Joshua Ritchie's "Snack On This"

Authorial Intent & "Christian" Music

2010-09-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

I enjoy newly written songs that express the Christian faith. Every now and then you stumble across a song that musically is easy to learn and easy to sing. As the pastor of our church, I also enjoy introducing new songs to our congregation. Introducing new songs not only encourages the congregation to grow musically, but it also keeps them aware of "what" they are singing. There are times when singing an "oldie but goodie" that we go on auto-pilot and forget the meaning of the lyrics and gospel message. But great care must be administered when selecting songs (newer or older) to introduce to the church because not all songs express the Christian faith clearly and some songs are contrary to the Christian faith even if they carry the label "Christian."

For example, the following lyrics were written by a "Christian" musician.

Oh, how could it be
That my God would welcome me
Into this mystery
Say take this bread, take this wine
Now the simple made divine
For any to receive

This musicians songs are sung in a large portion of churches today. But when you discover the background of the worship leader, you discover that his theology is Catholic. And while it could be true that many of his songs express true Christian doctrine, one should expect some songs to carry theology that is distinctly Catholic.

Knowing that this musician is Catholic, I have to wonder what he meant when he penned the lyrics "now the simple made divine." The song, being about communion, would seem to work musically and lyrically. But when put it up to a doctrinal test, it would seem that it fails the test of true doctrine--if I correctly understand the author's intent. In Catholic theology, the view of communion is that the elements of bread and wine become the true body and blood of Christ--transubstantiation. In the words of the musician, the "simple [is] made divine." If that is what the author intended to say, then this should not be a song sung in Protestant churches. If the Catholic author intented to say something else, then his lyrics are ambiguous at best.

Unfortunately, most musicians don't offer a commentary on all of their songs and indeed it seems that many might even allow a vast array of interprations of their songs as long as it encouraged others in the "faith" and in their "walk with God." What the songs "meant to you" and what it "did for you" can in no way be the means of authenticating it's message. As always Scripture alone is the rule of belief and practice. And if one is writing a song to express Christian doctrine, then one should be clear in what he/she is intending to say. In this case, the message seems clear enough and thus the song would not pass the test of right doctrine.

A word of caution would be helpful for all of us. Just because someone writes one or two theological correct songs, doesn't mean that all of their songs are given a free pass. Always be discerning and remember that is the habit of Satan to subtly introduce heresy into the church.

It's All About Love...No, It's All About Christ

2010-05-21T10:04:00.001-07:00

Since the inception of our church I have tried to impress upon my brothers and sisters that all of Scripture is about Christ. To hear a sermon from the Old Testament or New Testament and to not have Christ as the aim or focal point is to have a Christless sermon—a non-Christian sermon really. The substance and essence of all Scripture is Jesus Christ Himself. He said so and taught accordingly.

John 5:39-40 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

And so in some way, we must always head to Christ from whatever passage we preach from. It was Charles Spurgeon who said, “I take my text and make a bee-line to the cross.” So whether the passage shows us our sin and utter depravity and need for the Savior like in Genesis 3…or whether the passage shows God’s faithfulness in presevering the people through whom Christ would be born like in Genesis 50…or whether the passage gives a prophecy of the work and person of Christ like in Isaiah 55…or whether the passage shows us a type of Christ like Jonah…or whether the passage gives us the wisdom of Christ as in Proverbs…or whether the passage points to the judgment of Christ as in Joel…IT’S ALL ABOUT CHRIST.

My aim in the past three and a half years has been to build this truth into my family and into our church. Naturally, you can understand my joy when my daughter and I had this conversation last night after she read her Bible.

“Macy, what did you read in your Bible?”

She replied, “Dad, I’m a little nervous to tell you.”

“Why? It’s ok if you forget a little. Just pick up your Bible and show me some of the things you learned. Was it about soccer? What is about food? Was it about Jesus?”

”Dad! All Bible stories are about Jesus,” she replied as if I didn’t know and that it should have been obvious to me.

She went on, “Dad. It was hard to understand. I’m not sure if I got it.”

I replied, “Well, it looks like God gave something to Moses. Did he give him some fish? Did he give him a high-five? What did He give him?”

“Commandments,” she said.

The Bible she reads from has some lessons that are designed to teach her essential truths of the faith. This lesson focused on the fact that we can’t know God unless He reveals Himself to us. Thus we see God speaking His Word. Scripture, which is God-breathed, shows us what God is like and what He expects of us.

Our conversation then went on to explaining the point of why God gave us His Law: to show His perfection and our sin, thus our need for Christ’s perfect obedience and His salvation. We had a good chat as she snuggled up into my arms and I told her the gospel story once again from Exodus.

Spooky...Really Spooky!

2010-04-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here's an article from the Founders Blog that points to some folks who are trying desperately to stop pastors from preaching of the doctrines of grace...or Calvinism as it is commonly referred to.

As a church who is unashamedly Calvinistic and Reformed, let us pray for our brothers and sisters who endure persecution and suffering for preaching the undiluted, pure and refreshing gospel of Christ.

Gubment & Powerpoint

2010-04-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

This article makes and interesting point concerning Powerpoint in the military. Here are two excerpts from the article.

"Commanders say that behind all the PowerPoint jokes are serious concerns that the program stifles discussion, critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making. Not least, it ties up junior officers — referred to as PowerPoint Rangers — in the daily preparation of slides, be it for a Joint Staff meeting in Washington or for a platoon leader’s pre-mission combat briefing in a remote pocket of Afghanistan."

"In a daytime telephone conversation, he estimated that he spent an hour each day making PowerPoint slides. In an initial e-mail message responding to the request for an interview, he wrote, 'I would be free tonight, but unfortunately, I work kind of late (sadly enough, making PPT slides).'"

Not that I am against the use of Powerpoint in a sermon, but this article got me thinking about the rampant use of Powerpoint in our worship services. I wonder if the church has the same problems. Are we spending much valuable time and resources on diagrams and bullet points...and not enough time with people or in sermon preparation or in evangelism? Would our families be healthier if we dropped the 30 slide presentation and spent more time with them? Can Powerpoint reduce critical thinking or stifle discussion? Can Powerpoint give the mistaken notion that Biblical matters, sin issues and doctrinal issues can be reduced to bullets?

Again, I don't want to dismiss the use of PPT, but surely an overuse can trivialize or pollute or blurr the message of Scripture. On Sunday, will the focus be on Christ or on a slide presentation? If the PPT show towers above Christ then it's time for it to go.

4 Views On The Millennial Reign Of Christ

2010-03-26T21:33:00.001-07:00

If you've ever wanted a brief summary of what the four major eschatological views are concerning the 1000 year reign of Christ, then these videos break it down for simple folk like me.

Premillennial Timeline from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

Dispensational Premillennial Timeline from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

Postmillennial Timeline from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

Amillennial Timeline from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

Divine Sovereignty & Human Responsibility In Prayer & Temptation

2010-02-25T12:42:00.000-08:00

Pray that God would not lead you into temptation (Matthew 6:13). When that prayer goes unanswered, rejoice (James 1:2-4) at what God is doing!

When you fall into temptation, resist the evil one (James 4:7). Then give thanks to God (Psalm 19:13) for answering your prayer according to Matthew 6:13.

Justification By Works?

2010-02-12T23:23:00.001-08:00

"These good works are evidence of the true nature of these people. Notice the response of the righteous (Matthew 25:31-40). These believers are clearly not sitting around waiting to be justified by their works. When Jesus commends them for what they have done, they humbly respond by saying, "When did we do this?" That does not sound like folk who are waiting to be justified by works, waiting to be saved by works. Instead they are completely stunned that Jesus would even mention their works." -- J. Ligon Duncan, Fear Not: Death and the Afterlife from a Christian Perspective, page 79

Figs, Christmas and Hypocrisy

2009-11-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what figgy pudding is, but is sounds scary. But I digress so quickly...

In Matthew 21:18-22 Jesus has just returned from Bethany to Jerusalem and from a distance sees a fig tree by the side of the road. Scripture makes it a point to say that there were leaves on this particular fig tree. Although it was at least a good month and a half away from the normal season for figs to bear fruit, the presence of leaves on the tree signified that fruit was there. Being hungry and seeing this fig tree with leaves from afar, Jesus heads towards the tree to grab a morning bite to eat. He finds no figs, curses the tree and the tree withers away.

Before making application, we need to understand that in several instances in the Old Testament Israel was likened to a figless fig tree (Micah 7:1-4, Hosea 9:10). In these instances, figs are symboic for godliness, devotion to God, true faith, true believers. The absences of godliness and true believers in the land of Israel was detestable to God. From a distance, any nation observing Israel would have thought that they were godly and very religious. But from God's standpoint and upclose examination, Israel was barren.

When we head back to Matthew 21, we see that the problem with the fig tree was not such much barreness. The gospel of Mark tells us that it was not the time of figs. But being that the tree had leaves, which Jesus saw from a distance, and being the leaves were supposed to indicate that fruit was on the tree, Jesus anger arises from the fact that the tree gave the appearance of fruit but did not have any. The tree was a hypocrite...a pretender...a deceiver. Jesus curses it and it becomes good for nothing except to be thrown into a furnace.

So, too, had Israel become once again. They had all sorts of leaves and no fruit. They had just welcomed Christ into Jerusalem with shouts of praise: Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest. They had just thrown their cloaks on the floor which was the cultural way of welcoming a king or war hero. They had cut palm branches (symbols of peace) and laid them on the ground along with their cloaks, believing that Christ was bringing peace for them. Yet their understanding of the peace He was bringing was political not spiritual. They had the appearance of real spiritual fruit. Their worship seemed to be genuine. Yet it was a farce. They were hypocrites. They were pretenders. A week later those shouts of praise would be turned into shouts of hate: Cruficy Him!!! Cruficy Him!!!

Israel had leaves. They had the temple in Jerusalem where this fig tree is located. The temple system, ceremonies and sacrifices all elaborately portrayed the gospel. Yet when Christ arrives He finds merchants and money-changers using the gospel to fulfill their own greedy lusts. The problem wasn't that they were doing business. The problem was that the merchants and money-changers were taking advantage of those participating in the temple ceremonies. The gospel became a means to fulfill ones greedy lusts.

Jesus then drives everyone out of the temple--even those being taken adantage of. Christ is displeased with them as well. They should have been just as indignant and righteously angry as Christ was, yet they went along with the program and failed to contend for the gospel and God's glory. They should have been zealous for the gospel. There should have been others doing what Christ had done, but there was no one else cleansing the temple. Israel had leaves...but no fruit. They had the appearance of godliness, but it was pure hypocrisy.

The cursing of the fig tree then becomes an ojbect lesson for the disciples as to the state and condemnation of that generation. What a powerful display of God's judgment upon hypocrites--upon those who appear to be godly but upon close examination from the Lord are found wanting.

Christmas is right around the corner...but a few weeks away. A lot of leaves will be displayed. There will be an unprecedented amount of professed godliness dispalyed during this holiday season. Hmmm...something to think about. Will those with true fruit rise up and warn the current generation of the condemnation that will come from the one who was born in a stable if they are found to be trees with leaves and no fruit?

How we need the Savior! That is the good news of the Christmas story. Christ came to save us from our wickedness and God's wrath in order to make us God's children who bear godly fruit and display His glory. Bearing fruit and displaying the glory of God doesn't save you. Rather, God saves you in order to display His glory with little pieces of fruit that look like Him.

How good God is in warning the visible church of the hypocrites that are hiding within the true church.

Now if by chance you come across the fabled figgy pudding this Christmas, and if you find that figgy pudding is made with figs...remember Matthew 21 and the cursing of the figless fig tree.

Thanksgiving And The Doctrines Of Grace

2009-11-26T11:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a blessed day with your families and friends.

Knowing that during Thanksgiving we typically eat a bunch, party hardy and perhaps show a little gratitude (at least for the additional day off), I would like to stir your affections towards Christ as He has moved and directed the history of mankind. Specifically I have today in mind. At Thanksgiving we may perhaps have our memories taken back to those early days before the U.S. became a nation and was just a group of colonies and we remember people dressing in black and white with odd looking hats; you know, the pilgrims.

There is some great spiritual history about the pilgrims that I'd like to share with you. Mind you, this doesn't include all pilgrims, but a good portion of them. Let me provide a somewhat lengthy quote from Dr. Steven J. Lawson in his book, "Foundation of Grace."

"In the providence of God, the truths of the doctrines of grace were soon carried across the Atlantic by men searching for religious freedom. The Pilgrims were distinctly Calvinistic, as they brought with them and preached from their Geneva Bibles. The early Colonial leaders were staunchly Reformed. Those who founded the early states--men such as John Winthrop, Thomas Hooker, Roger Williams, Increase Mather, and Cotton Maher--were all Calvinistic. The first American colleges, Harvard and Yale, were Calvinistic, established to train Reformed ministers who would preach Reformed doctrine.

As the colonies became more settled, the flames of revival burned brightly in New England. In the lead of this movement, which was known as the Great Awakening, were Calvinistic pastors, evangelists, and educators. William Tennent, Sr., and his
sons, Gilbert and Willian Tennent, were leading Presbyterian pastors who established the Log Cabin College to train Bible-preaching pastors. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, Mass., was THE leading pastor of the time and a strict Calvinist of the highest order. George Whitefield of Bristol, England, was unquestionably the most distinguished evangelist of the day, perhaps of any day, and was Reformed to the core. When Harvard and Yale succummed to the slippery slope of Arminianism, Princeton was raised up to become the new bastion of Calvinism. Other colleges were established that were distinctly Reformed--Rutgers, Dartmouth, and Brown. The rich truths of sovereign grace saturated the soil of those early Colonies. Calvinism was the dominant worldview of the day.

With the coing of the Revolutionary War, Reformed thinkers continued to lead. The representative form of government drafted into the Constitution was simply Reformed truth of elder rule [of the church] expanded and applied to the nation. Many of the founding fathers were Calvinistic, including John Witherspoon, the only pastor to sign the Declaration of Independence. After the Revolutionary War, the Second Great Awakening blazed across New England, with key men such as Timonthy Dwight, president of Yale, and Asahel Nettledon, both strong Calvinists, amond its leaders."

We have so much to be thankful for today. God has blessed each of our families with daily provisions and supplies. He had done for this sinner and saint; unbeliever and believer; non-elect and elect. Yet, for those of us that know and treasure the Savior, we have been shown a special saving kind of love. We need to be especially grateful to the Lord for the great things He has done.

The doctrines of grace or Calvinism give us every reason to be grateful to God, for these doctrines show us but one thing; that salvation belongs alone to God, that we can take no credit for it and cannot boast, that salvation is all by God's grace, that He must get the glory, credit and thanks.

If at any time we put ourselves in a position to receive glory or praise for our salvation, then we can begin to thank ourselves and worship ourselves for the great gift of salvation, but to do so would be to the damnation of our souls. As such, the doctrines of grace stand like a tower over our hearts and souls reminding us to look up and to God for His salvation by His grace.

These doctrines, brought over by the Puritan Pilgrims are taught firmly from cover to cover of Scripture. And these doctrines of grace, when rightly understood, give us more than ample reason to boast and praise our great God. They are:

Man's radical depravity - man is so sinful that the Bible describes him as dead in sin. A spiritually dead person can do no spiritual good. He cannot and is not able to comprehend spiritual truth that leads to salvation. He lies in a spritual coffin and cannot respond to God, who is Spirit. Every area of his person has been corrupted by sin: body, mind, soul, will, emotions, etc.

God's Sovereign Choosing - being that man is dead in sin, and would never come to God for salvation, God must come to Him. This is God's own choosing that has been in the eternal wisdom of God. There is nothing that separates one man over another for the reason of God choosing to come to him for salvation. It is merely God's grace. None of us deserve it. That He would save some at all is just simply amazing grace.

Particular Redemption - Those whom God has sovereignly chosen to bring to salvation, He has sent Christ to die for. These are the "called out ones" or the "church" for whom Christ died. When Christ died on the cross, specific sins were nailed to the cross so that when He atoned for sin, He atoned for actual sins of particular people so that all their sin was dealt with completely. We do not have to make penance for any sin we commit in the future. For those whom God has called to salvation, their sins were dealt with completely on the cross.

Effectual Grace - Those who are called to salvation are not born spiritually alive nor saved. They are born dead in sin. Being that they cannot respond to Christ in repentance and faith, which are spiritual gifts to be exercised, the Holy Spirit must first regenerate their dead spirit. They must be born again before they can believe. They must be brought to spiritual life first. They must have a spiritual resurrection so that they can believe spiritual truth. It is only in this condition that man is willingly able to believe on Christ unto salvation. This is why some people come to Christ and others do not--the work of God's Spirit as He calls us to life by His Word. His grace makes us willing and able to receive and treasure Christ as the glorious Redeemer. So we see that Father calls a certain people to salvaiton, the Son atones for the sins of those specific people and the Spirit of God makes alive those specific people. The Godhead is unified in their work and purpose, always! Calvinism is the theology that keeps them united, not fractured or schizophrenic.

God's Perseverance of the Saints - Those who are called to salvation will never perish. Although they sin and they may sin greatly, they will never fully abandon their Savior or the faith. Though Satan may throw out temptation, persecution or false teaching, true believers are kept and guarded by God through the gift of faith and the indwelling of God's Spirit. The deposit of the Spirit into us is the guarantee that we will forever be with God; guaranteed! He keeps us saved and faithful. The gift of faith that God gives is a kind of faith that never lets go. Our staying saved is by the grace of God.

These are but a brief summary of the doctrines of grace. It was these truths that the Puritan Pilgrims brought to our land. While this day of Thanksgiving has focused hugely on being grateful for physical blessings from God, let us not forget the spiritual blessings we have because of His marvelous grace.

Precious Words

2009-11-20T00:06:00.000-08:00

There are times in life when someone says something to you that brings resolve or comfort to a situation in your life.

To the husband who works hard to take care of his family but seems to never bring enough money home, "I know how hard you work to provide for us," can be the most encouraging words a wife could possibly give to her husband in that moment of frustration. Those are precious words.

To the sinner who feels defeated when looking at their repeated failure to overcome sin in their life, hearing "Jesus Christ's saving work is powerful enough to save even a sinning Christian," can make you cheer for God and lift you to praise for grace. Those are precious words, too.

To the one who is grieving over the loss of a loved one, knowing that "death has lost it's sting in Jesus Christ," brings hope, encouragement and gratitude for the empty tomb. Those are much needed precious words in times of death.

Today I heard some precious words. I don't ever want to forget them. They made me weep for joy. They helped bring some resolve to a past situation in my life. They made me grateful to God.

In order to help you understand the gravity and preciousness of these words, I must share something from my past. I share, not to ask for pity, nor to vent, nor to bad mouth anyone. I simply share to recognize the hand of God in my family as He grows us in the knowledge of His grace.

Several years ago I was asked to resign from the church I served at. For all practical purposes, it was a firing. And that is ok. I fully recognize God's sovereignty in the situation and understand that He was in full control of the situation. The reason for my being asked to resign was because of my growing understanding of the doctrines of grace and reformation theology. At that time, I didn't know what reformed theology was. I really didn't. I thought reformed people were people who practiced infant baptism and had a different view of communion. I just knew that what I was learning was feeding my soul and making me more vigilant in my evangelistic endeavors. What I was learning created more zeal in my preaching and more concern for the church of God. What I was learning made me want to be a better pastor who elevated God as much as I possibly could from week to week. Knowing how I was growing, I wanted others to grow too. So I taught what I learned. And why shouldn't I have done that. I wanted the teens in our student ministry and the adult leaders to get a taste of what was going on in my mind and in my heart. So I tried to pass it on.

Doctrines like God's sovereignty, the doctrine of election, God's decrees, His wisdom, justification, imputation, sanctification and a host of others were being taught to me by people like A.W. Pink, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, Charles Spurgeon and a host of other godly men--living and dead. These doctrines were just the start of it...the tip of the proverbial iceberg, if you will. I hungered for more and felt like I had been revived from a spiritual stupor that I didn't even know I was in. So I kept on teaching and teaching and teaching. I kept on learning and learning and learning. And I took what I got, digested it, and tried to feed it to others like a momma bird does to her little birdies....gross image, I know. But I wanted our student ministry to get this, our student leaders, our whole church, and my own wife.

As time went on, it became clear to those in authority that I was moving in a different direction as the rest of the church. I didn't see it that way. I figured that as a shepherd, my duty from God was to help the church grow and be corrected where there was error or shortcomings. That's what us pastor dudes do with God's Word. We feed it to the sheep and the sheep get healthier. I did this for several years and was pleased to see others growing as I was growing. Yet I didn't realize the full implications of what would befall my family for teaching what I was teaching. Not being able to see the future, I didn't know that I would eventually be asked to resign. In those final months, my eyes opened and I knew it would be a matter of time before I was asked to leave. But what could I do but continue to preach what I was Scripturally convinced of. I knew that it would mean that I was going to have to put my family in harms way. That's a tough pill to swallow.

Well, I was finally asked to resign. I remember that night vividly. I was asked to have a private meeting with the pastor and a deacon after youth group on a Sunday night. In my gut I knew it was my final night. So sitting next to some student leaders after our youth group meeting adjourned, I looked over at them before heading off to my meeting and said to them, "It was great serving with you." One leader said, "Shut up! What are you talking about?" I said, "I'll be seeing you around." I walked away from them and before exiting the room, I turned around and took one fianl look at the people I served for nearly six years....one final look at the room in which I had faithful served God during that time. What would happen next? I wasn't too sure of. But something was about to change.

I contended for the truth and sometimes that is not always met with applause. (I wish someone would have told me this ahead of time, but oh well.) This is something we should expect in the Christian life. I had never experienced anything like this but it was good for my soul. It was really good for my soul. I wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world.

So this brings me back to the precious words I just heard. They were so precious that I had to actually get up out of bed and come post this before my thoughts became muddled. My wife and I were laying down in bed talking and talking. We were talking about how good God has been to us and how He has protected us from silly decisions we've made and how He has even protected us when standing firm in the faith.

We were recalling the events I just mentioned to you and I asked her what she was thinking during those final months. Here's a summary of what she had to say:

"I kept thinking to myself, 'Why do you have to create these waves? Am I married to some fanatic who has just gone over the edge?' She continued, "I just kept telling myself, 'I have to trust my husband. I don't understand what's going on, but I have to believe that he's doing the right thing or he wouldn't be teaching this stuff.'"

During those final months, she confessed that she was very scared and nervous about what might happen to our family. As we were laying in bed, my heart hurt as she said this. I don't ever want to do something that would put my family in a tough spot. Nevertheless, there are some things that are worth suffering for--even when it includes your own wife and daughter's suffering. What makes it harder is when those suffering don't know why their suffering...they just happen to be along for the ride. As my heart broke, I was simultaneously encouraged by her vote of confidence in me during this time. I recognized in greater depth the grace that God has shown me in giving me this kind of supportive wife. Her feelings of being married to a fanatic made me chuckle a bit, too.

At that moment I rolled over and put my arm around my wife and started to worship God for putting me through this trying experience and I began praising God for the wife He gave me. It was incredibly. He turned my mourning into dancing. He used my pain for His praise. This spontaneous worship arose from something that happened over three years ago.

Knowing that three years had elapsed since that dark period in our life--and knowing that my wife has learned much during these past three years and has grown alongside of me--and knowing of her former confusion, I said to her, "I'm so sorry for what had to happen...but do you now understand what all that was about? Do you see the importance behind what we're now teaching our church and why I couldn't stop back then?"

And she said some of the most precious words I've ever heard. "Back then I didn't get it. But now I understand."

"Now I understand." Those words brought an increased joy to my heart and I thank God for bringing my wife out of the dark. I thank God that He kept my marriage intact during what must have been utter confusion to my wife. That moment of trial has led to my family being much more solid in God's Word. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I rejoice for it. And those three words--now I understand--showed me the grace of God in contending for the truth.

Yet even those three words, as fabulous as they are to my situation, even those three words don't compare to the most precious words of all......

His Word is bearing fruit in my family and in my marriage and in my church. His Word does not come back void! His Word is so precious. Those are the most precious words of all. Cherish them. Rejoice in them. Relish them. Bask in them. Let them enrich and feed your soul. They are beautiful words...wonderful words...wonderful words of life.

Free Grace Church Meets Calvary Baptist Church

2009-10-26T16:48:00.001-07:00

Not too long ago I mentioned that our church was presented with the opportunity to merge with another church. Both of our churches are relatively small in number and a merge might perhaps allow us to be of greater effectiveness in our community for the gospel and kingdom of Christ. The glory of God in the gospel of Christ would be the only reason that we'd ever consider merging with another church. It's not always a given, but a group of 70-80 might perhaps be more effective than two smaller groups. To be able to pull personnel and resources together in order to be more effective in gospel ministry would be fabulous. And so we are pursuing this opportunity.

Yesterday we took another baby step in this direction. Our church went over to the other church's property and we worshipped together. Since we are taking baby steps, our primary goal was simply to meet and greet the members of their church and to minister to them through the preaching of God's Word. The Pastor of their church and I agreed that I would preach on this Sunday and lead the congregation in a few songs of worship.

Each and every week I pick out the music that we'll sing on Sunday morning. My first consideration when picking songs to sing has to do with the content of the sermon. Since I preach verse by verse, I typically know what the theme of the songs are going to be from week to week. I try to have the song content match the sermon content so that there is one uniform theme in the service. It's not always easy to do this, but generally it's not a problem because the gospel is central to all of Scripture. Being that my next passage of Scripture was from Matthew 20:29-34, where Jesus heals the blind men, I picked two hymns that hopefully the other congregation knew: Be Thou My Vision....and Amazing Grace (was blind but now I see). A brother in the Lord asked me if I chose those songs because of the other church...and the answer was partly "yes." I wanted us to be united not divided this Sunday and so I tried to pick a couple of songs that hopefully everyone knew. Turns out that the other church was not familiar with "Be Thou My Vision." We tried. But again, my first consideration in song selection has to do with sermon content before any other consideration.

Because their Sunday School class meets in the main auditorium, we had only a couple minutes to do a sound check. So the vocals didn't come out that clear. Of course, these things are minimal issues and have little to do with spiritual significance. I know that technical difficulties and sound issus are big deals to some people, but to me they really don't matter.

After an opening prayer and an initial song, we recited Romans 5:18-21 together. Again, I wanted us united and what better way to be united than to recite the gospel together and remind ourselves of the grace we've been given. I am a firm believer that the gospel unites when preached properly. I read recently and I forget where, but someone said that the NT letters basically shows that the answer to all problems in church is the gospel. That is the problem solver for all issues in the church. And I say "AMEN" to that.

The version of Amazing Grace that we sang was Chris Tomlin's version. The added chorus is fairly simple to sing and I was quite sure that our sister church would be able to pick it up fairly quickly.

Before the sermon, the offering was taken and there was about a 10 minute greeting period. The length of this time was probably longer than normal because of the sheer amount of new faces we were being introduced to. It was nice to be able to do that. There's no doubt that I'll never remember all those names this first week. But again, it was a chance to begin a new relationship. Prior to the greeting, the Pastor had my family stand so that his church could see us. Then he had our entire church stand so that we'd be identified. This brief line of division was drawn so that it could be quickly erased. It was not done to embarrass, but to help us see who we should be intentionally meeting during this time. Helping to identify who was from what church would enable everyone to go and meet those they didn't know. It seemed to have worked.

We took the offering, then sang another song together. Then it was time for me to preach. The text I selected was an easy choice. I merely picked up from where I had been preaching for the past year and a half. I did this for a couple of reasons. I wanted their congregation to know that I didn't come with any agenda on my mind other than to bring the Word of God to them. Preaching the next passage in succession would let them know that I was being subservient to the Word of God, not my own ideas, preferences or hobby horses. Whatever the topic was, based on the passage, would be fitting for all since all of God's Word is pertinent all the time.

