|
Post by Admin on Sept 29, 2023 13:56:06 GMT -5
Andy HauTer The church has become primarily a hospital to soothe empty selves instead of a war college to mobilize and train an army of men and women to occupy territory to advance the kingdom of God. Christians aren’t exiles living in an alien culture waiting for exfiltration. We’re solders in the King’s army with a mission to take dominion of school boards, administration, and teaching; local and state governments; entertainment; law schools and courts; journalism; media; and repelling foreign invaders.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2023 19:23:18 GMT -5
The Obligation to Church Membership by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., I see so many Christians in America who have disassociated themselves from particular church membership. They do not see any reason for or value in joining a local congregation. So what is the biblical argument for formal church membership? Though there are many arguments, here are four that should encourage us in seeking church membership. First, Scripture teaches that believers are to associate themselves together in worship. In Hebrews the writer is discouraging Jews who have professed faith in Christ not to leave the church and return to the synagogue: “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Heb 10:25). In fact, in the earliest appearance of Christianity we see the disciples doing just that: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). This is why the Lord’s day became so important in the early Christianity. It was the time for the formal, public gathering of Christians to worship. In Acts 20:7 we read: “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them.” Had they not gathered together, they would not have heard Paul’s message and would not have been instructed in the things of God properly. In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 we read Paul’s directive regarding taking up offerings. His question assumes churches do gather together in their various localities, and that they gather on the first day of the week: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.” This, of course, does not mandate formal, vow-taking church membership, but it is a foundational point upon which we can build a case for church membership. Too many Christians are lone gunners for Jesus, sleeping in on Sundays, and declaring they can worship God just as well at home with their own families. Usually all it takes to explode this assertion is to ask a simple question: “But do you”? And if you meet the rare person who does actually worship with his family alone, ask them: “Do you take the Lord’s supper which Jesus commanded us to do until he returns (1 Cor 11:26)?” Second, the NT establishes elders and deacons as officers in the church. In Acts 14:23 we read: “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” In Acts 20:17 we read of Paul: “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. In Acts 6:1-6 we see the first deacons established in church office by election. In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 Paul gives the pre-requisites for church office, for both elders and deacons. But now the question arises: How are we to elect church officers if there is no formal church membership? Can just anyone vote for church officers? Could Muslims come into our gathering and vote to elect officers to govern Christ’s church? Certainly not. The very concept of elected church office requires formal church membership, just as nations require citizenship to vote for rulers Third, church officers are to exercise a real governmental oversight in the gathered body of Christ. In Hebrews 13:17 we read: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. But how can this be if there is no one formally under that oversight — as in formal church membership? Fourth, the NT speaks of church discipline whereby some Christians are put outside the church. In Matthew 18:15–18 excommunication is established in which a person is put out of the church. But if they are not members of the church, how can they be put out? If the church body has no formal oversight of them, how can they put them outside the church? Paul speaks of the necessity of church discipline so that one “would be removed from you midst” (1 Cor 5:2). This important factor of church government requires some form of formal oversight, and therefore membership. I cannot simply self-excommunicate someone from the Christian faith. This requires an organized and authorized body of officers who are elected to office. And this requires church membership. Thus, in the final analysis, formal church membership is implicit in how the church operates, according to the NT.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2023 22:19:23 GMT -5
THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL Rev. Steven Houck Part 3 of 3: ● Freedom To Serve God ● Freedom In Glory ● Conclusion _________________________ Freedom To Serve God There are many who believe that freedom in Christ gives the believer the liberty to sin. They reason that since Christ has died for the sins of His people and thereby freed them from the guilt of sin, the believer can live in sin. Since salvation is all of grace, the believer does not have to be concerned about fleeing sin and seeking after righteousness. The apostle Paul refers to this kind of thinking when he says, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (Rom. 6:1). Jude also refers to this distortion of the truth when he says, For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness... (Jude 4). Such thinking is not the teaching of Holy Scripture. It is true that as long as the believer is in this world, he will always be a sinner. The child of God is not freed from the presence of sin until he is taken to glory. In fact, he may even fall into very great sin as did King David and the apostle Peter. A child of God is not immune to sin-not even the worst kinds of sin. Moreover, there is no such thing as sinless perfection in this life. Thus the apostle says, For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. (Rom. 7:14-15). The believer desires to do good, but because he still possesses the old sin nature along with the new nature, all his deeds, including his best good works, are defiled by sin. But this does not mean that the believer is freed from sin in order that he might continue in sin. Freedom in Christ is not freedom to sin. The Biblical doctrine of spiritual freedom does not mean that we are free to do whatever we want, whether it is good or evil. Spiritual freedom is always freedom from sin. We read in Rom. 6:6-7, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Since the old man with all of its sin has been judicially killed with Christ on the cross, the believer has been freed from the legal guilt of sin. He, therefore, should not serve sin. Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Rom. 6:1-2). The apostle says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin... (Rom. 6:12-13). The believer, who has been freed from the guilt of sin must, by God's grace, not allow sin to reign in him. The members of his body must not be instruments of unrighteousness. Thus the attitude of the believer toward sin is entirely different from that of the unbeliever. The believer hates sin and seeks to flee sin. He does not get as close to sin as he can, but he seeks to stay as far away from it as possible. In the depths of His regenerated heart, he does not want to sin. This change of attitude toward sin on the part of the believer is due to the fact that he has become a spiritual slave of God. As we have seen, in one sense all men are always the slaves of God. For all serve the sovereign will of God. But in a spiritual, ethical sense the unregenerate man is not the slave of God. He does not submit to God's righteous law. He is a spiritual rebel. When Christ frees a person from his spiritual bondage to sin, He makes him a spiritual slave of God. Freedom in Christ, is freedom to spiritually serve God. The believer's spiritual freedom is a bondage to the righteousness of God. We read in Rom. 6:18 & 22, Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness....But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God... When the believer is freed from sin, rather than bowing before sin and the devil as his masters, he bows before the God of righteousness. He seeks to obey God's precepts and keep God's commandments. His spiritual Master is now not the devil or sin but the Lord of heaven. He is Christ's servant (I Cor. 7:22). The life of the believer, therefore, is characterized by a seeking after righteousness. He seeks to use his body and all that he has for the service of God and the cause of righteousness. Thus, the apostle could exhort us, ...but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Rom. 6:13). This is why the apostle could say, For the good that I would... (Rom. 7:19). He willed to do good. He said, For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. (Vs. 22). Moreover, the believer does do