Free Indeed: Mr. Puritan Goes on the "O" Show (Pt. 2)

It's been a long time comin'...but the newest installment is finally in.

Mr. Puritan is back at it on the Oprah Winfrey Network, sharing his biblical worldview on the freedom of the will, regeneration and what true liberation looks like and how we are to properly attain it; our liberty is totally dependent on the sovereignty and mercy of a gracious God. And now for your viewing pleasure...

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

THE END IS NEAR...again?!

I originally posted this on January 11, 2006 because I knew this day would come (pun intended).
But on a serious note, people being misled by false prophecies and teaching is a serious matter, and I pray that this helps to shed some light on why it is so important to use discretion in what we listen to or read on such matters; and also that we remember to let the Scriptures themselves be our guide and final word on how eschatological (end-times/last things) matters will take place. Forget what you've heard...read THE Word.

"If the world were to end tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree."

-Martin Luther
 

It never fails. Something catastrophic happens, particularly in the Middle East, and some prophecy "expert" comes running out of the woodwork screaming "Bloody Armageddon". The reason that history seems to be repeating is because people don't pay attention to it. The present generation of the time always has an air of arrogance about itself; they want to believe with all their might that they are way more corrupt than the previous generations. "Those guys were amateurs, but we are the real deal! Rotten to the core!" This may sound like a ludicrous sentiment, but this is really what it amounts to (of course, it is phrased a little differently).


Every generation has had it's share of catastrophes; bad ones, too. They happen all over the world. However, we in the west seem to have a particular "itis" for this kind of thing; Apocalypse-itis, if you will. The danger of becoming too consumed with "The End" is roughly two fold:


1. Falling into the trap of clock watching and date setting.
 
This is inevitable. Have you ever stopped to watch a clock for one minute? That minute seems like an eternity. And when that minute comes and goes, what do you have to show for it? A minute lost. Nothing is gained in that minute because you stopped to watch it go by. You'll never get it back again. The same thing happens when we stop to watch the "prophetic clock" as well. Yes, we are supposed to be watchful, but this is pushing it far beyond its rational conclusion. We are also to be sober-minded.
This is the first step into our second and most appalling error:


2. Forgetting to spread the Gospel !!


Instead of being productive by being about the business of spreading the Gospel (which is the purpose of the Church in the world), we withdraw into ourselves waiting to make a "great escape"; To hell with everyone else - literally. Knowing the end could come at any moment should further strengthen our resolve to share Christ with the lost, not cause us to abandon our post.


Don't get me wrong, I anxiously await the return of the Lord as much as any Christian. But as long as we are on this earth, first and foremost, we should be engaged in fulfilling the Great Commission. It's not our job to concern ourselves with how and when the end will come. God has graciously given us plenty to keep us occupied. But just in case you do start to feel a little jittery, here's what you can do to take your mind off your worries:


Share Christ with someone. Then, go plant an apple tree.




"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
-Genesis 8:22 (ESV)
 
"When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him."
-Deuteronomy 18:22 (ESV)

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law."
-Deuteronomy 29:29 (ESV)

"But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but the Father only...Therefore you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
-Matthew 24:36,44 (ESV)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

...Against Such Things There Is No Law: What I Know About Love (pt. 2)

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
(Galatians 5:22-23 ESV)

But, are we truly free to marry whoever we love?

“Love is not a legal category. Love has never been a legal category. If you think that love makes a family, then what does it mean when a man decides he no longer loves his wife, he no longer loves his children, and he wants to walk out and never pay child support again? After all, ‘It’s love that makes a family’; why should he be forced to pay child support? It doesn’t make any sense to use love as a binding legal category. Besides, would you really want the government inquiring about who loves who? And also, there are plenty of loving relationships that are based on love that we would never even think about having marriage around…so you love your child, you love your sister, you love your best friend. But that’s not a marriage; nobody believes for a moment that that’s a fitting relationship for a marriage. So, what kind of love are we talking about, and in the end, what is the social purpose of marriage? If all marriage is supposed to do is affirm people who love one another, then we need to ask ourselves why do we need marriage in the first place? And the answer is we don’t need marriage if that’s its only purpose! We need marriage for completely different purposes that the advocates of same-sex marriage never want to even think about.” – Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse

In short, what we need to remember this: Marriage is the safeguard for love, not the other way around...