My message was titled, "Was Blind But Now I See." There were three main points that I derived from the text: (1). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is The Messiah, (2). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mericful, (3). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mighty To Save.

(1). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Messiah: The blind men called Jesus the Son of David. The OT prophecied that when Messiah came He would open the eyes of the blind. Calling Jesus the Son of David didn't necessarily make Him that, but His miracle proved that what they said was true. Knowing that Jesus was the Son of David, the text called for us to believe that fact. The question arises, "How can we believe that when we didn't see the miracle?" The answer is that the authors of the NT were concernded with truth telling. There are varying accounts of this passage that some would say are contradictory, but they are not. Rather they are differnt vantage points from which the authors witnessed this miracle. Their varying stories show that they were only concerned with reporting what they saw exactly as they saw it. If there were a conspiracy to fabricate truth then we would expect all of their details to be exactly the same. So we must believe their report. Christ did heal these blind men. Therefore, He is Messiah. Believe His message. Believe in Him.

(2). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Merciful: In this point I contended for God's Sovereignty over His mercy. Just as He is Sovereign over His grace, so too, He is over His mercy. The importance of grasping this is equal to grasping the importance of Sovereign Grace. We have no claim on God's grace or mercy. To say that God is duty bound or obligated to give us either is to erase the very foundation of what it means to be saved by grace. If mercy is earned or required of God then it is not mercy, but merit or wage. That leaves room for boasting in self. Soli Deo Gloria cannot be a reality if God is required to give mercy. Yet He freely gives it to show His glory. I later pointed out that as those who have been shown mercy, we must too show mercy. To be a bitter, unmerciful, unrelenting, punishing Christian is an oxymoron. A merciless Christian is no Christian at all and I dare say that such a person has understood their sin and the gospel properly. As God has relieved our physical and spiritual misery through mercy, so we must relieve physical misery, but more importantly, spiritual misery through the preaching of the gospel.

(3). The Miracle Verifies That Jesus Is Mighty To Save: In this last point I contended for the doctrine of total depravity, although I did not use that phrase. Just as a dead man cannot give Himself life...and a spiritually dead person cannot give themselves spiritual life, so neither could a blind person give themselves sight. My point was that we are spiritually blinded by our own hearts, the deception of Satan and the curse of God from Adam's sin. God must come and relieve our spiritual blindness if we are ever to see our sin condition, see the magnificence of the cross and resurrection and trust in Christ to save us. The fact that God opens our eyes in order to cause our salvation is marvelous. Therefore, we are to be worshippers, lover and those who treasure the Lord Jesus.

We had a final hymn after the sermon and a final prayer of blessing and benediction. Then a family from our church, my family, the pastor's family and a couple other families from their church went out to lunch to fellowship. We had good conversation and we were able to talk a little about our first meeting together. The door is open for us to meet together again although we have not decided on when to do this. We will talk later in the week to set a date. For the time being, we both wanted to talk to our respective congregations to get their input and concerns, if any.

Last night we met up at a church member's house and had some food and talked with several of the families in our church. We primarly talked with those who had children because that is one of our biggest concerns. We intentionally chose to keep our children with us in the service because we wanted their church to see us--"warts and all." I hope you know that's a figure of speech and in no way do I consider children "warts." Our kids are a blessing to us and our church. That's just my way of saying that I wanted them to see us "as we are, with no pretentions." During lunch that afternoon, I talked with Pastor and asked him if the next time we met if it would be alright to have a children's class where they could learn on a level appropriate to them and so that the children from both churches can begin to know each other. The reply was a resounding "YES!" That told me that they are indeed a flexible and "other-oriented" fellowship and not just concerned about themselves. What a blessing. I did inform our church of this last night and they were pleased to hear that. We want our adults and children to be taught in the best way possible during the little time we have together. Although we sing together, pray together, recite Scriptures together and take communion together, for the young ones we feel it is appropriate to teach on a level that they can appreciate, apply and come to know the gospel. That is our goal...not to make them show off their best manners in church by sitting stiff during the sermon. I'd rather have saved children who loves the Lord and coming to church than ones who are struggling to understand and hate coming. Please understand me...I am not advocating a program-driven church, but rather teaching in a way that everyone is able to feed on the Word of God.

The rest of our time together, during dinner, was spent sharing each other's thoughts on our first service together I few questions were asked. Some dreams were shared about what could be. This was good, but I wanted to assure everyone that we are taking baby steps and that their big dreams were just a tad ahead of where we are right now. It was great to hear of their big dreams. That means that their hearts are hungry for God to do great things through us. That is the spirit that we want. I believe that is the heart that God wants, not one of negativity and griping and selfishness. I didn't sense any negativity or concern or poor attitudes. I think that everyone was able to see the potential of what could happen versus the actual condition of our churches. I did try to stress that very much: actuality versus potentiality. We are not...and they are not what we COULD BE if we lovingly come together to serve each other, to serve God and to serve our community. Like a marriage, there will be things that bug us about each other, but we will no doubt compliment their weaknesses and they will no doubt compliment our weakeness. That is why I said that our churches should merge if it serves God's kingdom purpose better.

I left that house last night feeling very relaxed, excited and confident that God has some fun stuff planned for us. Of course there will be some pain. There is always some pain in change. But babysteps will help. Slow is good. God is not in a rush. He's got it all under control. His plan is unstoppable. We're not going to mess it up. So we're going to take a deep breath, continue to pray, move forward deliberately but slowly and we'll continue to see what God does and if this is His will.

At this point, I'm wondering if I should call ABC or NBC to do a reality show on us called, "WHEN CHURCHES MERGE." If you have a better title, let me know. I kid. I kid.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

An Update on Our Church

2009-10-11T21:10:00.001-07:00

For those of you that don't know me, I'm not a big sports fan. I rarely crawl out from underneath my rock to see what's going on in that world. As such, it was February 4th, 2007, that we had our first church service. Later that day I found out that it was Super Bowl Sunday. Not exactly what you would call a great marketing idea. But then again, the cause of Christ is bigger than grown men fighting to move an oblong ball pumped with air down a green field. I have to admit though, it was an accident on my part, but one that I look back on with a smile. I often think, "How funny!" That was almost three years ago. Time flies!

Fourteen. That's the number of people that were present in our first service. Several of those people were dear brothers and sisters that were faithful members of their own churches that wanted to be there to encourage and support us our first Sunday. It was an exciting morning because none of us knew what to expect. We just knew that it'd be chaotic from time to time and that we'd have to make due with what we had. We also knew that the Lord would provide as He saw fit.

The first two years were rough. But then no one ever said ministry was easy. There were times when the only ones present were my wife, my daughter and yours truly. On those particular Sundays we'd have a short devotion and then go out to have breakfast and then I'd head to work a little earlier than normal. Those days were tough to rejoice in the Lord. There were a few times when I felt like calling it quits on the whole church-planting. I imagined that I'd take my family to an already established church that perhaps needed help with preaching. Then I'd grab the phone book and see that there weren't really any churches up here that held to a Calvinist/Reformed belief system. Because I know the grace teachings that flow from these beliefs, it troubled me that maybe only one or two churches in this whole desert area were like ours. So I put the phone book down, confessed my selfishness to God and then went right back to sermon preparation and evangelizing those whom God put in my path. This whole doubt thing with the phone book has happened on about five or six occassions.

The first two years were like a roller coaster. Many of the people that attended our church were from the dealership that I worked at. If you're not familiar with the car business, let me just say that the employment turnover is high. Not coincidentally, our church suffered the same turnover rate. It was always a bummer to lose someone because of schedule changes or relocations, but I still keep in contact with those dear brothers and they are growing strong in the Lord in their current locations. For that I praise God.

The first two years were spiritually transforming. I continually reminded our congregation that a right preaching of the Scripture and administering of the ordinances were the marks of a true church. Regardless of how big or small we were, we were a legitate assembly of believers. The building, the programs, the size, the resources were irrelevant to whether or not we were a true church. I tried to stress the importance of faithfulness to God and not success by outwards standards or indicators. And let me tell you, that is a tough one to break. Sometimes numbers matter more to pastors than anything and that is a difficult thing to remove from one's thinking. God used John Piper's book, Brothers We Are Not Professionals, to play a huge role in reshaping my ministry understanding. I will say that numbers are not unimportant, but neither are they the ultimate indicator of the health and success of a church.

The first two years+ have been a big blessing. For ten years I was in full-time ministry and received a regular salary from my brothers and sisters in the church. Because our current church was/is just starting, I preach for free. I don't think I've ever enjoyed preaching so much. It's been the greatest blessing to be able to feed the flock of God without having to be a financial burden on them. The Lord has graciously provided for my family through secular employment.

Our time together has been a blessing because we've seen some unbelievers regenerated and come to faith in Christ. That has been the biggest blessing of all. I have long since moved away from decisional regeneration and have simply focused on sharing Scripture (publicly and privately) and letting God do the converting through His Word. I'm not so quick to ge a "decision" out of someone just so that I can say "We had one saved!" I'm genuinely more concerned to see someone truly born again by the Spirit, thus we have no altar calls or decision cards but rather a call to repentance and faith each and every week during the preaching of God's Word. There are no "just pray this prayer and you'll be saved" kind of stuff. There are biblical and theological reasons why I don't do this anymore; the main reason being that the biblical response to the gospel is "repent and believe" not anything else. This summer we baptized several that have confessed Christ as Lord and given evidence of regeneration. It was totally awesome.

Over the past couple of months, some interesting things have happened. We have about thirteen new people start attending. That's exciting because several are unsaved and we are praying for their conversion. It's also exciting to see believers (who were looking for a church) now growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We have some newer singles, seniors, married couples and children coming. What's great is that Christ has united us (those that are saved) regardless of ethnicity or age. What's great is that our unsaved visitors are being brought because of Christ. They know exactly why they are coming and what they should expect to hear. None are hoodwinked into thinking that they are coming to get entertained and then blind-sided with the gospel. There's no bait-and-switch. I love it. Just the reality of God and His Word.

A few weeks ago, another interesting thing happened. I became friends with a Pastor of a church that is about five miles away. Recently, I preached at this brother's church on a Sunday night. The reason I preached was because we are slowly (and I means slowly) talking about the possibility of merging our two churches. My new friend has been wanting to retire for some time and is seeking a replacement. Being the founding pastor of the church, he is the only pastor this church has ever known for 35 years. They're a small congregation--only about 40-50, but so are we...about 25-30.

Having never been a part of something like this, I have many questions and concerns. Ultimately, the glory of God is what I'm most concerned about. If our churches merge in a hastily fashion and factions forms, I do not want the gospel mocked in the community because of a church split. Secondly, I'm concerned for the members of both churches. If factions form and the church splits after a merger, I do not want the faith of any believer destroyed. So I'm very hesitant to go through with something like this. Yet I don't want fear to drive our decision...I want the glory of God to. And sometimes that is a risk worth taking.

My first criteria in deciding whether or not we merge is our theology. It's going to take some time to really see where they are. It's going to take some time for them to really see where we are. Hence, we are slowly setting up opportunities for me to preach at their location. I already mentioned that I preached there one Sunday night. Though the attendance was minimal, it was a wonderful opportunity to share God's Word which was received well.

The pastor and I have agreed that our churches should meet on Sunday, October 25th. That same morning I will be preaching to all and leading the entire assembly in a couple of spiritual songs. This meeting will serve to let their congregation know a little bit about our theology and will serve to help our church evaluate the second criteria of whether or not our churches should merge. Our second concern is brotherly and Christ-like love and submission (to each other and to the Word). If their church is not teachable, it would be a tough merge. If their church is turned inward and not receptive to others, it would be a tough merge. I don't imagine that is the case, but that morning will give us the chance to see if their church is characterized by glad submission to the Word and to other believers.

If things progress from here, I imagine that more preaching times will be scheduled and some sort of plan or map will be laid out for a smooth merge and transition from one pastor to the next. I have also talked with all of our church families and they are cautiously hopeful of the situation. My desires is that we be in complete unity when it comes time to make a decision either way. Either we merge, if the Lord wills...or we continue doing what we're doing, if the Lord wills. Either way, we will rejoice in our Lord for bringing two churches together or for allowing us to become friends with another local church.

Again, my biggest concern has to do with the theology aspect. The church that we're considering merging with is just like the church I grew up in. Having spent some time with the pastor, I am almost 100% sure I know what they believe. We even went to the same Bible collge. That may sound like a good thing, but I no longer hold to some of the beliefs I grew up with and learned in college. I am a former Calminian...part Arminian, part Calvinist. I sort of chose the things I like from both sets of theology. Now I am a fully convinced Calvinist. My fear is that if I come out and say "Calvinist" that the stereo-type of a Calvinist will cloud their thinking and prevent meaningful dialogue and progress. When most people who do not hold to Calvinism hear of a Calvinist they are automatically taken to the stereo-type of a Hyper-Calvinist, which is rank heresy. And they are often transported to the word "predestination" or "election" as if that is the only thing a Calvinist believes or is focused on. Truth be told, everyone Christian has to admit that both of these things are a reality because they are in God's Word. The only thing is whether a Christian wants to come out and actually say what these things really mean. So all Arminians and Calvinists belief in these doctrines...they just have different understandings of them.

When I left my former church in Los Angeles there were things that were said about me that had everything to do with Hyper-Calvinism and not Calvinism. I don't want that same faulty understanding to prevent any meaningful progress in a potential church merge. Therefore, I am going to avoid labels and instead focus on preaching the Word. I am not ashamed of what I believe or afraid to confess it, I just know how people responds to labels. My prayer is that the love of God in our church would shine forth brilliantly to show that we have a heart for God, for the church and for the lost.

Well, that is where we are in the history of God's redemption plan. I have on idea what the final results will be from our perspective. But somehow it will end in God being glorified.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Keith Mathison

2009-10-03T09:46:00.001-07:00

My experience in churches over the last twenty years gives me reason to believe that many pastors tend to forget that even believers need to hear the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, as often as they gather together. I'm not speaking about altar calls or evangelistic appeals. I'm speaking about the good news that believers have forgiveness of sins. I'm speaking about the good news that believers are justified and that the ground of our justification is not our own good works, our church attendance, our giving, our witnessing, our praying. The ground of our justification is the perfect righteousness and merit of Christ, which is imputed to us. Even as Christians we have a tendency to fall into a Pelagian mindset. And week after week of "bootstrap" sermons contributes to that mentality and subtly causes us to trust in our own good works. On the other hand, week after week of "berating" sermons usually tells us something we already know full well - namely, how utterly wicked and sinful we are. Obviously, sermons have to fit the congregation and the circumstances. There are those in every congregation who are not sufficiently impressed with the sinfulness of sin - particularly their favorite one. But once this issue (the law) is dealt with, the remedy (the gospel) needs to be clearly expressed. We need to be constantly reminded that it is by grace that we have been saved, that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, that the ground of our justification is Christ's righteousness, not our own.

As far as an encouraging word, I would remind the vast majority of pastors who faithfully serve in small churches, who will never publish a book or speak at a conference, that the church has spread around the world because of God's use of men like them.

Quote of the Day: C.H. Spurgeon on Grace

2009-08-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Coming to Christ is the very first effect of regeneration. No sooner is the soul quickened than it at once discovers its lost estate, is horrified thereat, looks out for a refuge and believing Christ to be a suitable one, flies to Him and reposes in Him.

Where there is not this coming to Christ, it is certain that there is as yet no quickening—where there is no quickening,the soul is dead in trespasses and sins—and being dead it cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven. We have before us now an announcement very startling, some say very obnoxious. Coming to Christ, though described by some people as being the very easiest thing in all the world, is in our text declared to be a thing utterly and entirely impossible to any man, unless the Father shall draw him to Christ."

(taken from)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING,
MARCH 7, 1858,
BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE MUSIC HALL, ROYAL SURREY GARDENS

A Wedding Service

2009-07-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

Just got home from finishing a wedding. I don't have a lot of time for a long commentary, but I wanted to post the wedding service and a couple of thoughts.

Over the past several years I have changed the way that I do weddings. First of all, I no longer charge for any services rendered. If someone wishes to give me a gift, I do not refuse (for various reasons like etiquette and traveling expenses). But when asked to do a wedding and asked what my fees are I say, "It's a privilege to do weddings. It's another opportunity for me to share the gospel with several hundred people at once. For that I cannot charge and I'll do it gladly for free" (even if there is no gift afterwards). Also, I let them know that doing it for free allows them to spend money on other costly things or they can save some money (novel idea).

Secondly, when I do a wedding, I disclose to the couple that the wedding service is actually a worship service so Christ and His gospel will be central to the wedding. I let them know that I only do Christian weddings. I give them an example of a previous wedding that I have done so that they can read it and decide if they still want me to perform the service. If they don't want me to then they can decline and that is ok with me.

Now some people have a conscience that will not allow them to marry unbelievers. I will marry two unbelievers because marriage is for all, not just Christians. I won't marry a believer and an unbeliever. But marrying two unbelievers gives me many opportunities to share the gospel (with the couple beforehand and with all the guest during the service). Today, I had this opportunity. I was a bit nervous because it was a wedding in which I practically knew nobody. Well, I knew the groom's mom and that was it...well, my wife was there, too...but that's really it. I wasn't sure how the entire gathering would respond. You know it's easier to preach in front of your the home crowd (your own church family) verses a group of people in which you assume most to be unbelievers. So who knew how this would turn out. But the groom and bride had read the sermon ahead of time and still wanted me to do perform the service, so I went ahead with many prayers and utter dependence on God.

I fumbled a few words. "Cherishes" is hard to say when you're a bit nervous. Not a big deal. I'm not sure how unbelievers received the message. I just know that I tried to be faithful to the simple task God had given me. Thank you for those that prayed for me and any unsaved present at the ceremony. I will say that there were several believers present that were happily stunned that the ceremony was so overtly Christian. They confessed that they had never heard a wedding service quite like it but were wonderfully pleased. That was encouraging to say the least (not for my ego, but to see the Lord encourage the body through His Word).

Anyway, so that's my comment on weddings: I do them for free and they are overtly Christian in nature. May the Lord be honored in all we do...even wedding services. Here now is the transcript--word for word...literally.

OPENING PRAYER/BE SEATED
Father in heaven, we bless your name and give glory to you now. We know that every good gift we have is from you. As we come together to celebrate the gift of marriage and love, I pray that our hearts would be filled with gratitude for your kindness. Bless this wedding service now for your sake. We pray this is the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Please be seated.

WELCOME
Love ones, we are gathered here today in the sight of God and in the presence of all of you, to celebrate one of life's greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, and to add our support and blessings to the covenant that will unite LUCAS and SUZEE in holy matrimony.

Marriage is a most honorable estate, created and instituted by God for the mutual caring on one another. Marriage was also given to us by God to help us understand the wonderful loving and everlasting union that also exists between Christ and His Church. So too may this marriage be adorned by true and lasting love. And so now I ask:

GIVING & RECEIVING OF THE BRIDE
Who gives this woman to be married to this man? (Father, responds)

LUCAS, you may receive your bride. (Father will place the bride’s hand with the groom's and steps back.)

LUCAS and SUZEE, God created people with the need for relationship. First and foremost, we were created to know and love God. Understanding this helps us to see how we can properly love one another. Let me explain. In the tragedy of all tragedies, sin entered the human race and has blinded us to the beauty, majesty and infinite worth of our loving God. Because of sin we do not naturally desire and love God and see Him as the true Treasure that will forever satisfy our hungry souls. Our relationship with Him has been ruined and we are no longer at peace and in love with Him. Yet God was not willing to leave our relationship with Him in this state. As a people who run away from God, God is one who runs after us with an intense love. His love is a restoring love and a reconciling love.

The way that God restores the relationship between Himself and sinful mankind is through the great sacrifice and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. The Father sent the Son to live the sinless life that we failed to live. Jesus loved the Father perfectly. Scripture declares that when we put our confidence or faith in Jesus to save us from our sin and God’s great penalty for our sin, that God gives us, as a gift, the perfect obedience of Christ so that when God looks at us, He no longer sees us as sinners but as sinless and perfect. By faith in Christ our sin was transferred to Christ so that when He suffered on the cross, He was suffering and paying the penalty for my sinful life and any who put their faith in Christ. This is how God makes peace and restores the love relationship between Him and sinful man. It is the love and mercy of God that brings us back to Him in complete love.

I mention this because Scripture uses the language of marriage to describe the relationship between Christ and those who put their faith in Christ, namely the church. Scripture calls Christ the groom and it calls the church His bride. The Bible tells us that Christ gave up His life for His bride--for the church--that she might be saved and have an everlasting and ever-increasing joy as she is brought to be with God for all eternity. And it is this pattern of love and devotion that God sets forth as the pattern for our marriage relationships. So first and foremost, if we do not understand the great lengths that the Godhead went through to restore sinners to Him, then we will not have the proper lens to look through with which to guide our marriages.

Ephesians 5:25-33 [25] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…

[28] In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30] because we are members of his body. [31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33] However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

In as plain language as possible, the Bible teaches us that Christ loved His church and willingly laid down His life for her good and in order that she might live eternally. In response the church is to lovingly devote her life to her Savior. This is exactly how the husband and wife are told to relate to one another. The husband’s duty is not to seek his own good, but to seek his wife’s good. The wife’s duty is to seek her husband’s good, not her own. Marriage is not about self-gratification, but the gratification of the one to whom you are making this covenant with. The covenant and vows that you are about to make are written specifically in that way for a reason. They are statements that reflect the commitment that you are making to the other person. The vows are not promises to seek out the desires of self but to meet each others’ needs in all circumstances, good or bad, ‘til death do you part. As each of you keeps your vows, the other will have the utmost confidence that all of their needs will be met. In this type of covenant keeping is true security and the foundation for a long and fruitful marriage. And so my prayer is for both of you to honor God by portraying the everlasting love relationship between Christ and His church. And since nothing will separate the church from her Savior, so too shall this marriage continue until the day that God separates you by death.

Matthew 19:6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

The covenant you make here now before God and these witnesses is solemn and to be entered into with this understanding. The vows that you are about to partake in are your promise to each other and to God that with His help you will do all that is necessary to keep your marriage healthy, thriving and intact.

Press into each other. Fight for a great marriage. Never yield to things that would weaken your love for one another. Realize that it is a great and blessed thing to be married and that it is God’s gift to you to show you His goodness. And above all, let the love that Christ had for His church be your motivation and guide and example for loving each other.

Understanding now the gravity and delight of marriage rooted in the love of Christ for His church, would you please continue to hold hands and face each other.

VOWS
LUCAS, do you take SUZEE to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and respect her, honor and cherish her, in health and in sickness, in prosperity and in adversity; and leaving all others to keep yourself only unto her, so long as you both shall live? ("I do")

SUZEE, do you take LUCAS to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and respect him, honor and cherish him, in health and in sickness, in prosperity and in adversity; and leaving all others to keep yourself only unto him, so long as you both shall live? ("I do")

EXCHANGE OF RINGS
Wedding rings are made of gold that have been purged from all it’s impurities. In our culture they symbolize the pure and unending love that the two of you are to have for one another. As you wear them, you declare to the rest of the world that your hearts are spoken for and that you belong to another. They are the outward sign of your inward commitment to each other.

LUCAS, please take this ring and place it on SUZEE’S finger and repeat after me. “With this ring, I thee wed. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

SUZEE, please take this ring and place it on LUCA’S finger and repeat after me. “With this ring, I thee wed. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

CHARGE TO THE COUPLE
LUCAS and SUZEE as the two of you come into this marriage united as husband and wife, and as you this day affirm your love for one another, I would ask that you always remember the vows you have made here today. Cherish each other as special and unique individuals. Respect each other’s thoughts, ideas and suggestions. You must always forgive, never hold grudges, and live each day with Christ-like love as you share it together. From this day forward you shall be each other's home, comfort and refuge. And I pray that your marriage will be strengthened by your love and respect for our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

CLOSING PRAYER
Father, my prayer is that you would guard the covenant that has just been made. When life throws adversities at LUCAS and SUZEE, protect them. Give them endurance. Give them grace. Give them everything that is necessary for a long and healthy marriage. May their friends and family provide them with encouragement and counsel from this day forward. May the love that you have for us, inspire their love for each other. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

PRONOUNCEMENT / BENEDICTION / KISSING OF BRIDE
LUCAS and SUZEE in so much as the two of you have agreed to live together in matrimony, having promised your love for each other by these vows, the giving of these rings and the joining of your hands…as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I now declare you to be husband and wife. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and may He gracious to you.

LUCAS, you may kiss your wife.

PRESENTATION & DISMISSAL
Loved ones, I present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. LUCAS BLANKENSHIP.

The Over-Entertained Christian

2009-07-21T19:08:00.001-07:00

There are some things that bother me. In being bothered by these things I often have to stop and examine my heart. I wonder at times if I am being judgmental, over-critical, self-righteous or sincerly concerned about the issue I am about to bring up. I pray that this post is born of our genuine concern for the state of the church as it is called to be the visible display of God's glory on earth.

Instead of just naming the issue, let me describe the situation that grieves my heart. Having been a minister of the gospel for thirteen years and having been in the church for twenty-nine years I have observed the same event take place over and over. This event usually happens before and after corporate worship. And this event usually extends to other informal times where saints gather together. The event is simply conversation. Conversation is an important identifier because it is expresses to others, in verbal manner, what is at the forefront of our minds. What you say is what is on your mind and what is on your heart. For some who identify themselves as followers of Christ--or Christians if you're old-school--their conversation rarely, if at all, shows that Christ is on their mind. The content of their conversation seems to exclusively focus on sports, movies, music and other trvial matters and events.

Before I say anymore, let me say that I enjoy watching movies. I love music. I don't care too much for sports, but I am sure that I have other things in my life that would be the equivalent. I don't think there is anything wrong with being amused and/or being entertained. There is a time for everything. But these things should not consume all of our time or a great majority of our conversations. In a society where we consume things, it often appears that these things are consuming us. They take up way too much of our time. Our time is our life...and so to be over-entertained and over-amused and to spend an excessive amount of time doing and participating in these trivial matters means that we are not being good stewards of our lives. We are literally wasting the gift that God gave us to use for His global glory.

Now, the conversations that I have often witnessed before corporate worship and after corporate worship are often focused on entertainment issues. I have seen a few people get very animated and excited when discussing their favorite sports team or plans to go see a movie. That's not what's troubling. What's troubling is what is missing. What's missing is the same passion and excitement over the Lord Jesus Christ, over His Word, over His church or lost souls. What's missing are the conversations of Christians discussing a theological book, or some important issue in culture and how we are to address these things from a Biblical perspective. What's missing are the conversations over doctrine--if you don't love doctrine you DON'T love God...plain and simple.

That grieves my heart. If I were an outsider (unbeliever) looking in at a church that is not consumed with God's glory, it would look like this. "Hmmm...I get it. These Christians get together to sing a few songs, hear a short little talk about life's issues, collect some money to support their building projects, try to collect my info via an attendance card so they can send me mailers to get me to come to their many events and programs--Why? They probably want my money. Then after their corporate meetings--which resemble a mild effort to entertain and imitate the cool things we (the world) do--they gather in affinity groups, either by age or by hobby...and then they talk about movies, sports, lunch plans, concerts, television, celebrities, health issues, politics and all sorts of other things that I enjoy talking about too. Heck, I like this church thing. It's very social...and as long as I don't have to give too much money or time to it, I'm down with the program."

Now I don't mean to sound overly harsh. But we must honestly assess the cavalier attitude that many have concerning the Lord's Day. For many professing believers, it is merely a social time mixed with a little spiritual time. There is no eager anticipation to get us there on time...or even a few minutes early. There is no sense of awe...there is no God-centeredness...there is no capturing of the heart and mind by the Word of God (perhaps due to the irrelevant, man-centered content that preachers pad the the Word of God with). The shift from worship to sensual talk takes place immediately after the "amen" of the closing prayer.