good. His good works are by no means perfect. They are all defiled with his sin, but he does do good. We read of Christ, Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14). The true believer is zealous to do good works. His whole life is devoted to doing the works of God. Not merely external good works, but good works which come from the heart. Some bring forth a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty (Matt. 13:23), but all bring forth the fruit of good works. Not that the believer performs these good works in his own power. He performs them only in the power of the Spirit of God working in him. For the apostle says, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. (II Cor. 9:8). Freedom In Glory The believer is freed from his spiritual bondage to sin and the devil by the precious blood of Christ. He is freed legally so that the guilt of his sins is forgiven. He is also freed from the power and dominion of sin in his life. But the believer does not experience freedom completely until he is taken to glory. Throughout this earthly life the child of God must struggle against sin. He still possesses the old sin nature which unceasingly encourages him to sin. Thus the apostle Paul says, I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (Rom. 7:21). No Christian, therefore, may deny the presence of sin in his life. The apostle John says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (I John 1:8). The time is coming, however, when all of that will be changed. The present condition of the believer can not possibly be his final end. As long as there is even the presence of sin in the life of the believer, he is not experiencing the fullness of spiritual freedom. For the freedom which Christ gives is the highest kind of freedom. It is not a partial or imperfect freedom. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36) In this life, God's people have only the beginning of that freedom in Christ. But when they are finally taken by God to their eternal home in glory, they shall enter into the fullness of freedom in Christ. The freedom of the believer in glory is described by the apostle John in I John 3:2. He says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. When Christ appears to take His people to be with Him in glory, they shall be like Him. The believer's freedom is being like Christ. It is bearing the image of Christ perfectly in body and soul. To this end they were chosen to be God's people. The apostle Paul says, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son... (Rom. 8:29). Throughout His earthy life Christ was free from all sin. Unlike us, He was born without a sinful nature (Luke 1:35). His human nature was perfectly righteous and good. Therefore, He did not commit any sin whatsoever. In fact, He could not sin. In Hebr. 4:15 we read that Christ was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Christ was so free from sin that He was the perfect servant of God Who always obeyed God perfectly. He said, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38). Like Christ, the believer in glory will also be free from the very presence of sin. The sinful nature with which he was born will be gone forever and the life of Christ will fill all of His being. His life will be Christ's life of perfect righteousness. Thus it will be impossible for God's people to sin in glory. They will be absolutely sinless. Jesus says, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. (Matt. 13:43). When the believer stands in the presence of His heavenly Father, he in all the glory of his righteousness will shine as the sun. This complete freedom in Christ will be much greater than the freedom of Adam in the first paradise. Adam was able not to sin, but he did sin. The glorified child of God will not be able to sin. Just as Christ perfectly obeyed God, the believer will do only that which is righteous. His whole life will be a life of perfect good works. The writer of Hebrews speaks of God's people in glory as the spirits of just men made perfect... (Heb. 12:23). All the thoughts, all the words, and all the deeds of the believer will be in perfect harmony with God's holy law. We read of this perfect service to God also in Rev. 22:3, And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him... That is true freedom. Thus in glory the bondage of the child of God to the sovereign will and counsel of God and his freedom in Christ to spiritually serve the living God will come together perfectly. Throughout life God's people are always in bondage to God's sovereign will and eternal counsel. In fact, God is leading them by His will and counsel to glory. The Psalmist says, Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. (Ps. 73:24). However, they do not perfectly serve God and His righteousness from a moral, ethical point of view. But when finally God's counsel has led them to glory, because they will have obtained complete freedom in Christ, they will also be perfect servants of God's righteousness. For their bondage to the sovereign will and counsel of God results in perfect spiritual bondage to the righteousness of God. True freedom, freedom in the highest sense, is perfect bondage to God. Conclusion It ought to be clear from all that we have seen that the free-willism of our day is indeed a serious error. It is an error which denies the freedom and sovereignty of God's will. For it teaches that man's will is sovereign over God's will. The will of the creature is able to frustrate the will of the Creator. Man is the ruler and governor of God rather than God of man. It is an error which denies the total depravity of the unregenerate. For it teaches that the natural man can will and do good. He, of himself, has the ability to seek God and choose Christ. He is not enslaved to sin and he is not the servant of Satan. It is an error which denies the sovereignty of the grace of God. For God alone is able to make man spiritually free to serve the righteousness of God. It is only when Christ makes us spiritually free that we are indeed free to do what is good. Spiritual freedom is the blessed gift of God's sovereign grace. Let us, therefore, have nothing to do with this error. Let us believe the Truth of Holy Scripture rather than the lie of the devil. Rev. Steven Houck Emeritus Pastor, Peace PRC, Lansing, IL
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 13, 2023 9:19:45 GMT -5
Distinguishing Marks of a Quarrelsome Person JUNE 13, 2019
Quarrels don’t just happen. People make them happen.
Of course, there are honest disagreements and agree-to-disagree propositions, but that’s not what the Bible means by quarreling. Quarrels, at least in Proverbs, are unnecessary arguments, the kind that honorable men stay away from (Prov. 17:14; 20:3). And elders too (1 Tim. 3). These fights aren’t the product of a loving rebuke or a principled conviction. These quarrels arise because people are quarrelsome.
So what does a quarrelsome person look like? What are his (or her) distinguishing marks? Here are twelve possibilities.
You might be a quarrelsome person if . . .
1. You defend every conviction with the same degree of intensity. There are no secondary or tertiary issues. Everything is primary. You’ve never met a hill you wouldn’t die on.
2. You are quick to speak and slow to listen. You rarely ask questions and when you do it is to accuse or to continue prosecuting your case. You are not looking to learn, you are looking to defend, dominate, and destroy.
3. Your only model for ministry and faithfulness is the showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Or the only Jesus you like is the Jesus who cleared the money changers from the temple. Those are real examples in Scripture. But the Bible is a book, and sarcasm and whips are not the normal method of personal engagement.
4. You are incapable of seeing nuances, and you do not believe in qualifying statements. Everything in life is black and white without any gray.
5. You never give the benefit of the doubt. You do not try to read arguments in context. You put the worst possible construct on other’s motives, and when there is a less flattering interpretation you go for that one.
6. You have no unarticulated opinions. Do people know what you think of everything? They shouldn’t. That’s why you have a journal or a prayer closet or a dog.
7. You are unable to sympathize with your opponents. You forget that sinners are also sufferers. You lose the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
8. Your first instinct is to criticize; your last instinct is to encourage. Quarrelsome people almost always see others in need of rebuke, rarely in need of refreshing.
9. You have a small grid, and everything fits in it. You view life through a tiny prism such that you already know what everything is about. Everything is a social justice issue. Everything relates to the regulative principle. Everything is Obama’s fault. Everything is about Trump. It’s all about the feminists. Or the patriarchy. Or how my parents messed up my life. When all you have is a hammer, the rest of the world looks like a nail.