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

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What I "Know" About Love

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." - 1 Corinthians 13:12

The "know" here is not speaking of mere head-knowledge or intellectual ascent ; in fact, it is a different word in the greek ('epignosimai' rather than 'ginosko') - here, Paul is speaking of "know" in the most intimate of context (much like Adam "knew" Eve - Genesis 4:1). So the literal translation would actually read more, "...we will love intimately as we have fully been loved intimately". When understood in context, it sheds much needed light on this passage; everything that we do now, including love, is done "in part" (incomplete). It is this way until the maturation process is completed in the return of Christ. At that point, all other things, save love (1 Corinthians 13:8), will cease because the culmination of God's love for his creation will be fully comprehended. The reason for the ceasing of things like prophecy and tongues is because their purpose will be terminated by the presence of the One in whom they point to...all that will be left is Love unsurpassed and unhindered in the ultimate of intimacy: face to face fellowship everlasting with the Godhead.

Talk about a Valentine's Day...


Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

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Robert Frost on Fire and Ice - Desiring God

Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Robert Frost died on this day in 1963. The one poem of his that I ever memorized was “Fire and Ice.” This is powerful cadence and rhyme. It gets depravity right.

I think some preachers should ponder what they have to say long enough that sometimes they talk like this.

Fire and Ice
By Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

via desiringgod.org

Powerful...ponder it.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

The Independence Mirage

photo by Paul Gallo

I was speaking to a group of high school kids. Several of them had been to our house. Petey was a gamer. He had been over at our house when I broke out a couple of paint ball guns and paired everyone off in duels with a single paintball each. It was awesome.

Anyway, I wanted to make a point about how dependant a human being is. I called Petey to the front. I told him I was going to put him in a chair and get him in a rear naked choke. I had been watching a lot of MMA (mixed martial arts). I realize it is not very pastoral. A rear naked choke is a hold that cuts off the air supply until your opponent must “tap out” or black out. I told Petey just to tap out when he needed to. I put a towel over his head so the class couldn’t see his face and got him in the hold.

He lasted longer than I thought and then tapped. I didn’t let go. My idea was to have him panic and struggle and show that a human being when deprived of something he is dependent on will do almost anything to get it. It was going to be a brilliant point. Petey tapped, waited and tapped again with a little more urgency. I held fast waiting for the struggle I knew Petey was capable of. Instead Petey put his arms at his side and stopped struggling. I released him and took the towel off. I asked, “Petey, why didn’t you struggle?” He said, “ I figured you weren’t letting me go for a reason so I just decided to wait to black out.” I told you Petey was a gamer. The school hasn’t asked me back.

My real point is this. It is comical that human beings even talk about independence. God made us so we need to eat every few hours. We need to drink almost hourly. We can only live minutes without air (unless you are Petey and you are willing to take it to the mat). God made us so that every 5 seconds we would be reminded we are dependent beings. Who gives us air and water and food? Where does it all come from?

I don’t know what we are going to do in heaven but sometimes I dream of God setting me loose to create my own little world. I know I would make some fundamental error. I would create a world where all the creatures would eat the same kind of food. All my creatures would live approximately 4 days before all the food on the planet would be gone and my poor little guys would begin to drop over one by one. God would come by and look at me, smile the smile you smile when you like someone a lot but they are just not that bright. He would then fold up my world into a lump of clay and hand it to me to start over.

The idea that everyone on this planet is breathing and drinking and eating is just astounding. And we have the audacity to think there is such a thing as being independent. It makes God smile that smile again.

-->

via redlikeblood.com

Being a submission grappler, I had to re-post this...great stuff!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Silencing the Haters; Silencing the Devil...

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2 ESV)

www.p4cm.com

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For the Beauty of The Earth: A Thanksgiving of First Importance

Today, I would normally be telling you all of the people, things, and places for which I am thankful...

But thanks to Francis Chan, that won't be happening...sort of.

You see, I began reading his book, Crazy Love, this week. In the first chapter, Chan says that where we should began is to stop praying. In other words, stop talking at God and see him for who he really is as he has revealed himself through the created order of the universe (Romans 1:20). I began to think on this quite a bit. Then I ran across this passage:

"Or what about the simple fact that plants take in carbon dioxide (which is harmful to us) and produce oxygen (which we need to survive)? I'm sure you knew that, but have you ever marveled at it? And these same poison-swallowing, life-giving plants came from tiny seeds that were placed in the dirt...Whatever the reasons for such diversity, creativity, and sophistication in the universe, on earth, and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God's art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like." (Psalm 19:1-4)

Never would have expected what happened next to happen; I was struck by the profundity of God's act of mercy and redemption via a junior high science lesson. Not only that, but also how little do I truly understand worship. I was given this body as an instrument of worship (Romans 12:1), and yet many times my senses are barely engaged in the endeavor (at least as much as they could or should be). I say all of this because it leads back to gratitude. If I have a low idea about the world around me and what its function and purpose is, then I can almost with absolute certainty guarantee that I'm not going to be able to see the Creator for who he is. Once I had read the statement by Mr. Chan and engaged my whole body in the observation of both images and words, I became so struck with amazement that I made this notation:

"Plants point us to the Savior; the attributes of a merciful God shown through his creation (Isaiah 53:1-12; 2 Corinthians 5:21)".