Does that bother, you? Is it possible that this bothers the Lord? As a pastor, it bothers me. And I'm trying to assess whether that is justifiable or not. Should it bother me that after church I want to talk about all sorts of things, but not God's grace, which I just should have heard about for however long the service was. Had I been at an hour and a half long meeting where the President of the United States spoke about nuclear arms, or the troubling economy, or some very serious world issue, and had the meeting just ended, would I be off and talking about the NFL, Michael Jackson, my new belt, Denzel's latest movie or how I went "all-in" and won the pot the night before...or would my mind be sobered by the gravity of the speech and would I have my heart and mind on more serious matters. I think the latter would take place. So why does this not happen with Christians who come to hear Almighty God speak? Why is there such a cavalier attitude immediately after the preaching? Why is the Christian consumed with being amused and entertained?

Well, to be sure, sin is the culprit. Satan would have no greater pleasure than to have us think that all is ok simply because we are happy (due to our being amused and entertained). How easy is it for us to think that life is great because we just ate some Coldstone, or saw Coldplay, or just read a great book on the Cold War, or rented Cold Mountain starring "Nicold" Kidman...um, running out of "cold"-isms. In all seriousness, have we forgotten that we have a great adversary? Have we forgotten to be sober-minded in order to resist his sly tricks? Have we so forgotten that sensuality is a sin? That's what an over-entertained Christian is...sensual. And when we gather together after hearing the Word of the Lord and our mouths run rampant with the latest cultural phenomena, then our words betray us. They show and confess that we are not in love with the glory of God but with the glory of the world.

Now let me say that not every conversation has to be "spiritual" immediately following the sermon. I am not advocating some sort of legalism that says that every conversation we have must be about the Bible. What I'm saying is that more often than not, the conversations rarely go in God's direction. That is troubling and I think it's very telling. How do we fix that? How do we instill in people a sense of awe and wonder so that the weight and glory and presence of God in His Word weighs on us for as long as possible? Well, our preaching must change.

The modern-day preacher, I think, may have too many references to pop-culture and entertainment type things that we already love. What we need to hear more of is God and His marvelous grace. God's attributes need to be expounded upon in His Word and need to be shown in relation to the gospel. God's wrath, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, patience, forgiveness, justice, mercy, righteousness, love, omniscience, omnipotence, decrees and covenants are all related to grace and the gospel. We need to be taught doctrines like election, atonement, imputation, propitiation, perseverance, regeneration, sanctification, adoption, justification and how they are spokes on the gospel hub. We need to be shown how resting is a gospel issue, how child discipline is a gospel issue, how marriage is a gospel issue, how adopting orphans is a gospel issue, how work is a gospel issue, how giving is a gospel issue, how food is a gospel issue, how clothing is a gospel issue, etc. The problem with a lot of preaching is that it carries no weight...no real spiritual weight and merely imitates the advice of the world. Oh, how we need to come away from the Word of God having been jolted by the awe-inspiring fact that "Almighty God has spoken." I think then our conversations would change because our hearts would be captured, not by the world, but by God's grace. Let's not forget that friendship with the world is enmity with God.

My prayer is that one day churches will be filled with exuberant Christians who converse before and after corporate worship. My prayer is that when unbelievers are present and they see these exuberant Christians talking before and after church that they'll step a little closer to hear what all the fuss is about. My prayer is that when they step closer to hear the cause of the buzz, that they'll hear that the glory of God has captured the hearts of His people. My prayer is that the unbeliever will no longer say, "This is a really cool social club" but that they'll give glory to God for our speech and conduct (Matthew 5:16, 1 Peter 2:12) and recognize their wickedness and come to Christ for salvation.

1 Corinthians 14:24-25 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

Isn't this what we want? It won't happen, though, when the church is filled with over-entertained Christians.

The Plus Side Of Heresy

2009-07-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, oh, back in 2003, I heard of a group of people that claimed that they were a new sort of Christian--a new kind, if you will. When I first heard of this movement under the umbrella of "christianity" I did not know that there was a difference between the terms "emerging" and "emergent." I just thought they all were part of the same group. Since then I've come to understand, a little better, the difference between the two.

One gentleman, in particular, seemed to be leading a vast group of people to generously question the truths of Scripture that had been taught since the Word was given. It seemed that somehow, for centuries, the church missed the truth and it was finally being discovered. Well, this bugged me a little...no, a lot. It sent me on a personal path of devotion to know the Scripture better and to warn others against false teaching. I imagine that behind closed doors there were some that thought I was quite fanatical about it and perhaps just on a hobby horse or something.

In looking back over the past several years I see how God used heresy and false teaching to bring me to where I am now. God used heresy to drive me to know the Word better which thus showed me some places where I was in grave error. God used heresy to drive me to watch over the flock better. God used heresy to lead me to study church history better. God used heresy to put a fear in me like never before when it came to preaching the Word. I am amazed at how God used something evil like this for His glory in my life.

Scripture says that heresy and factions in the church are most necessary. In saying that the implication is that it serves a huge part in displaying God's glory. How so?

1 Corinthians 11:19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

God's glory is more clearly displayed when true believers are separated from false converts and teachers. Heresy serves the purpose of exposing false believers and teachers.

While we must combat false teaching and heresy...while we must hate it...while we must correct with gentleness those who oppose the truth in hopes that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth so that they may escape the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will...while we realize that false teaching downplays and distorts the glory of God...NEVERTHELESS, in God's infinite wisdom His plan includes heresy as a way to let the church shine more brightly thus displaying His glory.

Wow! That just blows my mind. As I was preparing this week for this coming Sunday's sermon, this truth just leaped out at me from my studies. And I saw this truth played out in my life over the past several years. I thank God for showing this to me. While I was rather frustrated with others while trying to warn them about this stuff, I had no idea that the end-all of it would be God's glory. I know that this isn't some original thought and it's not new to Christianity. It's just new to me.

Quote Of The Week: Jay E. Adams

2009-05-26T00:29:00.000-07:00

"You may wonder why I speak of the obligation of marriage--in the singular--when, of course there are many obligations (for instance, Paul speaks in 1 Cor. 7 of the obligation of sexual relations). When I speak of the obligation of marraige, I have in mind the basic obligation underlying all others (including the sexual obligation). That basic obligation is to meet the other's need for companionship. When a couple takes marriage vows, whether they realize it or not (and often they do not), they are vowing to provide companionship for one another for the rest of their lives; that is what their vows amount to. Notice they do not vow to receive companionship, but to provide it for one another. Marriage itself if an act of love in which one person vows to meet another's need for life, no strings attached.

That means that when a husband or wife complains, "I am not getting what I want out of marriage" his or her statement is nonsensical. And you must reply, "You did not enter marriage in order to get something for yourself. You vowed to give something to your partner. Marriage is not a bargain in which each partner says, 'I will give so much in return for so much.' Each vows to give all that is necessary to meet his or her spouse's need for companionship, whether or not he or she receives anything in return. Therefore, the only question is, 'Are you fulfilling your vows?'" Many marry for what they can get out of the marriage; but that is lust, not love, and is biblically untenbale. For that reason it is often necessary to challence counselees about their inadequate views of marriage and their failures to live up to their stated vows. As an act of love, marriage vows commit one to giving, not getting. Therefore, the Christian counselor must help his counselees see that the fundamental question is, "How can I please God and my mate?" not "how can I please myself?" To please God by rightly pleasing one's spouse is the basic obligation of marriage.

Why I Didn't Preach On Mothers On Mother's Day

2009-05-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

For the past forty three weeks I have been preaching through the gospel of Matthew. This past Sunday our journey brought us to Matthew 15:21-28.

Matthew 15:21-28 [21] And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. [22] And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” [23] But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” [24] He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” [25] But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” [26] And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” [27] She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” [28] Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

When I read this passage I had this fleeting thought, "This would make a great passage for a Mother's Day sermon. Here we find a great example of a godly mother." In a flash, that went through my mind followed by these thoughts:

1. Christ is the focal point of all Scripture. Every passage of scripture is like a spoke on a wheel with the hub being Christ.

2. While the mother mentioned is a key figure in the story, putting the emphasis on her is like putting the emphasis on the little boy who gave his lunch so that Jesus could feed the multitudes. The account is turned upside down and instead of Christ being the "hero" who gives grace, the "hero" becomes the secondary figure.

3. While the mother in this account does seem to provide a good model to follow, preaching the text in this way turns the account into "Law" and not "Gospel." The focus becomes "what must I do" versus "what has God done for me." Knowing that faith is a gift of God, even Jesus' response that commends her faith should be understood in a way that reminds us that the kind of faith that GOD GIVES has a certain quality and substance about it. Thus, the glory in the passage goes not to the woman but to the God who gives great faith that we may receive deliverance from our great enemy. Grace, grace, grace.

4. Honoring mothers is what scripture commands us to do. A quick glance at the Ten Commandments reveals that this is to be the normal part of our life. And to obey God in this matter is to also give worship to Him. Our daily lives are acts of worship to God. And there is nothing wrong with putting emphasis on mothers in a Christ-centered way if that is what the text leads us to say, but we shouldn't mangle the text to fit the social calendar.

5. Special services are often misleading. Every Sunday is special Sunday because Christ should be supremely exalted. And I think we do a disservice to our congregation when we make special days. People can sometimes think that some Sundays are more important than others when that is not the case. And then they'll show up on Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, Ground Hog Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Back To School Day. We ought to be getting our people hooked on Christ, not special Sundays. Now obviously there are moments in a worship service that may be less regular than others: like the installation of an elder, corporate church discipline, etc., but even these should be seen as a normal part of the church life and related to the gospel of the glory of Christ. The church is not Israel in that it is commanded to observe all sorts of memorial services, festivals, new moons and jubilees.

6. Jumping on the bandwagon with the rest of society really commercializes the church. The world will see no difference in what we do on Sundays if we're just doing the same thing they're doing. How about we show them what really matters and why we really gather on Sunday. Not only that but as I said early, we should be honoring our wives and mothers all the time. Yesterday I took my wife out to eat with our little girl, then we went to Home Depot to get some trees. Then we came home and worked in the yard. I told my wife, "You know, I'm sorry today wasn't extra spectacular. We just kinda did the norm." She said, "You guys treat me special all the time. That's what really matters." And she's right. To honor your mother or wife only on Mother's Day is actually a disgrace. The world makes a big commotion out of days like this. Shouldn't Christians be doing this all the time, thus separating themselves from the crowd in order to display the glory of God?

7. Lastly, I didn't preach on mothers for Mother's Day because I didn't want our women getting a false sense of flattery because the service was about them. I would rather have them built up in Christ...I would rather have them see the greatness of Christ...I would rather have them reminded of the gospel...than to create a fleeting sense of sentiment in order to make them feel special. John Piper has an illustration that says you don't go to the Grand Canyon to have others tell you how great you are...you go there to see how great the Grand Canyon is. And on Sunday I had an object that was greater than the Grand Canyon and helping our people to see the vastness, greatness, beauty, splendor, awesomeness, glory and immensity of this object would bring them more delight than had I tried to make much of mothers. That object was Christ.

I love my mother. I love my wife. I love my daughter, too. The Bible commends godly and faithful mothers throughout. But I do love my Savior more--although imperfectly. His saving grace is what makes our godly mothers so worthy of honor. So let's honor Him above all.

Why Do Pastor's Leave The Ministry?

2009-04-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Dr. Albert Mohler discussed this very important topic on February 9, 2009. You can give a listen to that podcast here.

Due to my being a pastor and particular circumstances I've gone through over the years, there were several statements that really stood out to me in an encouraging way. Here are a couple of those quotes.

"The ministry is not a profession."

"The first thing that you know [if you are called to ministry] is that you have a compulsion to do this--that this compulsion is backed up with the gifts of ministry that Paul very clearly articulates to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3. And that you meet the criteria that are set forth there in scripture for what it means to be a preacher, teacher, minister of the Word of God. But that is not complete until a congregation recognizes those gifts and calls and commissions you to exercise those gifts."

"You can get fired in ministry. That may happen. But I'm going to argue: you just can't quit."

"We have older established churches that want anything but expository preaching. They want anything but the full application of the gospel. They want anything but the recovery of a biblical ecclessiology. Even in a church like that, I wouldn't leave. I'd make them force me out. And if you get fired for the felony of preaching the Word of God, then God bless you. If you get fired for being faithful in ministry and a church just won't have that faithfulness, then you can wear that as a badge of honor."

"When God calls a minister, he better stay called. And if Jesus Christ makes a minister for his church, he better stay made."

Listen to the whole podcast. It's good stuff.

The Glory Of God & Facebook

2009-03-17T20:54:00.001-07:00

Huh? What in the world do these two things have to do with the other? A lot!

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Scripture clearly calls God's people to do all to the glory of God and in the name of the Lord Jesus. That includes eating, drinking, speaking, sleeping, parenting, fighting cancer, enduring the recession...and yes, socializing. We are to do everything in order to make much of God. Philippians 2:14-15 admonishes us to...

Philippians 2:14-15 [14] Do all things without grumbling or questioning, [15] that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

In other words, we live in a sinful and fallen world. As God's children, we are to shine brightly and live blameless and innoncently in this crooked and twisted generations. We are to live in a way that shines forth the gospel and glory of God in Christ Jesus--the perfect image of God. Included in "doing all for the glory of God" is time spent on networks like Facebook, Myspace, etc.

Now one of the things that I've noticed on Facebook is that people (in general) like to use it as a platform to complain and grumble (Philippians 2:14-15). That is what Scripture explicitly counsels us not to do in this twisted generation. Grumbling and complaining is the opposite of showing the glory of God. Perhaps you've seen this or done this. I know I have before but grew increasingly uncomfortable with idea.

Joshua hates it when...
Joshua's tired of...
Joshua can't stand...
Joshua is angry with...
Joshua is not looking forward to...

First things first. Joshua hates it when people talk about themselves in the third person. That's a joke of course. But you do understand what I'm talking about when it comes to the open grumbling and complaining.

There are some of you here that have used the little "update" feature for some really great encouraging thoughts from Scripture. Others have used it for updates on what the Lord is teaching them or doing with them. Those, I think, are great uses for that feature. But let's make sure that we don't fall into the sin of airing dirty laundry, venting, complaining or tearing down others in social networks like these. That is not to say that it is ok in private--it's not. I am sure that a little leaven will go a long way into causing others to stumble into the same sin. And I am sure that this does not promote the gospel in any way whatsoever.

Perhaps we can all be a little more mindful that God has given us another platform to make much of Him.

Book Review: Why Do We Baptize Infants?

2009-03-04T23:55:00.000-08:00

Recently I read a book called Christ-Centered Preaching by Brian Chappell. His book is a staple for those that want to stay Biblical in their sermons and exalt Christ with all due diligence. It helped me tremendously and I will forever be indebted to Dr. Chappell.

So, although I do not agree with his position on infant baptism, I approached his book, Why Do We Baptize Infants?, with eagerness to hear what he had to say. Growing up baptist, I have been fairly unlearned as to what my Presbyterian brothers believe about paedobaptism.

Let me first say that they do not believe in baptismal regeneration which teaches that baptism results in the new birth. Neither do they believe that baptism saves us. Simply put, they believe that baptism is the new circumcision given to the children of believers. Just as circumcision never resulted in salvation or the new birth but was an outward indicator of God's covenant with those with faith in the coming Savior, so too, baptism now is the outward indicator of those who believe in Christ. Since the believing parents in the Old Testament gave the sign to all in their households including newborns, believers in the New Testament are to give the sign to their children as well.

Baptizing infants, according to Chappell, is also a reminder to the parents and the congregation that they will raise the child in the gospel. In many ways it seems similar to what some people call "baby dedications," although this is not the entire meaning behind infant baptizing.

Chappel does not go into the modes of baptizing too much and seems to leave room for a variety of interprations regarding the mode. Should we sprinkle, pour or immerse? He says that the lack of specificity in Scripture may be a good thing because it leaves room for all modes.

I appreciate the insight of Dr. Chappell on this subject. This is the only work that I have read on the subject. While I remain unconvinced that we should baptize infants and will not be joining the Presbyterian denomination, I have gained further insight into why our brothers hold to this practice. I believe that they are trying to hold fast to Scripture and the gospel. And while I don't agree with their conclusion, I can see why they believe this way.

Some of my favorite theologians and pastors are Presbyterian and hold to paedobaptism (R.C. Sproul, Ligon Duncan, etc) and I will forever be grateful to them for their contributions to the Christian faith and to my life. I do think we should be gracious to each other while differing in these matters and I think that conferences like Together for the Gospel are doing a great job at uniting around the central truths of Scripture while agreeing to disagree on other matters like eschatology and the administering of baptism.

May we all learn to be as gracious while holding to what we are convinced of in the Word.

When A Member Leaves The Church

2009-02-27T16:18:00.000-08:00

There are few things that I find to be more painful than a church member leaving. I have tried to learn how to cope with this over the years of ministry but I still find that I don't handle this well. Depending on the reason for their leaving my response will vary.

WHEN A MEMBER LEAVES THE CHURCH BECAUSE OF JOB RELOCATION
If the person or family moves away, for this reason, it always seems to hurt a little bit less. Oftentimes the move is related to a job change. Nevertheless, the pain of knowing that someone you love/have discipled will not be around as much is still hard to bear with.

As a pastor, I've often agonized over people leaving the church for this reason because I want them to be plugged into a great church wherever they go. But some Christians will gladly take a promotion or change jobs and relocate without ever knowing if a solid church is in relatively close proximity to their new home. Then they spend the next 6 months to a year looking for a good church to be a part of, all the while their faith and spiritual growth are very limited. Knowing that this often happens makes their move painful in the heart of a pastor.

When I have friends move away and are no longer members of our church for this reason, then I take it upon myself to help them find a church in that area so that when they get to their new home, they'll have a place to be fed and served by God.

WHEN A MEMBER LEAVES THE CHURCH BECAUSE OF SIN
An unrepentant sinning believer is harder to deal with, in regards to their leaving the church. It is painful because they are giving evidence that their conversion may not be real. They are giving evidence of hypocrisy and we know that no hypocrite will have eternal life. That is what makes this situation tough to deal with. It's as if the sheep have strayed away from the flock only because they were never a sheep to begin with. Perhaps they were a goat or a wolf in sheep's clothing. We know from Matthew 18 that the good shepherd leaves the 99 sheep in order to go get the 1 that strayed. In Scripture we have the promise that the Lord will not let His sheep perish and die. He goes out to get them and brings them to repentance. The professing believer who leaves and never returns may very well be a false convert. That is a sorrowful and painful reality to deal with.

Not only that but the process of church discipline, which if it does not end in repentance on the part of the believer, may ultimately end in marking the believer as an unbeliever and removing them from fellowship. If a member leaves the church for this reason, it is painful for all, but our prayer is that the sinning person's flesh is destroyed and that their soul is saved on the day of the Lord. So while painful, we know that this step in church discipline is a good thing and intended for God's glory, the salvation of the unrepentant person and the purity of the church.

WHEN A MEMBER LEAVES THE CHURCH FOR GREATER SPIRITUAL GROWTH
As a pastor, this is probably the area that hits me the hardest on a gut level. It oftentimes feels like a punch to the stomach. I wish it were not so.

Oftentimes, the situation goes something like this: Joe Church Member comes to the pastor and explains that he has spiritual needs that are not being met and thus must seek out a fellowship where he or his family can grow spiritually. This hurts for several reasons:

(1). I am deeply grieved that a person is either suffering or is hurting and needs help. I am in pain because my brother or sister is in pain. We should rejoice with our brothers and sisters and weep with them as well. Being part of the family of God embraces all of life, not just the good. So if we are empathetic and sympathetic towards the person who is in spiritual need, it should hurt as well.

(2). I am grieved on another level because I often feel that I have failed in some way in shepherding these people. Although no pastor can perfectly shepherd everyone in the church and therefore must train other elders to shepherd so that the entire body is growing as ministers, nevertheless, not everyone is cared for completely in every church. This simply reminds me that we are still in a sin-infected world. It makes me long for the fulfillment of the kingdom when Christ will fully satisfy every longing and need we have. I do not want to fail God's people or my God. But knowing that sin still remains in me, I am grieved when my sin and shortcomings have an averse affect on God's people. I am reminded once again that I am not perfect and fall short of the glory of Christ. That gives me great sorrow, but is intended to bring me back to the perfect work of Christ. He was a perfect pastor for me...and His grace covers that sin as well.

But the pain of a member leaving is still real and I am not always brought back to dependence on God's grace. When a member leaves for this reason, there is overwhelming and overflooding idea that enters my mind. I want to believe that it is Satanic and fleshly. The idea is this: I am not fit to be a pastor...time to throw in the towel. While part of that last statement may be true, the other half is not. No one is worthy of being a pastor and is fit to be one...at least from the sense of our depravity. Only Christ is truely fit. Nevertheless God calls sinners to life and He calls some of His children to be undershepherds. I look around and see men of God more capable, more skilled, more talented, more educated, more holy and I think..."If I were more like them surely these people would have had their needs met and wouldn't have left." And that is why I believe the thought is Satanic and sinful. It's a covetous thought...it's a faithless thought that fails to see that God's grace is greater than my sin and that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. Therefore, throwing in the towel is just not an option. The glory of God being proclaimed in the world for their eternal joy is worth living and dying for. Even with our sin and inadequacies we must press on be devoted to this great cause.

But it gives me great pain when a church member leaves for reasons like this because it exposes just how wretched I am. I am incapable of being a perfect pastor and I am envious that I am not like other pastors who seem to lead well. For that I need a Savior and I am grateful that the propitiation of Christ covers a multitude of sins.

(3). I am grieved on yet another level because the member that wants to leave fails to see that the church will always be imperfect but is still looking for some utopian congregation that does not exist. Rather than stay and continue to yield to godly instruction and find a way to contribute to the health of the church, the member leaves seeking a silver bullet or program that will finally meet their needs. When we read about the food distribution problem in Acts, we don't find the instruction to be "find a church with a better program." The counsel is this: "Church, step up and choose some godly men full of the Holy Spirit to take care of this issue." The answer isn't to look for a better congregation, but to become a better congregation and continue to grow under the teaching of the disciples.

When it comes to spiritual needs many leave their current church to try and find a church that has better small group bible studies that meet their social or age appropriate criteria. Small group bible studies have turned into affinity groups within the American church. People form small group bible studies either around hobbies and likes, or social interactions like youth, married and seniors, or they form groups based on struggles with sin (divorcees, struggling marriages, drug addiction, etc). When was the last time you saw a home Bible study with seniors, middle-aged people, teenagers and college age adults? There is certainly nothing wrong with finding things in common with our brothers and sisters in Christ and offering help when sin arises, but our fellowship, connection and unity should be around Christ and the gospel, not sin or sports or social status. We are not the world! They gather and create unity around things that are not spiritual. As God's people our gathering and unity is in Christ not something phsyical or social or political.

So when a person wants to leave a church in order to find a church or group that they have more in common with on an outward level in order that their spiritual needs might be better met, it seems to me to be counter to the point of the gospel.

In the end, when people leave the church for whatever reason, when all the smoke clears, and brothers and sisters part ways, when all is said and done, I am left with my Christ. I still have my true and great treasure. When I see what I have, although pain, frustration, confusion and doubt abound in my mind and in the cirumstance, I am still compelled to tell others about Him. And in looking at Him, my pain is eventually turned back into joy. I wish it happened more quickly than it does, but it invariably happens.

Be Careful of Your Language

2009-01-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I wrote down a quote and did not record who said it. It is driving me insane! I apologize for that. Because of my failure to be diligent in my citations, it may forever remain anonymous. Don't bother trying to "google" or "yahoo" it. The quote was taken from a podcast and I am sure there is no transcript on-line to try and get a match. My best guess is that is either from Dr. Michael Horton or Dr. Albert Mohler. Anyway, without any further delay, here is a tasty morsel to chew on.

"By grace you've been saved...Beloved, please be careful in your language. Grace is not an offer to be accepted or rejected by man at will. It is an invasion of the inner being of man so that he is impelled to believe."

Christ-less Preaching

2009-01-20T19:50:00.000-08:00

I am not sure how to respond to sermons that are constantly Christ-less, for I too once preached them. I preached them a lot. I preached them for years. Yes, I preached the Bible. I used it a ton. In fact, my sermons were saturated with scripture as a great many sermons are. Nevertheless, they were Christ-less sermons. Oh, I put a short five minute gospel plug in at the end of the sermon, but the sermon was still Christ-less. And so when I hear pastors preach Christ-less sermons I am prone to feel empathy and sympathy for their misunderstanding of the task of the preacher and pastor. Yet, knowing what I now know I am also angered at the thought that Christ is not the substance of what a lot of pastors preach each week.

There can even be a misunderstanding of what expositional preaching is to be about. Some think it is about preaching verse by verse and chapter by chapter. But expositional preaching is so much more than that. It is about proclaiming Christ. If we do not gather as a church to hear Christ proclaimed, then for what do we gather? Do we think that God is simply trying to be clever when tells us that His Son is the Word of God? Or do we miss the reality that all of Scripture (the written Word of God) is to lead us to the redemption story of Christ? All of it.

I do not have a clever way of communicating an earnest plea through this keyboard. Emoticons will not suffice when I say that if your preaching is not focused on, centered around, saturated with and drenched with Christ, then you do not have the makings of a Christian sermon.

If you attend a church where the redemption story is not heralded every week from whatever passage of Scripture you are in, then you are hearing a bogus sermon. It is a farce. You should be fearful of sitting under that kind of preaching.

Too often sermons are simply about purpose, values, principles for living, raising families and living victoriously. Christians are being told week in and week out "what to do". "Do this and do that and God will be pleased with you." I tell you with all sincerity that this sort of preaching is an afront to the cross. It is scandalous! It is modern-day Pharisaism. God is not pleased with us because we "do" something. He is pleased with us because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us by faith. That and that alone is why God is pleased with us. Do we obey God to please Him or do we obey God to display His glory...knowing that His glory pleases Him? There is a vast difference and I tell you that Christians should be obeying God to display the glory of God, not to please Him as if He were still angry with us. We obey Him because we are pleased with His beauty and splendor. Christ pleased God for us and if we think that we are to do righteous deeds in order to make God happy with us then we preach a false gospel. And if that type of preaching goes on in your church, then you are part of an apostate church. They have forsaken Christ and His gospel. That is what is wrong with evangelicalism at large. Christ is not proclaimed and principles for living are.

What's scary is that your average Christian does not see this in their church. They don't understand that their church has lost their first love. They have big screens, fancy pulpits, great bands, wonderful programs, fun people, enticing video clips, but so what! If Christ is missing, then so what! But the seeker-sensitive, seeker-aware church thinks that this kind of self-improvement preaching is what the unbeliever needs and wants to hear in their specialized sevices. Do they want to hear this kind of preaching. Absolutely! But is this kind of preaching what they need? No! Nothing could be further from the truth. It must be obvious that unblievers want to hear principles for living. That is the legalist in all of us that thinks that obeying rules is the way to please God. But those principles for living were written for the CHURCH to display the glory of God and to show the SINNER how far they fall from the glory of God. But that is not the way these sermons are packaged. They are packaged as Biblical principles that are good for everyone. That is what is deathly wrong with purpose-driven kind of sermon that a host of pastors are being led to preach.

Christ is to be held up every week. He is to be preached. When Christ was born the angels did not proclaim, "We bring you good news...for now you have some guideliness for living!" They proclaimed that a Savior was born. The Apostles did not go out and preach to sinners that they needed to get their marriages straight and that they needed to succeed in the workplace with some solid principles. No, they went preaching Christ. "Woe is me if I do not preach Christ!"

