What are the Nine Marks?

Mark Dever identifies 9 that cultivate spiritual health in a church. The first mark is expository preaching. Expository preaching begins with the conviction that God’s word is sufficient to build the church. Therefore, the preacher seeks to draw the meaning out of the text and show people how it applies to their lives.

The second mark is biblical theology. It is great to understand individual passages and to plumb the depths of a Bible book. But a healthy church also seeks to understand the broader narrative of God’s word so they can develop a balanced theology of God, man, sin, salvation, and the Christian life.

Third is a proper understanding of the gospel. If we do not properly understand the gospel, we will short-circuit our Christian walk, create confusion in our evangelistic efforts, and run the risk of creating false converts.

This leads right into the fourth mark discussed: a Biblical understanding of conversion. The New Testament is clear that there are those who undergo a false conversion, wherein they have an initial response to Christ that over time is revealed to be a false conversion. Jesus ministered to some people just like this. Understanding what it means to be born again is essential to building a healthy body of believers.

Fifth is a biblical understanding of evangelism, which combines the previous two points. Knowing the message and what it looks like for someone to be converted will set the course for how we bear witness to Christ.

The sixth mark is a biblical understanding of church membership. Mark Dever is a Baptist pastor. His clear and biblical teaching in this area helped me move from ‘membership is something Baptists do’ to ‘membership is the intentional practice of clear biblical principles.’

The seventh mark is the practice of biblical church discipline. Thinking through how the church is supposed to respond to sin in its midst is very important. If we ignore sin, we rob the church of its power and witness. Yet if we are harsh or self-righteous in dealing with people who struggle, we become legalistic pharisees. It is important we learn the Bible’s approach to this matter, so we can avoid both errors.

The eighth mark is a concern for discipleship and growth. Part of the Great Commission is teaching them to observe all that I have commanded. Once people are saved, they need taught what the Christian life looks like. That is what discipleship is all about, moving people from spiritual infancy to being spiritual providers. Healthy churches are committed to this process.

Finally, healthy churches seek to establish biblical church leadership. If the leadership is not spiritually qualified, in submission to God’s work, or lack a clear understanding of God’s vision for His people, the church will struggle to become the kind of church described in the New Testament.

Are these the only marks of a healthy church?

This book was written in 2000 and addressed some of the sweeping challenges facing the church at the time. 9marks ministries, which was born out of the response to its publication, openly recognizes that there are other important Biblical markers of health not addressed in the book. IN recent years, they have given important emphasis to prayer and missions. So, this book is not the end-all-be-all. But it is very helpful.

Can I disagree with something in the book?

The challenge of recommending books is that people may think I blindly adhere to every aspect of it. But there is only one book, the Bible, that holds true with. This book is no different. The Biblical church leadership model 9marks promotes is a form of elder-led congregationalism. They basically argue that if a church does not follow this model, they are not functioning biblically. Although I have learned a lot from this book and the broader ministry of 9marks, I do not fully agree with them in this area of teaching.

Further reading

If an area of the book piques your interest that you would like to explore further, 9marks has put out companion books on each subject. For a full list of books and articles, as well as podcasts and other resources, you can check out 9marks.org. They have several helpful resources.

What if I do not have time to read a 250 page book?

If you want to explore the points of this book but do not have time for a longer read, I highly recommend Mark Dever’s book What is a Healthy Church? It is a condensed and simplified version of the longer book.

God cares about the structure and function of the church. That is why He taught about it in the Bible. This book is a helpful resource in understanding some important aspects of our corporate life together as His followers. I highly recommend it. Happy reading!

Pigs and Pearls

Matthew 7:6 Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

This statement, which reads like a Jewish proverb, appears towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount. At first glance it can appear as a random statement disjointed from the flow of the sermon. But after closer examination, it fits the context well.

Prior to this statement, Jesus said do not judge so that you will not be judged (7:1). By this, Jesus meant we are to avoid passing unnecessary, harsh, or hypocritical judgment on others. Yet that does not mean believers should never evaluate (judge) people or circumstances. A few verses later (vs. 15-20), Jesus warned us of false teachers, whom we can identify by the fruits of their lives. We are to evaluate them, not by our standards, but by the standards of God’s word. In other words, there is a sinful form of judgment we are to avoid, but there is an appropriate judgment we are to practice.

The verse we are considering follows Jesus’ statements on passing wrong judgment on people. It reminds us that ‘not judging’ does not mean we ignore sin or opposition to the gospel. Instead, we are to be wise stewards of the gospel, calling people to faith in Jesus without holding the message of His salvation up for distain.