There are so many distractions in life that can cause us to lose our focus. Like crazy kids at Christmas time, we receive gifts only to run off and play while taking for granted the magnitude of the sacrifices that were made in order for us to have said things in the first place. So, my goal is to encourage us all to thank God for the friends and family, our jobs, homes, our health, etc.

But most importantly, we should thank God for Himself. For it is through all of these things that he reveals himself to us (John 1:14; James 1:17; Hebrews 1:1-2).



Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
- Psalm 100

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Broken Bone Hymns by Paul David Tripp

It’s a bit of a strange word picture, the kind that causes you to wonder and to feel just a bit uncomfortable. But it says volumes about what you need and about what it is that God is doing. If you’re confused about what God’s agenda is in your life, or if it doesn’t always seem like his promises are being fulfilled, then this strange little prayer from Psalm 51 is helpful and clarifying. In his psalm of repentance after his sin against God, Bathsheba, and Uriah, David writes this provocative little prayer, “Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.” What in the world is he talking about and how in the world can it give perspective and hope to you and me?

Let me begin to answer with a personal confession. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I have a low tolerance for difficulty. I confess that I am a project-oriented person. I tend to have a specific agenda for each day. I awake knowing exactly what I want to accomplish and what a successful day will look like. I don’t want to have to deal with interruptions or obstacles. I want the people, circumstances and locations to willingly submit to my sovereignty and participate in my plan. All of this means that it’s counterintuitive for me to view difficulty as something beneficial. I have little time or tolerance for “broken bones.”

But I have a problem. My Redeemer is the redeemer of broken bones. Now, maybe you're thinking, “Paul, what in the world are you talking about?” Well, here it is. “Broken bones” is a physical word picture for the pain of redemption.

In case you failed to notice, God’s work of delivering you and me from our addiction to self and sin and transforming us into his image isn’t always a comfortable process. There are times, in order to make our crooked and fickle hearts straight and loyal, God has to break some bones. I will again confess, I don’t like broken bones!

Now, you have to ask, “Why would a God of love ever bring pain into the lives of the people he says he loves?” The difficult things that you experience as God’s child that may seem like the result of God’s unfaithfulness and inattention or anger are actually acts of redemptive love. You see, in bringing these things into our lives God is actually fulfilling his covenantal commitment to satisfy the deepest needs of his people. And what is it that we need the most? The answer is simple and clear throughout all of Scripture: more than anything else we need him.

Yet this is exactly where the rub comes in. Although our greatest personal need is to live in a life-shaping relationship with the Lord, as sinners we have hearts that have a propensity to wander. We very quickly forget God and begin to put ourselves or some aspect of the creation in his place. We soon forget that he’s to be the center of everything we think, desire, say and do. We easily lose sight of the fact that our hearts were designed for him and that the deep sense of well-being which all of us seek can only be found in him.

We very rapidly forget or ignore the powerfully addicting dangers of sin and think we can step over God’s boundaries without personal and moral cost. We think we are stronger than we really are and wiser than we actually prove to be. We assess that we have character, discipline and strength that we don’t really have. So God, in the beauty of his redeeming love, will “break our bones.” He will bring us through difficulty, suffering, want, sadness, loss and grief in order to ensure that we are living in pursuit of the one thing that each of us desperately needs—him.

It’s time for each of us to embrace, teach, and encourage others with the broken-bone theology of uncomfortable grace. Because as long as each of us still has sin living in us, producing a propensity to forget and wander, God’s grace will come to us in uncomfortable forms. Perhaps you’ve been wondering where the grace of God is in your life at the very moment when you have been getting it. But it has not been the grace of comfortable relief or release; no, you have been receiving the uncomfortable grace of rescue, restoration, transformation and refinement.

So, if you are God’s child, if you’ve ever prayed that God would be near you and would do what he has promised in and for you, then resist the temptation to doubt his goodness in the middle of your moment of stress. It’s time for you and me to stop thinking that we are going through difficulty because Satan is winning or God is punishing us. If you are God’s child and you humbly recognize and admit that the battle with sin still rages in your heart, then tell yourself that those difficulties are the sure sign of his rescuing and redemptive love.

God hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t turned his back on you. He isn’t punishing you in anger. He surely isn’t withholding the grace that he has promised from you. No, you’re receiving grace, but it’s grace that is willing to break bones in order to capture and transform your heart. This grace is unrelenting. This grace has no intention of giving up. This grace will not be satisfied with the status quo. This grace does not get discouraged. It will never compromise. It will never become bitter or cynical. This is loving, patient, perseverant, powerful grace.