You must leave your church gathering each week with hearts and minds and speech full of Christ. If you leave only with the thought, "Ok, now I've got to do these things in my life," then you've missed the point of Scripture. And that is why most preaching is an afront to Christ and His saving work. Pastors are simply telling people each week "what to do" instead of telling them "what Christ has done for them." If I have overemphasized the grace of God here, then great. If it seems that I am an antinomianist--although I am not--then great. My aim is to preach the sufficiency of Christ in both justification and sanctification for it is by trusting in Him that we are saved and by beholding Him that we are sanctified...but how can we behold Him and be sanctified after His image if we do not hear Him speak His truth to us in His Word.

God gives us faith by the Word of God to believe in the Son of God. What then do you think the point of continuing to hear the Word of God preached is? It is to keep believing in the Son of God. Why? God keeps us saved by faith in the Son of God. And only those that endure til the end shall be saved. We persevere in Christ by faith in Christ which is granted to us by the Word of Christ so that we can be with Christ. Christ-centered and cross-focused preaching accomplishes this in our lives. Should we be surprised when people abandon the faith and faith in Christ if the God-given means of faith is abandoned--which is preaching Christ and letting Christ speak through His Word. If we mangle the Word of God and present it as a manual for living instead of the Covenenant (testament) of God then we, as pastors, contribute to the on-going apostasty in the church.

For the sake of the glory of God, pastors, we must step up and hold up Christ with every sermon...with every point of the sermon...with every scripture in the sermon...with every illustration in the sermon. Proclaim the oracles of God with all zeal and lead the church to Christ.

And if you find yourself in a church that uses the Bible in sermons but does not lift up Christ...please find a church that does. Forget the expense and inconvenience you may experience in trying to find such a church. But at all costs, find one and determine to be with this group of believers as you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I would strongly encourage any believer to read Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen. Although it is not an easy read, it is a profitable read. The liberal church of yester-century has become the norm today. The average church that today calls themselves evangelical, fundamental, Bible-based, family-oriented, purpose-driven has no idea that the church they are members of today was the apostate church that godly Christians warned about last century. I am embarassed to say that the evangelicalism that I grew up in and taught for much of my pastoral life was more influenced by the heresies of Charles Finney than by the long line of godly men that have preached the sufficiency and grace of Christ since the beginning
creation.

This is an urgent plea to all my friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. Know where you are in history or you may think that because you grew up in a sheep's pen that you are a sheep when you are not. Dig deep into Scripture and stop scratching it's surface. Know what your church really believes. Demand that your pastor exalt Christ with all his strength. Demand that your fellowship groups be centered around Christ and not marital status, age, sinful tendecies or hobbies. Demand that your worship songs be saturated with Scripture and literary images that will arouse your affections for Christ. Demand that discipleship be more than just forming good habits, but about displaying glory of Christ. Why? Because if we do not the world will get a mixed message of what church, scripture, worship, evangelism and Christianity as a whole are about.

Today I had a Jehovah's Witness come to my door and try to tell me that my understanding of repentance and discipleship is nothing more than a "personality change". I assured her that she was completely wrong. I am not sure where she got this idea. But I imagine that she got this idea from the way that Christians portray discipleship and sanctification. It's just outward behavioral change...no different than psychological reform.

A few weeks ago I read an article in Newsweek in which the author bashed on Christians for their views on marriage. Her rationale went something like this: "If Christians are so stuck on using the Bible as the rule for marriage, then which example do we follow...Jesus' singleness, David's with his adultery, Abraham's with having a child with his wife's servant." I was bothered by her understanding of what Scripture was about. But with the way pastors preach today, it is no wonder that she thought the Old Testament saints were examples to follow rather than sinners who needed a Savior. If sermons were always about Christ, from every Christian pulpit, from every Christian pastor, then the world would know that Scripture is about Christ and not examples for living in the lives of those mentioned.

David must stop being our example in life to "overcome our giants." Instead he must be the annointed king through whom God would fulfill His covenant and bring forth the King of Kings.

The "heroes of faith" in Hebrews 11 must been seen as people who had faith authored in them by Christ who will complete their faith and bring them to Himself (Hebrews 12:2 & 22-24). To divorce Hebrews 11 from the entire context of Hebrews and to make those people into examples for living is to miss Christ completely and to fail at preaching.

To teach Romans 12:9-21 apart from Romans 12:6 is to miss out on the fact that our good deeds and ministry to the church is the grace of Christ at work in us....not us serving God alone.

Christ-less preaching is not a small matter. The salvation of God's people and the glory of God are at stake.

Quote of the Week: Bryan Chapell

2008-12-22T08:35:00.001-08:00

"It's the role of grace in sanctification that sometimes troubles us...People worry that emphasizing grace undermines obedience. Consistently preaching the necessity and the proper motivation for holiness may be the most difficult task evangelical preachers face because we culturally define grace as license rather than the biblical power of holiness...Grace is the power of obedience not the antidote to obedience."

"Most preachers think the goal of preaching is to get people to do what they don't want to do. Yet preachings highest aim and greatest power lays in convincing others of the love of God in Christ that makes the heart willing and able to do what God desires. That's the glory of preaching. [It is] not to strong-arm people into doing what they don't want to do, but to actually have such love in them arise that they want to do and are able to do what God delights in."

-- Bryan Chapel, president and professor of practical theology at Covenant Theological Seminary

What I'm Currently Reading

2008-12-10T22:03:00.001-08:00

Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell

If you don't like reading and would prefer to listen to the lectures that the book is based on, you can download the classes here.

The Messiah In The Old Testament by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

What Jesus Demands From The World by John Piper

This book is available for FREE in PDF format. If you can't afford it, this may be the easiest and most cost-effective way to get some great teaching in your hearts and minds.

Quote Of The Week: Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

2008-12-07T23:13:00.001-08:00

Strange as it may seem, the history of the human race begins with the sin of our first parents and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. But that is not where it ended, for in the middle of the bleakness and the dark tragedy of God's curse on the tempter, the woman, and the man came the first rays of light and hope embodied as the gospel of the grace of our God.

Walter Kaiser explains that Genesis 3:15 has been called:

(1). the "germ of promise"
(2). the mother prophecy
(3). the protoevangelium or the first gospel

Although the details had not all be proclaimed or made known, we find the gospel first being declared in Genesis 3:15. The hope of Christ and salvation through Him comes into immediate view first after sin enters the human race.

Genesis 3:15 "I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head, and you
shall bruise his heel.”

The rest of the Old Testament would be God's unfolding of Hebrew and world history that would all work together to bring the world a baby laying in a manger...a baby that would grow up and die and rise again for the sins of those that would repent of their sin and trust in Him...the God-man Jesus Christ. The heel of Christ would be bruised, but the head of that serpent, the Devil, would be dealt a deathly blow. Thank God that our King has come to our aide! He is our Deliverer our Strong Tower, our Refuge, our Shield, our Savior, our God!

Salvation belongs to the Lord! And for that we give Him our praise, our affection, our worship, our adoration, our mouths, our thoughts, our lives.

The Privilege of Being a Father

2008-12-01T22:25:00.001-08:00

A lot of people love their birthday. It's often a day when everything is about "me." Perhaps I am "wired" different than others, but it's just another day to me and I don't get that excited when my b-day comes around. Yesterday was my birthday and it was pretty uneventful in regards to the "me" factor. And that was ok by me. But meeting with my brothers and sisters in Christ in worship of our Savior...that's something to be excited about. Having the opportunity to constantly share Christ with your own child...that is something to be excited about. I love those kind of days...and today was one such day.

Today I again had the privilege of reading my daughter the Scriptures. We read the story of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus as Jacob's well. In examining the Scriptures I asked her, "Why do we drink water?" Her six-year-old reply was, "Because if we don't drink water then after a certain time we will die. We need it to live."

I said, "Wow, you're right." I explained the Scripture in which Jesus said that there was a such thing as living water which will cause us to live eternally. So I asked some questions to help her figure out what Jesus was saying.

I asked, "What is it that makes us to live forever with God?" She replied, "Believing in Jesus...that Jesus died for our sin and rose again to life."

"So Jesus makes us to live eternally," I replied. My next question was, "What then do you think it means to drink living water and live forever?" She said, "Believing in Jesus."

"Yes!" I said. "But not just believing in Jesus, but believing the truth about Jesus." I went on to explain the rest of the story to her and how it is God who gives us spiritual life so that we can worship Him in spirit and it truth. She was in shock when I told her that there were people who didn't love God and didn't believe the truth about Jesus. She said, "That's crazy that God made this place and they don't believe in Him." I said, "Yeah, they even hate God." It was a blast see her connect with God and His truth.

When we were done, it was time for her to hit the sack. So she hopped up in her bunk bed and it was time to pray. She always asks me to help her pray so I gave her a ton of things that she could pray for and I told her that I'd pray for anything she forgot. Her words were more precious to me than anything I've heard in a long time.

"Jesus, help us to believe the truth about you. Please protect those who get hurt for believing the truth about you."

I don't want to forget moments like these. My memory stinks. So this post is to remind me of the grace of God at work in my child's life.

Lord, save my little girl! Regenerate her litte heart if you have not already done so. Make her an outspoken and unashamed mouthpiece of the gospel. Let her live for Your glory. And when the time comes, let her die in a way that glorifies You. Thank You, Father, for the privilege of raising her. Though I fall radically short of being the perfect dad, work out Your good will in her life and let her always find her highest joy in knowing You. I may fail at a number of things, but let me not fail in leading her to know You. As Your child, Father, I ask these things for my child, for the sake of Your glory!

Quote Of The Day: Pilgrims & Calvinism

2008-11-27T10:52:00.001-08:00

"In the providence of God, the truths of the doctrines of grace were soon carried across the Atlantic by men searching for religious freedom. The Pilgrims were distinctly Calvinistic, as they brought with them and preached from their Geneva Bibles. The early Colonial leaders were staunchly Reformed. Those who founded the early states--men such as John Winthrop, Thomas Hooker, Roger Williams, Increase Mather, and Cotton Maher--were all Calvinistic. The first American colleges, Harvard and Yale, were Calvinistic, established to train Reformed ministers who would preach Reformed doctrine." -- Steven Lawson

I am glad the Lord has brought me back to my American roots! Happy Thanksgiving and thank the Lord for the Puritan Pilgrims!

The State of Today's Church

2008-11-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

Here's a video from The White Horse Inn titled The State of the Church.

Quote Of The Week: Dr. Michael Horton

2008-11-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

Michael Horton comments on how modern-day evangelicalism has shifted away from what Christianity really is:

"We are getting dangerously close to the place in everyday American church life where the Bible is mined for quotes but largely irrelevant, God is used as a personal resource rather than known, worshiped and trusted, Jesus Christ is a coach with a good game plan for our victory rather than a Savior who has achieved it for us, salvation is more a matter of having our "best life now" rather than being saved from God's judgment by God Himself, and the Holy Spirit is sort of an electrical outlet we can plug in for the power to be all that we can be."

Cars & Jesus

2008-11-11T22:25:00.001-08:00

There is a point to this. So please follow me to the end.

It may surprise you to hear me write (I have a loud pen) that I work at a car dealership. I don't have to wear leisure suits or snakeskin boots...although I do enjoy wearing gold chains with my chest hair showing. Ok, not really. But I do work at a respectable dealership in Victorville, Ca. The primary reason I took the job two years ago was because they allowed me the freedom to have Sunday mornings off so that we could plant a local church. That remains the one reason I stay at the dealership in spite of all the ups and downs, the stereotypes, the economy, the unsteady pay and the cut-throat competition amongst salespeople.

On a brighter note, our owner has a yearly competition for the salespeople in which he gives away a vacation for two. The last time they had this sort of competition (2006) they gave away a trip for two to Hawaii plus spending money. I had only been at the dealership for two weeks and anticipated one day being in the competition...cause who doesn't want a free trip somewhere. Well, last year because of the economy (I think) they did not have the competition. This year they did! The competition works something like this:

1. All sales people are required to participate.
2. Each week a vehicle is selected and each person must give a three minute presentation of the vehicle. This is known as a walk-around.
3. There are four judges that critique each person. And every week there is a guest judge (Chrysler representatives, other dealership owners, etc). Each judge can award a total of up to 100 points, with a 10 point deduction for going over the time limit.
4. At the end of each week (round), the scores are tallied and they eliminate several people with the remaining contestants moving on to the next round and the next vehicle.

That's basically how it works. We started with 23 contestants. We're now down to 3. I'm one of them. Of course I'd like to win. Even though the trip is only to Las Vegas and not Hawaii, I enjoy getting away with my wife, sleeping in, eating out, shopping and all that jazz. If I don't get eliminated next week I'll finish in at least 2nd place and get a prize of $500. Not bad at all.

Today my wife happened to bring me lunch at the time I was getting ready to present today's vehicle. One salesperson whispered to my wife, "I bet he practices at home all day, huh?" She said, "Actually, he doesn't." It's true. I haven't had much time to practice. Sermon prep time and time with the family come first before these types of things, so I've had to rely on my years of public speaking (preaching) to get me through this. I'm ashamed to admit that moving through the competition hasn't required much more effort than 1/2 hour of practice and preparation each week. The more I prepare, the better I'd actually be at presenting vehicles to a real guest who really wants to buy. That is the whole point of this competition--to sharpen our skills. At that got me thinking...

All the other sales people are preparing and studying to win a prize. They prepare in order to win a vacation. A vacation! I wonder how much effort Christians put into studying God's Word and knowing Jesus so that they can properly and passionately tell others about Christ--in order to win souls. People, Christians included, will work hard and labor to win a vacation. Will they work equally hard in order to bring people to Christ--without any temporal benefit? You see, certain things motivate us to action. For some it's money. For others it's the sheer joy of seeing others know Christ. My aim in life is to know Christ and present Christ. I'll work hard and labor in the Word for that...even if I gain nothing. Studying a car in order to win a vacation...nothing wrong with that...but it'll not consume me. I'd give that up any day to share Christ with a sinner.

I wonder what it would take to motivate you to be involved in the ministry of reconciliation--the ministry of the Word. Would you share Christ with someone for $1,000,000? Would you share Christ for a trip to Hawaii? If you'd do it for money or vacations, yet not simply out of love for God, then who really do you serve: God or money?

Just thinking out loud here.

America's Financial Meltdown

2008-10-16T13:04:00.001-07:00

The economic crisis that our country faces seems to hit a the core of the average American. For the first time ever I am seeing mass quantities of people panic about their future and ability to provide for their families. In the industry I work, things are even scarier. One in five auto dealerships are soon to be closing, manufacturing plants are closing down, workers are being layed off, dealership are down-sizing and shrinking staff, sales are down, income is minimal, yet bills remain. As a pastor I have had recently seen grown men weep and share their fears, concerns and questions about what lies before us. Biblical counsel if therefore crucial and most necessary if believers are going to weather these temporary hardships and uncertainties.

In a recent book by Pastor Mark Dever, he quotes the writings of Jonathan Edwards and in so doing examines the way the world responds to loss and implies the way believers are to respond to tragedy, loss and dire times. He references the Old Testament book of Job to make his case.

"In 1723, a young pastor of a church in Manhattan, Jonathan Edwards, preached a sermon called "The Nakedness of Job." He described wealthy Job's sudden losses, which included even the lives of his children. And then he turned to how we ought to respond to such losses in contrast to how the world responds."

'Perhaps, when you read the history of Job, you read it as a strange thing that happened but once in the world; but, for the time to come, read it as a think thing that happens daily, and frequently, for every man at death is as much deprived of all his worldly goods as Job was...The history of Job is only a shadow of death; it is no more than happens to every man in the world...Such is the folly of the world. They pursue violently after the world, slave and tire themselves for a little of it, are exceeding anxious and careful about it. Their minds are gnawn with care and anxiety; they undergo abundance of difficulties for it, and will often violate their consciences, disobey their God, and go very near hellfire--so near as to scorch them--come so near to the pit that their feet are every moment ready to slip. When they lose the world, they mourn as if they had met with a loss that it is impossible should be repaired, either in this world or the next, and when they have got a little of the world, they please themselves with the thoughts of it as much as if they were sure they could never lose it, neither by death nor otherwise...Before, they were careless and at ease, as if death were not wont to come into their parts of the world.'

Death, loss, decay are all part of life for believers and unbelievers. That is why scripture counsels us to NOT lay up treasure here on earth. If we are to joyfully meet this world head on with its current crisis and defeat satanic deception of security in goods, our treasure must be God, as was the case with Job. If our treasure is earthly, we will surely panic, become depressed and even bitter towards God and thus reveal our idolatry--that we loved things more than the One who gave things to us.

Let the current economic crisis be used of God to reveal your current affection or lack of it for God. Realize this is the grace of God in action working out your sanctification. And as tough as it is, in the midst of pain, give thanks to the Lord for His mercy and goodness endures forever.

Quote Of The Week: John Piper

2008-10-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

Open Theism is a horrible heresy (false teaching) that claims that God does not know future events. It also claims that God does not have a purpose in allowing troubles to come our way. In refuting this heresy, John Piper says:

Do we love God? That is the point of the test. Do we cherish Him and the merciful wisdom of His painful purpose more that we cherish pain-free lives? That is the point of God's testing.

Our trials reveal the measure of our affection for this earth--both its good things and bad things. Our troubles expose our latent idolatry.

For those who believe that God rules purposefully and wisely over all things, our response to loss is a signal of how much idolatry is in our souls. Do we really treasure what we have lost more than God and His wisdom? If we find ourselves excessively angry or resentful or bitter, it may well show that we love God less that what we lost. This is a very precious discovery, because it enables us to repent and seek to cherish Christ as we ought, rather than being deceived into thinking all is well.

What is it that you have lost: money, job, stocks, a family member, health, notoriety, a business, a home? God's good purpose in allowing you to go through this is show you what you love more: God or His gifts to us. Our greatest treasure and joy should alway be in Christ. When hardship comes, it shows whether or not that is true. God is good in showing us our sin so that we may return to Him in joy.

Open Theism is wrong. God plans everything for His glory and our joy in Him.

What's So Golden About The Golden Rule?

2008-10-06T23:08:00.001-07:00

Think it's just a nice little rule to live by? Think again.

Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

I have made several observations about this verse and hope I can put together some coherent thoughts for us all to meditate on.

1. We See The Law Which Shows Us Our Loving God

One of the reasons God gave us the Ten Commandments, the Law, was to reveal God’s holiness and perfection. It is the standard of His righteousness and glory. And when we compare ourselves to His righteousness and glory as revealed in the Law, we see that we fall short of that glory. The Law shows us God and so does this Golden Rule--the Golden Law. It shows us that God has a high standard of love for others. God loves others. He loves us. He blesses us. He gives to us. And because this rule came from the mouth of Jesus, it teaches us about the nature of our Father. How wonderful our Father is.

2. We See The Law Which Sums Up The Old Testament

When Jesus says that all of the Law and Prophets are summed up in the Golden Rule, He means the moral Law. He does not mean everything the prophets said. The prophets spoke of the history of Israel and we cannot know that from the Golden Rule. The prophets foretold of coming destruction to unbelieving nations. We cannot know that through the Golden Rule. The prophets spoke of creation and we cannot know that in the Golden Rule. So when Jesus give us this rule that sums up the Law and Prophets, He must mean the rules for living they gave…the moral commands…the moral commands that show us the nature and holiness and righteousness and glory of God.

Now since the Old Testament is all about Christ and since the Law of God is all a reflection of God’s nature, then it must be that this golden command paints a wonderful portrait of Christ who is the perfect image of God. In other words, the commands, the Law and Prophets are writings that tell us of Jesus. So when Jesus speaks the Golden Rule, He is reinforcing the Old Testament, which reinforces that He is speaking about Himself, which reinforces that He came to show us the Father and bring us to salvation in order that we might be with Him.

Do you see how loving our Father is? He desires that we know Him. And so He is saying to us, “The Law and Prophets are about Christ…and this command sums up the Law and Prophets, and so this command tells us about Christ who is the image of the Father.

3. We See The Law Which Shows Us Our Sin

We must see this Golden Rule for what it is. It is Law. It is a command. Why did God give us the Law? Why did God give us commands?

Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

God gave us the Law so that we would know how much we sin by disobeying the Law, which is a reflection of God’s character. In other words, the Law shows us God perfection. When we disobey the Law we see how far we are from God’s perfect holiness—His glory. 1 John defines sin as lawlessness. And Romans tells us that everyone has sinned—committed lawlessness—and fallen short of the glory of God. So this Law—this Golden Rule--damns us. The Golden Rule is not good news. Rather we are condemned by it. This Law is not good news for us. It is not a happy little rule that we go around following so that our life will be pleasant. We are to obey it! That much is certain. But the problem is that we don’t obey it…and therefore are guilty sinners before a holy God.

Seeing the Golden Rule for what it is, we then know that it has a certain function in the life of the sinner. It is to show the world their gross sin and hold them guilty before God without excuse.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Since the Law of God is written on the heart of every human being, mankind knows right from wrong and is therefore accountable to God for his violation of God’s law.

Romans 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

And I dare say that there is a person alive that probably has never heard of this Golden Rule. Even those who do not profess to be believers in God or followers of Christ even know this rule, this law, this command. They themselves will even testify that it is a good rule to live by. Oddly enough, though they may agree with the Golden Rule, they may very well disagree with all of the Old Testament Law, which is summed up in the Golden Rule. And when they agree with the Golden Rule, they unknowingly agree with the rest of God’s moral Law. Again, the problem with mankind is that they don’t live by it. They break it and are condemned before a holy and just and righteous God.

May I encourage you to do this: when you are busy witnessing to others, use this very command to show them just how bad of a sinner they are. Let the command be a light to expose their darkness and wickedness. Now although this Golden Rules show us our filth and sin and condemnation before God, it also shows us our need for the Savior.

4. We See The Law Which Shows Us The Need For The Savior

One of the amazing thing about Scripture is that the Law reveals to us Christ’s nature in the form of commands. But Scripture also pits the Law and Christ against each other in certain ways.

Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

A person is not justified or saved by obeying the Law. And since the Law equals the nature of God and the nature of Christ, it is safe to say that no one is saved by imitating Christ. If following in the way of Christ equaled salvation, then we’d all be eternally damned ecause we don’t act like Christ…we don’t obey the Law. And because we don’t act like Christ, and we don’t obey the Law, we need a Savior. That Savior is Christ. He saves us, not by our trying to be like Him, but by our trusting in Him as we turn from sin. The Law shows us Christ, shows us that we cannot be like Him, but show us that we need Him nevertheless.

The Law is not bad, for it shows us Christ. We are bad for not being like Christ. We stand condemned before God and need Christ to save us from our inability to be like Him. And so God says, instead of trying to earn salvation by being like Christ or obeying the Law, instead, trust in Christ.

Galatians 3:24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

The Law was your guardian until Christ came. That means that the Law has a good function. Guardians are there to let you know when you’re doing wrong. They are there to instruct you until you come of age. They’re also there to watch over your life. And that is what the Law does. It shows you your sin and shows you the need for Christ. It ensures that you have life in Christ by directing you to Him.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

The Law if for who? Sinners. The lawless. It is for anyone who lives contrary or against the gospel. It is for unbelievers. That is how we use the Law in a good way. We use it to show them that they are not saved…not yet affected by the gospel. If the Law is for sinners, then Christ also is for sinners.

1 Timothy 1:15-17 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Christ came into the world to save lawbreakers…sinners. Paul said, “I’m the worst of sinners. I sin more than anyone and Christ saved me.” Why? For what reason? That the patience of Christ might be known. One reason God saves people is so that we’ll praise God and say, “Thank you for being so patient towards me. Thank you for not striking me dead when I lied, lusted, stole, disobeyed my parents, coveted. Praise be to God. Glory and honor belong to Him forever and ever.”

And for those of us that believe that Christ died in our place, was buried and rose again the third day, we have the promise of life with God who dwells in us by His Spirit. As God’s children, we are being transformed to look more and more like Christ. This means that as God’s children, we are being transformed into people who are getting better at keeping the Law which displays the glory of God in Christ. So that is why Christ gives this command to us to obey. For the sinner it condemns…for God’s children it displays the glory of the Father.

5. We See The Law Which Shows Us Our Duty

The statement is not, “Do to others what they want you to do to them?” That is not the same things as “Do to others as you would want them to do to you?” The statement is not “Do not do to others what you would not want them to do you.” That is actually how various religious had promoted this rule before Jesus came teaching at preaching. It was in the form of a negative. Do not do to them what you would not want them to do to you. Jesus transformed this and said, “Do to others as you would want them to do to you?” There is a world of difference. You can obey one by simply never interacting with people. Jesus’ rule demands that we interact with others and not look the other way when they are in need.

And so I present to you a few examples of how you can perform this duty towards others and display God’s glory. When you wrong others, don’t you want them to forgive you? Then forgive them. When you are hurting financially, don’t you wish others would give to you? Then give to others. If you were dying and going to hell, wouldn’t you want someone to tell you of Christ who saves? Then tell others. Don’t you wish your parents had taught you more of Christ and disciplined you better? Then do that for your children.

You see, to not do these things, is to disobey Christ. To not do these things is to be a Pharisee who loves to practice religion but not to the point where it affects your actions towards those in the church and those outside. You can’t obey this command if you aren’t witnessing, if you aren’t parenting right, if you aren’t giving, if you are forgiving, if you aren’t gentle with your speech, if you aren’t helpful, if you aren’t patient. Obedience to this command requires actively doing good. And to know what is good to do and not do it, according to Scripture is sin. So go out today and sin no more.

Now this is why the Golden Rule is so golden. It shows us the nature of God. It sums up the Old Testament of Christ. It shows us our sin. It shows us our need for the Savior. It shows us our duty to display the glory of God in obeying the command.

Wretched - Featuring Todd Friel

2008-10-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Todd Friel has a new television show. It's called Wretched. Here is a clip featuring Pastor John MacArthur commenting on the gospel as presented in the Purpose Driven Life. Please heed his warning. God's glory and mankind's joy in God are at stake.

If the video file is not displayed, please paste the following link in your address bar. http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=782d726d38be8f81f145

"Get Him Up!"

2008-09-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

"Christians must focus on Christ every second of their lives. And when they come together for corporate worship, they must set their hearts to join together in radical Christocentricity. To this end, E.V. Hill, pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, told of the ministry of an elderly woman in his church whom they called "1800" because no one knew how old she was. On unsuspecting preachers "1800" was hard because she would say, "Get Him up!" (she was referring to Christ). After a few minutes, if she didn't think it was happening, she would again shout, "Get Him up!" If a preacher did not "Get Him up!" he was in for a long, hard day. Dear old "1800" was no theologian, but her insticts were sublime. True worship exalts Jesus. It cannot fail to "Get Him up!" because both Testaments lift Him up.

There is nothing more important, and more salutary for the church, that Christ-centered worship." -- R. Kent Hughes

The Natural Man

2008-09-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

At what point does the natural man understand the things of God in order to trust Christ for salvation?

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

If the natural man does not understand the things of God and can not understand the things of God, then it must only be the spiritual man, the regenerated man, the born again man, that can understand the things of God. On what basis then does a person become regenerated, spiritual or born again?

John 3:6-8 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must
be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

It's grace, marvelous grace. We are born again because of the will of God, not our wills, for a dead man does not have a will. Once given spiritual life, we can believe, receive and adore Christ as Savior and Lord.

John 1:12-13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Thank our gracious, almighty Father for giving spiritual life to us that we may understand spiritual things, believe in Christ, be saved and brought near to our heavenly Father by the power of the Spirit.

Quote Of The Day: St. Augustine

2008-08-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

"Thou owest men nothing, yet payest out to them as if in debt to thy creature, and when thou dost cancel debts thou losest nothing thereby."

The Regulative Principle

2008-07-29T23:54:00.000-07:00

What is allowed in a worship service? What is not allowed in a worship service? There are generally two positions on the matter. Many would adhere to the Normative Principle. Others stick to the Regulative Princile.