Dogs and pigs were the two most despicable animals in Jewish culture. Dogs were mangy scavengers; not pets like they are for us. They ate whatever they could find and roamed wherever they chose. If a Jew really wanted to insult someone, they would call them a dog. Pigs were deemed unclean by the law, meaning they were a part of the dietary restrictions God put on the Jews in the OT. Over time, they came to be seen as the figurehead, not only for all the unclean animals, but for everything that is despicable to God. With these two animals, Jesus is pointing his listeners to the most vile things they could imagine.

Jesus said to withhold what is holy from a dog. This is probably a reference to the ‘holy food’ in the temple that only priests could eat. Jesus is saying that we are not to take what is consecrated for the service of God and feed it to dogs who will devour it with no regard for its sacredness. In the process of devouring it, they may turn and devour you. This paints the imagery of a pack of dogs attacking food with no regard for the one feeding them.

Nor are we to place our pearls before swine. Pigs do not understand the value of pearls, so they will trample them as worthless if placed before them. I know someone who was working cattle in a sloppy pen, when his wedding ring fell off among the cattle. They trampled over it before he could retrieve it, so it was lost. That is the picture here. Pigs will trample the pearls so that they are lost. This is not how we treat something of value.

So, what is the holy food and precious pearls we are to protect rather than treat with contempt? It is the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 4 describes the gospel as a treasure God has placed in jars of clay, which are His people. That passage talks about the distain the world shows for the gospel and how they attack its messengers. It is a wonderful parallel to this verse.

Jesus is saying that we should not intentionally expose the gospel to ridicule. We believe that everyone is redeemable; and we want everyone to have the opportunity to believe in Christ. We also understand that it is our responsibility to share the gospel with lost people. Yet wisdom is necessary to know when and where we are to share the gospel, and when it is unwise to share it.

If someone is clearly hardened against and unresponsive to the gospel, it dishonors God to provoke such a person’s blasphemous response to God by poking them with the gospel. This does not mean we stop praying for them or looking for ways to soften them towards Christ. It is simply a recognition that the Holy Spirit has work to do on their heart before they will respond positively, so we are going to wait for a more opportune time.

Furthermore, we do not intentionally create circumstances where we will be persecuted. We do not try to provoke people to attack us, lest the gospel be ridiculed, and we be destroyed in the process. I am not going to go to Mecca during Islam’s annual pilgrimage there, stand on one of the pillars of their mosque, and preach Christ with a bullhorn. It will not have the results I desire; and it will result in my imprisonment or worse. There are better ways to reach those individuals with the message of salvation than that.

I saw this principle worked out simultaneously in two churches response to a challenge. During Ontario’s government mandated cessation of church services a few years ago, a church decided they could no longer comply and would resume services before they had governmental sanction to do so. Before their first gathering, they called the mayor of the city, the local health department, and the police to tell them when and where they would gather and to invite them to join them. To no one’s surprise, the police were on sight, fines were issued, and court cases were fought.

Around the same time, a different church also decided they could no longer cease gathering, so they organized ‘underground’ gatherings in homes, barns, and sheds. Those who attended were prepared to suffer the consequences if the police arrived; but they also tried to be discreet because all they wanted was to worship God according to their consciences.

Both churches claimed that their actions were motivated by their belief in the gospel. Yet in one circumstance, it felt like a political fight. The church gathering became the battleground on which the fight was waged. In the other circumstance, it felt like people trying to worship God according to their conscience. To me, it seemed like the gospel was adorned by the humble obedience of one group, while in the other circumstance the gospel was needlessly subjected to scorn, not because they chose to gather, but in the manner in which they chose to do so.

Believers are ambassadors of Christ through whom God is making the appeal of salvation to the world. But like a good ambassador, we need to remember that our goal is to woo people to Christ by showing the glory of His salvation. We need wisdom to know when to take the pearl of the gospel from our pocket, so we can say we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20); and we need wisdom to know when sharing the gospel will only result in ridicule of His name and needless danger to us. We should be prepared to suffer and even die for the gospel, but we do not look for opportunities to prove our willingness to do so.

Paton was born into a humble home in southern Scotland on May 24^th, 1824. Although his parents were poor, they were rich in the things of God. John’s father was a weaver of stockings by trade; but he was known as a godly man of prayer. By the time of his death, he was one of the most respected elders in the region, regularly sought for counsel or called on to pray with the sick, dying, or hurting. The piety of John’s parents left a deep mark on his life.

There were three major phases to John Paton’s ministry. In each phase, he did more for Christ than most of us will do in a lifetime. Ministry began for him in Glasgow, where he worked as a mission worker, spreading the gospel and visiting the sick and hurting. During this phase of his life, he saw great victories, but also experienced harsh persecutions. Both things prepared him for his life’s work as a missionary.

The second phase of Paton’s life was his work in the New Hebrides Islands, known today as Vanuatu. The natives on these islands were notoriously violent and cannibalistic. Every missionary there knew martyrdom was a real possibility. John went to replace a missionary who had been killed.

