the chapel door

Week Off

2012-02-13T14:51:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to check in at the first of the week to let you Constant Readers know that I will be taking a break from blogging over the next week or so. This week is the Bible Conference at West Lenoir Baptist Church. The preaching will be excellent, Christ-centered, and thoroughly Biblical. I need some time to recharge my walk with God and spiritual life so I’m going to take a break from publicly broadcasting my thoughts and I will keep them locked safely inside my head where they belong.

If you’re in the general vicinity come by to the services. You will be glad you did. The evening services start tonight Monday February 13, 2012 at 7. The morning services start tomorrow at 10. The services go through Thursday.

You can buy me dinner at my favorite Mexican place if you’re in town.

Something I Read this Morning.

2012-02-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

I like to read. I hope you do too. If you want to write you should read – Stephen King said so. Preaching is a lot like writing so reading helps. It helps grow your mind the way hack squats and lunged help grow your glutes. So feel the burn and read!

I like to read from three or four books during my morning devotional time. I just cycled out one book by Stephen Lawson and another philosophy book that I decided was not feeding my soul at all and was therefore a waste of time. So I cycled in “Fool’s Gold” edited by John MacArthur.

The book is a critique of the modern American church with chapters dealing with music, ministry models, and the mindset behind much of the thinking in the church like consumerism. I didn’t really mean to alliterate that sentence so heavily – so seriously sorry.

I was reading the first chapter and I read a simple statement that arrested my attention. Sometimes that happens when you read. It happened when the Lord saved me by reading John 3:16 to my heart. It happened to me when I read “Death of Death” by John Owen and my thought changed forever. This statement wasn’t as profound as Owen (wasn’t as complicated either) but it did some up what I feel is my spiritual calling and even my gifting. Further, to use the word Johnny Mac uses it described my passion. I didn’t read this sentence and find myself altered in anyway but I did read it and see myself, my heart, and my ministry which was kind of a surreal thing. So in the interest of blogging I thought I would share the sentence with you.

“My passion is to know the truth and proclaim it with authority.” ~John MacArthur

He gets it.

Grace and Peace,
Bishop Carr

Theology Thursdays: Special Revelation

2012-02-09T08:23:00.002-05:00

Nothing could ever be more dangerous than misinterpreting a message from God. Countless people all over the world claim to have heard from God when in reality all they experienced was psychosis or bad Mexican food. Even more people all over the world follow religions and religious leaders that claim to be divine in origin that are delusional at best and demonic at worst. How do we really know when God speaks to people? Does He still speak to people today?

When theologians talk about God speaking they are talking about the process of revelation. Traditionally this discipline of theology is broken down in to two wider concepts, general revelation or the means by which God reveals some basic facts about Himself or His existence to all people, and special revelation, how God supernaturally reveals Himself and His will to a special group of people. That’s why this type of revelation is called supernatural or special. It requires an effort from God beyond what He has installed in nature and since it isn’t experienced by everyone it is special.

To some it would seem unfair that God doesn’t reveal Himself to all men in the same fashion. Why didn’t we get to stand with Moses on the mountain top and see the hinder part of God? Why don’t we get to experience visions and dreams? Why do some people live their whole lives and never hear a single word of the gospel? We must remember that God’s sovereignty guides His revelation of Himself. God isn’t obligated by anyone or anything to disclose Himself. Because of our sin a just condemnation would have been to leave the world in divinely sanctioned silence. The fact that anyone knows anything about God is proof of His mercy and grace.
That mercy in revelation has appeared at different times in different ways. Adam in the garden had a unique relationship with the presence of God. Certainly God, the infinite creator, didn’t have to walk with Adam, a finite creation, in the cool of the day but He did. After the fall God didn’t have to again condescend to the garden to confront and cover sin but He did. After that the relationship God had to humans was somewhat unusual. Apparently God spoke to Cain in some sort of fashion which would imply that first hand encounters with God, or at least His voice, weren’t uncommon. As you read further through the Old Testament you find people encountering God through dreams, visions, talking animals, angels, and prophecies. All of these things are very miraculous in that they aren’t natural occurrences in life.
Dreams, as experienced by men like Joseph and interpreted by men like Daniel are pretty self-explanatory. They are revelation from God that occurred during periods of sleep. Apparently, visions were much the same except they occurred when the seer was awake. Tongues occurred in the New Testament and were a supernatural gift of hearing where foreign hearers would hear the gospel in their own tongue even though it was preached in another language. Prophecy throughout the Bible often took many forms, though it did involve seeing the future its primary concern was communicating the message of God for a certain people at a certain time. Prophecy was merely a proclamation of the word of God. This is why the typical message of the prophets commenced with a “burden” and started with “Thus saith the Lord…”. Of course God wasn’t limited to humans. One of the funniest stories in the Bible is when God speaks to Balaam through his donkey. Though God’s special revelation is a miracle itself it was also often accompanied by miracles and signs to give authority and draw attention to the message God was communicating!

An important truth to note is that miracles and miraculous special revelation never pointed to miracles or to the miracle worker, the pointed to God and Christ. We should not be obsessed with seeing and experiencing these things. We should just read our Bibles.

Basically we can tell from scripture that God can speak to people however He wants, whenever He wants, wherever He wants. God is sovereign over His own self-disclosures and in our time He has chosen to speak through His word. Psalms 29 talks about the power and majesty of the voice of God. The only place one can be confident they are hearing the voice of God is in His word. We should not try to guide our lives by feelings, intuitions, liver quivers, or anything else. We should read the Bible and live it. Everything else will be fine.

In the New Testament God retained many of those miraculous methods of self-disclosure, until the time when the New Testament was completed. At that time, God’s revelation of Himself was complete and there was no further need to send prophets, angels, tongues, or revelatory miracles to tell us more about God. The reason is because the Bible itself tells us everything we need to know about Christ who is the supreme revelation of God to man. (Hebrews 1:1-3) Today if man wants to hear the voice of God he needs to look to the miracle he can hold in his hands – the inspired word of God.

The message of the Bible is the message of God’s redemption through His Son, the Lord Jesus. It has one theme, one goal, and one subject. The Bible points men to Jesus. That is precisely what special revelation has always done. It always points men to God as more than a creator! It shows them God as a redeemer. Special revelation is the working of God to make Himself known in ways that nature is insufficient to do.

One of the clearest examples of these principles concerning special revelation is the first recorded specific instance of such in the Bible. It occurs in Genesis 3 immediately after the fall in the Garden. In that text God has come to investigate the situation after Adam and Eve rebelled against His word. He then pronounces several curses. In the middle of His curse to the woman He also delivers a promise of future blessing to her seed that would destroy the serpent. This is what theologians call the proto-evangel, or the first gospel. It is God, immediately after the first sin was committed, preaching the gospel in seed form to man in whatever capacity God interacted with man at that time.

Every successive revelation from God had the same source, God Himself, and ultimately concerned the same content, Christ Himself. Sometimes the message was through dreams, visions, tongues, or even talking donkeys but God’s passion to spread the gospel for His own glory is seen in the process we call special revelation until the Bible which is the ultimate revelation of Christ was completed. To know God we must know Christ who is described as the “word” of God. To know the “living” word we must learn Him from the “written” word. When God speaks to us through His word now we don’t call that revelation we call it illumination. God is not telling us anything new rather He is still preaching the old story of His Son!

1 Peter 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

2 Peter 2:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old timed by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

1._____ The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
( 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 16:29, 31; Ephesians 2:20; Romans 1:19-21; Romans 2:14,15; Psalms 19:1-3; Hebrews 1:1; Proverbs 22:19-21; Romans 15:4; 2 Peter 1:19,20 ) 1689 London Baptist Confession 1.1

American Nicolaitanism: What You Missed Yesterday

2012-02-08T09:13:00.001-05:00

The church I pastor is a church whose history I love. The Bethlehem (as not to confuse it with the other one in our county or the one in Minneapolis) was founded in 1889 when an earthquake shook the little mountain community. The people thought the world was ending when their chimneys fail over and when the circuit rider came back on his rounds a few weeks later they asked him about organizing a church. And the rest is history… literally.

The circuit rider’s name was Cicero Queen. If I have my facts and dates right he would have been in his very early 20’s in the late 1880’s. He actually became the churches full time pastor later on and some of my current members remember him as a very old man. I’ve seen pictures of him during this stage of his life and he had a beard almost to his waste and these women in the church remember sitting on his lap at Sunday dinners and brushing his beard for him when they were little girls. The life of a circuit rider would have been difficult and unusual. He rode some 16 hours over the mountains on a mule to come preach at what is now my church. The people knew he was close when they heard him singing over the mountains just as night fell.
Today there aren’t many more circuit riders, at least not in the grotesquely bearded, mule wrangling since. Most churches have a pastor, or at least an interim of some kind, who is present week to week. That dynamic of a familiar pastor who has eaten at your table, whose life you have watched, and whose kids you know is one that we all have become accustomed to. But not for long. As the bards of Greenwich Village used to sing , “The times they are a-changing…”

…thus enters the Nicolaitans.

In the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, the Lord Jesus identifies a strange and mysterious group known as the Nicolaitans. He’s not a fan. Unfortunately we don’t know who these people were or what made them so sinister. All we know is that Jesus despised them and they threatened the health of the church. The only clue we have is in the name. It’s a compound Greek word from the word “Nikos” which implies victory and means to conquer and the word which we get the word laity from. So the word basically means “to conquer the laity”. Generally it is believed the Nicolaitans were some sort of oppressive and spiritually abusive form of church leadership.

I’m afraid that even though we might not know who they were we will soon find out.
I say that because the landscape of the church in America is changing. More and more you see churches trying to accommodate growth trends by embracing multi-site methods of ministries. This is a relatively new phenomenon and it is one that I find increasingly discouraging because I think we may be travelling down the road to our own nicolaitainism.

In my opinions, and some others but since this is MY blog you will get MY opinion, the Nicolaitans were the pre-cursors to the Catholic priests. They were people of influence and affluence who lorded over the common Christian. Eventually we know that the church deteriorated into Roman Catholicism with the Bishop of Rome – the pope – being the single most influential voice in Christianity. What undoubtedly happened was that the bishops of larger cities, such as Rome, had more influence and sway than say, the guy who was the Bishop of 20 people in his house. So their opinions were respected more and with that respect grew authority. Ultimately, we know how that lead to spiritual disaster when the opinions of the Bishop of Rome carried more weight than the very word of God.

Thankfully the protestant reformation helped end the distinctions between clergy and laity. The Baptists in particular emphasized the importance of the priest-hood of the believer.

I do not think that American churches are trending toward such extreme religious hierarchies... yet. I do think that our American obsession with brands and celebrity is leaking in to the church and it’s manifesting itself in the multi-site movement where one man, with a strong personality and a healthy dose of conference Christianity street-cred, is the pastor of thousands of peoples segregated to numerous buildings and separated by (potentially) thousands of miles. In the foreseeable future a pastor in, oh I don’t know… Seattle, could be preaching to people in Charlotte via TV every week and they are still calling him pastor.
Now, I know the church experiences growth. I also know that the Bible doesn’t tell us how to handle explosive growth so that there is a lot of liberty that we can enjoy. I also do not think that the multi-site movement presents any problems that say, incredibly large single-site mega-churches, have. I also think that the potential problems of the multi-campus phenomenon can be seen in churches with multiple services on Sunday. Especially if the church goes down the ridiculous road of having a contemporary service at 7, a traditional service at 8, a Spanish service at 9, a deaf service at 10, a blended Spanish-Dutch service at 11 with a sign language interpreter, and a middle eastern themed interpretive dance special at 3 with a special guest performance by the senior citizens break dance praise team. I hardly think that’s the recipe for unity.

So, I humbly bow to the regulative principle and in the name of unity and honesty I recognize that many denominations have different church polities to begin with and they may not see much of a problem with multi-site churches. But I do so I just thought I would express my concerns and thoughts. First of all I will say that if a pastor is preaching via jumbo-tron to people 20 miles away and he’s actually preaching the gospel, thank God. I may not agree with his methodology but I’m not stupid enough to think that somehow God can’t work through a video transmission. The word works regardless of the format. That still doesn’t mean that the format is wise, biblical, or best.

One of my main concerns about the multi-site phenomenon is that it doesn’t seem to handle growth biblically. Did you know there isn’t a single bible verse that says a church should be big? None. The only time that you can ever find a massive church being in one place at one time is in the first few chapters of the book of Acts and God sent persecution to them in order to scatter them and spread the gospel. Some churches are big and that’s great. Some are small and that’s great. Regardless, big is never the goal. Biblical is the goal.

The early church structure was probably very different than anything we are used to. It’s amazing to me how we assume that everything has always been as it is but even 100 years ago most of us could not attend the church we now go to because of simple travel restrictions that were lifted with the advent of the automobile. Things change and the church changes with them but not always for the better. The early church could not have had a multi-site model simply because it was impossible due to technology. For every early church service there was a living breathing preacher present to deliver the word of God. Still, the early church didn’t have pianos, guitars, choirs, altars, or even air conditioning or any of the other necessities we have to have come 11 o’clock. To further complicate things is that the early church, for 400 years or so, didn’t have church buildings. You don’t have monolithic mega churches when you have 20 people crammed into your living room! Things were different. So, since the Bible is obviously silent about the issue we need to use biblical principles to think clearly about it.

Primarily my concerns about multi-site churches center around issues of authority. This is precisely where the Catholic church derailed and I think it’s dangerous territory that comes with our culture of branding and celebrity. We’re already getting to the place where the local pastor isn’t as respected in spiritual issues as rock-star pastors who preach to thousands and have massive ministries. Today the average church member is just as likely to run to MacArthur or Piper for help with a spiritual issue as they are their pastor thanks to the internet, pod casts, and search functions on websites.

Still, that is not the way God intended it. A pastor, is a bishop. I love the title bishop even though I have a hard time getting people to call me that. It’s a biblical word and we need to take it back from the guys in the robes taking confessions and the other guys in the robes trying to tell people God wants them to be Cadillac owners for a small seed gift. A bishop is an overseer. He oversees the church. And that doesn’t just mean he oversees the budget or the programs but that he oversees individuals. Every Christian is accountable to a pastor who has been invested with the care of their soul. They have authority because the handle the word of God. They are responsible for those under them knowing that they will receive the greater condemnation for their tremendous responsibility. In a multi-site model an individual is allowed to blend in with a group of consumers on Sunday morning, consume a sermon the way they would a sitcom and then go on with their life. You cannot be disciplined by a TV.

We’re already seeing this phenomenon play out. Does the American church have a theological controversy that needs to be hashed out? Then get the leading talking heads together to form a consensus. They need to tell us what to think. The problem is that even though none of these men (I hope anyway) would try to supersede the place of the Bible as the final authority for the church they will inevitably be seen as its equal. When they are it’s only a matter of time before they are seen as its superior. The next thing you know you have some old guy on a throne in Rome - or the American equivalent – issuing edicts and bulls that are as binding to the church as the Word is.

What seems to be happening more and more is that these multi-site churches are non-denominational in their names and affiliations but very denominational in their operations. So a church in Portland explodes and adds a campus in So Cal, Phoenix, Washington, New York. The pastor becomes a huge success speaking on the conference scene, writing books, and appearing on CNN every night to give his spiritual witticisms about the latest happenings in the world at large. The next thing you know this church with one senior pastor, one self-identifying constitution, one organizational chart, and one doctrinal statement has 163 campuses and 100,000 members. Guess what? That’s not a church, a “network” or even a “movement”, (Puke.) it’s a denomination. Call it a conference or an association. It doesn’t matter. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck and all of that…

The only difference is that denominations are centered around distinct biblical interpretations and convictions, not one personality or voice. When Paul sent Titus to Crete he sent him not to preach in every church but to ordain pastors who would preach in those churches. When personalities loom larger than truth what happens when people more strongly identify with a certain group, network, movement, revolution, or whatever buzzword happens to be catching on this week more than they do with the word of God?

We already have multi-site mega-churches suing other churches over their logos that are to similar to the copyrighted corporate logo. Don’t hurt the brand or you’ll hear from our lawyers. That should tell us much about where our hearts are. There is a difference between a community and a brand.

Besides, who preaches when the cable goes out? Oh, we’re sorry, we can’t get the satellite connection to work so we can’t hear Bishop Carr today.

STOP EVERYTHING!

What you have just read is my incomplete blog about the danger of Nicolaitanism in the American church. I will not finish it because the day I started writing it, yesterday February 7, 2012, the Acts 29 church planting statement released a statement or article or whatever it was by Mark Driscoll (its leader) talking about their future plans for the year. Number 1 is a new logo, brand, and look. My sarcasm bone is throbbing.

Anyway this article was too incredible and too timely not to interrupt by own blog post.

You can find the article here.

I won’t tell you what the problems with it are but read it and figure it out and then tell me I’m wrong about the coming age of Nicolaitanism in the American church.
Well, ok, for starters the effective establishment of a BOARD OF PRIESTS should pretty much cause everyone involved to be voted out of their respective churches and sent to the nearest pre-heated stake. But, hey my church doesn’t have a copy-righted logo so what do I know?

I literally felt ill (both the kind of ill where you want to punch someone in the face and the kind where you want to lose your lunch) when I read this.
God help us.

Judging Judgmentalism

2012-02-07T07:28:00.003-05:00

We’re so used to the mysterious nature of Jesus’ preaching boggling our minds that sometimes we fall into the same trap as the disciples: failing to use our minds to figure out what Jesus said. So, instead of really trying to figure out the heart of Jesus’ teaching we just reduce Jesus to Tweets and sound bites that maybe give us a glimpse of who He was but really fail to miss the essence of His nature. But, the preaching of Jesus, like all good preaching I suppose, can’t really be reduced to trivialities or sentimentalities. His preaching, again like all good preaching, stands the test of time, ridicule, rebuke, and countless misinterpretations. His preaching lasts and 2,000 years after He delivered His last sermon His preaching still speaks. That’s saying something. Because unlike the popular preachers of His day when it came time to preach He actually had something to say instead of just having to say something.

Still, Jesus’ preaching is often complicated. He told simple stories but He also dropped truth grenades into the laps of His disciples. He preached with children on His knees and with a whip in His hand. He even had the uncanny ability, being God and all, to speak to the heart even when the heart hadn’t spoken. (See: Mark 2:8) Jesus was incredible because He could make you think.

One such statement of Jesus that I have been rolling over in my mind lately is what is probably His most familiar command, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” I would wager that this is probably the most quoted and least understood, verse in the Bible. But it sure is convenient, isn’t it? That phrase fits neatly within the 140 character limit and is easily hurled back to those who disagree about this issue or another. Still, that wasn’t all Jesus said on the subject was it?

Jesus made this famous comment in Matthew 7:1 during the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon is essentially an exposition of the law. Read Matthew 5 through 7 carefully and you will see how often Jesus says, “You have heard it said… but I say unto you.” In this sermon Jesus tells us not to judge. Hey, lighten up man! Don’t be so critical! Go along to get along! Let people be different!

The problem is that the way we think about Matthew 7:1 is a huge oversimplification. By the time you get to Matthew 7:15 for instance Jesus is telling us to judge false teachers, isn’t He? How else can you determine what kind of tree you’re looking at without judging its fruit? (Matthew 7:20)

Now, here’s where things get sticky. Jesus said not to judge other people, right? And the reason He did, if you read Matthew 7:2-5 is because we’re all hypocrites (read: fakes, phonies, liars, actors, etc.) who can’t see the telephone poll sticking out of our face while we try to help dig a splinter out of someone else’s eyes. But I like to judge.

I am quite good at trying to deliver people from their beams. Just read my blog and you can see it a whole lot clearer than I can.

To further complicate things Jesus actually said, in John 7:24, to judge righteous judgment. Hmmmm…. Judge not but be sure you judge.

What in the world is going on? And how can those of us who are judgmental and self-righteous be delivered from the crushing burden of being right about everything all the time?

First, we need to realize we’re not God. No matter how much we like to run around quoting Matthew 7:1 at everyone who has the slightest appearance of hostility toward us God Himself is a judge. That is one of the primary revelations of God both in the Old and New Testament. Thankfully, we can be glad that God is a righteous judge who will always judge right. (Genesis 18:25) But that really isn’t good news because God is right and we’re not. (Romans 3:23) Our age of inclusive, tolerance, and acceptance needs to realize that the very universe itself will melt away at the sight of our righteous God on His throne. (Revelation 20:11) We like to preach the gospel, use the buzzwords of forgiveness and acceptance, and talk about the love of Christ but we know nothing about the gospel or the love of Christ until we first learn that God is a judge. We really don’t even grasp the incredible gift of salvation until we realize that first and foremost we have been saved from God our judge.

God is able to judge and it is His responsibility to judge. We are all part of His creation and we are all subject to the rules of His government. So while the Bible may condemn judgmentalism in you it does sternly remind you that being judgmental is part of the essential nature of God. Before you run around telling everyone else not to judge you because God will, I would implore to recognize the horror of that situation. God judges righteously never making a wrong judgment. God judges from His holiness, He is never swayed by bribes or preferences. God judges from the bottomless well of His omniscience, He knows every detail of every case. That’s not good news unless we are in Christ who was judged by this righteous God on the cross.

What we really need to realize is that what qualifies God to judge is precisely what disqualifies us from being so judgmental. I am not righteous and my judgments aren’t pure. I am not omniscient, I don’t know every detail of every case and I certainly don’t know everyone’s motives. I am not holy and I do tend to agree with those like me and automatically condemn those who disagree. I am not God and I cannot judge people like I am. The climax of history is the moment when the world stands before Christ at the judgment (John 5) but the world is not anxiously careening toward a rendezvous with my opinions no matter how valuable I think they are.

The second truth we need to remember is that we are only free to judge if we are willing to be judged. But here’s where the gospel flips everything upside down. If I am trusting Christ as my Savior and Lord then it means I have agreed with God’s judgment of me as a sinner and I have accepted God’s judgment of Christ for me. I have acknowledged my unrighteousness and I know that the only way I will ever experience the blessings of God in Heaven is because I have received righteousness from Christ.

When we make that attitude the attitude of our lives, the one where we are constantly coming to God because the motes in our eye are so huge, then and only then can we help others. Jesus said in Matthew 7:5 when we see clearly we would be able to help others. So come to the cross and receive sight and then you will be able to help others see without condemning their blindness.

When we have done that we can develop the mind of Christ that does allow us to judge righteous judgments. When we are recipients of grace, love, forgiveness and mercy we can give them to others who need it. And they do need it.

That’s why Jesus, who discouraged us from hyper-critical judgmentalism, encouraged us to make righteous judgments. Our world doesn’t know anything about true judgment. The judgments they encounter are either hateful, misinformed, severe, and mean or too lax and willing to forgive at the expense of righteousness. The gospel teaches us true judgment. The sin is punished but, because of Christ alone, the sinner is forgiven. That’s what the world needs to see and only those who live constantly in the shadow of the cross are able to display righteous judgments.

(Note: This blog was partially inspired by the book “Note to Self” by Joe Thorn. Most of the thoughts were mine but the spring board was chapter 14 on Judgmentalism so in the interest of not being a lying creep who plagiarizes someone else’s intellectually property I will humbly point you toward that book and not to myself.)

Biblicism One and Biblicism Two

2012-02-04T18:19:00.003-05:00

I've blogged a few times the past few months about the Elephant Room fiasco so I won't tread anymore ground. However, The Gospel Coalition leaders D.A. Carson and Tim Keller recently wrote an article about it that you can find here. In it they sum up two separate ways of thinking about the Bible. I thought the quote was worth sharing because it shows us within the microcosm of the Elephant Room what is happening in evangelicalism as a whole.

"There is a kind of appeal to Scripture, a kind of biblicism---let's call it Biblicism One---that seems to bow to what Scripture says but does not listen to the text very closely and is almost entirely uninformed by how thoughtful Christians have wrestled with these same texts for centuries. There is another kind of biblicism---let's call it Biblicism Two---that understands the final authority in divine revelation to lie in Scripture traceable to the God who has given it, but understands also that accurate understanding of that Scripture is never supported by bad exegesis and always enriched by the work of Christian thinkers who have gone before." ~ D.A. Carson and Tim Keller

Theology Thursdays: General Revelation

2012-02-02T08:12:00.002-05:00

What if the Bible were never written? What if no prophets had ever been sent? What if Jesus, the express image of the person of God, had never walked across our world? Would we still know God or would we merely know about Him? After all, there is a great deal of difference between knowing someone and knowing about someone. Whether or not God could be known without His moving to make Himself known is an important question for several reasons.

First, there are many people who live as if God has never spoken. Even many people who claim to be Christians never avail themselves to the resources of God’s special super-natural revelation. They never read their Bibles, attend church, or seek to understand the revealed truth of God in His word. Then these people are often content to give their opinions to others about God and His will as if they are experts. Do they know God or not?

Second, there are many people who do not see God’s revelation of Himself as valid. Maybe they don’t see the Bible as sufficient enough reason to believe in God or maybe they don’t believe the miracles recorded in the Bible really happened. Either way, they don’t believe there is enough evidence to believe in God at all. They might be atheists who say emphatically that there is no God. They may also be agnostics who think God is unknowable, or that at least the existence of God can’t actually be known. The Bible says in Psalms 14:1 that those who deny the existence of God are fools. The implication is not that they are ignorant. They don’t lack any information. Rather the Bible says they are foolish, willfully rejecting valid information.

Third, the question is important because the majority of people alive today, and the vast majority of people who have ever lived in this world, did not have access to any means of super-natural revelation. They will never own a Bible, attend a church, or even hear the name of Jesus! Will these people still go to Hell if they die without Christ? How can Christ condemn them for not knowing Him when it would seem they had no way to know Him?

The resolution to these dilemmas is found in the doctrine called general revelation. General revelation is called general for two reasons. One it gives us general, but not or comprehensive, information about God. The other reason it’s called “general” revelation is because it is given to a general audience. Everyone, regardless of where they live, their nationality, or even the time period of their life has encountered general revelation. This is true on two fronts because everyone encounters general revelation in two forms.

The first is through creation. The existence of creation itself is a revelation of God. This is what Paul referred to in Romans 1 when he wrote Romans 1:19 “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” I can’t look out the window of my study right now and know everything there is to know about God just by watching clouds float across the sky or squirrels chase nuts but I can know a few things.

I can easily discern that God exists. Some form of being had to bring everything into existence. I may not know that this great being knows me, loves me, or has even spoken to me but I do know that He is. That’s why all over the world, throughout all time, people have worshipped some form of god. They recognized that there was a creator who formed all things. Creation proves that somewhere there is an uncaused cause that transcends creation itself.

Further I can tell that this God is a God of order and law. Creation is not chaotic but rather it obeys certain rules. I am not above these rules. I am subject to the laws of creation such as gravity. This should lead me to a moral knowledge of God. God is a God who governs creation with law and as part of that creation I am subject to those laws because I am responsible to my creator.

Psalms 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” There is no set of eyes that can’t see the sun and even those who are blind spiritually can see the light of the sun and can see everything else because of the sun. There is no person that can’t walk outside and night and miss the stars. Something, or someone, put those there and that knowledge is inescapable.

The second means of general revelation is through conscience. Not only can God be detected because of the external handiwork of creation but a certain knowledge of God may also be known because of the internal evidence of conscience. Paul said in Romans 2, “14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;” According to that verse all men are born with some portion of the law of God written on their hearts. Sometimes they may interpret it wrong and other times sin clouds their understanding but all people are born with a basic knowledge of good and evil.

How else could we explain ancient pagan cultures, removed by thousands of miles, and thousands of years from Christianity, that believe murder was wrong? The sanctity of life is just one example of how the law of God is written in the heart of men. When this revelation contained in our conscience is sinned against it becomes harder and harder to see. One needs only to look at our current culture to see how we are sinning against our understanding of the sanctity of life and how, as we do, life becomes less and less valuable.

Perhaps the clearest illustration of the truth of some universal internal morality is that all men judge other people. We all expect people to be honest. We all expect them to be faithful. When they violate our internal law we quickly point our fingers and condemn them. Yet we are accountable to what we know to be true. So while we may judge others for being proud we are condemning ourselves.

In fact that’s all general revelation will ever accomplish. Many people wonder how it is fathomable that God would condemn men to Hell when they have never had access to the truth of the gospel. The answer to that dilemma is that the content of general revelation, while never being sufficient to save, is always sufficient to condemn. General revelation teaches me that there is a God who owns me and expects things from me and from others that I willingly violate. No one will be accountable for the truth they didn’t encounter. We don’t need to be. Every man knows enough truth about God to be condemned eternally. This truth is encountered by all men generally. It isn’t comprehensive and it doesn’t need to be.

General revelation teaches that men can know there is a God and that they are accountable to Him. It isn’t sufficient to save but is sufficient to condemn. People encounter general revelation in two ways, through creation which reveals the work of God and conscience which reveals a portion of the law of God.

See: Romans 1, Romans 2, Psalms 19, 1 Corinthians 2

A Few More Elephants in the Room

2012-02-01T08:46:00.003-05:00

A few months ago when the conversational conference hosted by James MacDonald called the Elephant Room II was announced I posted a blog about it because I wondered out loud how wise it was to have T.D. Jakes, an apparent Modalist, attend and speak on behalf of evangelicalism. Well, the Elephant Room II has now come and gone. I have seen clips of it online and read certain portions of it. If you worried about heresy at large invading the church you can just relax and breathe a sigh of relief because the cardinals of contemporary Christianity have issued their seal of approval on Jakes and his ministry.

Of course this makes very few people happy. Me included. While I admire the idea behind the Elephant Room, I think the ball was probably dropped. More accurately I think the whole groups just punted on Third. Still, I really admire some of the men who participate and have participated in the Elephant Room conferences. In my opinion though there are still some elephants left in the room that need to be dealt with. I think I’ll just point them out here and then retreat back to my little country church.

1. If Jakes is actually a Trinitarian and he FINALLY revealed himself to be such at the Elephant Room II why in God’s name (and I use that figure of speech very literally) did he wait until the Elephant Room II to do it?

Was it to sale tickets? Create interest? Keep people talking? If you’ve repented of false doctrine then you need to not only announce it to your church but you need to shout it from the house tops. I can find no good biblical or gospel reason to keep a lid on one’s orthodoxy.

2. If Jakes is actually a Trinitarian and he FINALLY revealed himself to be such at the Elephant Room II why was he given a free pass on his false “word of faith” prosperity gospel teaching?

Hello? Just because a man believes in the trinity (as I hope he does) doesn’t mean he’s right on everything else.

3. Why are they calling people racists who disagree?

You know, one of the things that aggravates me more than anything is to be called a racist. I’m not a racist, I think all people are totally depraved and basically evil regardless of skin color. (Ha!) But hey, just because I disagree with a black guy doesn’t mean I don’t like black people or that somehow I have a racially charged motive for my disagreement. But of course, that’s the line being shelled out by our buddies at the Elephant Room. Check this link here. You see the insinuation at around 4 minutes that any black person who rigorously defends orthodox theology with orthodox language is really just guilty of ‘white idolatry’ and trying to fit in to white culture. That’s stupid. But should we really be surprised when people who trend toward theological liberalism embrace the “race card” favored by social liberals? Probably not.

Further, to the point of racism, these people are trying to insinuate that the cultural oppression and segregation of black people in our society has meant that historically black preachers weren’t allowed the same theological educational opportunities as their white counterparts so we shouldn’t really be surprised that they have bad theology… or something… I don’t know. That argument itself is so ignorant and racist that I have a hard time wrapping my head around it. At the last Elephant Room one Matt Chandler participated and in my view he is a tremendous gospel preacher who defends historical Christian thinking. He didn’t go to seminary. Neither did Charles Spurgeon. Neither did Arthur Pink. Neither did the largest majority of people who have ever preached the gospel. If I remember my Bible right Jesus said in John 16:13 that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth. Granted, some segments of the culture may not have traditionally healthy theology and people may be raised in churches with thinking that is very toxic but if people embrace Christ in those settings the Spirit of God in them will lead them into truth. The proof of that is in the remarkable Christian hip-hop movement going on today. Whether you like it or not, and whether you think it is an appropriate medium to communicate the gospel or not, you can’t listen to something like “Trinitarian Praise” by Shai Linne and not come away with at least knowing that he has a good grasp on the Trinity.

Bringing race into the debate is foolish and destructive. Are there elements of American Christianity, even Calvinism and fundamentalism and Baptist life that have been traditionally racist? Absolutely? Is that wrong? 100 percent. Is the fact that Jonathan Edwards owned slaves my fault? Nope. Besides that to try to throw the race card around so wildly and irresponsibly just betrays our American way of thinking about race and religion. You know one of the most vigorous defenders of the nature of the God-head (something no one there saw fit to battle for too much) was a white African named Athanasius. Athanasius wasn’t black or American but he was definitely more African than James MacDonald or any of his buddies and he had good theology even without being allowed to go through Bob Jones.

So much for that 1 Corinthians 13, love believes the best stuff, eh?

NOTE: If one abandons Biblical truth for fear of being called a racist I'm still pretty sure that qualifies as a "fear of man" and not God thing.

4. Theology (right thinking) is not the enemy of love, unity, and relationships.
People want to make it as if “middle aged white reformed guys” (who are these people anyway?) are hunkered down behind their Arthur Pink collection and are just throwing grenades of hatred at everyone who disagrees. Has anyone ever stopped to think that maybe we love theology because we love people? Maybe it grieves our heart to see people in error particularly when they are men of influence who can sway others in their direction! Maybe we are theological because we want to love and serve better. Maybe we know that to fulfill the 2nd commandment you have to keep the 1st commandment. Jesus seemed to think that loving God with your mind is important. Theology is not the enemy of love or unity. Theology is in fact the ground of love and unity. Theology is the precise reason I do not unify with Roman Catholicism. Are you going to encourage that and call me hateful for maintaining the Biblical doctrine of justification by faith? Seriously.

Granted, there are many things that people in old-fashioned churches like mine hold with a very tight fist that could easily be let go and it would in no way effect the health of the church. In other words, I’m not going to write a polemic on the necessity of the organ. Still, there are other things that Christians have fought and argued for that need to be defended. What is tragically neglected by such event at the Elephant Room, even though I think that style conference is a pretty decent idea, is that without a right view of God you cannot have a right view of relationships. Many people want to be quick to assert that vigorous defense of the trinity on blogs and in sermons against what T.D. Jakes used to believe, or still believes, or whatever is going on, is damaging to the body of Christ. What no one has seen fit to explain is how I can have a right concept of Christian love, and by extension relationships, without first understanding the relationship that God has with the other members of the Trinity. Healthy Trinitarian thinking is essential to having right relationships. It’s essential to the Christian view of unity. Further, if we’re going to say we’re uniting around the gospel and uniting around the cross the Trinity is essential to what we think about the cross and the gospel.

Read Hebrews 9. There is no gospel without the Trinity.

So defend it.

Some people are so worried about being too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. The problem is you can’t be any earthly good until you first become heavenly minded.

NOTE (And it's important): When you abandon a Trinitarian position on the God-Head the only real "unity" you're left with is uniformity. And tragically that seems to be more and more the goal of the Elephant Room.