"The Regulative Principle forbids anything not commanded by Scripture, whereas the Normative Principle allows anything not forbidden by Scripture." -- Mark Dever, The Deliberate Church

Several years ago I firmly clung to the Normative Principle without knowing that there was even a title for such a belief. "Anything goes" was my motto, as long as it is not forbidden by Scripture and as long as it could reach people for Christ. Smoke machines, practical jokes, goofy games with prizes, drama, props, movie clips...you name it, I used it (if it was in the budget). In looking back I can clearly see that I was very consumed with trying to impress the unbeliever with our worship services. Their visiting us for the first time was like a consumer visiting the grand opening of a restaurant and we wanted great reviews. That an unbeliever would find our services appealing was probably the main factor in my clinging to the Normative Princple. I was not so much consumed with them being impressed by God, as I was consumed with them having a good time with us so that they would want to come back again. It was an appeal to the flesh that we were making while trying to reach them with spiritual truths. In retrospect I see how incredibly foolish this was. How can we call people to believe a solemn message from God's Word when silly antics are done right before the preaching of God's Word? Can you imagine the United States government putting on a circus show just before the President approached the podium to announce that war is upon us? How much more serious is the salvation and the coming judgment?

Yet there are churches and youth groups that allow just about anything (see video clip for an example) in their "worship" services because they are trying to be on the cutting edge or they are trying to be innovative. I submit that all they are doing is detracting from and clouding the message of God. We are neither called to be innovative or on the cutting edge. We are called to be faithful mouthpieces for God so that people can be redeemed and worship the Lord.

The Regulative Principle (as opposed to the Normative Principle) forbids anything not commanded in Scripture when it comes to our worship services. If you adhere to the Regulative Principle then there are basically five things we do in our worship services. We read the Word, sing the Word, pray the Word, preach the Word and see the Word in the sacraments. I don't imagine the Apostle Paul or the Lord Jesus would come blazing into a worship service on a motorcyle in order to impress and excite the crowd.

I know that we can retreat to all the data and polls that have been taken and say that the world has a short attention span and that we have to get creative in telling the message. My guess is that these same people can sit through an hour long explanation from a doctor detailing how sick they are and the necessary procedures that must take place for their health to be restored. I assume that the doctor is not taking into consideration their short attention spans by bringing in a circus elephant or clown. No, he knows that the seriousness of his message will keep their attention. Perhaps we pastors do not present the Word of God as serious as it is.

Shame on us for trying to use fleshly devices to entice people to God. Shame on us for turning the worship of God into some MTV style of presentation. The Lord God is specific on how He wants us to worship Him. The Old and New Testament are loaded with examples of how the Lord gets angry when worship is distorted from the parameters and instructions He sets forth. Where has the reverence gone? Where has submission to the Word gone when it comes to structuring our services? God is not the author of confusion or pandemonium. He desires order and truth in the worship of Him as our spirits adore Him. The Regulative Principle helps us to keep the main thing the main thing. And it is precisely this principle that would forbid us from reciting the pledge of allegiance in our worship services. It's not that we don't love our country, it's that worship is for God. Worship is not a time for nationalism or patriotism. It's a time to adore God as His Word reveals who He is and what He has done to glorify Himself in Christ.

The Regulative Principle sounds stuffy and confined and legalistic. The Normative Principle sounds free and exciting and modern. But let we turn the worship of God into the worship of unbelievers, we best stick with the Regulative Principle. You can't go wrong when you read the Word, preach the Word, sing the Word, pray the Word and see the Word in the sacraments.

An Interesting Article

2008-07-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

Does The American Flag Belong In The Church?

This article makes some interesting points. I would never put one. But I'll reserve my complete answer for another time.

Quote Of The Day: Dr. Michael Horton

2008-06-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

The question for Luther and Calvin was not the morphology of conversion--how I got saved. It's how God saved us at the cross 2000 years ago.

Quote Of The Day: Mark Dever & The Apostle Paul

2008-06-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

On preaching the gospel...

"Let the content of the Gospel do the work. This doesn't mean you have to be intentionally boring. But it does mean you have to be intentionally self-effacing. Illustrations from personal experience are often subtly self-serving. People love them because they tell them about you, but this is precisely what the true Gospel minister wants to be careful about in the pulpit--not because he doesn't want to be "authentic," but because such illustrations usually attract more attention to ourselves than to the Gospel."

The Apostle Paul said:

"2 Corinthians 4:5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake."

In gospel witnessing we must preach Christ's death, burial and resurrection. We must preach Christ or we are not preaching the gospel at all. He is the good news. I believe that modern evangelism has taken the Great Commission and inadvertently turned it into self-promotion. What I mean is that a lot of Christians are told to share personal testimony in witnessing rather than the historical account of Christ's saving work. Our faith is not based on subjectivity but on the objectivity of what God has done in history for His glory; namely, He sent Christ to show God's justice and mercy on the cross and His power in the resurrection. When we focus on personal testimony it should not be, "Look at how my life has improved." or "Look where I've come from." It's not us we preach. It's Christ. We are not called in Scripture to say, "Look at me, and believe in Christ." We are called to say, "Behold, the Lamb of God! Turn from sin and turn to Him in faith."

I have no doubt the motive and concern for lost souls among many modern-day evangelicals is pure, but we take a dangerous path when we highly value personal testimony as a way to win people to Christ. To do so plays into the hands of postmodernity in which everything becomes relative. Personal testimony does not awaken people to faith or call dead people to life; only the Word of God does that. So next time you are witnessing and you think that there is something spectacular about you that will convert people to Christ, think about who you are really trying to attract them to: you or the Lord. Then speak the appropriate Scriptures and direct them towards Christ.

Yes, we are called to live in a way that gives credibility to the gospel and we are called to live in a way that glorifies the gospel, but when speaking the gospel, we speak of Christ, not us.

A Tragedy

2008-06-17T18:35:00.001-07:00

I have just begun preaching through the gospel of Matthew on Sunday mornings. This Sunday's message was taken from Matthew 2 (the visit of the wise men to Jerusalem).

Matthew 2:1-2 [1] Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, [2] saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

There is a tragedy here in this Scripture and it is bound up in the little word "saying." These wise men had somehow been schooled in the Old Testament for they knew when and where Messiah would be born. Therefore, they came lookiing for the Christ. It's very possible that these wise men or magi first came into contact with the Holy Scripture some 540 years earlier when the Hebrew people were under the rule of the Babylonian empire. If you recall, Daniel was able to intepret King Nebchadnezzar's dream and was eventually put in charge of the magi (the wise men who advised the king).

Now when these wise men come looking for Christ they entered Jerusalem "saying." Simply put they kept asking and asking and asking and asking and asking and asking and asking! They kept saying "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." Apparently, the people who had first received the Scripture (the Israelites/Hebrew people) were oblivious to the fact that Christ had been born because nobody was able to give the wise men an answer. The wise men asked around so much that they created a buzz around town and word got back to Herod.

That is tragic. The Lord gives a people His Word. Those people pass it on so that Gentile nations can be aware that the Lord incarnate is coming. Those Gentile people (however many they were) hold fast to the Word because it tells of the coming Living Word. At the same time, the Jewish people had forgot to pay attention to the Word and missed the coming of the Living Word. Sure they knew it, but they transformed in into principles for living rather than a testament of Christ. I'm not saying that there aren't principles for living in Scripture. There are. But the principles are there because they are reflections of the nature of Christ which we are saved to display.

Let us not forget that God gives us His Word (not as a manual for living) but as a light that shines in this dark world until the Morning Star arises in our hearts; meaning that Scriptures points us to Christ (O.T. & N.T.) until Christ comes. The Word written directs us always to the Living Word. That is why preaching must always be Christ-centered. Christ must be at the core (not an add-on) to the message for all Scripture directs us to Him somehow.

And what a tragedy it would be to have the Scriptures and miss out on Christ. I fear that many preachers today are nothing more than modern day Pharisees. They are directing people on how to live with all their "how-to-sermons" and failing to tell people about the One who came to earth, lived a sinless life, died for those who would repent and believe in Him, ascended into heaven, rules over His church and is coming a second time.

That little word "saying" gives us so much insight as to the spiritual condition of the people in those days. Lest we repeat history, pay attention to the Word of God.

Quote of the Day: Bob Kauflin

2008-05-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

In an interview with host Dr. Albert Mohler, Bob Kauflin said:

"Leading worship is a pastor/teaching function before it's a musical one. Humanly speaking a pastor is the worship leader. Anyone who loves God, is a born again Christian, knows the Word of God and can communicate clearly can be an excellent worship leader. It's about making Jesus Christ big in people's eyes."

"Being emotionally affected by music and actually worshipping God aren't the same thing. No one whould know this better than worship leaders. All by itself, music, even instrumental music can make us cry, motivate us to cheer for our team, provoke us to protest or fill us with joy."

The Lord Is Good

2008-04-22T18:56:00.001-07:00

In the midst of uncertainty, there is one certain thing. The Lord is good!

Even if my health completely failed...
Even if I lost all my worldly goods...
Even if I had no friends...
Even if I had to suffer the loss of my family...
Even if I had to move again...
Even if I didn't know where my next meal would come from...
Even if I suffered for being a Christian...
Even if I don't feel like acknowledging it...

My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is good. Not because my circumstances are good or rotten, but because He is intrinsically good. It is an attributes that belongs to Him. His goodness is not based on my circumstances or even my ability to perceive His goodness. He is good simply because He is good.

I just wanted to say that because I need to preach to myself. God knows that when difficulties arise, I have been known to doubt the goodness of God. This message serves as a reminder to myself that my sin of doubt and disbelief is just another example of God's goodness to me in that He is patient with my disbelief. In other words, He allows me to sin in disbelief so that I may praise Him even more for His faithfulness to me. I have learned that God does not yet completely sanctify me and He does even this for His glory. In eternity I will see how I sinned as His child and say, "God, you put up with me for so long! I praise you for that."

The Lord is good!

Ambasssadors For Christ

2008-04-06T22:46:00.001-07:00

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because Christ has reconciled us to God, we have now become ambassadors for Christ. We ARE ambassadors. We represent the Lord and His glorious gospel. We speak His message and bear His name wherever we go. It's what we have been called to.

I thought about this truth heavily the other night when I was treated rudely by a person who walked onto our car lot. This lady and her husband militantly walked onto our lot. I approached them and greeted them curtiously. "Hi folks. Welcome. My name is Josh and you are?" My greeting was met with nothing but silence. I didn't get a look in my direction. They continued militantly walking through our lot...at a fast pace, too. So I hurried alongside them and said, "Hello folks, is there something I can help you with?" This time I got a glance, but no verbal communication. The body language said, "Leave me alone!" But it's kind of hard to do that. That's like somebody walking around on your front lawn at home...it's only right to say, "Can I help you?" I asked her another question, "Can I point you to a certain vehicle?" And finally I got some response! She said, "Where are your PT Cruisers?" The conversation had started. Whew! They weren't deaf! I was beginning to think so. I smiled and said, "Oh, they're over this way. Let me show you to them." Boy, I hate sales sometimes.

So anyway, she was walking so fast that I couldn't pass her up and lead her to some cars. I almost had to do the Olympic speed walk that somewhat resembles the Ace Ventura stroll. You know what I mean? But my hips can't move that fast so I followed behind, somewhat trotting along to keep up. But in trailing behind her I noticed that her windbreaker said on the back, "Harbor Welcome Team!" It took about 5 seconds to register in my head that she was probably the member of the greeting team at her church. Ouch! Just got dirted by what seemed to be a Christian. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was a pastor, so I asked her what her jacket meant. She retorted, "That's my church," and she kept going.

Anyway, I have to say that this was probably one of the rudest guests I've had in a long time. I'm so glad that she didn't run into an unbeliever that night. What a bad ambassador that would have been! How credible does the gospel appear to be from kingdom representatives like that. Yet, I must stop and look at my own life and say, "Is there anything that misrepresents my Lord and Savior?" And the answer is "yes." I, too, fall short of Christ's glory and that is why I need His salvation. And though I sin greatly, my Savior is greater and I am therefore compelled to be an ambassador for Him. The greater I understand my sin to be, the greater my Savior appears to me, the better ambassador I will be for Him.

Christ has reconciled us to God, not counting our sin against us. Now be an ambassador to the world and ask the Lord for the ability to represent and speak for Him well. Help bring people to the one who can save them. And for the sake of God's glory, be nice to unbelievers...even if they are in sales.

By the way, your prayers would be appreciated. The Lord has shown great favor to me at work. I was recently promoted and passed up some senior associates that were next in line for promotion (ahead of me). Consequently, there are some people that are hateful towards me and doing what they can to speak evil of me. I really don't care what people think of me as long as I am rightly representing Christ. If they hate me for that, it's ok. And that's why I am asking for your prayers. It's easy to get caught up in the scuttle, so pray that the Lord helps me to live for Him amongst the hostility. Pray that His glory is displayed through my words and actions. Thanks!

Worship God or Worship Worship?

2008-04-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

I remember a time in my life when I worshiped worship more than I worshiped the Lord. That is, I enjoyed the experience of singing and playing instruments more than I enjoyed the glory of the Lord. The songs had to be the right tempo and modern enough to attract and keep a crowd, the musicians had to be well enough rehearsed so as not to hinder the "experience", the slides had to have the best fonts and backgrounds to enhance what it was we were doing...and so on. It became clearer and clearer that I treasured the whole production over the glory of the Lord. I was more concerned about orchestrating some sort of experience rather than letting the glory of the Lord shine forth in His word. I acted as if it were possible to manufacture worship in the hearts of the people by the outward manipulating of the environment. You see, this can happen when we look at the Scripture (especially the Old Testament) and see the methods for worship as methods...instead of seeing the methods as anti-types, with Christ being the reality--the type.
D.A. Carson comments on worship.

"We worship our Creator-God "precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so." What ought to make worship delightful to us is not, in the first instance, its novelty or its aesthetic beauty, but its object: God himself is delightfully wonderful, and we learn to delight in him.

In an age increasingly suspicious of (linear) thought, there is much more respect for the "feeling" of things--whether a film or a church service. It is disturbingly easy to plot surveys of people, especially young people, drifting from a church of excellent preaching and teaching to one with excellent music because, it is alleged, there is "better worship" there. But we need to think carefully about this matter. Although there are things that can be done to enhance corporate worship, there is a profound sense in which excellent worship cannot be attained merely by pursuing excellent worship...Despite protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it's a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset."

My point is not to tear down those who use instruments or are careful in planning church services. My point is simply to warn against the activity that may appear outwardly OK, but does not focus on delight in the Lord. Worship that results in enjoyment of the activity but not enjoyment is God is false worship. Such is the case when worship leaders go to conferences to see such-and-such an artist. Having come away from a conference with little to say about "God" but much to say about the "worship leader", one wonders if worshiping worship is what has taken place. Sometimes it looks like the picture above. Indeed I have been guilty of that. May we guard against that. I guess the same could be said of our listening to preachers. Do we want our pastors and preachers to be good and instruct us well? Of course. But it's not primarily that they are great preachers, but that they speak of a great God. It's Christ we worship. We gather together as saints, not primarily to hear great preachers, but to hear them tell us what God has said SO THAT we may find ultimate joy, pleasure and satisfaction in Him.

And so when we gather together in worship, the Word must be central for it tells of the excellencies of Christ. 1 Peter 1:10-12 tells us that the Old Testament prophets served us by preaching God's Word, the gospel, the good news, Christ (which was then delivered by the Apostles). Even they preached for us to know Christ as our all-consuming object of worship for the great salvation He gives us. If you are convinced that the Old Testament is primarily about examples of faith, or methods of worship, rather than Christ Himself, then meditate on this Scripture and understand that the purpose of Scripture is to draw you to Christ so that you may know and love Him. Do not get caught up in worshiping worship. Worship Christ our Savior.

1 Peter 1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Issues, Etc.

2008-03-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

Oh, no! Issues, Etc. has been cancelled. That's is a tragedy. Although I didn't agree with everything they discussed (especially on the sacraments), it was nevertheless a great show devoted to the issues that the church faces. I've learned a ton from them.

The Wall Street Journal tells of their sudden disappearance. Interestingly enough, in the same article, the author calls the Purpose-Driven Church paradigm a movement that "reorients the church's message toward self-help and self-improvement." Sadly, the world does not recognize this movement as one that is focused on Christ and His gospel. Indeed the world is right. It focuses more on deeds not creeds...law not gospel. The sermons that eminate from PDC model are a heavy burden. Each week you are told over and over again what to do...there must be hundreds of points of application with very little of "what Christ has done for me." The Apostle Peter in 2 Peter tells us that the knowledge of Christ in the Word is what leads to godly living. We must have the doctrine before the commands. Issues, Etc. was right in pointing this out on many of their shows.

I pray that they bring the show back...soon!

Exegetical Fallacies #3: Root Fallacies

2008-03-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

The first time I read D.A. Carson's book Exegetical Fallacies, it made my head hurt. Still does, but it's slowly making more sense as I trudge through the material a second time. I should have taken greek in school, but no, I had to take the easy way through college (note to self: kick self in the behind when I become more flexible).

One of the issues Carson presents at the very beginning of his book is the very common root fallacy that people make when interpreting scripture. He argues that errors can be made in interpretation when you take a word and separate it into it's roots, determine the meaning of each root, then reassemble the word to come up with the "correct" meaning. A silly example would be like taking butterfly or pineapple and separating the words into their roots to attempt to ascertain the meaning of the compound word. One could imagine the strange meanings that could be found when butter and fly are looked at from a root perspective and then merged together to get the "accurate" meaning of butterfly. Pine and apples are definitely not apples that grow on pine trees. Fair enough, I see the point.

As I tried to think this through, I tried to think of some examples where this may be partially true. What about words like bellybutton? Great word by the way...gotta love it. Belly and button seems to fall under this category. Belly can rightly mean stomach or womb. Button on the other hand can mean (a). a generally disk-shaped fastener used to join two parts of a garment by fitting through a buttonhole or loop (b). such an object used for decoration. Of course this isn't the entire current semantic range of the word, but let's assume that these definitions were the original ones. The image that comes to mind picturing a bellybutton seems rather ludicrous unless you realize that the button is really a metaphor of sorts. So to me at least, it seems that bellybutton is would be a word that the word fallacy would still apply to but only partially.

Thinking further through the subject, I tried to think of words that would have accurate meaning if broken apart and looked at from the roots. Shoelace, playground, gateway seem to meet this criteria. I believe these would also be classified as transparent compounds or words that are understood by looking at the parts. Opaque compounds would be words where the parts do not always clarify the meaning (these cases we looked at in the previous paragraph).

Now I understand that all of this is from the English perspective. This does not address the languages that the authors of scripture used. So that brings us to this question: Is it possible for people to do the same with God's Word? Well, I offer a quote from the book for consideration. Now please do not assume that this quote has anything to do with my theology or view on the incarnation, the deity of Jesus Christ or anything else. Rather, it is merely a case study of what may be a root fallacy error.

The word "monogenes" is often thought to spring from "monos" plus "gennao" (monos meaning only and gennao meaning to beget). Even at the etymological level, the root is tricky. "Monogenes" could easily spring from monos (only) and genos (kind or race) to mean 'only one of its kind,' or 'unique,' or the like....True, in the New Testament the word often refers to the relationship of child to parent; but even here, care must be taken. In Hebrews 11:17 Isaac is said to be Abraham's monogenes--which clearly cannot mean 'only begotton son,' since Abraham aslo sired Ishmael and a fresh packet of progeny by Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2). Issac is, however, Abraham's unique son, his special and well-beloved son. The long and short of the matter is that renderings such as 'for God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son' (John 3:16 NIV) are prompted by neither an inordinate love of paraphrasis, nor a perverse desire to deny some cardinal truth, but by linguistics.

Now there's a thought to consider when interpreting scripture. Be wary of picking apart a word and determing it's meaning by looking into the roots. It may or may not yield an accurate definition.

This chapter of the book was a great reminder to check the usage of words with other passages and then to let the context be the determining factor of the word's meaning. I also need to remember that I carry presuppositions when I come to God's Word. I also bring biases and my own fallibilty. My desire, however, is to get it right so that I can live for God, worship Him in Spirit and in truth and teach others to do the same. If nothing else, the subject of root fallacies has caused me to be even more dependent upon God's Spirit to help me interpret and apply His Word to my life for His glory.

I know we are to rightly divide the Word (2 Timothy 2:15) and I pray that the Lord helps me to grow in this area.

Exegetical Fallacies #2: Semantic Anachronism

2008-03-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

Don’t know what that means? Neither did I. But chances are that you probably already understand the concept behind this technical sounding term. You just may have been thrown for a loop with the high sounding jargon. Maybe some of you “geniuses” out there already knew what we mental peons (meaning me) are just finding out.

Simply put, semantic anachronism is a word fallacy that is made when someone takes a modern or more recent definition of a term and forces this meaning back into earlier writings. For our purposes, we are concerned with this mistake when it is made with the Holy Scriptures.

Let me give a silly example that will magnify this mistake to an absurd degree. For instance, nowadays the term dog, when used in slang (dawg) refers to a good friend or close associate. You’ll have to trust me on this one if you don’t believe me. Youth Pastors, back me up on this one. Those of you that hang around teenagers and children know what I’m talking about. So one may say to another, “Sup, dawg?” Translation: How are you doing, my friend? Now let’s take this modern meaning of the word dog and read it back into scripture.

If this word fallacy is made in Proverbs 26:11, then one would think that “As a dog (my close friend) returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.” If one was illiterate or unlearned you may be tolerant of honest mistakes like this. But you would hope that those who teach would guard against making mistakes like this. Although I can’t recall the details exactly, I’m certain and must confess that I’ve made mistakes like this, though not as absurd, and not with Proverbs 26:11. Even the best of the best have probably made honest mistakes like this. That’s why you must not be lazy in your listening or reading on Christian subjects. Be active. Take notes. Ask questions. Look up verses. Look up words. Do your homework. And we must do the same in our sermon preparation. The young people we shepherd need to hear God's Word with as much accuracy as we are able to discern. ‘Nuf said. So there you have it. Semantic anachronism in a nutshell.

D.A. Carson in Exegetical Fallacies points out that he has heard many people make this mistake with Romans 1:16. Here is a quote from his book.

“I do not know how many times I have heard preachers offer some such rendering of Romans 1:16 as this: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the dynamite of God unto salvation for everyone who believes”—often with a knowing tilt of the head, as if something profound or even esoteric has been uttered…Did Paul think of dynamite when he penned this word? And in any case, even to mention dynamite as a kind of analogy is singularly inappropriate. Dynamite blows things up, tears things down, rips out rock, gouges holes, destroys things. The power of God concerning which Paul speaks he often identifies with the power that raised Jesus from the dead.”

I have to say that I have heard a professor or two in college say this exact same thing. At the time I remember thinking, “Wow, this guy is smart. I am dumb.” While I still think that I am dumb, I now realize that this is a mistake this can be easily guarded against.

Recently I was reading a book in which I believe Erwin McManus made this mistake. It was in regards to the word martyr. For some time now, the word martyr has been used to refer to someone who dies for their faith. In the midst of persecution, a person who refuses to renounce their religious beliefs and is killed is frequently referred to as a martyr. John Foxe’s book of martyrs is probably the most well-known book detailing the account of many who died while refusing to renounce Christ and their faith in Him. And for the most part, this is how we primarily use this word.

Erwin is trying to make the point that Christians are not called to live a life of comfort. We are to be on the front lines of spiritual warfare. To make the point that we are to be “extreme” for God the author says that the word witness is the New Testament is the same word for martyr. Is that true? You bet. The greek word martureo means to witness, testify, bear record or give evidence. That is why the translators used the English word witness. At that time New Testament scriptures were being penned, the word martureo did not mean to die for one’s faith. Clearly, we see that Christians all throughout history have suffered and died for Christ. But it wasn’t until later that the word martureo went beyond the meaning of witnessing and included the idea of death for one’s religious convictions. Over time, the word changed meaning. Hopefully that is not too confusing. I don’t always communicate in the clearest terms in the blog world.

So to me, it seems inappropriate to say that our modern definition and understanding of martyr and the biblical definition for witness mean the exact same thing and thus conclude that Christians are to live radical lives even when faced with death. While each word is derived from the Greek word martureo, clearly the word has changed meaning to some degree over time. So it is inappropriate to use a modern meaning and force it and some application onto older words in scripture. Now that isn’t to say that Christians will not suffer persecution or die for their faith (2 Timothy 3:12). And that isn’t to say that Christians should not be fully devoted for Christ. We just should be careful not to make semantic mistakes like this. Instead of taking our understanding of words and reading those meanings back into scriptures, we can avoid this mistake by at least getting a good concordance, lexicon or Bible dictionary (many are available free on-line) and look up the definitions of any word you so desire. Then the next time you hear someone say, “In the original language this word meant ‘blah, blah, blah’ you can go to your resources and see if indeed that is true.

Quotes Of The Day: John Piper & Daniel Fuller

2008-03-21T20:44:00.001-07:00

This is most likely something that you have been taught before, but as I read it afresh it was a stronger reminder of how to interpret Scripture.

"In each paragraph of Scripture, one should ask how each part related to the other parts in order to say one coherent thing. Then the paragraphs should be related to each other in the same way. And then the chapters, then the books, and so on until the unity of the Bible is found on its own terms." -- John Piper in Don't Waste Your Life

"God ordained a redemptive history whose sequence fully displays his glory so that, at the end, the greatest possible number of people would have had the historical antecdedents necessary to engender [the most] fervent love for God...The one thing God is doing in all of redemptive history is to show forth his mercy in such a way that the greatest number of people will throughout eternity delight in him with all their heart, strength, and mind...When the earth of the new creation is filled with such people, then God's purpose in showing forth his mercy will have been achieved...All the events of redemptive history and their meaning as recorded in the Bible compose a unity in that they conjoin to bring about this goal." -- Daniel Fuller

Persecution In Rome

2008-03-18T21:08:00.001-07:00

Christians are no strangers to persecution. While persecution has not always been as intense or frequent it has generally always existed except for brief periods of peace.

Give a listen to Dr. David Calhoun's 3rd lecture from Ancient and Medieval Church History, which he teaches as Covenant Theological Seminary. Here is a recap of this lecture plust some other thoughts on Christian suffering.

From the time of the 1st century til around year 320 A.D. Christians experienced persecution at the hands of the Jews and Roman citizens.

The methods of persecution were many. To name a few, Christians were beaten with whips, boiled, burned at the stake, crucified, ripped apart, cooked on large frying pans and fed to the lions.

Here is my ever-so-rough summary of one account that I read in Foxe's Book of Martyrs some time ago.