10. You derive a sense of satisfaction and spiritual safety in feeling constantly rejected. We don’t want to blame the victim, but some people are constitutionally unable to exist except as a remnant. They must be persecuted. They must be maligned. They do not know how to live in peacetime, only in war.
11. You are always in the trenches with hand grenades strapped to your chest, never in the cafeteria with ice cream and ping pong. I remember years ago talking to a returning serviceman in my church who told me sheepishly that his job in Iraq was to drive an armed convoy for the ice cream truck. It was extremely dangerous, escorting the vehicle through bomb infested territory. This was brave, honorable work. And important: Even soldiers need ice cream once in a while. The amp doesn’t have to be cranked to 11 all the time. Seriousness about God is not the same as pathological seriousness about everything. Remember G. K. Chesterton: “We have to feel the universe at once as an ogre’s castle, to be stormed, and yet as our own cottage, to which we can return to at evening.”
12. You have never changed your mind. If you haven’t changed your mind on an important matter in several presidents, I wonder if you are a Christian or even alive. Of course, truth never changes, and neither should many of our convictions. But quarrelsome people stir up strife because, already knowing everything, they have no need to listen, learn, or ask questions.
Hit close to home? Look to Christ. He has the power to change us and has made provision to forgive. By the death of the Prince of Peace we can be at peace with God and at peace with one another.
This content was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 13, 2023 16:23:39 GMT -5
Matthew Henry Commentary on Matthew 24 Chapter 24 Christ's preaching was mostly practical; but, in this chapter, we have a prophetical discourse, a prediction of things to come; such however as had a practical tendency, and was intended, not to gratify the curiosity of his disciples, but to guide their consciences and conversations, and it is therefore concluded with a practical application. The church has always had particular prophecies, besides general promises, both for direction and for encouragement to believers; but it is observable, Christ preached this prophetical sermon in the close of his ministry, as the Apocalypse is the last book of the New Testament, and the prophetical books of the Old Testament are placed last, to intimate to us, that we must be well grounded in plain truths and duties, and those must first be well digested, before we dive into those things that are dark and difficult; many run themselves into confusion by beginning their Bible at the wrong end. Now, in this chapter, we have, I. The occasion of this discourse (v. 1-3). II. The discourse itself, in which we have, 1. The prophecy of divers events, especially referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the utter ruin of the Jewish church and nation, which were not hastening on, and were completed about forty years after; the prefaces to that destruction, the concomitants and consequences of it; yet looking further, to Christ's coming at the end of time, and the consummation of all things, of which that was a type and figure (v. 4-31). 2. The practical application of this prophecy for the awakening and quickening of his disciples to prepare for these great and awful things (v. 32-51). Mat 24:1-3 Here is, I. Christ's quitting the temple, and his public work there. He had said, in the close of the foregoing chapter, Your house is left unto you desolate; and here he made his words good; He went out, and departed from the temple. The manner of expression is observable; he not only went out of the temple, but departed from it, took his final farewell of it; he departed from it, never to return to it any more; and then immediately follows a prediction of its ruin. Note, That house is left desolate indeed, which Christ leaves. Woe unto them when I depart, Hos. 9:12; Jer. 6:8. It was now time to groan out their Ichabod, The glory is departed, their defence is departed. Three days after this, the veil of the temple was rent; when Christ left it, all became common and unclean; but Christ departed not till they drove him away; did not reject them, till they first rejected him. II. His private discourse with his disciples; he left the temple, but he did not leave the twelve, who were the seed of the gospel church, which the casting off of the Jews was the enriching of. When he left the temple, his disciples left it too, and came to him. Note, It is good being where Christ is, and leaving that which he leaves. They came to him, to be instructed in private, when his public preaching was over; for the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. He had spoken of the destruction of the Jewish church to the multitude in parables, which here, as usual, he explains to his disciples. Observe, 1. His disciples came to him, to show him the buildings of the temple, It was a stately and beautiful structure, one of the wonders of the world; no cost was spared, no art left untried, to make it sumptuous. Though it came short of Solomon's temple, and its beginning was small, yet its latter end did greatly increase. It was richly furnished with gifts and offerings, to which there were continual additions made. They showed Christ these things, and desired him to take notice of them, either, (1.) As being greatly pleased with them themselves, and expecting he should be so too. They had lived mostly in Galilee, at a distance from the temple, had seldom seen it, and therefore were the more struck with admiration at it, and thought he should admire as much as they did all this glory (Gen. 31:1); and they would have him divert himself (after his preaching, and from his sorrow which they saw him perhaps almost overwhelmed with) with looking about him. Note, Even good men are apt to be too much enamoured with outward pomp and gaiety, and to overvalue it, even in the things of God; whereas we should be, as Christ was, dead to it, and look upon it with contempt. The temple was indeed glorious, but, [1.] Its glory was sullied and stained with the sin of the priests and people; that wicked doctrine of the Pharisees, which preferred the gold before the temple that sanctified it, was enough to deface the beauty of all the ornaments of the temple. [2.] Its glory was eclipsed and outdone by the presence of Christ in it, who was the glory of this latter house (Hag. 2:9), so that the buildings had no glory, in comparison with that glory which excelled. Or, (2.) As grieving that this house should be left desolate; they showed him the buildings, as if they would move him to reverse the sentence; "Lord, let not this holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, be made a desolation." They forgot how many providences, concerning Solomon's temple, had manifested how little God cared for that outward glory which they had so much admired, when the people were wicked, 2 Chr. 7:21. This house, which is high, sin will bring low. Christ had lately looked upon the precious souls, and wept for them, Lu. 19:41. The disciples look upon the pompous buildings, and are ready to weep for them. In this, as in other things, his thoughts are not like ours. It was weakness, and meanness of spirit, in the disciples, to be so fond of fine buildings; it was a childish thing. Animo magno nihil magnum- "To a great mind nothing is great." - Seneca. 