5. In a total change of position… People Should be Allowed to Preach and Speak Where They Want To.

I respect Mark Dever. I think he’s right on pretty much everything. It seems to me though that he bailed on the Elephant Room II when the Reformed universe went bananas over the whole T.D. Jakes thing. Well, it’s his ministry and I guess he can do with it whatever he wants and my criticism isn’t so much of him anyway as it is of the people who complained about it. The reason is the idea of “you can’t take your Bible or our stance to anyone but people just like us” is totally stupid. It’s something though that Baptists like me have embraced for a long time. For my part I would preach anywhere. If T.D. Jakes called me right now and asked me to fly to the Potter’s House and preach I would. I think he teaches a dangerous gospel and I think he’s still less than clear on the nature of God so why wouldn’t I go preach truth to a church that needs it? Does that mean I agree with him? No! Does it mean we’re best buddies? No! Does it mean that the offering would probably be massive? Well, that’s not the point. The point is when God calls and sends someone to preach it is between that man and God where He goes. If the Pope called me I would go preach at St. Peter’s. I might preach on why I think he’s the Anti-Christ and the Roman Church is the Whore of Babylon but I’d still go.

I do not understand the mentality that says a preacher is only free to go preach in places that his friends approve of. To me it proves that many preacher, and I’m talking specifically about my Baptist brethren here, are obsessed with their image and aren’t nearly as interested in the propagation of truth as they are in self-aggrandizement. So I would just lovingly and humbly suggest that whether we are fundamentalist Baptist, white reformed, or hipster emergent, maybe when someone preaches at a place we wouldn't we could just keep it to ourselves and instead of running them down we could pray for them.

6. Word Have Meanings.

You know, there seems to be this idea, and one of the guys in the link said something to the effect, that just because someone doesn’t use the same language or words to define their theology doesn’t mean they don’t hold to right theology. Well, there you have the whole argument in a nut shell. That’s why Bishop Jakes said, “I believe in persons but I prefer manifestations.” Ok, fine, but those words mean something. You can’t just take words that have meant one thing for hundreds of years and assign them a different meaning. All it does is lead to confusion and ambiguity. Before she left for work my wife told me to take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer. I knew what she meant because I knew what the words meant. She could have said, “Take the bread out of the trash and throw it in the yard.” But those words mean totally different things. The words “washer, dryer, and clothes” have concrete meanings. That’s important to know and learn.

So, I hope you enjoyed this little mental exercise. Now if you will excuse me I'm expecting a call from James MacDonald about the Elephant Room III any minute...

As in England so too America: The Inevitable Liberalization and Islamification of the USA

2012-01-30T14:02:00.002-05:00

I don’t know how much you keep up with the controversies, confrontations, and criticisms that dance around the Christian internet landscape but there has been a recent little stir about Mark Driscoll – who seems to be in the midst of a lot of controversies – and his comments about the condition of the ‘church’ in England. To summarize: he’s not a fan.

In response to this D.A. Carson published a blog outlining his take on the church in England. I think when two such men comment on something like this it’s wise to take notice. Mark Driscoll is, for better or worse, one of the most influential men in the church today and D.A. Carson is one of the most brilliant. When they talk, it’s probably wise to listen regardless of how much we agree or disagree with these men and even regardless of how much we may not care for the topic they are speaking about.

We might not give a lot of attention to the church in England but I think we should and I just wanted to give two reasons why what has happened to the nation that produced Spurgeon, Owen, Ryle, and countless other great voices for the gospel should concern us. Truthfully, this is more to do with the culture in England than the church itself but when the church ceases to be an agent that changes culture then these could be the natural result.

1. England is becoming an increasingly liberal country. More government will always mean less liberty and as England becomes an increasingly socialized country the rights that people retain to freely preach the gospel are slowly being eroded away. The day will come when that will occur in our country too. It’s already happening in Canada and the days of the world’s acceptance of Christianity as another viable voice at the table are long gone. It will not be long before the only version of Christianity that is acceptable, if any, will be that which is regulated by, licensed by, controlled by, and of course, accountable to the government. That has in fact been the case throughout most of the history of the world since the coming of Christ. The true church is never in favor for long periods of time.
The day is coming when persecution will return to the shores of America. In England, imminent theologians like J.I. Packer have already been excommunicated from their denominations for their stance on homosexuality. Will we cave to the culture and bow to the expectations of the world or will we stay faithful to the word of God regardless of the cost?

In America we have the attitude that in business, military, and even the church “bigger is better”. Statistically speaking mega-churches are already on the decline but when genuine persecution for the name of Christ comes to our country those days will be over. The arguments for ‘reaching people’ and ‘contextualization’ that fuel the modern missiological debates will be silenced when people feel their very lives are in danger for coming to church. The mega-churches will be empty. We must remember that in other parts of the world people still die for the name of Christ and even the very founders of our faith were beheaded, fed to lions in the coliseum, or boiled alive. When the pastor is sitting around a candle in someone’s basement at three in the morning trying to preach Christ to a dozen he’s not going to be worried about carving out a name for himself as a leader and an innovator in the latest church growth conference or strategy. Our churches are going to start getting smaller very soon but as they get thinner they will grow deeper and through the fire of persecution they will be refined to something that will shine brightly for the glory of Christ again.

By the same token, when Bibles are illegal (and they will be) people aren’t going to be worried as much about translational preferences. When the day comes (and it will) when the Christians in America don’t own Bibles to throw on their dashboards because it’s against the law to own what will be called such “hate speech” genuine Christians will be blessed to be able to have a page out of an old Baptist Hymnal (also illegal) with a single verse in the NKJV printed at the top of the page.

2. Though England is becoming an increasingly liberal country it is also becoming an increasingly Islamic country. The problem with that is that orthodox Islam and cultural liberalism cannot mix. Neither can orthodox Islam and orthodox Christianity. The day is fast approaching, and is probably already here, when the demonic paganism of the Satanic child molester Mohammed will be more well respected than traditional Christianity. My blog is read in some Middle Eastern countries and if something like that last sentence is read by the right people there it results in a fatwa and having your head cut off on camera in the name of the godless religion of peace. Islam is evil, like all false religions, and it’s already here.
Do I need to remind you of how our President treats Christmas and the national day of prayer while celebrating Ramadan? Do I need to remind you that he has said that the purpose of NASA is no longer scientific exploration of the atmosphere but improving relations with Islamic countries? Do I need to remind you that when an Army Major shoots up an Army base at Fort Hood shouting “Allahu Akbar” (Allah be praised) our government is quick to rush to his defense and claim that it has nothing to do with Islam though he had been in e-mail contact with top Al Qaeda leaders. Do I need to remind you that when you fly on a commercial air line from the United States you are subject to a government sanctioned pat down and full body scan that is perfectly acceptable because you are a citizen but if it was done to the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay our government would be sued for emotional damages? Ask a Sudanese pastor whose last sight before having his eyes gouged out by Islamic radicals was seeing his wife and daughter raped and murdered because of their belief in Jesus if Islam co-exists with Christianity. God help our apostatized country for taking the matters of God and the message of the cross so lightly. People are dying for Jesus and we’re ripping verses out of context to preach some stupid emotional self-help tripe that has nothing to do with the message of the gospel because it has no Christ, no cross, and no God. Most of the preaching in America today would probably terrify pastors from the Philippines and Iran where Islam is a constant threat.

Remember the stellar church in Philadelphia in Revelation 2? Philadelphia is in modern day Turkey. Does the national flag of Turkey have a cross or a crescent on it?

Sadly, for cultural liberals, they are not able to perceive the threat of Islam to our society or to our faith. Because they are not able to detect the threat they are not able to defend against it. When soft liberalism seeks to engage Islam with a hug Islam cuts its head off in the name of Allah.

Do not expect Islam to be soft on America. America is clamoring for the constitutional rights of Muslims to build a mosque near ground zero but remind me, have those two towers been rebuilt yet?

Christians will suffer when Islam dominates America but Christianity won’t. The gospel will be preached less but it will be preached with much more power. There will be less Christians because churches will be emptied of false-professors who don’t know Christ but churches will have a greater sense of godliness because those in the church on any given Sunday will be people who actually love Jesus enough to die for Him. If we aren’t willing to do that now then we’re in no position to live for Him.

The point of all of this negativity is to get us to realize that we have a very American way of thinking about church. Size matters to us greatly and in the end size is the favorite judge of spiritual success and effectiveness. Many Baptists would think I have no right to criticize Jack Schaap’s methods because my church isn’t as big as his. Many contemporary people would say the same thing about, say, Andy Stanley. But the day will come when our churches will shrink. Then how will we judge effectiveness? When that happens the only way to measure our power is by our faithfulness.

Because of our American sense of “doing what works” most of us take a very pragmatic approach to church and ministry. Whatever it takes to get people in becomes the new standard model for success. The problem is that we often lack the prophetic insight to see what will happen when we’re not preaching to 1,000 or even 100 but to 10 people beside a river bank. Then what? We won’t measure the work of God by conferences, altar calls, and other frivolous accounting measures but by lives that are wholly dedicated to Christ.

Most of this goes back to our rigid American sense of identity and self-reliance. The way semi-pelagianism doctrine and it’s natural off-shoots – altar calls, camp-meetings, seeker sensitive churches, social justice gospels, et al. – has flourished in a country built on the cult of self can be no mistake. However, if the day comes that the church is stripped of all of its power, be it her impressive membership roles, massive buildings, or political influence what then? We will have to take the old-fashioned position of the Calvinists like Jonathan Edwards who prostrated themselves before a sovereign God as helpless and weak men desperate for an outpouring of grace that was totally undeserved. Why did people used to pray for hours on end for God to save sinners? Because they didn’t rely on methods, techniques, or presentations. Why did men used to preach sermons that lasted for hours on Hell, Heaven, and eternal redemption in Christ? Because they had nothing else. God help us but now we have everything else but Christ and the power of the Spirit of God demonstrated by the preaching of the Word. So now we don’t preach Christ! (Bad for attendance, worse for money.) We don’t preach the word. (Too deep and too complex!)

If the coming downfall of American society – which is inevitable mind you – has any one benefit it will purify the pulpit, purify our praying, and add power to our churches.

If that happens, the current liberalization and coming Muslim domination of the United States may be the best thing to come to America since the Mayflower.

Tweet Tweet Twiddly Dee Dee Deet

2012-01-27T19:59:00.002-05:00

That's Rockin' Robin, ya know?

Anyway, due to the roaring demands of my legions of adoring fans I have decided to start a Twitter account. Actually, it was one guy in particular(Hi, Josh) but I have decided to plunge in to the brave new world of tweeting.

Now, I'm not one to embrace social media very quickly. I think I might still have a MySpace account. MySpace. Remember that?

Plus it should be neat to see if I can actually condense my thoughts into 140 characters or less. The only problem I'm having is learning this new language. As you can tell if you read my blog or hear me speak in person grammar ain't not hardly my strongest attribute, I tell ya what. So if I've had such a hard time learning actual English imagine how hard it will be for me to get a handle on all of these ampersands and hashtags. @confused #whatplanetisthis?

Actually most of the traffic for my blog comes from social media so this is really all a matter of shameless self promotion. Besides, if you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter or read my blog how will you ever know what everyone else is Tweeting about? So quit reading everyone else's status' and tweets and just read mine. I'm probably the one they're griping about anyway. (Yes I do see that and yes I do have feelings believe it or not.)

So I couldn't decide between @warfieldsbeard or @mytheologybooksarebiggerthanyours or @TheJesseCarr or @ReformedRev or whatever so I'm just chapeldoor@twitter or is it twitter@chapeldoor? I don't know, you figure it out.

#bravenewworld

Theology Thursdays: Revelation

2012-01-26T08:28:00.002-05:00

1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Your experience in life is probably a lot like mine in that you find people often say very stupid things in an attempt to sound very smart. One such stupid thing people say is the story of the blind men and the elephant. The theory is that all religions are essentially the same and because it is surely impossible for us to know anything substantial about a being as vast as God each religion may give us a portion of truth while no one religion gives us all the truth. So the story goes that a bunch of blind guys are standing around groping a pachyderm. One holds the tale and says, “This is a snake!” Another holds the trunk and says, “This is a great hose!” Another wraps his arms around the elephants meaty thigh and says, “Fools! This is a great sturdy tree.”

There are, on the surface, several problems with this story. One is that it’s foolish to have blind people anywhere close to an elephant. The second problem is that that’s not the way religious people talk, is it? If the story were really accurate the guy grabbing the tail might say, “Listen infidels, this snake told me to hijack an airplane and fly it into your buildings so I can inherit my claim of 72 virgins.” To which the other blind men would likely hold a tolerance summit to engage in a diversity dialogue with the blind guy grabbing the tail and teach their children about the important cultural contributions of the blind snake handlers. The third problem is that all of the blind men are totally wrong about what they’re handling no matter how right they think they are because they are actually handling an elephant. So we can all be totally wrong but that doesn’t help us understand truth. If some enterprising philosopher wants to come up with a sequel to this story the best we can hope for is that the elephant sits down on the guy pulling his tail.
The idea behind the story is that we’re all wrong but that’s alright. None of us have a grasp on the whole truth so we should probably just relax when someone thinks something different about God or religion than we do. The problem is the elephant is still the elephant. Truth is truth regardless of how we handle it.

The good news is that the story is half-right. All people are blind to the truth about God. Ok, that’s actually bad news. Because of our sin we do not see God or detect God or have any ability or desire to glorify God! (2 Corinthians 4:4) A great darkness has indeed fallen on us so no matter how religious we are we are always going to be guessing about God.

But, what if the elephant in the story did something to prove it was an elephant? I don’t know what the proper name for that weird high-pitched trumpet noise elephants make but what if the elephant did that while the blind guys are around? “Oh,” they conclude, “This thing was an elephant the whole time.”

The elephant in the room is an elephant and the elephant has spoken.

So too God has not left us to grope about in the darkness of our sin. He has spoken and He has revealed Himself. Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” God is, before He is anything else, a God who speaks. Repeatedly the Old Testament says that God is not like the dumb idols of the heathen. He is not silent. He has not only the desire to reveal Himself but the ability.

We could easily ask the question then, “If God reveals Himself to men then why do people still ignore Him?” The answer is sin. Sin clouds and distorts our understanding of God so much so that in our natural – Christless – state we cannot know God on our own or know about God on our own. 1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Just as no person is known better by another than they know themselves no being comprehends the greatness of God better than God. Therefore anything we know about God must come from God Himself. As Paul continued in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

The process by which God makes Himself known is called “revelation.” Creation itself is an act of the revelation of God and redemption is the supreme act by which God makes Himself known to His people. The Bible is the story of God’s revelation of Himself as the one who redeems His people from their sin through the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus. This revelation of God occurs in two ways.

The first is called “general revelation” the means by which God makes Himself known to all men on some level. The second is called “special revelation” which is the more precise working of God to bring His message of salvation to His people. Another name for these terms is “natural revelation” and “supernatural revelation”. There is a type of revelation about God that is engrained in man and in his environment that needs no further contributory act of God to bring about. There is also the further act of God that is super-natural, those acts such as sending prophets, calling preachers, and inspiring the word are the acts the writer of Hebrews was referring to in Hebrews 1:1.

It’s important to know that God is a God who makes Himself known. God is the only being that perfectly and fully knows God. Because God knows Himself so well He also knows the overflowing joy of knowing God. That is a gift that He wishes to bestow. That’s why He created the world. He did it to make Himself known . Before creation there was no one to know God but God and God was known completely to Himself. When creation came in to being, for the very first time in the long eternities that have been, there existed creatures. These creatures did not know God fully and God desired to share the majesty of knowing God to those who weren’t God. God did not create because He was lonely. God did not create because He needed love. Each member of the triune God-Head was already in eternal fellowship and was already fully loved by the Highest Being that could ever exist. God cannot be lonely and God does not ‘need’ love. God is love and God is loved by God. God alone can love perfectly, and by nature He must love perfectly. Further, God alone knows God perfectly and must know God perfectly. God must love Himself but He knows how lovely He is and God loves loving and knowing God. (John 17:25)

God created to share His knowledge of Himself. God elects, redeems, calls, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies so that men will glorify God whom they had not previously known.

This is crucial to our understanding of Christianity because the Bible does not present itself as a work of man to tell us something about God. The Bible is not written by men to tell us how to get to God. The Bible is given by God, through men, as an act of self-declaration. So the Bible does not stand as one among many holy or sacred books. It is not just another ancient set of scriptures. It is not even merely the best among the world’s religious texts. It is primarily the revelation of God Himself. To approach the Bible on any other terms is to miss it’s heart completely. The message of the Bible is not one founded on reason but revelation. The word of God is not based in man’s intelligence but rather divine inspiration and illumination.

God is a God who makes Himself known and anything we know about God we know because God told us. Anything else is nothing like trying to grope an elephant it is more like grasping at straws. Next time we will look more specifically into the process of revelation at how exactly God has spoken to make Himself known.

See ya Thursday!

What is clear from the whole range of biblical revelation is that God’s ultimate allegiance is to know himself perfectly, and to love himself infinitely, and to share this experience, as much as it can be, with his people. ~ John Piper

John 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Dear Karen

2012-01-25T09:11:00.002-05:00

Karen,

I recently read your comment on my last blog. It always does good for the fledgling faceless internet guru to be reminded that his blogs are read – when they actually are read – by real people. That’s why biblical precision and accuracy are so vital to the life of the church. People’s lives are touched by the way we think and the doctrine we teach. Sometimes people get very fanatical on blogs and social media trying to defend their theological ideologies and destroy the thoughts of those who disagree that we forget there are people who need truth. Sometimes I take a very sarcastic attitude on here and I do it in good fun and sometimes I even make fun of myself and my own traditions (a fact that goes largely ignored) but the Christian life is very serious and very difficult at times.

As to your question I think you are right when you say your particular problem is not unique to you. I have known several women in the exact same situation and my wife and I were discussing the very issue recently about an acquaintance of ours. So I thought that since it was such a widespread problem that touches so many I would address it in a full blog post as best as I can.

The first thing I want to say is that while I appreciate you reading my blog and I hope you enjoy my thoughts I’m not your pastor. In the end I am just a faceless person on the other side of a computer screen somewhere. In your situation I would very much encourage you to speak with the pastor of your church now about your concerns and, if you do end up at a different location, speak to that pastor too. Not knowing every detail of your situation I can’t make judgments but hopefully I can point you towards some biblical principles that might aid you in your decision making process.

I’m sure you know that the husband is the head of the home. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes the husband’s leadership role particularly in spiritual matters. Ephesians 5 and 1 Corinthians 11 speak about this in detail. Unfortunately in marriage no two people are always completely compatible in every area. Often that level of inequality may be seen when one person is more financially stable than the other or when one person is more successful in their career. The most difficult area is when there is a spiritual disconnect in the home. The most important connection a couple can ever have is the spiritual one. Couples need to be more than just friends, roommates, or even lovers. They must be co-laborers in Christ’s vineyards and fellow soldiers in the battlefield. In this spiritual relationship the husband is clearly taught throughout the Bible to be the spiritual leader – even pastor – of his home.

Of course, because of sin, that isn’t always the case and some women are more spiritually mature than their husbands and sometimes this leads to disagreements about how and where to worship as is your case. 1 Peter 3:1-6 specifically deals with how a wife of an unbelieving husband is supposed to respond to him. I would strongly encourage you to read, study, meditate, and pray over that passage of scripture. Ask God to illuminate your heart to its truth and ask Him to give you grace so that His truth would be buried deep within your heart and would come out in your life. Focus on developing godly attitudes and God will bless it. I don’t know you or your husband and I cannot know if he is unconverted but if this high level of character is expected from the wives of non-believers it must surely be expect for those married to men who are perhaps not as spiritually mature.

Practically here’s what I think that will look like. First, you need to talk to your husband. You don’t need to try to manipulate him, nag him, whine about the situation, or do anything else to try and get you way. Sometimes we are all guilty of using emotional manipulation to make our point. What you should do is speak to him calmly about your concerns. Pray about the conversation before hand and seek to keep the conversation seasoned with grace. The Bible says to speak the truth in love. You don’t need to tell him you think he’s an immature jerk – even if you do. You do need to tell him that worshipping God is a priority in your life and you want it to be a priority in the life of your family. Explain to him that you want to worship together with him. Then lovingly explain to him the kind of church you would like to be a part of and ask him what he is looking for in a church home. Offer to explore churches in your area and visit some places with him he would like to go.
Ask him what he thinks a healthy church looks like and tell him what you think a healthy church is. Then, short of sin, obey your husband. If your husband refuses to go to church at all then you need to go on your own. I know that’s not ideal and it is not what any woman should have to go through but it is important for your sake, for the sake of your children, and even for the sake of your marriage. Ideally, he will see your dedication and faithfulness and he will be moved by it.
I know you did mention child care being an issue. I know that’s very complex and different for every family. Some parents like to stow their kids away in a nursery or in children’s church until they graduate high school so they can enjoy the sermon unencumbered. Others like to have their children right beside them no matter how disruptive they get. The blessing in having a little one at church, even if they do seem disruptive, is that you are teaching them early that going to church is important and that hearing the word of God is essential to life. You may not get all of the spiritual enrichment you need but you are being faithful to the high calling of motherhood that God has given you.

If you do end up at the smaller church without the child care ask an older woman to help you. Titus 2 commands them to help younger women with their children. Tell them that. Is there some way you could speak to the pastor about it and maybe you or some other younger women could ask to help organize a nursery. I don’t know how much of that is viable or how much isn’t but let me encourage you, whatever happens, keep your kids in church. You aren’t the only one who need sit. I would ask though if there is there some sort of compromise situation where you can find a local church that does have child care to meet your needs and that has preaching that maybe you and your husband could both enjoy?

If in the end he still refuses to compromise and he wants to go to what you call the mega-church I would tell you (and a lot of people that I respect very highly might disagree with me) to go with him. He is your husband and you need to follow his leadership. That does not mean that you can’t express your opinions, concerns, fears, or worries. You can tell him you don’t feel comfortable and explain to him why but that you are willing to follow his lead. Then trust the Lord with it.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11:3 that the man is the head of the woman just as God as the head of Christ. As you know marriage paints a picture of the gospel and it paints a picture of the God-head. Within Christ’s relationship to God there is submission to the will of His Father. That doesn’t mean that a woman follows her husband into sin, or that she takes abuse, but that she has the incredible privilege of imitating the willful and joyful submission that Christ has for His Father. For a woman to try and usurp the authority God has given her husband is to distort the picture of the Trinity.

So, to the point, where should you go to church? As long as your husband isn’t leading you and your children into a cultic environment full of dangerous false teaching, like a Mormon or Catholic gathering, then I would encourage you to follow him. Often we have prejudices, traditions, and preferences about certain kinds of churches that sometimes aren’t grounded in truth. I for one don’t like much contemporary music but I do recognize that in many contemporary churches the Bible is preached. Even when it isn’t preached consistently or faithfully the word of God does its work when it is allowed to. The true power of the gospel isn’t found in the presentation, the preacher, or the packaging but it’s found in the message itself. If the gospel is being preached then I could worship there. Again I don’t know the exact situation or the exact church and I do not want you to end up somewhere that will be doctrinally dangerous but for my part, if I had to choose, I could get over music, or the fact that the preacher isn’t wearing a tie, if I could still hear the word of God with my family. In my opinion, and again some may disagree and you need to talk to the pastors whose authority you are under, you will be closer to God’s ideal of a Godly wife even if you are further from God’s ideal of decent church! As you said, you can supplement what you hear there with online teaching and preaching from good sources. Do that if you have to.

Let me say (write) a prayer for you…

Dear Father,
You know Karen and the trial that she is in right now. You also know the many women who long to serve you faithfully but are torn between what they feel is right and what their husbands expect. I do not envy them but I do know that you give grace upon grace for those trying to serve you. So I ask you to do that for Karen and other women like her. I ask that you give her direction from your Word and give her peace in heart. Work in the life of her husband that he would see the necessity of leading his home in a godly way. I pray that while you work in the life of her husband to make him the leader he needs to be that you would work in Karen’s life so that she could consistently display the glory of your Son by submitting to her husband as he does to you. Help her to love. Help her to be pleasant. Help her to adorn herself with Godliness and I pray you would place this family in a godly church where your word is expounded and the gospel is preached and help this family and others like them grow closer to you and closer to each other by your grace and through your Spirit. Father forgive me if I have erred from your leadership in my own marriage and forgive me if I have unknowingly given unsound advice. If I have I pray you would keep Karen from it. Teach us all more about you and more about your ways so we can be more like you and bring more glory to you. We ask it in Christ name.

Amen.

God bless you ladies. I know many of you serve, and even suffer in silence. Many women put up with men who don’t have the guts or brains to follow God. I know many women bring their children to church year after year while dad can’t be bothered with it. I’m sure there are many women I know who are lovingly and faithfully praying that their husbands would come to Christ and there are many who are praying for Him that He might grow in grace to be the man she needs and deserves.

So let me say that ladies sometimes you get beat up in churches, even in traditions like mine, but most of you are a probably a better man than I am! God bless!

Enjoying Him Forever,

Jesse A. Carr

Why people are attracted to circus churches...

2012-01-24T14:04:00.002-05:00

Why people are attracted to circus churches, blasphemous worship, pop-culture preaching, emotional ecstasy, self-righteous displays of counterfeit Christian liberty, shallow anti-intellectualism, performance oriented legalism, personality fueled cults, cute country community centers parading as churches, racist gospels, elitist gospels, materialistic gospels, false gospels, false gods, false Christs, American Christs, Republican Christs, Democratic Christs, conservative Christs, liberal Christs, purpose driven claptrap, trash can theology, hymns with no heart, worship music with no brain, and other ecclesiastical abominations brought to you by the United States of Apostasy…

1. They’ve never encountered enough biblical preaching to develop any kind of biblical discernment.

2. They are backslid.

3. They are unregenerate.

You are welcome internet.

What's your Romans 14?

2012-01-23T09:57:00.000-05:00

One of the greatest benefits of preaching verse-by-verse through the Bible is that it is so challenging. Yesterday morning I preached from Romans 11:1-10 about Paul’s argument that God has not cast off His people Israel. Personally, if I just preached from random texts week to week I would never end up in the first half of Romans 11. It’s a tough passage of scripture but it was next in my study of Romans so I had to deal with it. That’s good for me though. For one thing the ministry is work, Paul said so in 1 Timothy 3:1. At times our church graciously accept mediocre preaching that is merely a reheated version of something we’ve already delivered but even if they don’t push us we should push ourselves. Our calling is to study to show ourselves approved. Expositional preaching facilitates the enriching study of the Word of God.

I also think it’s fairly ridiculous to assume our preaching will challenge our people if it doesn’t challenge us. It’s absurd to assume that our preaching will help anyone grow if we aren’t growing in the study. One of the reasons I enjoy expositional preaching is because I see it expanded my thoughts about the Bible. The first person I must pastor, as a pastor, is myself. If I fail to do that then I can’t pastor anyone else.

Sometimes though you deal with a Romans 11, a passage you know is coming but one you almost dread because its content far eclipses your ability to deal with it. Other times you come to Romans 8, one of the passages that draws you into the message of a book and makes you long for the weeks you get to preach it. Then there’s a passage like Romans 14.

Though I just preached the first of six sermons from Romans 11, I’m getting ready to start Romans 14 in my study time. I’m approaching Romans 14 with a sense of excitement and fear.

Romans 14 deals with those elusive gray areas of our walk with God. In Sunday School last week one of the guys at church said the reason the church at large today has so little appetite for Biblical preaching is because our world sees everything in hues of gray while they Bible is very black and white. That’s a very wise statement. When the Bible speaks on an issue it is mostly cut and dry. But what about those issues that the Bible doesn’t speak about? How do we deal with those? Well, come to the church in about June and find out…

But one thing that caught my attention as I meditated on Romans 14 on the way home from the grocery store a minute ago (another benefit of expositional preaching is that you can never escape what’s next and you meditate on the book constantly) was that the specific issue Paul deals with is not an issue anymore. You may have recently found yourself arguing with someone at church, or a family member, or even online about different styles of music at church, appropriate attire for the pulpit, best Bible translation or any other number of issues but when was the last time you argued with someone about whether or not it was appropriate to eat meat, presumably sacrificed to idols? You haven’t have you? And far from making Romans 14 less relevant I think it makes it more relevant.

I think this serves to show us two profound truths that we can’t afford to forget. First, we need to carefully pick our battles. You don’t need to die on every hill and stake your reputation as a preacher or your life as a believer on second tier or third tier issues. That’s especially true if you don’t have a strong and honest biblical argument for what you believe. One of the frustrations people felt in the Vietnam war was the apparent useless loss of life. Why send soldiers to kill and die for a hill identified only with a random number just to take it with great loss of life and abandon it a few days later? Think about the catastrophic loss of life in World War I. Do you even know what that war was really about? Why did millions of people die across those four years? Everything is not worth fighting for and killing for.

Paul said in Ephesians 4:3 that we should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Some things are worth fighting for and dying for but not everything is. Would you die for your right to own a Bible? Many Christians have through the history of the church. Would you die for the right to own only a certain translation of the Bible? I could probably make do. Would you die for the right to preach the word of God? I like to think I would. Would you die for your tie? If threatened would you die before you quit going to church? It happens every day in the world! Would you die for your organ thought? Doubt it. Would you die for the right to eat meat sacrificed to idols? Of course not. If you could honestly evaluate your heart you might be surprised that while you’re willing to kill other believers over your disagreements there is very little you’re willing to actually die for yourself.

How do we know the difference? Certainly there are some things that we must cling to at all costs or lose our very identity as Christians. Other things, not so much. Paul, in Ephesians 4:3, gives us a clue. He says there that we should keep the bond of the Spirit. We must unite around the things of the Spirit of God. How do we know what they are? We read the book He wrote. If something has plainly been revealed in scripture by the inspiration of the Spirit of God – like worshiping idols – then we know where we are to take our stand. If something hasn’t been revealed – like eating pagan steaks – then we don’t need to kill the church for our opinion. We need to respect the liberty of our brothers and sisters and love those with differing consciences, and we must always err on the side of love and not liberty. “For meat destroy not the work of God…”

The second truth we must remember in our Romans 14 situations is that what unites the church is always more powerful than what divides its members. Think about this, to those people who thought eating meat sacrificed to idols was wrong they were probably very sincere and concerned about not supporting the business of temple idolatry. For those who willingly ate the meat, they were concerned about not falling into the snares of ceremonial Judaism or some other legalistic approach to God. Both parties were concerned about the gospel. Both parties were concerned about God. Both parties cared about righteousness more than they cared about being right. Those things that united the church at Rome, those things Paul mentions in Ephesians 4 like our faith, our Lord, our baptism, and our God should always loom larger than our petty disagreements about which cuts of meat are acceptable for us to eat.
Here’s where this really gets my attention though: Have you thought about why you haven’t been tempted to eat meat sacrificed to idols or fight about its acceptability lately? Because largely no one in the western world sacrifices animals to idols anymore do they? Why not? Because the Roman empire, that dominated the landscape of the world at Paul’s time, eventually converted to Christianity and as the remnants of Rome throughout Europe embraced the gospel message – on some level at least – God changed the culture. As the culture changed the cultural issue didn’t matter and it’s all because of the power of what’s really important which is the message of the gospel.

So my question to you is not whether it’s ok to eat meat sacrificed to idols. My question to you is whatever issue that has your attention and affection that you fight your brothers for will anyone care about it in 2,000 years? If not, put down your sword, your pen, your hostile Facebook status or your angry pulpit diatribes and unite around the gospel that people will be talking about for eternity.

5 Theology Texts You Should Already Own... And Why

2012-01-21T08:08:00.000-05:00

The other day I revealed to the world my plan to dish out bite size theological snippets every Thursday here on my dusty corner of the internet. In keeping with that I thought I might let you in on some of my favorite theological texts. People are often intimidated by theological books because they have obtuse language, few pictures, and ridiculous amounts of pages but alas everyone should own a good handful of systematic texts just in case you ever need to start an emergency fire or balance a table by 6 inches or so.

1. Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
For the up and coming generation of Reformed Christian thinkers Wayne Grudem’s text is the go to work on theology. It’s very well written, very accessible, and it’s a very helpful place to start approaching theology. At the end of every chapter Grudem lists theological texts from each tradition. So if you’re studying Baptism and you want to know what Presbyterian theologians have written or what Baptist theologians have written, there will be a list at the end of every chapter. Plus he gives a classic hymn that summarizes the theological issue well. Be forewarned though, if you are a stuffy old fundamentalist like myself or a boring half-dead Presbyterian like the other 2 people that read this blog Grudem might differ on some of his pneumatology. Shame. Shame. Still this is an instant classic.

2. Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
John Calvin is like black coffee. Either you love him or hate him but you can’t help but perk up when you smell him. Still, whether you hate Calvin or love him, it’s kind of disingenuous not to have read him. This book is the best treatment of classical Calvinist thought in existence. (Duh.) It’s also the most famous and best written text of Christian theology ever written. I don’t know how you read but you should always read backwards. Here’s what I mean, when I read John MacArthur’s commentaries I notice that he frequently quotes Donald Grey Barnhouse, Arthur Pink, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Being the discerning detective I am I think to myself, “Hey, if MacArthur likes these guys and I like MacArthur why shouldn’t I read these guys too? After all, if that’s where the original thought is then why not go back there?” Well start anywhere within mainstream Christianity and you will always end up at Calvin. The book is huge and it is five hundred years old though so… good luck. Calvin is fun and rewarding to those who persevere and occasionally he offers some great quotations and remarkably fresh insights for something that old. He understands human nature, the Scriptures, and the character of God perhaps more than anyone who ever lived outside of scripture so go read Calvin.

3. Essential Truths of the Christian Faith by RC Sproul
RC Sproul is probably my favorite writer still alive today and this book was my first door into the realm of organized theology. It is simply written and incredibly refreshing to read. Each chapter is around 2 pages long and offers plenty of illustrations and application to keep the book engaging. In fact, this is a great devotional book too if you want to incorporate systematic theology into your devotional time. (A practice I typically engage in and may write more about at a later date.) This is the one book I would recommend to every Christian regardless of education, age, or experience. Hey, it’s only 287 pages and it has a few pictures. Well they’re drawings but what can you do?

4. The Existence and Attributes of God by Stephen Charnock
Technically this book is a collection of sermons and not a systematic treatment of theology. Sue me. However, this book is the best treatment of the nature of God you will ever read. I like to read Arthur Pink – love to in fact – but Pink read Charnock. If you don’t believe me just read Pink’s “Attributes of God” and see how often he quotes him. Charnock is the man. This book will change the way you look at God forever. It will make you more reverent and more amazed at the incredible majesty of God and the unspeakable gift of knowing God through Christ. So it’s technically not a systematized theology but it is the best book on theology proper (the study of God Himself) that I have ever read and you will never regret the hours you spend with Charnock but… and it’s a big one… like most Puritans Charnock is wordy and often repetitive. The Puritans had a weird way of writing that made a point and then made it again for the next thirty pages. This book isn’t light bathroom reading and it isn’t bed time reading. This is a book you study but it is a book whose subject (knowing God) should be the pursuit of every life.

5. Abstract of Systematic Theology - James P. Boyce
Finally got around to the Baptists, I know, took me long enough. Anyway this is a classic book that is very important. The reason it’s important is because it’s written by a Baptist, but not just any Baptist, the Baptist who helped found Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you want to see the roots of the theological thought in the largest Christian denomination in America then go here. In all honesty, the first chapter called “The Science of Theology” is worth the price of admission alone. In this book Boyce deals with other views and offers plenty of scripture for his own. The biographical sketch at the beginning of the book is a great read too. There is a quote there by one of his students that after seminary, and through the influence of Boyce, his “creed became shorter and deeper.” That’s the impact of a good theology professor and Boyce is one of the best.
So now you have something to read. It should keep you busy for a week or so. Enjoy and stay deep my friends!