In those moments when you are tempted to wonder if God has forgotten you, may you preach to yourself of this relentless, transforming grace. May you remind yourself that you are being loved with real love and showered with real grace. And as you limp to his throne once more to thank him for his unyielding grace, may the bones that he has lovingly broken sing a hymn of praise to this One who alone blesses you with his amazing grace.

via desiringgod.org

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Against Heresies: Why we still need to learn from Francis Schaeffer

via against-heresies.blogspot.com

As an undergraduate I read almost everything written by J. I. Packer, John Stott, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Francis Schaeffer. For all their discernible faults, these four men rank among the foremost spiritual giants of the twentieth century and the great moulders of classical evangelical theology, ministry and evangelism in the last sixty years. If you know anything of their lives and ministries they also appear to be conspicuously out of step with the glitzy celebratory culture that pervades twenty first century evangelicalism. Colin Duriez has done a remarkable job of recording the life of Schaeffer. His biography Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life has the virtues of being interesting, honest and accessible. Francis Schaeffer was a fascinating human being; born in 1912, he was an only child and grew up in a working class home in Pennsylvania. The story of how he was brought to faith, his call to pastoral ministry, his early encounters with and love of music, art and philosophy, make for fascinating reading. I will in due course write more about the man, how he was moulded by God (including the secondary causes and relationships that shaped him), and his thought and influence. Francis Schaeffer has a lot to teach us about true authenticity in ministry today. We have temptations that he can help us with, sub-cultural maladies that he can help us identify and avoid. There is an ugly superficiality in evangelical ministry, a grubby clamouring for recognition, a lip service paid to our usefulness to God outside of the spotlight. Here are some of the themes that I want to explore in future posts: Schaeffer was a man with an unseen ministry for most of his life, his public significance came very late on. What can we learn from this faithfulness in obscurity, and in working with small groups of people, in an age where usefulness and importance is confused with the size of the church you lead and the conferences you speak at? How did we ever get into the mess of thinking that the best men to follow are easy to spot because they occupy the biggest platforms? Schaeffer was a man of remarkable integrity. In the early 1950s he faced up to the painful lack of reality in his own experience and that of the separatist circle that he was part of. He faced it with courage and honesty and was not afraid to re-think everything he had believed and stood for. In the preface to his book True Spirituality he wrote: I told Edith that for the sake of honesty I had to go all the way back to my agnosticism and think through the whole matter. I'm sure that this was a difficult time for her, and I'm sure that she prayed much for me in those days. It was a crisis of authenticity, and a far cry from the kind of authenticity applauded today that merely apes secular mores. Schaeffer was a man of marked compassion toward people. He was a man who cared for the despair of the Western world, and a man who cared enough to do the hard work in order to understand the thinking and feeling of unbelievers. But beyond that, anyone who has watched his series How should we then live? can see in his eyes and hear in his voice a great sensitivity for those who live without God and without hope in this world. His love for people, for individuals, his ability to speak to large audiences just as if he was speaking to one person sat on a chair opposite him, is something that can teach us a great deal. There is a warmth and a humanity, a sadness and a depth of feeling, a winsomeness and love in his communication of the truth of God that is, in many ways, the missing note in so much apologetic ministry today. The tears of Schaeffer in telling the truth of the gospel are worth more than smugness and hardness that sadly can accompany our own efforts. Pick up and read the books of Francis Schaeffer and the Colin Duriez's biography of the man.

Schaeffer has played a significant role in my spiritual development. Christians should be well advised to take up and read his works. He offers much in the way of having a robust Evangelical worldview up and against a postmodern humanist culture, and how to reach the lost.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

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Q & A: General Revelation/The Substance of Atheism

These two questions are sort of linked together, so I decided to post answers to them at the same time...I'm sure there will be more elaborate post on these at another time. Hope you find these answers helpful. Enjoy!

Q: Why is general revelation insufficient for man's needs?

A: General revelation is able to point us to the fact that there is a God, but lacks the ability to communicate to us what the Lord requires of us. Things such as the knowledge of sin, salvation, repentance, the Gospel; these things can only be known through specific or special revelation as God reveals them to us.  In short, within general revelation we may come to know that God exists, but it is in special revelation that we discover what the Lord requires, the depth of our sins, and how God reconciles us to himself (Romans 1:19-23, 3:9-26).

Q: Is it theologically plausible to argue that there are no real atheists? If so, on what grounds?

A: We would have to say, yes, based on the evidence of Scripture given in Romans 1:21-25:

 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools,  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

 Therefore, the argument can be soundly made that Atheism is really just a delusion of a darkened mind that is bent toward idolatry. They may say that they believe in no god, but in fact are gods unto themselves, or they craft one of their choosing.