2. Christ, hereupon, foretels the utter ruin and destruction that were coming upon this place, v. 2. Note, A believing foresight of the defacing of all worldly glory will help to take us off from admiring it, and overvaluing it. The most beautiful body will be shortly worms' meat, and the most beautiful building a ruinous heap. And shall we then set our eyes upon that which so soon is not, and look upon that with so much admiration which ere long we shall certainly look upon with so much contempt? See ye not all these things? They would have Christ look upon them, and be as much in love with them as they were; he would have them look upon them, and be as dead to them as he was. There is such a sight of these things as will do us good; so to see them as to see through them and see to the end of them. Christ, instead of reversing the decree, ratifies it; Verily, I say unto you, there shall not be left one stone upon another. (1.) He speaks of it as a certain ruin; "I say unto you. I, that know what I say, and know how to make good what I say; take my word for it, it shall be so; I, the Amen, the true Witness, say it to you." All judgment being committed to the Son, the threatenings, as well as the promises, are all yea, and amen, in him. Heb. 6:17, 18. (2.) He speaks of it as an utter ruin. The temple shall not only be stripped, and plundered, and defaced, but utterly demolished and laid waste; Not one stone shall be left upon another. Notice is taken, in the building of the second temple, of the laying of one stone upon another (Hag. 2:15); and here, in the ruin, of not leaving one stone upon another. History tells us, that this was fulfilled in the latter; for though Titus, when he took the city, did all he could to preserve the temple, yet he could not restrain the enraged soldiers from destroying it utterly; and it was done to that degree, that Turnus Rufus ploughed up the ground on which it had stood: thus that scripture was fulfilled (Mic. 3:12), Zion shall, for your sake, be ploughed as a field. And afterward, in Julian the Apostate's time, when the Jews were encouraged by him to rebuild their temple, in opposition to the Christian religion, what remained of the ruins was quite pulled down, to level the ground for a new foundation; but the attempt was defeated by the miraculous eruption of fire out of the ground, which destroyed the foundation they laid, and frightened away the builders. Now this prediction of the final and irreparable ruin of the temple includes a prediction of the period of the Levitical priesthood and the ceremonial law. 3. The disciples, not disputing either the truth or the equity of this sentence, nor doubting of the accomplishment of it, enquire more particularly of the time when it should come to pass, and the signs of its approach, v. 3. Observe, (1.) Where they made this enquiry; privately, as he sat upon the mount of Olives; probably, he was returning to Bethany, and there sat down by the way, to rest him; the mount of Olives directly faced the temple, and from thence he might have a full prospect of it at some distance; there he sat as a Judge upon the bench, the temple and city being before him as at the bar, and thus he passed sentence on them. We read (Eze. 11:23) of the removing of the glory of the Lord from the temple to the mountain; so Christ, the great Shechinah, here removes to this mountain. (2.) What the enquiry itself was; When shall these things be; and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? Here are three questions. [1.] Some think, these questions do all point at one and the same thing-the destruction of the temple, and the period of the Jewish church and nation, which Christ had himself spoken of as his coming (ch. 16:28), and which would be the consummation of the age (for so it may be read), the finishing of that dispensation. Or, they thought the destruction of the temple must needs be the end of the world. If that house be laid waste, the world cannot stand; for the Rabbin used to say that the house of the sanctuary was one of the seven things for the sake of which the world was made; and they think, if so, the world will not survive the temple. [2.] Others think their question, When shall these things be? refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the other two to the end of the world; or Christ's coming may refer to his setting up his gospel kingdom, and the end of the world to the day of judgment. I rather incline to think that their question looked no further than the event Christ now foretold; but it appears by other passages, that they had very confused thoughts of future events; so that perhaps it is not possible to put any certain construction upon this question of theirs. But Christ, in his answer, though he does not expressly rectify the mistakes of his disciples (that must be done by the pouring out of the Spirit), yet looks further than their question, and instructs his church, not only concerning the great events of that age, the destruction of Jerusalem, but concerning his second coming at the end of time, which here he insensibly slides into a discourse of, and of that it is plain he speaks in the next chapter, which is a continuation of this sermon. Mat 24:4-31 The disciples had asked concerning the times, When shall these things be? Christ gives them no answer to that, after what number of days and years his prediction should be accomplished, for it is not for us to know the times (Acts 1:7); but they had asked, What shall be the sign? That question he answers fully, for we are concerned to understand the signs of the times, ch. 16:3. Now the prophecy primarily respects the events near at hand-the destruction of Jerusalem, the period of the Jewish church and state, the calling of the Gentiles, and the setting up of Christ's kingdom in the world; but as the prophecies of the Old Testament, which have an immediate reference to the affairs of the Jews and the revolutions of their state, under the figure of them do certainly look further, to the gospel church and the kingdom of the Messiah, and are so expounded in the New Testament, and such expressions are found in those predictions as are peculiar thereto and not applicable otherwise; so this prophecy, under the type of Jerusalem's destruction, looks as far forward as the general judgment; and, as is usual in prophecies, some passages are most applicable to the type, and others to the antitype; and toward the close, as usual, it points more particularly to the latter. It is observable, that what Christ here saith to his disciples tends more to engage their caution than to satisfy their curiosity; more to prepare them for the events that should happen than to give them a distinct idea of the events themselves. This is that good understanding of the time which we should all covet, thence to infer what Israel ought to do: and so this prophecy is of standing lasting use to the church, and will be so to the end of time; for the thing that hath been, is that which shall be (Eccl. 1:5, 6, 7, 9), and the series, connection, and presages, of events, are much the same still that they were then; so that upon the prophecy of this chapter, pointing at that event, moral prognostications may be made, and such constructions of the signs of the times as the wise man's heart will know how to improve. I. Christ here foretels the going forth of deceivers; he begins with a caution, Take heed that no man deceive you. They expected to be told when these things should be, to be let into that secret; but this caution is a check to their curiosity, "What is that to you? Mind you your duty, follow me, and be not seduced from following me." Those that are most inquisitive concerning the secret things which belong not to them are most easily imposed upon by seducers, 2 Th. 2:3. The disciples, when they heard that the Jews, their most inveterate enemies, should be destroyed, might be in danger of falling into security; "Nay," saith Christ, "you are more exposed other ways." Seducers are more dangerous enemies to the church than persecutors. Three times in this discourse he mentions the appearing of false prophets, which was, 1. A presage of Jerusalem's ruin. Justly were they who killed the true prophets, left to be ensnared by false prophets; and they who crucified the true Messiah, left to be deceived and broken by false Christs and pretended Messiahs. The appearing of these was the occasion of dividing that people into parties and factions, which made their ruin the more easy and speedy; and the sin of the many that were led aside by them, helped to fill the measure. 