I was reading a blog and saw an advertisement on the right column for Reformed Baptist Seminary. I don't know why it never before occurred to me that Reformed and Baptist being combined into one was pretty much the most awesome thing ever. If only because I am so drawn to both the systematic theology of Calvinism and the not-baptizing-babyism of Baptists.
Spurgeon is one of my favorites and he had ties to both the Baptist and Reformed traditions.
Most Christians will read books written by Christians. Fewer Christians will read the forementioned books and actually also read the Bible. Even less will read books, the Bible, and doctrinal statements. I am that odd breed that considers the last extremely interesting. If I am turned on to a new church or pastor, I will often go to their website and read their doctrinal statement.
I found this confession/doctrinal statement from the 1600's super encouraging. You can read it HERE.
It's all there: election, sanctification, justification, marriage between one man and one woman, good works, etc...
It is not for the faint of heart. If you are one who struggles through the latter parts of Exodus and 1st and 2nd Chronicles, this may be difficult for you. To boot, it is in an older style of English as well, so it does take a certain degree of concentration in order to really grasp the fulness of what they are communicating as their doctrine of God and church and Christian life and liberty thereafter.
If you do not want to take the time to read this, read your home church's doctrinal statement off their webpage. If you don't care what some dead English Reformed Baptists thought, I understand. But you should care what your pastor and elders believe and what they hope to infuse into you and your family and your neighbors in attendance at your local gathering of sainted ain'teds.
Doctrine may not be everyone's cup-o-tea and I get that, I really do. It is, however, my cup-o-tea and I could see where you'd be grossed out having to drink tea from my cup. While it may not get your heart racing or mind bubbling with activity, it should have some place in your life. Some place of some priority that is. You may not like "doctrine," but as A.W. Tozer once said,
"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
The descending King's condescending friends
Ecclesiastes 3:14
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
We cannot add to what God has done or take away from that He desires. We are helpless against the sovereign LORD God Almighty and because of this we should be scared of Him to a certain degree.
Reverence is often lost in a "Jesus is my Homeboy" culture and we are ioften the worse for it. The fact is that God does call us "friend" in Christ. And I love that. I love worshipping Jesus and thinking of funny stuff that I do or He does and laughing along with Him at me in my pitiful state (and the pitiful state of most stuff Christians attempt to do that has already been done well by others).
Jesus is our friend. Jesus is our LORD. He is our friend on His terms.
Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command you." ~ John 15:14
I am guessing you have never accepted the friendship of anyone on terms this bold and unbending before.I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
We cannot add to what God has done or take away from that He desires. We are helpless against the sovereign LORD God Almighty and because of this we should be scared of Him to a certain degree.
Reverence is often lost in a "Jesus is my Homeboy" culture and we are ioften the worse for it. The fact is that God does call us "friend" in Christ. And I love that. I love worshipping Jesus and thinking of funny stuff that I do or He does and laughing along with Him at me in my pitiful state (and the pitiful state of most stuff Christians attempt to do that has already been done well by others).
Jesus is our friend. Jesus is our LORD. He is our friend on His terms.
Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command you." ~ John 15:14
Imagine it with me:
"Hey, would you like to be my friend? You only have to do every and any thing I ever ask without exception. If you do not accept these terms; we cannot be friends."
I suspect you have not proposed friendship to another with these words either, which is good, because you shouldn't accept or propose friendship with anyone on these terms. Anyone not Jesus that is. And you are not Jesus.
Only Jesus can utter words this powerful, this divisive, this potent and not blush. Only He deserves this kind of devotion. Only He can rightly demand it. Only He can rightly receive it.
You are neither holy enough to demand it rightly nor worthy enough to receive it wholly.
You are neither holy enough to demand it rightly nor worthy enough to receive it wholly.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Thoughts from "Hoping for a New Reformation" by Tullian Tchividjian
Read the full blog post HERE.
I love the way Tullian is so relentlessly devoted to preaching the purity of the Gospel in granting hope and freedom to those burdened by religion, sin, and self. The Law of God and the Gospel of God are what must be preached to reach the lost with the full counsel of God.
Tullian has devoted his life to anchoring the Christian hope in Christ alone. He says it this way,
"It just seemed so new to so many because it had been lost for so long amidst a moralistic, narcissistic, “do more, try harder”, caricature of the Christian faith that has been prevalent for so long. What I kept hearing from people all over the world was that so many pulpits consistently preach the Christian and not the Christ and as a result many have been burdened by the false idea that the focus of the Christian faith is the life of the Christian. I knew something had to be done."
