Tag Archives: Gospel

Strategies to Keep from Falling

15 Wednesday Dec 2010

Posted by in Book Discussion, Theology

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What should pastors do to keep their noses clean…or, as we say in the Christian world, themselves pure?  Randy Alcorn has an article which has been highly distributed over the years which I would like to comment on.

In 1989, the book Sins of the Body was published in The Leadership Library, edited by Terry Muck.  It featured articles written by a wide variety of Christian authors.  The article which shares the same name as this blog post, was written by Randy Alcorn.  Christianity Today has the article available on its website here. Recently, some folks asked me what I thought of Randy Alcorn.  It’s been a significant amount of time since I’ve read a book by him, but I wanted to sketch out the apprehension I have for Alcorn using this article as a foil.

My operating assumption is that Randy Alcorn doesn’t understand law and gospel properly and therefore gives rather toxic advice.  Alcorn offers himself as the example instead of Christ and in doing so, contributes to the problem.

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Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

12 Sunday Dec 2010

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This is probably my favorite Advent hymn. I love the original two verses by Wesley, but I especially appreciate the first half of verse 3, penned by Mark Hunt.

I’m a bit of a hum-bug about Christmas, but hymns like this really do prepare my heart (through the truth of the Gospel presented therein) for the celebration of our Substitute’s birth.

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Getting Used to Justification

08 Monday Nov 2010

Posted by in Book Discussion, Personal, Theology

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For my Spiritual and Ministry Formation class, we’re assigned blog summaries in which we interact with material assigned the previous week.  This week’s assignment was to read the Lutheran view of Sanctification as discussed in Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification, edited by Donald Alexander, published by IVP.  The Lutheran view was articulated by Gerhard Forde.  I figured I’d share my assignment on my blog.

Dr. Forde begins his discussion of sanctification as “the art of getting used to the unconditional justification wrought by the grace of God for Jesus’ sake.  It is what happens when we are grasped by the fact that God alone justifies.”  In other words, Dr. Forde asserts that sanctification is the natural byproduct of justification and thus, all of it is indeed brought about by none other than the Christ who bought us.  Many people view sanctification as the “getting down to business” of the Christian life.  It’s what we bring to the table after Christ saves us and is (so it is thought, anyway) the way we stay in God’s good graces.  This is, Dr. Forde asserts, “entirely false.  According to Scripture, God is always the acting subject, even in sanctification. ”

Repeatedly, Dr. Forde calls attention to the dangers of speaking of sanctification.  All the discussion appeals to the old man, he says, becoming a verbal exercise which sounds very impressive, but lacking the necessary foundation of love which the old man is completely incapable of laying himself.

Sanctification, as well as justification, is rooted in the unconditional promise of God.  This is something the old man does not know how to handle because “as old beings, we simply cannot understand or cope with the unconditional promise of justification pronounced in the name of Jesus.  What we don’t see is that what the unconditional promose is calling forth is a new being.  The justification of God promised in Jesus is not an ‘offer’ made to us as old beings; [instead,] it is our end, our death.”

Are you putting YOUR old man to death?

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Quoting myself

26 Tuesday Oct 2010

Posted by in Personal, Theology

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I’ve decided to switch up my email and have been converting it over to another GMail account (all my accounts are still used and checked; I’m simply running everything from an online ‘hub’ rather than from Outlook for the sake of my convenience).  In the process, lots of random emails from the last 4 years have come across my screen.  One of them contained a reflection I wrote in December of 2008.  It reads,

It fascinates me that people are willing to talk about their feelings, but not deal with the actual Scriptural realities behind what they believe and are called to do in Christ.

Are you listening to anyone except yourself?

I don’t recall the context; it was a retort to something on a forum of which I used to be a part.  But I can’t say much has changed.  People would rather air their feelings about God instead of do the hard work of searching out what the Bible says about this concern or that situation.  Call it a product of my ENTJness, but seriously…WWBD? (That’s “What Would the Bereans Do?”) 😉

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Start with the Text, Not with the Commentary

18 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by in Personal, Theology

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Jay Sklar, a professor at Covenant Theological Seminary, has a little ritual in his classes.  In his class greeting, he and the class say,

Sklar: Shalom, class.

Class: Shalom, Jay.

Start with the Text…

…not with the commentary.

Context…

…is king.

I once sat in a church where, at the beginning of the sermon, the pastor told his congregation that he’d consulted 20 different commentaries, 13 of which validated his interpretation of the text.  Aside from that being only slightly extreme, I think this pastor missed the point entirely of using commentaries.  He seemed to have started with his own presupposition first and then ran a tally count of people who agreed with him, going to the text last.

Bryan Chapell, former pres. of CTS

Bryan Chapell, in his book, Christ-Centered Preaching, pg. 74, makes the following assertion:

You must think through what Scripture says in order to be able to expound adequately and apply meaningfully what commentators say.  No commentator has room to write down all the implications, insights and truths given in a text.  no distant educator or long-dead scholar knows your situation or your congregation’s concerns.  It is not wise habitually to run to commentaries as the first step of sermon preparation, lest your thoughts start running in a groove carved by one not in touch with what you need to address.

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The Holy Spirit Spoke to Me!!

29 Wednesday Sep 2010

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The Holy Spirit said *what* to him??

Lately, some folks have been totally taken over by frenzy.  They put down their Bibles and want to reach out to God in another way.  These guys criticize others who preach from the Bible, saying that we’re “just following the dead letter of the law.”  Here’s what I want to ask them: where do they get this Spirit that shows so much contempt for biblical teaching as being so low and childish?  If they want to tell me that it’s the Spirit of Christ, I’d tell them they’re being ridiculous!

None of the apostles or early church-goers were ever taught to hold the Bible in such contempt…not by the Holy Spirit.  Instead, they had great respect for it…dare I even use the very old-fashioned word ‘reverence’?  The Holy Spirit taught of His ruling over His people when he spoke through Isaiah, after all:  “My Spirit is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring…forevermore” (59:21).  This is the way the Church is happy: by being ruled over by the Spirit of God in his Word!

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An interesting interaction

04 Saturday Sep 2010

Posted by in Personal

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Last night, I was working at the store and a Oneness Pentecostal guy came in.  I told him I had relatives that had gone to ABI (Apostolic Bridal Bible Institute) and instantly he wanted to talk, which was cool.

It was a fascinating discussion.  We talked about imputed righteousness, eschatology, holy living, the marks of a true Christian…all in the space of one hour.  I was in it more to hear how he heard my questions and how I might ask them better of someone I’m trying to share the gospel with, so it was a fruitful time.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him, however, that not only was I not baptized “in Jesus’ Name,” but that I’ve never spoken in tongues.  He did get to the point however, where he would refer to himself and me in terms I’d relate to “the invisible Church.” He put a high premium on inspiration (his own) through sermon prep and even at one point claimed to have seen the backside of God in a dream.

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Injurious Comments from “Brothers”

23 Monday Aug 2010

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About a month ago, a man who purports to be a brother in the faith wrote this on my mother’s facebook wall:

In his blog, your son says he is a homosexual and says his primary attraction is to men.  He does not say that he has struggled with temptations to such sins…he calls himself a full fledged homosexual.

I have no idea about his state of repentance but I’m sure you would agree…..that it is totally inappropriate for one who calls himself a homosexual to be teaching in church or leading worship.  This is exacerbated by a purposeful hiding of this lifestyle so that he can participate in church leadership roles that would never be knowingly allowed by our elders. Continue reading →