Around the year 305 A.D., Pitiless & Asclepiades invaded the city of Antioch. Their mission was to cause Christians to apostasize. When a Christian named Romanus heard that they were coming, he ran to the Christians who were gathered in worship and told them that these wolves were coming. His instructions to them were, “Fear not!” And by Romanus’ influence, young and old, men and woman, fathers and mothers, were all united and ready to shed their blood to defend their Christian beliefs. When Pitiless and Asclepiades heard of Romanus, they ordered his capture. He was brought to trial that he might speak on behalf of all the Christians. During the inquisition, Asclepiades threatened Romanus with torture but Romanus gladly accepted whatever would be invented to cause suffering. Asclepiades anger burned hot against Romanus and he commanded that Romanus be stretched out to have his guts torn out. The executioners had pity on Romanus simply because he was a son of a nobleman. So instead of gutting him, they beat him with a whip with lead tips as Asclepiades then ordered. While Romanus was being beaten tears flowed from his eyes, groans came from his mouth. But during the times he was able to get his breath he sang songs to the Lord. And during his beating he pleaded them to them that they might treat him as a Christian, not as a son of a nobleman. These words cause Asclepiades to get even more angry. So he ordered that knives be taken to slice up the sides of Romanus until his ribs showed. Romanus responded by preaching the living God. He preached that people can only have eternal life through the blood of Jesus Christ. Upon speaking, Asclepiades ordered that Romanus be punched in the mouth so as to knock out his teeth. His eyelids were torn with their fingernails and his cheeks were cut with their knives. They plucked his beard from his face so that holes began to appear in his cheeks. Romanus responded by saying, “Thank you for giving me many mouths by which I can now preach Jesus Christ. The holes in my cheeks are simply mouths that I can use to praise God.” Asclepiades said, “Your crucified Christ is but a god of yesterday. Our gods are the most ancient gods.” At this Romanus took the opportunity to declare the eternity of Christ, the fact that he became flesh and satisfied God’s anger in His death on the cross. Asclepiades said, “Bring me a child that is seven years old. They are at a young enough age so that they are innocent and not infected with such religious thinking as Romanus.” A little boy was called out of the crowd and asked, “Do you believe that we should worship Christ or many gods?” The child responded, “God is One. Christ in unique in that He is the true God. We children do not believe that there are many gods.” Asclepiades snapped back, “You young villain and traitor! Who did you learn this from?” The child responded, “I learned it from my mother!” The mother was called to the front. At this point the child was strung up and beaten with whips. Everyone around was crying at the terrible things that were taking place, but there the mother stood with dry cheeks. The child cried out for some cold water and the mother rebuked him for craving water and counseled her son to remember Isaac who willingly laid on an altar to be sacrificed to the Lord by his father Abraham. While she was talking to her child, the torturers began to pluck the skin from his head. The mother cried out, “Suffer my child and when you die, know that Christ will put a crown of glory on your naked head.” At this the child was encouraged and took his beating with a smile and happy face. The child was thrown in prison and eventually beheaded. Romanus’ tongue was cut out, he was thrown in prison and eventually strangled to death.

This is pretty intense. It's almost unthinkable that things like this ever happened or could ever happen again. But the truth is that contemporary Christians around the world are suffering similar fates. Perhaps not in America, but elsewhere persecution is a very real threat to very real Christians. Pray for them.

Now back to Dr. Calhoun's lecture. Calhoun lists several reasons that the early Christians were persecuted (either by Jews or Romans).

1. They were charged with being incestuous. How in the world could that be? Well, Christians were calling each other "brothers" and "sisters" and it was common to great each other with a holy kiss (Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26).

2. They were charged with cannibalism. The language that Jesus used and the church used in regards to communion was "cause" for this (John 6:53, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25).

3. They were charged with a lack of patriotism. Seeing themselves as citizens of God's Kingdom, they knew that they were not of this world (Ephesians 2:19) and so accused of being unpatriotric. While living on earth, they knew that they must cooperate and function on it as earthly inhabitants while living in a way that gave testimony to the fact that they were eternally citizens of heaven.

4. They were charged with causing all sorts of disasters. It seems that the people of that time where heavily superstituous towards the Christians. Listen to how Tertullian described the atmosphere and attitude of others towards early believers.

"If the Tiber reaches the walls, if the Nile does not rise into the fields, if the sky does not move, if the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, the cry is at once, 'The Christians to the lions!'"

5. They were charged with atheism. I'm guessing that this was a charged leveled by the Romans. Obviously we know that God is not like the worldly idols that are created. He is Spirit and does not have a body. Of course, I am not speaking of the incarnation here. And because Christians worship an invisible God, it seemed to others that they were atheists.

6. They were charged with novelty. Novelty is described as the quality of being new. Some were under the impression that Christianity was a new religion. In fact, you hear echoes of that today: "Christianity has only been around since Jesus." In a sense that is true, but in reality, we Christians are "children" of Abraham. Christianity is really a continuation of all that God has decreed in eternity past. It is not something novel.

7. They were charged with hating the family. They were accused of hating their fathers, mothers and relatives. Was it true? No, but their love for the Lord and for each other was such that it seemed like they did not love their family (Luke 14:24-27). So great was their love for God and His family that they earned a reputation for despising their own relatives.

8. They were charged with setting fires to Rome. Nero accused them of doing this but only after it was suggested that he had set fire to his own empire in order to be able to rebuild it. Read through 1 Peter to see how the Christians were encouraged to live as they faced such horrible persecution for following and believing the gospel. And next time you click on your CD/DVD "burning" utility and you see that it's called NERO, remember the martyrs.

As I was mulling over the reason that early Christians were persecuted, I began to wonder what it was that we are known for in America. Are we known for taking communion? Are we known for loving our God and church such that it looks like we do not love our earthly families? Are we ever considered anti-American because we are so looking forward the coming reign of Jesus Christ?

It's something to think about in regards to myself as well as the people I shepherd. Am I teaching, encouraging and modeling Christ-likeness in such a way that they'll learn to live in like manner? Will Christian in America ever be known for their radical devotion to the church or will they be known for their radical devotion to the trivial like reality television? Will Christians in American ever be known for their love of the sacraments and worship or will they be known for their love of cars, food and sensual clothing?

When will this generation be known to the world as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd century generations of Christians were known in the times of Rome? If a seven-year-old boy could join Romanus and stand in the face of persecution, surely, with God's help, today's Christian can live and die for the One who lived and died for them.

The Power Of Christ In Church Planting

2008-03-10T22:51:00.001-07:00

It is so often hard to know whether a church is doing well or not. We take a peak at the offerings, the attendance, the programs, the sound equipment, the facilities...and then we compare ourselves to the church down the road and try to measure how we stand compared to them. If we got more going on than they do in all the aforementioned categories, then we must be doing pretty darn well. But a word of warning is needed. From outward appearances things can look vibrant and healthy with all the nice facilities and amenities, but inwardly the church members can be anemic. Other times the outward appearance seems to be deficient in worldly goods but inwardly the church is rich in righteousness, faith, love and hope. The outer evidence is not always a great indicator of what God is really accomplishing inside of His people. You can be a wealthy church but in the sight of the Lord be poor, blind and naked. Conversely, you can be dirt poor and be rich in the eyes of the Lord. And His take on the matter is really the only one that matters.

That said, one can often wonder if a church is succeeding! Numbers go up. Numbers go down. Sanctification happens. Sometimes it looks like de-sanctification is happening. Is there any encouragement from Scripture as to whether or not our feeble efforts to serve the Lord in His strength are in vain?

Thank goodness we don't have to ultimately look to circumstances and our finite wisdom to assess the health and ultimate outcome of the church.

1. The Master Builder Will Build His Church And Hell Cannot Stop It!

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Oh, how weak are our efforts to "do something" for God...as if God needed anything from us. And when we do serve Him and the church, we serve in the strength that He gives. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Colossians. So even our service to His is really His working through us. We owe Him for our service! We are indebted all the more. He is building His church.

2. The Master Builder Will Sanctify His Church Through The Word Of God

Ephesians 5:25-27 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

What a rough task it is to help our brothers and sisters grow in the Lord. We are called to edify one another. But here we see that it is the Lord that is ultimately sanctifying us by the Word. He does this for His glory and His good pleasure. That HE might present to HIMSELF the church in splendor. He's building the church. He's sanctifying the church.

3. The Master Builder's Power Will Ensure That His Church Will Be Victorious

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Why are we to go into the world and make disciples? Because all power and authority has been given to Christ. Therefore, GO! We see now why the church will prevail...the power of Christ ensures that it will.

So when you think the church if failing, faltering or flopping...think again. I've had to. From my view "under the sun" it appears--at times--that the church is struggling and failing. That's when I know that I need to take a step back and get a God-centered, Scripture-saturated understanding of the church. If I assess things from my view, then I have discounted the wisdom, power and promises of Christ to do what He said He would do. If I assess things from "beyond the sun" then I can rest in the grace of God knowing that His church will go on triumphantly.

I love the church of God. My mind is continually filled with great desires for it. Thank goodness the love and desires of my Lord are much more grand than mine. Be certain that His purpose and decree will stand. That doesn't discount the role that we play, it only reminds us that the Lord "Authored" our faith...and He will be the "Finisher" of our faith.

The Lost Tool Of Spanking

2008-03-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

Oh, what a touchy subject. Dare I even talk about it!? I dare. But I'll let Scripture speak on the matter first.

1. Spanking is an act of love.

Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

2. Spanking is do be done diligently.

Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

3. Spanking Is Intended To Produce Repentance.

Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

4. Spanking Helps Bring Honor To The Parents.

Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

5. Spanking Is Not Yours To Withhold

Proverbs 23:13-14 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. [14] If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

6. Spanking Is Intended To Play A Part In Saving The Soul Of Your Child

Proverbs 23:13-14 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. [14] If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.

Many see the lines between spanking and abuse too blurry and so they would rather find other means of discpline and training for children. Obviously there are a deep spiritual and physical differences between godly spanking and worldly abuse. While the Word of God is to be the primary instrument by which Christians parents discipline and train their children, spanking does have it's proper place in the life of young ones as the above Scripture show us.

Spanking, along with the Word of God is intended to produce righteous living in the young believer. But even before that, spanking is intended to communicate the gospel story. It shows a child that sin has serious consequences. When they feel the sting of disobedience and then see that Christ was bruised for our iniquities, the gospel will be all the more clear. Spanking communicates to them God's displeasure and wrath for sin. When they look to the Christ who is our propitiation, they will fall in love with the Savior who suffered in their place. Is it any wonder that Scripture teaches us that whoever spanks their children will save their souls from Sheol?

Spanking is done to save souls and point to the glories of the cross. Abuse is done for sinful reasons. What a vast difference between the two. If you love your children and love the Lord, do not withhold spanking from them. Discipline them in love. They will know the difference between godly discipline and worldly discipline. Make sure it is done to honor the Lord, not to appease the flesh.

Quote Of The Day: Mark Dever

2008-01-31T10:50:00.000-08:00

I want you to try a thought exercise. Suppose a business school class on non-profit organizations assigns its students the task of building a successful church. And ssume all the students are non-Christians. Could they succeed?

Sure they could! With the right poll-tested methods, just about anyone can draw a crowd. If ambience sells coffee, why not use it to sell Jesus? If music sells clothing, why not use it to market the church? The church might even with a "Most Innovative!" award.

Yet think about this: what does it say about God if we need to market his glory and gospel with the same tools we use to sell toothpaste and laundry detergent? Is he really that desperate?

God is so much more glorious. He has declared a mighty gospel and then backed us his words by changing a group of people. There's the church's appeal: The wisdom of God. The might of God. The love of God. On display in the lives of a changed people for all the world to see!

Is your church relying on natural appeal or supernatural? Whose glory does it display?

Mormon Preaching

2007-12-21T09:52:00.003-08:00

My wife was talking to me the other day and telling me about some time that she had spent with a mother of my daughter's classmates. In the course of our conversation I asked my wife, "Does she go to church anywhere?" And my wife replied, "She grew up Catholic but she just started attending a Mormon church." I said, "Wow, how did that happen?" That's like going from worse to worser (excuse the poor English). My wife asked her the same thing and so proceeded to tell me her response. This young lady likes going to the Mormon church because she gets all kinds of advice and principles for marriage, parenting, the workplace and finances. My heart grieved...for several reasons.

The first being that she is going to a church where Christ is not exalted according to Scripture, where much of the same language as Christianity is used but the definitions are different, where law-keeping is a requirement for salvation and God is a man in an exalted state.

The second reason I grieved was because this type of preaching is exactly the way a large portion of Christian pastor's preach. They are under the impression that the unchurched will come to church if you give them principles by which they can better their lives. Some will add a one minute summary of a partial gospel at the end of their messages--a post script if you will, but the substance of preaching is not Christ--instead it is moral principles to live by. They treat Scripture as if it is an owner's manual to live be--not as though Christ is the substance of it all (Colossians 2:11, 16-17, John 5:39, John 5:46, Luke 24:27, Acts 17:2-3). I know some may disagree and say that only portions of the Old Testament referred to Christ, but if you look at how Christ and the Apostles used the Old Testament then you will see that they continually referred to Christ. They didn't call the unsaved together to hear sermons that would supposedly alleviate the stress they feel in this world. They preached Christ who came to deliver His enslaved people.

This is personally frustrating to me and scary at the same time. It is frustrating because the supremacy of the triune God is not exalted in preaching today...unregenerate man's perceived needs are. Much of today's preaching does not end with God Himself but with His gifts, His wisdom, His whatever. But preaching that exalts God is looked down upon as dry, uninteresting, and old-school. One catechism asks in the very first question: Who is the first and best of all beings? The answer: GOD is. And this is true. So for the pastor to get up each Sunday and proclaim God is to point his people and any unsaved in attendance to the One who can capture our hearts and minds forevermore. It is the opposite of dry and boring. During the preaching of the Word it is God Who serves us by showing us Christ in the Word. His gifts are secondary and only are shadows that lead us to HIM! And sadly much preaching today arouses affections towards the gifts that God gives us, but it never arouses any affections towards God Himself. And God's gifts are not to become more important to us than Himself. Such is the case with felt needs preaching. It never arouses love for God. All it does is direct the listener inwardly to focus on how their life can improve. And that is why this kind of preaching is scary to me. The unsaved can feel as though they are at peace with God because they are "practicing" the Bible. It can lead to a false sense of salvation.

If Mormon and Christian churches are giving principles by which to live out your marriages, finances, sex-life, parenting and so on, why should anyone choose a Christian church over a Mormon church. What really separates the two in message? For a lot of Christian churches the answer is nothing. There really is nothing distinct in the message.

Pastors, if your sermon can be preached in a Mormon, Catholic or Jehovah's Witness church and be received as if it is the same message they are preaching and if it can stand with no objections from them, then I dare say that you are not preaching the message of Scripture. You are not preaching Christ. And that is of no benefit whatsoever to so-called seekers. Indeed you are just scratching itching ears. You are giving false hope to the unsaved while you yourself may be deceived that the church is growing--that God is blessing your work--due to larger crowds.

Imagine how the church would be changed if Christ were supremely exalted and shown to be the treasure of all treasures. The worship of God would flourish. Local and worldwide evangelism would explode--for who can keep quiet about the one they love the most. Fellowship would be rampant and would not be based on external things like hobbies, former sins, etc. It would be based on the indwelling Spirit of Christ. And the Lord would sanctify, mature and disciple His people by the very Word which promises to conform us to the image of Christ--our all consuming desire.

Pastor, if your sermons are not weekly arousing affections for Christ, then what in the world are you preaching for? If the gospel message is a one minute P.S. at the end of a sermon, then can you honestly say that you care that the lost are without Christ? Your seeker-friendly sermons are not friendly at all.

Preach Christ.
Preach Christ.
Preach Christ or you have no business preaching at all. Your members and attenders might as well attend a Mormon service this coming Sunday.

Christians & Muslims Together?!

2007-12-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

Todd Friel asked on December 3rd: "Would you sign this document?"

A Christians Response To "A Common Word Between You and Us"

These well-known Christians/preachers/pastors did: Bill Hybels, John Stott, Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones

Life Changing

2007-11-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

Our church has just finished going through a mid-week Bible study on the doctrines of grace. It was an awesome time as we learned about what God has done to bring us to Himself.

As I reflect on what these doctrines mean I have to say that they have brought about dramatic changes in my life over the past several years. Here is the effect God has wrought in my life through these scriptural teachings.

1. God has put in me a stronger love for the people in our church.
2. God has put in me a stronger love for sinners to come to Christ.
3. God has removed the fear of evangelism and given me courage to witness to many people.
4. God has helped me to make my preaching God-centered.
5. God has caused me to be more discerning over my theological influences.
6. God has helped me to rejoice in Him much more than in my circumstances.
7. God has helped me to hate my sin more and more.
8. God has removed the professionalization of ministry from my mind. Oh, how wonderful it is to be free from this mentality.
9. God has elevated the work of Christ to greater heights so that His grace abounds all the more.
10. God is establishing me in the faith more and more.

I know that there are some who think that these doctrines results in withering churches, divisions, arguments, grouchy people, pride, lack of evangelism, lack of prayer, over-emphasis on the sovereignty of God to the exclusion of man's responsiblity to believe the gospel, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Though there are some who can take these Biblical truths to a level of unbiblical living, that is more attributed to our depraved logic rather than reasoning from teachings of Scripture. For instance, I had a gentleman say to me the other day, "Since God has elected people to salvation then it doesn't matter what we do. He's going to save His people, right?" His argument is the same one I hear people consistently bring to the table. This is NOT what Scripture teaches. That is a faulty logical conclusion that Scripture does not lead us to. I say this to say that a right understanding of these doctrines should lead to godly living for they are from the mind of God.

Pastor John Piper offered a list of ten effects that Calvinism should have on the believer. He states that if these ten things do not result in your life then either he has failed to teach them properly or the individual has a hard heart.

1. These truths make me stand in awe of God and lead me into the depth of true God-centered worship.
2. These truths help protect me from trifling with divine things.
3. These truths make me marvel at my own salvation.
4. These truths make me alert to man-centered substitutes that pose as good news.
5. These truths make me groan over the indescribable disease of our secular, God-belittling culture.
6. These truths make me confident that the work which God planned and began, he will finish – both globally and personally.
7. These truths make me see everything in the light of God's sovereign purposes – that from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever and ever.
8. These truths make me hopeful that God has the will, the right, and the power to answer prayer that people be changed.
9. These truths reminds me that evangelism is absolutely essential for people to come to Christ and be saved, and that there is great hope for success in leading people to faith, but that conversion is not finally dependent on me or limited by the hardness of the unbeliever.
10. These truths make me sure that God will triumph in the end.

The Attributes Of God #3: Foreknowledge

2007-11-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD

Originally written by A.W. Pink
(revised for easier reading)

In the past there’s been a great deal of controversy over this subject. But is there a truth in the Holy Scriptures that has not been the source of many theological battles in the church? The deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His atoning death, His second coming, the believer’s justification, sanctification, eternal security, the church, its organization, officers, discipline, baptism, the Lord’s supper and a host of other precious truths might be mentioned. Yet, the wars that have been fought over them did not shut the mouths of God’s faithful servants. Why, then, should we avoid the troubling question of God’s Foreknowledge even though there will be some who will accuse us of provoking conflict and disagreement? Let others say so if they will. Our duty is to be a witness of the light that has been given to us.

There are two things about God’s Foreknowledge of which many people are ignorant: (1). the meaning and (2). its Scriptural scope. Because ignorance is so widespread, it’s easy for preachers and teachers to give God’s people distortions of this truth. There is only one way to be protected from this error and that is to be established in the faith. For that to happen there needs to be a prayerful and diligent study of God’s Word as you receive it with humility. Only then are we protected against the attacks of those who may harm us. There are people today who are misusing the truth of God’s Foreknowledge in order to discredit and deny the absolute sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. Just as scholars are trying to discredit that Scriptures are inspired by God and evolutionists seek to deny the work of God in creation so some false teachers are perverting God’s Foreknowledge in order to set aside the fact that God unconditionally elects (or chooses) people to receive eternal life.

When the serious but blessed subject of God’s pre-planning of events is explained Satan comes along to argue otherwise. When God’s choosing of certain people to be conformed to the image of His Son is laid before us, Satan sends along some man to argue that God’s choosing (election) of people to salvation is based on God’s foreknowledge. What they are saying is that God foresaw that certain people would be more likely than others to respond to the work of the Spirit and that God chose them to be saved because He knew that they would believe. They argue that God predestined them to salvation in this way. But this kind of statement is radically wrong. It rejects the scriptural teaching of man’s radical corruption or total depravity, for it argues that there is something good in some men. It takes away the idea that God is independent in making His decrees and it makes His decrees rest upon what He discovers in the creature. It completely turns things upside down by saying that God foresaw that certain people would believe Christ and that because of this He predestined them or elected them to salvation. This is a reversal of truth. Scripture teaches that God, in His sovereignty, single out certain people to be the recipients of eternal life (Acts 13:48) and therefore He determined to give them the gift of faith. False theology makes God’s foreknowledge of our believing the reason that He elected us to salvation. Whereas Scripture teaches that God’s election is the cause of our salvation and our believing in Christ is the result of being chosen by God.

Before proceeding further with our discussion of this frequently misunderstood topic, let’s stop and define our terms. What does “foreknowledge” mean? It means “to know beforehand.” But let’s not jump to conclusions and let’s not look to Webster’s dictionary to have the final word. It is not a matter of etymology of the word we are using. What we need to do is find out how the word is used in Scripture. The Holy Spirit’s usage of an expression or word always defines its meaning. In failing to apply this simply rule, much confusion and error have arisen. So many people assume that they already know what certain words mean in Scripture and they are too lazy to test their assumptions by looking in a Bible concordance. Let me explain this further.

Take the word “flesh.” It’s meaning appears to be so obvious that many would say that it is a waste of time to look in Scripture to see how many different ways the word is used. It is too easy to assume that the word is synonymous with the physical body and so there is no questioning of the word. But, in fact, “flesh” in Scripture frequently includes more than what is material. The range of meaning behind this word can only be understood by looking at every occurrence of it in Scripture and by looking at the context of each usage. Take the word “world.” The average reader of the Bible imagines that this word is the equivalent for the human race and because of this many passage of Scripture are wrongly interpreted. Take the word “immortality.” Surely it requires no study! Obviously it refers to the soul being indestructible. Oh, my reader, it is foolish and wrong to assume anything where God’s Word is concerned. If the reader will take time to carefully examine each passage where “mortal” and “immortal” are found, it will be seen that these words are never applied to the soul, but always to the body.

Now what has just been said about “flesh,” the “world,” and “immortality” applies equally to the words “know” and “foreknow.” Instead of imagining that these words have no deeper meaning than what is common knowledge, go to Scripture and carefully examine each passage. The word “foreknowledge” is not found in the Old Testament. But “know” occurs there frequently. When that term is used in reference to God, it often means to “regard with favor.” This term does not simply means to have a mental awareness of something, but rather to have an affection for the thing mentioned. “I know you by name” (Exodus 33:17). “You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you” (Deuteronomy 9:24). “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). “They set up princes, but I knew it not” (Hosea 8:4). “You only have I know of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2). In these passages knew means loved or appointed.

Similarly, the word “know” is frequently used in the New Testament in the same sense as in the Old Testament. “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; Depart from me…”(Matthew 7:23). “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14). “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God” (1 Corinthians 8:3). “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Timothy 2:19).

Now the word “foreknowledge” as it is used in the New Testament is not as confusing the root word of it—“to know.” If every passage in which it occurs is carefully studied, the argument that “foreknowledge” refers to events will become irrelevant. The fact is that “foreknowledge” is never used in Scripture to refer to events or actions. Instead, it is always used to refer to people. It is people that God foreknows, not the actions of those persons. To prove this we will quote each passage of Scripture where this expression is found.

The first time it occurs in Scripture if in Acts 2:23. We read, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” If you pay careful attention to the wording in this verse you will see that the apostle was not speaking of God’s foreknowledge of the act of the crucifixion, but to the Person crucified.

The second occurrence is found in Romans 8:29-30. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Pay careful attention to the pronoun that is used here. It is not what He foreknew, but whom He foreknew. This Scripture says that God foreknew the persons, not their willingness to believe. “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:2). Once again the plain reference is to persons and to persons only.

The last is mentioned is in 1 Peter 1:1-2. “To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” Who are the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father? Verse 1 tells us: those that are exiles of the dispersion. Here, too, the reference is to persons and not to their forseen acts.

Now in light of these passages (and there are no more), what Scriptural ground is there for saying that God “foreknew” that certain people would “repent and believe” and that because of those acts He elected them to salvation? The answer is that there is no Scriptural ground. Scripture never speaks of repentance and faith as being foreseen or foreknown by God. It is true that He did know from all of eternity that certain ones would repent and believe. Yet this is not what Scripture refers to as the object of God’s foreknowledge. The word unanimously refers to God’s foreknowing of persons. So then we ought to “follow the pattern of sound word” (2 Timothy 1:13).

Another thing that we want to call particular attention to is that the first two passages quoted above plainly teach that God’s foreknowledge is the cause of salvation. Instead, there is something that precedes God’s foreknowledge and that something is His sovereign decree. Christ was “delivered up according to (1) the definite plan and (2) foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). His “definite plan” or decree was the basis for His foreknowledge. The same thing is seen in Romans 8:29. That verse begins with the word “for” which tells us to look back to the previous verse. What then does the previous verse say? It says “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Thus God’s foreknowledge is based upon His purpose or decree (see Psalm 2:7). In other words, because God decreed that something should happen, He foreknew it would happen.

God foreknows what will be cause He has decreed what shall be. It is therefore a reversing of what Scripture teaches, a putting of the cart before the horse, to say that God elects people because He foreknows people. The truth is that He “foreknows” because He has elected. This means that election is not based on the creature, but rather on God’s own sovereign will. God purposefully chose to elect a certain people, not because of anything good in them or from them, either actual for foreseen. Rather, He chose them out of His own pleasure. Why did He do that? We can only say, “Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Matthew 11:26). The plain truth of Romans 8:29 is that God, before the foundation of the world, singled out certain sinners and appointed them to receive salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:13). This is clear from final words of this verse: “God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.” God did not prearrange the salvation of those He foreknew were “conformed” to the image of Christ. Rather, those whom God foreknew (loved and elected), He prearranged them to be conformed them to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Their being conformed to the image of Christ is not the cause of their election, but the result of God’s foreknowledge and predestination.

God did not elect any sinners be He foresaw that he would believe. This is not a sufficient explanation of election because no sinner can ever believe until God gives him faith. In like manner, no man sees until God gives him sight. Sight is God’s gift. Seeing in the consequence of my using His gift. Faith is God’s gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) and believing in the consequence of my using His gift. If it were true that God had elected certain people to be saved because in time they would believe, then that would make believing or faith an act that is deserving of a reward. In that event the saved sinner would have a reason to boast which scripture denies in Ephesians 2:9.

Surely God’s Word is clear enough in that it teaches that believing is not a good deed that causes God to elect us. Scripture teaches that Christians are people who have believed through grace (Acts 18:27). If we have believed through grace, then there is absolutely nothing about our believing that earns us salvation. If it is not a good deed worthy of salvation, then it could not be the reason or cause for God to choose us in advance. No. God’s choice comes, not from anything in us, but solely from His good pleasure. In Romans 11:5, we read that there is a “remnant according to the election of grace.” There it is, crystal clear. Election is of grace and grace is not something that we earn. It is freely given.

It seem highly important, then, that we have a clear and scriptural view of the foreknowledge of God. False understandings about it lead to thoughts that dishonor Him. The popular idea of God’s foreknowledge is just not adequate. God not only knew the end from the beginning, but He planned, fixed and predestined everything from the beginning. And just as the cause brings about the effect, so God’s purpose and decree is the reason for His foreknowledge. If you are a real Christian, you are so because God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). God chose you not because He foresaw that you would believe. He chose you because it pleased Him to choose even those you could not believe in your natural state. This being the case, all the glory and praise belongs to Him alone. You have no ground for taking any credit for your election and salvation. You have believed through grace (Acts 18:27) because your very election was of grace (Romans 11:5).

The Attributes Of God #2: Decrees

2007-11-06T20:06:00.001-08:00

THE DECREES OF GOD
Orginally written by A.W. Pink
(revised for easier reading)

The decree of God is defined as this: His purpose or determining of future events. We use the word purpose and not purposes because this is what Scripture says (Romans 8:28, Ephesians 3:11). There is only one purpose or decree of His infinite mind about future things. We talk as though there were many decrees because our minds think from moment to moment as thoughts and occasions arise. To us there are many events and we imagine that they each have their own purpose. But an all-knowing mind does not proceed step-by-step or from one stage to another. It is the Lord “who makes these things known from of old.” (Acts 15:17b-18).