Tullian started up Liberate - a resource for proclaiming the firm foundation of hope in Christ alone by grace alone in faith alone.
He sums up this organization's mission this way,
"My hope and prayer is that this website will be a place where you can hear and believe the good news that the God who rightly condemns sinners according to his law, liberates sinners with the forgiving love of his gospel. We pray that it becomes a catalytic platform for serious thinking about 'a more radical gospel.'”
I love the way Tullian is so relentlessly devoted to preaching the purity of the Gospel in granting hope and freedom to those burdened by religion, sin, and self. The Law of God and the Gospel of God are what must be preached to reach the lost with the full counsel of God.
Tullian has devoted his life to anchoring the Christian hope in Christ alone. He says it this way,
"It just seemed so new to so many because it had been lost for so long amidst a moralistic, narcissistic, “do more, try harder”, caricature of the Christian faith that has been prevalent for so long. What I kept hearing from people all over the world was that so many pulpits consistently preach the Christian and not the Christ and as a result many have been burdened by the false idea that the focus of the Christian faith is the life of the Christian. I knew something had to be done."
Tullian started up Liberate - a resource for proclaiming the firm foundation of hope in Christ alone by grace alone in faith alone.
He sums up this organization's mission this way,
"My hope and prayer is that this website will be a place where you can hear and believe the good news that the God who rightly condemns sinners according to his law, liberates sinners with the forgiving love of his gospel. We pray that it becomes a catalytic platform for serious thinking about 'a more radical gospel.'”
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
For Christ's Sake: Forgiveness
It occurred to me today how selfish even seeking forgiveness can often be. No specific Bible verse or song or anything particularly “Christian” called this to mind. I was simply minding my own business (literally attending to my business at work) when it struck me. It may not be unique or the first time you heard it, but it was the first time I had, so praise God for revealing further to me my own depravity (despite my unrighteousness efforts to conceal it from God, myself, and others).
We all want to be forgiven for our own selfish sake. More often than not our pleas for pardon are not born from humility, but gluttony. It is something we want for ourselves. But what about for the sake of the one whom we have wronged? We recognize our need to be forgiven from the one with power to grant it, but we often fail to observe the effort and grace required of the hurt one to forgive (and that coming by grace from the One with the power to infuse and inspire it).
We beg for forgiveness, for reconciliation, and all for our own sake - caring little, if at all (maybe only in passing) for the one whom we have wronged. I am not talking about the effects of our sin. We do worry about that. We do often pray and hope that the sinned against will be released and restored from the state in which they were placed by our sin, but almost exclusively superficially. We hope the wounds we cause will heal. We quickly and rightly recognize our need to be forgiven, but we slowly, if ever, recognize the sinned against’s need to forgive. The soul of the one sinned against is equally at stake in that they must forgive you in order to be forgiven by God. It is not just us who sinned that are in peril as a result of our sin.
As the sinner, one rarely concerns themselves with this reality. The sinner rarely makes their appeal for pardon based on the sinned against’s need to be absolved of bitterness and anger, but rather the sinner’s need to sleep easier at night by absolution. Both are weights that are carried as a result of sin and both require the grace of God to be lifted entirely. Sin affects not only the sinner, but the sinned against.
The point is this: Often even in our attempts to request forgiveness, we reaffirm our commitment only to ourselves and our salvation and our reconciliation. We turn a interpersonal reconciling into an intrapersonal cleansing. We started by sinning against the other out of selfish desire or indifference and end by seeking forgiveness out of selfish desire and indifference to the other person.
We cannot bare to wear the scars of our own making and we simply want it removed with no thought or care often to the cost or effort of the other to offer the forgiveness we request.
I do not care what it costs you to forgive me, just forgive me! I want my fine paid, my penalty pardoned, my guilt absolved, my conscience cleared. I want all of these things and more often than not my thoughts do not gravitate beyond my wanting them.
I do not care what it costs you to forgive me, just do it. My forgivness is not about you, it is about me. So in the end even, the sin I commited against you is only my concern in that it leads me to this place where I beg something from you. You were never my concern: in the first, in the last.
It cost Jesus everything to purchase my pardon and redeem my wrtechedness. It cost Him everything that it might cost me nothing. But I do not care about Jesus' burden as long as my burden is absorbed. And I do not care about my brother as long as he has no charge against me.
