I love the graciousness with which John Piper expresses what he believes about these things in the worship service Vs the power and place of preaching.
Shame shame
Today’s NZ Herald has an article titled: Most mainstream churches back ‘Yes’ vote in smacking referendum.
This is the ungodly effect of the the world in the church instead of the preserving and guiding salt-light effect of the church in the world.
What more can I say except “Shame shame.”
And “May God have mercy on us.”
Note:
I will not be publishing anymore comments for this post. As author of the blog, I’d like to have the last word and suggest that those interested [click here and] read my other posts on the subject, which I think amply address the concerns raised.
My sincere thanks to everyone who participated.
Revival in the air
Yesterday, a cousin from California sent us the link to an article in time.com dated 17 April 2009. It was called The New Calvinism by David Van Biema.
The article speaks of Calvinism becoming popular again and describes it thus:
“Calvinism . . . offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don’t have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is fulfilled simply by “glorifying” him.”
As committed Christians, the Lord Jesus has been our Master and Saviour and a faithful Guide for many many years. About five years ago this same cousin from California introduced us to Calvinism. At first we did not think much of it, but it grew on us and delighted us more and more. Today we love the reformed doctrines as well as the rich background and history. I am sure that many non Calvanists would also love this teaching if given the kind of gracious opportunity that we were given.
We have since had the privilege of helping many others from our old church, Evangelical Bible Assembly (EBA) in India, including their pastor, my father, who now lives with us in New Zealand, to understand this doctrine. So we have been feeling that we are experiencing a revival of sorts as far as the EBA family is concerned.
But this article seems to describe a much bigger revival, although it does not use the word ‘revival’. It must be big if the secular press comments on it. Revivals are good for us and bad for us.
They are good because the right preachers are not fighting hard to be heard. It is always the easy to do the popular thing. For a change it suddenly becomes easy to do what God wants us to do.
But there is another side that we have to watch out for. From what I have experienced of revivals, with revivals, come conversions on a much larger scale, and with this larger scale come many conversions that are not genuine. It is easy to acquire jargons, prayers, songs, and postures when revival is in the air without any accompanying change of heart. Associations of light with darkness are not that easy to prevent anymore.
Sadly, this article makes subtle mention of the lack of unity among Calvinists. Just this morning Philip was telling me about the polarisation of people over a particular issue that is evident in the comments made in Tim Challies’ post Missing the Forest for all the Trees. When men of God disagree, we need patient and godly people who wait on the Lord for help, without making evocative remarks.
The article ends with a thought-provoking comment:
“Calvin’s 500th birthday will be this July. It will be interesting to see whether Calvin’s latest legacy will be classic Protestant backbiting or whether, during these hard times, more Christians searching for security will submit their wills to the austerely demanding God of their country’s infancy.”
Do you hear them coming?
As I grow older, learn more from the word of God, and meet more of God’s people, rare though they are, from backgrounds very different to mine, the more I understand of how little I know. It is not that I grow more confused, for on the contrary, the immediate steps that I must take are clear as is the distant goal, toward which I feel compelled to hold fast and persevere. By His grace, God’s people will make it. Already thousands have completed the race and they stand before the Father in heaven. One day, soon, they will return with the Lord, and the church will be consummated.
Here is a hymn my father taught me in the 1970s. The hymn writer imagines the saints returning for this great event. He also speaks about the church of Jesus on earth that perseveres with joy and hope. As long as I can remember, my father always took the time to explain the meaning of hymns before we sang them. So too with this hymn–his earnest explanations served to make my faith grow and the goal more real.
Do you hear them coming, brother,
Thronging up the steeps of light,
Clad in glorious shining garments,
Blood washed, garments pure and white?
’Tis a glorious church without spot or wrinkle,
Washed in the blood of the Lamb;
’Tis a glorious church without spot or wrinkle,
Washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Do you hear the stirring anthems,
Filling all the earth and sky,
’Tis a grand, victorious army,
Lift its banner up on high!
Never fear the clouds of sorrow,
Never fear the storms of sin.
We shall triumph on the morrow,
Even now our joys begin.
Wave the banner, shout His praises,
For our victory is nigh!
We shall join our conqu’ring Savior,
We shall reign with Him on high!
Ralph E. Hudson, 1892
That they may be one
I have a recently-found sister in the Lord. Her name is Laurie and she has a blog called Beauty from Ashes.
I can relate to the longing and prayer behind her recent post ‘Do you love God,‘ where she talks about the duty of loving one’s brother and sister in the church, and about how this is not easy. She conludes her post with the following committments.
“First, I will strive not to disrupt the unity of the individual church of which I am a member. This means that I will endeavor never to grumble to my leaders nor join with other members who might disparage them behind their backs (Heb. 13:17). I will submit to the elders in every decision until the day they deny the Gospel itself, which, Lord willing, shall never happen. In other words, I will not make my opinions the standard by which I evaluate my church.”
“Second, I will maintain contact with my Christian friends who do not attend my church….May I never be unconcerned with how God is moving in other parts of the body of Christ.”
“Third, I will seek to understand the nonessential doctrines found in other traditions in order that I might respect them and not dismiss them outright. If all believers did this, our thoughts and discussions would be more civil. We might even learn from each other and find a new consensus on issues that might promote visible unity.”
“My fourth commitment is to pray for peace and purity of the church. My heart is not yet as broken as it should be over the disunity of the church, and only the Holy Spirit can make me long truly and deeply for Christians to be one again. Without such longing, I will not be motivated to work for unity of the church.”
I would like to commit my heart to these things as well. May my heart and yours long for the love and unity in the church which will display the gospel of Christ to the world.
I would like to add some more to the list:
I will endevour to recognise the practices of my church that fall under the nonessentials category. So that we may not ever bind on others or teach as divine doctrine what is but the mere precept of man. I will try to distinguish between application/practice (that came from the minds of godly, albeit fallible, men) and the underlying Biblical doctrine (that came from the immutable word of God).
I will endevour to impress upon my forgetful and ungrateful heart the fact that I have been forgiven much (and continue to be forgiven much) and must therefore be gracious and patient with those who appear to me to lack in their understanding in some areas.
I will endevour to use terms like Calvinist, Arminian, Antinomian, Sabbatarian, Anti-sabbatarian, Hyper-calvinist, Dispensationalist, and Covenantalist only for purposes of understanding theological concepts but not to label or look down on any group consisting also of persons for whom the Lord Jesus shed His blood.
How does one get into a relationship with Jesus?
Very few tapes have we enjoyed together as a family as much as this one. It’s called Irreconcilable Differences, that features host John Ankerberg and a panel comprising John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, and James Kennedy.
The issue discussed is a document that sets out with the noble aim of bringing Roman Catholics and Evangelicals together, but falls short because it overlooks and glosses over vital differences in the doctrines of salvation of both communions, resulting in implicitly compromising the five solas, so precious to us.
- Sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”)
- Sola fide (“by faith alone”)
- Sola gratia (“by grace alone”)
- Solus Christus (“Christ alone”)
- Soli Deo gloria (“glory to God alone”)
I have many close Roman Catholic friends; how wonderful it would be to fellowship together. But I now know that it is not as simple as saying: Let’s forget our differences and get together. Coming together is going to have to involve much study of the Bible, church history and other material, much prayer, courage, and brutal honesty.
Reformed and Brethren?
I have often looked back at the Brethren influences in my spiritual life and felt sad that I have been led to a spiritual place that is doctrinally far away from Brethren churches. Browsing the net today, I found churches, movements, and blogs that bring the ideas of ‘Reformed’ and ‘Brethren’ together.
- A church in Davis, California, called Grace Valley Christian Centre: Their home page says “We believe in the “solas” of the Reformed tradition (sola gratia, sola fide, solo Christo, and sola Scriptura) and are in fellowship with Christian Brethren assemblies throughout the world.” This church has a statement of faith written by Rev P.G. Matthew using, as his sources, Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647, Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689, Dr. John Owen, 1654, 16 Articles as listed in The Puritans by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (P. 235), and a document prepared by the churches own elders in 1993.
- The Brethren Reformed Church, formed near Dayton, Ohio, in 2007. Their website provides details about their worship timings and so on, but some vital pages are still under construction. However, Wikipedia describes their doctrine thus: “It bases its doctrine of salvation on the Biblical expression that God has sovereignly called people to Himself and, had He not done so, no man would ever be disposed to seek God. Accordingly, the church teaches that the Father alone graciously elected to provide salvation; that salvation is made available through Jesus Christ alone; and that salvation is appropriated through faith alone bestowed by the Holy Spirit alone. According to the theology taught by the Brethren Reformed Church, no man can be reconciled to God by his own works, merit, or effort.”
- Shawn McGrath’s blog: You can also read his earlier posts at The Brethren Calvinist. About himself he writes: “The term “Brethren Calvinist” comes from my association with the so-called “Plymouth Brethren” and the open assemblies. The difference between myself and the general consensus among the assemblies is that I would hold to the doctrines of Grace . . . much like the original Brethren in Plymouth and elsewhere, while they would hold to a watered down version of this belief.”
Maybe I am sticking my head out again to be chopped off, but I do not feel inclined to worry about what groups of God’s people call themselves. It is God who is working among us, and though we strive to help people come to a ‘more accurate’ understanding of the scriptures, obviously, we can overstep the boundaries and bind on others what are but the traditions of man. Thank God, His purposes are bigger than what we can comprehend. Let each of us carry out our little roles now. We will see the big picture soon.
The devil and revivals
I remember in 1971 when my father was born again. I was five. It was a life-transforming change. The whole direction of his life changed. He immediately got down to informing his family of nine siblings and their families, as well as my mother’s family, all third, fourth, and fifth generation Christians, by many letters, reasoning with them about the need for repentance and salvation, as well as pointing out some of the problems with the Lutheran church in South India that had strayed far away from the scriptures and become very liberal. His rebirth and subsequent plea to “come out of her” drew a divisive line through the group, where a small number showed interest in what he had discovered by the grace of God, and a much larger section regarded the turn as a tragic end for a man who had hitherto showed so much promise. Much to my father’s sorrow, his father, a well known Lutheran pastor, did not openly support him. Nevertheless, my grandfather’s thoughtful silence was loud enough.
Within a decade, the same people, while still remaining in the old church, were speaking this new evangelical jargon. As various good movements moved into university campuses and churches, and Christian book stores filled with good Christian literature, everyone spoke of being born again. Phrases like “accepting Jesus as one’s personal Saviour” became commonplace.
Although one cannot say for sure, it looked as if the same proportion of unregenerated people still filled the pews in the same old churches, the only difference being that the jargon had changed, the songs had changed, the style of praying had changed, and so on.
Easter Conference 2008 in Hamilton
We were in Hamilton on Good Friday and Easter Saturday for the Easter conference organised by three Reformed/Reformed Baptist churches in Hamilton. The speaker was Dr. Don Carson who serves as Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield Illinois.
Philip and I left home at about 9:15 a.m. on Friday morning with Pastor Alfie Orr and Dave and Glenda Aiken.
Our drive down to Hamilton included a stop at Pokeno for an icecream. At Hamilton, we checked into a motel, had a quick pizza lunch, and reached the conference venue by 1:00 p.m.
Dr. Carson’s addresses on Friday were:
- 1.00 pm A Passion for the Promises and the People of God (Nehemiah 1-2)
- 3.30 pm Never, Never, Never Give Up (Nehemiah 3:1-6:14)
- 7.00 pm A Protected and Spiritually Nourished Pilgrim People (Nehemiah 7-8 )
A cross as a pendant on a chain
Whether a girl can wear a cross as a pendant, whether a church can have a Christmas service, whether a person can do shopping on a Sunday after church, or whether a woman can pray aloud during a church service, are not matters that can be resolved with a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. It is possible for godly people to answer either way in any of these matters, depending on the circumstances. What is important is that people understand the issues involved. My sincere opinion is that we would spare ourselves of much pain if we could only stop short of laying down rules and strictures and set forth good principles instead, to be followed in a spirit of forebearance.
Case 1: A cross-shaped pendant
Recently, a brother in Christ was concerned that another sister, he had just been introduced to, was wearing a chain with a cross as a pendant and felt that this underscored the fact that she needed to be taught the very basics of Christianity because she was breaking the second commandment of the Ten Commandments. He believed that Christians must never ever use the symbol of the cross. Much as I wonder about the appropriateness of a cross being worn as a casual piece of jewelry, I do not quite see things in black and white like this brother did. He was also opposed to the use of this symbol on Bible covers or in illustrations and so on.
