This morning I started reading ''The Almost Christian Discovered'' by Matthew Mead. I have presently finished the introduction and have a gem that I want to share with you.
''As many go to heaven by the very gates of hell, so more go to hell by the gates of heaven, in that the number of those that profess Christ is greater than the number of those that truly close with Christ.''
Sobering words that challenge me to examine my own life.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Ephesians 1:3-14
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
I love this scripture. So much meat! So much theology!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
I love this scripture. So much meat! So much theology!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Careless Comfort
I was thinking today about two things that kind of came together in an interesting way. The first is ''once saved always saved''. This is not the ''P'' in TULIP. This is fire insurance. This is saying a prayer and then living however you want to. This is not perseverance of the saints. This is self seeking assurance that one day we will all be in glory regardless of how we live. We all know people who say that because they prayed a prayer or walked an isle or raised their hand to receive salvation. ''How dare you question me!" "You are so judgemental!" They need to be ''unsaved'' before they can be truly saved. I am not saying that you can not get saved from praying a prayer or walking an isle or raising your hand. What I am saying is that after salvation there is a change. One becomes a new person. The old is gone.
I was also thinking about Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Could that not just as easily read Lord, Lord, did we not pray a prayer? Lord, Lord, did we not walk an isle or raise our hand? Lord, Lord? Oh! What a terrible truth these people will face believing that they are saved when they are not! I have many friends who are in this dire situation. Do I love them enough to talk to them? Do I love them enough to share with them the lie that they have bought into? Do I love them enough to make them uncomfortable? Do I love them enough to to make myself uncomfortable?
A friend of mine over at the vertiCALL http://theverticall.blogspot.com/ says this about comfort, ''In terms of spiritual growth, comfort has never made me any stronger or any wiser. Not once. Anything I've learned has been an outgrowth of difficulty or danger or depression or doubt or discipline. Comfort is nice, but it's overrated. '' (Thanks Blaine!)
Comfort is a crutch that many of us are resting on far to comfortably! Ahhh the American church. So comfortable. So easy to say, ''Yeah, of coarse I'm a Christian''. It is time for me to start stretching my comfort zone a little more. I need to love them enough to confront them carefully tactfully and lovingly. Stand with me!
Father make that my hearts desire.
I was also thinking about Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Could that not just as easily read Lord, Lord, did we not pray a prayer? Lord, Lord, did we not walk an isle or raise our hand? Lord, Lord? Oh! What a terrible truth these people will face believing that they are saved when they are not! I have many friends who are in this dire situation. Do I love them enough to talk to them? Do I love them enough to share with them the lie that they have bought into? Do I love them enough to make them uncomfortable? Do I love them enough to to make myself uncomfortable?
A friend of mine over at the vertiCALL http://theverticall.blogspot.com/ says this about comfort, ''In terms of spiritual growth, comfort has never made me any stronger or any wiser. Not once. Anything I've learned has been an outgrowth of difficulty or danger or depression or doubt or discipline. Comfort is nice, but it's overrated. '' (Thanks Blaine!)
Comfort is a crutch that many of us are resting on far to comfortably! Ahhh the American church. So comfortable. So easy to say, ''Yeah, of coarse I'm a Christian''. It is time for me to start stretching my comfort zone a little more. I need to love them enough to confront them carefully tactfully and lovingly. Stand with me!
Father make that my hearts desire.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Covenant or dispensation that is the question
Most of my life I was taught a little about how wrong Covenant theology is and a lot about how right Dispensationalism is. Truth be told for most of my life I really didn't care much about either of these views anyway.
I have found as of late that the more I look into and grasp Reformed Theology the more I am questioning some of the views I hold (held) on to and why exactly am I holding onto them anyway. I have been reading lots of books talking to lots of folks and measuring it all through scripture in a systematic way and seeing things quite differently now then I did back then. I may have different leanings now then I did back then but I don't think I'm ready yet to put all of my eggs in one basket. John Macarthur refers to himself as a ''leakey Dispensaionalist''. Piper tends to lean more towards Covenant. Who is right? Once again I do not believe that this is an issue to die for. We have the gospel. I pray that the gospel gets bigger and bigger for me every day. That is what matters. If you so desire I would love to hear where you dear reader stand on the issue and why. Please feel free to share!
Next we can get into Eschatology! Just kidding! My head already hurts!