 “Atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of man.”  - Francis Bacon

Hit me up if you have any discussion, questions, or comments.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

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Reformed Theology Vs. Hyper-Calvinism by Michael Horton

Before the average believer today learns what Reformed theology (i.e., Calvinism) actually is, he first usually has to learn what it’s not. Often, detractors define Reformed theology not according to what it actually teaches, but according to where they think its logic naturally leads. Even more tragically, some hyper-Calvinists have followed the same course. Either way, “Calvinism” ends up being defined by extreme positions that it does not in fact hold as scriptural. The charges leveled against Reformed theology, of which hyper-Calvinism is actually guilty, received a definitive response at the international Synod of Dort (1618–1619), along with the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.

Is God the Author of Sin?

The God of Israel “is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4–5). In fact, James seems to have real people in mind when he cautions, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). Sin and evil have their origin not in God or creation, but in the personal will and action of creatures.

Scripture sets forth two guardrails here: On one hand, God “works all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:15); on the other, God does not — in fact, cannot — do evil. We catch a glimpse of these two guardrails at once in several passages, most notably in Genesis 45 and Acts 2. In the former, Joseph recognizes that while the intention of his brothers in selling him into slavery was evil, God meant it for good, so that many people could be saved during this famine (vv. 4–8). We read in the same breath in Acts 2:23 that “lawless men” are blamed for the crucifixion, and yet Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God….” The challenge is to affirm what Scripture teaches without venturing any further. We know from Scripture that both are true, but not how. Perhaps the most succinct statement of this point is found in the Westminster Confession of Faith (chap. 3.1): “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass;” — there’s one guardrail — “yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established,” and with that, the second guardrail. The same point is made in the Belgic Confession of Faith (Article 13), adding that whatever God has left to His own secret judgment is not for us to probe any further.

Is the Gospel for Everyone?

Isn’t it a bit of false advertising to say on one hand that God has already determined who will be saved and on the other hand to insist that the good news of the Gospel be sincerely and indiscriminately proclaimed to everyone?

But didn’t Christ die for the elect alone? The Canons of Dort pick up on a phrase that was often found in the medieval textbooks (“sufficient for the world, efficient for the elect only”) when it affirms that Christ’s death “is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world” (Second Head, Article 3). Therefore, we hold out to the world “the promise of the gospel … to all persons … without distinction ….” Although many do not embrace it, this “is not owing to any defect or insufficiency in the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the cross, but is wholly to be imputed to themselves” (Second Head, Articles 5–6).

Here once again we are faced with mystery — and the two guardrails that keep us from careening off the cliff in speculation. God loves the world and calls everyone in the world to Christ outwardlythrough the Gospel, and yet God loves the elect with a saving purpose and calls them by His Spiritinwardly through the same Gospel (John 6:63–64; 10:3–5, 11, 14–18, 25–30; Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:28–30; 2 Tim. 1:9). Both Arminians and hyper-Calvinists ignore crucial passages of Scripture, resolving the mystery in favor of the either-or: either election or the free offer of the Gospel.

Grace for Everybody?

Does God love everybody, or is His kindness simply a cloak for His wrath — fattening the wicked for the slaughter, as some hyper-Calvinists have argued?

Scripture is full of examples of God’s providential goodness, particularly in the Psalms: “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made …. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps. 145:9, 16). Jesus calls upon His followers to pray for their enemies for just this reason: “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:44). Christians are supposed to imitate this divine attitude.

The doctrine we are talking about has come to be called “common grace,” in distinction from “saving grace.” Some have objected to this term (some even to the concept), insisting that there is nothing common about grace: there is only one kind of grace, which is sovereign, electing grace. However, it must be said that whatever kindness God shows to anyone for any reason after the fall, can only be regarded as gracious. Once again, we face two guardrails that we dare not transgress: God acts graciously to save the elect and also to sustain the non-elect and cause them to flourish in this mortal life. While it is among the sweetest consolations for believers, election is not the whole story of God’s dealing with this world.

When we, as Christians, affirm common grace, we take this world seriously in all of its sinfulness as well as in all of its goodness as created and sustained by God. We see Christ as the mediator of saving grace to the elect but also of God’s general blessings to a world that is under the curse. Thus, unbelievers can even enrich the lives of believers. John Calvin pleads against the fanaticism that would forbid all secular influence on Christians, concluding that when we disparage the truth, goodness, and beauty found among unbelievers, we are heaping contempt on the Holy Spirit Himself who bestows such gifts of His common grace (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.2.15).

Is Calvinism a License to Sin?