Forgiveness entirely for the sake, in the Name, in the confidence, and to the glory of Christ alone is observed only when the sinner seeks forgiveness that their brother may be restored and their Savior exalted.
2 Corinthians 2:10-11
10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Ephesians 4:32
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Mark 11:25-26
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Colossians 3:12-13
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Luke 11:3-4
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
Matthew 18:32-35
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers,until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
We all want to be forgiven for our own selfish sake. More often than not our pleas for pardon are not born from humility, but gluttony. It is something we want for ourselves. But what about for the sake of the one whom we have wronged? We recognize our need to be forgiven from the one with power to grant it, but we often fail to observe the effort and grace required of the hurt one to forgive (and that coming by grace from the One with the power to infuse and inspire it).
We beg for forgiveness, for reconciliation, and all for our own sake - caring little, if at all (maybe only in passing) for the one whom we have wronged. I am not talking about the effects of our sin. We do worry about that. We do often pray and hope that the sinned against will be released and restored from the state in which they were placed by our sin, but almost exclusively superficially. We hope the wounds we cause will heal. We quickly and rightly recognize our need to be forgiven, but we slowly, if ever, recognize the sinned against’s need to forgive. The soul of the one sinned against is equally at stake in that they must forgive you in order to be forgiven by God. It is not just us who sinned that are in peril as a result of our sin.
As the sinner, one rarely concerns themselves with this reality. The sinner rarely makes their appeal for pardon based on the sinned against’s need to be absolved of bitterness and anger, but rather the sinner’s need to sleep easier at night by absolution. Both are weights that are carried as a result of sin and both require the grace of God to be lifted entirely. Sin affects not only the sinner, but the sinned against.
The point is this: Often even in our attempts to request forgiveness, we reaffirm our commitment only to ourselves and our salvation and our reconciliation. We turn a interpersonal reconciling into an intrapersonal cleansing. We started by sinning against the other out of selfish desire or indifference and end by seeking forgiveness out of selfish desire and indifference to the other person.
We cannot bare to wear the scars of our own making and we simply want it removed with no thought or care often to the cost or effort of the other to offer the forgiveness we request.
I do not care what it costs you to forgive me, just forgive me! I want my fine paid, my penalty pardoned, my guilt absolved, my conscience cleared. I want all of these things and more often than not my thoughts do not gravitate beyond my wanting them.
I do not care what it costs you to forgive me, just do it. My forgivness is not about you, it is about me. So in the end even, the sin I commited against you is only my concern in that it leads me to this place where I beg something from you. You were never my concern: in the first, in the last.
It cost Jesus everything to purchase my pardon and redeem my wrtechedness. It cost Him everything that it might cost me nothing. But I do not care about Jesus' burden as long as my burden is absorbed. And I do not care about my brother as long as he has no charge against me.
Forgiveness entirely for the sake, in the Name, in the confidence, and to the glory of Christ alone is observed only when the sinner seeks forgiveness that their brother may be restored and their Savior exalted.
2 Corinthians 2:10-11
10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Ephesians 4:32
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Mark 11:25-26
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Colossians 3:12-13
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Luke 11:3-4
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
Matthew 18:32-35
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers,until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Monday, August 27, 2012
Thoughts from the "Heidelberg Catechism, Question #26"
Question 26. What believest thou when thou sayest, "I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth"?
Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them; who likewise upholds and governs the same by his eternal counsel and providence) is for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my Father; on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt, but he will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body and further, that He will make whatever evils he sends upon me, in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage; for he is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father.
God is the Author of everything and for those whom He has called, all things work together for good.
Because He is omnipotent and can do whatever He desires, He is able to bend all things to His will and to my good when I place my faith and trust in Him.
Because He is compassionate and willing, I can trust that He will use His omnipotence to bring Himself glory and me conformity to the image of His Son by the grace of His Spirit working within me.
I know people who have access to abundant resources, but even they do not have it all. Their will is not done because they will it. I also know people who have an earnest desire to help, but lack the resources to accomplish their desires. Their will is not done despite their sincerity. So then whether rich in resource or in sincerity, we cannot accomplish what we desire simply because we desire it. It is not for lack of "want to," but for lack of sovereignty.
God is both capable and willing. He CAN do whatever He wants and He is FAITHFUL to His children. I love that He is both these.