2. It was a trial to the disciples of Christ, and therefore agreeable to their state of probation, that they which are perfect, may be made manifest. Now concerning these deceivers, observe here, (1.) The pretences they should come under. Satan acts most mischievously, when he appears as an angel of light: the colour of the greatest good is often the cover of the greatest evil. [1.] There should appear false prophets (v. 11-24); the deceivers would pretend to divine inspiration, an immediate mission, and a spirit of prophecy, when it was all a lie. Such they had been formerly (Jer. 23:16; Eze. 13:6), as was foretold, Deu. 13:3. Some think, the seducers here pointed to were such as had been settled teachers in the church, and had gained reputation as such, but afterward betrayed the truth they had taught, and revolted to error; and from such the danger is the greater, because least suspected. One false traitor in the garrison may do more mischief than a thousand avowed enemies without. [2.] There should appear false Christs, coming in Christ's name (v. 5), assuming to themselves the name peculiar to him, and saying, I am Christ, pseudo-christs, v. 24. There was at that time a general expectation of the appearing of the Messiah; they spoke of him; as he that should come; but when he did come, the body of the nation rejected him; which those who were ambitious of making themselves a name, took advantage of, and set up for Christ. Josephus speaks of several such impostors between this and the destruction of Jerusalem; one Theudas, that was defeated by Cospius Fadus; another by Felix, another by Festus. Dosetheus said he was the Christ foretold by Moses. Origen adversus Celsum. See Acts 5:36, 37; 21:28. Simon Magus pretended to be the great power of God, Acts 8:10. In after-ages there have been such pretenders; one about a hundred years after Christ, that called himself Bar-cochobas-The son of a star, but proved Bar-cosba-The son of a lie. About fifty years ago Sabbati-Levi set up for a Messiah in the Turkish empire, and was greatly caressed by the Jews; but in a short time his folly was made manifest. See Sir Paul Rycaut's History. The popish religion doth, in effect, set up a false Christ; the Pope comes, in Christ's name, as his vicar, but invades and usurps all his offices, and so is a rival with him, and, as such, an enemy to him, a deceiver, and an antichrist. [3.] These false Christs and false prophets would have their agents and emissaries busy in all places to draw people in to them, v. 23. Then when public troubles are great and threatening, and people will be catching at any thing that looks like deliverance, then Satan will take the advantage of imposing on them; they will say, Lo, here is a Christ, or there is one; but do not mind them: the true Christ did not strive, nor cry; nor was it said of him, Lo, here! or Lo, there! (Lu. 17:21), therefore if any man say so concerning him, look upon it as a temptation. The hermits, who place religion in a monastical life, say, He is in the desert; the priests, who made the consecrated wafer to be Christ, say, "He is en tois tameiois-in the cupboards, in the secret chambers: lo, he is in this shrine, in that image." Thus some appropriate Christ's spiritual presence to one party or persuasion, as if they had the monopoly of Christ and Christianity; and the kingdom of Christ must stand and fall, must live and die, with them; "Lo, he is in this church, in that council:" whereas Christ is All in all, not here or there, but meets his people with a blessing in every place where he records his name.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2023 9:47:25 GMT -5
From American Vision;
The Dispensational system has a horrific future in store for Jewish people living in Israel.
What does the Bible say about the future of Israel as it relates to the question of Jerusalem’s prophetic significance? The Old Testament teaches that Israel was taken into captivity in two parts: first, the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 722 BC, and then the southern kingdom by the Babylonians between 597 to 581 BC. God promised He would return Israel to the land after 70 years (Dan. 9:2; 2 Chron. 36:21; Ezra 1:1; Jer. 25:11, 12; 29:10; Zech. 7:5). They did return, the capital city of Jerusalem was reestablished, and the temple rebuilt (see the books of Ezra and Nehemiah).
Any promises in the Old Testament related to Israel returning to their land and rebuilding the temple were fulfilled in the post-exile period and continued with the ministry of Jesus Christ. The temple that Jesus said would be destroyed before their generation passed away (Matt. 24:34) was standing in Jesus’ day when He made the prediction (vv. 1–3).
Jesus said the following about the redemptive center of Jerusalem in His discussion with the Samaritan woman:
The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers” (John 4:19–24).
There are two Jerusalems mentioned in Scripture: earthly Jerusalem and heavenly Jerusalem:
Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem [that was in existence when Paul wrote to the Galatians], for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother (Gal. 4:25–26).
The New Testament doesn’t mention any change in the redemptive nature of these two Jerusalems as the book of Hebrews states:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel (Heb. 12:22–24; also Rev. 3:12–13; 21:2, 10).
The writer of the book of Hebrews continues:
This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire (12:27–29).
The only Jerusalem that matters redemptively is the heavenly Jerusalem, a city that cannot be shaken. The only true “Mount Zion” is the heavenly one, not modern-day earthly Zion in Israel. The Jerusalem of today is no different from any other capital city in terms of biblical theology.
What about the need for a rebuilt temple? There isn’t a single verse in the New Testament that says anything about there being any need for a rebuilt temple. In fact, Jesus is the temple (John 2:19–22), its cornerstone (Eph. 2:20; Luke 20:17; 1 Peter 2:6–9), and we are living stones with Him in what is a “spiritual house” with “spiritual sacrifices” (1 Peter 2:4–5).
While acknowledging Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has political significance, it doesn’t have any redemptive or prophetic significance.
The Rapture and the Fig Tree Generation The Rapture and the Fig Tree Generation Since the national reestablishment of Israel in 1948, countless books and pamphlets have been written defending the doctrine assuring readers that it could happen at any moment. Some prophecy writers claimed the “rapture” would take place before 1988. We are far removed from that date. Where are we in God’s prophetic timetable?
BUY NOW The Dispensational system has a horrific future in store for Jewish people living in Israel. It teaches that the Jews will go through another holocaust, one that won’t even compare to World War 2. Proponents of the system often use the Replacement Theology card as a way to cover up their bad exegetical work, especially the inevitable future Jewish holocaust problem.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2023 10:01:31 GMT -5
Pastor Toby Sumpter....Idaho
Why are there so many professing Christians in this land with such little impact? The Bible's clear answer is that when God's people worship idols, God will not bless them. God will give victory to Gideon's 300 faithful men over many thousands, but when there is sin in the camp, He will not even give a small victory over a tiny village like Ai. We are being chased by our enemies because of our idols. Some of our modern idols include: college scholarships -- especially in athletics, youth sports -- particularly on Sundays, college degrees -- while losing your virginity/faith/soul, retirement benefits -- don't ever risk losing your job, middle-upper class fashion/lifestyle/bodies -- all tied to lust for worldly fame/affirmation/respect. Many Christians have sacrificed themselves & their children to these false gods and demons, and it shows. Idols offer satanic shortcuts to glory (blessing apart from faith-filled obedience) and they always end up in darkness, sorrow, and death. The answer is to repent, yes, but more than that, we must collectively reject the idols, throw them down, and grind them to powder. We must reject every offer of blessing that requires disobedience and compromise. We must plan to stick out, stand out, and be ridiculed, mocked, slandered, canceled, fired, doxxed, and worse. Obedience (which often brings suffering) is the only path to God's blessing and therefore, victory: thriving families and churches, cultural influence, and godly political power.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2023 10:11:20 GMT -5
A nation so blessed by God, with prosperity and riches and liberty like no other. God shed His grace on thee. A shining city on a hill, a light among the nations: known for industrious innovation, courageous political leadership, and astonishing freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom of conscience. America was once a thriving, faithful son of the Father, full of faithful churches.