Introducing: Theology Thursdays

2012-01-19T14:55:00.004-05:00

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. – Hosea 4:6 KJV

My people are dumbing themselves to death. – Hosea 4:6 NCV (New Carr Version)

God’s people don’t really have a great grasp on doctrine. They know how to measure the moving of the Spirit of God by the quality of the goose bumps on their forearms but when it comes to understanding the baptism of the Spirit… not so much. When it comes to knowing why African music breeds sexual immorality and European music breeds…culture, is it?... Baptists (the only species of Christian I am only qualified to comment on)are right on track. For several generations our positions on secondary or tertiary issues have been clearly understood and proclaimed but sometimes the important things like the true nature of sin, the holiness of God and inspiration, well, we could use a little help. It also seems to me that there is a renewed interest in theology among young Baptists. People are asking questions, seeking answers, putting quotes by their favorite theologians on Facebook, and filling my message box with debates about infralapsarianism and supralapsarianism. I may be overestimating things a bit but this apparent revival of theology is encouraging.

So let’s study theology together! What’s the worst that could happen? Maybe I lead us all on some sort of wacky heretical spiral in which we end up drinking Kool-Aid in a jungle (you’ve been warned) or maybe we will all learn to understand, articulate, and appreciate the truths in our Bible a little better! I will try to keep each section around a page or two in Word (single spaced, 11 Font, Calibri) so hopefully it will be accessible and easy to read. I will also try to give you some quotes, scripture references, links and other helpful resources to kick start you on your own theological quest because I am a loooooong way from being an expert but I do know who they are and I will try to point you to them. Ideally, this is bite-sized theology that people busy raising kids and busy with work will read and enjoy. Thursdays are good days for it because what else happens on Thursdays now that Lost is off the air?

"But wait," you might be thinking, "What kind of bloated, self-absorbed narcissist are you what with your absolute truth claims invading the sanctity of our mindless internet travels? What gives you the right to instruct us in the ways of God?" Well, nothing really, the only thing that gives me the right to tell you anything on my blog is if you keep reading past this paragraph...

...gotcha!

There are several ways to study theology and since this is the first Thursday we will start by talking about what theology is, why it’s important and why we should blog about or read blogs about it. Theology comes from two Greek words. Theos meaning God and Logos means word. So Theology is the words about God, or more precisely theology is the study of God. Theology is the pursuit of the highest calling in life, knowing God. An unknown God can never be worshipped accurately. An unknown God can never be shared faithfully. An unknown God can never be proclaimed mightily. Tragically in a day when doubt is more fashionable that dogmatism, questions are more popular than answers, and having a truth claim or even an epistemology centered absolute truth is seen as arrogant and useless academia many churches and pastors not only preach an unknown God but are also convinced that a God who is unknown is somehow worth knowing. They also wallow in spiritual ignorance as if not knowing God as He is makes them more spiritual and as if knowing too much about God is somehow dangerous for evangelism. You can certainly be very theological and not be very doxological. In other words you can have many facts in your head that never move your heart. When that happens, when God becomes a science project to be dissected like so many frogs in the 8th grade, it is a tragedy. However, if the truth about God never gets into our heads to start with it will never move into our hearts! We will never worship, love, or proclaim what we do not know.

The study of theology is broken down into several smaller studies. Theology proper is the word for theology that deals with God the Father. Essentially Theology proper is the study of God though we use the term “theology” as the shorthand name for the science of organized Biblical thought. There is also Pneumatology which the study of the Spirit, Ecclesiology – the study of the church, Eschatology – the study of last things, Soteriology – the study of salvation, and Christology. Chances are you know what that is. When I use the term theology I typically mean all of these thoughts crammed together to mean the study of Christian doctrine.

Correct theology is essential to human understanding. Without a proper understanding of who God is nothing else can ever be right in life. Some have called theology the “queen of the sciences”. The idea behind that phrase is that when one is right about God everything else will fall into place. That is essentially true. (Jeremiah 9:23-24) Thoughtfully consider the passage of scripture in Deuteronomy 6:4-15. That passage was, and is, essential to Jewish life. Everyone knew it, memorized it and understood its importance. There God says that before people will serve Him they need to love Him and before they can love Him they need to know Him. The duty of God’s people in ancient Israel, just as it is now, is to know God. Every person is a theologian, we all have some knowledge of God good or bad and we all base our lives on that knowledge. Your life is presently an extension of your thinking about God. The danger comes to us, just as it did to the Israelites, when we “forget” God or pursue other gods. The greatest disaster in this world is for an individual or a group of people to base their lives on faulty knowledge about who God is. Theology isn’t just the boring work of seminarians who are attempting to analyze God out of His majesty. Theology is life and death. Eternity hangs in the balance. Isn’t that what God said through Hosea the prophet? God’s people are dying because of willful ignorance!

Further, the Bible says that Jesus preached doctrinal sermons (Matt. 7:28, Matt. 22:33, Mark 1:27, Mark 4:2, Luke 4:32, John 7:16), the early church was founded on studying doctrine (Acts 2:42) and Paul says that the job of the pastor is to preach doctrinally (1 Timothy 4:6, 13, 16) though people will develop attitudes for other things. (2 Timothy 4:2-3) The Bible tells us we were saved to know God (Isaiah 43:10, Ephesians 1-2) and in knowing Him we should glorify Him and joy in Him. (Romans 5:11) It’s impossible to love someone you don’t know. It’s impossible to enjoy and glorify someone you don’t know. I love my wife, who is a red head, but how foolish would it be for me to talk about how much I love my wife’s brown hair? A lot of people are trying to do the same thing when it comes to God. They’re spreading error by talking about things they don’t really know.

There are a couple of different ways to study theology. You can study the theology of a single individual. So you might study Pauline Theology or Augustinian Theology. You can study theology practically. I think that is very beneficial because theology is practical no matter how distant from daily living it may be. Most theology is studied “systematically”. That means that theology is organized in a logical way that makes it easier to understand and comprehend. I will do most of my writing here in a systematized way so it will be easier to access and hopefully it will be practical too.

Some would say that theology is unnecessary. I would attest that it is unavoidable. Like I said, everyone is a theologian. So really theology is inescapable. What is essential for us today is not only to know what we believe but why we believe it. What does the Bible really say? That’s the question that needs to be answered. What is missing in the church today are members and leaders who believe about God the things He believes about Himself. We have embraced a false thinking about God that has led to disaster in every area of church life and before the course of evangelism, worship, preaching, or whatever else can be righted we must first right the ship called theology.

So for instance, some people say that we don’t need to know or study theology but we need to focus on reaching the lost. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-19 that our foundation for biblical evangelism was the fact that all power was given to Him in Heaven and Earth. That is a theological statement that needs to be understood before there will ever be any true motivation for clear evangelism. Further to put the activities of “teaching” and “baptizing” at odds is dishonest with the scripture. Tragically both historic fundamentalist Baptists and more contemporary emergent church hipster wanna-bes are quick to embrace this line of thinking that says – we don’t need to explain God or understand God or tell anyone what God has accomplished for them in Christ to reach people for Christ. Please explain to me how you can share the gospel that saves from sin without theology. If the gospel is good news, and it is, why is it good news? What is the bad news? What has Christ done for me? Who is Christ anyway? When one attempts to answer those questions they have, perhaps unwittingly or unwillingly, entered the realm of theology. Teach then baptize. There is no conversion without first accurate teaching.

Still other people say theology is boring and hinders true worship. People often bemoan the academic pursuit of theology and say, “We need to focus on praise!” How can you praise a God you don’t know? I’ve seen a lot of people try but you can’t really do it can you? You cannot love a God you don’t know. Would my wife be offended if I wrote a love poem about her beautiful blonde hair? Of course because she doesn’t have blonde hair. Stupid sermons that make the God of glory out to be something He isn’t are not only insulting they are actually blasphemous and there is nothing more sinful than blaspheming God and passing it off for worship.

I firmly believe that while theology is unavoidable our theological setting at birth is bad. Remember what Paul said in Romans 3:23? All of sin and come short of the glory of God. Part of the reason is we aren’t born seeing and sensing the value of God which leads us to value everything else. (1 Corinthians 2:14, Isaiah 53:6) We are born theologians, because our father Adam was a theologian. Like Adam, if we are left to ourselves we are terrible theologians who reach bad conclusions about God and proceed to spiritual death and destruction. So we need to be taught who God is. We are all theologians but we could all be better theologians. In the history of the church when God’s people are grounded in good Biblical teaching the church thrives. When theology is mocked, ignored, or abandoned then the church may swell with numbers but it will not grow.

So if you have the heart for it, let’s study theology. Like they tell you at the doctor, you might feel a slight pinch...

See ya on Thursday...

Man Enough For Church

2012-01-16T08:29:00.002-05:00

Here’s the fact: Our country has been emasculated.

Cut off.

In fact masculinity is seen as a threat to our country that has largely embraced its feminine side. Now, everyone knows that – or at least they think they do. It’s obvious to see it when it comes to culture because our heroes are no longer the masculine soldiers who stuck a boot down Nazi Germany’s throat with nothing but a five o’clock shadow, a cigarette and a tommy gun like Lee Marvin. Now our celebrity idols are people like… Neil Patrick Harris. Just because Doogie Howser is an expert in the field of manhood doesn’t mean he is a good example of masculinity.
You also see it in the family. Men are only leaders of their home when their wives and kids let them, they are largely absent from the lives of their children, and many have abandoned the high calling of marriage and fatherhood for the cheap and easy battlefields of their XBOXs. Little boys, who actually act like little boys, are now medicated and made over by the school of the nanny-state to repress their God given maleness so that there is now a whole generation of drugged out pharmaceutical zombie wiener kids who have never fired a gun, played a sport, or even gotten dirty on purpose.

Of course you see it in the workplace too. We here all the time about how women working the same jobs as men aren’t paid as well but we don’t hear as often the equally disproportionate numbers which women are graduating colleges with advanced degrees and being employed in desirable positions. Men might make more in the work force but men just aren’t working anymore. For the record I am all for women making the same as men if they do the same job.

You also see the filtering of testosterone at church. It could be examine from a million different perspectives from the way we craft our messages, to the feminine Jesus we preach with His Bausch and Lomb hair, to the way we sway (Samson never swayed when he was slaughtering Philistines) and pass our swaying off as worship but the quickest indicator of the apocalypse of masculinity is in the fact that men are disappearing in the church. That’s true in two fashions.

The first proof is that men just don’t show up. Where men still do come they are typically older men who have been around for a long time. A church needs older men, Titus 2 makes that pretty clear. A church needs deacons, pastors, and elders who are older than the latest passing fad of technology to help shepherd younger men through the minefields of sin and temptation in this battlefield we call the Christian life. The problem is that these young men are nowhere to be found. Too many men in the church – and I use the term in an exclusively biological sense – are either having a harder time seeing to drive at night or they haven’t got their license yet at all. In other words, they are either very young or very old. The young men, in their 20s or 30s, are gone. They’re probably at parties or bars or laying under their trucks or hunting or fishing or doing something totally feminine – sleeping in – on Sunday mornings. Either way, they aren’t at church and they won’t be unless a woman – mom or a love interest, drags them there.

The other way you notice the steady disappearance of men in the church is by looking at the character of the men that are around. Too few are qualified to be pastors or deacons. Too few are really equipped to lead a home. Too many have just handed over the reins of the home and the church to their wives or some other capable women, and the church suffers. I had a conversation with a woman preacher one time who flatly told me that if the men in her community would stand up and do what’s right she would gladly step down and let them lead. I wanted to tell her she would have a hard time telling God she tried to do His work while violating His word but her logic is pretty tight. Where have all the cowboys gone? They’ve been put out to pasture.
So what if instead of swaying to “Jesus is my boyfriend” music, grooming our worship leaders like whatever fairy is leading in the votes on American Idol right now, or just totally giving up on young men entirely – because they’ve given up on the church – we tried to reach them? Beyond that, what if we actually made them the target audience for our church services? I think it might be a noble goal for several reasons.

One, men are supposed to lead. Don’t argue about it. Don’t whine about it. It’s the way God wants it because it’s what He said in His word.

Second, families are pretty much trash the world over right? The only way the church can ever be what God intended it to be is for the families that comprise the church to be where God wants them. The only way the family itself will ever be right is for the men, who are supposed to lead the families, to be right. It’s good when a woman is faithful to church even if her husband isn’t. It’s good when she brings the kids to Sunday School even though He can’t be bothered to roll over and hit the alarm clock. But, it’s not the way it should be and as much as God will reward her we would all be better off if He wasn’t a caveman loser with no radar for God and what’s important in life.

So I am in the process of slowly overhauling the church I pastor to make it a place where men would like to come. For that matter it’s largely that kind of place already.

There are men in my church that kill animals… for fun.

There are men in my church who tell stories about their time in army.

There are men in my church who have raised families.

There are men in my church who have fought for their country, fought for their families, and fought for their churches who – often to my surprise – can be seen carrying babies around the church.

There are men in my church who cry while I preach about the sovereign grace of God.

There are men in my church who ride motorcycles… to church.

These men are some of the best in the world, and I wouldn’t mind having a few more. But mostly these guys are my dad’s age and older. They have broken their backs in factories for 40 years and can still manage to hobble in to church on Sunday morning while the guys my age can’t get out of bed by 11 after working 40 hours a week. The reason?

Most men my age are not man enough to come to my church.

They aren’t man enough to think big theological thoughts. I know, I know, here I go harping theology again. Pray for me because I live under the toxic delusion that “reaching people for Christ” means actually identifying who Christ is and what He has accomplished for our behalf, all of which requires sound theology. So, sure, you can name all of the starting line-up for your favorite ACC basketball team but can you help your wife deal with the questions she has about the Bible? You can skin a deer but can you analyze a passage of scripture accurately? You know the difference between an alternator and a carburetor but can you spot error when it creeps into the pulpit?

They aren’t man enough to engage the Bible for what it says and assimilate it into their lives. It’s much easier to do what your buddies want than it is to do something different. It’s much easier to bow to the pagan gods of secular music and embrace the self-serving thoughts that you are fed about life, money, women, and everything else. I know you love Lady GaGa and I’m not knocking her but I am going to knock you if Jason Aldean and Pitbull have more influence in your life than your church and the Word do.

They aren’t man enough to serve. Sure, most guys are man enough to pass for 400 yards on Madden ’12 but are you man enough to clean a toilet after Sunday School? Are you man enough to teach Sunday School and pray over a lesson before you look a dozen anxious 5 year olds in the face to tell them about Jesus? Are you man enough to lead a youth group the pages of the word of God without bowing to the prevalent methodology of youth ministry which is plug in Guitar Hero and keep them quiet? Are you man enough to be on time for church? To make sure your kids are ready for church? Are you man enough to fill the pulpit if your pastor is out of town?

They aren’t man enough to sing loudly to a God whom they adore because, because like a spoiled little pageant queen, they think everyone should adore them. You get bored in church because your grandma, your mom, and your wife aren’t paying attention to you. You don’t like to sing about God because it makes you embarrassed. But of course you will devote hours of your time to a game called “corn hole”, singing drunken karaoke in worship to the idol of amusement, and even occasionally break out the latest Eminem rap! But singing about Jesus? No. Nothing to sing about. Do you know what Vikings did in Mead halls after a long day of pillaging and conquering Europe? They sang cool songs about how great it was to be a Viking and how honorable it would be to die fighting like one. Take a hint.

They aren’t man enough to go sit with an older saint who is facing death. Not Nintendo start over at the first of the level death – real death where you cross over and you don’t come back. That’s right. You’ve never even been around a dead body, or a really sick person, and you think you’ve got problems when someone makes a negative post about your truck on Facebook and you can’t even detect the world all around you suffering with the fallout of sin.

So my point is, our churches need men. Not just in the biological sense of the term either. But we need men who are courageous. We need men who hold genuine convictions. We need men who value faith and family.

Who emasculated the church? Some guy.

Something Special

2012-01-12T15:57:00.006-05:00

Recently I sat down with Josh Hinson, the proprietor at "Hamilton's Flame", another overnight blogging sensation and we discussed some of the issues surrounding fundamentalism and the gospel.

I wanted to give you a link to it here on the Chapel Door just in case you may be interested in some of my thoughts particularly as they relate to the history of fundamentalism and my sometimes shaky relationship to it.

But be warned, unlike the charming southern gentlemen that I am I talk VERY fast. I am used to preaching to Baptists after all and I have to get a lot of comments in before I lose my audience. So, if you can put up with that enjoy and I promise, if I make it back on to Hamilton's Flame, I will try to slow down. Also be forewarned that my North Carolina gets out on me. Apparently these mountains gifted me with an accent when I wasn't looking.

You can find the link here.

Thus Saith the Lord...

2012-01-09T11:39:00.003-05:00

...ROLL TIDE!

Is Romans 10:13 True?

2012-01-09T09:18:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, during my trek through the book of Romans I hit Romans 10:13 which says, as you know, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Now, I have an uneasy relationship with a lot of things in the church today, including but not limited to swaying, MMA T-shirts in the pulpit, and the consideration of C.S. Lewis as a voice of orthodox Christianity. But, my one greatest concern in the church today is our – fundamentalist, mega-church, evangelical, you name it we’re all sinking in this swamp - seemingly undying commitment to decisional regeneration and the unbiblical altar call. I have written about my frustrations with this system before and will try not to do that again here but suffice to say, it’s pretty much stupid and unbiblical and it is grounded in a false understanding of the nature of conversion in general and justification in particular.

With that being said, and with all of my Augustinian prejudices confessed, I want to admit that I have a hard time with Romans 10:13. Not because I don’t believe it’s true, because it is, but because of how it has been abused. I sometimes think of a verse like Romans 10:13 as something delicate that needs to be protected so instead of enjoying this verse and the promise it contains I find myself fighting for it and almost explaining it away in my attempt to show its truth. I hope that makes sense. What I mean is that in my attempt to prove that what most people think Romans 10:13 says isn’t true I may have somehow undercut the truth it does contain. I hope that’s not the case but I feel it may be worth an in depth look.
So is Romans 10:13 true? Only on two conditions.
Romans 10:13 is true only if…

1. We know what it means to “call upon the name of the Lord.”

If we quote Romans 10:13 to assure people who have merely prayed some meaningless “repeat after me” prayer that they are in fact going to Heaven then we have abused scripture and made Romans 10:13 untrue. Calling on the name of the Lord is something much deeper than just “admitting, believing, confessing” it encompasses genuine repentance that breaks the heart to the point of crying out in pain. Calling on the name of the Lord encompasses genuine faith to the point that it can’t keep itself locked inside the heart anymore. So it’s possible to “pray” in a technical sense of the term and never actually call on the name of the Lord. Just because someone asks Jesus to keep them out of Hell doesn’t mean they have really called on the name of the Lord, does it?

Case in point, Luke 18 and the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. The story ends with one man going home saved – Jesus uses the word justified – and the other man remaining lost. Both men prayed but only one of them called on the Lord. What was the difference? The heart. The heart of the religious man saw his effort, his ability, his work, his reputation, and his performance as the means by which he could approach God while the publican recognized he had no rights to approach God because he was a sinner and the only hope that he had was the propitious mercy of a free God. The differences in the prayers they prayed merely magnifies the difference in their way of thinking about themselves, God, and salvation.

So Romans 10:13 is only true when we are telling people that we aren’t justified by prayer, praying, or reciting religious words! We are justified by grace, by the blood of Christ, and by faith. Which is all a way of saying, prayer doesn’t save, even good prayers don’t save. Jesus saves.

2. We understand Romans 10:14.

Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

The thought in Paul’s writing is much more seamless than it is when it pops up in our preaching. Prayer is an expression of faith that comes after faith. Now, that’s logical and that’s pretty obvious in day to day life isn’t it? If today you have some emergency or some overwhelming need pressed upon you the first response you will have, perhaps without even really thinking about it, is to pray! If someone you love is in an accident and is terribly hurt on the way to the Emergency Room you will pray! Why? Because you know God is able to intervene, you know He is the one who can change the situation. Simply, you pray because your mind is convinced of facts, your heart has been convinced of the reliability of the facts you have heard, and you trust God for yourself and you express that trust through prayer. It’s the most natural thing in the world for people who believe to ask. But, and it’s a big one, asking is not believing.

It’s possible to ask and not believe and believe and not ask. At least not immediately but eventually prayer is the result of faith. So, if we could examine the traditional conversion scenario in which someone responds to an altar call, if they were genuinely converted then and not much later (as I think is often the case) then they were most likely not converted when they prayed or when they said “amen” or whatever else we think. They were most likely converted before they ever left their seat, before they ever walked the aisle, and in fact they were probably born again before they ever knelt to pray. If in their heart they recognized themselves a sinner, realized there was an eternal punishment for their sin, and trusted Christ the Lord and His work to redeem them from sin then they were already saved before they got to the hungry eyed preacher!

At the same time no matter how much they prayed, how many tears there were, and how sincere they may have seemed if there was no genuine repentance and/or faith they were not saved.

Prayer and believing are much like newborn babies and crying. Not all babies cry immediately after birth. Not all of them cry loudly and some of them need a swift application of force to the bottom of their backs (or the top of their legs if you please) to get them moving in that direction. In that case crying doesn’t produce life but it does prove life. So too praying for salvation isn’t producing faith, though certainly it is appropriate to take the demoniac’s father’s prayer and say, “I believe help thou mine unbelief!”, but it is proving faith. It is like a child crying out for something from its father! Isn’t that how Jesus Himself illustrated prayer? Prayer is like a child asking for some bread or some fish from a father that the child knows would bankrupt himself to feed his children. Prayer comes from the same conviction in the heart of a sinner. Yes I am a sinner. Yes I deserve Hell. But yes God is rich in grace to save! (Romans 10:12) Yes He can meet my need and will if I but trust Him! What’s more I do trust Him and, without realizing it, I find myself calling on Him, expressing my need and beseeching Him for more grace! Prayer is not a substitute for faith and prayer isn’t faith but sometimes the line between where prayer starts and faith ends is difficult to detect. Praying is not believing and believing isn’t praying but belief in the heart often escapes the mouth. True prayer is always grounded in faith.

False prayer, religious prayer, hypocritical prayer, or even the vain repetitions of the heathen that Jesus addressed can come from anywhere. Pride. Tradition. Emotion. The list could go on but true prayer, the kind that reaches God in the name of His Son, always comes from true faith. Because faith, and the attitude many people have, that "calling on the Lord" is some sort of necessary religious performance that gets God's attention so He will save us, is totally incompatible. That attitude, that takes "calling on the Lord" seriously is often as troubling as the attitude that doesn't take it seriously. Because it can convince people that "calling on the Lord" is a lengthy process that is marked by certain emotional triggers that may or may not be in place at the moment of conversion. Calling on the name of the Lord is not so much an experience that we need to check off our religious check list so we can be confident we're going to Heaven as much as it is an expression of faith that the Spirit of God puts in us!

Besides, the faith that begins with regeneration grows and expands into prayer and the Christian grows in grace. That’s why in the Bible, in Acts 9:14 for instance, the expression “those who call on the name of the Lord” is a synonym for believers. God’s people pray. They can’t help it and they wouldn’t want to.

Is Romans 10:13 true? You bet. Just as importantly, should we tell people to call on the Lord? Absolutely but we should clearly and carefully explain what it really means because, frankly, we are so used to the cheap substitute that brings people forward to an altar that we have lost the glory of the promise of Romans 10:13. That promise, that God saves those who call from a heart of faith, is rooted deeply in the Old Testament. In truth it is a quotation from Joel 2:32 and it captures the spirit of the numerous Old Testament verses that encourage sinners to immediately call upon the Lord for salvation! So yes, we should encourage them to call on the Lord, and at once to the saving of their souls but we must also give them the necessary truth that it in fact the Lord, and not the calling, that saves!

Top 5 books of 2011

2012-01-05T08:38:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I wrote a brief blog highlighting the top 5 most read sections of my blog. In keeping with the “Year in Review” spirit I thought I would give you my constant reader a glimpse at my 5 favorite books I read this year. In no particular order.

1. The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love by Jonathan Leeman
Ok, I’m just as surprised as you are to find a book about church discipline of all things on the list. For whatever reason church discipline - you know the idea of actually making your church smaller through biblical standards and the enforcement of such standards – seems to be the en vogue topic of conversation right now among young reformed types. Growing a big church is so 2004. So, what better way to prove your faithfulness than shrinking your church? Well, Leeman tells you how. Actually this book is more of a theology of church discipline than it is a “how to” manual and it is definitely worth a read. The first 100 pages about the nature of God’s love, particularly as it relates to how God exists within relation to himself are worth the price of admission alone and have altered my thinking for the better and for the deeper. So I would highly recommend it on that basis alone.

2. Lifeviews by RC Sproul

RC Sproul is one of the most unusual people walking the face of the earth right now. Not only is he a gifted speaker and a leader of modern reformed thought but, even more remarkably, he was a philosophy major who actually made something of himself. Lifeviews is an extension of his work as a philosopher where he examines modern cosmology, its origins and consequences. If you are interested at all in the concept of world views or how they are formed or even why you think they way you do then I strongly recommend you read this book. It’s somewhat older now and I picked it up in a used bookstore but it is very much worth the read if you can find it. Some of the references to certain political figures and events are dated but, as usual, it’s not hard to get the point from Sproul. His emphasis on pragmatism, secularism, and all sorts of humanism is approachable, easy to grasp, and very beneficial for any Christian wishing to engage the world.

3. John MacArthur by Iain Murray

I don’t read Christian biographies near enough. My thought is, why read the biography about someone’s life when I could read that person’s sermons or books which is the product of that life? Nevertheless when I heard about Murray, the premiere Christian biographer alive today, choosing to right a biography about John MacArthur, the premiere expositor alive today, I knew I had to read it. I wasn’t disappointed. The book is short and easy to read but very helpful as it highlights the life, ministry, conflicts, and ministry philosophy of Dr. MacArthur. It is my opinion that church history will look back on Johnny Mac as the Spurgeon of our day and with this being the first biography released about him (I’m sure there will be legions more after the Lord calls him home) it’s worth a read. Most of all the book was an encouragement to see how a pastor dedicated to simply letting God’s word speak for itself experienced growth and a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God.

4. Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen

I can’t remember which came in to my life first, this book, or the book by Stephen J. Nichols about Machen’s life and thought. Regardless this book is a classical treatment not only of the modernism Machen combated in his day but also of orthodox Christianity. This is a classical work that every Christian who is concerned with the fundamentals of the faith and with the erosion of the foundations of truth in the church today should read. I read the majority of this book sitting in the waiting room of a hospital while one of my deacons had surgery, in fact, I was so engrossed by the book that when my own wife got sick while I was reading it I pretty much ignored her for a few days. (Sorry babe.)

5. Christless Christianity by Michael Horton

Christless Christianity is Michael Horton’s “glass is half empty” survey of the modern American church. Actually, instead of “glass if half empty” it’s more like “there is no glass at all”. This book was almost discouraging to read but it was an incredibly accurate and thorough autopsy of modern American evangelicalism.

But the absolute top of the heap belongs to Tim Keller and his commentary on the gospel of Mark called “King’s Cross”. If you want to read a book that is refreshing, theological, and that engages the world where it is then this is the book you need to read. Keller is an absolute master communicator and it shows in this book that is a tour de force as a presentation of the gospel and of Christ who is the center of the good news. So got to Amazon right now, order the book, spring for the super superior 10 minute shipping so you can start it tomorrow.

Fiction Bonus: Misery by Stephen King

I don't read tons of fiction, in fact I think this was the first book of fiction I read all year and I started it in December because I found it lying around the house. I actually think my wife got it for me for a dollar at an estate sale. I also don't recommend you read Stephen King. His language is often vulgar and his books are violent. But in the interest of transparency I enjoyed this book. King says that his books are like "fast food". I tend to agree with that, they're quick to read (well they would be without the hundreds of pages of mindless exposition), quick to digest, and they're just fun. If you don't know "Misery" is a book about a writer - King is at his best when he writes about writers - in big trouble. It's really King's own recollections of his struggle with drug and alcohol addiction and it's actually a reminder from a guy who writes books about Vampires, super-flues, and demons running antique stores in New England that the scariest thing in the world is people.

Chapel Door Top 5 of 2011

2012-01-04T06:05:00.000-05:00

This blog is getting on my nerves. The well is drying up so to speak. The muse has retired – no doubt to somewhere warm and sunny. Whatever the problem is, and it’s probably me, I’m finding it harder and harder to enjoy writing this blog. So how much longer it will continue is anyone’s guess. I have a ton of articles I’ve written over the past few months but never finished that will hopefully see the light of day one of these years. I’ve also thought of some clever weekly entries such as “Theology Thursdays” and “Your Friendly Neighborhood Calvinist” that I’ve yet to get started. Either way this fire needs a little gas.

Nevertheless as we round out one year (thank God that’s over) and start another I thought it might be neat to look back at the five most popular entries here at the Chapel Door.

1. Preach the Gospel at Your Youth Rally

This article was my diatribe about moralism usurping the role of the gospel at youth events. I’m pretty sure I wrote it back in the Spring when I was getting all kinds of flyers and Facebook invitations to local youth rallies and it made me think of my own time preaching and attending youth rallies and how what kids need to hear is not, “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, and don’t date until you’re married.” They need to hear the truth of the gospel. Legalism, moralism, good bands, or bad youth choirs will never change young people. The gospel will.

2. Help! I Married a Calvinist

I still get more feedback on this article than any I’ve ever written. I tried to keep my little series on Calvinism light and fun while still keeping it thoroughly grounded in scripture and history. I guess there are two kinds of people who read that article. The first is the ones who said, “See! I told you he was a Calvinist!” types and the “See! I told you that’s what the Bible said!” I doubt my arguments convinced anyone of anything – other than the fact that I will never preach in any large gatherings of Baptists again, too dangerous – but I hope it did educate people on who Calvinists are and why they’re crazy enough to believe the way they do.

3. Seeker (in)Sensitive

This article was inspired by a video clip from RC Sproul (it’s on YouTube and very easy to find) in which he bashes the seeker sensitive movement by taking the very simple and Biblical position that there are no seekers. This article ignited a bit of a debate – 12 responses is epic around here – and got people talking about culture and relevance and other such things that no one in the book of Acts ever actually talked about. Still, there are no seekers and any movement (and I think I made the point that a lot of fundamentalism founded on the semi-pelagianism of Charles Finney and his disciples) that is founded on reaching the will through human means will fail in actually converting people to Christ. It was really just another Calvinism article in disguise and apparently it slipped in under the radar.

4. A Response to 20/20

Sometimes in the Spring 20/20 had a show about sexual abuse by pastors and leaders in Baptist churches. Thankfully I didn’t know any of those accused but it was still a pretty honest look at a serious problem that needs to be addressed. However small my e-audience might be I wanted to address it and I did. The pastors are not only wrong, they are probably unconverted and they need to have a cinder block tied to their necks and thrown in the ocean and be forgotten about ala Matthew 18:6.

5. Praying for Your Pastor Part 5: Pray For His Wife

I don’t remember being particularly impressed by this article when I wrote it but apparently someone enjoyed it. I wanted to emphasize the fact that not only are pastors normal people but their wives are too and sometimes pastors wives get discouraged and need prayer. No pastor has a perfect marriage and sometimes they need to be helped in prayer by those they minister too. His calling isn’t her calling, his burden is not her burden, and sometimes she feels as if life would be easier if he did something else. Sometimes all she wants is for her husband to put her ahead of his church, which is a very hard thing for a pastor to do. Pastors wives are often discouraged, depressed, over-worked, over-stressed, and frustrated. So please stop reading right now and pray for your pastor and his wife.

Be a pastor. Be a chaplain. Don't be both.

2012-01-02T08:53:00.002-05:00

I read an article online recently by someone (Tom Rainer?) about the symptoms of decline in a local church. The article was short and by no means exhaustive but it did offer a few unique perspectives and ideas about the symptoms of decline and death in a local church. We all know it’s possible for a human being to look and feel healthy and then drop dead unexpectedly. The same is true of local churches. Many churches are on life support and they don’t even realize it. The most interesting symptom that the writer used to pinpoint dying churches was when the pastor ceases to be viewed as a pastor and becomes a chaplain.

The point of the article was that when the pastor’s primary function ceases to be spiritual in nature and is only concerned with the physical needs of the members or the physical needs of the church itself (things like attending meetings and what not) then the church is dying. I thought that was profoundly interesting because frankly, a lot of Baptists I know (and I know more of them than I do the other flavors of evangelical Christians) think of the pastor as merely their personal chaplain.

It’s the pastor’s job to marry their children.
It’s the pastor’s job to bury their dead.
It’s the pastor’s job to organize baby showers.
It’s the pastor’s job to make sure the church as an organization functions efficiently.

Book chapter and verse please.

I’ll be waiting.

Those things may be very important but are they really the responsibility of the pastor? Not necessarily. Go back in your mind to Acts 6. In Acts 6 a group of women were upset at the apostles/pastors/elders in the church at Jerusalem. This group of upset women are starting to create quite a havoc because they feel that their needs haven’t been met and that no one cares for them and that the pastors are ignoring their need to be fed. What do the pastors do? They tell the church to elect some people who can handle this sort of problem so the pastors can continue to do what they felt was the most important thing which was *drumroll* prayer and Bible study.

Which leads me to this shocking conclusion…

If your pastor really loves you and he has to choose between being present for your surgery and studying the Bible to effectively preach the gospel to you, he needs to stay home with his Bible. We think that a loving pastor is one who visits, eats cake with his members, goes to hospitals, rest homes and so on. And I agree with all of those things. I like talking to my members and I love eating cake. I don’t think those things are wrong at all but those things aren’t my priority. In fact I would go so far as to say that God didn’t call me to eat cake, drink coffee and navigate medical institutions. God called me to preach the word. I am not a chaplain, I am a pastor.

I know that sounds calloused to some because we are raised to expect the pastor to be around in every single medical emergency even if it isn’t a medical emergency. There are actually some people who don’t like me as a pastor because they don’t think I visit even though I’ve sat with them in waiting rooms while their family’s members have had surgeries. See hospitals are dangerous and confusing places for pastors, so just stay home and study.

I do think it’s important to be there for your people and I try to be. I don’t pastor a large church and I am typically able to be around for those sorts of things. However, I realize that the most loving thing I can do for my people is proclaim the word of God to them on a regular basis. Think about this, someone in my church is having surgery. What is it that is going to prepare them for that spiritually? Is it going to be me sitting around a waiting room drinking stale coffee and reading Newsweek magazine from April of 1997 or is it going to be me preaching the word of God faithfully in order to ground them in the truth of the word of God so they can anchor their peace in biblical principles during life’s difficult days?

God’s calls pastors to shepherd and that means more than just hanging out at hospitals. If your pastor’s study time is being interrupted by lesser demands then you need to free him to do what God called him to do. If it gets as bad as I have seen for some pastors where they are expected to be at every third cousins hip replacement and they’re starting to have a nervous breakdown because they never have any time with the Lord or with their families then you need to give your pastor a month off in Europe with pay and fire your deacons and get some who will do what God expects them to do.