Initially, John labored on the Island of Tanna, whose natives were some of the most violent and aggressive in the New Hebrides. John labored there for several years to no lasting effect. John’s time on the Island of Tanna is a constant story of courage for Christ, Divine intervention to preserve John’s life, and the rejection of the gospel by the natives. Finally, when it became evident that the natives would not receive the gospel but were bent on killing John and all who helped him, he decided to leave the Island. John narrowly escaped with his life.

The story of his harrowing escape of the island produced my favorite line in the book. Paton said I am a committed Calvinist, but I am no fatalist. Once he knew that all hope of reaching the Tannese with the gospel was lost, only then did he turn his attention to escaping the island alive.

Eventually, Paton would move to the Island of Aniwa, whose people were less violent. Here John saw God convert most of the island’s residents over time. With it came the transformation of a hopeless, depressed, and violent culture into one of joy, peace, and contentment. Here, as on Tanna, God also showed Himself powerful in response to John’s prayers.

The third phase of John’s life was that of a missionary recruiter. He travelled Australia, the British Isles, and America recruiting missionaries and raising funds for the work in the New Hebrides. Everywhere he went, he touched lives with the gospel and motivated Christians to imitate his sacrificial service for their Savior.

It is easy to get caught up in the thrill of Paton’s story. He miraculously escaped death many times, saw God do amazing things in response to his prayers, and changed the world’s perspective of the Aboriginals in Australia. To this day, the well he dug and lined with corral from the sea is a powerful testament to this man’s trust in God. But his life is more than a thrilling story. It is a testimony to the life and culturally transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His story is sure to deepen your trust in and sacrifice for our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  

The story of the Syrophoenician woman is a story that can be hard to align with Jesus’ character. Although this is not the case (as we are about to discover), it can seem to 21^st century readers that Jesus is cool towards or even uninterested in this woman and her desperate plea for help. What is going on with this short story from the life of Jesus?

In Matthew’s version of the story, we are told that Jesus did not initially reply to the woman. His interaction with her took place after the disciples ask Jesus to send the woman away because she was ‘shouting after us.’ The key to understanding this text is realizing that Jesus’ words are more for the disciples than for the woman.

The woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter, who was demon possessed. This is not a unique occurrence in the gospels. What makes this situation unique is that the woman asking was a Gentile. Both Matthew and Mark are careful to record this. Mark says she was a Gentile. Matthew tells us she is a Canaanite, arch enemies of the Jews for millennia. 

We know from both the Old and New Testaments that God’s heart is for the nations. Each Gospel is careful to record Jesus ministering to those outside of the Jewish community; yet the Jews did not think the Messiah was for Gentiles. They thought He was for the Jews alone.

Although Jesus is the Savior of the world, during in His earthly ministry He presented Himself to the Jews as the ultimate Davidic King. In Matthew, this Gentile woman recognizes Him as ‘Son of David,’ pointing to this reality. Jesus’ initial reply was that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. His mission was to present Himself to the Jews as the fulfillment of God’s salvation promises. Their rejection of Him would accomplish salvation for all the nations. But before God turned His focus on the Gentiles, Jesus had to present Himself to the Jews as their King. We see a similar occurrence happen when the Jews ask to see Jesus during the last week of His life. Their request was also denied. It is not that Jesus’ heart was not for them; but that it was momentarily outside the work God had called Him to do. Yet I am confident that, through the apostles, those men and women would be told the message of salvation and have the opportunity to believe because God’s heart is for the salvation of the nations. The big issue here is around the timing of what God was doing. 

When Jesus said that it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs, He was saying that His focus at that time was not on those outside the old covenant community (Jews), but on the Jews. Jews commonly referred to Gentiles as dogs, which was the cruelest insult they could come up with. The disciples wanted Jesus to send her away because they thought she had no business associating with Jesus, let alone benefiting from Him. When Jesus gave this statement, they would have thought way to go Jesus. Get rid of that Canaanite dog! Yet the woman’s faith was strong, so she gave the wise answer recorded in the text. In response to her faith, Jesus granted her request.

This response would have shocked the disciples. A Canaanite just benefited from the ministry of the Messiah! Matthew again is helpful at this point. Jesus tells the woman your faith is great! His point is that faith, not ethnicity, is what makes one right with God. By ministering His grace to this woman, He taught a valuable lesson to His disciples who had not yet realized that the gospel is for the entire world. The edginess of the story, where Jesus seems to promote the racism of the Jews, forms the contrast that drives the point home. The woman knew Jesus was the Son of David. The Jews rejected this. She had faith in Jesus. The Jews did not. The Jews had the promises but rejected the fulfillment of them. This woman was ‘outside’ the people of God yet accepted the promises of God. Her life and faith condemned the Jews for their rejection of the Messiah. The irony of the story teaches the lesson. God’s heart is for the salvation of all people.