This article is part 11 in a series by Tom Nettles on Remembering Jesus Christ. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10).

When John summarized the narrative of his gospel (20:31), he acknowledged a strategic selectivity to the signs performed by Jesus. His purpose was “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.” In fact, not just the signs, but all that John recorded compels the reader to a confession that Jesus is Lord and God (John 20:28, 29), peculiarly qualified to effect salvation for those whom the Father had given him (John 6:39). He gives the historically observable evidence for the theological conclusion, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory” (John 1:1, 14).

The “signs”—seven of them recorded by John—are works of Jesus that required omnipotent power and benevolent purpose. For those who saw them and understood, they should conclude that God is with us and is working for our well-being. Jesus changed water into wine to salvage a wedding celebration (John 2:1-11). At that, his disciples believed. He healed an official’s son with a spoken word from afar (4:46-54). At that, he and his household believed. He healed a man who had been an invalid for almost forty years by telling him, “Take up your bed and walk” (5:1-15). At that the Jews reviled him, and Jesus called God his Father, “making himself equal with God.” The opposing Jews, understanding the implications of the Father/Son reference, began their contrivances to kill him. He fed a multitude of 5000 men plus women and children by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish to satisfy the hunger of all (6:5-13). At that, the people said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” In the presence of weather-beaten, frightened disciples he walked through a stormy sea to comfort them and quiet the storm (6:16-21). At that, those in the boat worshipped him and said, “Truly, you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33). For a man born blind, with the use of mud made from Jesus’ saliva and water for washing, Jesus restored his sight, prompting the man’s worship (John 9). Jesus’ friend Lazarus, dead for four days, he raised from the dead by calling him forth by command. Beforehand, he prayed showing that the purpose of this astounding sign was that those standing around would “believe that You sent Me.” He wanted to make sure that observers knew that he operated in perfect conjunction with the power and purpose of the Father (John 11:1-44). At that, “many of the Jews believed in him.” When Jesus assured Martha that Lazarus would be raised, she confessed, “Yes Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world” (11:27). These signs identified Jesus as the one who told Moses, “I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation” (Exodus 34:10).

He also records seven times that Jesus stated metaphors using the ontological identity for God, “I am.” In doing so he sets himself forth as the one in whom safety, life, sustenance, and eternity is secured. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life, …the light of the world, … the door of the sheep, … the good shepherd, …the resurrection and the life, … the way, the truth, and the life, … the true vine” (John 6:35, 48, 51; 8:12, 9:5; 10:7, 9: 10:11, 14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1). John records Jesus’ use of “I am” without any metaphorical reference on five occasions (6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 18:5). Both the metaphorical and absolute use of “I am” identify Jesus as the God who created all that is in the world and by whose word light was separated from the darkness. He is the one who protected and fed Israel in the wilderness and the true David, the killer of giant death and the eternally reigning king. As the vine, he embodies Israel, the true man of God. As the Good Shepherd, He is the gate through whom they enter the fold, He calls them by name, and He dies for them in order to secure eternal life for them. He is the ransom and the Redeemer for Job by whose power believers will in their flesh see God (Job 19:25-27; 33:24, 25). His Person and Work exclude the possibility of any other person, philosophy, or religious system leading to a knowledge of the Father, but ascertain that his way is infallibly certain.

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus is the gate through whom they enter the fold, He calls them by name, and He dies for them in order to secure eternal life for them.

Jesus identifies himself with no equivocation, no embarrassment, no apology, no mollifying explanation as the one who identified himself to Moses as “I am” (Exodus 3:14). What astounding connections must have trammeled the pedestrian thoughts of the people as one stood among them who identified himself to Moses by that name—”I am that I am; I eternally exist; I am unchangeable; I alone have non-dependent existence; it is to me that all moral beings, of all times, from all places will answer in final judgment.” His claim meant that he was, therefore, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6, 7).

