Reformation Thinking

As I survey more and more of what passes for good teaching it continues to become increasingly apparent to me that we continue to experience a drift if not an all out abandonment from reformation thinking.

"The Cambridge Declaration" by the "Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals" laid out the following in 1996 and I have found it a good reminder.

The conference, and the eventual declaration that was created, was broadly influenced by the following:

*The culture of the modern world (as represented by postmodernism) is changing the message that the church preaches.

*The decision by many churches and denominations to directly enter politics and endorse political parties and candidates - and doing this instead of preaching the gospel.

*The erosion of Christian doctrine within the modern church, including the lack of Expository preaching.

*The increasing influence of relativism within the church, which has led to an environment where "truth" is subjectively determined, and where church leaders aim to preach only "positive" messages.

*The increasing focus upon man, rather than God, within the church.
An increasing focus on man's ability to respond to God's grace, rather than a focus upon God's ability to save man.

*A focus on the quantitative and measurable aspects of church growth (which thus links Christian ministry with outward success) rather than the qualitative and spiritual aspects of Biblical ministry.

The declaration is a call to repentance for the evangelical church in order to reaffirm the historical Christian truths that are articulated by The Five Solas and deny modern teachings:

1. Sola Scriptura: The Erosion Of Authority

A reaffirmation that the Bible contains all things necessary to understand and obey God. A denial that any other form of authority is needed to bind the conscience of the Christian.

2. Solus Christus: The Erosion Of Christ-Centered Faith

A reaffirmation that Christ alone and his penal substitutionary atonement on the cross are the means by which all Christians are saved. A denial that the Gospel can be preached without the atonement being declared and without faith being solicited from the listeners.

3. Sola Gratia: The Erosion Of The Gospel

A reaffirmation that salvation is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. A denial that salvation is in any sense a work of the human heart, either fully or partially.

4. Sola Fide: The Erosion Of The Chief Article

A reaffirmation that a person is justified (declared innocent) before God through faith alone and through Christ alone - that Christ's righteousness is imputed to the Christian. A denial that justification relies upon any human merit, and that churches which teach this cannot be considered legitimate churches.

5. Soli Deo Gloria: The Erosion Of God-Centered Worship

A reaffirmation that salvation is ultimately for God's glory rather than man's, and that Christians everywhere should understand that they are under God's authority and act for his glory alone. A denial that God can be glorified through "entertainment"-style worship; the removal of law and/or gospel in preaching; and preaching that focuses upon self-improvement, self-esteem and self fulfillment.

Jesus Plus Zilch, Nada, Nothing

The gospel isn't about me, it isn't about you, it isn't about our church, our cool productions, or our hipster pastor. The gospel isn't about 10 steps to a happy life and it isn't about 7 secrets to a successful "Christian" business. The gospel isn't God's way of helping us be better people. The gospel isn't about how to make our kids behave more and it isn't about what not to say if we want to make our spouses do what we want them to do.

Hell will be full of people who used to be happy. Better people will line the halls of hell. And even so-called "successful Christians" will spend eternity in a lake of fire seperated from God.

The gospel is all about Jesus. He is exclusively the good news and he is the only way to God. He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the kit and caboodle, the icing and the cake.

The gospel is Jesus plus zilch, nada, nothing.

Siding with the Sages of Our Age

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. ~Acts 20:28, ESV

I ran across the following in one of those mass emails that essentially claims to have life all figured out and if you'll just heed the advice given you will be successful.

"Our lives belong to us and so do our decisions."

For those of us who claim to follow Jesus but somehow want to cling to siding with the sages of our age who promote the notion that our lives are our own, we might condider that to do so is to deny the sovereignty and reign of God Almighty.

for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." ~1 Corinthians 10:26, NIV

That includes us.

Our lives are not our own, they have been bought with the price of God's one and only dear Son.

Good Takes on “The Coming Evangelical Collapse.”

Everybody and their brother has offered their assessment of Michael Spencer's (aka imonk) piece that made headlines a few months back titled “The Coming Evangelical Collapse.” Myself, I offered no such assessments but thought his takes were good (in all honesty I have found much more needed leaf lettuce and meat on his blog).

I ran across the following takes posted on Frank Viola's blog in relation to Spencer's article and found the comments quite intriguing (note: Viola is someone who I haven't read much of until last week after running across his "Jesus Manifesto"--excellent btw--which he co-authored with Leonard Sweet)

(Viola quotes his friend, Hal Miller)

Christianity is culturally relevant when it offers a qualitatively different society. Jesus called it “the kingdom of God.” Paul saw its first outlines in the gathered disciples of Jesus, and so he called them ekklesia - we translate it “church”- a Greek word denoting citizens assembled to attend to their common project, their city.

The evangelicals missed this. Evangelicalism sought to transform people and so transform the world. They did not see that something might be missing from this vision, something their assumption of American individualism would hide from them. The true Christian vision is to transform people, transforming them into a people, and so transform the world. The evangelicals missed that middle term. They could not see the church as a foretaste of the new society; it was a club for the new individuals. The evangelicals simply dressed American individualism in Christian clothing. They ended up with new isolated individuals, but in the old society. Since their expression of Christianity did not take form as a new society, it quickly became culturally irrelevant, even though it was admirably culturally open.

To be culturally relevant, Christianity must offer an alternative. God has indeed chosen to deal with persons as individuals- in this the evangelicals were right. Yet they are not simply individuals; they become members of a social reality called ekklesia, which is the entering wedge of the new society of God’s making.

Too often, for example, we assume that evangelism involves the simple aggregation of more and more new individuals. If enough people are “born again,” the world’s problems will diminish. But the experience of the last twenty years- in which we had more and more people “born again” as well as more and more marital tragedies, more and more international tension, and more and more bondage to the demons of our age- seems a perfectly contrived counter-example to this theory.

The Christian calling requires being reconciled with God, to be sure. But it also requires being a new, reconciling society characterized by forgiveness, acceptance, and responsibility in a common task- a society qualitatively different from its culture, yet engaged with it. Little gatherings of Christians for worship and mutual help in being disciples become the seeds of God’s coming new society.

Such a new society will be culturally relevant because it springs from God’s movement among God’s people. The persons who make up this new society live their faith in the face of day-to-day problems that they share with the world around them. They face the same questions as unbelievers: finding joy and meaning in work, living at peace both personally and globally, raising responsible and compassionate children. And in facing those questions, Christian faith becomes relevant even for unbelievers.

Imagine a group of people gathering to help each other in the common task of seeing God’s kingdom incarnated in their work, in their families, in their towns, in their world, in their midst, and (rather than only) in their individual lives. This gathering is ekklesia. It will be relevant to its world because it lives the life of the kingdom in the world, not apart from it.

For a complete look at the piece posted by Viola see his review here.

Nothing Else

We should consider Paul's words before we claim to know anything else.

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ~1 Corinthians 2:2, ESV

Key of Hope

"It is estimated that by the year 2015, South Africa will be home to three million or more AIDS orphans."

Dan Smither and his wife Rachel (who attended school with my younger brother and sister) are caring for and reaching these children with the good news of the gospel. Dan writes, "They are children like our very own. Kids, who still have the ability to escape the raging AIDS epidemic and help lead the fight against the devastating wave of poverty and death, but only with the help of someone who cares. But there is little time and few who are willing to give them this chance. You can be their key."

Check out this 5 minute clip to learn more.

Key of Hope 2009 from Jim TerMarsch on Vimeo.

And visit their website if you'd like to learn about how you can help.

Key of Hope

Incarnation

My first love
My best love
Tabernacled incarnation
Fiery torrent of jealousy
Wanting all of me eternally
Bleeding pierced heart
Dying for unquenchable love of me
Divine and unrequited lover
Waiting for me to hear your whispered love
Drawing me into the embrace of your friendship
Willing to teach me of your abundance
If only I would care to listen
Offering me no less than yourself
Your pulsing, enlivening Spirit
To indwell my being beyond measure
Why do I not care to drink deeply of you
My everything
Afraid to die of love
For you as you for me
Purge away my hardness
Amputate my fear
Boil away my coldness
Break the wall of false attachment
That pays homage to a hollow god
There is no other love like you
To cherish such as me
Ungrateful sluggard
Pretentious fool
Forgetful lover
Half a friend
And yet your love for me
Is all consuming, all-pursuing
A holocaust of self-forgetfulness
Waiting for a simple glance
Of heart to Heart
So in a moment
This perishing body
Becomes itself
A tent of meeting
A tender kiss
A nuptial promise
Of unending bliss
Losing self in love
For this was I created
You in me and I in you
Eternally

~Author Unknown

Reality Check: Deserve What?

In frequent conversations with friends the word "deserve" seems to come up quite regularly, and more times than not, the context in which the word is shared rubs me the wrong way. We like to talk about what we deserve, so I figured what the heck, I'll join in on the conversation.

We are quick to pass judgement on the drug dealer found out by the cops who gets prosecuted and what he deserves, not to mention the child-molester living in some hole in the wall who is tried and convicted. We applaud when the corrupt banker is tracked down on some island retreat sipping on margaritas and is hauled back to the country to be brought to justice. And we pat ourselves on the back by pointing out the guy we know who beat his wife this past year.

But when do we take account of our own sins, you know, the stuff we've done of late that turns God's stomach? When do we put our finger away and fall to our knees and ask God to have mercy on those the world condemns and to please somehow have the same kind of mercy on us? When do we stop and realize we deserve nothing better than hell but have been given a full life in Jesus?

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." ~Luke 18:9-14, ESV

You see, despite all of our self-righteousness we are no better than the worst of those deemed despicable—we have been forgiven for our own pile of sins. How often we see our neighbor (or even someone closer to close us) do something as deplorable as cheat on their spouse and think, Thank you God that I am not like so and so.

It's spiritual smugness to assume we deserve anything let alone God's love, and I am convinced that we can't truly love others or appreciate life until we understand just what it is we really deserve.

The Relevant Gospel

Apparently, our current love affair with being relevant rather than faithful doesn't appear to be a new one.

Woe to the Person who smoothly, flirtatiously, commandingly, convincingly preaches some soft sweet something which is supposed to be Christianity! Woe to the person who makes miracles reasonable. Woe to the person who betrays and breaks the mystery of faith, distorts it into public wisdom, because he takes away the possibility of offense!... Oh the time wasted in this enormous work if making Christianity so reasonable, and in trying to make it so relevant! ~Søren Kierkegaard, nineteenth century philosopher

Our Real Longing

...that something we long for, whether it be an island in the west or the other side of a mountain or perhaps a schooner yacht, long for it in the belief that it will mean joy, which it never fully does: because what we are really longing for is God. ~Sheldon Vanauken, "A Severe Mercy", p. 110

Living by the Law--Dying by the Law

The differences between law dominated living and a grace saturated life couldn't be starker--they are as night and day, oil and water, and back and white.

We sing, and sing rightly too—

"My soul, no more attempt to draw
Thy life and comfort from the law,"

for from the law death cometh and not life, misery and not comfort. "To convince and to condemn is all the law can do." O, when will all professors, and especially all professed ministers of Christ, learn the difference between the law and the gospel? Most of them make a mingle-mangle, and serve out deadly potions to the people, often containing but one ounce of gospel to a pound of law, whereas, but even a grain of law is enough to spoil the whole thing. It must be gospel, and gospel only. "If it be of grace, it is not of works, otherwise grace is no more grace; and if it be of works, then it is not of grace, otherwise work is no more work. ~Charles H. Spurgeon, September 20th, 1863 (at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington)

Truth and Lies

Truth exists; only lies are invented. ~Horatius Bonar, D.D., Hymns of Faith and Hope (p. 113), (ed. 1813)

Pretend Christianity and the Genuine Article

Last year I ran across Tim Keller's list contrasting religion and the gospel that has made the rounds. I found the piece helpful and as a result have decided to list some contrasts between pretend Christianity and the genuine article.

Here's my list:

1. Pretend Christianity says you must pray at least an hour a day in order to be spiritual--whereas the genuine article says "pray without ceasing..." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

2. Pretend Christianity says you must be reading a certain book of the bible in order to be spiritual--whereas the genuine article says "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

3. Pretend Christianity says you must witness to at least one person a day in order to be spiritual--whereas the genuine article says "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19) and, "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect..." (1 Peter 3:15)

4. Pretend Christianity says you must give a certain dollar amount to God in order to be spiritual--whereas the genuine article says "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8b) and, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:7)

5. Pretend Christianity says you must attend church at least twice a week in order to be spiritual--whereas the genuine article says "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25) and, "And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46-47)

6. Pretend Christianity says you must be on your best behavior in order to be spiritual--whereas the genuine article says "For the love of Christ controls us..." (2 Corinthians 5:14a)

7. Pretend Christianity says you must be nice to old ladies and hold elevator doors open for them in order to be spiritual--whereas the genuine article says 'You must be born again.' (John 3:7b)

Oprah's Spirituality Pile

I have been a fan of Mark Driscoll (pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle) since the 1st time I heard him a few years back. While Driscoll is neither perfect (nor does he claim to be) or popular (with a good number he is not), I don't believe he is controversial for controversials sake. I know of few other preachers who are willing to lay the gospel on the line (with the passion and clarity with which he does) and take the hits that surely have knocked on his door. I have heard him preach oodles of messages and this 6 minute clip certainly doesn't disappoint--that is, if it is the gospel you believe rather than the latest theological trend or doctrinal fad.

Picky Eaters

The gospel isn't peachy keen with everyone.

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. ~Augustine

If everyone agrees with the gospel we present it isn't the gospel we share, but a message of our own making.