Which reminds me, a pastor isn’t a deacon, he’s a pastor. And for that matter deacons aren’t pastors. If you would get your roles defined right it would save everyone a lot of heartache.

At the core of this issue is the crucial question that basically defines a church and that is, “How does a pastor pastor?” The New Testament is clear that he does it by preaching the word. I’ve heard people say that such and such preacher was a good preacher but not a good pastor. I understand what they mean but most of the time that means that a man might be a gifted speaker but he’s not a people person. He might be golden in a pulpit but he kinds of stumbles in one-on-one conversations. Basically it’s a spiritual way of saying the same things people say about their doctors, “He doesn’t have good bed side manner.” But truthfully, and this is my point, pastoring and preaching aren’t in competition. The primary means of pastoring is preaching. A pastor is a shepherd and a shepherd’s first priority is to feed the sheep.

Starving sheep are not going to be healthy. Starving sheep are not going to be prepared when wolves attack. Starving sheep are not going to be able to handle stress. Starving sheep are doomed from the start and that’s true of the church also. If the pastor isn’t feeding his people then no matter what else he does right they will be weak and ill prepared.

The only time the word pastor appears in the New Testament is in Ephesians 4:11. There the King James translates the phrase “pastors and teachers” to describe those men who have been gifted with shepherding the flock of God. But the translators did a huge disservice in that verse because it’s really a Greek compound word and it should read “pastor-teachers”. Paul isn’t talking about two different groups or offices. He’s saying that a pastor is a teacher. He pastors by teaching. Preaching biblically, faithfully, and regularly is pastoring. When Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3 about the qualifications of New Testament pastors he said plainly that the one skill they must possess was that they be “apt to teach”. That’s what God gives pastors for to preach and teach the word of God.

So, if you’re a pastor that is your priority. Take time to regularly study the word of God and commune with the God of the word in soul-sustaining prayer. If however you are a church member let me encourage you to pressure your pastor to do what God has called him to do. Don’t complain when he didn’t make it to someone’s surgery who hasn’t been to the church they claim to attend in 20 years. Pressure him to pray, prepare, and then preach to you. Apparently, if God is the one who sent him then God knew you needed to be preached to. Pressure him to preach biblical sermons so that you can be prepared for those difficult times that might lie ahead for you and your family.

Burn out, Rust out, Chill out: How I Sabbath

2011-12-20T09:01:00.001-05:00

I believe it’s wrong to work on Sundays. I think that God has given us Sundays as a day of worship and rest. I know there is a complicated relationship between the Old Testament day of rest on the Sabbath (Saturday) and the New Testament day of worship on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) but I still believe, being crotchety and old fashioned at the tender age of 26, that God intends for all people to take one day a week to rest from their work and reflect on His goodness. So I think that unless someone is dying because you don’t work on Sundays that you should probably not work. Some professions are necessary and they don’t really stop for worship, I get that. I know Christian police officers and funeral directors and ambulance drivers and nurses and so on and I feel like those jobs are important enough that they must continue even on Sundays. If they knock you out of church every week it’s probably an issue that needs to be addressed but personally I feel like if I had a heart attack on Sunday afternoon because the Dolphins actually clinched a playoff berth I would like to know that someone is working at some hospital who could take care of me.

With all of that being said I have a confession to make. I work on Sundays. Not only do I work on Sundays but the majority of my week is spent working up to Sundays. Sunday isn’t just a day of labor for me it’s the ultimate day of labor. It’s the day to which all the other days lead. Sports teams spend the week practicing for the game, and for those of us on the team called pastors, we always have our game on Sundays. So while Sunday is a day of worship for me it is never a day of rest. But I still believe in taking a day of rest. God did it in the book of Genesis and He expected His people to do it in the Old Testament and it’s pretty obvious that He still expects his people to Sabbath even if it isn’t on the Sabbath day.
So I do Sabbath on some pretty weird days. Sometimes it’s Monday. Other times it’s Thursday and often it’s Saturday. Today (the day I wrote this) happens to be a Monday and it will mostly be a Sabbath for me. So I thought I would show you what my Sabbath day looks like. This is how I, as a pastor, like to spend my time off. I should say this though, Monday is a horrible day for a pastor to take off because chances are his mind won’t rest at all. A pastor studies all of the time, makes visits at random hours, and then preaches two or three sermons a week, or more. Sometimes other things like medical emergencies or funerals occur within the congregation and the pastor’s schedule is even more bizarre. People think we only work on Sundays. That’s simply not true. I might spend all week studying for a message to preach on Sunday, preach it, then wake up Monday and spend the first half of the week visiting and preparing a sermon to preach on Wednesday and then preach it on Wednesday. So by the time you get off work and drag into prayer meeting I’m getting ready to work again. It is the most blessed vocation in the world but it’s still an odd way to live.

So personally I think every pastor should have two days off a week. Don’t worry, God is in control of things and His work won’t stop on your account. I know you’re afraid of people thinking you’re lazy and I know you would rather “burn out” than “rust out” but I would rather be rested and fresh so I can give my best to my people instead of being grumpy and worn out all of the time. So, instead of burning out or rusting out, I opt to chill out every now and then. I don’t always take two days off, I hardly ever do in fact, by the time you factor in the long process of meditation over a sermon a pastor is really never off, at least in a mental sense. But a pastor should probably take two days off. One day should be Monday. He shouldn’t even have to get out of bed if he doesn’t want to. Then some other time during the week when he doesn’t feel like the biggest failure to ever slither out of a pulpit like most of us do on Mondays he could take a day off when he isn’t exhausted and depressed. So I know you won’t get two days off every week but try it for one week a month or something at least. Pastors who have been driven insane by their intense burdens aren’t really a help to anyone.

Anyway, back to my point. Today is my day off and here’s what I did...

I got up and cooked breakfast. I did not wake up at 2:30 this morning to go pray fire down from Heaven and feast on Manna for a few hours before sunrise. I got up, threw on my lounging clothes (pajama pants, a ball cap, house shoes, and the shirt I preached in yesterday) and made a pot of coffee. Coffee and bacon are the way every pastor should start his day off.

Then I went to work. On my day off I prepared a wedding ceremony for this weekend. I needed to get it done so I could email it to the bride to be for her final approval. So my day off is already veering into a day on.

Then I went to the bank. I guess pastors are the only creatures in the world who get paid on Sunday so I have to go to the bank on Mondays. I don’t know why there are so many other humanoid life forms at the bank on Monday mornings but I wade into the mass of humanity anyway to handle my financial business.

Then I went to the grocery store. For some reason this is one of my favorite activities of the week, it’s where I get myself hooked up with all of the tasty grub I eat throughout the week. Pastor you’re busy I know this but you had better plan your diet in some fashion before you end up at a buffet every other day and before you know it you’re unable to climb the steps to the pulpit without help from a crane. Self-control brother. Going to the grocery store is therapeutic for me. Something about buying green bananas reminds me of the fresh opportunities God has given me in the week.

Then I came home and watched TV. If you will notice there is still no fire coming down from Heaven. TV is horrible though, it really is, so I don’t recommend much of it. The reason TV is horrible is because it basically forces you to turn off your brain. But at the same time if you are taking a day off that’s precisely why TV is so great. It’s nice not to think and as a pastor who meditates on scriptures and church burdens sometimes you have to force yourself not to think. You need something whether it’s TV, an XBOX, a driving range, a deer stand, or whatever to get your mind off the roller coaster of ministry for a few minutes.

Then I got a phone call from the funeral home where I work part time and I had to run in there real quick. Then I came home and went to the gym. Some pastors play golf others go to associational meetings. I lift weights. I think there’s probably more benefit to my daily iron supplement than there is those other things. It’s good for your heart, your body, your mind, and your spirit. Plus it’s a good place to be a witness. Mondays are leg days which means they are the hardest and most intense workouts of the week. You’ll preach better if you squat. I swear.

When I got home from the gym I worked of my blog for a while. I usually only blog one or two days a week. Since I type so much for my blog and I type my sermons in full manuscript form I type pretty quickly so if I have a blog post in mind a 2 or 3 page document only takes me about 15 minutes to write up. Of course if you actually read my writing you could probably tell… Though blogging is work I don’t consider it really having anything to do with my job as pastor. It’s something I do if and when I have extra time. It is a great outlet for me to explore different theological and practical issues that might be on my mind for that week. One of the deacons at my church aggravates me all the time because I never run rabbits in my sermons since I’m always preaching through books of the Bible. My blog is where I run my rabbits.
When I get done with this I’m going to read Loraine Boettner for a while. There’s nothing more relaxing than going for a swim in some deep theology. Sometimes I get burnt out when it comes to reading because I do so much of it but I still try to keep with it because I need to feed my soul and expand my thinking. My problem is that I tend to read books that are really similar so sometimes I feel like I’m running in circles with my reading. Still, it’s good for you and I know zero “successful” pastors who don’t read.

After that I’m going to eat dinner, take a shower, and go to revival at my dad’s church. I don’t go around to revivals every night of the week and every week of the month like a lot of pastor’s do. But I do try to go occasionally if I know someone helpful is preaching. I am of the same opinion of Marty Lloyd-Jones who once said that Christians needs to quit running around to revivals and camp-meetings and stay home and read. Good advice.

Since its Halloween when I’m writing this (that will also clue you in on how big of a delay there is between writing my blogs and publishing them) I might hide in the bushes with my paintball gun after I get home from church and pepper the innocent little pagans who are trick-or-treating with .68 caliber balls of yellow gospel truth. In Jesus’ name, of course.

And that’s how I spend my days off. Tomorrow it’s back to work. I think I’m going to preach from Hebrew 9 on Wednesday about “The New Testament”. If you care my points are, “The Eternal Redemption”, “The Eternal Spirit”, and “The Eternal Inheritance.” So that’s what I’m going to study tomorrow. Just another day in paradise.

The Other Reason Tim Tebow Wins

2011-12-17T08:20:00.001-05:00

I try to be a very good Christian. I think it pleases God. I know the second commandment which means I have to love my neighbors and I know that God’s definition of neighbor is always more broad and inclusive than mine. Still, there is a short list of people that I hate. Maybe hate isn’t the right word. Loathe. Despise.

Trace Adkins.

Anyone on MSNBC.

And most importantly Tom Brady. I cannot stand Tom Brady for all of the same reasons that you can’t stand him. He is rich. He is successful. He is good and he knows it. His hair look stupid and somehow he whines more than his super-model wife. This weekend Tom Brady and his New England Patriots are playing the Denver Broncos and media super-star Tim Tebow. Now, Tim Tebow has been a lightning rod of controversy in the past few weeks of the NFL season. If you don’t keep up with football I’ll give you the basics.

1. Tim Tebow shouldn’t be a successful quarterback in the NFL. His motions are wrong. His playing style is wrong. Basically, he doesn’t fit in the league and all of the talking heads on ESPN were pulling against him thinking he would never be more than a third string back-up.

2. Somehow despite of all of this, and despite statistics that are deplorable in the first fifty minutes of the game, Tebow wins. He inspires his team and he almost always manages to rally them for a remarkable victory. I think he has 6 4th quarter comebacks this year. To put that in perspective former Broncos QB, and now professional meddler, John Elway (one of the greatest QBs of all time by the way) is credited with 47 career 4th quarter comebacks. Elway accomplished this in 17 seasons. So far anyway, Tebow is on track to smash that record.

3. Tim Tebow is also a very outspoken Christian.

So everyone seems to be fawning over Tim Tebow and whether or not his public displays of faith are appropriate or not. Some people are even encouraging Tim Tebow to tone down the Jesus stuff a little citing the passage where Jesus told the Pharisees not to be so showy in their public prayers. That’s not the purpose of this blog. My point is to prove that a very important, but often ignored, aspect of the Christian life could be the reason Tim Tebow wins.

Everyone wants to think that Tebow prays and God gives him a good dose of “fairy-dust” or the biblical equivalent and then he wins. So the lesson is this kiddos, if you pray hard enough God will let you get “lucky” and win in the last 30 seconds of a game. Or He will at least be merciful enough to put you in the laughably bad AFC West. The problem with this line of logic is that there are Christians who love Jesus on the losing teams praying just as hard as Tebow and they lose. Ultimately, God decides who wins and loses football games for His purposes and His glory.

Still, God ordains the ends and the means of all things. And the reason Tebow is winning games isn’t just because he lays back and let’s God call the plays and toss the balls. The reason, the means if you will, Tim Tebow wins football games is because he works hard.

If he is a sincere Christian, as I hope he is and I believe he is, he works hard because he thinks God expects him too. Let me lay a verse on you, I don’t know if Tebow ever wrote this on his eye black or not, but its Colossians 3:23. “Do all things heartily as unto the Lord.” That is a great command. It was actually written to slaves in the New Testament church. Their role as slaves was to be the best slaves they could be and to put their entire heart into whatever it was their masters were to do.

That is also true of Tim Tebow. So, when he is the weight room at 5 o’clock in the morning doing Romanian Dead Lifts to stretch his hamstrings he does it with all of his heart. He memorizes the playbook whole-heartedly. He plays with his whole heart and if you will notice his teammates respond to his passion citing that as an impetus to make them play better. Proverbs 22:29 says “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” Basically it means that someone who is good at what he does and works hard at his job will be rewarded for their work. So in Solomon’s day if you worked hard to shoe horses then people would recognize it and you might even get a chance to shoe the kings horses. If you were lazy, uncreative, uncompetitive, and took no pride in your work then you would basically shoe cheap horses. God blesses hard work.
Here’s the catch: God blesses hard work that is for His glory. God doesn’t bless hard work that is a goal to itself or that makes success or victory a goal. God blesses hard work that advances the gospel and magnifies the riches of our God. As long as God can use Tebow for His glory by winning He will.

When it’s time for him to lose what do Christians do with the idea that God has to let Tim Tebow win because he’s a good little Christian boy? When Tebow loses it shatters our worldview. The point is God’s glory and in Tebow’s profession – sports – hard work means working to be a winner so working to glorify God means working hard.

What did the verse say? Do all things heartily as unto the Lord. Work as service to God. Whatever you do, do it well, do it fervently, do it lovingly, do it with joy, and do it passionately and you may not always win but God will bless you in some other way.

So whether you are a Christian quarterback, a pastor, a stay at home mom, a retiree, factory worker, or whatever you are don’t strive merely to be a winner, strive to be a worker. That is the will of God.

3 Big Questions

2011-11-28T08:47:00.002-05:00

I’m preaching through the book of Romans at our church on Sunday Mornings. I’ve been there for 18 months and have another 12 (at least) to go. Yesterday, I finished Romans 9:24, the long section on election and God’s choice.

No one denies that is a difficult passage of scripture to read, understand, preach and/or hear preached. That passage has been fought over and fought about for centuries. More recently in the county where I pastor and the county where I live preachers have been up in arms fighting each other about these very issues. Who is a Calvinist? Who is a Hyper-Calvinist? Who can be trusted? Who can’t be? What does all of this mean? It’s very confusing for many of us. It’s especially confusing to the average church member who has other priorities in life other than defining the latest Baptist “heretic” and then crucifying them in front of the brethren. Church members have jobs, families, and bills. They need to be able to understand doctrinal issues in a way that is precise and applicable to their lives. Most of all church members need to be informed in a way that allows them to think for themselves and reach their own conclusions. If all a pastor does is tells his church what to think then he is doing them a huge disservice.

So study Romans 9 carefully. You may reach different conclusions than I do but don’t go around condemning everyone in creation for disagreeing with you until you’ve actually reached your own conclusions. Pastors, read it, study it, and preach it for yourselves, if you haven’t then you have no right to comment on what you heard that someone else believes. Don’t sacrifice your integrity on the altar of ignorance. You might come to a different theological vantage point than I have, and that’s fine, but please wrestle your way through it for yourself.

As you study Romans 9 there are 3 big questions that keep coming up over and over again. They act as an undercurrent in the text, constantly drifting in and through each verse and theme. I anticipated these questions rising up in the hearts of my congregation while I preached and tried my best to answer them in my sermons, though I didn’t feel as if I did a good job. I wanted to take a minute to answer them here because they are very common in the lives of Christians. Plus, the phrase
“Calvinism” generates a lot of traffic at “The Chapel Door” so I thought I’d throw all of those people who are huddled around their computers in their pajama pants trying to figure out if Jesse Carr is a Calvinist a little doctrinal fingerprint.

So let’s get to it…

Question 1: Is God Fair?
Short answer: No.
Long Answer: No, God is not fair and He is not trying to be. The problem with this question is that it misses the whole point of Romans 9 and really even the book of Romans. The book of Romans isn’t a doctrinal treatise on the fairness of God. Paul, being a first century Jewish convert probably never even thought about the “fairness” of God on the sentimental level we do in twenty-first century America where even the kids on the losing tee-ball team get a trophy. The book of Romans is about the righteousness of God. If you carefully read the book the theme of God’s righteousness is impossible to miss. He even specifically said in chapter 1 that the gospel of Christ reveals the righteousness of God. The book is an analysis of the righteousness of God in saving sinners. He has already explained in Chapter 3 how God is still righteous to forgive the unrighteous because a righteous Savior named Jesus died in their place and satisfied the demands of the law so God could be just in declaring the unjust just. Right? Ok.

As you move into chapter 7 Paul has shown that even though the saints of God are no longer slaves to sin they still war with their flesh. We all still battle sin on a daily basis. We still fall daily but the first verse of Romans 8 says that though there is much to condemn in us God will never condemn us if we are in fact united with Christ by faith! Then chapter 8 is a manifesto about the nature of the Christian’s assurance.

Problem.

If, as a believer, I am secure in the fact that God is for me (Romans 8:31) what about the Jews? Wasn’t God for them too? Has God failed them? No. Because Paul shows us two unshakeable realities from history and experience. First, not all of Israel is Israel (Romans 9:6). And, that God has the rights to elect or reject whoever He wants. (Romans 9:1-13) To show that Paul explains how God rejected Ishmael in favor of Isaac when in fact Ishmael was the firstborn son of Abraham and how God chose Jacob over Esau, before they were born or had done anything to sway God’s decision, though custom and culture dictated that Esau should have been blessed and even though Isaac tried as hard as he could to bless Esau anyway. God’s purpose in election will stand. He loved Jacob and He hated Esau. (Roman 9:13)

Which leads to the question in Romans 9:14. Is there unrighteousness with God? Paul says, “God forbid.” The question is not, “Is God fair?” The question is, “Is God Righteous?”

The problem with questioning God’s fairness is two-fold. First, it assumes God is subject to some kind of human standard of fairness. That simply is not true. God cannot be judged by His creation anymore than a potter can by his vessels. That’s Paul’s point in v.20. No one has the rights to ascend to Heaven, point a finger in the chest of God, and cry “You’re just not doing a very good job at being God.” Second, the problem with questioning God’s fairness is that it betrays a sinister misunderstanding about the nature of our sin. To say, “God is not fair in not giving everyone an equal shot or choice or chance at Heaven.” Or to say, “God is not fair to pick some for Heaven and let others continue in their sin and proceed to Hell.” Is to assume that everyone deserves to go to Heaven. No one deserves to go to Heaven. Many people are under the assumption that just because a person was born on planet earth surely means they deserve to go to Heaven but the exact opposite is true and Paul labored to prove it in Romans 3 and in Romans 5. Everyone deserves God’s wrath. Therefore God is just to send everyone to Hell including you. If God would have passed over you and sent you to Hell He would still be completely righteous, holy, and just because you deserve Hell. You earned it. But, because God does save some, and because some experience grace, God isn’t being fair He is being gracious.

You don’t want God to be fair. Fair people get what they have earned. If God is fair then everyone goes to Hell. If God is gracious then some can go to Heaven. Above all God is righteous.

Question 2: Does God Pick People to Go To Hell?
Short Answer: No.
Long Answer: The idea that God picks people to go to Hell is repulsive to most every creature under God’s sun except the slimy Hyper-Calvinists. You’re probably terrified of Hyper-Calvinists and you should be. You’re probably so afraid of Hyper-Calvinists that you think anyone who believes more strongly in the doctrine of election than you is a Hyper-Calvinist and they need to be put in a labor camp in Utah surrounded by razor wire just so they don’t hurt anyone else. But cheer up! If you knew what Hyper-Calvinism was you would know you’ve probably never even met one. I haven’t.

Anyway does God pick people to go to Hell? It would be easy to think that based on what Paul talks about in Romans 9, particularly in the case of Pharaoh but I don’t believe God does pick people to go to Hell, at least not in an active fashion. God certainly chooses people to go to Heaven. You can argue all you want about why but don’t fall into the intellectually dishonest trap of thinking that somehow God picks people to go to Heaven after they were saved or that the doctrine of election isn’t even in the Bible. It’s there. Read it.

So God does pick people to go to Heaven but does He pick them to go to Hell too? That is what is known as “double-predestination”. And the answer is, no, God doesn’t pick people to go to Hell. He doesn’t have to. Everyone is going to Hell anyway and if God, who is righteous, sees fit to pass over them, like He did Pharaoh, and even harden their hearts against Him so they will continue in unbelief then that’s His business.

So God doesn’t actively pick people to go to Hell but He does, in picking some for Heaven, reject others. If that still seems like too big of a pill to swallow then remember, He doesn’t have to pick anyone. And to both of you reading this who do believe in double-predestination, I hope your doctrinal errors don’t mean we can’t still be friends. XOXOXO

Question 3: Is God Wrong to Condemn People for Unbelief if They Can’t Actually Believe?
Short Answer: No.
Long Answer: No, unbelief by its very nature is the most condemnable thing in the world. There are a couple of things that a quick reading of the New Testament proves. First, saving faith in Christ must be a gift of God. Man can’t believe on His own. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 1:29) Jesus Himself said that no one would ever come to Him until God drew them to Him.

But the Bible also says that people have to believe in Jesus in order to be saved, doesn’t it? So how can that possibly be fair…er… righteous of God? I mean it would be like God coming to a bunch of blind people saying, “Ok, if you will just see I’ll let you go to Heaven.” Or what if God strolled through a graveyard and said, “Of everybody if you will just live you can be saved!” Well, that’s ridiculous right? No and the reason it isn’t is because lost people are blind and dead. (1 Corinthians 4:4/Ephesians 2:1)

So what’s the deal? Well it all goes back to the two smartest people to ever live in America. Jonathan Edwards and B.B. Warfield. Well maybe they’re not the smartest but they’re definitely smarter than anyone who spends their spare time blogging about double predestination and other theological issues no one cares about. Jonathan Edwards wrote (I think it’s in his Miscellaneous writings number 71 though I’m not positive and I kind of want to get this done so I can go play Call of Duty so I’m not going to bother looking) that telling a lost person to believe was like telling someone to drink a cup full of poison. For all intents and purposes a person can drink poison, right? They have a hand to hold the cup, a mouth to take the poison in, and even a throat to swallow it. But they won’t do it, will they? The reason they won’t, and the reason they would even say, “I Can’t” is because they have no will to do it. They don’t want to do it. There is no desire to drink poison. He says that precisely why saving faith in Christ must come as a gift from God because no one in their lost unregenerate condition wants to believe in Christ. It’s not that they don’t have the capacity to believe at all, lost people exercise faith in lesser things all of the time, but since they don’t want to believe in Christ they won’t until God makes them willing.

So God isn’t dragging people kicking and screaming in to Hell who want Jesus and He isn’t twisting the arms of a bunch of sinners to make them go to Heaven against their will. To be sure, in eternity everyone gets what they want. Lost people want to be as far away from God as possible and saved people see Christ as precious. The question is, “What makes the difference?” And the answer is that God has regenerated – or reborn – the saint of God to desire Him. God made them willing to believe. So there you go. God is right to condemn people for unbelief because their unbelief by nature is a willful distaste for God Himself and that is the most damnable thing in the universe.

That’s what B.B. Warfield wrote about in his essay “Faith and its Psychological Aspects”. (And you thought this blog was boring...) He says that faith is born in the mind. The lost mind doesn’t value Christ, it doesn’t treasure Him, it doesn’t even view Christ as trust-worthy enough to actually trust. Therefore, unbelief is the most wicked thing in the world because it is an insult to the very character and name of God. Unbelief cripples sinners and blinds their hearts to the glory of God and God is right to condemn it because it is so contrary to Him. The fact that sinners are in such a conditions that they can’t believe is precisely what makes them so condemnable.

That’s why faith must be a gift and that’s why grace is precisely so amazing. We know God saves us when we believe but why did we believe? What changed in us? Why did we go from running from God to running to Him? Why did we continually reject Christ and then in an instant desire Him more than another breath? The answer is that God changed us by grace! God birthed us into His family! God gave us a new heart and that is the greatest miracle in the universe and God help us if we look at ourselves and our standing in Christ as something we deserve just for being born. We deserve Hell on our best day but God in His mercy made us desire Christ. What a miracle.

So those are three questions that people ask when it comes to election. I know there are certainly more questions and definitely better answers but I pray it helps you on your journey.

IPreach

2011-11-26T07:59:00.000-05:00

I had a discussion sometime back with a friend of mine who think the Lord is calling him to preach. In the course of our conversation, in which I tried to talk him out of it, I began to meditate on my own personal calling. It made me think of the times when the calling was new and how I feel now. The calling isn’t new to me anymore since I’ve been preaching for 12+ years but it is still fresh.

As I thought about it this morning I realized though that however many hundreds of times I’ve preached over the last decade or better many, if not most, of the times I’ve been in the pulpit I’ve been there for the wrong reasons. I know the Lord has called me. I know preaching the gospel in general, and preaching biblical theology within the framework of systematic pastoral exposition, is the purpose and passion of my life. I am convinced it’s what I was born to do and hopefully I want to do it to glorify God. When it comes to the actual preaching moment though there have been many times when my desire to preach has been less than noble. In the interest of full disclosure I thought I might share some of those motivations I have to preach with you. Hopefully I’m not alone and I hope that examining our hearts will lead like minded pastors to careful thought about why it is we do what we do.

1. I preach because I love to preach – Preaching is great fun. Well, it’s not always fun but when you’re doing what you know that God created you to do it is very rewarding and often fulfilling. Doing that and knowing that it occasionally inspires and encourages people is just an added bonus! Some people probably can’t fathom the desire to preach or even speak publicly. I think more people are afraid of public speaking than are afraid of snakes and spiders and other creepy crawlies but all preachers know what I mean when I say that I feel at home in the pulpit in front of a group of people who want to hear the word of God. Sure there is a lot of nervousness and an indescribable eternal pressure but still it is comfortable and enjoyable most days. But that can also be a problem. I’m not supposed to preach because I love preaching. I’m supposed to preach because I love Jesus. What’s more I’m supposed to preach because Jesus loves me.

I love to preach and preaching can become an idol that I worship instead of a means to worship the Lord.

2. I preach because I love the idea of myself as a preacher – Knowing that people depend on you, respect you, and desire to hear your thoughts and opinions is flattering. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. It’s nice to be respected. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s nice to be called pastor or preacher, though I can’t get the idea of people referring to me as Bishop Carr to take traction. It’s nice to think you’re important to people. And those ideas can be poison to the soul. Frankly, preaching can fuel the most dangerous sin in my life, pride. Preaching can get me bragged on. Preaching can make me popular. Preaching can kill me while I have the time of my life. So if you are a preacher guard against pride in your life. I have to routinely take inventory of my life and realize that any gift, talent, or calling I have is nothing but the grace of God in operation in my life. There is no reason other than grace that I have even heard of Jesus so how could I brag when I get to preach about Him?

3. I preach because I have to – They told us in Bible College that Sunday is always coming. At the time I didn’t fully grasp that statement but it is absolutely true. No matter what whirlwind of activity I have endured through the week at 11:00 am on Sunday morning God’s people are going to expect something from me. Too many times I have entered the pulpit because I have to say something and not because I have something to say. As I read through the prophets of the Old Testament recently I couldn’t help but think that they didn’t do that. When they spoke they spoke from a burden – an overwhelming and crushing need to deliver truth. There have been a few times when I didn’t feel I could preach and I haven’t but those times probably need to be more common.

4. I preach because I get paid – This ties in well with #3 but again I am expected to be there on Sundays and Wednesdays with something from the Lord. I don’t want to let God’s people down so I preach knowing that it is what I am expected to do. Of course the pastor is responsible to his congregation on many levels and he should be compensated for his work but the pastor must never fall into the dangerous trap of seeing himself merely as a professional. I was called by God to preach. I wasn’t hired by a church to preach. The goals of preaching are eternal not material. God guard my heart.

5. I preach because I don’t believe the gospel – How is that for provocative? Well, I do believe the gospel but I don’t believe it as fully as I should. No one does. Within the heart of every believer there are pockets of unbelief and resistance that are still stubbornly clinging to religious performance and good works as a means of self-justification. Oftentimes I notice in my life this self-righteousness uses my ministry as an opportunity to try and save my soul. Here’s what I mean, I know I’m going to Heaven based totally on the work of Jesus on my behalf and I am under no illusion that I am going to Heaven because I pastor a church. However, I do look for love, acceptance, identity and fulfillment in my ministry instead of finding it in my relationship with Christ. Many times I have went home from church defeated and destroyed spiritually because a sermon didn’t preach as well as I thought it should have and somehow I felt like I was useless and worthless. Why? Because I have a sinful tendency to try to justify myself through preaching. But I am not justified by preaching. I am justified by Christ and that alone is worth preaching about!
So by now you probably think I’m the biggest creep to enter a Baptist pulpit – and you know I might be. Truthfully, that might be a great title for this blog! “The Chapel Door: Brought To You By The Baptist Creep.” But those aren’t the only reasons I preach. Those are just the bad ones, and it does me good to be honest. If I cover my sin it thrives, if I expose the sin of my heart it shrivels and dies in the light of confession. So there they are. But let me give you a few more!

6. I preach because I love the people I pastor – Jesus told us to love everyone. We should love and pray for sinners. But as a pastor I have a special love for the people I go to church with. I hope every pastor does. Those people are family, born from the womb of grace. I rejoice when they get good news and I am grieved when they get bad news. I pray for them and I know they pray for me. It angers me to hear people talk bad about the church I pastor. (Some of you read this blog and I pray for you too you just better hope God doesn’t answer me.) God has placed me with the greatest group of Christians in the world and I know that every God-called pastor feels the same about his church. My church spoils me rotten. I hate to hear pastors gripe about their churches and I will go on record here to say that I have no complaints.

7. I preach because I love to study – Like I said I think every preacher loves to preach and I know that sometimes that can be dangerous but it should also be good! 1 Timothy 3 talks about the desire to do the work God called us to do. What I am learning after a few years of pastoring is that the call to preach is really a call to study. I might spend an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes in the average week preaching but I spend countless hours studying the word, praying over what I’ve learnt, and meditating on God’s truth. As far as that goes you can never escape your sermons, personally the only time I’m not preparing to preach is when I’m asleep. They sit in your mind long before they bloom in the pulpit and I am so grateful for the time I get to spend in the word of God on a daily and weekly basis. What greater privilege could I have than to study the word of God full time? There are people in my church who run their own businesses and raise small kids and are busy with a million different things in life who are doing good to spend just a few minutes a day with their Bible but it is my privilege to spend days and days with just one passage. That is glorious.

8. I preach because I have to – Now that may seem unspiritual and it may seem like exactly the same thing I said in #’s 3 and 4 but what I mean is that God has put it in me and I can’t be satisfied or right with God unless I do. It is a burden and it is a calling and I have no choice but to preach. In the miracle of God’s grace I want no other choice.

9. I preach because despite all of my sin God blesses me – In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 there is a long list of qualifications for the office of a pastor. I doubt anyone who is qualified to pastor ever feels qualified to do it. If they are, then they’re a fool and probably have little concept of what it is they are actually doing in ministry. Any pastor who thinks they have fulfilled those qualifications apart from grace is probably in danger of Hell anyway. It’s a miracle any human, much less this one, gets to handle the word of God and speak on His behalf. Regardless, even when I stand and preach with all of the wrong motives and for all of the wrong reasons God blesses me. Of course it’s not so much that God blesses me as much has God blesses His word and the story of His Son. He has said His word wouldn’t return void and He has said that the message of the cross contains His power to save. So when I preach in all of my sin, all of my pride, and all of my damaging baggage God still moves in grace and lets me enjoy His work and that is the greatest miracle I know of. If it was up to me to have prayed enough, to study enough, or to be perfect enough for God to bless preaching then I would be hopeless in ministry. Thankfully though, my confidence isn’t really in me but it’s in our sovereign and gracious God and I can enjoy that.

If all of the pressure was on me then I would collapse under the pressure and the gospel ministry would be the greatest prison anyone could ever be enslaved in but this is God’s work and for some reason He placed me in it and that causes me to stand in wonder and praise. The greatest thrill of my life is preaching but I know logically that one day the sermons will stop. My mind might slip, my health might fade or Jesus might come back. Who knows how my ministry will end but I know that it will end and there will be no preaching in Heaven. But I do know that my fleshly mind and feeble tongue that are so inadequate to preach and magnify and exalt and describe the Lord today will then be perfected to give Him the praise He deserves and that makes me want to preach more than anything!

Some Things Don't Really Need a Comment

2011-11-24T07:58:00.003-05:00

For all of you who may be wondering any of the following...

Why are fundamentalists looked down on in current American culture?

Why is church attendance declining?

Why is respect for the office of pastor largely a thing of the past?

Why is Pat Robertson still unplugged from whatever machine is keeping him alive and placed in front of a live microphone?

From "TheBlaze.com",

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson tends to find himself in the limelight for making comments that some find offensive, curious or entertaining (sometimes, a combination of the three). Today, on CBN’s “The 700 Club,” Robertson asked co-host Kristi Watts, “What is this ‘mac and cheese?’ Is that a black thing?”

The question, which seems even more bizarre without context, was posed after an interview between Watts and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was aired. During the interview, Watts asked Rice, “What’s that one thing at Thanksgiving you just have to have?” Rice’s answer? Mac and cheese. Watts agreed that it is her favorite holiday dish as well.

Mediaite has more:

A confused Robertson, who grew up in Lexington, Virginia, acted like he had never heard of the culinary dish, a popular American staple for generations and absent-mindedly singled out the meal as a food reserved for blacks. [...]

“It is a black thing, Pat!” exclaimed Watts. “Listen! And you guys! The world needs to get on board with macaroni and cheese. Seriously, I just– Christmas and Thanksgiving, we have to have macaroni and cheese and it just trips me out that you just don’t. ”

“I don’t and I have never!” the televangelist conceded.

Can I Fight for Fundamentalism if I don't fit in to Fundamentalism?

2011-11-22T08:52:00.002-05:00

I’ll never forget the day I read John Owen and my life changed forever. I’ll spare you the details suffice to say that after I read the first part of “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ” everything in my heart exploded like Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped. The effect was devastating and all encompassing. It was almost as if I was given a new mind or a new set of eyes.

With that new set of eyes I saw the Bible differently and I saw church differently. As my reflections on church and Christianity changed I began to develop some unusual perspectives and ideas when they were held up to the thought of those in churches around me. And I know I am not the only one who has experienced that phenomenon.
Maybe it was Owen, probably it was Piper. Maybe God used your personal Bible reading or some Podcast to change you but you can sense you are changing. You begin to know your Bible better and you can see error more clearly in the churches and people you love. You can see where they do and say and preach things that don’t line up with the word of God. It bothers you. You want to leave. You want to be free. You want to explode with the truth of what you’ve come to learn. You feel like you don’t fit in fundamentalism anymore. I can relate.