The first thing we need to say, with Martyn Lloyd-Jones, is that if we are never accused of preaching antinomianism (that is, grace-as-license), we probably have not preached the Gospel correctly. After all, Paul anticipates the question, “Shall we then sin that grace may abound?” precisely because his own argument from 3:9 to this point has pressed it: “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more” (5:21). At the same time, some Reformed Christians, especially those liberated from legalistic backgrounds, seem to end Paul’s argument at Romans 5:21, concluding, in effect, “God likes to forgive, I like to sin — the perfect relationship!”

The difference between being accused of antinomianism (literally, anti-law-ism) and being guilty as charged is whether we are willing to follow Paul on into chapter 6. There the apostle answers this charge by an announcement of what God has done! At first, this would seem to favor antinomians, since they place all of the emphasis on what God has done and reject, or at least downplay, the importance of imperatives. Yet in fact, what Paul announces is that God has accomplished not only our justification in Christ, but our baptism into Christ. His argument is basically this: being united to Christ necessarily brings justification and regeneration, which issues in sanctification. He does not say that Christians should not, or must not, live in sin as the principle of their existence, but that they cannot — it is an impossibility. That they do continue to sin is evident enough, especially in chapter 7, but now they struggle against it.

The fathers at Dort recognized the charge that the Reformed doctrine “ leads off the minds of men from all piety and religion; that it is an opiate administered by the flesh and the devil,” and leads inevitably to “libertinism” and “renders men carnally secure, since they are persuaded by it that nothing can hinder the salvation of the elect, let them live as they please” (Conclusion). Yet they would neither surrender the comfort of justification by Christ’s righteousness imputed nor of sanctification by Christ’s resurrection life imparted. Perfection of sanctification in this life is impossible, but just as impossible is a condition known today as the “carnal Christian.” One is either dead in Adam or alive in Christ. Again, some wish to resolve this mystery: either we can be free from all known sin, as John Wesley taught, or we can be in a state of spiritual death, as antinomianism teaches. However satisfying to our reason, such an easy resolution in either direction ignores the clear teaching of Scripture and robs us of the joy of such a full salvation.

So the two guardrails on this point emerge from the fog of legalism and antinomianism: justification and sanctification are not to be confused, but they are also not to be separated.

In addition to these other charges, Reformed theology is often regarded as “rationalistic” — that is, a system built on logic rather than on Scripture. However, I hope we have begun to see that the real rationalists are the extremists on either side of these debates. The wisdom of the Reformed confessions is that they refuse to speculate beyond Scripture and insist on proclaiming the whole counsel of God, not simply the passages that seem to reinforce one-sided emphases. It is not a question of where the logic should lead us but where the Scriptures do lead us. It might be easier to resolve the mystery in simple, either-or solutions, but such a course would certainly not be safer. So let us too strive to read all of the Scriptures together, keeping a sharp lookout for those guardrails!

Who's Watching?

Matthew 5:14; Mark 4:21; John 8:12; Philippians 2:15; 2 Peter 1:19

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

What's So Good About Great?!

"Strive for greatness."


That's what I recently saw on a billboard by the freeway. Then, coincidently enough, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, where he was trying to help me reach my "full potential" with a pep talk that finished with:
"You're good. But you don't just wanna be good...be GREAT!"
"Right", I nodded. I don't think that he believed me though, because he looked at me like I was the biggest loser in the world. I think it had to do with the fact that I didn't seem too enthused with the notion of greatness.

The conversation bothered me, and at first, I didn't really know why. Was it because he was simply regurgitating what he had been spoon-fed by someone else? Was it because he sounded like Tony Robbins or Joel Osteen on crack? I just didn't know. I just sat there on his couch, zoned out for the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out why I was stewing over this. However, as I was driving home later, it hit me;I don't want to be great. Color me an under-achiever, but it's true. I'm not built for it...

I also started to notice how things change as we get older. Think back to when you were a kid. Everyday before you left the house, got on the bus, or got out of the car to go to school, you always heard the phrase, "Be good", or "Have a good day". But, somewhere along the way, good just wasn't good enough anymore. We treat goodness like old clothes that we've outgrown. But, truth be told, I believe that the shift from good to great is due largely in part to what we began to realize as we age; and that is that it is much easier to attain a high level of "greatness" (in a human sense) than it is to achieve the smallest amount of true goodness. From Samson, to David, to our modern day heroes; most individuals that we consider great at something, are usually extremely flawed. When it comes to good, we have to severely lower our standards of what that means to even put it in the same sentence with another human being. I remember a time when I was watching a prison documentary. They were talking to an inmate on death row who had killed his mother and step father in cold blood, but he still considered himself to be "basically, a good person". Yet, even though we lower the bar, the standard remains the same (Matthew 7:11). For us, we use greatness as a cover for our lack of goodness. You can be a great lover, a great athlete, a great teacher, great communicator, great leader, or even all of these great things combined, and still not be a good person. Examine for yourself: How many times have you seen or heard about someone who was "great" at something, yet they weren't a good family man/woman? How many times have we seen great athletes commit some of the most detestable acts, only to have our history books, memories, and legal systems let them off the hook? We have done this for so long that we are now beginning to think that the two words are synonymous, but a quick look at a dictionary will prove that to be very wrong.