Jesus told his detractors, “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:45-47). Moses wrote about the Creator, the Righteous Judge, the Covenant Maker, the God of Abraham, the God of Deliverance, the Great Lawgiver, the angry God, the compassionate God, the God who reveals his glory, the God whose justice cannot be violated, the God who makes a way of forgiveness. Jesus said, “I am that God.”

The discourses recorded by John give Jesus’ interpretation of confrontations of varying intensities with increasingly bold claims. In his discussion with Nicodemus, Jesus calls himself the Son of Man “who descended from heaven” and gives eternal life to believers (John 4:13, 15). To the woman of Samaria, Jesus told her plainly concerning the identity of Messiah, “I who speak to you am” (John 4:26). In a discourse with hostile Jews, Jesus enraged them even further by saying that the Father has committed all judgment to the Son “so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23). In speaking in strong images about the necessity of his incarnation and death, Jesus again offended the grumblers by saying, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves” (John 6:53). In another discussion with the confused and increasingly agitated Jews, Jesus laid claim to a perfect knowledge of and conformity to the Father’s purpose: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak those things as the Father taught me. And He who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (8:28, 29). In his Good Shepherd discourse Jesus said, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (10:29, 30). When that claim prompted an effort to stone him immediately, he pointed to their irrationality in disconnecting his words from his works, and continued, “Though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (10:38). Identity in deity while maintaining distinction of personhood was too big an idea to absorb but was perfectly consistent with the witness of the Old Testament. In the discourse given at the Lord’s Supper, Jesus made several summarizing statements, “You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am; … he who receives Me, receives Him who sent Me. … Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; …  I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; … He who hates me hates my Father also; … He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things the Father has are mine; …  Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed [that I am Lord and God]” (13: 13, 20, 31; 14:10, 11; 15:23; 16:14, 15; 20:29).

John saw and heard these things, testified to these things, and wrote these things. He remembered Jesus Christ and under the superintending purpose of the Holy Spirit recorded with the same revelatory value and infallible authority with which Paul preached his gospel.

This article is part 10 in a series by Tom Nettles on Remembering Jesus Christ.

Join us at the 2024 National Founders Conference on January 18-20 as we consider what it means to “Remember Jesus Christ” under the teaching of Tom Ascol, Joel Beeke, Costi Hinn, Phil Johnson, Conrad Mbewe and Travis Allen.

I am grateful to the Lord to be the father of five children. Being the father of five by no means makes me a parental expert, but it does mean I’ve had some repeat experiences with each child. One of those experiences is taking your newborn to the pediatrician for their first appointment. The nurse measures, weighs, and may even do a bilirubin test on the little one. And then the doctor gives you the results. As a father, what I was always most interested in with these exams is, “Is my child healthy?” The doctors, you see, have a standard, and by this standard, they are able to give you a pretty good idea of whether or not your precious baby is on a healthy track.
As Christians, we have a standard too. We have the Word of the living God. The Bible is a sufficient plumb line for measuring the health of an individual Christian, individual local church, or even a group of churches choosing to cooperate together like we have in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Much has been written over the last few years about areas of drift in our convention. I am among those who’ve written about matters of concern. But this is not what I want to do in today’s post. My goal is to give you a standard for what a solid, healthy convention looks like, not based on history or experience, but on the Scriptures. I do not mean to suggest history and experience have no place. Of course, they do! But the goal of today’s post is to give you God’s standard for what constitutes a strong group of churches. In doing this, I urge you to consider our convention’s state for yourself and pray for any area that we are weak in based on this evaluation.
I am sure other verses could be used for such a test, but the passage I want to examine is found in Ephesians 4:7-16. I have a couple of disclaimers before we begin. First, I cannot get into verses 7-12 in this post as that could take a whole book to get through! Secondly, I understand that Paul is writing to a specific local church here. However, the same principles that apply to one local church necessarily apply to a group of local churches.
With that being said, and understanding this is not a full exposition, let’s dive in. Our focus is primarily upon verses 13-16. What does a strong convention of churches look like? Here are seven signs:

Genuine Unity

“until we all attain to the unity of the faith…” (v.13)
As local churches focus on Bible-centered, prayer-saturated, local church loving, Christ exalting ministry (cf. v.11-12), they are brought into greater unity. This unity is not centered on secular ideas, skin color, or social issues. Instead, this is genuine unity created by the Holy Spirit of God (cf. Eph. 4:3) as He continually grows us together by faith in Christ.
Because of Christ’s sovereign and gracious gifting each local church may have certain areas of ministry they thrive at better than others. But the diversity of gifting comes together in a convention only to strengthen cooperation together in unity for the same mission: Seeing Christ exalted over the nations.
Churches rooted in the Scriptures, bowing to their authority and trusting their sufficiency, and focused on the glory of Christ have genuine unity even if they may disagree on certain peripheral issues. Not every church in a strong convention will look exactly the same. But each one will have full dependence on the gospel as the hope of the nations and seek to have the Bible as their final standard on all matters of the faith, including soteriology, anthropology, ecclesiology, and so on.

Doctrinal Fidelity

“and knowledge of the Son of God…” (v.13)
Knowledge of the Son of God is certainly necessary for any person to be a Christian. Yet, it is also true that a strong Christian, church, or group of churches is continually growing and standing firm in the knowledge of the Son of God.
A healthy convention is one that is faithful to sound doctrine. It possesses confessional integrity. And this doctrinal fidelity leads to greater unity! Curtis Vaughn writes,

“Unity” is to be taken with both “faith” and “knowledge,” and the latter two words are both modified by “of the Son of God.” What Paul contemplates is a oneness of faith in, and a oneness of knowledge concerning, the Son of God…The word “faith” is to be taken in the sense of trust and confidence. The Greek word for “knowledge” is a particularly strong one, denoting full, accurate, and true knowledge.[1]

A strong convention is one strong in the doctrine of the Son of God and all of the implications for His local churches that flow out of His life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and coming return.

Increasing Maturity

“…to mature manhood…” (v.13)
A strong convention is a mature convention full of mature and maturing local churches and Christians. This doesn’t mean there is no room for those who need to grow because we all need to grow!
It does certainly mean, however, that the leadership of such a convention consists of those mature in the faith. The metaphor Paul uses here is one of “manhood.” True, the church is often referred to as the “Bride” of Christ. But here, there is another image: one of a strong, healthy adult man unwavering in his convictions and resolution in his commitments to Christ.
Churches in a strong convention seek to spur one another on into greater maturity in the faith, holding one another accountable to the Scriptures and the convention’s stated confession. A mature convention is not afraid and even compelled to separate from churches that repeatedly and persistently show a lack of concern for God’s Word or growing in Christ.

Christ Conformity

“to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” (v.13)
This is how we know maturity is never finished. Because our goal for maturity is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Complete conformity to Christ is something not fully and finally realized until glory. Yet, a healthy Christian, church, or convention constantly strives toward sincere holiness of life.
Being full of Christ means loving all He loves and hating what He hates. It means, like Jesus, we are concerned first and foremost about the glory of God. It means having the powers of our discernment trained in differentiating between good and evil. It means loving the Word of God, biblical worship, the local church, and the lost. It means bearing the fruit of the Spirit and understanding the moments that call for humble compassion and those that call for a strong rebuke.
In sum, a strong convention is a holy convention seeking to follow Christ in all areas.

Steadfast Immobility

“so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (v.14)
A healthy convention of churches is one that shall not be moved. It is not a ship drifting too far from the shore or a crumbling leaf blown around by an autumn wind.
The contrast here in this passage is between a grown man and a small child. A child can be easily tricked, but not a mature man. Thus, a strong convention is on guard against the godless ideologies and worldly philosophies constantly seeking to infiltrate the church.
A healthy group of churches understands that the Evil One is perpetually seeking to destroy the work of Christ on earth. It understands that today’s liberal tendencies might not look exactly like yesterday’s because Satan is crafty and will adapt his tactics custom-made for every epoch of history. Therefore, a strong convention will stand resolutely upon God’s Word and warn and even rebuke churches or leaders who are not showing appropriate care when it comes to guarding against deceitful schemes.