I was raised in a Southern Baptist Church. I pastor an Independent Baptist Church. My favorite writers include Anglican Bishops and Presbyterian professors. Like most American males I went through a “Metallica” phase but I hate contemporary Christian music with a passion because it’s just not very good. I like to sing the Platters in the shower. Theologically I am probably more closely aligned to the Free Presbyterians than I am any other group or denomination. I believe strongly in the sovereignty of God and detest any ecclesiastical methods that stem from semi-pelagianism. I think worship should be respectful and traditional but I usually raise, and then lose, my voice when I preach. I think we do ourselves huge disservice to gear everything we do to the traditions and norms of 1950’s Americana. I also think it’s dangerous to try to pander to the most base elements of our own day. I think worship should be timely and timeless. I preach exclusively from the King James Bible because I think it is entirely relevant. I wear dress shoes to church but I would be just as comfortable in my Converse All-Stars. I never give “pray after me” invitations. My IPOD is loaded with mp3 sermons from Tim Keller, Matt Chandler, John MacArthur, John Piper, Ian Paisley, Michael Horton, RC Sproul, and tons of other people. I like to listen to these sermons while I dead lift at the gym for the glory of God. I don’t have any tattoos. I drive a KIA. I like to read blogs and I have a messenger bag.

And I’m not alone.

Sometimes people like me get frustrated with what we view to be theological error and biblical inconsistency within our tradition. But all of that presents us with a problem. We still very much love our traditions. I enjoy camp-meetings. I like to get emotional at church. I like to shake hands and call people brother and sit in a pew instead of a theatre seat, though a cup holder would be nice every now and then. I like to sing from a hymnal though I think screens are probably much more practical. We love our churches, and like all people, we want to belong even though we don’t feel like we do.

We particularly love theology that glorifies God and proclaims the gospel clearly. In that regard we are fundamentalists. Most of us were raised in fundamentalist churches, grew up with traditional values, and have listened to hours of fundamentalist sermons decrying everything from Christmas to Democrats. But now, we long for more. We long for theological clarity and doctrinal depth so we often leave churches feeling unsatisfied.

Occasionally we peer into the mega-church scene where crowds are exploding and people are excited and think we could find a home there but we still see so much that is inconsistent with the Bible to get comfortable enough to relax there. So we wrestle with our identity as fundamentalists. We want to escape it on one hand but we feel the need to embrace it on the other.

So should we abandon the term and if so what term should we choose? Like many of my counterparts, I have an uneasy relationship with fundamentalism. I happen to think there are more important things to preach about than drum beats, hair cuts, and make-up. But fundamentalism is important, because the Bible is important. The world desperately needs people who take the Bible seriously. So my prayer is that God would allow people to quit trying to fight fundamentalists and give them then theological acumen, the burning passion, and an overwhelming desire to fight for fundamentalism!

So my plea to my young brothers (and sisters) is don’t abandon fundamentalism. Embrace it. Don’t stray from your roots. Stay in your churches. Lovingly teach the foundational truth of the word of God when the pulpit is turned over to you. Proclaim the glory of God and His free grace in a way that is submissive to your pastor and his views and helpful to your hearers. Love your blogs but love your Bible more. Contextualize the gospel to your fundamentalist culture. We need it too! Fundamentalism is worth fighting for and if you happen to have any association at all with what is called fundamentalism then you know fundamentalists love to fight.
But above all don’t fight the fundamentalists. Don’t refer to them as caricatures. These people that you mock on your Facebook and Twitter accounts were your Sunday School teachers and nursery workers and friends. They may be terribly misguided or misinformed but they are either your brothers and sisters in Christ or they are deceived about their spiritual condition and lost in their sin. Either way God expects you to love them and Christ-like love doesn’t see the worst in people and ascribe to them actions, activities, and beliefs that are disingenuous in order to mock them as an exercise in pride. If you can’t be honest about what your opponents believe then you’re not grounded in what you believe.

Some of the preachers who might say something outlandish in the pulpit from time to time have also preached the word faithfully for years so don’t think you are more spiritual or intellectual than they are. They may very well be wrong but God expects you to love people even when they are in error. Don’t take a prideful stance in your theology. Believe what you believe passionately and clearly but believe it humbly. People who disagree with your theology, when it is Biblical, do so because they haven’t learned. Why would you ever mock a child who can’t read because it hasn’t been taught? Why would you mock a Christian who hasn’t progressed or who hasn’t been given the gifts you enjoy?

Fundamentalism is worth fighting for because it began as a movement that set out to defend the orthodox doctrines of historic Christianity with a desire to separate from apostasy. That “movement” has taken on many different leaders and many different forms through the years but as it is rightly understood the world needs “fundamentalists”. The world needs people who will distance themselves from theological error and commit to biblical realities no matter how out of date, out of step, or out of touch they might seem. The world needs fundamentalism and if you love Jesus, love the Word of God, love the gospel, and desire purity in the church, then fundamentalism needs you!

There is a quote by John Owen that I have never gotten away from. In his book On The Mortification of Sin he said “He who has changed masters remains a servant still.” His point is that people might quit one sin and embrace another all the while claiming spiritual victory over what they used to do and used to be without realizing they are still in bondage. There is a lot of truth in that statement. It’s also true of those of us who may be a little uneasy when we are called “fundamentalists”. Many people can easily spot the celebrity driven culture of fundamentalism that takes every word from the leading voice of Hammond or Murfreesboro as the very word of God but they can’t see their own blind devotion to the Driscolls or Bells of their “movement”. Our preferences blind us to the truth about our prejudices.

Some people detect a lack of biblical content in the old fundamentalist sermons that begin with “close your Bible and look up here” but they can’t see the lack of biblical truth in sermons that are often glossed over by slick media packages. Every human heart has an inborn tendency to flee the truth of the word of God in favor of what sounds like it should be the word of God. (See: Eve)

Many people would cry out against a blind allegiance to “old time religion” without seeing a blind allegiance to mass marketed consumer driven contemporary music. If your mind automatically assumes someone in jeans has more to say or more rights to say it than someone in a suit (or vice versa) then you need some serious Romans 12 style renewal.

I say all of this because I’m concerned about people who want to mock fundamentalists, or invent some red herring of fundamentalism and attack it, or who generally want to build churches that are purely anti-fundamentalist in tone. There are many things in what is (wrongly) called fundamentalism that need to change – unbiblical preaching, shallow theology, absent minded worship, sales-pitch evangelism, lack of church discipline, et al. – but those problems are often still present when people leave fundamentalism. In fact if someone leaves what is considered fundamentalism for a more biblical church committed to the gospel and the glory of God they haven’t actually left fundamentalism at all, they’ve returned to what it was originally designed to be and no matter what form, dress, or style it may be in the future, the only hope for the church in America is a return to true orthodox fundamentalism that stands first on the authority and sufficiency of the word of God regardless of the consequences.

True fundamentalism will never hurt a church, a Christian, or a movement. It will save it. The problem most fundamentalists, be they young and restless, or elderly and content, is that they do not know what fundamentalism is all about. Fundamentalism isn’t about abusive pastoral authority (and I would dare say that many people trying to flee fundamentalism today have never actually experienced such) fundamentalism is about the authority of the word of God. Does your church really build itself and risk itself on the foundation of the word of God or is it built on the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world? (Colossians 2:8)
Fundamentalism isn’t about converting people to an old-fashioned Amish lifestyle that rejects equality and social justice. Fundamentalism is about preaching the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Does your church preach the gospel? I didn’t ask if they talk about preaching the gospel or even talk about getting the gospel out. Does the leadership of your church clearly articulate the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is the sermon about receiving spiritual blessing because of your effort – be it reaching your greater purpose and living outside the envelope or the old Baptist standbys of wearing dresses and having gender appropriate haircuts – or is it the message of God’s wrath funneled into Christ so His righteousness could be funneled on to you?

Fundamentalism isn’t about “old-fashioned” worship as it is often understood. Fundamentalism is about knowing God as He has revealed Himself to be. Does your church even mention God? The last time you hear a sermon about holiness was it about yours or His? When your pastor preaches about God is it about who God is or what God can do for you?

You see the point in all of this is that while people are bored and frustrated and disgruntled with these old-fashioned “fundamentalist” churches the problem in your heart is not fundamentalism. If you are hungry for the presence of God, the truth of His word, gospel clarity, theological depth and precision, all coming together in soul-sustaining worship then you don’t need to run from fundamentalism you need more fundamentalism. Believe me, the problems we face in churches today are not the result of an overflow of orthodoxy. The problems we have is that people, while embracing the term fundamentalism, have left the spirit of fundamentalism for a spirit of traditional Phariseeism and it needs to be repented of in favor of the genuine truth of the word of God that is more than just a proof-text for some antiquated idea that has no origin in Heaven. The last thing our churches need today is to flee fundamentalism. We don’t need less true fundamentalism we need more of it, so let’s quit fighting the fundamentalists and fight for fundamentalism.

“In view of the lamentable defects of modern life, a type of religion certainly should not be commended simply because it is modern or condemned simply because it is old. On the contrary, the condition of mankind is such that one may well ask what it is that made the men of past generations so great and the men of the present generations so small” ~ J. Gresham Machen

Chapel Door Christmas Wish List 2011 Edition

2011-11-21T09:26:00.002-05:00

Last night during our trip to the idolatrous temple to retail materialism and capitalistic greed (Wal-Mart) to procure sustainable food stuffs for our gluttonous traditions (groceries for thanksgiving) my wife and I ventured through the electronics section – namely the glowing tower of video games. I know everyone from Mark Driscoll to David Platt to your local extreme Baptist Christian School principal thinks it’s a sin to play video games but hey, God forgives all of us. God can forgive me for butchering zombies en masse in a virtual world just like he can forgive the people above for being nutty like a fruitcake. The fact is that preaching and pastoring makes your head hurt sometime and everyone needs mindless fun and the reality is that video games are cheaper than golf and much more godly.

Anyway, while I was distracted by all of the clever packaging and bright colors my wife asked me to make a list of what I wanted for Christmas so she could go buy it. Now my wife, God bless her, is going out the day after thanksgiving to do some Christmas shopping with my mom and sister. I don’t know whose idea it was but I do know the Bible says “It’s not good for man to be alone”. If my being alone means my missing out on the madness that is Black Friday then it is probably very good. But I thought I would repeat the Chapel Door tradition, from last year, and post my Christmas list for all to see and maybe a few quaint thoughts along with it.

1. IPad 2 – Ok, here’s what I know. Everyone who is anyone in ministry now preaches off of an IPad. Do you know what I preach off of? That’s right PAPER. Think of the environment people. Further, think of how relevant and in tune with culture it would make me look to take an IPad to church. Plus I could play Angry Birds during Sunday School. Nevermind.
2. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Sequel to the best video game of all time. Well Oblivion is one of the best of all time. If anyone gets me Skyrim I will probably need to disappear for a month or two to play it. I’ve always thought I would make a good wizard but since I can’t grow a beard and don’t look that cool with a staff or hanging around Hobbits the closest I get is through Skyrim.
3. Batman: Arkham City – I would also make a good Batman.
4. Battlefield 3: I would also make a good special forces sniper.
5. Clothes from Missional Wear (.com) – I like the skull shirt with the Owen “be killing sin” shirt and I like the “Theology Matters” I chart. I leave fashion to my wife who picks out my ties but one thing I know, Jonathan Edwards’ floating disembodied head on a t-shirt is always in style.

6. Books – In no particular order.
The Christian Faith by Michael Horton.
The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor by John Piper and D.A. Carson.
Note to Self by Joe Thorn.
10 Books that Screwed up the World by Benjamin Wiker.
Ideas have Consequences by Richard Weaver.
Introducing Covenant Theology by Michael Horton.
Holy, Holy, Holy by R.C. Sproul.
Anything (Everything) by Cornelius Van Til (Presuppositional Apologetics are the cat's pajamas.)

7. Suits – I need some proper preachin’ attire. I have 2 that fit good where I’ve lost weight and the rest are kind of big. So some suits would be good. Actually the place in the mall run by the terrorists that sells the T.D. Jakes 80 button bishop coats are having some wicked sales as I understand it.

8. Stacy Adams Wing Tip Dayton Oxford – Trust me.

9. Angel Eyes Paintball Mask – Drool.

10. Together 4 the Gospel Tickets – Though the price pretty much sky-rocketed this year and Louisville is kind of a long way away. Two things are important to remember though. First, this is the best gathering of theological minds in the country for at least two years (Even though Sproul blew everybody’s minds too much last year and didn’t get invited back.). Second, they have White Castles in Louisville. In North Carolina we live in this sad part of the world where we are too far north for Krystal and too far south for White Castle. Sad.

So that’s all.

Merry Christmas fellow readers!

Evangelist Tom Gilliam

2011-11-17T08:25:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for the people that God has sovereignly allowed me to come into contact with in life that have been a positive influence in my life, thought, and ministry. More so, I am grateful for those who have pushed me to a more Biblical understanding of God. Many of the men who have most shaped my view of God are dead; men like Arthur Pink and Stephen Charnock have had an immeasurable impact on my thinking about God. Among the living John Piper has done more to shape the way I think about God and His satisfaction with Himself than any person I know of. The one living person, apart from my pastor-daddy, that I’ve actually met to have the greatest impact on my thinking about God and His independent majesty is evangelist Tom Gilliam.

I’ve had the privilege of hearing brother Tom preach for over a decade now and I count him a friend and fellow laborer in the vineyard. I also look to him as a father in the faith. My heart is stirred, warmed, challenged, convicted, and fed every time I have the privilege of hearing him share the word of God. I have heard him preach to thousands and to dozens. Whenever he preaches the word he faithfully and rightly divides whatever text his in while expounding the character of God in a way that, as he says, bothers me later.

Brother Tom, is like myself, an old-fashioned Baptist. He doesn’t necessarily fit into all of the molds that people would like for him to, and he has paid the price for that over the years, but he represents the best that Baptist preachers have to offer today. In fact, he is probably more like Baptist preachers of two to three hundred years ago, so that puts him out of step with those who are just trying to emulate the 1970’s. He labors under the mantle of a reformer, preaching truth whether it is popular or not. He is not ashamed to preach difficult texts that wrestle with the deep things of God and neither is he afraid to lose meetings or money when those texts cost him popularity.

But, despite the fact that he is old fashioned, he is taking the internet by storm by means of Facebook and YouTube! He has expanded his ministry to preach the word via video on these internet channels. So after I have cost him some of his eternal reward I wanted to give my friend a plug here on my humble slice of the internet. Listen to his preaching and reap the benefits of a lifetime of faithful study.

You can find him on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/714preacher

And on Facebook he is at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tom-Gilliam-Bible-Truth/293599777326479

On Demons: Part 2

2011-11-15T06:49:00.001-05:00

So, what do we know, biblically, about demons?

Well, the word demon never actually appears in the Bible. The word the Bible uses is the word “devil”, or the plural devils. Occasionally demons, as well as angels, are referred to as “principalities and powers” such as Colossians 2:15. It is this phrase used in Colossians 1:16 that gives us a key insight into demonic activity. There the Bible says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” That verse tells us that yes, demons were created by God, and just as importantly, they are always under His control. More importantly, demons just like any other portion of creation, exist “for” Jesus Christ. Demons exist so that God can glorify the Son. Demons are a means to an end.

Demons of course are fallen angels. When Lucifer rebelled against God in Heaven and fell from his place around the throne of God one third of the angels fell with him and became what we know as demons. No matter how wicked, depraved, powerful, and incredible these demons are they are still, just like the angels, God’s creation. They still belong to Him, no matter how much they would like to break away from Him, and they still answer finally to His will. Christians needs not fear some sort of uncontrolled omnipotent demonic power terrorizing their lives. God is in control of demons and they have now power to move an inch unless God decides it should be done for His purpose. As Martin Luther said, “The devil is God’s ape.”

To us that may seem unthinkable but it is true. We may not be able to comprehend how this works, and we don’t necessarily need to, but the demons themselves know that it is true. If you remember several of the Lord’s encounters with demons in the gospels they specifically asked Him questions that proved their servitude to Him specifically in the incident at Gadara where the demons asked Jesus to be cast into the pigs. For what it’s worth that story shows us that animals – at least pigs – can be demon possessed. Maybe bacon isn’t so good for you.

God is sovereign over all demonic activity just as He is sovereign over all things. A lot of Christians seem to live with a perverted dualistic view of the world that grants Satan and his cohorts as much power in the universe as God has. That simply is not true. The book of Job bears this out. Satan wants to attack Job but he has to ask God specifically for permission. Of course, Satan apparently didn’t even know about Job at all until God told him about him. When he found out about his faithfulness Satan, with God’s permission, assaulted Job but it was God Himself who took responsibility for the calamities of Job’s life. Job 2:3 Satan may be the cause of suffering in life but he is never, nor can he be, the ultimate uncaused cause of anything.

Demons cannot overthrow the purpose of God, as He will do all His will. (Ephesians 1:11) Demons especially can’t separate a believer from the love of God. (Romans 8:38-39)

So, we can see from scripture that demons, like all of creation, are under the direct control of God’s sovereignty. No matter how much they oppose God, try to destroy Him, and undermine His work it’s all done with God’s permission and for His glory. We may not understand that but we should believe it by faith to the comforting of our souls when faced with spiritual attacks. Demons that hate us and want to damn and destroy us have no power at all but what is given to them by a God who loves us and is working all things for our good. That may be difficult to grasp but we must do it to keep from being overwhelmed. I would note here, that though we struggle with wrapping our minds around God’s sovereignty in that way even the demons have a concept of God that causes them to tremble. We should too when we consider His power, majesty, and glory.

Demons, whoever they are, whatever they are, and wherever they are, are doing are under God’s control. But what are they doing? The demons are attempting to do the will of Satan, just as angels are servants of the Most High. Satan of course, is trying to damn men, deceive men, and disrupt their lives. Satan hates where God loves. Satan destroys where God creates. Satan deceives with darkness where God illuminates with truth.

Biblically we can determine what the agenda of the demonic forces is by determining how they have operated through the centuries.
Interestingly there is no specific mention of demon possession in the Old Testament. There is that incident with the “evil spirit from the Lord” in the life of Saul but that is a murky passage that I don’t necessarily understand enough to comment on. But that doesn’t mean that demons aren’t present in the Old Testament. In fact, demons are doing something much less personal, but much more sinister, in the Old Testament. Four times in the Old Testament (Leviticus 17:7, Deuteronomy 32:17, 2 Chronicles 11:15, Psalms 106:37) the Bible refers to human sacrifices to idols as being to demons.

That means that when, in the Old Testament, pagans and Jews alike sacrificed their children to Molech it was done not merely to a false god, but ultimately to a demonic spirit. The power people felt, even the “blessings” they thought they experienced through their false worship was nothing more than demonic manifestations. In the New Testament Paul amplifies this by telling us in 1 Corinthians 10:20 that meat sacrificed to idols was really sacrificed to devils. Not many people in this world (I hope) have really been possessed by demons but many people are deceived by them and trapped by them in false religion. I have no problem at all viewing all false religions as demonically inspired. Often they contain some element of truth – just as Satan’s message to Eve did in the Garden – but Hell is still their origin and Hell is where they will lead. Demons do not need to possess people to take them to Hell. They merely need to let people stay deceived in their false worship.

Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Taoism, modern day witchcraft, Satanism, Voodoo, and so on are all demonic cults. Any “religion” that celebrates anything other than the death of the Lord Jesus and seeks the approval of any “deity” other than the God of the Bible is not only false but demonic. We often look for incredible signs of demonic activity such as someone’s head spinning on their neck when all we need to do is look at false religion.

One of the terrible realities about false religion in the Old Testament – and still today – is that it often involved child sacrifice, such as in the a fore mentioned worship of Molech. Today in parts of Africa and the Caribbean child sacrifice is on the rise as people seek financial or material blessings through voodoo rituals. To us that is despicable and disgusting because of how it destroys precious lives but it only occurs because demons are perverting the truth of the gospel where the Son of God became a willing sacrifice for the sins of His people. Think about that poor parent deceived by their witch doctor into sacrificing a son or daughter in some pagan ritual. That person instinctively knows that something has to die for them to be right with whatever their concept of ‘god’ is. That is natural revelation at work in their heart but sadly it has been perverted by their sin nature and by demonic corruption.

Speaking of child sacrifice, it is hard for us in America to wrap our minds around burning a child alive in a ritual to Molech in the valley of Gehenna or having a child sacrificed by a witch doctor in Ghana but in the past 30 plus years 50 million American babies have been sacrificed to the idols of pleasure and convenience. We don’t need to look far to see demonic activity at work in our own culture. America is under a demonic way of thinking and a perverted way of viewing life. Those people in Africa sacrifice their children to find financial prosperity and we do the same thing in our country and God hates it and we deserve to drink fully from the cup of God’s wrath that is reserved for us. For that matter any professed Christian who votes for people who publically support the murder of innocent life is complicit in child sacrifice and demon worship and they need to repent in bitter tears. I don’t care how your parents voted or who is going to help the economy, our country is blinded by demons and our abortion clinics have turned into pagan temples where our future is sacrificed for the blessing of Hell itself. Our president, when he was a state senator, voted against giving life saving medical aid to babies who survived abortion. His heart, and the hearts of all of those who think like him, have been blinded by demonic activity. Would we have any issue at all looking back at the heart of someone like Adolf Hitler and thinking he was demon possessed? Of course not. How then can we look at the leaders in our country over the past decades and not conclude the same thing? Further, if Christians do not stand up to defend the unborn and innocent, then one day the government that kills its most defenseless citizens will embolden itself to come after us and since our silence led to the deaths of millions of babies there will be no one there to defend us. We allowed them to die. Think carefully about God and Satan when it comes to politics. You will give account of how you vote.

That’s why Paul writes this in Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The problem in our country isn’t politics, politicians, policies, or even people in general. The problem is the demonic evil behind the scenes that is leading people who are blinded to their sin.

I hope you see how this demonic desire to sacrifice children, and destroy life, is a disgusting corruption of the work of the Son of God on the cross. But demonic activity doesn’t just corrupt the work of Christ it corrupts the work of the Holy Spirit. That’s essentially what demon possession is. I want to write more about the subject of possession in a moment but think about voodoo rituals. Often those mimic the New Testament descriptions of demon possession. Why? Because the “spirits” the people are inviting to come in are really coming in and they are really evil. The ecstasy they feel is demonic.

For that matter demonic activity isn’t just limited to Washington or the far off reaches of false religion. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 4:1 about the “doctrines of devils”. The Bible also tells us 2 Corinthians 11:14 “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. “ Satan’s messengers are in pulpits, carrying Bibles. We may wonder about what the Devil is really doing in our world but his goal has always been to damn sinners and rob God of His glory. Do we really think he cares if he sends someone to Hell from India or from a Baptist church? Does it make any difference to Him? Of course not, so he sends messengers to tell funny stories, make us laugh, pull at our emotions, and manipulate us into a decision to confirm us in false security and ensure we will never be plucked from the path of Hell. I’ve heard some of the “best” preachers in America. Some pastor mega-churches of thousands and others preach in camp-meetings all over the south week after week and regardless of how popular they are or how “effective” they may seem I do not trust preachers who claim to be gospel preachers but never get around to actually preaching the gospel. Demons know the truth and they hate it, so any form of error is more appealing to them.

2 Corinthians 4:4 is one of the clearest statements on demonic activity in the Bible. That verses tells us that the minds of those who are lost are blinded by the Devil. The Bible also tells us in Ephesians 2:1-3 that every lost person is influenced by Satanic activity. (See: Luke 8:12) Now certainly, that doesn’t mean that all lost people are demon possessed, and they don’t need to be because their very sin nature keeps them from coming to God until God regenerates them and gives them faith to believe but, there is of course and element of mental blindness and spiritual darkness, perpetrated by the Devil, that occurs in the life of every unbeliever. That’s why we must preach to the mind. That’s why we can’t overlook the mental aspect of saving faith. B.B. Warfield has an excellent article on the subject called “Faith and its Psychological Effects” that every pastor should read. What is needed in lost people are new minds, not clouded by the devil, but cleared by the gospel!

So both testaments teach us that demons are at work to deceive and one of the primary means they do that with is through false religion. In the gospels though, we see a different work of devils that is human possession. Many times throughout the gospels Jesus encountered those possessed with devils and in His grace He freed them. It would seem that demonic activity was much more rampant and fierce during the Lord’s life and immediately after during the period of new revelation in the book of Acts because there is much more reference to demonic activity. I do not believe that demons have quit possessing people now that Christ has ascended and the New Testament is completed. I do believe that it is less common than it was then, and hopefully, not as common as we would like to think. Historically the church has always believed in demon possession. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Athanasius all wrote about demon possession. There is evidence that during the time of the reformation those first Protestants also believed in literal demon possession. I have heard of a handful of Baptists who have claimed to have exorcised demons in the current day. Of course charismatic churches still have “deliverance ministries” that exorcise demons and the Catholic church has always been in the business of casting out demons. For what it’s worth there has been a revival of exorcisms in Catholicism recently as the “church” is training priests by the thousands in the rites of exorcisms. So Christians (using the term in its widest possible meaning) of all stripes and from all times have believed in demon possession as a real phenomenon.
From the Bible I think we need to see possession in three lenses. First there is genuine possession. Jesus and the apostles dealt with people who really were controlled by demons. Second there is fake possession, this never occurs in the scripture, but it certainly occurs today and warrants our attention. The third issue concerning demon possession is that of psychological – or physical issues. Much of what would have looked like demonic activity to a 12th century priest could be diagnosed as some sort of insanity today and even Jesus knew the difference. Matthew 4:24 specifically states that Jesus healed those possessed by demons and those who were “lunatic”. However, when Jesus delivered the little boy from the demon in Matthew 17 the father said that his son was “lunatic”. What is merely psychological is not always spiritual but sometimes the lines between the mental issues people have the spiritual battles people face aren’t always as far apart as people think. But as servants of the Lord we certainly shouldn’t run around proclaiming every person with a genuine mental disorder as demon possessed.

It seems from the Lord’s encounters with demons that demonic possession does not discriminate. Men, women, and children all dealt with personal demonic possession. We have no reason to think some are more susceptible than others but that all people could be subject to demonic possession. That is except genuine Christians. The Holy Spirit and demons will not inhabit the same house. How could a demon from Hell and the king of Heaven live in the same heart? The Bible says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

So what is demon possession? Interestingly, the phrase “demon possession” that occurs in our English Bibles doesn’t occur in the Greek texts. The Greek phrase is “demonized” but the meaning is virtually the same. It means to be controlled, maybe not totally but to a very large degree by demons. When it happened in the New Testament, as in the cases of the little boy who was throwing himself in the fire and of the man from Gadara there was a total loss of one’s own personality as the personality of the demon (or demons) took control. The victims no longer thought for themselves or even spoke for themselves. Often there was an attempt by the demons to physically harm their “host”. The child threw himself in a fire. The man cut himself with stones. The Gadarene demoniac also had what would appear to be super-human strength.

There is also, and I know the Charismatics reading this will gladly welcome me into their tribe with this, evidence that demonic possession has a strong influence on one’s health. Or at the very least being possessed by certain demons can do certain things to a person’s human body. The story in Mark 9 indicates that the demon inside of the little boy Jesus healed made him mute. Luke 13:10 also indicates a woman had a “spirit of infirmity”. This may or may not have been demonic. I personally find the rendering of the phrase a little ambiguous. There are other times the Bible refers to people having a “spirit of jealousy” or some other such attitude. This figure of speech meant they were under it’s control as it were. So, I don’t know about Luke 13. I do know about Mark 9 though and it seems obvious from that encounter that demons marred a boy’s health.

With that being said, diabetes is not a demon. Cancer is not a demon. Those aren’t spiritual powers that need to be rebuked, they are diseases that can be addressed by medicine but aren’t demonic. Christians need discernment. Just as in the case of Job, God alone is sovereign over our health even if for some bizarre reason Satan were to afflict us with boils. I’ve had boils and I don’t think they were demonic. I went to a doctor, got an antibiotic, and I got better. I didn’t cast demons out of myself.

In the book of Acts one of the remarkable encounters the apostle Paul has with a demon possessed individual occurs at Philippi. In that case the Bible says she had a spirit of divination. That phrase would almost seem to indicate she was something of an ancient oracle and was certainly under demonic influence because Paul commanded the demon to leave and it did.

There are other cases of demon possession in the word of God. These are the most notable and they give a small glimpse of what demon possession looks like and how it is handled. Demon possession occurs when an individual is completely controlled by a demon so much so that they lose control of their own faculties; physically, mentally, and emotionally. Demon possession, or “demonization”, occurs when a person’s complete identity is swallowed up by the personality of the demon or demons inhabiting them. That demon may endue the person with mental instability such as was the case with the Gadarene, an uncanny ability to “foresee” the future as in the case of the girl at Philippi, or it may do physical harm to the person as was the case with the little boy. Basically that’s about all we know. To base any information about demons on our own personal encounters, feelings, or experiences is to produce error that isn’t based on the word of God. After all, wouldn’t demons want you to be misguided about what they were really up to? If you happen to think demons are responsible for every headache and flat tire you’ve ever had then it would seem that demons may be well on their way to deluding you about their true activity.

Truthfully, we know very little about demon possession and we don’t know much more about the process of exorcism. We know that Jesus exorcised demons and that His disciples did too. We also know that the act, or power, of exorcism wasn’t just limited to Jesus and His apostles. Luke 9:49-50 tells the story of a man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name though he wasn’t part of the core group of Christ’s disciples. Then again, we also know that the sons of Sceva in Acts 19 were fake exorcists who nearly paid the price for their scam with their lives. But even in that case the Bible says in Acts 19 that Jesus was magnified.

To me that is the key to understanding exorcism. Think about this, when a Catholic priest goes into the home of a demon possessed child in the mountains of Italy and casts out a demon from that boy what happens in that child’s mind and in the mind of that family? In many cases the “possession” itself may have been nothing more than a mental disability or some other issue, but it may have been real and the priest may have been very successful. The demons may have been using the boy as a vessel to put on a smoke and mirrors show and then when the priest administers the rite all they have to do is quit and the power and authority of the Catholic church is confirmed in that child, his family, and his village for years to come so that it would be all but impossible for the gospel to penetrate their hearts. Again, demons don’t care how they damn people.

So demons do what the girl in Acts 16 did. They ascribe to the gospel to undermine it or they “prove” the power of false religion to again undermine the credibility of the gospel of Christ.

Some “demon possessions” are false. There can be no doubt about that. Sometimes it is a mental problem such as dissociative identity disorder. Other times it is a physical problem such as epilepsy. Then again, in “Christian religions” that major on demon possession some people are taught to be possessed, and everything they endure is merely a psycho-somatic subconscious manifestation of what they believe they have to experience. Regardless, people lie in darkness and they need truth. It does seem that what I would call demonic activity is much more common in occultism where the gospel is not preached. Roman Catholicism is an idolatrous and false religion and it shouldn’t be any surprise that there is a more rampant wave of possessions among their members. The reason all of this is so important is because demons want to send people to Hell, or rob them of the joy of Heaven, through deception. Therefore they will leverage ignorance in any way they can to advance their agenda.

Some people would look at a drunk and say “alcoholic” who merely needs a stint in rehab without seeing the demonic activity in his life. Others would just try to cast out the demon of alcohol from him without considering the physical nature of his addiction and – more importantly - the true lostness of his soul. So what is needed isn’t really exorcism but gospel truth that recognizes demonic blindness, total depravity, and the free grace of God.

So if we were to come across demon possessed individuals how should we approach and handle them? First, it should be done prayerfully as Jesus commanded in Mark 9. It should also be done in the name of Jesus. No priest or pastor or anyone else has the power to handle a demon at all. Only the Lord does. For that matter the demons themselves fear His name. Further, it should be expected for demons to lie because they are of their father the devil. When Jesus spoke to Satan directly (one of only two people in the Bible to have done so as far as I know) He quoted scripture. Demons couldn’t care less about what you have to say and are totally unimpressed by your words. They do fear the voice of their creator though. But it has to be noted, there is no biblical rite of exorcism. There is no pattern to follow. There is no ritual to go through. But the Bible doesn’t leave us clueless. Specifically the Bible says to pastors in 2 Timothy 2, “25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. “ What is the role of a pastor when dealing with people under demonic influence (as all lost people are to at least some degree)? He is to preach the truth to them. That is God’s plan to glorify His Son. That is His plan to save the world. At the cross Jesus forever conquered and condemned all evil spirits and that message needs to be preached. At the cross Jesus died to satisfy the just wrath of a righteous God so that His people would be freed from their sin and freed to fulfill the righteousness of God. Preach the cross and leave the results to Him!

Everto Ex Machina: On Demons Part 1: Why it Matters

2011-11-11T06:00:00.001-05:00

One of the main reasons I blog is so that I can hash out different problems I am thinking through. I often deal with the Biblical concerns I have from life and ministry by trying to carefully weigh out different options against what the word of God says. My blog is a way for me to think through – really write through – my own ideas. Until you can explain a given subject in writing and make it make since you really don’t understand it. So that’s what I’ve done here at the Chapel Door before about certain topics such as election and worship styles. The latest problem I have been wrestling with, and I hate to admit it because as soon as you do people think you’re crazy, is why no believer I know has ever cast out a demon.

See? I told you it was weird.

The reason my mind has been revolving this issue around for the past little bit is because I’ve watched a few movies this year on the subject of demon possession. Hollywood is always quick to offer sensational experiences for a cheap thrill to make a buck and the area of demonic activity is definitely scary. For the record I do not recommend Christians watch movies about demon possession. The primary reason I don’t is because they present unbiblical information. But let me just say to those of you who have always heard that it was wrong to watch those movies, someone had to know what was in it before they knew it was wrong to watch it. So, I think it is important to be mature enough in our faith to engage mainstream culture Biblically where they deal with Biblical issues. The Bible talks about demon possession, Hollywood talks about demon possession, and if 20 million people spend 150 million dollars on a given weekend to watch the latest Hollywood exorcism blockbuster then it is something that someone in the church needs to be able to address with the word of God. So that’s what I’m going to attempt to do.

You may know it or not but exorcisms – the ritual of forcibly extracting a demon from its host – still occur within Christendom. In fact, exorcisms aren’t merely a Christian ritual but since I doubt any voodoo priests’ will be reading this I won’t deal as much with what they believe. For most of us our concept of demon possession does come from Hollywood and not the Bible. Anytime a biblical issue is guided more by society than by scripture then we need a serious dose of scripture to help ground us in reality. As far as Hollywood goes most demon possession stories that I am familiar with typically involve a Catholic rite. Occasionally a news magazine like 20/20 or Dateline will air a special about exorcisms within what would be considered Charismatic circles. It is my opinion that while possessions are very real, and much more common than we might want to believe, neither Roman Catholicism nor the “spiritual warfare Demon hunters” of contemporary Charismatic belief represent a true Biblical understanding of demonic activity, particularly as it relates to human beings.

With that being said there are three primary, and perhaps only three, ways of dealing with demons. First, some people look upon the subject of demons purely in what I call a sociological construct. That is demons are to be studied only as they exist within the fabric of ancient cultures and the fables of primitive religions. This sociological understanding of demons denies the literal existence of demons, and only looks to understand the role a belief in them has played in different societies throughout man’s history. This view says that any belief in demons is just a relic of mans superstitious past.

