What really prompted my research into the topic of my last post is my own journey through discontentment which has been a large struggle this season. Ever since my return from Texas my schedule and sleeping pattern have been off and I've found it a great challenge to regularly connect with God. I blamed my work situation, thinking if work improved I might find more joy and be in a better position to serve the Lord. I also projected that blame on my living situation, marital status, etc. Then I looked around and noticed I was every bit the grumbling malcontent as the non-believers around me, if not more.
I started examining our culture built largely around violating the tenth commandment (covetousness), not just coveting material wealth but a wholesale coveting of a change of scenery to the social, political, & physical environment God has placed us in. In and out of our churches we're told that with ideal conditions we will truly live gloriously. The problem is that we've made an idol out of our ideals and instead of finding contentment that can only come through a close walk with Christ we think we can find contentment elsewhere. Over and over we're just buying into the lie that the serpent told Eve in the Garden of Eden.
History has told us that there is no escape from the "evils" of this world because the evil of this world is human nature. Adam & Eve were in an ideal setting and still sinned. Cain, the organic farmer who knew nothing about capitalism and wasn't "polluted" by Hollywood or public education still managed to kill his righteous brother, Able. When God led Israel to the promised land, they just perverted it by following false gods and committing every sin know to man within that promised land. In more recent history the Pilgrims began colonizing America using the egalitarian model of their Anabaptist counterparts in Europe. But unlike their European counterparts, their was no surrounding society to act as a safety net if their system should falter. What inevitably happened is that the colony almost starved to death and they had to switch to a capitalist model in which there were more external incentives to be productive, which is why a capitalist system dominated the landscape when this nation was founded.
The current problem today in our culture seems largely coming from two areas, the eastern ideologies (that they tried to implement in China and the Soviet Union which gave birth to disastrous results due to the gross miscalculation in human nature) have been imported into this country through Progressivism and the church has had a softening of its stance on the fallen condition of man since the Second Great Awakening nearly two centuries ago. This is why I believe political activists, Unitarians, and "Pantheist Christians" are often treated like Bible scholars, claiming they have uncovered the "real gospel" (manifesto) of Jesus.
Inversely, what the scripture teaches is that Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim. 6:6) and that Christ's love is strong enough to give us joy through the circumstances God has placed us in (James 1:2-4). The good news is the message that eternal life and sustainable joy are in a relationship with Christ. Christ's parting words is that we should be in the business of making disciples of all nations and what we see from the acts of the apostles and the epistles of the New Testament is making disciples was their business. Paul was so adamant about this goal he even took up side work as a tent maker to produce more capital for the churches and missionary work inbetween his beatings, stonings, and imprisonment. Slaves weren't told to abandon their masters but to serve them in all respect and humility. Paul did not attempt to subvert Caesar's authority but did attempt to convert him to Christianity. Soldiers (such as Cornelius in Acts and the ones that approached Jesus and John the Baptist) were commended for their faith and told to continue on in their present occupation and be content with their wages. Married believers were told to remain faithful to their spouses and exemplify the love of Christ in order that they may come to faith. Over and over the message is that through the love of Christ we can and should be content stewards with the lot God has given us.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
False gods & Blind Guides: The Social Gospel in America
The church of western culture has by and large traded off the classic Gospel of fallen man, sinful in nature, redeemed by a sovereign God through the atoning sacrifice of His Son on the cross as imputed righteousness. It's not just the mainline churches that are guilty of this but reformed, fundamentalist, liberal, emergent, etc. have largely forsaken Christ's teaching "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34) for a gospel of Utopia.
From the Marxist, Anarchy, or Communist "Christian" to the moralist "Christian" to the "I'm Ok, You're Ok, So Let's Make the World a Love Fest Christian" the core of the message is all the same; that if we follow a particular program we should expect our best life now. Now that "best life" may be defined differently. For some it's monetary wealth, for others it's magically cohesive relationships, for others it's perfectly balanced emotional well-being. But make no mistake, it's just the same message in different packaging.
Regardless of church positions and doctrinal statements the pervasiveness of this self-help gospel is evident everywhere. It is independent Americanism with a Christian label. It is the belief that a person can pull oneself up by his bootstraps to create an enjoyable life in the here and now.
At the center of the problem is the downplay on the total depravity and spiritual deadness of man. (Romans 5:12, Ephesians 2:1-3, Colossians 2:13, Genesis 6:5, Ecclesiastes 9:3, Jeremiah 17:9, John 3:19, Romans 8:7-8, John 8:34, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:9-12, Jeremiah 13:23). In the contemporary gospel there is little room for talk about sin. Repentance is misunderstood as feelings of guilt if repentance is mentioned at all.
Without a true understanding of the condition of man the power of the cross and Jesus' life on earth are messages the church can shape any way they want. Eastern ideologies which only survive in theoretical vacuums because they're built on the idea that human nature is basically good and just needs the right conditions to thrive, like Marxism, classical anarchy, Communism, existentialism, etc. have become trendy in post-modern churches that like to play "dress-up Barbie" with the identity of Jesus, portraying Him as a pacifist or anti-capitalist whose hidden message was to overthrow established government to set up earthly Utopia. On the other hand, Jesus is portrayed in more traditional churches as a "nun-in-the-sky" waiting to slap your hand with the ruler of correction the moment you break a rule or do something socially taboo, trying to bring about Utopia through behavior modification. Then you have "vending-machine-Jesus" that dispenses whatever you want if you're polite and nice enough to everyone, trying to bring about a Kindergarten Utopia.
Secular sociologist, Marsha G. Witten, wrote a book in the late 1990's titled "All is Forgiven: The Secular Message in American Protestantism" that took a cross-section of 47 sermons from various churches with the message of the prodigal son. Her conclusion was that no matter what the denomination the ultimate message was a do-it-yourself guide to personal satisfaction, book-ended with prayer and a few mentions of God or Christ thrown in to mark itself as religious content. She also concluded that a person could just as easily find a multitude of alternative resources that offered and just as often produced similar results. The softened demeanor of God in today's churches she noted held sharp contrast to the "transcendent, majestic, awesome God of Luther and Calvin."
While the God of Paul, Luther, and Calvin called us to rejoice in our trials and sufferings and to persevere so that Christ's glory may be known we have opted for a god who tells us to flee from all that is uncomfortable and only count as blessing the same that any pagan would count as blessing. The behavior and attitude for today's professing Christian looks nearly identical to the non-believer in all situations. Nobody is asking us for the reason of our hope (1 Peter 3:15) because our hope is placed in this world.
1 Corinthians 15:19 "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."
"It is a mistake to suppose that evangelical sermons are a special brand of sermons, having their own peculiar style and conventions; evangelistic sermons are just scriptural sermons, the sort of sermons that a man cannot help preaching if he is preaching the Bible biblically. Proper sermons seek to expound and apply what is in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is just the whole counsel of God for man's salvation; all Scripture bears witness, in one way or another, to Christ, and all biblical themes relate to Him. All sermons, therefore, will of necessity declare Christ in some fashion and so be more or less directly evangelistic." ~J.I. Packer Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
From the Marxist, Anarchy, or Communist "Christian" to the moralist "Christian" to the "I'm Ok, You're Ok, So Let's Make the World a Love Fest Christian" the core of the message is all the same; that if we follow a particular program we should expect our best life now. Now that "best life" may be defined differently. For some it's monetary wealth, for others it's magically cohesive relationships, for others it's perfectly balanced emotional well-being. But make no mistake, it's just the same message in different packaging.
Regardless of church positions and doctrinal statements the pervasiveness of this self-help gospel is evident everywhere. It is independent Americanism with a Christian label. It is the belief that a person can pull oneself up by his bootstraps to create an enjoyable life in the here and now.
At the center of the problem is the downplay on the total depravity and spiritual deadness of man. (Romans 5:12, Ephesians 2:1-3, Colossians 2:13, Genesis 6:5, Ecclesiastes 9:3, Jeremiah 17:9, John 3:19, Romans 8:7-8, John 8:34, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:9-12, Jeremiah 13:23). In the contemporary gospel there is little room for talk about sin. Repentance is misunderstood as feelings of guilt if repentance is mentioned at all.
Without a true understanding of the condition of man the power of the cross and Jesus' life on earth are messages the church can shape any way they want. Eastern ideologies which only survive in theoretical vacuums because they're built on the idea that human nature is basically good and just needs the right conditions to thrive, like Marxism, classical anarchy, Communism, existentialism, etc. have become trendy in post-modern churches that like to play "dress-up Barbie" with the identity of Jesus, portraying Him as a pacifist or anti-capitalist whose hidden message was to overthrow established government to set up earthly Utopia. On the other hand, Jesus is portrayed in more traditional churches as a "nun-in-the-sky" waiting to slap your hand with the ruler of correction the moment you break a rule or do something socially taboo, trying to bring about Utopia through behavior modification. Then you have "vending-machine-Jesus" that dispenses whatever you want if you're polite and nice enough to everyone, trying to bring about a Kindergarten Utopia.
Secular sociologist, Marsha G. Witten, wrote a book in the late 1990's titled "All is Forgiven: The Secular Message in American Protestantism" that took a cross-section of 47 sermons from various churches with the message of the prodigal son. Her conclusion was that no matter what the denomination the ultimate message was a do-it-yourself guide to personal satisfaction, book-ended with prayer and a few mentions of God or Christ thrown in to mark itself as religious content. She also concluded that a person could just as easily find a multitude of alternative resources that offered and just as often produced similar results. The softened demeanor of God in today's churches she noted held sharp contrast to the "transcendent, majestic, awesome God of Luther and Calvin."
While the God of Paul, Luther, and Calvin called us to rejoice in our trials and sufferings and to persevere so that Christ's glory may be known we have opted for a god who tells us to flee from all that is uncomfortable and only count as blessing the same that any pagan would count as blessing. The behavior and attitude for today's professing Christian looks nearly identical to the non-believer in all situations. Nobody is asking us for the reason of our hope (1 Peter 3:15) because our hope is placed in this world.
1 Corinthians 15:19 "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."
"It is a mistake to suppose that evangelical sermons are a special brand of sermons, having their own peculiar style and conventions; evangelistic sermons are just scriptural sermons, the sort of sermons that a man cannot help preaching if he is preaching the Bible biblically. Proper sermons seek to expound and apply what is in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is just the whole counsel of God for man's salvation; all Scripture bears witness, in one way or another, to Christ, and all biblical themes relate to Him. All sermons, therefore, will of necessity declare Christ in some fashion and so be more or less directly evangelistic." ~J.I. Packer Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Faith in Religion vs. Faith in Grace
Because this man can say it better than me, I'll let him speak.
... and a bit of Mr. Washer to wash it down with.
... and a bit of Mr. Washer to wash it down with.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Is it okay for God to effectively love those who don't love Him?
"I shudder to remember the day she [my daughter, Ashley] almost died when she was roughly two years old.
"At that time we lived off a busy street next to the football stadium of the University of Washington. Beyond our front porch there were perhaps twenty feet of property followed by a sidewalk and then four lanes of nearly constant heavy traffic. One day, when we opened the front door to walked to our parked car, Ashley started running toward the street, so we chased her, grabbed her, and carefully explained to her that she was never to run away from us again toward the traffic. She did not fully understand what we were saying; she just thought it was fun that we would chase her. To her, the whole thing was basically a playtime game. For some weeks she stayed near us as we went to put her in the car... until one nearly fateful day.
"As we were loading her newborn brother, Zachariah Blaise, into the car, she turned from my side and ran as fast as she could toward the busy street. She was exercising her free will and made her own decision for her life. In panic, I cried out to her, essentially preaching repentance to her, pleading her to turn around and return to her daddy. She foolishly did not respond, and I will never forget the smile on her face and the look in her eye as she ran toward the street, thinking we were playing a game and not seeing the death that awaited her.
"Ashley ran in front of a vehicle parked on the side of the road. As I sprinted toward her, I looked to my left at the oncoming traffic and saw a large delivery truck rumbling down the road, right in the lane where Ashley was about to step. To make matters even worse, she was so short that the truck driver would never see her if she came out from behind the parked car, and I was certain that my daughter was going to die in front of my eyes. I closed in on her just as she stepped into the lane of the oncoming delivery truck. She was a few steps into the street when I grabbed her by the back of her vest and literally pulled her out of the way of the truck. She was a few steps into the street when I grabbed her by the back of her vest and literally pulled her out of the way of the truck. Everything happened so fast that the truck driver did not have time to hit the horn or the brakes. My daughter's life was spared by just inches.
"With one arm, I reached out and overrode the free-will decision of my daughter and saved her. I did this because my love for her is more important than her free will.
"Tragically, I have heard a well-known Christian radio show host explain the Reformed view of predetination as God being a rapist rather than a lover because God overrides the free will of some people. My heart brakes every time I hear that kind of statement, because rapists are not the only people who impose their will on others; sometimes so do loving daddies who want their kids to live. They reach out their hand to ensure they are saved from death.
"Being a daddy myself, the predestinating hand of God the Father reaching down to me through Jesus makes me worship him for being such an amazing Dad."
~Pastor Mark Driscoll, pg. 102-103 "Religion Saves + nine other misconceptions"
"At that time we lived off a busy street next to the football stadium of the University of Washington. Beyond our front porch there were perhaps twenty feet of property followed by a sidewalk and then four lanes of nearly constant heavy traffic. One day, when we opened the front door to walked to our parked car, Ashley started running toward the street, so we chased her, grabbed her, and carefully explained to her that she was never to run away from us again toward the traffic. She did not fully understand what we were saying; she just thought it was fun that we would chase her. To her, the whole thing was basically a playtime game. For some weeks she stayed near us as we went to put her in the car... until one nearly fateful day.
"As we were loading her newborn brother, Zachariah Blaise, into the car, she turned from my side and ran as fast as she could toward the busy street. She was exercising her free will and made her own decision for her life. In panic, I cried out to her, essentially preaching repentance to her, pleading her to turn around and return to her daddy. She foolishly did not respond, and I will never forget the smile on her face and the look in her eye as she ran toward the street, thinking we were playing a game and not seeing the death that awaited her.
"Ashley ran in front of a vehicle parked on the side of the road. As I sprinted toward her, I looked to my left at the oncoming traffic and saw a large delivery truck rumbling down the road, right in the lane where Ashley was about to step. To make matters even worse, she was so short that the truck driver would never see her if she came out from behind the parked car, and I was certain that my daughter was going to die in front of my eyes. I closed in on her just as she stepped into the lane of the oncoming delivery truck. She was a few steps into the street when I grabbed her by the back of her vest and literally pulled her out of the way of the truck. She was a few steps into the street when I grabbed her by the back of her vest and literally pulled her out of the way of the truck. Everything happened so fast that the truck driver did not have time to hit the horn or the brakes. My daughter's life was spared by just inches.
"With one arm, I reached out and overrode the free-will decision of my daughter and saved her. I did this because my love for her is more important than her free will.
"Tragically, I have heard a well-known Christian radio show host explain the Reformed view of predetination as God being a rapist rather than a lover because God overrides the free will of some people. My heart brakes every time I hear that kind of statement, because rapists are not the only people who impose their will on others; sometimes so do loving daddies who want their kids to live. They reach out their hand to ensure they are saved from death.
"Being a daddy myself, the predestinating hand of God the Father reaching down to me through Jesus makes me worship him for being such an amazing Dad."
~Pastor Mark Driscoll, pg. 102-103 "Religion Saves + nine other misconceptions"
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
to those who by grace had believed (Acts 18:27)
Whoa, wait a second. Did I read that right? Did Luke just give away all my credit of belief to grace? But wasn't it by putting my faith in the grace of Christ that saved me?
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8
Wow, Paul. You're stealing my thunder here. But I at least get some props for repentance. After all Mr. Robinson said, "faith without repentance makes Christ nothing more than a fire escape. There must be a work of repentance and faith upon the sinner's heart before salvation can become a reality."