In many passages the decrees of God are mentioned. And Scripture uses a variety of terms to refer to God’s decrees. The word "decree" is found in Psalm 2:7 and other passages. In Ephesians 3:11 we read of His "eternal purpose." In Acts 2:23 Scripture speaks of His "definite plan and foreknowledge." In Ephesians 1:9 we read of the mystery of His "will." Romans 8:29 says that God “predestined”. Ephesians 1:9 speaks of God’s "purpose." God’s decrees are also called His "counsel" to express that they are completely wise. They are called God’s "will" to show that He was under the control of nothing or no one, but rather acted according to His own pleasure or desire. When a man’s will is the rule by which he lives, it is usually careless and irrational. But wisdom is always associated with God’s "will". That is why God’s decrees are said to be "the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1:11).

The decrees of God cover all future things without exception. Whatever is done in time was predetermined before time began. God’s purpose is concerned with everything: great or small, good or evil. In regards to evil, we must be careful to say that while God is the Orderer and Controller of sin, He is not the Author of it in the same way that He is the Author of good. Sin could not come from a holy God or by His creating it. It came about by His decreed permission. God’s decree is as far-reaching as is His governing of creation. His decrees extend to all creatures and all events. His decree was concerned about our life and death; our life in time and our life in eternity. God works all things after the wisdom of His own will, therefore we can learn from His works what His wisdom is (was). In like manner we can look and see what the architect’s plans were simply by inspecting the completed building which was built as he directed.

God did not merely decree to make mankind, place him on the earth, and then leave him on his own without any guidance. Instead, He arranged all the circumstances of our individual lives and all the particular details which will make up the history of the human race from its beginning to its close. He did not only decree that general laws should be established for how the world operates, but God also determined how all these laws would apply in every situation. For instance, our days are numbered and so are the hairs of our heads. We can learn of the extent of God’s decrees simply by looking at how God takes care of our needs and the way He fulfills them. God’s care reaches to the tiniest of creatures and extends to the most insignificant of events; whether they be the death of a sparrow or the loss of a hair on our head.

Let’s now look at some of the traits of God’s Divine decrees. First, they are eternal. To imagine that any of God’s decrees were made in time is to imagine that some new occasion could occur or some unforeseen event could arise that would cause the Most High God to create a new plan. If this were the case, then some could argue that the knowledge of God is limited and that He is growing wiser as time progresses. This would be horrible blasphemy. No one who believes that God’s divine understanding is infinite in regards to past, present and future will ever believe that false teaching. God is not ignorant of future events that are accomplished by the human will. He has foretold them in countless instances in Scripture. Prophecy is simply the display of His eternal decrees. Scripture teaches that believers were chosen in Christ before the world began (Ephesians 1:4), yes, that grace was "given" to them then (2 Timothy 1:9).

Second, the decrees of God are wise. Wisdom is demonstrated in the selecting of the best possible outcome and the best way to accomplish that outcome. This characteristic belongs to the decrees of God and is obviously based on what we know of them. God’s decrees are revealed to us by the executing of His plan. And every time we see God’s wisdom in His works, we see the wisdom of His plan. As the Psalmist declared, “O Lord, how manifold are your works” (Psalm 104:24).

In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures." -- Psalm 104:24 (ESV). We are only able to see a small portion of God’s wise decrees, yet we ought to move forward here as we do with other things. We can learn of the larger object by a small specimen. We can learn about the unknown by what is known. Anyone who sees the inner workings of the parts of a machine and examines them is naturally led to believe that the unseen parts must be equally important. In like manner shouldn’t we let our minds be satisfied as to how God works whenever doubts come upon us? When circumstances arise that cause us to doubt God’s goodness and wisdom, shouldn’t we fight off those thoughts knowing that God’s decrees are wise and good? When we reach the edge of our limitations and look towards the mysterious realm of the infinite God, let us exclaim, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" -- Romans 11:33 (ESV).

Third, God’s decrees are free. “Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” – Isaiah 40:13-14 (ESV). God was alone when He made His decrees. His determining of things was influenced by nothing outside of Himself. He was free to decree or not to decree. He could have decreed one thing and not another. We must assign this attribute to Him who is supreme, independent and sovereign in all His actions.

Fourth, God’s decrees are absolute and unconditional. The performing of His decrees is not stopped by anything in this world. In every instance where God has decreed something, He has also decreed every thing that is necessary in order to bring about His decrees. The One who decreed the salvation of His elect has also decreed that He will cause them to have faith (2 Thessalonians 2:13). “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” – Isaiah 46:10 (ESV). God’s decrees could not be absolute if they depended upon a circumstance that may or may not be happen. But God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” – Ephesians 1:11 (ESV).

Scripture teaches that God’s decrees are immutable (unchanging) and invincible. At the same time, Scripture teaches that man is a responsible creature and is accountable for his actions. If we form our thoughts according to God’s Word, believing in God’s unchanging decrees will not lead to a denial of man’s responsibility for his actions. Trying to define where one ends and the other begins is difficult. This is always the case when there is a combination of the Divine and mankind. For example, real prayer is of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, it is also the cry of a human heart. The Scriptures are the inspired Word of God, but they were also written by men who were not simply machines in the hands of the Spirit. Christ is both God and man. He is all-knowing yet He “increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). He is almighty but He was “crucified in weakness” (2 Corinthians 13:4). He is the Prince of life yet He died. These are amazing mysteries but faith receives them without questions.

It has often been pointed out in the past that objections raised against God’s eternal decrees will equally raise objections against God’s eternal foreknowledge (God’s knowing of things in advance). Jonathan Edwards said,

Whether God has decreed all things that ever come to ass or not, all that own the being of a God, own that He knows all things beforehand. Now, it is self-evident that if He knows all things beforehand, He either doth approve of them or doth not approve of them; that is, He either is willing they should be, or He is not willing they should be. But to will that they should be is to decree them.

Lastly, try to think about the opposite of what we are saying. To deny God’s divine decrees would mean that you are declaring that we live in a world where all it’s concerns are undesigned and happen by blind fate. What peace, what assurance, what comfort would there be for our poor hearts and minds if this were the case? Who would be our refuge during our trials and times of distress? No one could be our refuge. There would be nothing better than the black darkness and disheartening horror of atheism.

Oh, my reader, how thankful we should be that everything is determined by God’s infinite wisdom and goodness! Praise and gratitude ought to be given to God for His divine decrees. It is because of His decrees that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” -- Romans 8:28 (ESV).

It would be right to exclaim, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." -- Romans 11:36 (ESV).

The Attributes Of God #1 - Solitariness

2007-11-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

When I was a student pastor I wanted my students to read The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink. Fearing that the somewhat archaic language would be a hinderence to them, I contacted the publisher to see if I could revise it. The reply was, "It's public domain." Seeing that I'm no longer a student pastor, I put that project on hold. But I was able to finish at least three chapters. Here is the first.

THE SOLITARINESS OF GOD
Originally written by A.W. Pink (Revised for students)

This title does not sufficiently explain with clarity the theme of this article. This is partially due to the fact that few people today are used to thinking on God’s perfect attributes. And even fewer of those who occasionally read the Bible are aware of God’s Divine character and how it inspires awe and worship. Many assume that God’s attributes of great wisdom, wonderful power and mercy are common knowledge. But to adequately understand God’s being, His nature and His attributes as revealed in Scripture is something which very few people in these wicked times have achieved. God is solitary [alone] in His excellency. "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?" -- Exodus 15:11 (ESV).

"In the beginning, God" (Genesis 1:1). There was a time when God, even though He existed as three Divine Persons, yet One, dwelt all alone. "In the beginning, God." There was no heaven where His glory is now seen. There was no earth to which He paid attention. There were no angels to sing His praises. There was no universe to be held together by the word of His power. There was nothing; no one, but God. It was like this, not for a day, a year, or an age, but "from everlasting." During a past eternity, God was alone; free from the influence of anything else, self-sufficient, self-satisfied. Were angels, humans or the universe a “need” of God in any way, they would have also existed from all eternity. The creating of them when He did, added nothing to God in His essence or being. He does not change (Malachi 3:6). Therefore His essential glory can be neither increased nor decreased.

God was not forced or obligated to create. That He chose to do so was purely a sovereign act on His part. He was not influenced by anything or anyone to do so. He created simply by His own good pleasure as Scripture says. He "works all things according to the counsel of his will” -- Ephesians 1:11 (ESV). He created simply to display His glory. Perhaps you think that we have gone beyond what Scripture teaches. If so, then our request will be that we go to the Scripture itself—the Law and Testimony. "Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise." -- Nehemiah 9:5 (ESV). God does not gain anything even from our worship. He was in no need of the glory that comes from His redeemed people praising His grace. He is glorious enough in Himself without that. What was it moved Him to determine in advance who His chosen people would be so that they would praise Him for His grace? Ephesians 1:5 tells us, “according to the counsel of his will.”

We are well aware that the idea which we are presenting is new and strange to almost all of our readers. For that reason it is best to move slowly. Let us go again to the Scriptures to make our case. At the end of Romans 11, where the apostle Paul finishes his long argument that we are saved by God’s sovereign grace alone, he asks, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” – Romans 11:34-35 (ESV). The power of this truth is this: the Almighty is under no obligation to the creature. God gains nothing from us. “If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.” – Job 35:7-8 (ESV). Neither your wickedness nor good works affect God, who is all blessed in Himself. When you have done all those things which are commanded of you by God say this, “We are unprofitable servants” (Luke 17:10)—meaning that our obedience has gained God nothing.

We’ll go further with this idea. Our Lord Jesus Christ added nothing to God’s being or glory even by what He did or suffered. It is wonderfully true that Christ displayed the glory of God to us, but that added nothing to God. Jesus definitely said so, and there is no arguing from His words: "My goodness extendeth not to Thee" (Psalm 16:2). This entire Psalm is a Psalm of Christ. Christ’s goodness or righteousness came to His saints on the earth (Psalm 16:3), but God was high above and beyond it all. God alone is the "Blessed One" (Mark 14:61).

It is perfectly true that God is both honored and dishonored by men. But that fact does not change His being. It only dishonors or misrepresents His character. It is equally true that God has been "glorified" by creation, by His providing for His creation and by His redeeming of creation. This we do not and dare not dispute for a moment. All of this has to do with Him displaying His glory and the recognition of it by us. Yet if it pleased God He might have continued alone for all eternity, without making known His glory to His creatures. Whether He should do so or not do so was determined solely by His own will. He was perfectly blessed in Himself before the first creature was spoken into being. In relation to God, how might we describe all that God’s hands created? Let Scripture give another answer: "Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?” – Isaiah 40:15-18 (ESV). That is the God of Scripture. He is still "the unknown God" (Acts 17:23) to the masses who are not mindful of Him. "It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.” -- Isaiah 40:22-23 (ESV). How greatly different is the God of Scripture from the god that the average pastor preaches from the pulpit!

The testimony of the New Testament is no different from that of the Old. How could it be, seeing that both have only one Author who is the same? In the New Testament we read, "who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” -- 1 Timothy 6:16 (ESV). This God is to be revered, worshipped, adored. He is solitary [alone] in His majesty, unique in His excellency. He has no peers in His perfect qualities. He sustains all, but is Himself independent of all. He gives to all, but is made richer by none.

This sort of God cannot be found out by searching for Him. He can only be known by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God as the Spirit reveals Him to our hearts. It is true that creation is proof of a Creator. Therefore men are "without excuse" (Romans 1:20) and have no reason for not knowing God. Yet we still say with Job, "Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” – Job 26:14 (ESV). We believe that the so-called argument of Intelligent Design by well-meaning defenders of Christian doctrine has done much more harm than good. The argument has brought down the great God to the level of limited understanding. Consequently, God’s solitary excellence is lost in the argument.

An analogy has been made about a savage finding a watch on the beach. From close examination of it he rightly guesses that there must have been a watchmaker. So far, so good. But problems arise if you attempt to take this analogy further. Suppose that savage sits down on the sand and attempt to create an idea of what this watchmaker is really like. He imagines what this watchmaker likes. He imagines his manners, his personality, his skills and his moral character. Is it really possible that he could ever rightly think or reason out the qualities of this watchmaker so that he could fully say, “I am acquainted with him"? It seems shallow to ask such questions. But isn’t the eternal and infinite God much greater than the watchmaker and thus beyond the grasp of the human mind? Indeed, He is! The God of Scripture can only be known by those to whom He makes Himself known.

God is not known by the intellect either. "God is Spirit" (John 4:24), and therefore can only be known spiritually. But fallen and unregenerate man is not spiritual; he is fleshly or worldly. He is dead to all spiritual things. Unless he is born again and supernaturally brought from death unto life, miraculously taken from darkness into light, he cannot even see the things of God (John 3:3) much less understand them (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Holy Spirit has to shine in our hearts (not intellects) in order to give us "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). And even that spiritual knowledge is but broken into many pieces. The regenerated and saved soul has to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3.18).

The goal of the Christians life, as His prayers, ought to be to "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." -- Colossians 1:10 (ESV).

I Recommend You Read...

2007-11-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

It's encouraging.
It's informing.
It's inexpensive.
It's a quick read at only 76 pages.

Witnessing In A Postmodern World

2007-11-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

One of the downfalls of extreme postmodern thinking is that personal morality and personal truth are exhibited as supreme. To enforce your views on another person is seen a politically-incorrect when everyone "knows" that you can construct your own truth to live by.

Well, to be certain, evangelism is not trying to force your views on another person. Rather evangelism is witnessing to the fact of who God is and who sinful man is. In witnessing we share the message of God--and that message is bound up in Christ and His saving work. Unfortunately when Christians witness to others with an extremely postmodern worldview, we are seen as intolerant, snobby, self-righteous, intellectually elite and simultaneously foolish, insensitive and just plain annoying (1 Corinthians 1:18). But to those who are being saved, well, it's just the opposite--it's the power of God! In response to this worldview, many Christians have thus changed the way they witness. D.A. Carson comments on this in Becoming Conversant With The Emerging Church (page 102).

By way of response[to postmodernsim]some Christians refuse to engage in any overt evangelism, except the demonstration of a Christian life, in the hope that others will simply ask them what makes them tick--which then gives them opportunity to share their life-story and talk about Jesus Christ. If someone then opts to become a Christian oneself, that's fair enough: no one is telling them that their own way is inferior or that they are lost, rather they have simply decided to try this new Christian way. The reason for doing so is not that this Christian way is objectively true, but that it seems attractive to at least some people--i.e., that it is true for them.

I'll be the first to admit and adamantly say that the Christian life needs to be consistent with the Christian message--especially in times when what we have to say is so despised. As Christians our lives are to reflect the image of Christ just as Christ reflects the image of God (Hebrews 1:3, 2 Corinthians 3:18) . Our lives are to be living testimonies to the attributes of God. We are to be holy as our Father is holy. We are to be loving, gracious, merciful as we are to despise sin. And as part of a local chuch, we can collectively live holy lives together to give further evidence to the transforming power of the gospel. The book of 1 Peter is a great book to read through to see how Christians are supposed to live in hostile environments.

But I'll also be the first to also say that living this kind of life is not to be without words. Holy living is only one piece of the evangelism "puzzle". Our actions and lives must be accompanied by the clear message of God. We can not disregard the command of scripture and fail to preach the gospel (Mark 16:15). Neither can we wait for people to ask us, "What's so different about you?" I've been a Christian for over a 1/4 of a century and I've never ever had someone approach me and ask that. Perhaps you have, but I'm still waiting. Again, that doesn't mean that we can live any sinful way we please as long as we share the message. God forbid. But the truth is that sinners love sin and the way they are living. As we share the message, coupled with holy living, perhaps God will stir them up to hate sin, repent and trust in Christ for salvation.

As we do this, let's guard against over-reacting towards sinful ideologies that pose legitimate challenges to gospel witnessing. This could lead to partial Christian living or even unbiblical ways of trying to achieve what God has clearly called us to do.

The Ministry Of The Holy Spirit

2007-11-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

When I was about 5 years old, I first heard the gospel. It made complete sense to me and stood out as the most wonderful thing I had ever heard. Mind you, at five years of age you don’t have a lot of things to compare the gospel to and so the skeptic might say, "Of course it was the greatest thing you’d ever heard. You were only five." But having been a Christian now for 27 years, I have to say that my mind has not changed. My heart grows more fond of Christ as each year passes and seeing His submissiveness to the Father has encouraged me in my daily living.

Having been saved and brought up in Baptist churches I began to grow in my understanding of the God the Father and God the Son. But I have to admit that my understanding of who the Holy Spirit tended to be a bit shady. Ok, who am I kidding?! As a child and even through young adulthood I was pretty clueless about the Holy Spirit. The only thing I was certain of was that He was part of the God-head—part of the Trinity. But honestly, I wasn’t quite sure what He was about or what He did. Was He the silent part of the God-head? As far as I could tell, He didn’t have a whole lot of "speaking" parts in the scripture. As the Holy Ghost, did He just float around and observe what was going on? Someone throw me a bone here.

Perhaps I didn’t pay enough attention to the sermons during my young Christian years. I’ll take some blame for that. I know that in my younger years of being a youth pastor, I was even a little reticent to teach on the Holy Spirit for fear that I might become charismatic or something like that. It seemed like the Holy Spirit was for the "far out" Christians, but not for us conservatives. God forbid we should clap our hands during singing and show some joy of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps there are preachers who neglect the scripture’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit for similar reasons thus leaving more Christians in confusion about the Holy Spirit. Whatever the case, it would seem that if one is going to be faithful to proclaiming the word of God, then at some time one would have to teach on God the Spirit. How do we relate to Him? What does He do? What does scripture have to say about God the Spirit?

I am thankful that scripture speaks and tells us about the Holy Spirit. Over the past couple of years, God has helped me to understand more of the Spirit’s role in salvation and sanctification. Consequently, I stand in awe of all that is entailed in God saving us. As I was reading through Merrill F. Unger’s book, The Baptism And Gifts Of The Holy Spirit, I was reminded of the many things that the Holy Spirit does for us.

1. He regenerates us. He is the one that takes us from death to life (rebirth). He makes us new.

Titus 3:1-8 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

2. He is what we are baptized with.

Acts 11:15-16 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'

3. He indwells us. In the Old Testament we see that the Spirit’s indwelling in certain persons was temporary. Now, the Spirit’s indwelling in every believer is permanent.

Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.

4. He seals us. He is the stamp on our life that shows we have been bought with the blood of Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Galatians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

5. He fills us and empowers us to live the Christian life.

Ephesians 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

These are just some of the roles that the Holy Spirit plays in our salvation. Scripture also shows that it is the Spirit who gives us our spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4). Scripture shows that the Spirit had a part in Christ’s incarnation (Matthew 1:18). The Holy Spirit was present at Christ’s baptism (Matthew 3:16). And the list goes on and on. While scripture mentions a lot of what the Holy Spirit does and who He is, I imagine that this barely touches the surface on what the infinite Holy Spirit does for the glory of our triune God.

While many Christian groups emphasize the Holy Spirit in unbiblical ways, there are also those Christian groups that do not emphasize the Holy Spirit enough. Previously I would have been "guilty" of being associated with both groups at different points in my life. While I am not associated with those that get wacky in the Holy Ghost, I do want to be associated with those that love the Spirit and appreciate all that He has done for us.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!
Amen!

Book Review: What Is Reformed Theology?

2007-11-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

About two years ago I made a trip to a Christian bookstore in search of something good to read. I ended up purchasing R.C. Sproul's book, "What Is Reformed Theology?" On the way out of the store a gentleman stopped me with a question: "Are you going to read that?" The gentleman, appearing to be in his mid-forties, seemed pleasantly surprised that I woul read such things. Caught of guard, I replied, "Sure. I read a lot of different kinds of books." About 15 feet away my friend called over to me, "Hey, Mark Dever's new book is out!" To which the gentleman said to me, "Oh man, you read Dever too!" I smiled and said, "Yeah. We read Dever, Piper, MacAthur, Sproul, Begg and some dead guys." By this time I thought the man was going to have a heart attack. Apparently he was surprised that young men enjoy reading books on theology (by young I mean that those in my "posse" that day were from ages 20-32). We had a good chat and wished each other well in our prospective ministries.

Since then I've been reading through this book trying to learn from a man, who when the first time I heard him preach, I was floored at what God was saying in His Word.

I did enjoy reading "What Is Reformed Theology?" and the entire time I read it, I could hear Sproul's raspy voice bellowing out the words on the page. It was if he was in my house everyday for 30 minutes for those two weeks.

There was much I agreed with in the book. There's no denying that. Sproul exlains how Reformed Theology is God-centered not man-centered. He strongly emphasizes the fact that RT is committed to scripture alone and that salvation is by grace through faith alone for God's glory alone. And he explains all that in the context of the conflict between the Roman Catholic church and the Reformers. He also explains clearly the 5 points of Calvinism in reinvented terms--feeling that the standard TULIP acrostic could use some clarification. His expalanation of TULIP follows as:

(1). Humanity's radical corruption
(2). God's sovereign choice
(3). Christ's purposeful atonement
(4). The Spirit's effective call
(5). God's preservation of the saints

For those that like acrostics and alliteration, you're just going to have a fit becuase HGCTG doesn't spell anything...I think?! But for anyone desiring to understand the thinking behind Reformed Theology, I would recommend this book. And if you have been uncertain as to why evangelicals and Catholics have divided over the centuries, then a read through Sproul's book will clarify things for you.

Now even though I agreed with much of what Sproul has written, I did not necessarily agree with everything simply because he is a faithful and great teacher of God's word. Neither have I comprehended everything he stated. For instance, Sproul alludes to the fact that he practices infant baptism but simply states that he urges seminary students to consider both sides of the issue. This baptism is different than the baptism practiced by Roman Catholics. Classic RT believes that baptism for infants in administered in the same way that circumcision was administered to God's people in the Old Testament. It was not his attempt in this book to argue for or against it (seeing as how this is only mentioned in a few sentences) so he didn't give any scriptural support. But I do appreciate his motive and desire behind urging students to exmaine both sides of the issue.

"I do this for more than one reason. The issue divides earnest Christians, both sides of which clearly desire to please God. At least one of these two groups is in error. The baptism of infants is either in accord with the divine will or it is not. Somebody is wrong, yet both believe they are right. By examining the historical debates on the issue, we may be persuaded to change our thinking. At the very least we will acquire a deeper understanding of the issues involved. This creates an environment of mutual understanding even in the midst of serious disagreement."

For the record, I do not adhere to infant baptism because I have not yet seen adequate scripture to support any such thing. While circumcision in the Old Testament is crystal clear, it seems to me that infant baptism needs to be "read into" the scriptures. There seems to be no clear command to practice such a thing.

One of the other things that has caused some conversation amongst my friends in the issues of whether or not "regeneration precedes faith" or "faith precedes regeneration." Discussing this sort of doctrine is not a waste of time. The average Christian might not understand the necessity of understanding doctrine. What they generally want instead are lists of "what to do as a Christian." Dr. Michael Horton of "The White Horse Inn" has rightly said that when pastors and people say, "Don't tell me what God has done for me," which is doctrine, "Just tell me what to do" then they remove the grace that in necessary for people to obey the Lord. What they are saying is in effect, "Give me more law, less grace." I say that to say this: when my friends and I discuss whether "regeneration precedes faith" or vice versa, we aren't discussing things to simply gain a head full of knowledge. Rather, we are trying to understand the mysteries of God's salvation that we might be in greater awe of what the Lord has done.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book for several reasons. It reaffirmed many things that I believe. It clarified a few things that I believe but couldn't quite put into words. It caused me to pause and reflect several times as to whether certain current beliefs are right or wrong. It even caused me to argue a few times and say, "Hang on a sec. How can that be?"

Perhaps it'll do the same for you.

A Wonderful Surprise

2007-10-29T23:04:00.000-07:00

The first time I was confronted with the Doctrines of Grace I hated them! How cruel God seemed to me if these things were true. How dare my "free will" be infringed upon. Yes, God chose me for salvation, but that was only because I first chose Him. That was my Arminian view and it destested the doctrines that I have now come to love.

As a matter of fact, almost everyone that I have talked to that believes the doctrines of grace has at some point resisted them. But them someone lovingly helped them press into the Scriptures that they might see these truths for themselves and then finally come to understand what they mean. How detestable are these truths until the Lord enlightens our minds and causes us to love them--for they reveal the nature of God. And how can a child of God not love his Father's nature?

It came as a wonderful surprise to me the other day when I found out that an administrator and my professor from my first year in Bible College (1991) converted to the Doctrines of Grace. I was shocked and esctatic! I am not alone is coming to these glorious truths! Here was a godly and extremely intelligent man who, by God's grace, came to believe what is commonly called Calvinism. God gave rise to another reformer. And don't you just love it! I do! Here is his bio from Sermonaudio.com. (Give a listen to some of his sermons on church history.)

Pastor Jeff Massey had been a pastor for eight years, when he came to a full conviction of the Doctrines of Grace. He left his Denomination in 1995 to become part of the Reformed Baptist movement. He joined Sovereign Grace Baptist Church , and was ordained as an Elder in 1999. He is married to Melissa, and they have three children, Justis (23), Jeremy (20) and Joseph (18). Pastor Jeff is continuing his education as a full-time student at Westminster Seminary California and the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies in Escondido. It is his goal to obtain an M.Div degree. At SGBC, Pastor Jeff regularly teaches Adult Sunday School during the regular year and Church History classes in the summer. His primary focus is on teaching, and pastoral oversight.

There are little reformers rising all around and I get all goose-pimply thinking about it. It seems to me that God is causing a revival to take place amongst His people. A modern reformation seems to be on the prowl and only the Lord knows the impact this will have on the world.

In our church we have spent Monday and Tuesday nights going through a series of lessons on these doctrines. There are twenty-something year-olds spending two hours on a weeknight in my home listening and desiring to know more of God and His grace. That puts a grin on my face that won't go away. God's people are hungry for doctrine and as a result they are growing in holiness as the come to see their Savior clearly in the Word.

This post might seem like a ramble and I'm sure it is. I just wanted to say that I'm wonderfully suprised at what God is doing. Young and old are being drawn away from a pragmatic, program-driven, self-help, pyschology preaching churches. God is putting them under shepherds who will teach the Word in unadulterated fashion. God is bringing us back to know what it truly means to be saved by His grace!

If you are hostile to the Doctrines of Grace/Calvinism, I lovingly urge you to dive into them to see what they are really about. If you rightly understand them, your evangelism will soar through the roof, your worship of God will be uncontainable, your desire for the Word will intensify, holiness will increase, fellowship will come more naturally and God will be glorified through it all.

The Cambridge Declaration

2007-10-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

April 20, 1996

Evangelical churches today are increasingly dominated by the spirit of this age rather than by the Spirit of Christ. As evangelicals, we call ourselves to repent of this sin and to recover the historic Christian faith.

In the course of history words change. In our day this has happened to the word "evangelical." In the past it served as a bond of unity between Christians from a wide diversity of church traditions. Historic evangelicalism was confessional. It embraced the essential truths of Christianity as those were defined by the great ecumenical councils of the church. In addition, evangelicals also shared a common heritage in the "solas" of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation.

Today the light of the Reformation has been significantly dimmed. The consequence is that the word "evangelical" has become so inclusive as to have lost its meaning. We face the peril of losing the unity it has taken centuries to achieve. Because of this crisis and because of our love of Christ, his gospel and his church, we endeavor to assert anew our commitment to the central truths of the Reformation and of historic evangelicalism. These truths we affirm not because of their role in our traditions, but because we believe that they are central to the Bible.

Sola Scriptura: The Erosion of Authority

Scripture alone is the inerrant rule of the church's life, but the evangelical church today has separated Scripture from its authoritative function. In practice, the church is guided, far too often, by the culture. Therapeutic technique, marketing strategies, and the beat of the entertainment world often have far more to say about what the church wants, how it functions and what it offers, than does the Word of God. Pastors have neglected their rightful oversight of worship, including the doctrinal content of the music. As biblical authority has been abandoned in practice, as its truths have faded from Christian consciousness, and as its doctrines have lost their saliency, the church has been increasingly emptied of its integrity, moral authority and direction.