But Prodigal America has journeyed far from the Father, spending the riches of our inheritance on the pig slop of sexual perversion, abortion, and a corrupt welfare state swelling with bureaucratic blood and greed and tyranny. The American Church, deceived by gnosticism and secularism, infected by luke-warm and compromised theology, is guilty, fearful, and cowardly, and has refused to call Prodigal America to repentance.
Will America wake up from our gluttony and hookers, from our idolatry of the state, from our prideful apathy and insolent rebellion, and return to the Father in true humility? God the Father is waiting and looking down the road for all His prodigal sons to return. Will Prodigal America return to the Father in repentance, confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, or will we fall to our own destruction, and become a pillar of salt as a memorial for other nations?
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 19, 2023 14:56:03 GMT -5
WHAT IS THE LOVE OF GOD? “...we must understand that love, all love, is of God. This means that love is not what the world calls love. The world speaks of love: parental love, marital love, love among friends, etc. The world talks about love in many senses. In fact the world speaks of love as the cure for all of its problems. All the world needs, so it is said, is a little bit of love. That is not love. At best it is only a certain natural affection or attraction. For the rest it is only earthly, sensual, and devilish; it belongs to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The world's love, in fact, is the very opposite of God's love. The world's love is hatred against God and His Christ and against His people. That is all it ever can be. No matter how sweetly the world may talk about love, the world, when it comes right down to it, hates God and His cause. This is not merely my opinion; it is God's Word. The Bible teaches that "the carnal mind (literally, the mind of the flesh, R.D.D.) is enmity (hatred) against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).” –Prof. Robert D. Decker
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2023 22:26:39 GMT -5
about an hour ago · “There is a crisis in evangelical missions. A great gulf is fixed between the realm of theology and the world of missions. On one side of the rift, those who most love theology fall prey far too easily to pharisaism, intellectualism, and apathy, keeping them from the front lines of missions. Young men pursue theological degrees, compete for a small handful of available ministry jobs to pay off their school debts and support their young families, settle into routines, and wake up decades later inside the evangelical cultural ghetto. On the other side of the rift, many of the most adventurous, risk-taking mission workers are trained to check their theology at the door of their sending organization and learn a host of man-centered ministry tactics that stem from cultural relativism. These missionaries are told that the same gospel-centered, doctrine-rich teaching that builds faithful churches in the West won't work elsewhere in the world and that some new and different insight from sociology is needed in non-Western cultures. When we fail to savor and apply our theology, a lack of zeal for missions is never far off. Simultaneously, those most zealous for missions often look on historical theological tradition with suspicion. In short, bad theology leads to bad missions, and bad missions spreads more bad theology.” - Alex Kocman “Missions By The Book”
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 27, 2023 14:50:37 GMT -5
Are You Really Preaching Christ?
Article by Michael Reeves President, Union School of Theology
Inside the pulpit in London where I learned to preach was a little inscription meant only for the preacher as he stepped up to his task: “Sir, we would see Jesus.” Those words from John 12:21 made clear what I was there to do. Yet, simple as the message was, it was not shallow. It reflected the deepest wells of Christian thought.
For Jesus Christ is the truth and glory of God; in him the grace and life and wisdom of God is found. He is the revealing Word sent forth by the Father, and the One to whom the Spirit of truth testifies. Indeed, God breathes out the Scriptures through the Spirit precisely so that through the word of Christ we might be made “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). That is why the law finds its fulfillment in him (Romans 10:4), and why the prophets, the apostles, and all the Scriptures testify about him (Luke 24:27, 44–47; John 5:39–40, 46).
For the preacher, the application is straightforward: if the desire of the Father, the work of the Spirit, and the purpose of Scripture is to herald Jesus, so must the faithful preacher. If the Son’s great and eternal goal is to win for himself a bride, then his heralds must woo for him. They are like Abraham’s servant in Genesis 24, commissioned to find a bride for his master’s son.
Preaching That Avoids Christ Of course, a good deal of preaching doesn’t even try to preach Christ. Alternative messages or saviors are promoted, unbiblical “Christs” are proclaimed, or preaching is simply confused with lecturing, moralizing, entertaining, or grandstanding.
Even those who are most serious about Scripture can fail here. As Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40). Just so, we too can treat Scripture as an end in itself and preaching as a simple matter of making our people experts in Scripture. We can preach in a way that looks impeccably biblical but produces only proud scribes, not humbled worshipers of Christ.
Three Remedies for Preachers For many of us preachers, though, we know we should preach Christ. We want to do so. Yet we struggle. Why? Let me suggest three remedies to three mistakes we can make.
1. Preach Christ, not an abstraction. The gravitational pull of sin down and away from faith in Christ means that our default mode is to put substitutes in the place of Christ, to have other objects of worship. One of the subtlest ways preachers do this is by replacing the specific, actual person of Jesus Christ with an abstraction. Any abstraction can do it, but the more theological it is, the harder it can be to spot how it stands in the place of Christ and masks his absence. “The gospel,” “grace,” or “the Bible”: all can be treated as if they were saviors or gods in themselves.
Even “the cross” can be treated as an abstraction and stand as a substitute for Jesus. In fact, the cross is probably the place where the danger is subtlest. Preachers seeking to “preach Christ” can easily take it to mean nothing more than the need to rehearse the atonement in every sermon. But in so doing, the atonement itself can be presented as an impersonal machine for a “salvation” that has little clearly to do with treasuring Christ.
To preach Christ involves preaching all the doctrines that set him forth. Yet no doctrine should be abstracted from him and made ultimate. Christ himself is, in person, the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). He alone is the one to put forth as the glory and delight of the saints.
2. Proclaim the reality, not a mere concept. “Preaching Christ from all of Scripture” has become a staple theme for evangelical books and conferences. In many ways, that is a good thing, but there is a danger that preaching Christ can become a mere hermeneutical game in which we work out how to “get to” him as the endpoint of the sermon. Christ becomes the preacher’s brilliant solution to the textual puzzle. In other words, Christ is presented as the right answer, but not held out as the one to be adored.
With this mistake, it is not so much that Christ is replaced by some other truth; rather, he is treated as a dead specimen to be sliced and diced for our analysis. This, of course, appeals to our pride. For if Scripture is not mightily divine, living and active, but a dead artifact to be dissected for concepts, then we can stand over it as masters of the text. We need never face the discomfort of being confronted by it. But preaching then becomes a mere memorial to Christ, a tombstone.
Yet when Paul wrote of his imploring as an ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), he clearly saw a role greater than that of a schoolteacher revising theological grammar. Before the eyes of his people, Jesus Christ was placarded so that they might come to him, set their affections on him, and so trust him.