But Paul's desire was that "God may perhaps grant [sinners] repentance." 2 Timothy 2:25
______
So long as I believe something within me autonomously chose God I have made a nest for religious pride. I can boast in the things that brought me to faith, thinking I deserve some credit or at least I was somehow able to choose rightly when the gospel was presented to me. I may then go on to prosthelytize all my religious nuances with an elitist, judgemental attitude for those who don't adopt my practices, goading them on by guilt and manipulation... or slip into a fatalistic laissez faire attitude by resting my faith in a one time act of repentance rather than the one who brought me to a life of repentance (turning away from Sin and towards God). But in light of Scripture I know that Salvation from start to finish is the work of God and there is nothing left for me to boast in but Jesus... not my choosing Him but Him choosing me even while I was at enmity with the Almighty.
(see Ez. 36.26-27, Matt. 16.17, 1 Cor. 2.12-14, 2 Cor. 3.3,6, 2 Thess.2.13-14, Titus 3:5)
And if I should take pride in my knowledge of His sovereign grace then I am failing to understand it because it is only by His Spirit and His grace these truths have been illuminated to me and even yet I am merely at the threshold of understanding the riches of God's grace that are the only thing that can rightly motivate and sustain me to a life of service for His glory in joy and gratitude for His unfathomable love for one so ill-deserving as myself. And if I should grow apathetic and fatalistic then my mind is dim to His great mercy and I miss the joy of glorifying Him and I should not be so confident that I really heard His voice in the first place if I should seem deaf to it now.
[Jan.13th ammendment]
Because there's no room for human pride in the economy of God's converting grace those who claim to understand it but yet retain pride give evidence for faulty understanding. And whether Calvinist or Arminian we all stumble in our growth through sanctifying grace, giving pride a foothold, and because we will never be free of our flesh in this life the fruit we bear will never be so perfect and pristine as to be sterilized of pride but we are in constant need of applying this gospel of Christ more thoroughly in all aspects of our life, trusting that our meager offerings of service are acceptable only because of His rich grace and mercy.
And by this grace I know I am guilty of every accusation that could be brought against me and more.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8
Wow, Paul. You're stealing my thunder here. But I at least get some props for repentance. After all Mr. Robinson said, "faith without repentance makes Christ nothing more than a fire escape. There must be a work of repentance and faith upon the sinner's heart before salvation can become a reality."
But Paul's desire was that "God may perhaps grant [sinners] repentance." 2 Timothy 2:25
______
So long as I believe something within me autonomously chose God I have made a nest for religious pride. I can boast in the things that brought me to faith, thinking I deserve some credit or at least I was somehow able to choose rightly when the gospel was presented to me. I may then go on to prosthelytize all my religious nuances with an elitist, judgemental attitude for those who don't adopt my practices, goading them on by guilt and manipulation... or slip into a fatalistic laissez faire attitude by resting my faith in a one time act of repentance rather than the one who brought me to a life of repentance (turning away from Sin and towards God). But in light of Scripture I know that Salvation from start to finish is the work of God and there is nothing left for me to boast in but Jesus... not my choosing Him but Him choosing me even while I was at enmity with the Almighty.
(see Ez. 36.26-27, Matt. 16.17, 1 Cor. 2.12-14, 2 Cor. 3.3,6, 2 Thess.2.13-14, Titus 3:5)
And if I should take pride in my knowledge of His sovereign grace then I am failing to understand it because it is only by His Spirit and His grace these truths have been illuminated to me and even yet I am merely at the threshold of understanding the riches of God's grace that are the only thing that can rightly motivate and sustain me to a life of service for His glory in joy and gratitude for His unfathomable love for one so ill-deserving as myself. And if I should grow apathetic and fatalistic then my mind is dim to His great mercy and I miss the joy of glorifying Him and I should not be so confident that I really heard His voice in the first place if I should seem deaf to it now.
[Jan.13th ammendment]
Because there's no room for human pride in the economy of God's converting grace those who claim to understand it but yet retain pride give evidence for faulty understanding. And whether Calvinist or Arminian we all stumble in our growth through sanctifying grace, giving pride a foothold, and because we will never be free of our flesh in this life the fruit we bear will never be so perfect and pristine as to be sterilized of pride but we are in constant need of applying this gospel of Christ more thoroughly in all aspects of our life, trusting that our meager offerings of service are acceptable only because of His rich grace and mercy.
And by this grace I know I am guilty of every accusation that could be brought against me and more.
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