Rather than adapting Christian faith to satisfy the felt needs of consumers, we must proclaim the law as the only measure of true righteousness and the gospel as the only announcement of saving truth. Biblical truth is indispensable to the church's understanding, nurture and discipline.

Scripture must take us beyond our perceived needs to our real needs and liberate us from seeing ourselves through the seductive images, cliches, promises and priorities of mass culture. It is only in the light of God's truth that we understand ourselves aright and see God's provision for our need. The Bible, therefore, must be taught and preached in the church. Sermons must be expositions of the Bible and its teachings, not expressions of the preacher's opinions or the ideas of the age. We must settle for nothing less than what God has given.

The work of the Holy Spirit in personal experience cannot be disengaged from Scripture. The Spirit does not speak in ways that are independent of Scripture. Apart from Scripture we would never have known of God's grace in Christ. The biblical Word, rather than spiritual experience, is the test of truth.

Thesis One: Sola Scriptura
We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation,which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.

We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

Solus Christus: The Erosion of Christ-Centered Faith

As evangelical faith becomes secularized, its interests have been blurred with those of the culture. The result is a loss of absolute values, permissive individualism, and a substitution of wholeness for holiness, recovery for repentance, intuition for truth, feeling for belief, chance for providence, and immediate gratification for enduring hope. Christ and his cross have moved from the center of our vision.

Thesis Two: Solus Christus
We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father.

We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ's substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.

Sola Gratia: The Erosion of The Gospel

Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of fallen human nature. This false confidence now fills the evangelical world; from the self-esteem gospel, to the health and wealth gospel, from those who have transformed the gospel into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who want to buy, to others who treat Christian faith as being true simply because it works. This silences the doctrine of justification regardless of the official commitments of our churches.

God's grace in Christ is not merely necessary but is the sole efficient cause of salvation. We confess that human beings are born spiritually dead and are incapable even of cooperating with regenerating grace.

Thesis Three: Sola Gratia
We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God's wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life.

We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature.

Sola Fide: The Erosion of The Chief Article

Justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. This is the article by which the church stands or falls. Today this article is often ignored, distorted or sometimes even denied by leaders, scholars and pastors who claim to be evangelical. Although fallen human nature has always recoiled from recognizing its need for Christ's imputed righteousness, modernity greatly fuels the fires of this discontent with the biblical Gospel. We have allowed this discontent to dictate the nature of our ministry and what it is we are preaching.

Many in the church growth movement believe that sociological understanding of those in the pew is as important to the success of the gospel as is the biblical truth which is proclaimed. As a result, theological convictions are frequently divorced from the work of the ministry. The marketing orientation in many churches takes this even further, erasing the distinction between the biblical Word and the world, robbing Christ's cross of its offense, and reducing Christian faith to the principles and methods which bring success to secular corporations.

While the theology of the cross may be believed, these movements are actually emptying it of its meaning. There is no gospel except that of Christ's substitution in our place whereby God imputed to him our sin and imputed to us his righteousness. Because he bore our judgment, we now walk in his grace as those who are forever pardoned, accepted and adopted as God's children. There is no basis for our acceptance before God except in Christ's saving work, not in our patriotism, churchly devotion or moral decency. The gospel declares what God has done for us in Christ. It is not about what we can do to reach him.

Thesis Four: Sola Fide
We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ's righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God's perfect justice.

We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ's righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.

Soli Deo Gloria: The Erosion of God-Centered Worship

Wherever in the church biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distorted, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God's and we are doing his work in our way. The loss of God's centrality in the life of today's church is common and lamentable. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us.

God does not exist to satisfy human ambitions, cravings, the appetite for consumption, or our own private spiritual interests. We must focus on God in our worship, rather than the satisfaction of our personal needs. God is sovereign in worship; we are not. Our concern must be for God's kingdom, not our own empires, popularity or success.

Thesis Five: Soli Deo Gloria
We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God's glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone.

We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed to become alternatives to the gospel.

A Call To Repentance & Reformation

The faithfulness of the evangelical church in the past contrasts sharply with its unfaithfulness in the present. Earlier in this century, evangelical churches sustained a remarkable missionary endeavor, and built many religious institutions to serve the cause of biblical truth and Christ's kingdom. That was a time when Christian behavior and expectations were markedly different from those in the culture. Today they often are not. The evangelical world today is losing its biblical fidelity, moral compass and missionary zeal.

We repent of our worldliness. We have been influenced by the "gospels" of our secular culture, which are no gospels. We have weakened the church by our own lack of serious repentance, our blindness to the sins in ourselves which we see so clearly in others, and our inexcusable failure to adequately tell others about God's saving work in Jesus Christ.

We also earnestly call back erring professing evangelicals who have deviated from God's Word in the matters discussed in this Declaration. This includes those who declare that there is hope of eternal life apart from explicit faith in Jesus Christ, who claim that those who reject Christ in this life will be annihilated rather than endure the just judgment of God through eternal suffering, or who claim that evangelicals and Roman Catholics are one in Jesus Christ even where the biblical doctrine of justification is not believed.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals asks all Christians to give consideration to implementing this Declaration in the church's worship, ministry, policies, life and evangelism.

For Christ's sake. Amen.

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Executive Council (1996)

Dr. John Armstrong
The Rev. Alistair Begg
Dr. James M. Boice
Dr. W. Robert Godfrey
Dr. John D. Hannah
Dr. Michael S. Horton
Mrs. Rosemary Jensen
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Dr. Robert M. Norris
Dr. R.C. Sproul
Dr. Gene Edward Veith
Dr. David Wells
Dr. Luder Whitlock
Dr. J.A.O. Preus, III

Humor & R.C. Sproul

2007-10-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure of the source of this picture, but it is funny.

In juxtaposing the pictures of Sproul and Powers you have to admit the cleverness of whoever put the above "advertisement" together.

I remember the first time I heard Sproul speak. It was March of 2005. He spoke from Romans 1...and it was like someone dropped a bombshell on me. The depths at which the scriptures were delivered were soul satisfying and convicting. Since then I have enjoyed reading several books and listening to several series of sermons from the new "International Man of Mystery."

What a great time it would be to be able to attend the Together for the Gospel conference. But I will mostly like only be able to afford downloading the mp3's of the conference--and even that is still cool.

If you have never heard Sproul speak or read one of his books, I would encourage you to do so. If it's been a while since you've heard him speak or since you've read one of his books, I'd encourage you to do so afresh.

The Supremacy Of Christ

2007-10-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

In a society where people are easily star struck, it saddening to see that people are not fully enamored with the sheer awesomeness of Christ. Matt Damon's got nothing on Christ. (Did I just state the obvious?)

Colossians 1:15-20 [15] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [17] And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

This morning I had the awesome privilege of preaching through this passage. What a pleasure it was to declare how supreme our Savior is. Despite what the early Gnostics said, Jesus was not a mere man, he was not a created being. Contrary to what they taught, God did dwell in the flesh and salvation is attained by the work of Christ, not some special hidden or secret knowledge.

Christ is superior in being, superior to all creation, superior in power, superior in dominion, superior in life, superior in the resurrection, superior in sacrifice.

Simply Irresistable Grace

2007-10-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

The great theologian Robert Palmer had it right when he wrote, "Simply Irresistable."

Here are some wonderful Scriptures to meditate on in regards to several aspects of the effectual call.

Irresistable Grace

2007-10-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

My friends and I have been studying Irresistable Grace...or as it is sometimes called the Effectual Call of the Spirit. Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus gives us some insight as to irresistable grace.

John 3:1-15 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

When Nicodemus questioned the idea of being born again--regenerated, Jesus did not say, "Now Lazarus, here is what you need to do in order to be born again." Jesus never said that regeneration depends on man doing something. Instead he used an earthly story to make known a spiritual reality, namely, that regeneration is a work of the Spirit alone. Our being born again is something that God does in us that enables us to believe in Christ with the faith that He gives. What wonderful grace it is!

Now to be certain, Jesus did not leave Nicodemus hanging. He didn't say, "Hey, Nick, since there is nothing you can do about regeneration, you might as well forget about it." That is not what Jesus did. Although the inward call of God's grace is unaided by man, Jesus still gave Nicodemus the outward call to believe the gospel (vs. 14-15). That outward call needs to be presented to everyone, knowing that only the inward call of the Spirit can bring life to the dead individual. So if you have a book titled, "How To Be Born Again," you may need to throw it away.

Go and share the gospel. You never know when God's grace may overcome someone's unbelief. This morning I had the privilege of giving the outward call to a young lady at work. We spent forty-five mintues in conversation and she heard the outward call. I started with God's intent in creating mankind, moved to the fall, talked about the Law, explained God's holiness, justice and judgment, then went on to share God's love, mercy and grace demonstrated in the incarnation, Christ's perfect obedience, His suffering, death, burial, resurrection and the great act of imputation. While sharing the gospel I was praying for God's grace to break through. I told her that she needed to repent of her sin and believe in Christ who suffered, died and rose again on her behalf. Excited and nervous, I asked her if she understood and believed what I had just told her. She said she did. Only God knows and time may tell if regeneration actually took place. I pray and expect to see spiritual fruit and sanctification take place if God has truly worked a miracle. I instructed her in baptism and invited her to church this Sunday. She said she wants to be there. Please pray for her.

May God grant us the privilege of seeing His awesome grace break through to stony hearts.

Paul Was A Calvinist!

2007-09-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

Or should I say that Calvin was a Paulist. The latter is probably more accurate.

Colossians1:3-4 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.

Apart from a work of grace in the unbelievers heart, he cannot understand spiritual things nor believe in Christ. Faith is a gift from God that we exercise upon regeneration. Here Paul thanks the Father for the faith of the Colossians. If God were not the author of their faith then why would Paul thank Him? The answer is obvious. Paul thanks the Father for their faith because He is the giver of faith by the word of Christ.

I think it must be true then that every true believer is a practicing Calvinist for no one ever says, "Thank you, so-and-so for getting saved. Thank you for repenting and believing in Christ." Rather, we all say, "Praise God. Thank the Lord they believed." We know it's His work of grace.

Albert Mohler On Pre-Schoolers

2007-09-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

While sporting some bling-bling, the rapper and Christian theologian, Albert Mohler, said this on his radio program:

A child at five is a very unformed little creature. I think kids at those young ages are not ready for institutionalized educational settings. I think this is what God made home for. I think the most important education a young child needs is the education that he/she receives from mom and dad, and brother and sisters at home.

The focus on this kind of secular academic achievement is very short-sighted for Christian parents. Our concern ought not so much to be whether they can read or add but whether they know anything about the Bible and the Christian faith. We have parents, that in generations past, would have been concerned with catechizing their children, raising their children, educating their children in the Christian faith, who now don't have anything to do with that. Instead they're trying to make sure they get into Harvard by getting in the right preschool.

What a harsh rebuke, but one that is desperately needed.

Last night I had the privilege of sharing the gospel with my daughter through the Old Testament. We read the account of God's judgment upon Israel for their complaining. He sent serpents to bite them. Many died from these poisonous snakes. But God provided salvation for the Israelites. Moses was to make a snake and lift it up on a stake. When someone was biten, if they looked upon the uplifted snake, they would live and be spared from God's judgment.

Jesus states in the John 3:14 that just as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Just at the snake brought death and life to the Israelites, so too, Christ the Judge will bring death or life. If we do not heed the gospel and look to Christ surely we will perish eternally. If we look to the crucified and risen Christ, we too, shall live eternally with Him.

As a parent, I need to continually point my family to Christ. This is what my daughter needs to be educated in. More important than her secular education is her knowledge of the Lord so that she may behold Him and come to know Him as Savior.

May God helps Christian parents to be more diligent in educating their children in the scripture more so than many appear to be with educating them in the world.

Law & Gospel Preaching

2007-08-30T11:36:00.001-07:00

From the podcast Issues, Etc.

"Law is everything in scripture which commands us to obey God, to do the things that He requires or to avoid the things He prohibits. The law shows us when we have fail to do so and what we deserve as a result.

The gospel tells us what God has done for us in Christ Jesus to forgive for all of our failures, to give us the gift of eternal life and to assure us of God's presence and care for us everyday.

This is the Biblical model for Christian preaching." -- Dr. Carl Fickenscher

Listen to more.

Free Audio

2007-08-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sovereign Grace Ministries is now offering all of their audio messages for free.

Tears To My Eyes

2007-08-20T23:55:00.001-07:00

Ever laugh so hard your eyes start to water. The guys at Sacred Sandwich had me in stitches. It's been over a year since I've been there so today's visit had me catching up on some humor.

Here are three pictures that particularly had me rollin'. The last one had me laughin' the hardest.

# W0N Rudolph the Purpose-Driven Reindeer

# TOO Purpose-Driven Shirt

# THR33 Organ Playa

What Do You Want On Your Tombstone?

2007-08-17T21:07:00.001-07:00

The following quote was taken from "Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry." It serves as a startling and sober reminder that men of God are not here for our own agenda but for the service of the Lord.

"To keep the gospel unadulterated and unchanged and undiluted is very hard. While the word faithful may seem old-fashioned and weak, like the Bible word meek, it is not. It is required of men entrusted with the sacred charge that they prove faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

Christian pastors want "faithful" written on their tombstone, not "innovative," not "creative," not "he pushed the envelope." Those terms are left for the biographies of the liberals, the heretics and the heterodox. Biblical shepherds want to hear our Lord say on Judgment Day, 'Well done, good and faithful servant!'"

Exegetical Fallacies #1

2007-08-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I like it when things make sense logically. Example: All mortals age. I am mortal. Therefore, I age. These types of logical reasoning are often referred to as "syllogisms". There is a premise (All mortals age). There is a minor premise (I am mortal). And there is a conclusion (I age). Unfortunately, our corrupt minds are not infallible and can often come to faulty conclusions.

In his book Exegetical Fallacies, D.A. Carson shares how Philip B. Payne makes this error when examining 1 Timothy 3:11 and Acts 6:1-6. And while Payne did not state his position in syllogistic fashion, others have chosen to state Payne's position in a such fashion to help clarify position and difference. D.A. Carson states:

Payne suggests that becuase 1 Timothy 3:11 refers to female deacons, and two of the men chose as deacons in Acts 6:1-6 speak publicly and baptize converts, "presumably these activity could be part of the role of women deacons." Of course, Payne does not set forth his suggestios as a syllogism. Nevertheless, the inference he draws could be recast as a syllogism:

The seven men appointed in Acts 6:1-6 were deacons (the unstated premise). Some of the men mentioned in Acts 6:1-6 spoke publicly and baptized. Therefore all deacons, including women, could presumably speak publicly and baptize.

Even if we grant the exegetical debatable points (e.g., that the seven men in Acts 6:1-6 were deacons), the argument as here ste for is inadequate--whatever we conclude about the right or otherwise of women to speak publicly and baptize. It is inadequate because it illegitimately presupposes that in the minor premise the two men from the group of seven in Acts 6:1-6 speak publicly and baptize by virtue of their role as deacons.

In the New Testament, arguably teaching is irretriveably bound up within the role of the elder/pastor/bishop; it is far from clear that it is bound up with the role of the deacon. That others than elders taught in various settings is certain; but the fact that some deacons did so is not itself warrant for supposing that any deacon was authorized to do so simply because he or she was a deacon.

D.A. Carson goes on to give a clear example of this mistake.

All true Christians learn to love their enemies.
Mary Jo loves her enemies.
Therefore, Mary Jo is a Christian.

A "not necessarily" sort of thought should have popped up into our heads when that last stament was made. This is the same mistake that some have made with other passages in scripture.

Perhaps you've seen the same fallacious syllogism made by others. One area in which I've seen that happen is in the area of good works and deeds. It is true that Christians are to love others. It is true that Christians should care for the poor. But is it true that anyone who lives this way is a Christian? Is one a Christian/saved simply because one lives in "the way of Christ"--as some have put it? Some argue that this is so.

I have read some blogs in which the Christian author clearly makes this mistake. The argument goes like this: "Will God send an atheist to hell? Suppose this atheist feeds the poor, reaches out to the sick, loves his enemies and lives in the way of Christ, but does not believe in Christ or believe in God? Isn't their life demonstrating the same things that us repentant Christians demonstrate? Therefore they must be one of God's own." To put it in a syllogism:

1. (Premise) Those that are saved live in the way of Christ.

2. (Minor Premise) A particular atheist lives in the way of Christ.

3. (Conclusion) Therefore, this atheist is saved (even if they deny God and do not believe in Christ).

The Bible clearly shows the above syllogism to be false. A man is not saved simply by doing good works and being a good person or even imitating the morality of Christ. One is saved by repenting and trusting in the saving work of Jesus Christ which makes necessary a belief in God. Only then can one be put into a right standing and intimate relationship with God. Thus one has a proper motive for serving God and doing good works that glorify God.

Much more could be said on current fallacious syllogisms being made in Christendom, but I'll leave it at that. Hey, I may have even unknowingly made one in this post because...

All people make mistakes...

I am a "people"...

Therefore, I make mistakes.

Book Review: Experiencing God's Presence

2007-08-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

I really must recommend this book to everyone. It has served as a tremendous blessing to me and helped me to draw closer to God. The scriptural insight that Matthew Henry gives is invaluable. Drawing heavily from the Psalms, Henry shows us how to recognize the hand of the Almighty God in our life.

Three chapters were especially significant for my spiritual growth. One chapter dealt with how to glorify God by trusting Him with our needs. This is an area where I've been asking God for help during the past several months. The fears of work sometimes overtake me during my sleep and waking hours. Henry continually directs the reader to scripture to remind them that our duty is to serve the Lord in the strength that He gives and to allow God to provide for us as He will.s

"When you go to your shop or apply yourself to the business of your particular calling, wait on God for His presence with you. Your business calles for your constant attendance every day and all the day. Keep the shop, and your shop will keep you. But let your attendance upon God in your calling be as constant as your attendance upon your calling. Study God's providence in daily occurrences. Open your shop with this thought: I am now doing my duty, and I depend on God to bless me in it. When you are waiting for customers, wait on God to find you something to do in that calling to which He has called you. Those you refer to as chance customers, you should rather refer to as providence customers, and you should say of the profit you make by them, "The Lord my God brought it to me...

Look the God for the blessing that makes rich and has no sorrow in it (Proverbs 10:22)"

Elsewhere Henry says,

"Perhaps you have a family to look after and to provide for, and you are concerned about doing well for them. Then, every morning, by prayer, commit them to God. If you put them under the guidance and government of His grace, you effectually put them under the care and protection His providence (Job 1:5)."

These words stirred in my heart and caused me to confess my sin of doubt and fear to the Lord. This Biblical reminder urged me to be more faithful to the Lord in my prayers for my family's daily sustenance. Truly this has led to less worry thoughout the day as I recognize that my family is a gift from God and belongs to Him.

The other chapters in this books that served as a huge benefit were those that were directed towards going to sleep and waking in the morning with thoughts of God on our mind.

Specifically Henry reminds us to thank the Lord for the opportunity to sleep. Countless people can not sleep through the night because of health issues. But in God's kindness He has allowed us to sleep and provided a place to sleep for us. He deserves worship for it. This idea is carried out in much more detail within the chapter.

Henry also reminds us to have God as the first thought in our minds when we wake. Surely the Lord sustains us while we sleep. He could require our lives in the middle of the night. Instead He has allowed us to live yet another day for His service. We ought to praise Him for it.

Although this review is brief, Experiencing God's Presence spends a lot more time walking the reader through Biblical doctrine that points us to the attributes us God. This alone helps us to walk in a more godly fashion. But Henry also provides plenty of application so that we might be doers of the Word and not hearers only.

I highly recommend this book and pray that it stirs your heart godward.

Tips To Improve Your Teaching

2007-08-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Pain! That's a word that describes what it's like to dig through the archives of past sermons. What was once considered "my best sermon to date" is now looked down upon as "oh, I can't believe I used to teach like that." Those of us that have been teaching for some time know what it's like to be in an empty room cringing with dusty transcripts of old sermons in hand while hoping that nobody ever finds out that you once preached this raggedy old thing. Hopefully we feel that way because there has been improvement in one's preaching and teaching, not necessarily because the sermon was actually that bad. But chances are there were more than a few that were worthy of being stored at the local city dump.

In Alexander Strauch's book, Leading With Love, he presents a few helpful suggestions on how teachers and preachers of God's Word can improve. I was excited to see this in print because it affirmed a few things I was doing and gave me some other ideas to improve. As pastors we are held accountable to God for being teachers of His Word, therefore we must strive to improve in this area.

James 3:1 (NASB) Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.

Strauch suggests that we:

1. Lay out a clear biblical philosophy of teaching and preaching the Scripture.

He does not expound or give any examples on what a philosophy of teaching and preaching might look like, but I have some thoughts on what he may have been referring to. Philosophy may likely include the necessity of expository preaching, the necessity of sermons that center around Christ and the gospel, a mandate to preach both Old and New Testaments, a commitment to declare the whole counsel of God, a refusal to bow to the contemporary influences of psychology or postmodernism, etc.

2. Listen to the expository preaching of excellent preachers and teachers, and make their tapes or CD's available to others.

3. Always be building a library of Bible study tools to help you study the Scriptures.

These resources should include at least a good Bible, concordance, Bible dictionaries and quality commentaries. Strauch rightly notes that many of these resources are on the web for free.

4. Call a seminary or Bible college and ask the professor of homiletics for suggestions. Or take a homiletics course.

My thought is that most people won't do this, but there are many good books available on preaching as well as delivery.

5. Listen to yourself (audiotape or videotape).

Ouch! If you've ever done this it can be painful but good for those of us that struggle with pride. You might be surprised at the amount of UMs and UHs you dish out. What was said in 60 minutes may have been able to be said in 45 if those verbal pauses were eliminated. Then there's the distracting habits of playing with a wedding ring, raising and lowering/raising the microphone or moving the portable music stand back and forth. All these plus much more can be "caught on tape" and used as evidence to throw you in jail for being such a terrible preacher.

6. Have someone close to you evaluate your teaching and preaching.

I've done this before and was pleasantly surprised at how much better the teachers and preachers I mentored improved. It helped me too! Actually, an evaluation gives everyone a little mental process to walk through ahead of time to see if they have studied, prepared, organized, explained and applied scripture appropriately. On the evaluation I've used I had about 20 or so questions that we would walk through to help us improve. Questions range from delivery to content to clarity and then some. Each speaker was evaluated by his peers and then given feedback to in order to improve.

7. Abound in love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NASB) If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. [3] And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

This is a great place to get started if you desire to improve in preaching and teaching. I would simply like to add a few more things that have helped me.

8. Study scripture like crazy.

The Bible is one giant revelation of Christ woven together by the Holy Spirit. The more you study it, the more you realize how it all ties together. As you build new sermons, you'll continue to grow and you'll have your own resources to draw from. As you study it all and teach it all, those that you shepherd will begin to see how it all fits together. But that won't happen if you don't study all of scripture.

9. Be well read.

Good Christian books are a great resource. Sometimes we get in a rut and will say the same things in the same way with same tone of voice with the same passion with the same whatever. Christian authors may declare an identical truth that you were attempting to say, but perhaps they've used a thesaurus and said the same truth with more power or color. Perhaps there was a truth about a certain doctrine or parable that you had not seen but through their writings they were able to disciple you and pass that on. Whatever the case, be well read.

It's said, but I've talked to teachers of God's word who have said, "Oh, I hate to read. It's so boring." I'm not sure what they were reading, but there are plenty of exciting, interesting and soundly biblical books out there that would serve them well if they would find them and read them.

10. Pray and ask God to help you grow.

Always depend upon the Lord. We live, move and breath because He sustains our live. Likewise, we can only grow in this areas with His help.

Perhaps by this time next year, if we've applied some of these tips, we'll look and and see that God has brought us along in some areas. And maybe in the future there'll be less of those lonely cringing moments when we're looking back on our old sermons in private.

To God be the glory.

Study Bibles

2007-08-04T18:03:00.000-07:00

One of my co-workers just picked up this Bible. He told me that when reading through Proverbs he usually spends about five minutes going through one chapter. He said that after he purchased this Bible he spent about 45 minutes just going through one chapter. He said it was awesome to study and get the fuller meaning of the text.

I must confess that I am a little jealous. This has been a Bible on my list to get for some time. Perhaps one day.

Good for him. Praise God.

A Couple Of Posts

2007-08-03T23:51:00.000-07:00

I have joined a group blog with some long time friends. Here are a some of my recent contributions to their blog.

The Conscience

The Brotherhood

Are We Raising Pharisees?

Visit this blog often. My friends have some pretty exciting things to say about the Lord, His Word and His church.

Book Review: The Message Of The New Testament

2007-07-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

Mark Dever has been a tremendous mentor in my life over the past three years. He has taught me much on what a healthy church looks like. His 9Marks ministry has been a catalyst for many discussions between some close friends and myself. It comes as no surprise then that I highly recommend his book, The Message Of The New Testament.

In this book Dever takes a bird's-eye view of each book of the New Testament. It has served as a tremendous aide in helping me to grab ahold of the central themes in each book. I imagine that it will serve as a great resource in helping many with sermon preparation.

Knowing that Christ is the central theme of all Scripture, this book just pulses with the gospel. This is not one of those self-help books that tries to only meet the temporal and felt-needs of man. Rather, this book is faithful to proclaim that Christ has fulfilled all that the Old Testament promised in Him.

If a non-Christian picked up this book and had no idea what the Bible was about, surely he would come away knowing the gospel and how to appropriate the work of Christ. Should an believer read through this book then I am certain that their eyes would be turned to the One who came to save us. Seeing Christ at work in the New Testament stirs up a heart of submission and worship and Dever makes sure that Christ is clearly proclaimed on every page.

Though the book is a healthy 500+ pages, it is a fairly easy read. I recommend you spent the $30 to get this great resource into your hands. If that price is too steep for you, then spend $20 at Amazon.com. But whatever you do, read The Message Of The New Testament.

Quote Of The Day: C.H. Spurgeon

2007-07-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

“A Welsh minister who was preaching last Sabbath at the chapel of my dear brother, Jonathan George, was saying, that Christ was the sum and substance of the gospel, and he broke out into this story:—A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he went to the old minister, and said, "What do you think of my sermon?" "A very poor sermon indeed," said he. "A poor sermon?" said the young man, "it took me a long time to study it." "Ay, no doubt of it." "Why, did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?" "Oh, yes," said the old preacher, "very good indeed." "Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn't you think the metaphors were appropriate and the arguments conclusive?" "Yes, they were very good as far as that goes, but still it was a very poor sermon." "Will you tell me why you think it a poor sermon?" "Because," said he, "there was no Christ in it." "Well," said the young man, "Christ was not in the text; we are not to be preaching Christ always, we must preach what is in the text." So the old man said, "Don't you know young man that from every town, and every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?" "Yes," said the young man. "Ah!" said the old divine "and so form every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ. And my dear brother, your business in when you get to a text, to say, 'Now what is the road to Christ?' and then preach a sermon, running along the road towards the great metropolis—Christ. And," said he, "I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savour of Christ in it." Now since you say amen to that, and declare that what you want to hear is Jesus Christ, the text is proved—"Unto you therefore which believe he is precious." -- From "Christ Precious to Believers"

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 13th, 1859, by the REV. C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

Your Typical Sunday Sermon

2007-07-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

The article here sounds much like the sermons in your average seeker-sensitive church. I think all one needs to do is add a scripture or two under each point to make sure no one is the wiser and "presto," you have a "Bible-based" sermon.

"Father, bring us preachers to the place where we preach Your Word, not our ideas. Help us to feed Your sheep with Your Word, not vain philosophies. Let lost sinners hear Your Word, not psychology-laced sermonettes. May our preaching be Biblically distinct from what is preached in pseudo-Christian churches across the globe. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen."