Since I've spent the majority of my professional career as a teacher of Scripture, philosophy, and theology, I've often had the opportunity to think about matters of pedagogy and other issues related to instruction. One thing that's always struck me as I have considered what it means to be an effective teacher is that most of the great teachers in history were themselves students of other great instructors. Sorates taught Plato; Plato taught Aristotle; and Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. The entire history of Western ideas has been affected by these four men. In theology, we see that Ambrose of Milan taught Augustine, and Augustine, through his writings, taught both Martin Luther and John Calvin. We owe a great debt to Ambrose, who by discipling Augustine got the ball rolling for the Reformation, in a manner of speaking.
That great teachers produce other great teachers tells us that we can't take the search for a teacher lightly. In fact, our choices of the instructors under whom we sit are among the most crucial and life-altering decisions we will ever make. We should take great care in selecting our instructors, particularly when we're considering those who will train us for our vocations. I've seen too many young people choose a school because it had a beautiful campus or national championship football team, or because of its location. I've seen too many young men and women not consider the faculty when they are evaluating different options for higher education. Yet it is the faculty that matters most. These are the people who have a definitive impact on our future. We have to think carefully about who will be teaching us and what they will teach us at every stage of life, but particularly during our college years.
Several teachers during my underegraduate and graduate years of study had an impact on me that resonates to this day. As an undergraduate student, I chose philosophy as my major because I had a great philosophy professor as my faculty advisor. I was drawn to this man, Dr Thomas Gregory, for his erudition and kindness. I ultimately ended up majoring in philosophy more out of my respect for the man than out of an innate affection for philosophy. I took every course that Dr. Gregory taught and, under his personal influence, developed a love for the history of ideas and the importance of logical thought.
When I was in seminary, I was privileged to have yet another incredible instructor - Dr. John Gerstner - who became my mentor in theology. He was instrumental in my decision to pursue doctoral studies. He insisted that I pursue a doctorate, and though I was initially reluctant, I told him that I would go on to further studies only if I could sit under the best teachers available. Imagine my surprise when Dr. Gerstner identified those individuals as G. C. Berkouwer and the faculty at the Free University of Amsterdam. After talking with Dr. Gerstner at length about it that day, I booked my family's journey to the Netherlands the next. That decision was one of the most important decisions I have ever made, and I don't regret it.
Three years ago, Ligonier Ministries opened Reformation Bible College to provide formal training in the things of God for young men and women. When we were planning the college, I was insistent that we hire the best faculty possible because I knew the quality of our education and its faithfulness to Scripture would be determined finally by our instuctors and the material they would present to our students.
It's ultimately no surprise that great teachers produce other great teachers. That seems to be the way God has designed us. In Scripture,we are called again and again to be disciples, or more precisely, learners. We need teachers if we are to learn, and great teachers raise up great learners who can then go on to produce other great learners. Christ is our preeminent example of this. Because He was a great teacher, He knew what to do in order to take a ragtag bunch of fishermen, Zealots, and tax collectors, and make them into the most influential bunch of learners the world has ever known. From their ranks we have been blessed with great teachers - Matthew, John, Peter, and others whose work continues to impact the world to this day. Of course, these men were inspired by the Holy Spirit in a manner that other teachers aren't. However, Christ's use of them to make disciples of all nations remains a model of how great teachers produce other great teachers.
No matter how great our earthly teachers may be, they will err. We will have to weigh their words against the Spirit-inspired teachings of the Apostles and prophets. But we dare not think we can ever reach a point where we cannot benefit from the teaching of others. Great teachers who are faithful to God's Word are a blessing to God's church. He will use them to build us up so that we can build up others.
(Dr. R. C. Sproul, chancellor of Reformation Bible College, Tabletalk, Sept. 2014, www.ligonier.org)
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Repentance In Brazil
Most people know that Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup. But what they may not kow is that this year's international spotlight on rio de Janeiro is part of a national upturn - an incredible blessing - that started after a group of Brazilian Christians came together to repent.
Rickie Bradshaw, a community transformation leader based in Houston, TX, and one of the many catalysts behind the decade-long prayer movement in Brazil, gives credit to God for this unfolding story of national transformation - both economic and spiritual. "Darkness lingered because of a broken covenant between God and His people," said Bradshaw, summarizing several centuries of Brazil's history. "But once it was addressed in the heavens, God was attracted to the region."
What did this "attraction" look like, and how did it begin? Bradshaw said a milestone came in 2006 with a time of corporate prayer in Recife, a coastal city where 5,000 intercessors met at The Sentinel Group's Transform Brazil conference to learn about revival. As one of six Americans attending the conference, Bradshaw witnessed how Brazilian leaders asked God one question in particular: "Why is the darkness lingering in this region?" They spent time to search and prayerfully wait for specific answers.
Searching for answers meant tracing the darkness to its source. The Transform Brazil team found a telltale clue as they reviewed Brazil's colonial past.
In 1645, there were 1,630 European Jews living in Recife, and under a short period of Dutch rule, these Jews were allowed to openly practice their faith. They thrived and established a vibrant community in the New World Their presence in Brazil boosted the economy through business and trade. However, the prosperity of Brazil's Jewish community made the colony's Portuguese and indigenous populations resentful, and when the Portuguese pushed out the Dutch in 1654, the Jews suffered persecution and were also ordered to leave.
While most of the Jews uprooted to Europe or the Caribbean, a remnant settled on an island called New Amsterdam, now known as New York City. Once again, these industrious Jews built successful businesses and thrived. Today, that island is Manhattan, one of the richest, most significant, and most powerful places in the world.
As the Transform Brazil team uncovered this story of discrimination, they were convicted of the need for repentance. They understood that a great injustice had taken place against a people that had come to create major economic imporvement in Brazil. Had their forefathers been grateful rather than bitter toward the Jews for their prosperity, perhaps Brazil's physical and spiritual landscape woud be different.
The Transform Brazil team pursued reconciliation in a tangible, public way by inviting a group of Jewish rabbis to come on stage while leaders of the converence prostrated themselves and asked forgiveness for what their forefathers had done. In response, the rabbis offered forgiveness and a blessing to the people of Brazil.
This profound act of national repentance and reconciliation galvanized Brazil's Christians. In 2008, Bradshaw returned to Recife for another speaking engagement and reported, "Many people met me on the coast and repented of their sins. I spoke about how the condition of the land directly related to what's going on in the hearts of His people and in a short period of time, thousands rushed to the altar to demonstrate their brokenness and desire for the Kingdom."
Immediately aftger that meeting, a breaking CNN international report on the Petrobras corporation announced the discovery of a giant oil field. The president of Brazil stood on a platform wearing a hard hat and holding a cup of extracted oil, rejoicing that the cup represented the future of Brazil - jobs, education, and medicine.
Coincidence? Bradshaw doesn't think so. He is convinced that repentance is paving the way for healing of the land (Zechariah 1:3 and 2 Chronicles 7:14). Brazil is now number 4 in the global economy (up from number 11) and unemployment is almost non-existent in some cities. Meanwhile, Christian prayer towers are prevalent across the country.
"The World Cup was in Brazil because God wants to bring attention to what is happening there," said Bradshaw. "Christians are giving Him credit. Oil has always been off the coast of Brazil, but nobody could find it - the world's largest oil company struck and missed - and then all of the sudden, when so many repent of national sin, they found it."
(Nichole Arnoldbik, IFA's National director of Communications, Intercessors For America, Sept. 2014,
www.IFAPray.org)
Rickie Bradshaw, a community transformation leader based in Houston, TX, and one of the many catalysts behind the decade-long prayer movement in Brazil, gives credit to God for this unfolding story of national transformation - both economic and spiritual. "Darkness lingered because of a broken covenant between God and His people," said Bradshaw, summarizing several centuries of Brazil's history. "But once it was addressed in the heavens, God was attracted to the region."
What did this "attraction" look like, and how did it begin? Bradshaw said a milestone came in 2006 with a time of corporate prayer in Recife, a coastal city where 5,000 intercessors met at The Sentinel Group's Transform Brazil conference to learn about revival. As one of six Americans attending the conference, Bradshaw witnessed how Brazilian leaders asked God one question in particular: "Why is the darkness lingering in this region?" They spent time to search and prayerfully wait for specific answers.
Searching for answers meant tracing the darkness to its source. The Transform Brazil team found a telltale clue as they reviewed Brazil's colonial past.
In 1645, there were 1,630 European Jews living in Recife, and under a short period of Dutch rule, these Jews were allowed to openly practice their faith. They thrived and established a vibrant community in the New World Their presence in Brazil boosted the economy through business and trade. However, the prosperity of Brazil's Jewish community made the colony's Portuguese and indigenous populations resentful, and when the Portuguese pushed out the Dutch in 1654, the Jews suffered persecution and were also ordered to leave.
While most of the Jews uprooted to Europe or the Caribbean, a remnant settled on an island called New Amsterdam, now known as New York City. Once again, these industrious Jews built successful businesses and thrived. Today, that island is Manhattan, one of the richest, most significant, and most powerful places in the world.
As the Transform Brazil team uncovered this story of discrimination, they were convicted of the need for repentance. They understood that a great injustice had taken place against a people that had come to create major economic imporvement in Brazil. Had their forefathers been grateful rather than bitter toward the Jews for their prosperity, perhaps Brazil's physical and spiritual landscape woud be different.
The Transform Brazil team pursued reconciliation in a tangible, public way by inviting a group of Jewish rabbis to come on stage while leaders of the converence prostrated themselves and asked forgiveness for what their forefathers had done. In response, the rabbis offered forgiveness and a blessing to the people of Brazil.
This profound act of national repentance and reconciliation galvanized Brazil's Christians. In 2008, Bradshaw returned to Recife for another speaking engagement and reported, "Many people met me on the coast and repented of their sins. I spoke about how the condition of the land directly related to what's going on in the hearts of His people and in a short period of time, thousands rushed to the altar to demonstrate their brokenness and desire for the Kingdom."
Immediately aftger that meeting, a breaking CNN international report on the Petrobras corporation announced the discovery of a giant oil field. The president of Brazil stood on a platform wearing a hard hat and holding a cup of extracted oil, rejoicing that the cup represented the future of Brazil - jobs, education, and medicine.
Coincidence? Bradshaw doesn't think so. He is convinced that repentance is paving the way for healing of the land (Zechariah 1:3 and 2 Chronicles 7:14). Brazil is now number 4 in the global economy (up from number 11) and unemployment is almost non-existent in some cities. Meanwhile, Christian prayer towers are prevalent across the country.
"The World Cup was in Brazil because God wants to bring attention to what is happening there," said Bradshaw. "Christians are giving Him credit. Oil has always been off the coast of Brazil, but nobody could find it - the world's largest oil company struck and missed - and then all of the sudden, when so many repent of national sin, they found it."
(Nichole Arnoldbik, IFA's National director of Communications, Intercessors For America, Sept. 2014,
www.IFAPray.org)
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
The Lessons of Calvin's 1541 Institutes
The lessons of Calvin's 1541 Institutes - What lessons does the author of the Institutes have to teach us?
Historically speaking, two things stand out. The first is the Reformer's debt to the Church Fathers of the third, fourth and fifth centuries, above all to Augustine and Chrysostom. The Fathers were by no means infallible, but they proved to be helpful allies in Calvin's endeavour to show that the evangelical faith was not a chicken newly hatched from Luther's egg. On occasion they articulate vital truths with beautiful economy. In the second place we are reminded of the broad front on which Calvin is obliged to fight. On the right is Rome's massive orthodoxy, refined by Scholastics of the quality of Lombard and Aquinas and super-refined by their less gifted imitators. On the left is a myriad of dissenting movements - Anabaptism, spiritualism, antinomianism, antitrinitarianism and the most shadowy "ism" of all - scepticism. The opposition to Rome and to the papacy is of course fundamental, but it is not exclusive.
On another, more important, level, the Institutes remind us that there is a good and a bad way to do theology. Speculative theology, which asks questions the Scriptures do not answer, or intuitive theology, which works upwards from man to God, is bad theology. The human mind cannot fathom the unfathomable. Calvin is adamant that only God can speak of God, and in words which accommodate themselves to our weakenss. Since we do not recognize God in his works of creation and of providence, we must seek him in his written Word, whose witness is sealed to us by his Holy Spirit. the Institutes of 1539/1541 contains well over two thousand biblical references, widely spread but with a marked concentration on the Psalms, Isaiah, the first and fourth Gospels, Romans and 1 Corinthians. Nor is Scripture a convenient peg on which doctrine may be hung, more or less at will; it is the indispensable foundation on which doctrine rests, the standard by which it is judged, and the rule by which it is corrected.
While election figures prominently in the Institutes as central to the plan of salvation, it is presented as an act not so much of God's sovereign power as of his merciful providence. By itself, election does not exhaust Calvin's understanding of redemption. The Institutes, faithful to the New Testament witness to Jesus Christ, lay much stress on the humanity of the Son of God. The necessity of the incarnation is driven home by a series of rapid questions. How could the Son mediate between God and man and intercede for sinners "if he were not our close neighbour, allied to us, a high priest able to pity our infirmities"? How could we be confident that we were God's children, without the guarantee that God's Son "took his body from ours, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, to become one with us", making ours by grace what was his by right? Who could make satisfaction for sin before a just and holy God, but the one "who bore the penalty for sin in the very flesh in which sin had been committed"? How could death be endured "except by one who is Man, and be overcome except by one who is God"?
Only by embracing Christ can we know God as Father. Only as the Son consents to be our brother does his Father become "our Father". The resulting family relationship - expressed more often by the image of adoption - so binds us to Christ that we are made one with him, grafted into him, joined to him together with all who are born of God's Spirit. "If we love Jesus Christ we will love him in our brothers."
On the cardinal doctrine of justification Calvin is at one with all the mainstream Reformers. For Christ's sake believers are accounted righteous by grace through faith. However, grace which renders us blameless before God but which leaves sanctification to us is not grace in all its fullness. While the pursuit of holiness is incumbent on every Christian, the author of the Institutes insists that justification and sanctification are inseparable, though distinct. God's will, he reminds us, was "to sanctify us by the offering of Jesus Christ made once and for all" (Heb. 10:10). "To receive Christ's righteousness," says Calvin, "we must first possess him. And we cannot possess him without sharing in his sanctification, since he cannot be divided into pieces. By sharing in Christ we are no less sanctified than justified." Our sancitification is therefore complete in Christ: it ought to be manifest in our works. That our works habitually fall short should drive us continually to repentance, to prayer, and to more earnest effort, but not to despair. Christ who is our wisdom, righteousness and redemption, is also our sanctification (1 Cor.1:30).
(Robert White, translator of 1541 edition of Calvin's Institutes, The Banner of Truth, Aug.-Sept. 2014)
Historically speaking, two things stand out. The first is the Reformer's debt to the Church Fathers of the third, fourth and fifth centuries, above all to Augustine and Chrysostom. The Fathers were by no means infallible, but they proved to be helpful allies in Calvin's endeavour to show that the evangelical faith was not a chicken newly hatched from Luther's egg. On occasion they articulate vital truths with beautiful economy. In the second place we are reminded of the broad front on which Calvin is obliged to fight. On the right is Rome's massive orthodoxy, refined by Scholastics of the quality of Lombard and Aquinas and super-refined by their less gifted imitators. On the left is a myriad of dissenting movements - Anabaptism, spiritualism, antinomianism, antitrinitarianism and the most shadowy "ism" of all - scepticism. The opposition to Rome and to the papacy is of course fundamental, but it is not exclusive.
On another, more important, level, the Institutes remind us that there is a good and a bad way to do theology. Speculative theology, which asks questions the Scriptures do not answer, or intuitive theology, which works upwards from man to God, is bad theology. The human mind cannot fathom the unfathomable. Calvin is adamant that only God can speak of God, and in words which accommodate themselves to our weakenss. Since we do not recognize God in his works of creation and of providence, we must seek him in his written Word, whose witness is sealed to us by his Holy Spirit. the Institutes of 1539/1541 contains well over two thousand biblical references, widely spread but with a marked concentration on the Psalms, Isaiah, the first and fourth Gospels, Romans and 1 Corinthians. Nor is Scripture a convenient peg on which doctrine may be hung, more or less at will; it is the indispensable foundation on which doctrine rests, the standard by which it is judged, and the rule by which it is corrected.
While election figures prominently in the Institutes as central to the plan of salvation, it is presented as an act not so much of God's sovereign power as of his merciful providence. By itself, election does not exhaust Calvin's understanding of redemption. The Institutes, faithful to the New Testament witness to Jesus Christ, lay much stress on the humanity of the Son of God. The necessity of the incarnation is driven home by a series of rapid questions. How could the Son mediate between God and man and intercede for sinners "if he were not our close neighbour, allied to us, a high priest able to pity our infirmities"? How could we be confident that we were God's children, without the guarantee that God's Son "took his body from ours, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, to become one with us", making ours by grace what was his by right? Who could make satisfaction for sin before a just and holy God, but the one "who bore the penalty for sin in the very flesh in which sin had been committed"? How could death be endured "except by one who is Man, and be overcome except by one who is God"?
Only by embracing Christ can we know God as Father. Only as the Son consents to be our brother does his Father become "our Father". The resulting family relationship - expressed more often by the image of adoption - so binds us to Christ that we are made one with him, grafted into him, joined to him together with all who are born of God's Spirit. "If we love Jesus Christ we will love him in our brothers."
On the cardinal doctrine of justification Calvin is at one with all the mainstream Reformers. For Christ's sake believers are accounted righteous by grace through faith. However, grace which renders us blameless before God but which leaves sanctification to us is not grace in all its fullness. While the pursuit of holiness is incumbent on every Christian, the author of the Institutes insists that justification and sanctification are inseparable, though distinct. God's will, he reminds us, was "to sanctify us by the offering of Jesus Christ made once and for all" (Heb. 10:10). "To receive Christ's righteousness," says Calvin, "we must first possess him. And we cannot possess him without sharing in his sanctification, since he cannot be divided into pieces. By sharing in Christ we are no less sanctified than justified." Our sancitification is therefore complete in Christ: it ought to be manifest in our works. That our works habitually fall short should drive us continually to repentance, to prayer, and to more earnest effort, but not to despair. Christ who is our wisdom, righteousness and redemption, is also our sanctification (1 Cor.1:30).
(Robert White, translator of 1541 edition of Calvin's Institutes, The Banner of Truth, Aug.-Sept. 2014)
Saturday, August 9, 2014
God Our Saviour
I Timothy 1:1
The fact that here in the Pastorals the name Saviour is frequently applied to God is, after all, not at all surprising, for even in his earlier epistles Paul frequently ascribes the work of saving man to "God"; for example, "It was God's good-pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe"; "but God . . . made us alive together with Christ....for by grace have you been saved through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God"; your salvation, and that from God". To "God" he also ascribes thedistinct acts in the programme of salvation.It is God who spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all. It is God who sets forth his son as a propitiation for our sins. It is he who commends his love toward us. It is God who blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Foreknowledge, foreordination, calling, justification, glorification are all ascribed to him. It is he who chose us. It is he who causes the gospel to be proclaimed. It is he who bestows his grace upon us. Faith is his gift. In view of all this we can almost say that it would have been strange if somewhere in his epistles the apostle would not have called God "our saviour". Calling God "our Saviour" is entirely proper. And since for Paul God ever saves through Christ, verse 1 is also a fitting prelude to verse 15: "Christ Jesus came into the world sinners to save."
(Rev. William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary, Banner of Truth Trust, Aug.-Sept 2014)
The fact that here in the Pastorals the name Saviour is frequently applied to God is, after all, not at all surprising, for even in his earlier epistles Paul frequently ascribes the work of saving man to "God"; for example, "It was God's good-pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe"; "but God . . . made us alive together with Christ....for by grace have you been saved through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God"; your salvation, and that from God". To "God" he also ascribes thedistinct acts in the programme of salvation.It is God who spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all. It is God who sets forth his son as a propitiation for our sins. It is he who commends his love toward us. It is God who blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Foreknowledge, foreordination, calling, justification, glorification are all ascribed to him. It is he who chose us. It is he who causes the gospel to be proclaimed. It is he who bestows his grace upon us. Faith is his gift. In view of all this we can almost say that it would have been strange if somewhere in his epistles the apostle would not have called God "our saviour". Calling God "our Saviour" is entirely proper. And since for Paul God ever saves through Christ, verse 1 is also a fitting prelude to verse 15: "Christ Jesus came into the world sinners to save."
(Rev. William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary, Banner of Truth Trust, Aug.-Sept 2014)
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Forerunner of the Reformation
John Wycliffe was the morning star of the Reformation. He was a protestant and a reformer more than a century before Martin Luther ignited the Protestant Reformation in 1517. Through Wycliffe, God planted the seeds of the Reformation, He watered the seeds through John Hus, and He brought the flower of the Reformation to bloom through Martin Luther. The seed of the flower of the German Augustinian monk Luther's 95 theses was planted by the English scholar and churchman John Wycliffe.
Wycliffe died on New Year's Eve, 1384. Three decades later, he was condemned as a heretic. In 1415, the Council of Constance condemned the Bohemian reformer John Hus (c. 1370-1415) and burned him at the stake, and it condemned Wycliffe on 260 counts of heresy. The council ordered that Wycliffe's bones be exhumed, removed from the honored burial grounds of the church, and burned, and his ashes scattered. More than a decade later, the Roman Catholic Church sought to counteract the spreading heresies of Wycliffe and his followers, the Lollards, by establishing Lincoln College, Oxford, under the leadership of Bishop Richard Fleming. Although the pope could condemn Wycliffe's teachings and scatter his bones, he was unable to stamp out his influence. Wycliffe's ashes were scattered into the River Swift in England's Midlands, and as one journalist later observed: "They burnt his bones to ashes and cast them into the Swift, a neighboring brook running hard by. Thus the brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon; Avon into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas; and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine which now is dispersed the world over."
Wycliffe was committed to the authority and inspiration of Holy Scripture, declaring, "Holy Scripture is the highest authority for every believer, the standard of faith and the foundation for reform in religious, political and social life....in itself it is perfectly sufficient for salvation, without the addition of customs or traditions." As such, Wycliffe oversaw the translation of the Bible from Latin into the English vernacular. This was a radical undertaking, and it was against the express mandate of the papacy. His understanding of Scripture naturally led to his understanding of justification by faith alone, as he declared, "Trust wholly in Christ. Rely altogether on his sufferings. Beware of seeking to be justified in any other way than by his righteousness. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation."
In the fourteenth century, at the dawn of the Reformation, Wycliffe shone as a burning and shining light of gospel truth, and his doctrine mirrored his life as one who lived by God's grace and before God's face, coram Deo, and for God's glory. Soli Deo gloria.
(Dr. Burk Parsons, editor of Tabletalk magazine, Tabletalk, July 2014, www.ligonier.org)
Wycliffe died on New Year's Eve, 1384. Three decades later, he was condemned as a heretic. In 1415, the Council of Constance condemned the Bohemian reformer John Hus (c. 1370-1415) and burned him at the stake, and it condemned Wycliffe on 260 counts of heresy. The council ordered that Wycliffe's bones be exhumed, removed from the honored burial grounds of the church, and burned, and his ashes scattered. More than a decade later, the Roman Catholic Church sought to counteract the spreading heresies of Wycliffe and his followers, the Lollards, by establishing Lincoln College, Oxford, under the leadership of Bishop Richard Fleming. Although the pope could condemn Wycliffe's teachings and scatter his bones, he was unable to stamp out his influence. Wycliffe's ashes were scattered into the River Swift in England's Midlands, and as one journalist later observed: "They burnt his bones to ashes and cast them into the Swift, a neighboring brook running hard by. Thus the brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon; Avon into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas; and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine which now is dispersed the world over."
Wycliffe was committed to the authority and inspiration of Holy Scripture, declaring, "Holy Scripture is the highest authority for every believer, the standard of faith and the foundation for reform in religious, political and social life....in itself it is perfectly sufficient for salvation, without the addition of customs or traditions." As such, Wycliffe oversaw the translation of the Bible from Latin into the English vernacular. This was a radical undertaking, and it was against the express mandate of the papacy. His understanding of Scripture naturally led to his understanding of justification by faith alone, as he declared, "Trust wholly in Christ. Rely altogether on his sufferings. Beware of seeking to be justified in any other way than by his righteousness. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation."
In the fourteenth century, at the dawn of the Reformation, Wycliffe shone as a burning and shining light of gospel truth, and his doctrine mirrored his life as one who lived by God's grace and before God's face, coram Deo, and for God's glory. Soli Deo gloria.
(Dr. Burk Parsons, editor of Tabletalk magazine, Tabletalk, July 2014, www.ligonier.org)
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
What Would Jesus Say? (And How Would He Say It?)
Christians today sometimes seem more concerned about the tone of what they say than the truth of it. Many a twenty-first-century church leader apparently thinks he is obliged to yield quietly to majority opinion on moral issues - while carefully observing all the rules of postmodern propriety.
Jesus was not like that. He was no domesticated clergyman with a starched collar and genteel manners; He was a bold prophet who regularly challenged the canons of political correctness.
The first word of Jesus' first sermon was repent - a term that was no more welcome then than it is today. Those without any sense of personal guilt - including the vast majority of religious leaders - were of course immediately offended. They were convinced that they were good enough to merit God's favor. Who was this man to summon them to repentance? They turned away from Jesus in angry unbelief.
The first act of Jesus' public ministry touched off a small riot. He made a whip of cords and chased money-changers and merchants out of the temple. That initiated a three-year-long conflict with the religious leaders. They ultimately handed Him over for crucifixion while crowds of laypeople cheered them on.
Would He receive a warmer welcome today from religious leaders, the media elite, or the political gentry? Anyone who has seriously considered the New Testament knows the answer. Postmodern culture is devoted to relativism. The average person is contemptuous of all absolute or exclusive truth-claims; convinced that self-love is the greatest love of all; satisfied that people are fundamentally good; and desperately wanting to believe that each of us is endowed with a spark of divinity.
To such people's ears, Jesus' message strikes a discordant note. He said: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" (Luke 9:23-25) and, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (14:26).
How would Jesus contextualize that message for a pluralistic, tolerant, self-indulgent society like ours? I'm convinced His approach today would be the very same that we see in the Bible. To smug, self-satisfied, arrogant sinners (including multitudes on church rolls), His words would sound harsh, shocking, provocative. But to "the poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3) - those who are exhausted and spent by the rages of sin, desperate for forgiveness, and without any hope of atoning for their own sin - Jesus' call to repentant faith remains the very gateway to eternal life.
(Dr.John MacArthur, president of The Master's College and Seminary, Tabletalk, July 2014, www.ligonier.org)
Jesus was not like that. He was no domesticated clergyman with a starched collar and genteel manners; He was a bold prophet who regularly challenged the canons of political correctness.
The first word of Jesus' first sermon was repent - a term that was no more welcome then than it is today. Those without any sense of personal guilt - including the vast majority of religious leaders - were of course immediately offended. They were convinced that they were good enough to merit God's favor. Who was this man to summon them to repentance? They turned away from Jesus in angry unbelief.
The first act of Jesus' public ministry touched off a small riot. He made a whip of cords and chased money-changers and merchants out of the temple. That initiated a three-year-long conflict with the religious leaders. They ultimately handed Him over for crucifixion while crowds of laypeople cheered them on.
Would He receive a warmer welcome today from religious leaders, the media elite, or the political gentry? Anyone who has seriously considered the New Testament knows the answer. Postmodern culture is devoted to relativism. The average person is contemptuous of all absolute or exclusive truth-claims; convinced that self-love is the greatest love of all; satisfied that people are fundamentally good; and desperately wanting to believe that each of us is endowed with a spark of divinity.
To such people's ears, Jesus' message strikes a discordant note. He said: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" (Luke 9:23-25) and, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (14:26).
How would Jesus contextualize that message for a pluralistic, tolerant, self-indulgent society like ours? I'm convinced His approach today would be the very same that we see in the Bible. To smug, self-satisfied, arrogant sinners (including multitudes on church rolls), His words would sound harsh, shocking, provocative. But to "the poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3) - those who are exhausted and spent by the rages of sin, desperate for forgiveness, and without any hope of atoning for their own sin - Jesus' call to repentant faith remains the very gateway to eternal life.
(Dr.John MacArthur, president of The Master's College and Seminary, Tabletalk, July 2014, www.ligonier.org)
Monday, July 14, 2014
Remembering Those Who Risked It All For FReedom
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the Declaration of Independence, which was appproved on July 4, 1776, by the C ontinental Congress, is the mere fact that it exists.
Nowhere, ever, had a people offered to the world an open moral defense of their revolutionary, law-breaking intentions, at a moment when their actions on the battlefield appeared more suicidal than hopeful.
And nowhere, ever, before or after, has the cause of freedom been presented more perfectly, poetically or beautifully
All the men who signed the Declaration knew they were possibly signing away their lives and everything else dear to them. What was "revolution" for them was treason from the English Crown's point of view, and the punishment if they were caught would be torture and death at the hands of English soldiers - the most lethal military in the world at that time.
The macabre seriousness of the occasion was forever memorialized in the closing line of the Declaration, as the signers pledged their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor." Their pledge remains somewhat famous. But often people forget to whom the pledge was made: they pledged all they had not to God and not to the citizenry at large. Their pledge was to one another.
They knew well that if any betrayed the trust among them, the revolution would fail and freedom would have to wait for another time, another place. But their loyalty to each other and to the cause of freedom was unbreakable. And we today are the beneficiaries of their mutual loyalty.
The moral and political premise of the Declaration of Independence was a simple yet radical idea: Every human being - regardless of the time or place of birth, or gender, or the color of one'skin, or the language one speaks,or the gods one worships - possesses by nature a body that houses a free mind. In this way, all men truly are created equal. That's the simple part.
From this simple observation flow radical implications: If a body is home to a free mind, then that mind is the only truly rightful governor of that body. Self-government is right because it is woven into the fabric of human nature.
Any form of slavery or tyranny - any attempt of the mind of one person to own,control or abuse the body of another - is therefore wrong. Every moral wrong between human beings is a testament to the rightness of human equality.
Further, if a free mind directs the body it governs to create something, invent something, produce something useful, then the fruit of that labor belongs solely to the mind that made it. It belongs to no one else. Here we see that the idea of property is less economic, emphatically moral.
No one has a right to any property or any wealth that has been produced or earned by someone else. The inventions of some people are never the rights of others.
Consider: No one knows what future products or services technology might invent. But we know that no one has a right to them. You're free to work and earn and save in order to buy them, of course. But you have no right to them. If you did, then others would have an obligation now to invent them. Who has such an obligation? Answer: no one. And therefore no one has a right to anything that might be invented or produced by others, now or later.
From all this, a radical new vision of government arose in America: The purpose of government would be limited to protecting the natural freedoms, natural rights and property of those who mutually and voluntarily consent to form a government.
A government of limited purpose should be a government of limited power, which is precisely why the U. S. Constitution was written and ratified - to enumerate the few powers We The People grant to the government we created, and to make clear that government may not rightfully do anything else. Period.
More: Citizens have good reason to trust one another, because none has any legal authority to take anything away from or harm others. But government is different. Every law, every regulation, every rule and order and decree issued from government is ultimately backed up by the barrel of a gun. Government is a monopoly of force.
So while government may always be necessary, it's also always dangerous. A people who are wise and expect to remain free might extend civic trust to one another, but they should bind their government officials by the chains of the Constitution.
And if ever government exerises unjust and unauthorized powers, and we have no peaceful remedy available to us, we always reserve the natural right to choose revolution once again, just like we did on July 4, 1776. That's what freedom looks like. And that's what Independence Day is all about.
So let us celebrate this Fourth of July, 2014. As you enjoy the fireworks after sunset, let them be a reminderof the explosive fighting and dying required to establish the freedom you enjoy today. Remember how they fought, that for which they fought, and why we all are better off for it.
(Thomas Krannawitter, former professor of politics at Hillsdale College, now president of Speakeasy Ideas, Investors Business Daily, July 7, 2014)
Nowhere, ever, had a people offered to the world an open moral defense of their revolutionary, law-breaking intentions, at a moment when their actions on the battlefield appeared more suicidal than hopeful.
And nowhere, ever, before or after, has the cause of freedom been presented more perfectly, poetically or beautifully
All the men who signed the Declaration knew they were possibly signing away their lives and everything else dear to them. What was "revolution" for them was treason from the English Crown's point of view, and the punishment if they were caught would be torture and death at the hands of English soldiers - the most lethal military in the world at that time.
The macabre seriousness of the occasion was forever memorialized in the closing line of the Declaration, as the signers pledged their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor." Their pledge remains somewhat famous. But often people forget to whom the pledge was made: they pledged all they had not to God and not to the citizenry at large. Their pledge was to one another.
They knew well that if any betrayed the trust among them, the revolution would fail and freedom would have to wait for another time, another place. But their loyalty to each other and to the cause of freedom was unbreakable. And we today are the beneficiaries of their mutual loyalty.
The moral and political premise of the Declaration of Independence was a simple yet radical idea: Every human being - regardless of the time or place of birth, or gender, or the color of one'skin, or the language one speaks,or the gods one worships - possesses by nature a body that houses a free mind. In this way, all men truly are created equal. That's the simple part.
From this simple observation flow radical implications: If a body is home to a free mind, then that mind is the only truly rightful governor of that body. Self-government is right because it is woven into the fabric of human nature.
Any form of slavery or tyranny - any attempt of the mind of one person to own,control or abuse the body of another - is therefore wrong. Every moral wrong between human beings is a testament to the rightness of human equality.
Further, if a free mind directs the body it governs to create something, invent something, produce something useful, then the fruit of that labor belongs solely to the mind that made it. It belongs to no one else. Here we see that the idea of property is less economic, emphatically moral.
No one has a right to any property or any wealth that has been produced or earned by someone else. The inventions of some people are never the rights of others.
Consider: No one knows what future products or services technology might invent. But we know that no one has a right to them. You're free to work and earn and save in order to buy them, of course. But you have no right to them. If you did, then others would have an obligation now to invent them. Who has such an obligation? Answer: no one. And therefore no one has a right to anything that might be invented or produced by others, now or later.
From all this, a radical new vision of government arose in America: The purpose of government would be limited to protecting the natural freedoms, natural rights and property of those who mutually and voluntarily consent to form a government.
A government of limited purpose should be a government of limited power, which is precisely why the U. S. Constitution was written and ratified - to enumerate the few powers We The People grant to the government we created, and to make clear that government may not rightfully do anything else. Period.
More: Citizens have good reason to trust one another, because none has any legal authority to take anything away from or harm others. But government is different. Every law, every regulation, every rule and order and decree issued from government is ultimately backed up by the barrel of a gun. Government is a monopoly of force.
So while government may always be necessary, it's also always dangerous. A people who are wise and expect to remain free might extend civic trust to one another, but they should bind their government officials by the chains of the Constitution.
And if ever government exerises unjust and unauthorized powers, and we have no peaceful remedy available to us, we always reserve the natural right to choose revolution once again, just like we did on July 4, 1776. That's what freedom looks like. And that's what Independence Day is all about.
So let us celebrate this Fourth of July, 2014. As you enjoy the fireworks after sunset, let them be a reminderof the explosive fighting and dying required to establish the freedom you enjoy today. Remember how they fought, that for which they fought, and why we all are better off for it.
(Thomas Krannawitter, former professor of politics at Hillsdale College, now president of Speakeasy Ideas, Investors Business Daily, July 7, 2014)
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Proclaim the Truth
What do you think is considered the most-performed music and message of all time? If you guessed Handael's Messiah, you are right. One of the texts chosen for the oratorio masterpiece is from Psalm 2:1-4: "The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord,...He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." Though the scriputres reveal that the blaspheming of God and Christ will know no bounds, the Lord will have the last laugh.
Indeed, the same thing is expressed in Psalm 59:8, preceded by verse 7 which says, quoting from the Amplified Bible, "Behold they belch out (insults) with their mouths; swords (of sarcasm, ridicule, slander, and lies) are in their lips, for who, they think, hears us?" Man's wickedness is revealed not only in his actions, but in his verbal cruelty and deception. And it can be very hard to stand against the verbal onslaught.
Over the years, I"ve been struck by the venom and vitriol of evolutionists against biblical creationists. Insults, ridicule and censorship are the norm from evolutionists. Consider the following attacks on creationist books in Amazon's customer reviews: "A shallow litany of ludicrous non-peer reviewed argument." "A veritable bestiary of methodological super-naturalists operating at the edge of inanity - and only one 's' away from insanity." Excuse me? Do I need to remind you that creationists get censored from peer-reviewed journals because we don't fit the evolutionist "mold"? And remember this - clever insults are not arguments. Yet,the constant ridicule does take its toll on many and is a powerful weapon wielded by the enemy.
Toward the end of his life, C.S. Lewis wished that he had attacked and exposed evolution as "the central and radical lie in the whole web of falsehood that governs our lives." He said he could confirm its deception from the vigor with which evolution's defenders denied any alternative - "the fanatical and twisted attitudes of its defenders", he said in his letter to Capt. Bernard Acworth of the Evolution Protest Movement, 1951.
Ridicule of young earth creationists comes even from other Christian quarters - including otherwise "conservative" Christians who, for example, have subscribed to the "Gap Theory" or to some form of "progressive" creation compromise. Indeed, their withering ridicule works to suppress conversation, obscure the actual arguments and turn friends into foes.
The tactic of insult and ridicule is followed up by punishment of dissent - hence, the outlawing of criticism of evolution in the public schools. And the silencing of debate is now being applied to other dubious and/or immoral issues championed by the modern world - such as "climate change" and homosexual "rights". Those who disagree are insulted, ridiculed and punished.
Consider how "global warming" has morphed into "climate change", so that people who disagree about the effects of man-made "carbon dioxide pollution" are now labeled as "climate deniers" and "science deniers".
Such is the "belching" of insults and the "swords" of ridicule being brought to bear against those who question the "wisdom" of this world. Secretary of State John Kerry, for example, recently said in a speech that "climate change " is perhaps "the world's most fearsome destructive weapon" and mocked those who question it as "members of the Flat Earth Society." Sound familiar?
And, of course,anybody who criticizes the LGBT agenda is labeled a bigot or a homophobe, an attempt to bully people into silence. Cities, states and private companies are now punishing those who disagree about gender-neutral bathrooms or about forcing businesses to participate in gay marriages. They are also trying to force us to agree with the firing of executives who donate on behalf of traditional marriage, as happened recently with Internet search engine Mozilla's CEO. The fascist/totalitarian nature of these reactions mirrors what has been happening for many years with biblical creationists.
A "silver lining" to these developments is that as the worldly ideologues push their other agendas, it helps expose their complete bias regarding creation science. The argument is not and has never really been about science. It has always been about promoting the secularist worldview and agenda.....and silencing those of us with a biblical worldview.
We (Creation Moments) must continue to refute the various arguments and accusations of the worldly philosophers of evolution - including the wolves in sheep's clothing within the visible Church. We cannot and must not let ridicule, slander and lies slience the proclamation of God's foundational truths!
(Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman, Creation Moments, Inc., www.creationmoments.com)
Indeed, the same thing is expressed in Psalm 59:8, preceded by verse 7 which says, quoting from the Amplified Bible, "Behold they belch out (insults) with their mouths; swords (of sarcasm, ridicule, slander, and lies) are in their lips, for who, they think, hears us?" Man's wickedness is revealed not only in his actions, but in his verbal cruelty and deception. And it can be very hard to stand against the verbal onslaught.
Over the years, I"ve been struck by the venom and vitriol of evolutionists against biblical creationists. Insults, ridicule and censorship are the norm from evolutionists. Consider the following attacks on creationist books in Amazon's customer reviews: "A shallow litany of ludicrous non-peer reviewed argument." "A veritable bestiary of methodological super-naturalists operating at the edge of inanity - and only one 's' away from insanity." Excuse me? Do I need to remind you that creationists get censored from peer-reviewed journals because we don't fit the evolutionist "mold"? And remember this - clever insults are not arguments. Yet,the constant ridicule does take its toll on many and is a powerful weapon wielded by the enemy.
Toward the end of his life, C.S. Lewis wished that he had attacked and exposed evolution as "the central and radical lie in the whole web of falsehood that governs our lives." He said he could confirm its deception from the vigor with which evolution's defenders denied any alternative - "the fanatical and twisted attitudes of its defenders", he said in his letter to Capt. Bernard Acworth of the Evolution Protest Movement, 1951.
Ridicule of young earth creationists comes even from other Christian quarters - including otherwise "conservative" Christians who, for example, have subscribed to the "Gap Theory" or to some form of "progressive" creation compromise. Indeed, their withering ridicule works to suppress conversation, obscure the actual arguments and turn friends into foes.
The tactic of insult and ridicule is followed up by punishment of dissent - hence, the outlawing of criticism of evolution in the public schools. And the silencing of debate is now being applied to other dubious and/or immoral issues championed by the modern world - such as "climate change" and homosexual "rights". Those who disagree are insulted, ridiculed and punished.
Consider how "global warming" has morphed into "climate change", so that people who disagree about the effects of man-made "carbon dioxide pollution" are now labeled as "climate deniers" and "science deniers".
Such is the "belching" of insults and the "swords" of ridicule being brought to bear against those who question the "wisdom" of this world. Secretary of State John Kerry, for example, recently said in a speech that "climate change " is perhaps "the world's most fearsome destructive weapon" and mocked those who question it as "members of the Flat Earth Society." Sound familiar?
And, of course,anybody who criticizes the LGBT agenda is labeled a bigot or a homophobe, an attempt to bully people into silence. Cities, states and private companies are now punishing those who disagree about gender-neutral bathrooms or about forcing businesses to participate in gay marriages. They are also trying to force us to agree with the firing of executives who donate on behalf of traditional marriage, as happened recently with Internet search engine Mozilla's CEO. The fascist/totalitarian nature of these reactions mirrors what has been happening for many years with biblical creationists.
A "silver lining" to these developments is that as the worldly ideologues push their other agendas, it helps expose their complete bias regarding creation science. The argument is not and has never really been about science. It has always been about promoting the secularist worldview and agenda.....and silencing those of us with a biblical worldview.
We (Creation Moments) must continue to refute the various arguments and accusations of the worldly philosophers of evolution - including the wolves in sheep's clothing within the visible Church. We cannot and must not let ridicule, slander and lies slience the proclamation of God's foundational truths!
(Mark Cadwallader, Board Chairman, Creation Moments, Inc., www.creationmoments.com)
Saturday, June 28, 2014
The Faith of God's Elect
We turn our attention to a consideration of the necessity, nature, and fruits of saving faith.
Dozens of texts could be cited to prove the necessity of faith if we are to enter into the blessings of God's salvation in Christ. However, I have chosen four texts that epitomize the universal teaching of the Word of God concerning the necessity for saving faith:
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. (Rom. 1:16)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. (Eph. 2:8)
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 3:23)
If we are to experience the salvation procured for sinners and sincerely offered to us in the gospel, we must understand the nature of this saving faith.
God nowhere gives us one succinct definition of the nature of saving faith. He has done something far better. He has given us multiple pictures and analogies of what constitutes saving faith. The following are but a sampling of the many pictures of saving faith scattered throughout the Scriptures:
- Receiving Christ (John 1:12; Col.2:6).
- Drinking from Christ (John 7:37-38; Rev. 22:17).
- Looking to Christ (John 3:14-15).
- Coming to Christ (John 7:37; 1 Peter 2:4).
- Calling upon Christ (Rom. 10:13).
- Fleeing to Christ (Heb. 6:18).
- Feeding upon Christ (John 6:35).
In all of these pictures of the nature of saving faith, it is clear that the object of such faith is not one or more aspects of the person or work of Christ - rather, Christ Himself in the uniqueness of His person and the perfection of His work is the object of our faith.
Christ accomplishes His saving work in the exercise of his threefold office as our prophet, priest, and king. Through saving faith, we receive and entrust ourselves to a whole Christ - as a prophet to teach us, as a priest who sacrificed Himself and intercedes for us, and as a king to rule over and defend us.
I ask you, do you truly embrace the Christ of Scripture as your prophet, your priest, and your king?
(Rev. Albert N. Martin, Tabletalk, June 2014)
Dozens of texts could be cited to prove the necessity of faith if we are to enter into the blessings of God's salvation in Christ. However, I have chosen four texts that epitomize the universal teaching of the Word of God concerning the necessity for saving faith:
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. (Rom. 1:16)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. (Eph. 2:8)
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 3:23)
If we are to experience the salvation procured for sinners and sincerely offered to us in the gospel, we must understand the nature of this saving faith.
God nowhere gives us one succinct definition of the nature of saving faith. He has done something far better. He has given us multiple pictures and analogies of what constitutes saving faith. The following are but a sampling of the many pictures of saving faith scattered throughout the Scriptures:
- Receiving Christ (John 1:12; Col.2:6).
- Drinking from Christ (John 7:37-38; Rev. 22:17).
- Looking to Christ (John 3:14-15).
- Coming to Christ (John 7:37; 1 Peter 2:4).
- Calling upon Christ (Rom. 10:13).
- Fleeing to Christ (Heb. 6:18).
- Feeding upon Christ (John 6:35).
In all of these pictures of the nature of saving faith, it is clear that the object of such faith is not one or more aspects of the person or work of Christ - rather, Christ Himself in the uniqueness of His person and the perfection of His work is the object of our faith.
Christ accomplishes His saving work in the exercise of his threefold office as our prophet, priest, and king. Through saving faith, we receive and entrust ourselves to a whole Christ - as a prophet to teach us, as a priest who sacrificed Himself and intercedes for us, and as a king to rule over and defend us.
I ask you, do you truly embrace the Christ of Scripture as your prophet, your priest, and your king?
(Rev. Albert N. Martin, Tabletalk, June 2014)
Thursday, June 26, 2014
What is Right? What is Wrong?
Who Says??
What is right? What is wrong? And who gets to determine the answers to these questions? For a nation to be truly united, most of its citizens must agree on the answers to these questions - or at least agree that there are answers to be found. For years, most Americans have turned to a belief in God and the Bible for answers. From the Creation story to the Ten Commandments to the Gospels to the Epistles, the Bible provided an explanation for the meaning of life and instructed us in moral principles. We held to a Judeo-Christian standard while respecting the beliefs of those who didn't share them, and that standard saved us from confusion. Today, fewer people believe in the Bible, or even in absolute truth, and our rejection of an objective moral standard has thrown our society into disarray. If in fact we do really believe in God and His word, many of the moral "gray" issues of today become black and white.
( Dr. Ben Carson, One Nation, 2014, pgs192-193)
What is right? What is wrong? And who gets to determine the answers to these questions? For a nation to be truly united, most of its citizens must agree on the answers to these questions - or at least agree that there are answers to be found. For years, most Americans have turned to a belief in God and the Bible for answers. From the Creation story to the Ten Commandments to the Gospels to the Epistles, the Bible provided an explanation for the meaning of life and instructed us in moral principles. We held to a Judeo-Christian standard while respecting the beliefs of those who didn't share them, and that standard saved us from confusion. Today, fewer people believe in the Bible, or even in absolute truth, and our rejection of an objective moral standard has thrown our society into disarray. If in fact we do really believe in God and His word, many of the moral "gray" issues of today become black and white.
( Dr. Ben Carson, One Nation, 2014, pgs192-193)
Monday, June 16, 2014
In The Beginning
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. John 1:1,2
I have said this before but I make no excuse for repeating it! Jesus Christ was alive before he was born! The cross was not the end of Jesus Christ anymore than the manger was his beginning. On one occasion, Jesus said, "...Before Abraham was, (before Abraham ever existed) I Am." (John 8:58) "Before Abraham..." that reaches back quite a ways! "I AM" That goes back to a realm where past and future do not even exist. It goes backto the place of no beginning and no ending.
John 1:3 reads, "All things were made by Him..." All created things had a beginning but Jesus the Creator , was already there! In Revelation 1:8 Jesus said, "...I am the beginning and the ending..." He was there before the beginning of created things and after created things (as we know them now) are ended. Jesus the "I AM" will still be there.
Armageddon is coming and war is a terrible thing. No ordinary person wants war! The only ones who want war are the despots who don't get personally involved. I walked through Manila, Phillippines in the later part of 1945. What a discouraging sight! Of the four bridges there, three had been destroyed, and most downtown buildings had been destroyed. Rubble and ruin filled the streets not to mention the dead bodies of Japanese soldiers tht had not yet been gathered up. Armageddon will be bad but is not the end of everything that God has planned for His people.
There is a better day coming when war will be no more. In the words of the old spiritual, "I'm gonna put on my long white robe, down by the riverside, down by the riverside. I'm gonna put on my long white robe down by the riverside and I ain't gonna study war no more. Ain't gonna study war no more, ain't gona study war no more, ain't gonna study war no more."
Men will "blow away" a large part of the earth before this is over but God will make a new one. (Revelation 21:1) Men have a nuclear device now, (so I read) that can destroy Los Angeles. Men do not now have nor shall they ever have, a device that can affect the New Jerusalem and if you are a discple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have property there (John 14:2) "...I go to prepare a place for you."
It is a place where "...neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,and where thieves do not break through and steal." (Matthew 6:20) and where no scud missle nor chemical warhead shall ever find a target.
I have experienced and I believe in, God's protection in this life. I am not a fatalist! I believe that prayer changes things! I pray for our troops and our country! I remember that there is a future for us where there will be no "arms race" no "weapons of mass destruction" no more hate and violence. It shall all be under the care of that One Who has "no beginning and no ending." (Rev. 22:20) He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly."
Amen. Even so, come , Lord Jesus!
(Pastor Bill Cummins, Sheridan, WY, drbc@bresnan.net)
I have said this before but I make no excuse for repeating it! Jesus Christ was alive before he was born! The cross was not the end of Jesus Christ anymore than the manger was his beginning. On one occasion, Jesus said, "...Before Abraham was, (before Abraham ever existed) I Am." (John 8:58) "Before Abraham..." that reaches back quite a ways! "I AM" That goes back to a realm where past and future do not even exist. It goes backto the place of no beginning and no ending.
John 1:3 reads, "All things were made by Him..." All created things had a beginning but Jesus the Creator , was already there! In Revelation 1:8 Jesus said, "...I am the beginning and the ending..." He was there before the beginning of created things and after created things (as we know them now) are ended. Jesus the "I AM" will still be there.
Armageddon is coming and war is a terrible thing. No ordinary person wants war! The only ones who want war are the despots who don't get personally involved. I walked through Manila, Phillippines in the later part of 1945. What a discouraging sight! Of the four bridges there, three had been destroyed, and most downtown buildings had been destroyed. Rubble and ruin filled the streets not to mention the dead bodies of Japanese soldiers tht had not yet been gathered up. Armageddon will be bad but is not the end of everything that God has planned for His people.
There is a better day coming when war will be no more. In the words of the old spiritual, "I'm gonna put on my long white robe, down by the riverside, down by the riverside. I'm gonna put on my long white robe down by the riverside and I ain't gonna study war no more. Ain't gonna study war no more, ain't gona study war no more, ain't gonna study war no more."
Men will "blow away" a large part of the earth before this is over but God will make a new one. (Revelation 21:1) Men have a nuclear device now, (so I read) that can destroy Los Angeles. Men do not now have nor shall they ever have, a device that can affect the New Jerusalem and if you are a discple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have property there (John 14:2) "...I go to prepare a place for you."
It is a place where "...neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,and where thieves do not break through and steal." (Matthew 6:20) and where no scud missle nor chemical warhead shall ever find a target.
I have experienced and I believe in, God's protection in this life. I am not a fatalist! I believe that prayer changes things! I pray for our troops and our country! I remember that there is a future for us where there will be no "arms race" no "weapons of mass destruction" no more hate and violence. It shall all be under the care of that One Who has "no beginning and no ending." (Rev. 22:20) He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly."
Amen. Even so, come , Lord Jesus!
(Pastor Bill Cummins, Sheridan, WY, drbc@bresnan.net)
Monday, June 2, 2014
A Prayer by Pierre Viret
Pierre Viret (1511-1571), Swiss Reformer, colleague of John Calvin, and preacher at the Cathedral of Lausanne, often began his sermons with the following prayer:
Recognizing our faults and imperfections, and that we have nothing of ourselves that we did not receive from above, we humble ourselves before the high majesty of our good God and Father, full of all goodness and mercy, praying to Him that He would not enter into judgment with us so as to punish us and correct us in His anger and fury (Pslam 6) in regard to our faults and iniquities, but that instead He would look upon the innocence, righteousness and obedience of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He gave over to death for us.
For the love with which He pleases His Father, may the Lord have mercy upon us all, and by His celestial light chase away all darkness, error and ignorance from our hearts, filling us with His grace and with His Holy Spirit. Thus, may He lead us into full confidence in all truth, and open to us the true understanding of His holyWord, so that it may not be corrupted by our carnal sense and understanding . Instead, may He give us the grace by which He spoke by His holy prophets and apostles, so that being led by the same Spirit, we may declare to His honour and glory and to the edification of all. And may we not listen only with carnal ears to our own judgment and condemnation like the infidels and hypocrites, but rather may we be enabled to receive it in our hearts as true children of God, by a true and living faith, which will be efficacious and active by love.
In this way may we learn to renounce ourselves, so that we no longer follow any idolatry, superstition or wicked carnal affections, so that we may fully place all our trust in Him, and consecrate ourselves and confirm ourselves completely to His holy will. Hence, may we know the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may be found irreproachable and without spot before His face.
Together with all of these blessings, let us ask of this good God and Father all other things which He knows are necessary for us. Thus, as this great Saviour and Reeemer, Jesus Christ, His dear Son, our sovereign Master, has taught us all to pray with one heart: "Our Father, which art in heaven......."
(from Systematic Theology, Volume One, Dr. Douglas F. Kelly, pg 26)
Recognizing our faults and imperfections, and that we have nothing of ourselves that we did not receive from above, we humble ourselves before the high majesty of our good God and Father, full of all goodness and mercy, praying to Him that He would not enter into judgment with us so as to punish us and correct us in His anger and fury (Pslam 6) in regard to our faults and iniquities, but that instead He would look upon the innocence, righteousness and obedience of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He gave over to death for us.
For the love with which He pleases His Father, may the Lord have mercy upon us all, and by His celestial light chase away all darkness, error and ignorance from our hearts, filling us with His grace and with His Holy Spirit. Thus, may He lead us into full confidence in all truth, and open to us the true understanding of His holyWord, so that it may not be corrupted by our carnal sense and understanding . Instead, may He give us the grace by which He spoke by His holy prophets and apostles, so that being led by the same Spirit, we may declare to His honour and glory and to the edification of all. And may we not listen only with carnal ears to our own judgment and condemnation like the infidels and hypocrites, but rather may we be enabled to receive it in our hearts as true children of God, by a true and living faith, which will be efficacious and active by love.
In this way may we learn to renounce ourselves, so that we no longer follow any idolatry, superstition or wicked carnal affections, so that we may fully place all our trust in Him, and consecrate ourselves and confirm ourselves completely to His holy will. Hence, may we know the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may be found irreproachable and without spot before His face.
Together with all of these blessings, let us ask of this good God and Father all other things which He knows are necessary for us. Thus, as this great Saviour and Reeemer, Jesus Christ, His dear Son, our sovereign Master, has taught us all to pray with one heart: "Our Father, which art in heaven......."
(from Systematic Theology, Volume One, Dr. Douglas F. Kelly, pg 26)
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Fear Of God
What is the difference between slavish fear and childlike fear?
Slavish fear has its roots in the covenant of works; childlike fear, in the covenant of grace. Slavish fear is provoked by the consequences of sin; childlike fear, by the God-dishonoring character of sin. Slavish fear is motivated by legalistic servitude, looking for reward; childlike fear is motivated by voluntary obedience, looking for grace. In slavish fear, the enmity of our heart is not broken; in childlike fear, this enmity is broken. In slavish fear we have hard thoughts of God; in childlike fear we have high thoughts of God. Slavish fear hates punishment; childlike fear hates sin. Slavish fear seeks for self-preservation and self-honor; childlike fear seeks the preservation of the Lord's attributes and honor. Slavish fear produces a convinced sinner;childlike fear, a truly convicted, converted sinner. Slavish fear looks for relief; childlike fear looks for welfare above relief.
Slavish fear is of a temporary character. "It is", as John Warburton said, "religion in fits and starts. It comes and goes." Childlike fear is more steady; it abides more deeply; it grows more profoundly in the soil of the heart. Slavish fear ultimately returns to the world. It clings to sin and is choked by the world. childlike fear cannot return to the world; it parts from sin, and longs to be with God. Slavish fear never truly humbles the sinner as an unworthy sinner; childlike fear humbles the sinner as the chiefest of transgressors. Slavish fear leaves the eye closed to Christ; childlike fear has its eye fixed upon Christ.
Slavish fear has its own glory as its ultimate goal; it desires only a quieted conscience, peace and rest. Childlike fear aims for the glory of God; true rest in God is its lofty goal. Slavish fear ends in damnation; childlike fear ends in salvation. Which kind of fear do we possess, my friends, slavish or childlike?
Dr.Joel R.Beeke, www.heritagebooks.org
Quotables on the Fear of God
"The fear of the Lord is that affectionate reverence by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father's law." Charles Bridges
"Though there is not always grace where there is fear of hell, yet, to be sure, there is no grace where there is no fear of God." John Bunyan
"The fear of God is the root and origin of all righteousness." John Calvin
"As faith is a grace that feeds all the rest, so fear is a grace that guards all the rest." William Secker
"The fear of God promotes spiritual joy; it is the morning star that ushers in the sunlight of comfort."
Thomas Watson
Slavish fear has its roots in the covenant of works; childlike fear, in the covenant of grace. Slavish fear is provoked by the consequences of sin; childlike fear, by the God-dishonoring character of sin. Slavish fear is motivated by legalistic servitude, looking for reward; childlike fear is motivated by voluntary obedience, looking for grace. In slavish fear, the enmity of our heart is not broken; in childlike fear, this enmity is broken. In slavish fear we have hard thoughts of God; in childlike fear we have high thoughts of God. Slavish fear hates punishment; childlike fear hates sin. Slavish fear seeks for self-preservation and self-honor; childlike fear seeks the preservation of the Lord's attributes and honor. Slavish fear produces a convinced sinner;childlike fear, a truly convicted, converted sinner. Slavish fear looks for relief; childlike fear looks for welfare above relief.
Slavish fear is of a temporary character. "It is", as John Warburton said, "religion in fits and starts. It comes and goes." Childlike fear is more steady; it abides more deeply; it grows more profoundly in the soil of the heart. Slavish fear ultimately returns to the world. It clings to sin and is choked by the world. childlike fear cannot return to the world; it parts from sin, and longs to be with God. Slavish fear never truly humbles the sinner as an unworthy sinner; childlike fear humbles the sinner as the chiefest of transgressors. Slavish fear leaves the eye closed to Christ; childlike fear has its eye fixed upon Christ.
Slavish fear has its own glory as its ultimate goal; it desires only a quieted conscience, peace and rest. Childlike fear aims for the glory of God; true rest in God is its lofty goal. Slavish fear ends in damnation; childlike fear ends in salvation. Which kind of fear do we possess, my friends, slavish or childlike?
Dr.Joel R.Beeke, www.heritagebooks.org
Quotables on the Fear of God
"The fear of the Lord is that affectionate reverence by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father's law." Charles Bridges
"Though there is not always grace where there is fear of hell, yet, to be sure, there is no grace where there is no fear of God." John Bunyan
"The fear of God is the root and origin of all righteousness." John Calvin
"As faith is a grace that feeds all the rest, so fear is a grace that guards all the rest." William Secker
"The fear of God promotes spiritual joy; it is the morning star that ushers in the sunlight of comfort."
Thomas Watson
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Grieve Not the Holy Spirit of God
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy: for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
All Christians know from experience, that faith in Christ is the source of their holiness and peace. When beset with tempatations to despondency or sin, if they look to him for support, they are conscious of a strength to resist, or to endure, which no amount of will and no influence of motives could ever impart. When they draw near to God as the members of Christ, they have freedom and access, and experience a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. When pressed down by afflictions, if they remember that they are one with him who suffered for them, leaving them an example, they rejoice in their tribulations, knowing that if they suffer they shall also reign with him.
Moreover . . . to maintain that life we must avoid everything which may provoke the Spirit to withdraw from us. The Bible teaches us, that the Spirit may be grieved; that His influences may be quenched; that God, in judgment, often withdraws them from those who thus offend. Evil thoughts, unholy tempers, acts of transgression, are to be avoided not merely as sins, but as offences against the Holy Spirit. We must remember, that to defile the soul with sin, or the body by intemperance or impurity, is sacrilege, because we are the members of Christ, and our bodies the temples of the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, right thoughts, just purposes, holy desires, are to be cherished not only as right in themselves, but as proceeding from that heavenly Agent on whom we are dependent for sanctification.
(Charles Hodge (1797-1878), The Banner of Truth Trust, June 2014, info@banneroftruth.org )
All Christians know from experience, that faith in Christ is the source of their holiness and peace. When beset with tempatations to despondency or sin, if they look to him for support, they are conscious of a strength to resist, or to endure, which no amount of will and no influence of motives could ever impart. When they draw near to God as the members of Christ, they have freedom and access, and experience a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. When pressed down by afflictions, if they remember that they are one with him who suffered for them, leaving them an example, they rejoice in their tribulations, knowing that if they suffer they shall also reign with him.
Moreover . . . to maintain that life we must avoid everything which may provoke the Spirit to withdraw from us. The Bible teaches us, that the Spirit may be grieved; that His influences may be quenched; that God, in judgment, often withdraws them from those who thus offend. Evil thoughts, unholy tempers, acts of transgression, are to be avoided not merely as sins, but as offences against the Holy Spirit. We must remember, that to defile the soul with sin, or the body by intemperance or impurity, is sacrilege, because we are the members of Christ, and our bodies the temples of the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, right thoughts, just purposes, holy desires, are to be cherished not only as right in themselves, but as proceeding from that heavenly Agent on whom we are dependent for sanctification.
(Charles Hodge (1797-1878), The Banner of Truth Trust, June 2014, info@banneroftruth.org )
Monday, May 19, 2014
Directing Man's Steps
"O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jeremiah 10:23
Jeremiah insists that men, without God's guidance, will never develop a safe and a secure society.
That which brought the above Scripture to mind was a news item that I read some time back. It was at a meeting of the City council of Tampa City, Florida. Someone had asked, a member of the Florida Atheistic Association, to give the invocation. The man began by saying that they should be depending on history, science and logic for direction and not be praying to invisible men in the sky.
History is pretty conclusive evidence that men do need to be praying to the invisible God for direction. There are many in positions of influence and authority in world affairs who agree with Mr. Harvey, but then there were men of that opinion in the days of Noah also.
Some ridicule the very idea of people praying for guidance to the God of Heaven. Some time back I heard on a newscast that at a United Nations meeting it was mentioned that the American President, George Bush, prayed for God's guidance before making decisions. The comment of the U. N. member was "bizarre."
All men will pray, make no mistake about that! (Philippians 2: 10,11) But for some it will be too late.
The rich man of Luke 16:10-31 thought prayer was a little "bizarre" when he was in health and everything was leaning his way, but one minute after moving on, he was praying for help, but no help was available then.
Since I do not know what tomorrow will bring, I like to seek direction from the One who makes all of my tomorows.
The problem in depending on the logic of men to solve the problem is that what is logical to one man is illogical to another. A reason why legislation gets bogged down in our congress.
It is much wiser to seek logic from the Maker of all logic and never go wrong.
Sooner of later God will interfere in the plans and activities of men. Ask Nebuchadnezzar! (Daniel 4:30,31) Ask Beltshazzar! (Daniel 5:4-6) Ask Herod Agrippa! (Acts 12: 21-23)
Evidently there are many who do not learn the lesson of history.
(Pastor Bill Cummins, Sheridan, Wyoming, drbc@bresnan.net)
Jeremiah insists that men, without God's guidance, will never develop a safe and a secure society.
That which brought the above Scripture to mind was a news item that I read some time back. It was at a meeting of the City council of Tampa City, Florida. Someone had asked, a member of the Florida Atheistic Association, to give the invocation. The man began by saying that they should be depending on history, science and logic for direction and not be praying to invisible men in the sky.
History is pretty conclusive evidence that men do need to be praying to the invisible God for direction. There are many in positions of influence and authority in world affairs who agree with Mr. Harvey, but then there were men of that opinion in the days of Noah also.
Some ridicule the very idea of people praying for guidance to the God of Heaven. Some time back I heard on a newscast that at a United Nations meeting it was mentioned that the American President, George Bush, prayed for God's guidance before making decisions. The comment of the U. N. member was "bizarre."
All men will pray, make no mistake about that! (Philippians 2: 10,11) But for some it will be too late.
The rich man of Luke 16:10-31 thought prayer was a little "bizarre" when he was in health and everything was leaning his way, but one minute after moving on, he was praying for help, but no help was available then.
Since I do not know what tomorrow will bring, I like to seek direction from the One who makes all of my tomorows.
The problem in depending on the logic of men to solve the problem is that what is logical to one man is illogical to another. A reason why legislation gets bogged down in our congress.
It is much wiser to seek logic from the Maker of all logic and never go wrong.
Sooner of later God will interfere in the plans and activities of men. Ask Nebuchadnezzar! (Daniel 4:30,31) Ask Beltshazzar! (Daniel 5:4-6) Ask Herod Agrippa! (Acts 12: 21-23)
Evidently there are many who do not learn the lesson of history.
(Pastor Bill Cummins, Sheridan, Wyoming, drbc@bresnan.net)
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
When God Goes Missing
Why do you go to church? When I ask that question of Christians who attend churches where they are members, I am usually surprised and dismayed by the answers I hear. "I really like our minister. His messages are powerful." "I think it is important for my family to be in church." "The church we attend rescued our son from drugs." "Our church has a strong youth program. In fact, that is why we started attending this specific church." "The music program attracts people from all over the city. That is why we ended up there." "The messages and the whole service are so uplifting." "I go and usually take one of my friends because it is fun and entertaining." "I want to be involved in ministries to less-fortunate and hurting people. Our church is known all through the city for such outreach."
These answers made the list because I have heard each one multiple times. Most of these answers are related in some way to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they miss the one true reason that God calls us to His house: to meet with Him. I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard in the last forty years, "Why do I go to church? I go to meet with God."