Loving Honesty

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (v.15)
A strong convention speaks the truth in love. That is, churches do not speak deceitful schemes or faulty doctrine. Rather, they speak, preach, teach, and live out the truth of the Scriptures. The only way to “grow up” is through the Word of God. Therefore, a healthy convention of churches loves to speak the truth to one another and to a lost and dying world. It holds the inerrant, infallible Bible as its highest authority and it trusts the Bible to teach it on all matters of the faith and to speak a sufficient word to every generation.
Often, this speaking the truth encourages and edifies the churches. But at times, the truth will convict, challenge, and rebuke people. Consider the opening illustration of taking your newborn to the doctor. If something was wrong, you would want to know, right? It would not be loving of the doctor to lie to you. So, a healthy convention of churches speaks even difficult truths to one another. Yet, all of this is done in love. In the words of R.C. Sproul, “we call attention to the truth in an extraordinarily compassionate and tender and loving spirit.”[2]
And finally, when speaking the truth to the unregenerate, a healthy convention does not seek to minimize God’s Word. Instead, it calls upon all to repent of every sin and come to Christ in faith, finding Him as the only suitable and all-sufficient Savior for all mankind.

Godward Affinity

“from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (v.16)
A strong convention of churches builds itself up in love. Though its churches may be in different geographical locations, have diverse demographics, and possess a variety of gifts, there is a genuine love for God and one another that binds the convention together.
A love for the triune God and bringing Him glory in all things means that a strong convention is concerned about honoring God in all things, from worship to evangelism, to everyday life, to convention practices. Loving God means that a convention of churches seeks to please one another by first and foremost pleasing God. A strong convention understands that we love one another best when we love God most. And it is through this that a convention will be continually built up in love.
This is not an exhaustive list, of course. But it reminds us that God would not have any convention of churches to be childish. A strong convention must be growing in the Lord, aspiring to mature manhood. A childish convention would have symptoms that are the opposite of the signs of health above, like Superficial Unity, Confessional Infidelity, Acceptable Immaturity, Worldly Conformity, Drifting Carelessly, Hating Honesty, and Cultural Affinity.
God has given us a standard, brothers and sisters. It is by His own Bible that we are to assess our spiritual health. May we not compare ourselves to contemporaries or generations past. We must look into the mirror of the Word of God. Take some time today to consider your own walk with the Lord, the state of the local church you are a member of, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Pray for our health. Pray that the Lord would be pleased to bring about the recovery of the gospel and the reformation of churches in our convention.
[1] Curtis Vaughan, Ephesians, Founders Study Guide Commentary (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2002), 95.
[2] R. C. Sproul, The Purpose of God: Ephesians (Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 1994), 107.

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Over the course of our study on God’s holiness, we have seen the significance of the Lord’s holiness when His creatures encounter Him, and the reverence and awe His holiness produces. We also have seen why His holiness has this effect upon us, because God is incomparable in His holiness, incorruptibly pure in His holiness, and holy in all His infinite perfections.

God’s holiness has a certain and inevitable impact when He interacts with sinful people. God’s holiness results in His wrath on sinners who come to Him in their sins. However, God’s holiness does not always end in wrath upon sinners because God, in His holy love, sent His perfect Son to die on the cross and bear the sins of all who would put their faith in Him.

When we, as Christians, consider these truths about God’s holiness, we might ask, “What comes next now that I have been accepted by God in Christ because of God’s holy grace?”

As people who love Christ, we want to be holy and pursue holiness – and we all need help with that pursuit. Hebrews 12 gives us a clear outline and concise summary of how to pursue holiness as a believer.

First, to pursue holiness, we must set aside hindrances.

The writer specifically notes two things that cause hindrances to our pursuit of holiness by faith. First, he mentions encumbrances, which are things that are unnecessary or that get in the way of running the race of faith so that we are pursuing holiness. We must set aside the things that drain our time, focus, energy, and attention away from what God has called us to do.