A Biblically informed Christian cannot maintain that view because Jesus believed in demons. Jesus even believed He was casting out demons from other humans and encouraged His followers to cast out demons, which they did, in the name of Jesus. If you are a Christian – that is a follower of Jesus – you have to believe in demons. In one particularly tough case where Jesus cast a demon out of a small child after His disciples were unable to, He said, “this kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting.” It is my opinion, that if we had a Biblical grasp on the depth of the activity of the spirit world around us we would probably never eat again.
The next view about demons is what I call the “superstitious” view. Instead of underestimating demons as does the previous view, this notion of demonic activity overestimates the activity of demons. This view is the view of many uninformed but sincere Christians who look for a demon behind every bush. Sometimes I press the power button on my TV and the volume goes up. That is not a demon. It’s an old TV. Still, some people look for demons everywhere and ascribe too much power and influence to them. This too is the result of unbiblical thinking. Too many Christians go through life like Shaggy and Scooby-Doo terrified of everything that goes bump in the night. For what it’s worth ghosts aren’t real and if you believe they are you have an unbiblical concept of life after death. You’re welcome. If ghosts were real they wouldn’t be so bored as to preoccupy themselves by rattling your shutters and haunting your toilet so don’t flatter yourself. The same goes for zombies and vampires. People die and they either go to Heaven or Hell – do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, do not turn into an undead flesh eater terrorizing the night.

The final way of viewing demons and their activities is of course the scriptural way, which is what I would like to do with this blog. Of course it should be noted that demons, like any other scriptural subject, can be handled by religious people, even sincere ones, in an unbiblical way. I would imagine that somewhere in the world there is a Catholic priest who is trying to pull a demon out of a child. I imagine he is very sincere indeed but he probably needs to read Matthew 7:21-23. Sincere people can be very wrong, and even exorcists can go to Hell, so we need to get it right.

Therefore being justified by... preaching... we have peace with God?

2011-11-09T13:56:00.002-05:00

No.

No we don't.

God doesn't justify people because they preach, pray, study, stay up late "getting a word", go on emergency visits, administer communion, are important, or because of any other ministerial nonsense preachers do that makes them think they matter to God.

God does not love you because you preach. You might but God doesn't. In fact, your preaching, even at its best, is terrible and offensive and small in the sight of our holy God. Your praying is anemic. You are not made lovable or righteous because of your ministry.

You are made righteous because of the imputed righteousness of Christ alone through faith alone by grace alone.

If you think your preaching impresses God then you need to root out the pockets of unbelief in your heart, examine yourself whether you're genuinely converted, and give all diligence to make your calling and election sure. Beyond that, you need to believe the gospel that you preach which frees you from the ministerial slavery of justification by preaching and pray for grace to believe it more.

Preachers, believe the gospel and then - and only then - preach it. Don't think your preaching the gospel is the gospel.

An Open Letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

2011-11-02T14:31:00.002-04:00

Dear Mr. Goodell,

My name is Jesse Carr. Like many red blooded 26 year old males I am a regular viewer of National Football League productions. Like most I grew up idolizing the football stars of my time and I fully expected to one day be a walk on replacement for Dan Marino. It didn’t happen but despite my disappointments I have been a faithful viewer and fan for many years.

Further I would say I admire your efforts to make the league I love safer and more enjoyable. Football is a contact sport that thrives on a certain level of controlled violence. As a fan I do not enjoy seeing players get hurt and I am thankful for the advancements you have made when it comes to player safety. When players get hurt they can’t play and people like me can’t enjoy the game.

However I am concerned over the October 30, 2011 game between the Detroit Lions and the Denver Broncos. During the blowout victory over Denver several Detroit players openly mocked the Christian faith of Denver quarterback Tim Tebow. In the league under your administration there has been an open commitment to greater sportsmanship with the enforcement of excessive celebration rules. Some have seen this is restrictive on the part of the league but I view it as necessary to combat the ever growing egos of star players. Football is a team sport and it should be played like one. I am troubled however to see that while a touchdown can be penalized for excessive celebrations a team suffers no penalty for openly mocking another player’s faith.

Tim Tebow is a polarizing figure in professional football today. I understand that and I understand that as an open Christian he potentially paints a bigger target on himself. He will be, and has been, mocked by commentators, sports broadcasters, and other players. That may be part of the high-profile position he enjoys as a professional football quarterback. His play may be mocked but his faith shouldn’t be. Your league is one that employs drug users, convicts, and hedonists who display all of the worst our society has to offer. Why is the faith of a normal young man so mocked while so much is accepted as “part of the game”?

Many would say that it is Tim Tebow’s willingness to be open about faith that draws the ire and ridicule of his fellow players. If that is indeed the case then it proves that the NFL is hostile to religious faith, particularly evangelical Christianity, and further it sends the message that, both inside of outside of the league, any Christian who is open about their faith deserves to be mocked for what they believe. I sincerely hope that isn’t the stance of your league.

What would be the outcome if on Monday Night November 14, 2011 when the Vikings play the Packers one of Green Bay’s players openly mocked the Islamic faith of Hussein Abdullah with a similarly outlandish gesture? I assume the response of the league, and that of organized Islam for that matter, would be quite different. If I am correct, then there is an undercurrent of discrimination and intolerance in the National Football League toward professing and practicing Christians within the members of that organization that needs to be addressed. Over the years the National Football League has been quick to pave the way for tolerance and acceptance when it comes to professional athletics. I hope this trend will continue and the matter of discrimination to Christians in the league will be handled quickly and appropriately. The National Football League is a place where players can display their talents for millions of fans, it is not a place for the faith of those players to be mocked in front of millions.

Positive or otherwise, professional athletes are role models to children. I would hope that the image the National Football League wants to project to children, and their parents, isn’t one of religious bigotry and small-mindedness from its players.

Thank you for your product and your commitment to its excellences. I look forward to enjoying the NFL for years to come.

A faithful fan, and a Baptist pastor,

Rev. Jesse A. Carr

Semper Reformanda?

2011-11-01T08:46:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Reformation Day where people all over the world commemorated Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 Thesis to the door of the chapel in Wittenberg, Germany. That one event sparked one of the greatest movements in history – the protestant reformation. Nothing in the western religious world was ever the same after that October day. As I lurked around some of my favorite internet haunts and blogs yesterday I began to notice a theme running through many of the blogs. The question, “Is the reformation over?” kept popping up again and again.

There is, of course, within that question another question, “does the reformation need to continue?” At the heart of the question is whether or not there is still any real significant theological issues between Catholicism and Protestantism. Are we really that different after all? The past two decades have seen huge strides in ecumenicalism and both sides have worked together to embrace the other. So maybe the reformation is over. For my part, I doubt anyone reading this blog is seriously considering reconciling with Rome. Many Baptists in particular have the belief that they never belonged to Rome so they don’t really have anything to do with the reformation and Protestantism anyway. That’s a bit of bad history but most of us still feel like we’re a long way from Rome. That distance from Rome makes us feel as if the reformation isn’t really important to us any longer. Why does the reformation and the issues that sparked it impact me? Who cares about what those guys in the funny hats did 500 years ago?

The word “reformed” is swiftly losing a majority of its meaning. It is becoming a buzzword, a synonym for Calvinism that has little to do with all of its historic roots. Reformed is a brand embraced by those who know better or by those who don’t. The issues of the reformation are getting confused and muddied and my question is, do we need any more reformers today? Do we need people to go against the grain of popular though? Do we need polemic theology? Do we need voices crying in the wilderness and hammering on church doors? I think we absolutely do and I want to show you several reasons why.

First, is the issue of authority. The issue of who has final authority in the life of the believer was one of the huge controversies during the protestant reformation. Was the institutional church the final authority or was the word of God? It’s doubtful that any of us reading this are really struggling with how much authority the Pope has in our day to day lives but we do struggle in our lives and churches with the underlying tension that surrounded this argument during the reformation. Namely, is the Bible sufficient. We need reformers, particularly in fundamental Baptist churches, to once again proclaim that the Bible is enough. So many preachers spend decades of their lives defending their favorite Bible translation and never actually preach the word of God in the spirit of the Old Testament prophets who proclaimed, “Thus saith the Lord!” I believe the King James Bible is inerrant, infallible, and inspired and all the rest, that’s why I preach it. That’s why I don’t rip verses from context. That’s why I give the sense of what it says and means when I preach. We need to return to the reformation ideal that the Bible is sufficient to accomplish the task God has given the church.

It isn’t the singing, be it rock, bluegrass, or jazz fusion that makes the gospel effective or attractive.

It isn’t the power of the invitation that makes sinners consider Christ.

It isn’t my methods, techniques, presentations, power or ability that changes lives. It is the word of God. And the sad reality is that churches today – traditional, emergent, old-fashioned, contemporary, liberal, conservative, high church, etc. – have abandoned the sufficiency of scripture. The Bible is important but apparently it just isn’t enough.

The commitment to the sufficiency of scripture was seen probably no more clearly than in the life of John Calvin who made it his life’s work to expound the scriptures to the church in Geneva. He believed the Bible was enough for his people so he preached it like it was written – coma to coma. If we're not preaching the Bible (and this nonsense of reading one verse out of context and then preaching against rock and roll music doesn't count as Bible preaching folks.) then we don't believe the Bible.

The second reason why we still need reformers is because the gospel is always confused. The Catholic Church during the reformation, and still today, believed Jesus died on the cross, rose again, was born of a virgin (they love that one in fact) and so on. The problem was they confused and perverted the means by which man enters into the work of Christ. They had destroyed the gospel and enslaved generations of people to ecclesiastical bondage. Today the gospel is still held hostage by Catholicism but it has also been hijacked by evangelicals and fundamentalists alike. “Come to an altar and ask Jesus into your heart!” is not the gospel. “Wear denim jumpers and home school your kids” is not the gospel. “Reach your fullest potential and be a superstar for Jesus is not the gospel.”
The reformation gospel was the biblical gospel of the righteousness of God that condemns sin and sends Christ as a propitiation for sinners so that they could have the very righteousness of God. Read the first few verses of Romans 10. What has happened in the “church” today is nothing more than pastors and preachers giving people the tools they need to build up their own righteousness. The problem is your righteousness will never take you to Heaven. You must have the righteousness of God Himself. The difference is one of kind and not degrees. We need gospel clarity and precision today as much, or more, than they did in the reformation.

One of the final reasons the world still needs reformers is because God’s glory is at stake. The battle cry of the reformation was the Latin phrase “sola Deo Gloria”. To God, alone, be the glory. God alone deserves glory and He knows it. Because of our sin we are largely blind to His glory and we seek to distribute His glory to preachers, programs, methods, theological persuasions and a billion other cheap substitutes. The problem is that none of those things are glorious. God alone is glorious. The gospel, as it is defined biblically, only allows God to be glorified. It only allows Him to be praised for the salvation of sinners. Were Catholicism true there would be a host of faithful Catholics in Heaven able to pat themselves on the back for taking mass, being confirmed, and saying their last rites. IF the gospel of the modern American evangelical is true then Heaven will be full of people who can talk about the tears they cried, the day they went to an altar, and how they had the sense to choose Christ.

Well, I’ve read about what’s happening in Heaven and they’re talking about Jesus dying as a redeemer.

This isn’t a minor issue. Everyone knows God deserves glory. Even pope Leo X would agree to that. The issue was whether or not God alone deserved glory. The reformation sought to preserve God’s exclusive rights to glory by proclaiming the word of God and not using theological manipulation to get people ‘in the church’. Doing so that their conversions were left in the hands of God so that when their hearts were changed God was glorified. The reformers preached the simple gospel of Christ so that when people trusted Jesus they were trusting God’s work on their behalves. They left no room for man to take any credit for anything.

And that is precisely where the problem in the modern church is. We have far too much to boast in. Our presentations get people to respond. Our psychology gets people down the aisle. Our programs get people in the door. All of this functions to exalt the dirt of creation to the throne of God and God will not bless it. Before we will ever see reform and revival there must be repentance that seeks to give God alone glory in His church.

So do we need reformers? Absolutely. We need people to proclaim the whole counsel of the word of God. We need preachers who can preach Hebrews 7 as well as they can John 3:16. We need preachers who can define the gospel. We need preachers who know what justification means. We need preachers who trust the word of God enough to actually let it speak for itself. We need preachers to boldly point out errors in their own denominations, camp-meetings, and cultures. We need reformers who are willing to preach the truth to their churches even if it means the offerings dip and people leave. We need reformers who are willing to lose meetings for their stand on the truth. We need pastors who are more committed to the glory of God revealed in the gospel of Christ than they are the glory that comes with being well known and successful. We need preachers who are willing to be looked at as dangerous dissenters who won’t tow the party line when the party line hasn’t been plucked from the pages of the word of God. We need preachers who are outspoken. We need preachers who are willing to be criticized and cursed for their beliefs – even by the church. We need faithful preachers who study the word of God and savor the glory of God. We need preachers marked by serious study and careful thought. We need reformers.
Our churches are dead and dying. They are trapped in a spell of emotionalism and thrill seeking that keeps them from seeing the decay around them. We need to get back to the word of God. It was God’s word that called Lazarus back from the dead and resurrected a valley of dry bones for the prophet Ezekiel. It will be God’s word alone that revives the church in our day.

So reform and keep reforming. Reform your heart with God’s help. Reform your church. Reform your ministry. Reform. Reform. Reform.

Reformation Day and Martin Luther

2011-10-31T09:20:00.001-04:00

Today is October 31. To most of us that means today is Halloween. I am not a Godless pagan and I do not celebrate Halloween. Christmas is also a pagan holiday that is in my crosshairs however I am much more in favor of getting presents than I am dressing up like witches and such so I still celebrate Christmas and then immediately repent of my materialistic idolatry. Anyway, to many people, particularly those nutty Calvinists and smelly Europeans October 31 is actually an important historical date like July 4 is here in the good ol’ U S of A. October 31 is the date that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the chapel door in Wittenberg, Germany and unwillingly sparked the protestant reformation in Europe. That was 1517. In 2011 we are a long way removed from the selling of indulgences and Roman Catholic state-churches but Reformation Day is still worth celebrating.

So, in honor of Martin Luther, and fueled by my 600 ounce bag of candy corn I thought I would just give you loyal readers a few insights into why I like Martin Luther so much and why I decided to name my humble blog after his most famous exploit.

1. Martin Luther was a little nuts – If you’ve never read the book “The Holiness of God” by R.C. Sproul you should, it is one of the best books ever written in my humble opinion. In fact you shouldn’t read another sentence of this blog until you do. Done yet? Welcome back. Anyway in Sproul’s book there is a chapter entitled “Luther’s Insanity” in which Sproul identifies the theological and psychological issues Martin Luther went through that ultimately led to his conversion, and yes I agree with Sproul, Luther was crazy. If he was alive today he would be prescribed medication and sent to a therapist. Being convinced God was trying to assassinate you with a lightning bolt would probably go a long way to make one a little off kilter. Luther understood, before he was converted, the righteousness of God and why it was terrible news to him. His religion, strict monastic Catholicism of the Augustinian breed, only served to fuel his attempts to please God through what he called “monkery”. Thankfully God saw fit to save Martin Luther through reading Romans 1:17 and he came to understand the righteousness of God was as much of a gift through Christ as it was a threat to sinners. But I can totally relate to religiously motivated insanity that understands it is impossible to please God. Though my own conversion didn’t lead me down such a long path as Luther’s own I know what it’s like to view God as distant and almost unwilling to save. I can relate to Luther’s insanity, I think all religious people can. I was a Pharisee when God saved me and, like Luther, I was already about the business of serving God without knowing God. Thank God for the gospel!

2. Luther was nuts – I know I said that already but just because he was nuts before he got saved didn’t mean he wasn’t a little off after he got saved. If you read some of Luther’s writings it’s obvious that he was a product of his generation and his culture. For instance he was an intense anti-Semite. That is totally inexcusable but it encouraging to me to at least know that one of the greatest and most influential men of God who ever walked across the pages of history was a long way from being perfect. You may not know this but I’m not perfect either. I’m not a great pastor. I say stupid things from the pulpit. I have poor theology. I am lazy. I am proud. I am a little nuts. Thankfully, God uses me because of grace and not because of me, just like Luther.

3. Luther had guts – He should have been killed repeatedly for his defiance of the Roman church, and it wasn’t for lack of trying on the church’s part that he died of natural causes, but in spite of the constant threats to his life he continued to do what he felt was right and to stand up for truth no matter how much it cost him. That’s a model for all pastors. Most of us pastor in a place where we draw a good salary, people love us, and we get loads of pastor appreciation cards this time of year. We should be thankful for what we have, greater men than us had it a lot worse. We should all have the conviction to stand for what we believe in so that when there is the occasional fly in the ointment we can continue to stand on the word of God… even if it kills us.

4. Luther stole his wife from a monastery – Why wouldn’t a runaway monk marry an ex-nun he smuggled out of a monastery in a fish barrel? It’s just the kind of story that is so unbelievable it has to be true. Luther loved his wife Catherine. He called her Katie. She was an important contributor to his ministry and his home. If you are a pastor and you are married go kiss your wife right now and give her a big hug. She is an incredible gift to you. Catherine did what many pastor’s wives do without ever being expected to and often without even knowing it, they pastor the man who pastor others. We should be grateful.

5. Luther was plain – Martin Luther doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy who tried to make a lot of friends. Cussing the Pope and making fun of people who disagree with you (in writing) probably makes you look a bit surlier than you actually are but Luther never pulled punches. That’s why he said to Erasmus “Your thoughts of God are too human.” Those are the kinds of statements we’re often afraid to say to people who need to hear them. Luther apparently wasn’t afraid of anything. Luther was just a German guy who loved Jesus but he was a German guy. He ate his sausage, made bathroom jokes about driving away the Devil with his… let’s say “flatitudinal fortitude”… and sang his tavern songs. He was a normal guy who loved Jesus and tried to preach the truth. I don’t know what you want out of your ministry but if I can nail those three things I will be pretty satisfied.

6. Luther was musical – Nobody sways to “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”. Do you know why? Because it’s too good. It makes you think too deep. It makes you sing from the heart. It is a theological land mine set to music. We need more people to write songs like that. The simplistic and catchy “B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me” type of music we hear much of today is great in its place but it can’t hold a candle to “And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath caused His truth to triumph through us.” Luther understood the importance of theological training through music. No matter where you are going to church Sunday, if you are at all, you can remember songs like “Power in the Blood” and “Victory in Jesus” from when you were a kid. They get in you and they stay there. We need more theological singing like that and less drivel churned out by the hit makers from Christianity’s Top 40 publishing dynasties. I don’t care if it is a drinking song. It’s great. Supposedly Luther asked, “Why should the Devil have all of the good music?” when people criticized the “worldly beat” of his music. I’d say that by now the Devil has lost whatever tune that was anyway. Music is a gift from God. Don’t cheapen it, redeem it like Luther.

7. Martin Luther nailed it (get it?) when it came to justification – The doctrine of justification and all that goes with it, including but not limited to double imputation, the nature of saving faith, alien righteousness, and of course the penal substitutionary atonement are the most neglected doctrines in Baptist churches in America. I don’t care how good your sermon series on “the home and family” is. I don’t care how big of a crowd you had at “God and Country Sunday”. I don’t care how old fashioned you are. If you’re not preaching justification you can’t rightly claim a link to any sort of Biblical Christianity much less reformed Protestantism. When God saved the young monk he buried the gospel inside of him and Luther never got over the gospel. Frankly most of us have and we spend all of our time preaching about how right our church or denomination are, how superior our ecclesiastical model is, or how manifestly glorious our traditions are and we never bother to preach Christ. Luther got the story of the Bible from Adam to Christ to Wittenberg and we desperately need another generation of reformers who will preach it again in that same way. The question that plagued Luther from the time he fell off his horse on the way back to law school until the day he died was, “How is a man made right with God?” That was the same ghost that haunted Paul in the book of Romans and it’s the theme of scripture. We need to return to that or else we need to have some nasty-grams nailed to the doors of our churches. I have heard more stupid sermons in my life about the length of a woman’s dress, earrings on men, and the dangers of listening to rock music backward than I have the gift of Christ’s righteousness applied to the sinners account through simple faith. Get with it people.

8. Martin Luther labored over “inconsequential” theological jargon – Are people saved because of the imputed righteousness of Christ or the infused righteousness of Christ? When 87% of Evangelicals (according to George Barna) believe man is saved by working together with God you had better figure it out. You may not understand why it’s important but Martin Luther did and you better know clearly that God cares. Those were the only two theological viewpoints in Luther’s day and they’re still the only to that exist, Catholic, protestant, or otherwise. We need theological precision more than we need bigger buildings, more conferences, and whatever useless religious mass-marketing program the mega-church pastors are trying to peddle to the most gullible bidders in order to make a buck this week. This isn’t a game, it’s Heaven or Hell. Luther knew that and he knew that the church had better be loving enough to reach people but polemic enough to actually reach people with clearly defined truth!

9. Martin Luther didn’t buy Easy-Believism – Even the Catholics he hated didn’t. We do though don’t we? I know we just want a church that doesn’t judge us and we want to accept Christ as Savior and not really have Him as Lord but Luther was right when he said “We are saved by faith alone but never by a faith that is alone.”

I want to be more like Martin Luther. He probably wouldn’t have liked me very much if we could have met. He probably would have yelled at me and likened me to a certain stubborn barn yard animal for not believing in infant baptism. I don’t care because I still like him and I find a lot in him to admire. You see history shows us that Martin Luther knew how to swing his hammer and drive his nails deep. That’s what I want with my time on earth. I doubt I will cast as large a shadow as Martin Luther but I’d still like to live by the guiding principles of the word of our great God that so captivated his heart so that the chapel doors of my life clearly proclaim gospel truth.

Livestock

2011-10-27T20:13:00.000-04:00

Sheep feed on the Word.

Psalms 100:3 - Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture
John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

John 10:25 -25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. 26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one.

Goats feed on anything.

Zechariah 10:11 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. 2 For the idolsa have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. 3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah.

Matthew 25:31 - When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.…41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Wolves feed on sheep.

Matthew 7:15 - 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Acts 20:27 - For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

Ezekiel 34
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. 7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 8 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; 9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. 11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. 17 And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. 18 Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? 19 And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. 20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. 21 Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; 22 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. 23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. 25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. 28 And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. 29 And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. 30 Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. 31 And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.

A Few Thoughts on Reading the Bible

2011-10-25T09:37:00.000-04:00

I did something this year I had never done before. I read my Bible all the way through. Now, I’ve read it all before several times but I had never taken the time to read it all systematically by following a Bible plan. The plan I followed was actually a two year plan and I just doubled the reading for each day from two chapters to four. Then somehow I got off the plan and ended up with nothing left to read but the prophets of the Old Testament so I bumped it up to five chapters a day and I knocked it out early. As I did that I had a few observations about Bible reading I want to share.

Now before I give them let me just encourage you to read your Bible. The biggest problem in churches today is that they don’t read their Bibles. We download podcasts and watch YouTube videos of our favorite preachers but those things will never be a substitute for daily time in the word of God. We argue about which Bible translation is the best but we don’t read the Bible. We have an army of proof texts to bolster our favorite theological persuasions but we don’t just read the Bible.

Preachers are the worst of all and I am probably the worst of them. We read the Bible constantly but we read it to develop sermons and not to develop our souls. Sometimes it’s impossible to read the Bible and not think of how you would outline and preach a certain text but we need to be fed before we can ever expect to feed others. A shepherd who doesn’t eat will die of starvation just like a sheep who doesn’t eat.

So read your Bible. You know you need to. You knew you needed to long before I ever told you you did. Read it. Don’t just read it, study it. Don’t just read and study it, memorize it and here are a few ideas.

1. Read your Bible every day – If you fail to plan you plan to fail so make some kind of plan to read your Bible. There are a million Bible reading plans you can find on the internet. Pick one or make one of your own and stick to it. It’s good to have a plan because it helps keep you organized but more importantly it helps keep you committed to daily reading the Word.

2. Pick a good time – Make sure you have a set time to read the word of God every day. A lot of people do it in the mornings. A lot of people do it at night. Regardless of when you do it, do it at a time when you will be free from both internal and external distractions. For me, the best time to read the Bible is late in the mornings after I have had breakfast (read: coffee) and I have had time to let my mind start to wake up. I do like to read my Bible before I get started with whatever I have to do for a given day. There have been many times this year where I got up and rushed into sermon preparation, got busy with something else, and ended up preaching without having ever opened my Bible for myself. Not good.

3. Don’t read too much – I know that sounds like its counter-intuitive to our “more is better” approach but one of the HUGE problems people seem to have in reading their bibles is picking some Puritan Bible reading plan were they read 98 chapters a day and they can’t seem to figure out why they never stick with it. It’s much more important to make sure God actually speaks to you from some passage, be it a chapter, a verse, or a word, than it is to be able to claim you read the whole book of Isaiah in one sitting.

4. Don’t underestimate yourself – In apparently direct contradiction to what I just said let me say that while you shouldn’t bite off more than you will chew you also shouldn’t just think that reading four or five chapters a day is too much. It will probably never take you more than twenty minutes to read that much of the Bible and that’s not a lot. You do have the time, I promise. You’ve wasted that much time reading this blog and just imagine how much more helpful the word of God is than the word of Jesse.

5. Read a variety of literature – Sometimes we read the Bible and we’re guilty of thinking it all sounds the same but really there is all kinds of literature in the Bible. Prophecy, poetry, history and so on. The plan I started was one where you read from four different books every day. That way I wasn’t reading straight through the book of Leviticus every day but I had some variety. The old standby of three chapters in the Old Testament and one chapter in the New Testament every day is very good and will take you through the Bible in under a year. Reading the Bible front to back may not be the best idea anyway because the Bible isn’t a novel and it doesn’t need to be read like one. It’s not a contest and it’s not a race to get to the maps. So add a little variety.

6. Read with a pen – Reading the Bible is only one method of dwelling in the word of God. You also need to meditate on what you read. So read with a pen or highlighter and underline verses that speak to you in some fashion you so you can easily find them later and work on memorizing them and thinking about them through the day.
The Bible is the only eternal thing you will ever hold in your hands. It is the most valuable possession you will ever have. So read it. People say we don’t pray enough, the only way to know how to pray is by reading the Bible. People say we have bad theology, the only way to learn about God as He has revealed Himself is by reading the Bible. People say we aren’t loving enough, the only way to grow in love is to grow in the word of God. People say we don’t witness enough, the message we carry is the message of the Bible.

Read your Bible. Please, you’re depending on it!

God is great.

2011-10-21T07:11:00.000-04:00

God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food…

That’s probably the first prayer you learnt how to pray as a child. God is good and since you like to eat He makes sure you have plenty of chicken nuggets and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep your tummy full before Sesame Street comes on. Over time we grow in our knowledge of God’s goodness and as we learn the gospel we understand that God’s goodness isn’t just an abstract theological projection but it is a living and breathing reality. God is good and the gospel of His Son is good. We learn how God’s goodness impacts every area of life. God does good things for us and we are confident that all things work together for good to them that love God. God is good and we know it.

We never really progress much in our knowledge of God’s greatness. We never really get a handle on that. We aren’t really equipped to fathom God’s greatness. So too often we just ignore it, choosing to delight in God’s goodness and ignoring His greatness that is so overwhelming and scary. It’s not that God’s goodness and God’s greatness somehow compete but it is that God’s goodness is fueled by His greatness. If God isn’t great then it doesn’t matter that He’s good. He must have the power to be good. He must have the rights to bring His goodness to bear in the lives of His people.

Psalms 135 is a call to praise God for His greatness. We know intellectually that we are commanded to praise our great God and we know, like we did when we were kids and we had to take medicine, that if we can actually manage to pull it off it will probably be good for us. Somehow it eludes us. Somehow grasping the greatness of God is like trying to put a fistful of fog in your pocket. No matter how much you try you can’t do it so you lose interest. But Psalms 135 is strategic and it will not give up on us that easy. After explaining to us what we know to be instinctively true, God is great and God is good, the Psalmist shows us why and what it means.
“For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself…”

What is it about the greatness of God that we miss and ignore that causes us to lose our grip on His glory? It is His radical freedom.

God is free.

Don’t bother debating it. Don’t bother trying to explain it away. Don’t bother arguing it. If you do try to separate God from His freedom then whatever it is you are left with certainly isn’t divine and it definitely isn’t great. In Psalms 135 we are instructed to praise the Lord for His goodness and glory. In the second paragraph of that Psalm we are told that God is free when the Psalmist uses the phrase in v.6 “Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He.” Of course we find out that it is precisely this freedom that separates God our creator from the gods of our own creation. Idols are not free the Psalmist says. They have mouths but they don’t speak. Ears that don’t hear. Eyes that don’t see. These false gods are small, limited, and altogether pliable.

But the freedom of God is scary, isn’t it? If God is really free then God can basically do whatever He wants. He can destroy or save at will. He can overthrow nations because it pleases Him. Our lives are at His mercy. His freedom is terrifying and the only bastion of comfort we can find in the midst of the overwhelming freedom of God is the assertion the Psalmist made in v. 3, God is good. Whatever He does is good. It is good for Him and good for us.

Everyone believes God is good. Even people who don’t actually believe in God believe that if there were a God He would certainly be good. In fact many people claim not to believe in God because they don’t think the world is good enough as if their standard of goodness was better than God’s. But of course, God has to be good, we know that. God loves us. He cares about us. He wants us to be rich and happy and married to super models. God is good. But God’s goodness isn’t all there is to know about God. The Psalmist says in v. 5 that God is great. There is a difference between God’s being good and God’s being great. I have no doubt that people still believe in the goodness of God but I am worried that we have lost sight of God’s greatness. The reason we have lost sight of the greatness of God is because we have robbed God of His power to choose. We have reduced God to a being that must be chosen.

We have tried to shackle divine freedom with human choice. We have attempted to handcuff utter omnipotence and the only ones who are in chains are ourselves. When we lose sight of God’s freedom we lose sight of His greatness and according to the Psalmist, when our concept of God becomes less than transcendent, the lines between humanity and divinity become blurred. (Psalms 135:18) We become like what we worship and we desire to worship that which is like us.

So what’s the remedy to our blind allegiance to gods who are smaller than us? Understanding God’s freedom. God did not have to choose Jacob. He didn’t have to choose the nation of Israel but He did and He gave them His law and His glory and His covenants while the gentiles remained blind to the truth. Could God have revealed Himself to every nation? Of course but He was under no obligation to reveal Himself to anyone and the simple fact that He chose one group to manifest Himself to is an act of unmistakably free grace. That freedom should do nothing less than propel the people of Israel into humble praise and adoration.

It’s the exact same thing Paul said in Ephesians 1, isn’t it? Rejoice because you were chosen. Rejoice because you were adopted. Rejoice because what you experienced in time was planned before the world was formed. Rejoice because God who is free, freely chose to save you. When God is stripped of His freedom He is stripped of His greatness and we are stripped of both our ability and desire to worship.

So we believe today that God’s will is chained to our wills. His choice is put on hold until our choice is made. His decisions only reflect our decisions. Do you really think that God would recognize Himself if He saw Himself in the mirror of our imaginations? Do you think we really believe about God the things He believes about Himself or have we bowed to an impostor? Do we worship a god who doesn’t even exist except in our minds? What if we have been deceived by our own posturing about God into worshipping not the God who is our creator but the God of our own creation.
Do we believe in the God of scriptures or someone else?

Think about it, we believe in a God who has all power but has no rights to use it. We believe in a God who loves unconditionally but must have permission to give love. We believe in a God who knows all things but has no secrets. We believe in a God who can form the universe but can’t be trusted with our live. We believe in a God who is Holy and yet somehow identical to us. We believe in a God whose judgments always favor us and never others.

The God of most modern people is a God of convenience who was invented by a sort of common consensus. So what we have today isn’t a God who reveals Himself at His choosing but a God who has put Himself up for a vote. We believe in a God who may have the rights to reign but certainly has no interest in it. We embrace a God who has the power to create but not to govern His creation. We believe in a God of our own making.

We no longer believe God is free and we no longer believe God is great.
Do you know why your parents taught you to say that God is great and to thank Him for your food? Because in thanking God for your food you acknowledged it came from Him. In so doing, you acknowledged that He had given you something He didn’t have to give you because if you were thanking Him for it then it was a gift and wasn’t earned. God could have let you starve. A child starves to death in our world every 3 seconds but you didn’t. Why didn’t you? The only explanation is the great freedom of God in His choice to feed you. So thank Him for your food. Thank Him for your blessings. Thank Him for the resurrection from spiritual death that is equally undeserved. Thank Him for choosing to feed you and to save you. He didn’t have to do either.

God is great.

Heroes and Celebrities

2011-10-12T09:13:00.002-04:00

I recently came across this link by Kevin DeYoung on the difference between heroes and celebrities.

Our hearts were created to worship, that much is clear from Scripture. Unfortunately the most damaging effect of our fall is that we are satisfied with worshiping cheap substitutes instead of the Most High God. Just because we've been saved doesn't mean we're immune to this curse of sin. So we worship pastors who are successful. We imitate their ministries. We want to be like them. We dress like them. We talk like them. We embrace their theology. We hang on their every word. We base our identity on our associations with, and likeness to, them.

We always become like what we worship.

So while we definitely need to pattern ourselves after Godly leaders the trend toward celebrity pastors is a discouraging one. It happens in camp-meetings, mega churches, Bible conferences with churches of 200, and super conferences in arenas of 10,000.

Guard your heart. When your favorite preacher becomes the voice of God in your life, run. Run hard. Run far. Run fast. It's one thing to enjoy preachers who help your walk with God it's something far more sinister to develop a disastrous affection to preachers who dominate your walk with God. If celebrity pastors occupy your time, dominate your reading, and control what you hear then be careful. If they springboard you into the word of God then that's great. If they cause you to get lost in their ministry, beware. If they help you get lost in God, thank Him for them and use their gifts to run hard and fast to God.

Anyway the link was too good not to share. Enjoy!

Escaping the Clutches of the Apostle Paul

2011-10-11T08:35:00.001-04:00

I read an interesting quote from the Desiring God blog a few days ago in an article exhorting young, restless and reformed types to prepare for maturity. In the blog Doug Wilson expressed his hope that the younger people (hi!) currently promoting reformed theology would still be reformed after they grew older despite the attempts of scholars to rescue them from the quote “clutches of the apostle Paul.” I thought that was a great quote and an interesting thought.

It’s interesting because people are constantly trying to rescue us from the theology and thought of the apostle Paul. I doubt the full weight of such teaching has come to bear on many churches represented by the audience of the Chapel Door but there is a movement afoot to pit Jesus and Paul as enemies. The thinking is that Jesus taught a pure and perfect version of Christianity and Paul hijacked after Christ’s death (many of these people don’t believe Jesus is, you know, still alive.) and our version of Christianity is built upon the harsh and rigid foundation of Paul instead of the loving and accepting foundation of Christ.