As our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, God calls us to meet with Him. He had Moses build the tabernacle for this purpose. He said to Moses and Israel in Exodus 29:4, "There I will meet you and speak to you" He used similar words with Solomon and Israel when the temple was built. The people were going to God's house to meet with Him.
In the New Testament, Jesus set about designing and building a new temple where He would meet with His people. He told His disciples that He would be present and meet with them wherever they gathered: "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matt. 18:20).
Those same disciples understood what Jesus meant as they saw His church being erected by the Holy spirit:
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Eph. 2:19-22)
God lives in the midst of the gathering of His people. This is the temple that Jesus is building.
In the Old and New Testaments, worship was what happened when God met with His people. Therefore, everything we do in worship is in response to His presence with His people. Before we meet with Him, there is thought and prayer anticipating His presence. The call to worship and hymn of adoration are our initial responses to His presence. No part of our worship can be validly separated from His presence.
I have gone to some length to define our primary purpose for gathering with God's people because the evangelical church has a proclivity to be casual in its activities in God's sanctuary. If our main purpose in attending church is to meet with God Himself, then we dare not approach the Almighty with a carelessness that we do not see from even the angels. Some justify a relaxed attitude by saying, "We are striving to be authentic as we meet." Others have pointed out that many chuches are meeting in buildings that were once stores, shops, schools, garages,and so on. The building where our church currently meets was a new car showroom in what was once an automobile dealership. Those mundane surroundings do not lend themselves to what we consider to be "church ceremony."
However, such excuses do not change the primary biblical purpose of attending church. Whether I am going to a cathedral or a car showroom to gather with Gods people, I am still meeting with the transcendent, triune Creator and Redeemer, who is majestic in His glory, Holy in all His ways, and before whom the great seraphim cover their faces. He is most certainly gracious in His immanence. But the mercy and grace of Calvary didn't eradicate His transcendence.
When I discover that my approach to God in the assembling of His people is "casual," I cannot blame it on an effort to be authentic or on my informal surroundings. If I am honest with myself, I must confess that I have forgotten the primary purpose of my attendance. I have forgotten His presence and His true identity. Sometimes, the blindness and deafness that once kept me from seeing and hearing Him partially returns and prevents me from perceiving His nearness and His character.
The immanence of the transcendent God speaks to our preparation for, participation in, and parting from worship. When I am late coming to meet with Him, I must ask myself why I took great pains that week to be early to my doctor's appointment or to the meeting with my banker. When I leave immediately after the message, I must ask myself why I refrained from singing the hymn of response - refusing to reply to God Himself who just spoke to me. Why was I already out the door when God is giving me His benediction? As His child, why am I refusing to be blessed by my Father?
Has God's presence gone missing from our assemblies? Biblical theology tells me He must be present. Thus, nonchalance is a perilous trifling with the Holy.
( Rev. John P. Sartelle, Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA), Oakland, Tenn. Tabletalk, June 2014
www.ligonier.org)
These answers made the list because I have heard each one multiple times. Most of these answers are related in some way to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they miss the one true reason that God calls us to His house: to meet with Him. I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard in the last forty years, "Why do I go to church? I go to meet with God."
As our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, God calls us to meet with Him. He had Moses build the tabernacle for this purpose. He said to Moses and Israel in Exodus 29:4, "There I will meet you and speak to you" He used similar words with Solomon and Israel when the temple was built. The people were going to God's house to meet with Him.
In the New Testament, Jesus set about designing and building a new temple where He would meet with His people. He told His disciples that He would be present and meet with them wherever they gathered: "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matt. 18:20).
Those same disciples understood what Jesus meant as they saw His church being erected by the Holy spirit:
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Eph. 2:19-22)
God lives in the midst of the gathering of His people. This is the temple that Jesus is building.
In the Old and New Testaments, worship was what happened when God met with His people. Therefore, everything we do in worship is in response to His presence with His people. Before we meet with Him, there is thought and prayer anticipating His presence. The call to worship and hymn of adoration are our initial responses to His presence. No part of our worship can be validly separated from His presence.
I have gone to some length to define our primary purpose for gathering with God's people because the evangelical church has a proclivity to be casual in its activities in God's sanctuary. If our main purpose in attending church is to meet with God Himself, then we dare not approach the Almighty with a carelessness that we do not see from even the angels. Some justify a relaxed attitude by saying, "We are striving to be authentic as we meet." Others have pointed out that many chuches are meeting in buildings that were once stores, shops, schools, garages,and so on. The building where our church currently meets was a new car showroom in what was once an automobile dealership. Those mundane surroundings do not lend themselves to what we consider to be "church ceremony."
However, such excuses do not change the primary biblical purpose of attending church. Whether I am going to a cathedral or a car showroom to gather with Gods people, I am still meeting with the transcendent, triune Creator and Redeemer, who is majestic in His glory, Holy in all His ways, and before whom the great seraphim cover their faces. He is most certainly gracious in His immanence. But the mercy and grace of Calvary didn't eradicate His transcendence.
When I discover that my approach to God in the assembling of His people is "casual," I cannot blame it on an effort to be authentic or on my informal surroundings. If I am honest with myself, I must confess that I have forgotten the primary purpose of my attendance. I have forgotten His presence and His true identity. Sometimes, the blindness and deafness that once kept me from seeing and hearing Him partially returns and prevents me from perceiving His nearness and His character.
The immanence of the transcendent God speaks to our preparation for, participation in, and parting from worship. When I am late coming to meet with Him, I must ask myself why I took great pains that week to be early to my doctor's appointment or to the meeting with my banker. When I leave immediately after the message, I must ask myself why I refrained from singing the hymn of response - refusing to reply to God Himself who just spoke to me. Why was I already out the door when God is giving me His benediction? As His child, why am I refusing to be blessed by my Father?
Has God's presence gone missing from our assemblies? Biblical theology tells me He must be present. Thus, nonchalance is a perilous trifling with the Holy.
( Rev. John P. Sartelle, Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA), Oakland, Tenn. Tabletalk, June 2014
www.ligonier.org)
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Spurgeon and Wesley
We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. Psalm 44:1
When people hear about what God used to do, one of the things they say is: "Oh, that was a very long while ago." They imagine that times have altered since then....."things were in a diffeent state then from what they are now." Granted; but I want to know what the things have to do with it. I thought it was God that did it. Has God changed? Is he not an immutable God, the same yesterday, today and forever? Does that not furnish an argument to prove that what God has done at one time he can do at another?
Others among you say, "Oh, well I look upon these things as great prodigies - miracles. We are not to expect them every day." That is the very reason why we do not get them. If we had learnt to expect them, we should no doubt obtain them, but we put them up on the shelf, as being out of the common order of our moderate religion, as being mere curiosities of Scripture history. We imagine such things, however true, to be prodigies of providence; we cannot imagine them to be according to the ordinary working of his mighty power. I beseech you my friends, abjure that idea, put it out of your mind. Whatever God has done in the way of converting sinners is to be looked upon as a precedent, for "his arm is not shortened that he cannot save, nor his ear heavy that he cannot hear."
C. H. Spurgeon, from a sermon preached in 1859, The Banner of Truth, May 2014
The Hero of The Story
Charles Wesley wrote a powerful hymn to proclaim the wonder of God made man.
Let earth and Heav'n combine, angels and men agree
To praise in songs divine, Th' incarnate deity
Our God contracted to a span,Our God contracted to a span,
Incomprehensibly made Man.
Do you see the great love of God, that Jesus Christ,God immortal, God eternal, would become a man so that He could be like us, so He could be one of us, so He could save us?
(Tim Challies, Tabletalk, May 2014)
When people hear about what God used to do, one of the things they say is: "Oh, that was a very long while ago." They imagine that times have altered since then....."things were in a diffeent state then from what they are now." Granted; but I want to know what the things have to do with it. I thought it was God that did it. Has God changed? Is he not an immutable God, the same yesterday, today and forever? Does that not furnish an argument to prove that what God has done at one time he can do at another?
Others among you say, "Oh, well I look upon these things as great prodigies - miracles. We are not to expect them every day." That is the very reason why we do not get them. If we had learnt to expect them, we should no doubt obtain them, but we put them up on the shelf, as being out of the common order of our moderate religion, as being mere curiosities of Scripture history. We imagine such things, however true, to be prodigies of providence; we cannot imagine them to be according to the ordinary working of his mighty power. I beseech you my friends, abjure that idea, put it out of your mind. Whatever God has done in the way of converting sinners is to be looked upon as a precedent, for "his arm is not shortened that he cannot save, nor his ear heavy that he cannot hear."
C. H. Spurgeon, from a sermon preached in 1859, The Banner of Truth, May 2014
The Hero of The Story
Charles Wesley wrote a powerful hymn to proclaim the wonder of God made man.
Let earth and Heav'n combine, angels and men agree
To praise in songs divine, Th' incarnate deity
Our God contracted to a span,Our God contracted to a span,
Incomprehensibly made Man.
Do you see the great love of God, that Jesus Christ,God immortal, God eternal, would become a man so that He could be like us, so He could be one of us, so He could save us?
(Tim Challies, Tabletalk, May 2014)
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
A Prayer by R. M. M'Cheyne
A Prayer written by Robert Murray M'Cheyne (a year before his death in 1842)
Our heavenly Father, follow with thy blessing the reading of thy holy word. Hide in our hearts the very lessons it was intended to teach us. Sanctify us through thy truth; thy word is truth.
When we read of Judas, O Lord, teach us to be very jealous over ourselves, and to inquire diligently, lest after all we also should be cast away. Show us that we may know much of the Saviour, that we may call him, Lord, Lord, that we may do wonders in his name, and yet betray him after all.
Convince us of sin by thy Holy Spirit. Make us lie infinitely low before thee because of our vileness. Convince us that we never can justify ourselves in thy pure sight. Give us a soul-refreshing view of the excellency of the Lord Jesus. Give us a saving hold upon him as all our righteousness and all our strength. Give us to be vitally united to him as living branches to the true vine. Make us confident that he which hath begun a good work in us will preform it to the day of Christ Jesus.
When we read that the disciples found every thing as Jesus had said unto them, make us to set to our seal that this is true. O Saviour, it is impossible with thee to lie; thou keepest truth for ever. O Lord, help us to believe that we shall find as thou hast said.
Melt our hearts by a sight of the great love of Jesus. As he gave himself to be broken for us, so may we freely accept of him, and may our joy be full. Make us to love that holy ordinance wherein we testify that we close with him as all our salvation and all our desire. May we love to do this in remembrance of him.
When we read of thy disciples striving who should be greatest, may we be ashamed of the sins that mingle with our holiest services. O Lord, we blush when we think of our sins How often we have sinned thy love away. Plead thy blood and righteousness, O our risen Saviour, our advocate with the Father. Cover all our sins. say to us. Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Change our proud, selfish hearts. Give us the same mind which also was in Christ Jesus. Give us to wash one another's feet; to do to one another as Jesus did unto us.
Lord, deliver us from our spiritual enemies. Let us not be ignorant of Satan's devices. We know that he desires to have us more than the world, that he may sift us like wheat. O Saviour, pray for us, that our faith may not fail. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Help us to submit ourselves to thee: to resist the devil, and he will flee from us.