3. Show, don’t tell. If people are to cherish and treasure Christ, they cannot merely be told that he is good, true, and beautiful. They must be shown so that they taste and see. Yet showing is a much more challenging proposition for the preacher: such a sermon cannot be aimlessly trotted out; nor can it come from a preacher who is not himself enjoying and adoring Christ.
For those reasons, we preachers all too easily settle for telling. The sort of rhetorical questions you often hear from the pulpit (“Isn’t that a wonderful truth?” “Isn’t Christ glorious?”) are a classic giveaway. They sound pious, but instead of showing how Christ is glorious and wonderful, they leave the people to do the work of discovering for themselves.
Showing is not just a challenge for the sermon itself. Showing involves the man. For while an ungodly preacher may speak of Christ — and do so with eloquence — what people will sense is his ego or lovelessness or bitterness of spirit. And these they may then map onto the Christ he proclaims. The ambassador cannot be divorced from his message.
If preachers are to set forth Christ faithfully in the full colors of his glory, we must, like him, delight in God and love the sinners we address. Without even meaning to, the preacher will smell of whatever he truly glories in. Also without meaning to, the people will read Christ’s character off his. For good or ill, then, the heart of the preacher is itself a sermon.
Who is sufficient for these things? Not one of us in ourselves. But this is just what throws us onto him. Then we will decrease, and he will increase. And then, when he is lifted up, he will draw all people to himself (John 12:32).
Sirs, they want to see Jesus.
Michael Reeves (@mike_reeves) is president and professor of theology at the Union School of Theology.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 30, 2023 20:27:01 GMT -5
Robert Gagnon Baptizo and its related forms always refers to a thorough drenching or immersion, whether that be from a massive downpour from above or (more commonly) or submersion below. It never refers to a mere sprinkling. Sprinkling would be a substitute mode if one absolutely can't baptize. That in the 1st century the normative mode of Christian water baptism was submersion is favored by many considerations.
1. Submersion conveys well the meaning of baptizō as the controlling influence of a liquid, and fits well with one of the most common images for baptizō, namely, that of watery destruction through sinking or drowning.
2. In ancient Israel ritual bathing for various impurities involved “one’s whole body” (Lev. 15:16). By Jesus’ day Palestinian Jews used stepped, plastered pools known as mikvaōth (sg. mikveh) for ritual full-body bathing. At Qumran, it was forbidden to bathe in water too shallow to cover completely the person (CD 10:10–13; so also later Rabbinic specifications for the size of mikvaōth: a minimum of 3 cu. high by 1 cu. wide by 1 cu. long; b. Erub. 4b). In Sib. Or. 4.165 (written c.80 CE by Jewish baptist circles) the command is given to “wash [lousasthe] your whole bodies in ever-flowing rivers.”
3. The only explicit indications in the NT regarding the place of baptism are to an outdoor body of water that required the one being baptized to go down into the water and come back up (Mark 1:5, 9–10 par.; John 3:22–23; Acts 8:39). Contrary to what you stated about Acts 2, for the mass baptism of 3,000 in Jerusalem reported in Acts 2:41 large outdoor mikvaōth around the temple may have been used. Paul could take it for granted that Christians in Rome, an assembly of believers that he had not yet visited, would understand the correlation of water baptism with death and burial (Rom. 6:3–4; Col. 2:12). This correlation favors submersion since submersion would be the normal means of undergoing a watery death and going under the surface of the water would convey underground burial (even burial chambers in Israel were normally cut out of bedrock underground).
4. The evidence from the first few centuries after the NT also supports the idea of submersion. Both the Epistle of Barnabas (11.8, 11) and the “Shepherd of Hermas” (Sim. 9.16) in the first half of the 2nd century appear to assume the mode of immersion when they refer to “going down” into the water and “coming up” (similarly, Jewish proselyte baptism according to b. Yebam. 47b). The idea of full-body immersion is consistent with Tertullian’s citation of various locations where baptism might be conducted: “in the sea or in a pool, in a river or a fountain, in a reservoir or a tub” (On Baptism 4). While the Didache allows pouring water on the head if it is not possible to “baptize into” running water or “another water” (preferably cold water), it clearly distinguishes such pouring from the verb baptizō (7.1–3). Later, Cyprian (c.250) approved “divine abridgments” and “accommodations” to baptismal immersion in the form of sprinkling and pouring, but only in the extreme circumstance of a person confined to a sickbed and near death (Ep. 75). In the 4th century John Chrysostom stated that the priest “puts your head down into the water three times and three times he lifts it up again” (Catech. 2.26), while Gregory of Nyssa compared the concealment of the body in the earth at burial to one’s concealment in water in baptism (PG 46.585B). Most baptismal fonts from the 3rd to 7th centuries are larger than would be needed for only a partial immersion, including the earliest font, at Dura-Europos (c.240).