The reality is, there is only One who is great (Isaiah 40:9-26). He is great because he is truly good (James 1:17). And while he doesn't share his greatness with anyone, he bestows his goodness on us all, even those who don't care for him (Matt. 5:45; Luke 6:35; Romans 5:6-11; 2 Cor. 5:21). This is the best news of all, because if you're like me, you probably realize by now that no matter how good you try to be, you just can't be "good enough" (Rom. 3:11-12, 21-26). So the real question is, why aim for something I can never be when I can't even attain what I was meant to be (Genesis 1:31)?!

So, I don't strive for greatness, but for gratefulness. I don't need to be great...I need to be good. For that, I need GRACE! (Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17)

If I'm good, I'm straight. That's what is truly great (Philippians1:6)...

"Nobody knows how bad they are until they have tried very hard to be good." - C.S. Lewis





Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Church Growth and the Sovereignty of God by Burk Parsons

It seems that every time I meet a pastor from another church, he asks me the common, unsolicited, ecclesiastical question of the twenty-first-century: “How big is your church?” Most pastors are usually a bit confounded when I respond: “I don’t know.” It’s only when I am pressed for an answer that I provide him with the number of families in our congregation. But if I am in a good mood I may simply explain that our church consists of people of every color and language and is as big as the world-wide church of Christ. It is my hope that in some, small way I might help other pastors obtain a better perspective on the size, growth, and health of the church, locally and globally.

Just this past week I had the opportunity to assist in a Lord’s Day service at Saint Andrew’s Church in Mzuzu, Malawi, in the southern part of Africa. At the beginning of the service nearly 200 were present, but before the two-hour service had concluded, more than 2,000 Malawian worshipers filled the sanctuary. Many walking from miles away in the dense, early morning fog, they dressed in their finest clothes and carried their tattered Bibles — if they were fortunate enough to own a Bible. I could not help but smile throughout the entire service except for a moment when I was brought to tears as they sang the classic hymn of the former slave trader John Newton: “Amazing Grace.”

At the end of the first verse, when the congregation sang the familiar stanza that I have sang more than a thousand times — “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see”— it was at that exact moment I remembered that our sovereign God has already settled the entire matter of church growth. God will seek and save those who are lost by the very means He has appointed in His inspired Word. He is the sovereign Lord of all creation, and He certainly does not need to rely upon the cleverly-devised, cultic tactics and trendy, “seeker–sensitive” techniques of Madison Avenue to woo those who are blind to His Gospel. In fact, when such carefully-contrived tactics are used, the blind are usually led by the blind who lead them not to the God of the Bible but to the god of some romantic biography in which that god will do anything he must to win the affections of those he has helplessly lost. May it never be. Rather, may God continue to use the clear, unvarnished preaching of His Word by His people to seek and save the lost so that they may see His glory and live coram Deo, before His face forevermore. 

via ligonier.org

In the age of mega-church madness, this is a refreshing reminder of how the church of Christ is truly multiplied (Acts 2:44-47).

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Trip Lee: The Invasion (Hero)

via reachrecords.com

Because the world doesn't need a hand up...it needs a Savior (John 1:29).

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

"Upon This Block I Will Build My Church...?" (The Church From A Distance)

Late last week, I was driving along on the way back home from where I work.  Maybe it was something in the air that day, or maybe it was something that I ate -- but as I drove, I started to notice something that I probably should have noticed before:

I noticed that the closer and closer I got to my home, the more and more churches I began to see.  All kinds; and not little ones either.  I wouldn't say they ALL fit into the "Mega-Church" category, but let's just say that you wouldn't be hurting for leg room in one of these structures.

Now at this point, you're probably thinking, "Wow.  So What?".  Well, here's the "what "-- I work in an area of Houston, Texas that is a low-income, high crime, "minority"-based area (or what would commonly be known as, "the hood" or "the ghetto").  But I live in a sprawling, middle to high-income, predominantly Caucasian (which I am not, by the way) area, roughly 25 minutes away.  Something in me sparked and I asked the question to myself, "Why are there so many more churches being built in the suburbs than there are in the city (or more particularly, the inner-city)?"