Basically a movement is afoot that says Jesus and Paul preached a different gospel. Jesus’ gospel was “prepare yourself for the kingdom” and Paul’s gospel was that of justification by faith alone. The only problem is that anyone with a set of eyes can read Luke 18 and the parable of the Publican and Pharisee and see that Jesus plainly taught justification by faith alone. If you know what you’re reading you can even see the currents of alien righteousness and substitutionary atonement running throughout the story. In all honesty if these scholars who are trying to place Jesus and Paul in this death match against one another would actually read the whole Bible and take the Bible as one continuous narrative they would see that there is no contradiction in any of it whether it be between the Old and New covenants or the words of Paul and Jesus. But alas, attacks on the Bible are nothing new, are they?
Like I said, that kind of academic assault on the credibility of Paul is something that most of us probably haven’t dealt with. Most of us who are pastors trust Paul and most of you who aren’t have pastors that do. But do we really trust Paul? Do we really want to commit to being completely Pauline in our theology? It seems like I had a class by that name a hundred years ago, Pauline Theology. Do we really want to go there?

I wonder sometimes if we do. Sometimes we ignore Paul and that is very foolish. Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament and though I wouldn’t claim any Christian doctrine was “original” to Paul I would say that he systematized them in such a way that our way of thinking about all major doctrines was shaped by Paul. Paul has his hands in your brain. Now don’t let that worry you. It wasn’t God’s plan for Jesus to hang around and write volumes of theology. It was God’s plan for His Son to die to provide an atonement for sin, conquer death via His resurrection and then ascend back to Heaven. It was God’s plan to promote and propagate the gospel of His Son through men. And the man whom God fashioned to do the most in promoting Christian truth was the Apostle Paul. He himself wrote that the church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles. These men were essential to what we believe in virtually every area of our faith.

Sometimes though it’s easier to skip the harder parts of Paul’s writing and find something a little more digestible to preach and study. Pop quiz: It’s Wednesday afternoon and you have to preach at prayer meeting in 3 hours. You had an emergency call that robbed you of all of your study time. Are you going to take what little time you have left and study out the covenant of Abraham that is fulfilled in Christ from the book of Galatians or are you just going to run back to David and Goliath and talk about how God helps us face our giants? Pop Quiz #2: You’re planning a new sermon series for the first of the year to kick off a new campaign of growth and revival for your church do you plan to go verse by verse through the book of 1 Corinthians or just plan a 4 week topical series that includes either the word “purpose, potential, dream, unleash, ambition, or ignite” in the title? I know you’ve preached from the book of Romans. You’ve probably preached from Romans 3 and maybe even Romans 1:16. You might have preached Romans 6:23 and probably at times all of Romans 8. Have you ever preached from Romans 9-11?

Paul is intimidating. I get that. Even Peter said as much in 2 Peter 3:15 but in order to grasp the full picture of God’s plan of redemption through the ages we need the apostle Paul. Paul’s tough to read and study and preach and it’s my contention that the reasons that he is so tough and intimidating are precisely the reasons we need to commit to studying him.

One reason Paul is tough is because Paul is very theological. Paul uses words like election, predestination, foreknowledge, justification, propitiation, covenant and so on. Those are all scary theological terms that, if we commit to preaching and studying Paul, we will have to read, define, and come to grips with and that’s very important. Think about it, if God inspired Paul to write it then He must have intended for His people to know it. You need to know those terms and understand why the concepts they represent are important for you and the people you pastor if you do.

Paul was theological but he was also very biblical and that makes him tough to read sometimes. He’s constantly quoting scripture and it’s not just that he pumps John 3:16 into every chapter he writes either. He quotes from the books of Hosea and Isaiah in obscure passages and even more than just quoting verses he uses them to prove his point in such a way that to study Paul is to study the Bible. If you are going to study Paul you have to know the Old Testament because all of Paul’s thinking is launched from the Old Testament’s portrayals of God and predictions of redemption. As you learn about Paul you learn about the Bible.

That’s very important for many reasons but one such reason that is crucial is Paul’s continued reference to and use of the law. For some reason, and it may be our commitment to what is called dispensationalism, most of us try to preach salvation without preaching the truth about the law. We see the Bible as (at least) two stories and sometimes even two methods of salvation but with Paul we understand that the only way God has ever saved anyone is through perfect righteousness. Sometimes we think that the Old Testament is the story of God steamrolling everyone in judgment and holiness and for some reason during the reign of Caesar Augustus He slams on His brakes to start dumping out forgiveness and love on everyone through the work of Jesus but that’s not really what happened. God is righteous and the salvation He gives His people is righteous. God is just and the justifier of them that believe. The hope of my salvation isn’t that I am righteous it is that Christ is righteous and that further, God is righteous to give me the righteousness of Christ. It used to be that people really wrestled with the question of how God could still be holy and love unholy people. Now we have so lost our grasp on both holiness and the realities of our sin that this question doesn’t concern us but it should and it’s in the writings of the Apostle Paul that we find the resolution to this tension. God doesn’t save anyone apart from the law but Christ satisfied the law for His people freeing them from God’s wrath and placing them in a state of blessing with God through both His passive and active obedience. Is that what your people here or do they just hear, ‘God loves you?’ “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” may be a true statement but it isn’t true enough. Paul shows us all of the truth about God’s plan for salvation.

As deep and as dangerous as Paul may seem we need him for precisely those reasons but we also need Paul because Paul displays a contagious devotion to worship. The writings of the apostle Paul do not read like a dry dusty theological text book. They read like a hymn book! The epistles of Paul aren’t just a lecture they are a call to praise! They aren’t the words of a professor but they are the words of a man captured by love. We all know that the church is desperately in need of a lesson in true worship. What better place to learn how to worship than from the pen of a divinely inspired writer? That’s a lesson a praise band or a gray haired granny waving a handkerchief cannot provide no matter how sincere they might be. Paul was a man who was literally captured by Heaven and He couldn’t contain it and time and again as you read Paul you his long theological discourses interrupted by moments of praise to the God who loved him and forgave him of his sin!

So don’t try to rescue yourself from the clutches of the apostle Paul. Dive in to Paul. Be shaped by his thinking. Let the truth he received from the Spirit wash over you and remake you in the image of Christ. To know Paul’s writings is to better know the God He wrote about. To know Paul’s epistles is to better grasp the love that grasped Paul. We need Paul. People have been trying to give up on Paul since before he was converted, don’t make that mistake.

And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

Tell me who...

2011-10-05T14:59:00.000-04:00

Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee?

Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high?

To whom then will ye liken God?

What does your pastor really believe in?

2011-10-02T17:14:00.001-04:00

Trust is one of the most powerful forces in the world. Without it we are all cripples. When I take my paycheck to the bank I trust there is money from my employer’s accounts that will, through the mystery of banking, end up in my account. I trust that I am not being show one thing and sold another when I buy a car. Trust is the backbone of consumerism. It’s all the foundation of the life of the church.
With that being said, everyone trusts. There are people you have known for years and who have repeatedly proven themselves to be faithful to your best interests and you wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to put your lives in their hands. There are other people who have let you down so many times that it would be foolish to trust them with anything. You know the dirty guy who always smells like cheap liquor and cigarettes down at the local gas station? Chances are it would be pretty stupid to trust him when he says he just needs a little cash for a quick bite to eat.
Have you thought much lately about what your pastor trusts? Have you thought about what it is he really believes in? It may not be a question that has occupied your attention much lately but if you are actively hearing him preach to you then few things could be more important. If your pastor has misplaced confidence it could be toxic to your very soul.

Let’s imagine a few horror stories from the local church…

The first nightmare scenario is to have a pastor who trusts you. Now I’m sure you are quite trust worthy. You could be trusted to handle the offering at church. You could be trusted with a set of keys and a security code to get in and out of the building and to be there alone. But you can’t be trusted when it comes to procuring your own righteousness and if your pastor trusts you, he’s a fool. If he trusts you then he will preach sermons encouraging you to reach your fullest potential. If he trusts you then he will regularly preach sermons against people different from you while exalting the spiritual superiority of people who think, dress, act, vote and feel just like you. If your pastor trusts you he will leave your spiritual blessings in your hands. He will give you the ball. He will let you punch it in on 4th and 1 because, hey, you can handle it. Don’t trust a pastor who trusts you.

The second horror story occurs when you have a pastor who trusts himself. This kind of pastor may open the Bible to start a sermon but he doesn’t refer to it much. He may quote his favorite preachers, television shows or political personalities frequently but he won’t bathe his sermons in the Word of God. You might leave church on Sundays feeling quite satisfied with the pastor’s sense of humor, his education, and even sure of his opinions but you won’t leave knowing the word of God. A pastor who trusts himself is confident in his abilities, his gifts, his leadership, his opinions and all of his ideas to accomplish his goals. If a pastor trusts himself he has never met himself. Don’t trust a pastor who trusts himself.

Don’t trust a pastor who trusts in methods and gimmicks. A pastor who trusts in methods and gimmicks is always changing. He’s always looking for a new idea. He’s addicted to numerical growth instead of spiritual maturity. The church he pastors may have many compasses but no anchor. When a pastor trusts gimmicks then those methods must bear the weight of ministry. They must hold up under the intense pressure to reach (or rule) the world. Don’t trust a pastor who trusts in the schemes and methods of other men.

So what does your pastor really believe in? You can tell very quickly by looking at his ministry and determining where he places his emphasis. In other words, what is it that really carries the burden at your church? Do you hear the word of God preached in its proper context at your church not merely on occasion but at every service? If so then chances are your pastor trusts the word of God. When was the last time you knew your pastor was was preaching a message from God’s word and not merely from the heart? If you don’t then regardless of what your pastor says he doesn’t trust the Bible. Does your pastor pray and encourage you to pray? If he does he doesn’t trust himself. He doesn’t trust his ability. If he prays right he recognizes his weakness and tries to take his burdens and responsibilities and give them right back to the Lord. Does your pastor trust the gospel? Can your pastor even really define the gospel? Test yourself when was the last time you heard your pastor explain from the word of God the plan of salvation starting at Adam, moving to your sin and ending with Christ’s righteousness imputed to you by grace through faith? When was the last time forgiveness was presented to you based on the work of Christ on the cross and not your work in an altar? How many times in the past month has your pastor preached about the superiority of the King James Version and the worldliness of a certain style of music? Now how many times in the past month has Christ been preached as a superior High Priest who deserves glory from every detail of your life as you present yourself a living sacrifice to Him in an act of daily worship? Does your pastor encourage you to become like him or does he encourage you to become like Christ? Does your pastor magnify the righteousness of your movement, your denomination, or your church or does he exalt the righteousness of Christ? Does your pastor allow you to sew together fig leaves of your own performance or be clothed with the perfections of God’s only Son? Is your pastor going to preach for a month about the evils of Halloween and Trick-or –Treating or is he going to preach through a book of the Bible? Is your pastor going to tell you to watch Courageous or read your Bible? Is your pastor going to preach more about your empty church or Christ’s empty tomb? You can tell a lot about a pastor by what he preaches…

So, you had better be keenly aware of what your pastor trusts because if you trust him you will end up trusting the same things he does…

Heretics, Oneness Pentecostalism, the Gospel, Stupidity, Discernment and a side of fried rice.

2011-09-30T09:34:00.003-04:00

I like James MacDonald. I really do. His preaching is encouraging and he’s actually one of the few mass marketed radio preachers I can stand to listen to. I feel like he expounds the scriptures generally well and he is typically a blessing to me when I get to hear him preach on the radio. (It should be noted that no one here at the Chapel Door encourages listening to preaching on the radio. Around here most radio preaching is to one extreme or the other and a while it may be good for a laugh a lot of it just isn’t helpful.) But I do like James MacDonald.

I also like his whole “Elephant Room” idea. The Elephant Room conference/simulcast thing is where James MacDonald invited different well known preachers into his church – or wherever it was – and had them discuss certain issues. He invited Mark Driscoll, Greg Laurie, David Platt, Matt Chandler, Perry Noble and Stephen Furtick to discuss different practical aspects of ministry, what they agreed on and what they disagreed on. For instance Driscoll and Noble debated the role of culture in the church. It was an interesting mix and you can see some of the sessions on YouTube, or you can of course buy the DVDs.

DVD sales must have been good because they’re going for round 2 on January 25. I actually just – as in today – got an e-mail regarding a place where I can go watch the simulcast in either Charlotte or Asheville for the low low early bird price of $59 dollars. $60 buck to go watch some guys talk on a TV? What exactly does that money go toward anyway? But I digress…

This time the card is a little more interesting because it represents a much wider cross section of evangelical talking heads. This time they’re adding Jack Graham, former SBC president, Mark Dever, church discipline guru and pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, and no less than everyone’s favorite Pentecostal, T.D. Jakes.
And of course, like anything that is done these days within ear shot of the internet, people are devastated over the invitation of T.D. Jakes. Basically the reason why is because bloggers like me have nothing else to do but complain about what everyone else does. And then there’s the other thing about how T.D. Jakes doesn’t believe in the trinity. Do you really want to take advice on how to deal with practical ministry issues, church growth and mission strategies from someone who isn’t an orthodox Christian? I don’t.

Many people in the reformed circles that are excited about Mark Dever ripping Perry Noble’s face off over that whole AC/DC mess are up in arms ready to burn Jakes, and possibly MacDonald, at the stake. On the other hand MacDonald is defending his decision – why wouldn’t he? It’s his decision! Mark Driscoll has also weighed in on the issue with a weighty blog about the nature of the Trinity and why it matters.
As this whole thing about the Elephant Room II was on my mind today it made me think about how the church today deals with heretics. It also made me angry because the Elephant Room would be a cool name for a church but if they’re charging $59 dollars to watch a conference you’re not attending in person they’ve probably got it copyrighted in 46 countries so if you actually tried to name your new hipster urban church plant –you know the kind that go in those burnt out old coffee shops - “The Elephant Room” James MacDonald would show up with two backpacks full of C4 to blow your prayer labyrinth to smithereens. (For the record a lot of people end up on this site because they want to start churches named “The Chapel Door”. Oh well…)

Oh yeah back to the heretics…

T.D. Jakes is a heretic. He does not believe in the doctrine of the trinity. For those of you who are new to Christianity, yes that does make him a heretic. A heretic is someone who does not hold to orthodox Christian teaching. Another word for heresy is heterodoxy which means, different teaching.

Specifically T.D. Jakes is a modalist. Modalism is a teaching that denies the Trinitarian nature of God. It says that God is one (correct) but God is not three (incorrect). Modalism teaches that the three personalities of the Trinity are really different “modes” that God uses to operate in. From a theological perspective modalists do believe in the economocial trinity but not in the oncology of the trinity. That is to say they believe God works in three different ways but not that he exists as three separate, yet unified and divine, persons. I know that any understanding of the trinity falls woefully short of grasping the majesty of God but I also know how God has revealed Himself in scripture and I happen to think what we believe about God says more about us than the size of either our churches or our TV ministries.

Admittedly Jakes does say he believes in the Trinity (You can google all of this if you would like more info but for the purposes of this blog I am interested more in popular evangelicalisms relationship to Jakes rather than to Jakes’ views specifically) but it seems to me than when he has done so, specifically in his op-ed for Christianity Today he hasn’t really confessed to orthodox faith in the trinity but has attempted to redefine it and has not condemned modalism nor said anything inconsistent with it. Also in the interest of fairness it should be noted that Jakes is associated with Oneness Pentecostalism which as a movement specifically exists because of its denials of the trinity.

Anyway, we will always have heretics. Paul said so in 1 Corinthians 11:19. God sovereignly places false teachers in an around the church in order for the truth to be defended and declared and for the God ordained teachers of truth to be exposed as valid. But exactly how does that happen when fuzzy heretical teachings, like those by Jakes, are accepted as main stream and well within the sphere of Christian acceptability? How is truth magnified when it is simultaneously being obscured?
The importance of that question cannot be missed. That seems to be the reason Paul wrote to young Titus in his pastoral epistle to begin with. I just finished preaching through the book of Titus this summer and as you look at the book you notice in chapter 1 the importance of ordaining Godly leadership in churches because Titus’ church in Crete has experienced the fallout of toxic pastors. Then in chapter 3 Paul specifically tells Titus how to deal with those who are outside the realm of normal Christianity.

Titus 3:10 says, “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject.”

That’s not particularly complicated, is it? I do think that there are a few lessons that can be learned here as it relates to T.D. Jakes.

The first lesson is that there are heretics in the church. This verse proves that unequivocally. We are often lured into thinking that Christian unity means accepting everyone who carries a Bible and talks about Jesus but unity is much more than that. Our unity as believers in Christ centers around certain core doctrines and when those doctrines are denied or discarded or even distorted there is no way a true Christian can unify with those who aren’t. We have a tendency to want to be loving and accepting and to avoid controversy at any cost but the truth must be defended. Maybe T.D. Jakes isn’t a heretic. I hope for the sake of his soul and for the sake of those all over the world who follow his ministry he isn’t, but I do know that he is not clear about what he believes about the nature of the trinity and that confusion isn’t just about some minor point of doctrine. We are talking about the nature of God Himself. There is nothing more important than that. When we are dealing with the issues about the trinity and God’s nature we are also talking about exactly who Jesus is and if we reach an unbiblical conclusion about the identity of Christ then the only result is a false gospel with a false savior. Theological precision isn’t just an academic pursuit but is vital to the health and purity of the church.

There are some things that don’t matter on that scale, I understand that. T.D. Jakes likes to speak in tongues and truthfully, while I think he’s wrong, I couldn’t care less. I do care what he believes about God, though. If he has the wrong God then why is he being given a platform by James MacDonald and why is MacDonald defending him?
I think it’s also important to learn from Titus 3:10 that not everyone is a heretic. Today those are the most common approaches to dealing with doctrinal disagreements. Either no one is a heretic and everyone deserves a place at the big microphone of Christianity or everyone is a heretic and no one (but me) has it right about the Bible. Of course that means that it’s my job to defend my brand of Christian orthodoxy and destroy the infidels! I know many MANY MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANY people who would take a look at the group of men at the upcoming Elephant Room conference/conversation and conclude all of them to be heretics.

Mark Dever – Doesn’t preach from the KJV/Has a rapper in his ministerial intern program/Southern Baptist
Jack Graham – Southern Baptist
Mark Driscoll – Drinks alcohol/Calvinist/Doesn’t wear a tie
Stephen Furtick – Southern Baptist/Wears “product” in his hair/Hangs out with Perry Noble
Perry Noble – He is Perry Noble/listens to AC/DC (er go Satan Worshipping Goat Herder)
James MacDonald – He hangs out with all of these guys and his refusal to secondarily separate from such people is clearly a danger to the faith.

In all honesty I don’t agree with any of these men about everything they do or have done but I also don’t agree with the notion that they’re all heretics ripe for the stake. I think that within the realm of Christianity there is room for disagreement about certain issues. Think about this, in the book of 1 Corinthians Paul deals with people who were having an attack of conscience over eating meat. If steak can create controversy in the church anything can. People disagree and that’s fine.
So while I can disagree with all of these men I don’t think they’re all damned. Not everyone who disagrees with you is a heretic. Not everyone who is in a different denomination than you is a heretic. Not everyone who believes differently about Bible translations, election, divorce, eschatology, ecclesiology or Judah Smith is going to Hell. Some people need to just get over themselves and learn the difference between true biblical convictions that matter and culturally driven preferences and opinion that don’t matter as much as we would like to think. I would go so far as to say that people who spend all of their time majoring on non-essential issues are just as dangerous as people like T.D. Jakes. What is the practical difference between a pastor who doesn’t believe in the trinity and one who claims to be orthodox but spends all of his time preaching about how women dress instead of the nature of our God? Either way the triune God isn’t exalted.

So, no, not everyone is a heretic. For what it’s worth there is someone out there who thinks you are a heretic. I promise. That’s why it’s important to not always take someone’s theology to a logical conclusion they haven’t actually reached. For instance, some people think that anyone who carries anything but the KJV doesn’t believe in the inerrancy of scripture. That’s not true and it is ungracious to assume someone believes something errant when they don’t. Just because someone disagrees with me about the depravity of man and the nature of election doesn’t mean they believe man is capable of saving Himself. But when people do deny the nature of God as He has revealed Himself in scripture and cross over into the realm of unacceptable teaching what is our response to be? Paul tells us plainly in Titus 3.

Our first response is to “admonish” these people. The idea is that they need to be brought back into the correct way of thinking. So if that is going to happen then they need to be clearly identified. They also need to be instructed, warned and encouraged. I hope that at this Elephant Room conference that is what will happen with Bishop Jakes. I hope he will be confronted with his error and I hope that leads to confession of error and doctrinal clarity on his part. I have a strong feeling that will not be the case though. I suspect the issue will be touched on, glossed over and ignored in favor of more practical ministry issues. If so, that’s a tragic waste of opportunity and a clear denial of scripture by some men who certainly know better. Ministry isn’t just about growing a mega-church. Sometimes heretics have to be admonished. Nowhere in the book of Titus does Paul tell Titus how to “grow his church” but he does tell him how to defend truth.

After the heretic is admonished, twice, they need to be rejected. In order for that to happen they need to be publically named. Will MacDonald and crew do that? I sincerely doubt it! MacDonald has already spent some time this week blogging about his excitement over Jakes’ attendance at the event. I also worry about what happens when the event is over.

Thankfully if Titus 3:10 teaches us anything it teaches us that heretics are not just static voices floating around the world of Christianity interjected error whenever possible. They are not nameless faces to be constantly attacked and repudiated by angry bloggers. Heretics are people and they can be reached but it needs to be done God’s way! Will Jakes be outed as heterodox or will he just be accepted as another brother in the Lord who has a different take on scripture? That premise is the whole foundation of the Elephant Room idea, pastors from a wide spectrum of American evangelicalism meet together to discuss their differences. The problem is that with a denial of the trinity, and classic confessional Christianity, T.D. Jakes is not an evangelical Christian. Jakes’ mere inclusion seems to indicate to me at least that the big names topping the chart of conference Christianity are on track to ignore Titus 3:10 and throw T.D. Jakes under the umbrella of normalcy.
Frankly I expected better from some of them and I hope they prove me wrong.

The trinity is important. It matters to our understanding of who God is, who Christ is, what He has accomplished and it is also crucial to our understanding of community. Frankly the fact that Jakes is participating in this event at all is disappointing but I hope some good will come out of it. Good crops often do spring from the bad seed of heresy. That’s Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 11:19. But I worry about the damage that will come in the lives of evangelicals and their pastors. This event is designed to be of assistance to Christian leaders. If they are misguided about the nature of God then the church is sure to follow.

Some of the men at this conference are gifted theologians, particularly Mark Dever and I anxiously await his response to this issue. Mark Driscoll also has an ability to make theology accessible despite his many other problems. Though I disagree with both of these men on some issues I do acknowledge that they have the largest influence on the theological thinking of younger pastors today. Noble and Furtick are also quite influential but in different ways and I wouldn’t expect much theological depth from either of them anyway. Matt Chandler is also a gifted preacher who preaches a powerful gospel message. I sincerely hope that these men confront, and if necessary reject, T.D. Jakes for the purity of the church and the beauty of the gospel.

If not, then I’ll be worried.

Mark Driscoll’s Blog

James MacDonald's Blog

The Elephant Room II

Kevin DeYoung's Blog about the nature of the Trinity and why it Matters. (For the uninitiated DeYoung pastors University Reformed Church in Lansing, Michigan and is an accomplished writer and an up and comer on the Calvinist speaking circuit.)

A Math Lesson with the Chapel Door

2011-09-28T08:49:00.001-04:00

One of the great things about pastoring is that it involves little to no math. Math is horrible. It’s not that I’m not good at math, I can hold my own with most 4th graders, it’s just that once you start adding in letters things get a little confusing. Also that kind of math is useless. That’s right kids, The Chapel Door is officially encouraging you not to do your math homework. If you can divide fractions and figure out decimals you will be fine in the real world. Algebra, trigonometry, and calculus are as useless as the people who use them.

Then again, it might not be bad for seminaries to start teaching a little math. Here’s why. As pastors we don’t do math but many of us live surrounded by numbers. The numbers that indicate baptisms, memberships, and attendees often haunt us in our sleep. Especially when our church culture in America is one where bigger is always better. And it’s not as if this obsession and infatuation with size is anything new since mega-churches became all the rage. Long before that it was bus routes and Sunday School numbers that mattered. If your church wasn’t as big as the guy’s church who was preaching at the conference then you has missed God somewhere. Now, if you’re church isn’t as big as the cool hipster on the front of Christianity Today then it must mean that all of your methods and ministry ideas are outdated and you’ve sacrificed your ability to reach people with the gospel because of your stubborn refusals to compromise even the most secondary issues.

Problem.

Numbers, in the ministry are very relative. Now we all know that is true in a literal sense. Not every pastor pastors a huge church. We get that. We know it because the Bible makes it clear that guys like Noah and Jeremiah can be very faithful with zero results. We also know it by looking around. Most churches in America average around 60 members. We also know it by using some common sense. In the New Testament there were no church buildings and churches either met beside rivers, in the woods, or in someone’s house. Due to persecution and limited space, no one worship gathering had a huge crowd. Even the massive crowd that was converted at the day of Pentecost had to go somewhere and they went to people’s houses. (Acts 2)

Further, numbers are relatives because God hasn’t called us to do high jumps like this is the NFL combine and reach the biggest number possible. Our primary mission as pastors and churches is to glorify God. We do that by being faithful to preach the gospel and the word of God regardless of the results. Sometimes God blesses faithfulness with a huge outpouring of conversions and sometimes He doesn’t. The issue is whether or not we are faithful. I’ve often told my church that a pastor who preaches to 20 in the mountains somewhere will have just as man rewards as one who pastors 20,000 if they are both faithful. By that same token I doubt Joel Osteen has too many crowns laid up for him for gospel faithfulness even though he has a bigger crowd than any of us. But I digress…

Like I said, numbers are relative and I wanted to show you dear reader how very relative they are in a practical sense. The only mega church pastor I have ever met personally is Johnny Hunt pastor of First Baptist Church Woodstock, Georgia and on-again off-again president of the Southern Baptist Convention. I have enjoyed Dr. Hunt’s preaching on many occasions and he genuinely seems like a nice guy. His church is massive, as in, you can get lost inside of it playing a flag football game massive. He has three services on Sunday mornings in his auditorium that holds 3,200 people. That’s huge. I have one service on Sunday mornings in an auditorium that would do good to hold 100. Think about the difference. A congregation the size of my church could leave FBC Woodstock and they wouldn’t notice it. It’s a huge place. By comparison my church seems insignificant. We don’t have near the money, resources, or people they do at Woodstock.

Greater still is the fact that when Dr. Hunt became pastor there they had like 300 people. God has blessed that church with remarkable growth. Now they’re up to 14,000. In 25 years the church has exploded in size.

So chances are that at this point all of us little church pastors feel discouraged and overwhelmed like our ministries failed and we just need to keep working harder to jump from 70 or 80 to 100 or better. Well here’s some facts for you. First Baptist Woodstock does have 14,000 members. They have about 7,000 in attendance on Sunday mornings. All pastors deal with that, don’t they? Where are these people at who claim to worship here? Even the largest churches with the flashiest ministries and the most well known, well loved, and well respected preachers are doing good to get everyone there at the same time.

So Woodstock, Georgia is a tiny town with a huge church. But Woodstock, Georgia is right in the belly of the beast as part of the metro Atlanta area. 14,000 is a massive church, no doubt but take 14,000 church members and drop them right in the middle of 5,000,000 plus Atlantaeans and tell me how big it is.

Here’s another for instance: One of the new fast growing mega churches around here is Elevation Church in Charlotte pastored by rising evangelical rock star Stephen Furtick. Everywhere I go these days I see people with Elevation bumper stickers and T-Shirts. Furtick is all the rage on the conference scene these days preaching with the likes of James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll. Elevation church has a combined membership of around 7,000 spread out across multiple campuses. The Charlotte metro area where these campuses are located has a population of roughly 1.7 million. So Furtick’s church can claim 1 half of 1 percent of this area as their membership.
The church I pastor is in a town of 17,000. We have a membership of 90. Do you know what percent of 17,000 90 is? It’s basically 1 half of 1 percent.

It’s even worse for Mark Driscoll. His little church in Seattle is only reaching half the percentage mine is with an attendance of around 7,500 in a town of 3.3 million. Relative.

Sure, numbers can kill you as a pastor. They can at least make you wish you were dead, but you don’t need to be discouraged if your church is being dwarfed by some other because all things aren’t equal. Don’t torture yourself about how great someone else is doing and how miserably you seem to be failing. Be faithful to preach the word and let God sort it out. It’s easy to want to force change into ministry when numbers seem to be stagnant and standing still but its part of ministry. Sometimes the seed falls on good ground but apparently, 75% of the time it doesn’t.

The point of all of this is that numbers are very relative but that numbers, as a ministerial goal, make a cruel and evil master. They will torture you into depression and they will manipulate you into unfaithfulness if you’re not careful. The truth is that these numbers aren’t just statistics, they are people. They are people with eternal souls who either need to hear the gospel and believe to be born again or they need to be disciple into Christ-like maturity. Either way our mission is to reach people not to just have numbers. Growing a church, in a purely numerical sense, seems to me to be a noble, but poorly intentioned goal. Our mission isn’t to grow a crowd but to grow people. (Ephesians 4) The kind of growth God often performs in a church is much harder to measure than an attendance statistic.

How do you measure the growth of a woman who lost her husband to cancer and in the middle of that grief displayed soul sustaining faith to the glory of God? How do you measure the growth of a young man that has never been in church that for the first time in his life is now reading his Bible every day and learning to pray? How do you measure the growth of a couple who is struggling with infertility but is learning to turn even their most important dreams over to God’s sovereign plan? You can’t measure that with graphs and statistics so take heart pastors!

Remember though that those numbers we obsess over often represent people who are unreached with the gospel. So if these numbers are going to drive you to do anything it should be to be bold in proclaiming the gospel of Christ to a world that needs to hear it!

God is doing big things in your church even if you’re church isn’t a big church. You have enough to be accountable of on judgment day and after that we will all be part of the big crowd at Jesus’ feet and it won’t matter how many we pastored or didn’t pastor. What will matter is did we preach the truth about our King?

Why Pastors Need Churches

2011-09-26T09:52:00.001-04:00

Why do pastors need churches?

Because no one else will hire them, right?

Maybe but that’s not the point. Have you ever thought about why pastors need churches? Pastors aren’t pastors without churches just as shepherds aren’t shepherds without sheep and leaders aren’t leaders without followers but in this grand scheme of ecclesiastical magnificence what does a pastor get out of pastoring a church?
Well to hear most pastors talk not much. That’s right pastors, I know how you talk about the people you pastor. Many pastors are discouraged, defeated, depressed, and disenfranchised with their ministries and they are often quick to drop the blame squarely at the feet of the people they pastor. I’m not trying to say that pastoring isn’t tough because it is but perhaps everything in life isn’t always someone else’s fault. Anyway many pastors don’t seem to get a lot out of pastoring other than a paycheck – and many of them complain about that.

We know from the New Testament why God ordained it that his churches have pastors. Ephesians 4 tells us. Every church needs a pastor. Every Christian should be a member of a local New Testament church. As such every Christian should have a pastor. Sorry, but I don’t buy the idea of a 25 year interim. Christians needs pastors to be encouraged, led, shepherded, fed, matured and so on. But why exactly do pastors need churches?

Well, there happens to be a verse that tells us tucked away in the book of 2 Timothy 2:22. In that verse Paul encourages Timothy to hang with the church, don’t give up on them, don’t abandon them and don’t desert them because, honorable or otherwise, they are God’s great house. So pastor you need the church and the fantastic irony in this verse is that pastors need churches for the same reasons that churches need pastors.

You are not a one of a kind snowflake who exists like an Old Testament prophet who is totally untouchable through the week until you descend from your isolated mountain to deliver your mystical wisdom to the anxious public. You are not a priest who does the mysterious work of communing with God behind veils and closed doors. You are part of the church and you need them like they need you. Isn’t that what Paul said in our verse? Flee youthful lusts and follow after righteousness “with” people. Certainly a pastor is a leader and without question God has given him authority as the one who handles the word of God but he is still “with” his congregation. His is with him when they laugh, he is with them when they cry, he is with them when they celebrate and he is with them when they mourn. He needs to be for their sake and for his.

It’s important for a pastor to be “with” his congregation because, well, he’s a sinner. In fact, as Paul would indicate here when talking to Timothy, he’s kind of an immature sinner. Paul tells Timothy to flee youthful lusts with the church. One of the functions of the church is to produce and promote purity in the lives of its members – that’s why being a member of a church is so important. You have to be accountable to someone somewhere. Paul deals with that in 1 Corinthians 5. So, pastor, you need a church so you can be accountable. You have a world of lusts in your heart that are ready to run wild and destroy you if left unchecked for too long and you need to be involved with a group of believers with whom you can strive together for holiness. Pastor you are a sinner. If you try to deal with your sin on your own – or worse yet – totally ignore your sin and think of yourself as some super saint who has been rescued from sin because of your calling and/or office then you are headed for a devastating disaster.

The very knowledge that a church is looking up to and following a pastor should help motivate a pastor to holiness. You don’t want to let those people down. You don’t want to undermine their confidence and hurt them. You want to set the right kind of example. So do it. Use the position God has given you and the people that God has put under your authority as a motivation to run for your lusts. What’s really surprising about this verse is how strong this admonition to Timothy is. Truthfully, the full weight of what Paul says is kind of lost in the loftiness of the King James language. Think about the words, “flee” that is run. Youthful lusts – sinful and immature desires. Paul tells Timothy, “Run from yourself!” Don’t stretch, don’t hydrate, don’t look back! Run for your life! And the best way to get away from yourself, whether you are a pastor or a lay person is to lose yourself in the Lord and His work in the church.

Then Paul tells Timothy that he needs the church in order to follow after righteousness, faith, charity and peace. Pastor, missionary, church planter and preacher boy’s listen up – I don’t know what your goals in ministry are but I promise you that if personal righteousness, increased faith, Christ like love and Spirit filled peace aren’t the goals in your life you might be a success on paper but your life will be a wreck. On the other hand if you make your first priorities your own walk with God and you passionately run after those things with the people of God, you will never be disappointed. So quit worrying about the size of the congregation, the amount of the offering, or whether or not you will get to preach at camp meeting next year and pursue these gifts of the Spirit. The people you pastor need a righteous, trusting, loving pastor who is at peace with God and life!
What are you after in ministry if it isn’t righteousness, faith, charity and peace?

How often do we strive and work and pray and preach to implant those elements in the lives of the people we serve without first ensuring they are in our own hearts?
Then finally Paul encourages Timothy to flee his lusts and follow after these things with them that call on the Lord. If you are familiar with the writings of Paul you know that his words, logic, and arguments are always deliberate and carefully chosen. He could have said here that Timothy needs to flee youthful lusts and follow righteousness with the church. He could have called the church the body or bride of Christ. Instead he called the church “those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” I know from that phrase that they are transformed people. People don’t and can’t call on the Lord out of a pure heart without first being radically changed by grace. The pastor needs to be around the saints of God. He needs to be around people who trust God, after all prayer and faith are all but synonymous. Why is all of that so important? Because the pastor does have sinful desires and he does need to be propelled to righteousness.

So if you are a pastor today are you looking forward to going back to church and being around God’s people? If not, you need to do some serious soul searching because you need them as much, and probably more, than they need you. Whatever the circumstances might have been it is the providence of God that places pastors and churches together in that special and mysterious relationship. Overtime their hearts are bound together as they work to serve God together. So pastors take time now to thank God for your churched and if you’re not a pastor stop right now and pray for him. I promise he needs it.

