11.000 | I'll just leave it at that.
00:09:13.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:09:15.000 | We'll see you back here on Friday.
00:09:17.000 | [ Silence ]