As Tim Keller points out in his latest series, Gospel in Life, the city is where cultures, ideas and people merge.  In other words, it is where you will undoubtedly find the greatest cross-section of people.  So why is it that the churches seem to be running away from this?  Is this not exactly where you would want to be?  So what's the problem?!  Why are churches in "the hood" so scarce when the area is so densely populated?

Answer: I propose that it is because we think to small.  We have a microscopic view of a telescopic expansion. It appears that too many ideas that are not based on Scripture have crept in  and made a home hearts and minds of many on the topic of  "Church Growth".  No matter how big the building, the Church itself becomes too "small".

Small Demographic
Most churches nowadays spend a whole lot of time trying to find a niche' audience.  This process helps to breed what I would term as a "country club" mentality; only certain types of people can get in and/or are accepted.  You have to look the part and sound the part, or else you can't take part.

Small Evangelism

Due to the fact that you only focus on a certain group of people who meet specific criterion, the act of evangelism begins to go the way of the Do-Do bird.  Since your main attraction is ultimately looking the part and sounding a certain way, then there is really no need to go into the "gory details" (sin, repentance, salvation, atonement, Jesus, etc.) of the Gospel.  Robust salvation in Christ is in danger of becoming easy-believer theology at this point.

Small Preaching

This is where everyone begins to operate on assumption.  "Since they're here they obviously believe", so the need for the preacher to dig his heels in and give doctrinal teaching and preaching becomes unnecessary because everyone's "been there and done that".  The "gospel" that is delivered is most often downgraded to the felt needs of the particular group. (i.e. Movie sermons, political preaching, etc.)

The Cause

You may be wondering what could cause such a mentality to creep in and begin to contaminate the sweetness and beauty that is the True Gospel?  First and foremost, it's fear.  I remember a time at a church that I was attending where the life within that small community was vibrant and full of eagerness to hear the Word.  Bible studies there were always engaging and sound.  But when it came time to go "across the tracks" and promote VBS and witness in a less than desirable neighborhood, you would be hard pressed to have anyone show up.  When the few of us (about 10) that went showed up on site to go to work, we were told in no uncertain terms by an officer that it was indeed a rough area to be in and there was the possibility for harm.  After this announcement, some of the workers opted to wait by their cars.  Then, there were five.

I give this illustration not to criticize, but to show just how powerful a tool fear can be for the Devil to use to lull us back into our comfort zone.  After all, is this not what he did to Jesus when he was in the wilderness?  The Enemy wants us to take every opportunity to circumvent peril and discomfort, no matter how big or how small.  The smaller we are willing to go to achieve comfort, the harder it will be to shake us out of our complacency to reach those who are not like ourselves.  In other words, it becomes easier to become a racist or an elitist under the guise of Christianity, rather than love those who Jesus loves.  Don't believe me?  Then how do you explain the Ku Klux Klan or Black Liberation Theology?

The Cure

Here in the United States, even though we will claim to have made progress by leaps and bounds in the area of race relations, Sunday mornings are still one of the most segregated times of the week.  Well, it doesn't have to be this way.  We need to return to the source of the Scriptures; where we learn that God is no respecter of persons, status, or wealth.  We see in the writings of Paul that more often than not, God chooses the low, the downtrodden and weak, to confound our silly preconceived notions.  The Gospel is not to be discriminatory, but promiscuous in the nature of how it is to be shared.  My prayer is that the Lord would give us new eyes and a new vision of the His Church -- that we would see it through His eyes. The Church of Jesus Christ is not to be a building of bricks and wood, but living stones -- the people themselves.  I've said before and I'll say it again:

People, not a place, do the Church make.

It's not built on my "kind", my country, my hood, or my block.  It's built on the Rock.  The World is our neighborhood.  Therefore, the Church is bigger than we think...where everyone is welcome.

And they sang a new song, saying, 
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,

 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”  - Revelation 5:9-10


Study References:

Matthew 16:18, 28:19;  John 6:37, 7:24, 17:15-21;  1 Corinthians 1:26-29; 1 Peter 2:5;  1 John 2:2


Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Gifts or Giver?: Easily Amused by an Overrated Existence (C.S. Lewis & The Weight of Glory)

"If our condition were truly happy we should not need to divert ourselves from thinking about it." - Blaise Pascal

Mark 4:19; James 1:17

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

"Not What My Hands Have Done": Justified By What's Been Done For Us - Alistair Begg

via youtube.com

John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.

Posted via web from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Bryan Chapell - Is The Bible A Misogynistic Document?

via youtube.com

This topic comes up in conversations time and time again. Chapell does an excellent job of expounding upon the true roles of biblical masculinity and femininity.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via web from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)