If He were only powerful and capable, but not willing or faithful, He would be One to run from, not to. He would be overwhelming and one with Whom you hoped your path never to cross: in life or in death.
If He were only willing and faithful, but impotent or powerless to accomplish His will, He would be One to whom we could run, but not in confidence or assurance of resolution in accord with our requests.
Our God is able.
Our God is faithful.
He can.
And He will.
Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them; who likewise upholds and governs the same by his eternal counsel and providence) is for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my Father; on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt, but he will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body and further, that He will make whatever evils he sends upon me, in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage; for he is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father.
God is the Author of everything and for those whom He has called, all things work together for good.
Because He is omnipotent and can do whatever He desires, He is able to bend all things to His will and to my good when I place my faith and trust in Him.
Because He is compassionate and willing, I can trust that He will use His omnipotence to bring Himself glory and me conformity to the image of His Son by the grace of His Spirit working within me.
I know people who have access to abundant resources, but even they do not have it all. Their will is not done because they will it. I also know people who have an earnest desire to help, but lack the resources to accomplish their desires. Their will is not done despite their sincerity. So then whether rich in resource or in sincerity, we cannot accomplish what we desire simply because we desire it. It is not for lack of "want to," but for lack of sovereignty.
God is both capable and willing. He CAN do whatever He wants and He is FAITHFUL to His children. I love that He is both these.
If He were only powerful and capable, but not willing or faithful, He would be One to run from, not to. He would be overwhelming and one with Whom you hoped your path never to cross: in life or in death.
If He were only willing and faithful, but impotent or powerless to accomplish His will, He would be One to whom we could run, but not in confidence or assurance of resolution in accord with our requests.
Our God is able.
Our God is faithful.
He can.
And He will.
Friday, August 24, 2012
It's not having what you want. It's wanting what you got.
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26a
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy...
It is a sad thing to witness a man who has everything he could ever want and no ability to enjoy it. God may grant by His common grace a person an ability and/or talent that allows said person to accrue massive amounts of wealth and possessions. However, the ability to enjoy said wealth and possessions also is a gift from God. One does not always necessitate the other. Plenty of people have plenty of money that they have no ability to enjoy because they spend plenty of time worried about it (plenty).
More than the wealth and health and prosperity for which we so often pray, we would do ourselves well to pray for the ability to enjoy that which we have and that which we may receive in the future.
Having things is no guarantee of enjoying things. God holds even this in His hands.
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy...
It is a sad thing to witness a man who has everything he could ever want and no ability to enjoy it. God may grant by His common grace a person an ability and/or talent that allows said person to accrue massive amounts of wealth and possessions. However, the ability to enjoy said wealth and possessions also is a gift from God. One does not always necessitate the other. Plenty of people have plenty of money that they have no ability to enjoy because they spend plenty of time worried about it (plenty).
More than the wealth and health and prosperity for which we so often pray, we would do ourselves well to pray for the ability to enjoy that which we have and that which we may receive in the future.
Having things is no guarantee of enjoying things. God holds even this in His hands.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Thoughts from "How 'Love God and Love Others' is a Backward Gospel" by Justin Holcomb
Please read the full blog HERE.
Q: What is the Gospel?
A: Love God and love others.
Result: Either self-righteousness in pridefully assuming you're doing that or total desparation in knowing that you fall flat short of that.
-----
Q: What is the Gospel?
A: Jesus loved God and others perfectly and by faith in Him we are seen as having done the same.
Result: Humility and faith in the righteousness granted by God from God unto God to His glory
-----
This is a great reminder of the necessity of semantics (that certain words mean certain somethings) and avoiding the confusion of categories (that one thing is categorically different than the other thing)..
"Love God, love people" is a great summary of the Law of God, not the grace of God.
The Law of God is perfect and awesome.
But the Law did not die for you.
Q: What is the Gospel?
A: Love God and love others.
Result: Either self-righteousness in pridefully assuming you're doing that or total desparation in knowing that you fall flat short of that.
-----
Q: What is the Gospel?
A: Jesus loved God and others perfectly and by faith in Him we are seen as having done the same.
Result: Humility and faith in the righteousness granted by God from God unto God to His glory
-----
This is a great reminder of the necessity of semantics (that certain words mean certain somethings) and avoiding the confusion of categories (that one thing is categorically different than the other thing)..
"Love God, love people" is a great summary of the Law of God, not the grace of God.
The Law of God is perfect and awesome.
But the Law did not die for you.
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