A second hindrance the writer mentions is sin. This warning should be obvious because people can’t pursue holiness and hang on to sin. The problem is, though, that sin so easily entangles us, which is extremely difficult to understand and accept at a practical level for many Christians. We must not compromise for sin. We must not make excuses for sin. We must not blame others for our sin. We must not justify our sin but instead we must lay aside all our sins to run the race of faith and pursue holiness in our lives.

We must not justify our sin but instead we must lay aside all our sins to run the race of faith and pursue holiness in our lives.

Next, to pursue holiness, we must stay focused on Christ.

This is so crucial because it is all too easy for us to become focused on all the hindrances we just set aside. We can become consumed with all the sins we battle, the temptations we face, the weights we carry, and all the impediments on the track. Our race becomes impossible to run when we try to employ our own power rather than by faith in the power of Christ in our lives.

Instead, we must keep our eyes focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and perfector of our faith. The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to run the race of faith with our focus kept on Christ, because He gives and sustains our faith until it reaches its goal of total and perfect holiness in glory with Him. Christ is the great resource we have in this race because of our reliance on Him.

Third, to pursue holiness, we must submit to divine discipline.

No one likes discipline because it is hard and painful. Discipline stretches, challenges, and corrects us. Yet even though we chafe against discipline in our human flesh, we must submit to God’s discipline if we would be holy.

God’s discipline isn’t merely correction for some sin present in our lives, but anything God brings into our lives to push us toward holiness and greater trust and obedience to His Word. Trials are used by God in this way. Difficulties, tribulations, sufferings, and trials are all designed and employed by God to refine our faith and strengthen our character so that we might share in His holiness.

Fourth, to pursue holiness, we must strive for peace.

Sanctification, or pursuing holiness, is not meant to be something we do in isolation. Our growth in holiness is directly impacted by our relationships with other believers. In fact, we can go as far as to say that if we are not seeking peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are failing to pursue holiness as God has commanded in His Word. Disunity or bitterness are sins that so easily entangle us and must be put off if we are to run unhindered and unencumbered.

The context of this verse is for all believers – all those in the church – not all men in the world. Many times, pursuing holiness will put us at odds with the world, and seeking peace with the ungodly at the same time we strive for holiness can be impossible. While we should not provoke unnecessary controversy or conflict with unbelievers, expending all our energy trying to make peace with those who are not at peace with God or us is futile. The context of Hebrews 12 is the community of believers, and we are to be at peace with fellow Christians.

Trials are designed and employed by God to refine our faith and strengthen our character so that we might share in His holiness.

Finally, to pursue holiness, we must strive for holiness.

Here the writer makes it plain that when he talks about running the race, he means to pursue holiness. We should be people intent on being holy as God is holy. That should be our aim, our joy, and our privilege – to reflect the character of our thrice holy God.

Striving for holiness is not salvation by works because these works flow out of the heart of someone who is already saved by grace through faith. However, if people aren’t pursuing holiness, then they prove not to be saints. Those who are not holy will not see the Lord. The reason for their lack of holiness is that they aren’t really in Christ at all, and their profession of faith is illegitimate. As 1 John 3:3 reminds us, if we really love the promise of Christ’s coming, then we will long for and pursue holiness.

It’s not popular today to pursue holiness. In fact, there’s often the sentiment that as Christians, we should only pursue holiness to a certain degree. Or there’s the idea that we will become holy through osmosis, without any effort required. Some fear that if we become holy, it will turn the world away from Christ because of its distain for holiness. Those who pursue holiness are criticized often as being hypocrites because ungodly people equate a love for obedience to God’s Word with legalism and hypocrisy.

Yet we are called to pursue holiness, the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. This doesn’t happen by accident, because no one becomes holy without disciplining themselves for the purpose of godliness. God is holy, holy, holy; and in Christ, we have been made saints. May God grant us the grace to pursue holiness by faith, and may it be our prayer that we would be holy – as our Lord is holy.