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Nov 1, 2023 9:34:14 GMT -5
D. Scott Meadows Puritan Thomas Manton: "Now it is not enough to have our private devotions in our families and closets, but we must entertain public converse with God, to testify our union and agreement with the people of God in the same faith and worship. Now, it was the manner of some to forsake these conventions and meetings, which was a grievous sin, and of very ill consequence; not only as they deprived themselves of the benefit of these societies, but as they seemed to love their life, goods, or quiet and peace, and reputation, and liberty more than Christ; and though they were convinced of the truth of Christianity, yet could not be noted as open professors of it" (Works 18.253, 254). Reply 13h D. Scott Meadows Puritan Stephen Charnock: "Public worship keeps up the memorials of God in a world prone to atheism, and a sense of God in a heart prone to forgetfulness. The angels sung in company, not singly, at the birth of Christ, Luke 2:13, and praised God not only with a simple elevation of their spiritual nature, but audibly, by forming a voice in the air. Affections are more lively, spirits more raised in public than private; God will credit his own ordinance. Fire increaseth by laying together many coals in one place; so is devotion inflamed by the union of many hearts, and by a joint presence" (Works 1.297). Reply 13h D. Scott Meadows Thomas Boston: "[Church] ordinances are the trysting-places for the meeting betwixt God and sinners; he walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks: he will account himself forsaken by people’s turning their back on the trysting-place where he is to be met with" (Works 10.152). Reply 12h D. Scott Meadows Jeremiah Burroughs (1650): "Certainly, when men that are members of a Church shall for form come and joyn with Gods people, but their consciences tell them, when they are in the world, their hearts are more content and satisfied; this is an argument of a carnal heart, that hath dallied with God. It is a dishonor to godly men; as men that are raised to high priviledges, count it a dishonor to company with those that are mean. Those who were free of the City of Rome, were not to be free of any other place. It is enough that we are Citizens of the new Jerusalem, let us satisfie our selves in this" ("Moses His Choice, with His Eye Fixed upon Heaven: Discovering the Condition of a Self-Denying Heart," p. 307). Reply 12h D. Scott Meadows John Calvin: "It is an evil which prevails everywhere among mankind, that every one sets himself above others, and especially that those who seem in anything to excel cannot well endure their inferiors to be on an equality with themselves. And then there is so much morosity almost in all, that individuals would gladly make churches for themselves if they could; for they find it so difficult to accommodate themselves to the ways and habits of others. . . . Unless similarity of habits or some allurements or advantages draw us together, it is very difficult even to maintain a continual concord among ourselves. Extremely needed, therefore, by us all is the admonition to be stimulated to love and not to envy, and not to separate from those whom God has joined to us, but to embrace with brotherly kindness all those who are united to us in faith. And surely it behoves us the more earnestly to cultivate unity, as the more eagerly watchful Satan is, either to tear us by any means from the Church, or stealthily to seduce us from it" (in loc.). Reply 12h Murray Brett D. Scott Meadows, these are marvelous quotes. Thank you very much for posting them. Reply 3h Jeff Rose · D. Scott Meadows John Calvin understood from the Word of God the dignity of a true church of Christ and the seriousness of separating from it: Calvin wrote: ... no one is permitted to spurn its [i.e., a true church's] authority, flout its warnings, resist its counsels, or make light of its chastisements—much less to desert it and break its unity. For the Lord esteems the communion of his church so highly that he counts as a traitor and apostate from Christianity anyone who arrogantly leaves any Christian society, provided it cherishes the true ministry of Word and sacraments. He so esteems the authority of the church that when it is violated he believes his own diminished ... From this it follows that separation from the church is the denial of God and Christ. Hence, we must even more avoid so wicked a separation. For when with all our might we are attempting the overthrow of God's truth, we deserve to have him hurl the whole thunderbolt of his wrath to crush us.8 Calvin also states that "no one escapes the just penalty of this unholy separation [from a true church] without bewitching himself with pestilent errors and foulest delusions."9 How true this is, with Horatio Spafford himself being a clear example, as we shall see. Reply 3m
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Nov 3, 2023 1:23:55 GMT -5
Loving God With All Our Mind Have you ever been told something like this? --> "Your head is getting too full of doctrine. Jesus looks at the heart." This is a frequently used false dichotomy that is made between the head and the heart. It is a standard thought stopping device of the NAR Movement as a whole. “If it feels right, and it’s done in Jesus name, then it glorifies Him and must be of God.” Brian Simmons, author of the Passion “Translation” says that all our old stuffy Bible translations only speak to the mind but his new, edgy Passion bible bypasses the defenses of the mind and gets straight to the heart! Wow so anointed right!? Wrong... "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” - Matthew 22:36-37 There is no loving God with your heart and not with your mind, yet a major feature of NAR/hyper-charismatic teaching is the idea that we must disengage our brains in order to truly connect with God. They teach that we must humble ourselves and become like children in our reasoning to receive whatever God is trying to give us. This isn’t the same thing as childlike faith. The ministries of the new apostles and prophets would not survive if people would get their brains out of neutral and begin interacting honestly with God’s Word in context. False teachers depend upon their followers never being critical of their teachings. Being a good Berean is the greatest threat to a false teacher and when you begin to test the teachings, they bring in the big guns of manipulation, namely, “you have a critical spirit that’s keeping God’s work from happening in your heart”....”you need to be teachable and put down your pride”.....”you need to submit to the authority God has put over you for your own good!” But thankfully God’s Word is crystal clear! “As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” - Galatians 1:9 “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain.” - 1 Timothy 6:3-6 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” - 2 Timothy 2:15 “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 complete, equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." - Acts 17:10-11 Every tenet of NAR is easily refuted with God’s Word in context. Don’t let the standard manipulation tactics get you down. God commends the Bereans, but He does not commend mindless devotion to charismatic personalities on a stage. Praise God for giving us His Word! We have everything we need! May we daily grow in our love for him with BOTH heart and mind (and soul & strength) fully engaged...repenting and receiving forgiveness daily as we fall short of this greatest commandment that Christ fulfilled on our behalf. Amen.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Nov 4, 2023 10:09:43 GMT -5
Reformed Christians often refer to Genesis 1:28 as the Cultural Mandate:
And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
There is nothing especially earth-shaking in this; it is simply affirming that, as God’s image-bearers, we shape the world around us and adapt it to a diversity of uses. In recent years a number of books have been published by Christians on precisely this topic. One of the best is Andy Crouch’s Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.
However, there is a persistent tendency amongst some to misidentify the Cultural Mandate as a command to redeem the larger culture from the distorting effects of sin. Chuck Colson’s recent Breakpoint commentary is typical in this respect: Dual Commissions. Colson properly understands that the Cultural Mandate — or Commission — and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) are not antithetical but, properly conceived, are complementary. Nevertheless, his understanding of the former is not entirely spot-on: If Christians do not seize the moment and act on the cultural commission, there soon won’t be any culture left to save. But when we do our duty, we can change the world. Look at Christians like William Wilberforce, who spent most of his life fighting — and winning — the war against slavery in Britain, and bringing about a great cultural renewal in that country.
I will not deny that there are battles to be fought over significant issues, but that’s not really what the Cultural Mandate is about. As Crouch puts it, “Culture is, first of all, the name for our relentless, restless human effort to take the world as it’s given to us and make something else” (p. 23). We have a God-given propensity “to make something more than we were given.” This is fairly basic stuff. We fashion “paintings (whether finger paintings or the Sistine Chapel), omelets, chairs, snow angels.” Those who believe the cultural mandate was superseded by the Great Commission have only to look around: we human beings make culture willy nilly, and we always will, because God created us to do so. You don’t have to be a culture warrior to recognize this reality of life.
Of course, one cannot escape the fact that our culture-making activities are affected by our sinful natures. This is the implication of Genesis 4:19-22. To be sure, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with fashioning culture. Yet neither can we escape the taint of sin in all our undertakings. Moreover, a distinction must be made between obedient culture-making and disobedient culture-making, which corresponds to St. Augustine’s distinction between the City of God and the City of this World. Rightly-oriented culture-making obeys the norms God has given us for life in his world: social, economic, aesthetic, ethical, political and other norms.
A good portion of what Colson calls the “Cultural Commission” must rather be understood to be the last part of the “Great Commission”: “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Evangelization requires that we proclaim, not only God’s saving grace, but the norms by which he intends those who are in Christ to live. In no way do mere human beings redeem culture by engaging in creative activity. This is presumptuous. Only God in Christ redeems his fallen creation. We are at most agents of his kingdom, manifesting his saving grace in everything we do — including the shaping of culture.
|
|