Guard us during the silent watches of this night. Thou that keepest Israel never slumberest nor sleepest. Keep our dear friends from evil. Preserve their souls. Strenghten the sick upon the bed of languishing. Comfort the bereaved. Give bread to the poor. Be with those that are afar off upon the sea. Pour out thy Spirit upon all flesh. Let the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
Hasten the coming of the Saviour. Make us love his appearing. Why is thy chariot so long of coming; why tarry the wheels of thy chariot? Glory be to thee, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
R. M. M'Cheyne, Family Worship, The Banner of Truth, April 2014 (info@banneroftruth.co.uk)
Our heavenly Father, follow with thy blessing the reading of thy holy word. Hide in our hearts the very lessons it was intended to teach us. Sanctify us through thy truth; thy word is truth.
When we read of Judas, O Lord, teach us to be very jealous over ourselves, and to inquire diligently, lest after all we also should be cast away. Show us that we may know much of the Saviour, that we may call him, Lord, Lord, that we may do wonders in his name, and yet betray him after all.
Convince us of sin by thy Holy Spirit. Make us lie infinitely low before thee because of our vileness. Convince us that we never can justify ourselves in thy pure sight. Give us a soul-refreshing view of the excellency of the Lord Jesus. Give us a saving hold upon him as all our righteousness and all our strength. Give us to be vitally united to him as living branches to the true vine. Make us confident that he which hath begun a good work in us will preform it to the day of Christ Jesus.
When we read that the disciples found every thing as Jesus had said unto them, make us to set to our seal that this is true. O Saviour, it is impossible with thee to lie; thou keepest truth for ever. O Lord, help us to believe that we shall find as thou hast said.
Melt our hearts by a sight of the great love of Jesus. As he gave himself to be broken for us, so may we freely accept of him, and may our joy be full. Make us to love that holy ordinance wherein we testify that we close with him as all our salvation and all our desire. May we love to do this in remembrance of him.
When we read of thy disciples striving who should be greatest, may we be ashamed of the sins that mingle with our holiest services. O Lord, we blush when we think of our sins How often we have sinned thy love away. Plead thy blood and righteousness, O our risen Saviour, our advocate with the Father. Cover all our sins. say to us. Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Change our proud, selfish hearts. Give us the same mind which also was in Christ Jesus. Give us to wash one another's feet; to do to one another as Jesus did unto us.
Lord, deliver us from our spiritual enemies. Let us not be ignorant of Satan's devices. We know that he desires to have us more than the world, that he may sift us like wheat. O Saviour, pray for us, that our faith may not fail. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Help us to submit ourselves to thee: to resist the devil, and he will flee from us.
Guard us during the silent watches of this night. Thou that keepest Israel never slumberest nor sleepest. Keep our dear friends from evil. Preserve their souls. Strenghten the sick upon the bed of languishing. Comfort the bereaved. Give bread to the poor. Be with those that are afar off upon the sea. Pour out thy Spirit upon all flesh. Let the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
Hasten the coming of the Saviour. Make us love his appearing. Why is thy chariot so long of coming; why tarry the wheels of thy chariot? Glory be to thee, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
R. M. M'Cheyne, Family Worship, The Banner of Truth, April 2014 (info@banneroftruth.co.uk)
Monday, April 21, 2014
Preach the Word
In the original Table Talk, a collection of informal theological conversations at Martin Luther's dinner table, the German Reformer gave the folowing advice to a young minister: "When you are to preach, speak with God and say, 'Dear Lord God, I wish to preach in Thine honor. I wish to speak about Thee, glorify Thee, [and] praise Thy name. Although I can't do this well of myself, I pray that Thou mayest make it good.'"
Thissimple prayer provides a tiny glimpse into Luther's theology of preaching. More importantly, it underscores to pastors in every age that faithful preaching must be about God, for the glory of God, and in utter dependence upon God.
First, the content of our preaching must be centered on the nature and works of God (2 Cor. 4:5-6). Evangelical preaching today can often be shallow, therapeutic, and man-centered. It commonly lacks theological substance and gravitas. Personal stories and amusing anecdotes crowd the sermon, leaving God as an afterthought. The gospel, the grand theme of scripture, is vague at best.
Biblical preaching, however, always and unmistakably makes the triune God and His marvelous works of creation, providence, and redemption the main subject matter. God is the main subject of the Bible, and thus should be the central focus of our preaching. Why is Peter's Pentecost sermon, for example, so powerful and memorable (Acts 2:14-41)? Why were so many who heard it "cut to the heart" with Spirit-wrought conviction? It is because Peter's sermon boldly and skillfully directed the people's attention to almighty God, HisWord, and the fufillment of his redemptive purposes in Christ. Moreover, it is in light of God's mighty acts of judgment and salvation that the Apostle clearly communicated the need for sinners to turn from their rebellious ways and receive Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
The Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy (and all lawfully ordained ministers) to "preach the word" (2 Tim. 4:2). If ministers faithfully carry out this biblical mandate, their preaching will be full of God - and nothing will stir the heart of the church unto faith and obedience like a weekly view of God in the preaching of H is life-transforming Word.
Second, the ultimate aim of our preaching must be the glory and praise of God. Strictly speaking, the preaching of the Word is not primarily for the salvation of sinners. Instead, preachingis first and foremost for the glory of God - a doxological event that magnifies our Lord's sublime character and awesome deeds. Thomas Watson siad, "God is superlative good . . . better than anything you can put in competition with Him." Shouldn't the content of our preaching commicate this glorious reality?
We were created "to glorify God and enjoy him forever" (WSC A&A1; see Isa. 43:7). Biblical preaching, therefore, must underscore this foundational purpose, inspiring both preacher and hearer to joyfully "declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised' (Ps. 96:3-4a).
Third, preaching must be carried out in utter dependence upon God. Pastors should not rely upon their talents, intellect, or personality. Rather, from the study to the pulpit we must earnestly and humbly pray for a "demonstraation of the Spirit and of power" in the preaching of the Word (2 Cor. 2:4b). Indeed, apart from the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, law and gospel will fall on deaf ears and stony hearts. In the end, preaching will never be effectual unless God makes it so (Ezek. 37:1-14). There is no place for pride or self-reliance in either the preparation or the act of preaching Apart from Christ and the life-giving Holy Spirit, we can do nothing (John 15:5b).
Preaching is a primary means of grace appointed by God to regenerate, sanctify, nourish, and comfort the souls of His elect in Christ (1 Cor. 1:21; 1 Peter 1:23-25). In confessional terms, it is .....an effecual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners; of driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ; of conforming them unto his image; and subduing them to his will; of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions; of building them up in grace; and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. (WLC Q&IA 155)
No task, therefore, is of greater importance for the minister or the church than the faithful proclamatiion of the whole counsel of God (Acts 6:4; 20:27).
Even so, as a church planter, I experience the daily temptation to make sermon preparation and preaching a secondary matter. Of course, it is no different for pastors in established churches. Ministry is busy. Being mindful of this, let us, as ministers, renew our vow to faithfully "preach the Word." Let us trust God's promise to employ the foolishness of preaching for the advancement of his kingdom. And may we receive with humility the Wittenberg Reformer's sage advice to pray that our preaching would be chiefly about God, to the glory and praise of God, and in prayerful dependence upon Him. "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36).
(Dr.Jon D.Payne, pastor of Christ Church Presbyterian, Charleston, S.C. Tabletalk, April 2014,
www.ligonier.org)
Thissimple prayer provides a tiny glimpse into Luther's theology of preaching. More importantly, it underscores to pastors in every age that faithful preaching must be about God, for the glory of God, and in utter dependence upon God.
First, the content of our preaching must be centered on the nature and works of God (2 Cor. 4:5-6). Evangelical preaching today can often be shallow, therapeutic, and man-centered. It commonly lacks theological substance and gravitas. Personal stories and amusing anecdotes crowd the sermon, leaving God as an afterthought. The gospel, the grand theme of scripture, is vague at best.
Biblical preaching, however, always and unmistakably makes the triune God and His marvelous works of creation, providence, and redemption the main subject matter. God is the main subject of the Bible, and thus should be the central focus of our preaching. Why is Peter's Pentecost sermon, for example, so powerful and memorable (Acts 2:14-41)? Why were so many who heard it "cut to the heart" with Spirit-wrought conviction? It is because Peter's sermon boldly and skillfully directed the people's attention to almighty God, HisWord, and the fufillment of his redemptive purposes in Christ. Moreover, it is in light of God's mighty acts of judgment and salvation that the Apostle clearly communicated the need for sinners to turn from their rebellious ways and receive Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
The Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy (and all lawfully ordained ministers) to "preach the word" (2 Tim. 4:2). If ministers faithfully carry out this biblical mandate, their preaching will be full of God - and nothing will stir the heart of the church unto faith and obedience like a weekly view of God in the preaching of H is life-transforming Word.
Second, the ultimate aim of our preaching must be the glory and praise of God. Strictly speaking, the preaching of the Word is not primarily for the salvation of sinners. Instead, preachingis first and foremost for the glory of God - a doxological event that magnifies our Lord's sublime character and awesome deeds. Thomas Watson siad, "God is superlative good . . . better than anything you can put in competition with Him." Shouldn't the content of our preaching commicate this glorious reality?
We were created "to glorify God and enjoy him forever" (WSC A&A1; see Isa. 43:7). Biblical preaching, therefore, must underscore this foundational purpose, inspiring both preacher and hearer to joyfully "declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised' (Ps. 96:3-4a).
Third, preaching must be carried out in utter dependence upon God. Pastors should not rely upon their talents, intellect, or personality. Rather, from the study to the pulpit we must earnestly and humbly pray for a "demonstraation of the Spirit and of power" in the preaching of the Word (2 Cor. 2:4b). Indeed, apart from the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, law and gospel will fall on deaf ears and stony hearts. In the end, preaching will never be effectual unless God makes it so (Ezek. 37:1-14). There is no place for pride or self-reliance in either the preparation or the act of preaching Apart from Christ and the life-giving Holy Spirit, we can do nothing (John 15:5b).
Preaching is a primary means of grace appointed by God to regenerate, sanctify, nourish, and comfort the souls of His elect in Christ (1 Cor. 1:21; 1 Peter 1:23-25). In confessional terms, it is .....an effecual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners; of driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ; of conforming them unto his image; and subduing them to his will; of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions; of building them up in grace; and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. (WLC Q&IA 155)
No task, therefore, is of greater importance for the minister or the church than the faithful proclamatiion of the whole counsel of God (Acts 6:4; 20:27).
Even so, as a church planter, I experience the daily temptation to make sermon preparation and preaching a secondary matter. Of course, it is no different for pastors in established churches. Ministry is busy. Being mindful of this, let us, as ministers, renew our vow to faithfully "preach the Word." Let us trust God's promise to employ the foolishness of preaching for the advancement of his kingdom. And may we receive with humility the Wittenberg Reformer's sage advice to pray that our preaching would be chiefly about God, to the glory and praise of God, and in prayerful dependence upon Him. "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36).
(Dr.Jon D.Payne, pastor of Christ Church Presbyterian, Charleston, S.C. Tabletalk, April 2014,
www.ligonier.org)
Thursday, April 17, 2014
We're Back!!
We have been off line for several weeks because of computer/internet problems, which we hope we have been able to solve as of today. We'll be posting about 2 times each week as we did before.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)