I have found as of late that the more I look into and grasp Reformed Theology the more I am questioning some of the views I hold (held) on to and why exactly am I holding onto them anyway. I have been reading lots of books talking to lots of folks and measuring it all through scripture in a systematic way and seeing things quite differently now then I did back then. I may have different leanings now then I did back then but I don't think I'm ready yet to put all of my eggs in one basket. John Macarthur refers to himself as a ''leakey Dispensaionalist''. Piper tends to lean more towards Covenant. Who is right? Once again I do not believe that this is an issue to die for. We have the gospel. I pray that the gospel gets bigger and bigger for me every day. That is what matters. If you so desire I would love to hear where you dear reader stand on the issue and why. Please feel free to share!
Next we can get into Eschatology! Just kidding! My head already hurts!
Jonny Mac
I just finished reading John Macarthurs new book called, ''The Jesus You Can't Ignore''. The focus of this book is the rather polemic relationship between Jesus and Pharisees. The book starts with the clearing of the money changers from the temple and ends with the seven woes to the scribes and pharisees. There is no doubt that when it comes to truth Jesus was not on the fence.
We do have the problem in our churches today of being afraid to stand up for truth. It is more important to get along then it is to stand on sound doctrine. One of the things that Macarthur mentions is that the closer a doctrine is to the gospel and still not the gospel the more satanic it is. I think that statement is both profound and very true. I look at the ecumenical movement and shudder! There are churches out there that look like us, smell like us, act like us, and sadly, think they are like us but they are not because their Jesus is not the Jesus. That is OK though because they are very close. No, no, nonono, no! Jesus said ''I am the way''. He did not say ''I am a way.'', or ''I am the way, but you have to do some other stuff too.'' Jesus and Jesus alone is the way to heaven.
We are in a truth war. Read the book and get fired up about it. Many of us have spent far too much time on the bench.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Reflections of Rob
At the '09 DGNC Doug Willson said the following, ''Gods word is authoritative in everything that it teaches, and it teaches everything.'' Gods word is sufficient. There are many who do not agree with that even in ''Christian'' circles but that is not what I want to talk about today. As a whole, I believe that Gods word points to the Cross. The gospel is the one issue all of scripture proclaims. A friend of mine recently said to me that if you can't get to the cross in every sermon you preach old testament or new you are not presenting the message properly. The gospel should be at the center. If the bible were a target the gospel would be the bulls eye. It should be what we aim for. There are many other things that the bible teaches, some more important then others, but the gospel is really what it's all about. Please don't for a second think that I am downplaying anything in the bible. All of Scripture is Gods eternal word. It is all important but the Gospel is central.
There has been much talk in my neck of the woods about the unborn, infants, and the mentally handicapped, specifically where they go when they die. I have read many essays and articles and listened to some sermons on this sensitive issue. I have spent time in prayer and reviewed the scriptures that were brought forth in my study. Many godly men have come to the conclusion through much study of scripture and prayer that all of these go directly to heaven. Others will say that while scripture does have something to say on the issue that they are not comfortable saying that all baby's go to heaven. I would have to say that I do not sit in the all baby's go to heaven camp, I do however sit in the Romans 8:28 camp, ''And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.''
That being said, I still believe that Gods word does teach everything. Until we reach glory we will not understand what that everything is. His word is sufficient. There are hills to die on in regards to the truth of scripture. The gospel is one of them. Where baby's go when they die however I will happily leave in the hands of my sovereign God to do what is good.
There has been much talk in my neck of the woods about the unborn, infants, and the mentally handicapped, specifically where they go when they die. I have read many essays and articles and listened to some sermons on this sensitive issue. I have spent time in prayer and reviewed the scriptures that were brought forth in my study. Many godly men have come to the conclusion through much study of scripture and prayer that all of these go directly to heaven. Others will say that while scripture does have something to say on the issue that they are not comfortable saying that all baby's go to heaven. I would have to say that I do not sit in the all baby's go to heaven camp, I do however sit in the Romans 8:28 camp, ''And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.''
That being said, I still believe that Gods word does teach everything. Until we reach glory we will not understand what that everything is. His word is sufficient. There are hills to die on in regards to the truth of scripture. The gospel is one of them. Where baby's go when they die however I will happily leave in the hands of my sovereign God to do what is good.
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