Foreknowledge - What I Don't Buy and Why it Might Matter

2011-09-24T08:33:00.002-04:00

Theology is life and death. By that I mean the way we think about God and the Bible and the work of God in saving us from sin has implications for every single aspect of our lives. To me this has been greatly illustrated as I have prayed and preached through Romans 8 at Bethlehem on Sunday mornings. Romans 8:28 is certainly one of the most blessed verses in the Bible but it’s a little deeper than we want it to be sometimes. The promise of God’s working all things for the good of His people is more than just something to tack on a coffee cup or a picture frame and throw on the clearance table at Lifeway.

Romans 8:28 is a promise deeply entrenched in theology and it can only be understood in the greater context of how God saves a sinner from start to finish. That idea – salvation from start to finish – is really the big idea of Romans 8:29-30 which illustrate Romans 8:31. We know that if the God of the Bible is for us then nothing or no one could very really be against us but what does it mean for God to be for me? Romans 8:29-30 tells you. What does Paul mean in Romans 8:28 when he says that all thing work together for good to them who are the called according to the purpose of God? What is God’s purpose? Romans 8:29-30 tells you.

God’s purpose is to conform you to the image of Christ so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. God’s purpose is to make you like Jesus so Jesus would be glorified. That was God’s plan all along. That is your pre-destiny. God never has had an instant where He did not see and savor the glory of Christ so much that He wouldn’t do everything in His power to exalt Christ. So God saved you through the work of Christ to exalt Christ. In the end, I know Romans 8:28 is true not just because it’s about God’s plan for me but because it’s about God’s plan for Christ. God is working to exalt Christ and though I know God will never fail me, I am much more confident that God will never fail Jesus.

God’s plan to exalt Christ is an eternal plan. That much is clear from the text of Romans 8:29-30. We understand how God executes much of this plan. On one hand it’s easy to comprehend our calling and our justification. We have personally experienced those things. We also await our glorification, confidently knowing that God will complete His work in us. The parts that confuse us are the parts that are behind us. If you look at the text backward Paul basically says that all of those who end up glorified in eternity to come are there because they were predestined to be there. There is much confusion about what predestination is but the text teaches that God’s predestining work springs from the foundation of His foreknowledge. What is foreknowledge? That’s the key. Whoever these “foreknown” are and whatever it means for them to be “foreknown” is the truth we need to grasp in order to unlock the secret of predestination.

Typically, the word “foreknowledge” is taken at face value and defined like this: “God looked down through the corridors of time and saw all of those people who would believe. He then chose to save those who would believe in Jesus.” Is that an accurate portrayal of God’s foreknowledge? Though it is a popular and an easy explanation I don’t think it is fair to the text, to the Bible or to the Lord to define foreknowledge that way. I don’t think that understanding is true and I just want to show you a handful of quick reasons why I don’t buy it.

1. The Bible doesn’t say in Romans 8 that God foreknows events but people. The kind of knowledge Paul is talking about is an intimate knowledge of another individual, not merely an awareness of an event. God doesn’t just know that people will believe but the people who believe. There is a huge difference in the two ways of thinking. In the billions of years of God’s history that have already been He didn’t just know that I would believe He knew me. The Bible is pretty clear that Heaven is a private affair and that only the people God knows get to go to Heaven. Matthew 7:21-23 So when did God start knowing the people He knows?

On a side note to this point someone more well versed in Greek than I might want to look into the text and examine the word “proginosko” (not sure about the spelling of the transliteration.) The word is a compound Greek word that means to know beforehand and we get the medical word prognosis from it. If my shaky understanding of Greek is right though the prefix “pro” or “pros” doesn’t mean just before in a chronological sense but it can mean before in a spatial sense – as in my computer is before me. If I’m not mistaken that’s how the word is translated when it used for worship with the Greek term “proskuneo” which means to come before like a dog. So if the prefix “pros” can means before in that spatial sense there can it not also mean the same when attached to the word for knowledge meaning that God’s foreknowledge isn’t just about knowing things before they happen but that God’s people are actually “before” Him. Like I said, I just know enough Greek to commit heresy but it might be worth looking into.

2. The word “proginosko” (spelling again.) has misled us – The word proginosko is a Greek term that means to know before. From that word we get the word “prognosis”. When you go to the doctor and he tells you that you have cancer that is a “diagnosis”. When he tells you that because of the cancer you have 6 months to live that is a prognosis. It’s a guess. He doesn’t really know how long you have to live. God doesn’t guess. He can’t guess. He knows.

3. The idea that God chose to bless me and love me because I chose to love Him is inconsistent with the rest of the Bible – Either 1 John 4:19 is true or it isn’t.

4. It doesn’t gel with the rest of the Bible’s portrayals of God – To really believe that God only decides to save those whom He knows will choose Him implies several disturbing things about God. First, if that’s true then there was a time when God didn’t know you were going to believe. If God responded to your choice then that has to be true. This implies that on some level God’s omniscience is faulty (read: nonexistent) because there was a fact about you, namely your choosing to come to Christ, that at some point God didn’t know. Basically, God can’t learn. Again, if God’s deciding to bless me in Christ only came after I decided for Christ, the chronology of that implies that there was some point when God didn’t know I was going to choose Christ and He had to respond to my choice once He found out about it.

5. It is impossible given the nature of man’s sinful condition – To say that God only chose me after I chose Him is impossible. The Bible says that in my natural state I cannot choose God (John 6:44/1 Corinthians 2:14). How did a God I can’t come to know I would come to Him when I can’t come to Him?

6. It is impossible given what I know about the nature of saving faith – If God only decided to conform me to the image of Christ based upon my foreseen faith in Christ where did my faith come from? It’s impossible for a person in their fallen condition to move positively toward God (Romans 3) much less believe in Christ without God’s gift of faith. Saving faith is a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8-9/Philippians 1:29) How could a God I cannot and would not trust on my own know that I would trust Him and then decide on the basis of my trust in Him to give me faith to believe in Him? Confused yet? Exactly. God doesn’t see our faith (that we can’t even have) then decide to give us faith.

7. It is impossible based on what the Bible says about how God experiences and knows the future – God doesn’t just know the future or foresee the future, does He? We don’t concede that when it comes to any other event that occurs within the bounds of history why should we believe it when it comes to the events of our salvation? Certainly God knows the future but the question is why does He know it? The reason God knows all thing that will happen before they happen is because God writes the future. The reason God could name Cyrus the king 500 years before he was born way back in the book of Isaiah was not just because God knew about him but because God would raise him up for his appointed tasks. The same is true in salvation. The reason God knows we will believe is because God decrees our salvation from eternity past. (Ephesians 1:3-9/Isaiah 46:9-11)

This may seem like a trivial theological discourse or another angry blog from someone with a giant reformed chip on his shoulder but as I mentioned, theology is life and death. Romans 8:28 and Romans 8:31 are true. God is for us and all things are accomplish His purpose, and that’s the point. It’s God’s purpose in salvation that makes the difference in my life, not my own. What is it that will comfort us in death and in cancer and in Alzheimer’s and in persecution and in financial hardship and in divorce and in life and in death? Is it the fact that at some point we chose God and He eventually figured it out or that as long as there has been a God He has known us, and despite the fact that He knows us in His grace He decided to be for us with a plan that cannot fail?

So you may disagree about my idea of foreknowledge but I happen to think that any scheme of salvation that ends in glory must begin there too.

Gospel Polemics

2011-09-21T07:25:00.002-04:00

Since the internet is often a place where ideas clash and theological concepts do battle those of us who contribute to the content of the web often view ourselves as polemic theologians riding off to do glorious battle with the evil enemies of the church.

Often I view myself that way too but this morning I came across a blog by Tim Keller about this issue that was too great not to share.

Gospel Polemics, Part 1 - Tim Keller

A few things that stood out to me were the Lloyd-Jones quotes about making mincemeat of liberals and still being in trouble in your own soul and the concept of polemics as medicine. Medicine is good for you but you can't live off of it and thrive.

Please take time to read this post. If you fancy yourself a crusader for truth it may remind you that often times our fights for our favorite theological expressions are little more than the spiritual equivalent to what happens in a WWF ring.

So to Tim Keller (and I guess Dr. Llyod-Jones),
Thanks, that was humbling.

I hope you enjoy the beat down as much as I didn't.

Done and Done

2011-09-20T12:16:00.001-04:00

As of about 30 seconds ago I finished my last Sunday sermon for the year. The last Sunday of the year is December 25 and my sermon for that day is going to be from Romans 10:14-21. The first part of that text, v. 11-13, will be preached the week prior and I will conclude it on Christmas day. The title is “How God Saves Sinners” and I intend to highlight The Message Received (v.11-13), The Message Revealed (v.14-17) and The Message Rejected (v.18-21). It should be great fun.

Now, you’re probably wondering how it is I’ve come to know what my sermon on Christmas Day will be before the first day of fall. Well I’ve been preaching through the book of Romans since the first Sunday in last May. By the time I round out Romans 10 that will be over a year and a half in the book with probably another year or better to finish chapters 11-16. So I know where I’m going.

Now I didn’t really mean to get that far ahead. It just kind of happened. A lot of times what happens is I sit down with my Bible and all of my study materials and one paragraph might yield two or three sermons. I originally intended to preach Romans 10:11-21 in one sermon but it was just too much content. So I get ahead in my study. Sometimes the sermons expand in the pulpit while I’m preaching and I don’t finish them until the next week. Other times someone else will be occupying my pulpit on Sundays and I just soldier on in my prep work.

Now I figure being ahead like this only works when you’re committed to verse by verse exposition of a book. I have no clue what I’m going to preach about at my next Wednesday night service because I’m not currently in an expositional series. I just finished Titus on Wednesdays and am in limbo right now. But I would encourage you to at least consider exposition on this scale. I’m confident you will be glad you did and your church will be too.

For one thing you don’t go insane on Saturday nights trying to come up with something for Sunday. It’s done and over. For another thing systematic exposition does allow you to get ahead. So if someone has an emergency surgery this weekend and I’m tied up at the hospital my sermon is already ready to go. Also it’s nice to be able to take some time off. If I go on vacation I can let my brain rest and I can enjoy myself because I’m ahead.

The greatest thing about knowing what’s ahead in your preaching is that it allows you to preach texts with a greater understanding of the context of the book. I know what arguments and counter-arguments are coming in Romans because I’ve already prepared 12 to 13 sermons ahead. To me being able to preach a passage in the context of the book is one of the greatest assets to preaching because it forbids me from wrenching verses out of context. For instance, this past Sunday I preached from Romans 8:28. That verse only works and makes sense in the context of the book of Romans and Romans 9-11 only makes sense when seen in light of Romans 8:28. How do I know that all things work together for God’s people if God’s people Israel rejected their Messiah? Good question, Paul says, let me take three chapters and show you God’s plan for Israel and God’s plan for you.

Now I know that verse by verse exposition like that is nothing short of heresy to some preachers. We have so romanticized the idea of “getting a word from God” or being awake at 4:30 on Sunday morning trying to come up with something to preach that we have forgotten that we already have a word from God in the Word of God. If I am going to preach the word as Paul commanded me to do in 2 Timothy 4:2 then I have to preach a text. If I am going to preach a text I have to preach it in its context or I haven’t really proclaimed “Thus saith the Lord!” I have to know how my text fits into the paragraph, chapter, book and overarching message of scripture in which it’s found. If I haven’t done that then I’ve failed the Lord and my congregation.

I know that some people are convinced that preaching like that will just mean I totally miss God’s will for the church every week and God will never speak to anyone. The thinking is, what happens when I’m preaching from Romans 9 about God’s rejection of Israel and someone is there who needs encouragement for their marriage? Well, that’s God’s business and not mine. If He wants me to preach about marriage He will show me. Otherwise I am confident that the Lord’s sheep hear His voice and from that I can infer that He has just enough sovereignty to make sure that the people who need to hear a particularly text expounded will be there when it is expounded.
(Note: A strong belief in the sovereignty of God will go a long way in pastoral ministry. Also if you struggle believing in the sovereignty of God I wouldn't recommend serious exposition. It might convince you.)

I think verse-by-verse expositional preaching is important because it shows our true confidence. My confidence isn’t in my ability to select just the right text at just the right time. My confidence isn’t how I feel at 10:30 on Sunday morning about this message or that one. Our trust isn’t in a subjective “word from God” but in the revealed Word of God. I don’t just wait around through the week and hope God says something, I pick up what I know God has said, I study it and then I proclaim it. My confidence is in the word of God. God said His word works. Abraham even told the rich man in Hell that the word had more power in the life of sinners than resurrected dead people did. So quit going into your sermon archive and dragging out zombies and preach the living breathing word of God.

I never said that...

2011-09-19T10:31:00.002-04:00

A few months ago I wrote a blog entitled “Healthy Arguing”. It’s in the archives somewhere but don’t bother it isn’t one of my better efforts. Anyway one of the points I tried to make was that in order to be gracious in defending our views and debating our friends is that we have an honest understanding of their position. Basically, instead of arguing against what we think they believe or some monstrous caricature of what we wish they would believe that would make our position look better we actually argue the truth of what they do believe.

So when I’m talking to someone who feels differently about speaking in tongues I don’t automatically assume their church services are as chaotic and loud as Omaha beach. Rather I can, with love that doesn’t look for the worst in people, assume they try to be biblical in their approach and submit to 1 Corinthians 14. Whether they do or not is another issue but it isn’t healthy or intellectually honest for me to talk to my imaginary charismatic friend and assume the worst. It isn’t right for me to argue against something he doesn’t believe or to mock something that I think he believes. I need to understand his position.

I have to listen to people who disagree.

I was reminded of why that is important today when I saw an article on LIFE magazines website (via Tim Challies) about a handful of famous quotes by famous people that were never actually said. There are some that aren’t really important or meaningful coming from movies and entertainers but some of these quotes represented a malicious attempt to humiliate and destroy the person who said it.

One such instance is the whole thing with Sarah Palin’s “I can see Alaska from my house!” quote. Well as any good conservative student of hockey moms and bulldogs with lipstick will tell you, she didn’t say that. Tina Fey did in her impression of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. The impression was done to make Sarah Palin look foolish and in turn it was picked up on by the left-leaning media in an effort to mock and destroy Sarah Palin. It’s easy to see how people who don’t like someone like Sarah Palin can misrepresent her and her position in a way that’s easily damaging.

The same thing happened with Al Gore and his “I invented the internet quote.” He never actually said that but right wing types twisted his words to make it look like he did and then use it against him.

We shouldn’t be surprised when media companies or pundits with financial and political concerns engage in this kind of unloving and malicious behavior. We should be troubled when Christians do it and we should be greatly troubled when we do it. What should trouble our hearts the most is when we engage in this kind of behavior that smears and attacks our brothers in the Lord without even realizing it.

So examine your heart carefully. Are you honest about the positions you are arguing against? Chances are you aren’t and chances are when we blog about the evils of Calvinism, Arminianism, fundamentalism, contemporary-ism or whatever “ism” we happen to hate at the moment even the people we are trying to convert to our own way of thinking have no idea we’re really talking about them.

So if you go on Facebook and attack hypocritical legalistic fundamentalists with their extra-biblical standards and cult like thinking, none of them realize you’re talking about them. They actually think you’re talking about the church down the road that is just a fraction more strict than they are, and if that’s the case they just might agree with you. On the other hand, if they do realize you’re talking about them, they’re going to be hurt because of your dishonesty.

Look honestly at 1 Corinthians 13. You might be able to explain your opinions on ecclesiology and church government very well and very intelligently but if you can't do it from a heart of love it just comes across as a dissonant rattle. Your sermons may be well formed and very impressive but if they're intended to skewer and impale fro ma heart of hatred they are worthless. You might even pull a David Platt and sell your kidneys to give the money to orphans in Central America somewhere but if you don't do it because you love then it's a waste. Love doesn't brag. Love isn't arrogant. Love isn't rude. Love doesn't demand it's on way. Love isn't irritable. Love isn't resentful. Love isn't jealous. Love isn't pleased when one's "enemies" fail. Love isn't excited to win an argument but to win a brother. Love hopes for the best. Love believes the best. Love bears burdens.

So, sure, debate theology and methodology and have fun doing it but let’s keep it real folks.

If you will excuse me, I’m going to go repent for a while.

A Prayer Request

2011-09-17T07:23:00.002-04:00

One of the benefits to having a blog, where people see what's on my mind every day, is that when I have something important to say, I know someone will see it.

Today I have an important prayer request. I would ask you my friends, whether you know me or not, to take my family to the Lord in prayer. He knows the situation entirely and I trust Him fully, suffice to say that coming days and weeks may be very hard for people I love dearly particularly my wife. Her name is Amy by the way. So pray for me, her, and especially her family, which is my family too.

God knows the details and eternal ramifications of every prayer request in ways that we could never fathom. That should humble us and encourage us when we feel weak in prayer. He also has power to accomplish whatever He wills and has made a rock solid commitment to perform His purpose. I also know that all things are working together for good to conform me to the glorious image of His Son. So pray for me, my wife and our family. Pray gratefully, pray boldly, pray humbly and pray well for the glory and of God.

Thank you.

Jesus loves Pat Robertson... I Can't Stand Him

2011-09-16T09:50:00.002-04:00

If you read this blog frequently – people read this blog frequently? – you know I’m no fan of certain elements of the modern church. I mean modern only in the sense of churches that exist today and I am very much trying to broad brush all of us with the word. The one foundational problem I sense in churches today is the man centered gospel that is so prevalent. The gospel being preached today is one that is all about man, his felt needs, his effort to save himself and his eternal happiness. Forget the glory of God, the realities of man spiritual rigor mortis or even the gospel work of Christ. This is all about me, baby.

So what happens when a gospel that allows me to choose God, makes God my servant whose goal is to meet all of my needs, and allows me to cooperate with God in my own salvation takes root in the church? Well, a moron like Pat Robertson stumbles across the stage of the ecclesiastical scene to embarrass himself and anyone around him to serve as a living breathing example of the perverse power of false gospels. Pat Robertson, crusty old guy on the 700 club, has shown the world what a false gospel looks like, how it plays itself out in life and why he shows us exactly why Paul said in the book of Galatians that false gospels weren’t gospels – or good news – at all.

If you’ve been keeping up with the buzz in Christianity this week then you know that Pat Robertson recently said that a man whose wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s was free to leave his wife because she was “no longer there.” Guess what, that isn’t gospel centered living or thinking. It’s stupid and selfish and it’s the logical conclusion of all of Pat’s health and wealth idiocy.
So should we be surprised? I mean after all, surely a God who wants me to be totally satisfied with everything in life wouldn’t want me to be saddled to a wife with Alzheimer’s who stresses me out, strains me financially and makes my life difficult, would He? Surely not. Well guess what Pat Robertson is wrong – not that this is the first time.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5 that a husband is supposed to love his wife the way Christ loved the church. Pop quiz: Have you ever forgotten Christ? Have you ever had spiritual Alzheimer’s and went long periods of time without “being there” in fellowship with Jesus? Does Jesus still love you? Does He still pursue you? Does He still act as a faithful husband? Thank God our Lord Jesus doesn’t take Pat Robertson’s advice. Maybe Pat should take Jesus’ though. Think about it, Alzheimer’s destroys one’ ability to remember people and events, it robs a person of their ability to think clearly leading to a decay in simple motor skills like swallowing and it ultimately has the grizzly effect of robbing someone totally of their mental clarity and personal identity. Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease but how many of us live day to day not being what we should be for the glory of God with our minds focused on everything but what they should be focused on? And yet, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sin when we “come to.”

So Pat Robertson has presented a false portrayal of the gospel and friends it is not good news at all. Robertson’s gospel allows you to be abandoned by your spouse in the hour of greatest need. It allows you to be selfish. It allows you, not to love and to give and to serve, but to be served. It allows you to look out for number one but it doesn’t empower you to bear another’s burdens and fulfill the law of Christ. Most of all it distorts the character of God and impugns the love of Christ. It’s a shame and disgrace to all who call themselves Christians.

But there is one powerful and much needed lesson to be learnt in Robertson’s latest gaffe. We never get very far from the gospel. We often have the misconception that the gospel is just something we needed to hear to be saved or that lost people need in order to be made right with God. But the gospel is more than that. In this case, it is the gospel that teaches me how to be a good and loving and faithful husband. It is the gospel that informs and transforms life. We can’t and won’t ever get far from our understanding of the gospel. It has earth shattering and life changing implications for us. The problem is that when we embrace a false - man-centered - gospel it leads us to a trajectory of selfishness and sin.

We have to get the gospel right or we will never get life right and Pat Robertson proved that.

Tim Keller did a bad bad thing... And why that might be good.

2011-09-14T08:25:00.000-04:00

It seems to be an inevitable truth of ministry that you become like those you admire. You hear a certain preacher you respect preach a text a certain way and for years you look at that same text through his eyes seeing content you previously missed until God used him to bring it to your attention. You read a book and, sometimes even unknowingly, the pastor’s thoughts become your thoughts. We often even pick up the speaking cadence, mannerisms and facial expressions of preachers we like and want to be like.

Of course there is a danger in all of that because we certainly want to be ourselves as much as possible. True ministerial power lies in the Word and the Spirit not in imitation but at the same time we are clearly supposed to have heroes in the faith and we are supposed to model – without mimicking - their behavior. Timothy had Paul. The disciples had Jesus. You have heroes and someone does, or will, have you.
One of the people that I have affixed myself to in the last year or so is Tim Keller. Now I’ve never met Tim Keller but I have been greatly helped by his writings, particularly Counterfeit Gods and the Reason for God. His work on the gospel of Mark, “The King’s Cross” which I read earlier this year is one of the best I’ve read. Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan New York. His speaking and wiring style are engaging and insightful and his way of telling a Bible story and using it to expose the truth in the heart of the text all while making a fast trajectory toward the cross are very refreshing and helpful. I could go on and on about how great he is but I’ll spare you.

But Tim Keller made a mistake.

Here’s where my respect for him takes a unique turn. In a 2008 interview Tim Keller when being asked about his book “The Reason for God” was asked if people who had never heard of Christ had any chance of being saved. The book is essentially a book about presuppositional apologetics and deals with the logic and reason behind various objections to the Christian faith. This question is one he details in the book. In many of the responses Keller uses the text from Deuteronomy 29:29 to explain that there are some things that we would like to know about God and His plan in the world that are simply not for us to know. When asked this question about the fate of those who hadn’t heard of Christ Keller responded by saying something to the effect of, “I know what the Bible says but I don’t know everything there is to know about every subject.”

Tim Keller was wrong.

Here’s the best part. Tim Keller has now admitted he was wrong. Actually he says that as soon as he said it in the interview he realized that he had made a mistake that was potentially damaging and apologized shortly thereafter. For whatever reason the apology didn’t get as much attention as his foolish statement did so he re-apologized and re-retracted his statement.

Every pastor makes mistakes. Sometimes it’s a slip of the tongue in the pulpit and sometimes it’s something careless said outside of it. Regardless we are all sinners and we all fail. A powerful lesson from the life of Tim Keller in this instance is that often we can’t outrun our mistakes. Sure, God forgives us in Christ for our faults and sins but the fact that Keller is dealing with this three years after the fact should be a sobering reality check for those of us who, to some degree, live in the spotlight of public scrutiny.

Keller was wrong but he (from what I know anyway) is right in how he handled his error and to me that is a behavior worth imitating. Like I said, all pastors make mistakes. Often though those mistakes aren’t confessed and confronted the way this one was in Tim Keller’s life. Sometimes, due to pride pastors cover up their mistakes afraid of what transparency will do to their ministry. Unfortunately many pastors disobey the clear command of Romans 12:3 and think much more of themselves than they should. They think their must always be a mystical fog of perfection surrounding the pastor and that the people of the church must be convinced the pastor is faultless. Because of that their sin is covered and hidden instead of exposed and confessed. Many pastors are afraid of how exposing sin in their lives will impact the future of their ministry. There are many public sins that disqualify a person from ministry and there are many private sins that simply don’t need to be made everyone’s business but when one errs publically, as Keller did, then it must be dealt with as widely as it can be. Don’t deny your imperfections and cover your mistakes. Embrace them in order to embrace grace.

Pastor, when you sin do you deny it, ignore it, hide it or confess it and forsake it? What do you expect your people to do? What does God command you to do? What is the path to grace and blessing? Is it humility or pride keeping you from doing what is right and admitting you have been wrong? Tim Keller got it right after getting it very wrong. God help the rest of us imperfect pastors to do the same.

Seeker (in)Sensitive

2011-09-12T09:10:00.002-04:00

Do you know I’ve just now learnt to eat broccoli? That’s not to say I was a picky eater growing up but my general loathing for all things green has only finally started to change in the last few years. In fact, like most people, I pretty much despise and distrust anything that is different. Ergo growing up in and pastoring churches that are considered “old fashioned” I cast a leery eye toward anyone that uses a different model of worship than what I am used to.

What I’m trying to say is please leave your guitar unplugged and your shirt would probably look better tucked in. Ok, I’m not that bad and all things considered I am quite tolerant of people who “do church” differently. I’m actually pretty tolerant of people who actually use the phrase “do church” with a straight face. The problem is that the model of worship that is taking over churches is based on a singular unbiblical principle that betrays itself as erroneous and ineffective from the beginning.

The seeker sensitive movement has been en vogue, in various incarnations and forms, for many years here in the United States but is just recently starting to infiltrate the solid south. Now, some things about “old fashioned” worship are solidly unbiblical and desperately need to change. Other things are merely matters of opinion, taste or preference and nothing would be lost if they were changed. In fact, both seeker sensitive models and the more traditional versions of old fashioned worship that many people in my area are used to are based soundly in bad theology that distorts the goal and the method of worship. The only difference is about fifty years worth of cultural relevance.

The problem is that it is assumed, by more than just those who consider themselves “seeker sensitive”, that there are actual seekers. In turn this makes the whole scheme of the service revolve around people who are lost. Church is about lost people. Or the unchurched if you prefer. Or the dechurched. (Though no one is cool enough to see themselves as a missionary to the “churched” people around who have a steady dose of religion without actually knowing Christ. Here’s a tip people, Jesus hung out with Pharisees too. Look it up.) So you have this crowd of people that are disenfranchised or disengaged with the church. The enterprising pastor recognizes that people who don’t come to church probably have had bad experiences with churches and pastors before so he starts up a church – or a connection point – with the expectations of this group in mind. What kind of music will this place have? Well, what kind do they like? What kind of preaching – make that teaching – will we have? Well, what kind will feel relevant to these people that aren’t going to churches that already exist? What kind of atmosphere will we have? Well, what are these people used to getting at the places they frequent, including night clubs and shopping malls?

Problem: None of these people are actually seeking God and none of these peripheral changes can make them seek God. That is the fatal blow to the “seeker sensitive” model of ministry. There are no seekers. Remember Romans 3? Are people dissatisfied with church? Of course. Are people looking for meaning, purpose, peace, fulfillment, love, community and a dozen other things they can only find in Christ? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean they’re looking for Christ Himself. In fact, like most people that Jesus ran in to in the gospels they would probably be just fine if Jesus took care of all of their problems, did a few special tricks every now and then and kept them safe from Hell even if they didn’t actually have Jesus. None seeks after God…

So, the seeker sensitive model is based on a bad theology. It is based on the understanding that men on their own are looking for God. Well, they’re not but what happens when the church uses this flawed, but well intentioned, notion as a foundation for their church plants and formats? The only natural result is that church becomes more about the experience and the model than it does about worship. After all the church service doesn’t exist to worship the Lord but to “reach people”. The church also doesn’t exist to equip the saints but to make people feel welcome. The only thing is that that isn’t very consistent with the New Testament. To make matters worse many people who loathe the seeker sensitive model of ministry because it attacks their beloved “old fashioned” sensibilities about church don’t realize that they are in the same theological waters.

For instance, why does a seeker sensitive pastor change the churches music to something more upbeat and contemporary? It’s done to be familiar to those outside of the church so that they will feel more comfortable and hopefully engage in –plug in - the worship portion of the service. In short, it’s done to appeal to the will of men. Why do old fashioned churches sing half the songs they do, add “just one more verse” and drag out invitations? Well, the answer is obvious, they too are trying to appeal to the will of men.

In fact what happens when men try to appeal to the will of men with methods and techniques is God’s method of ministry is abandoned. Read 1 Corinthians 1. God’s plan to grow the church, to save sinners and to display His wisdom is to preach the gospel of His crucified and resurrected Son. God doesn’t care about your stupid techniques, ideas, innovations and methods that are going to get people “plugged in, on fire, connected” or whatever else. God commands you to preach Christ, that is His method that He has guaranteed He would bless. As long as you’re doing anything else then the news people hear from your church will always be about your church and not about Christ, and no matter how big you get, how much you grow or how many people you reach the news about your church will never be as good as the news about Christ.

Of course all of this begs the question, "Why does the corporate worship service exist anyway?" Does the church meet together in order to see peopled saved? Does the service exist to encourage the saints and meet their needs? Or does the worship service exist to glorify God? I don't think its ever wise to put these ideas into competition with each other. I do know this much though, if a church wants to see sinners saved, saints lifted up and equipped for ministry and if they want to see the God of Heaven exalted then they must preach the gospel. That is the means by which all of these noble goals are achieved.

So preach the gospel.

Or quit.

Your Church Name is Horrible.

2011-09-01T08:55:00.002-04:00

Today, church names are all the rage. Ironically church names often don’t even have the name church in them. After all, “churches” have boring things like business meetings and pastors and those things aren’t very marketable in the crucial 18-25 unmarried demographic. Realizing that deception sells, a new generation of church planters and re-planters is popping up with a whole crop of new church name ideas. Though I am still very much stuck in the past when it comes to my theology please don’t ever mistake my ancient roots for a lack of awesomeness. So I thought, for those thinking of starting a new church or rebranding an existing one, I would share a few ideas about how to come up with a successful church name.

1. Think creatively – Ok, so you’re at a church now that is 400 years old and is named after some archaic community that doesn’t even exist anymore. How can you incorporate that name that everyone knows with something everyone will love because it’s so cool? Cool is certainly relative but it’s everything in church these days. People used to pray for the power of God now they pray for cool – it may not even possible to have God’s power if you’re not cool – the research isn’t back yet. So anyway you’re stuck at lame old Mountain View Baptist Church (if you’re reading this within a 500 mile radius of here you have one in your town, I guarantee it) what to do? Easy. Drop the Church – too restrictive. Drop the Baptist – too negative. Add a definite article and drop the modifier. What do you have left? “The View”

“The View” is cool. The problem with that example is that it reminds people of that stupid show with Joy Behar on it and no one likes her. Even Joy Behar doesn’t like Joy Behar and the last thing you want on Sunday morning is for Joy Behar to show up at church so “The View” may not be the best example but you get the idea. Other acceptable ideas are “The Ridge”, “The River”, “The Road”, or even “The Grove” - the prophets of Baal will love that one. The thing is people today don’t go to “churches” but they are more comfortable going to a “Ridge”. It’s just like how in World War II the Germans dressed up like American paratroopers and jumped behind American lines and turned around all of the road signs in the Battle of the Bulge. The first step to effective evangelism is to confuse your enemy… friend… target… whatever. You get it.

2. To be or not to be? – One of the worst things you can do is maintain a denominational label in your church name. Now that is a pretty strict rule but it doesn’t apply to you if you’re starting a Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, Assemblies of God, Church of God, Church of Christ, Presbyterian (PCUSA), Presbyterian (PCA) or Presbyterian (OPC), church. Any of those names are fine. You just can’t start a Baptist church with the name Baptist in it. Everyone knows nobody likes Baptists, even most Baptists don’t like Baptists. So be Baptist by all means, join the association even, but don’t tell anyone.

Acceptable substitutes for the term Baptists are preferably “Bible” or “Community”. On second thought those terms may be better than Baptist anyway given what I know about most Baptists.

3. Be Relevant – Make sure your church name is something people can relate to from their cultural experience. Research would indicate that given the modern climate of church and the most popular pop-culture events of the past decade the best church name you could possibly have is “The Dharma Initiative”. You will notice there is a strong cultural reference with NO reference to the word “church” or “Baptist” while still tapping into people’s pre-programmed cultural identity. If you use either of those names for your church you will have 300 next Sunday guaranteed.

4. Sub-Titles are everything – If you notice when you read books – though sometimes I wonder if the people who read this blog read books – they often have sub-titles. That’s where they tell you more than just what they said in the three or four word title. The sub-title describes the book and your church needs a sub-title. Chances are your church already has one because this is something churches have been doing for years which is why you see church signs with things on them like, “Where Jesus is still Alive” or something. Of course that’s not very well thought out because the last I checked our Lord and Savior was alive everywhere so you need to have something well thought out yet simultaneously vague in order to attract your key group. Something like, “A Connection Point” or “A Meeting Place”.

I actually have already put a lot of thought into this, so here’s how I imagine it working out…

If I could start my own church and have my own tag line it would be like this… (Close your eyes… Wait, this is all words on a screen, if you close your eyes you’ll never see the rest of it…Anyway, imagine a church filled with hip young people, old people are NOT welcome because A) they’re too needy B) they’re stuck in the past and C) they’re not cool. Instead of stained glass windows we have night club lights that are so cool you’ve never been anywhere in this country that would have had them. Instead of pews we have theater seats with cup holders designed to hold a premium 16 ounce half-caf soy mocha latte. (If you don’t know what that is you’re not invited.) No one brings a Bible because we all have the Bible on our Ipads and Android phones. The pulpit – or maybe a stool – is made of some very cheap industrial looking metal. By now I have several tattoos and facial hair because it helps you relate. You’ve come to this church because you’ve heard how different we are. The name has been the buzz word on everyone’s lips around town for months. A lot of the older type churches are furious that some of their younger people are flocking to this cool new congregation in the center of town. The pastors of these churches are ready to crucify me because of how “different” and “untraditional” I am. It’s that unwillingness to bend to the religious elite that attracted you to this church – experience – to begin with. You walk up the sidewalk to the church and there you see it, the church name and it reads…)

“The Green Room” – Think about that! Like how on TV they’re always in the “green room” before they go on.

Then underneath that is our church – well our community’s – tagline. Ready?

“Be!”

The Green Room: Be!

Zondervan, call me.

Time for pork and pickin'!

2011-08-25T12:14:00.001-04:00

Just to let my loyal subjects know that our church will be having our annual BBQ and Bluegrass sing-a-thon this Saturday evening. If you don’t have any plans this weekend and like good food and good bluegrass music you’re more than welcome to attend. We will start serving food at 4 and the singing will begin at 6.

Directions:
From anywhere: Take I-40 to exit 104 Enola Rd. and head toward the smell of cooked pork and the sound of banjo music. If you’re coming from 40 West take a right off the interstate and if you’re coming from the East take a left on Enola. Proceed a few miles (four-ish?) until you see our church sign. Take a right there on Watershed Road and our outside shed/pavilion/tabernacle/stomping grounds is about three miles on your left.

We would love to have you and the event is free. Yours truly will be there early Saturday morning cooking the food and I will be signing autographs during the event. The cost of an autograph is 100 American dollars with all profits going to charity. Namely, Wells Fargo who holds the note on my mortgage.

Come if you can.

The Loving Proprietor of the Chapel Door Experience,
Rev. Jesse A. Carr (not esq.)