Generations

Observing the Advent of Christ

2011-12-20T18:52:00.002-06:00

In Reformed circles there is always a battle raging at this time of year about what to do with Christmas. There are the annual salvos of articles, sermons and books posted on Facebook, blogs and websites that decry the observation of Christmas in church. On the other front are those who chant "Jesus is the reason for the season" and send tacky pictures to my spam folder with animated stars hovering over manger scenes. The evangelical churches and main-liners among us look at this debate with gaping mouths, aghast that any Christian would suggest Christmas is next in kin to pagan idolatry or that any church with a wreath on its door is sure to have 'Ichabod' written just beneath it. On the other end, Christians of the strict 'no-holiday' camp are aghast at the blasphemy of a nativity pageant. The battle lines form up each year, the extremes hammer on one another, the moderates duck here and there, and nothing gets accomplished.

Personally, I have always had a difficult time with the contest. I am learning to treasure the Regulative Principle of Worship, which in a nutshell says that the Bible teaches clearly that God has the right to tell us how to worship Him, and we cannot do otherwise. I believe this whole heartedly. We are not to add to worship something he did not tell us to do, which includes Christmas (or any other day) as a special 'holy day'. I believe it to be true that God demands we worship Him in His way, not in our own. I am with the camp that says we do not innovate; we do not bless those things that God has not specifically forbidden just because He has not specifically said "Thou shalt not have clown ministry in thy congregation". A strong case is made that we only do that which He has told us to do in direct command or principle, and nothing more. God has that right, He is God.

In this I have been convinced from the Word. In church, I would not desire to bring in special observances such as advent wreaths and trees and such. I personally favor non-observation in the context of the church worship service.

However... I do love the advent of Christ and the annual celebration of that event. Here is where I will be castigated as a compromising Christian, syncretist, and so forth. But read on. When I look at the world's takeover of the Christmas season, the commercialization, the Santa Claus and the materialism, I am sad. But it really is all about that for most of my countrymen. But for my family, we have determined to use the opportunity of the season to remember the advent and birth of Christ, and speak of it to anyone who dares strike up a holiday conversation. We love the time of year!

So my family enjoys Christmas as a personal, family and - yes - even as a cultural celebration in which we can speak to others of Christ. Yet we do not believe that the church worship service is pleasing to God when it does not follow what God has prescribed for worship, even if that added stuff - Christmas - is a 'good thing' to honor Christ. Instead, we celebrate the Advent of Christ - the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us - in our home.

Why? What convinced me of this position?
Two things. First, the arguments made by historical believers from both camps that make strong, Biblical arguments for both sides of the debate. Men whom I could not deny their love for Christ and their genuine orthodox faith - among these there are ample disagreements. To read their arguments and works leads me to moderation.

Second, reading and preaching on 'the Word became flesh' forced me to consider the epic nature of what occurred, and how we are to remember epic events in redemptive history. Over and over in the Word, we are told to remember the Exodus, tell your children of the testimonies of God, remember His works, consider providence. The top several most significant events in the history of everything ought to rank up there with the testimonies of the Lord (the resurrection, crucifixion and advent of Christ being my top 3 events of all history). Look at it with me, if you have a few moments...

The Reaction to the Birth of Jesus
I look at the Bible for the pattern of a proper response to the advent of Christ. If we desire to know what a proper response is to the advent of Jesus Christ, we need only look in the living Word and see what effect the coming of Christ had upon those who understood that the Messiah had come into the World. They rejoiced.

Hear the story of the first response:

Luke 2:8-20 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Our response should be similar. Look at the Angelic hosts. When the birth was announced to the shepherds by the spokesman angel, suddenly all of heaven burst forth in praise and honor. We do not see such praise and honor from heavenly hosts very often. This is the activity of heaven, the workings of the throne room of God, but here it is bursting forth upon earth to lowly men in the fields! It is a glorious thing that the Word became flesh, worthy of such a majestic and unusual display of heavenly praise. The very first announcement of the Lord’s coming was with great fanfare and an uncommon opening of heaven. Its very unusual-ness and non-normative circumstances make it worthy of our remembrance, just as the exodus from Egypt was constantly on the lips of Israel as a testimony of the Lord's faithfulness. Christ, the ultimate deliverer from bondage, surely ought to be recalled. Appropriate praise for God is given every Sunday in the corporate worship in communion. Outside of the church service, in family life, in community life, surely such a pivotal point in the redemptive history of mankind is worthy of special remembrance.

Next, the shepherds, hearing this, immediately went to see this spectacle and then proceeded to tell everyone. Upon our encounter with the living God in the man Jesus Christ, we too must be compelled to tell others. How much more tender are those with whom we speak toward the Gospel when Christmas season comes around? Or how much more antagonized are some? Yet the subject is already out there and frequently on the lips of men. We, God's people, if we know this Jesus of history, cannot meet Him and then disregard the example of the shepherds. Tell everyone what we have seen.

And finally, Mary’s response. Imagine little Mary - her world is rocked, she has just come cross country in labor on a donkey, travailed in childbirth, delivered a child in a filthy stable. Her child is quite peculiar, He is One that Angels announced to her, One who was conceived mysteriously - everything about her life right now was unusual. As she came to understand that the Messiah, her very own creator and savior, is present before her in the hypostatic union of divinity and flesh in this one little person, she pondered. The Author and Creator is in her arms, drawing His nourishment from her, being cared for by her. Oh, what overwhelming thoughts! She pondered all of these things in her heart. The closer and more intimate you are with the God-man Jesus Christ, you cannot but spend ample time pondering, meditating, dwelling upon Him silently. He has that effect on His people.

Like Mary, we should frequently - daily - ponder Christ. I find the significance of the Biblical story of sufficient miraculous magnitude that an annual time of heightened meditation is welcomed.

The incarnation of Jesus Christ shows us the Glory of God. In the accounts given to us in the Bible, the incarnation of Jesus Christ is a singular unique event that evokes a range of response from many. The very nature of the incarnation and the ministry of Jesus that it inaugurates eclipses even the Exodus from Egypt, a mere shadow of Christ's redemption of His people. The incarnation is the opening scene of God's more excellent exodus. We rejoice in the intricate workings of God’s plan in history, in the flesh, to save sinners, and we rejoice in the simplicity of grasping onto our surety by faith. Like the scripture's account, we rejoice, we tell of Jesus, we meditate upon the Messiah, and find no fault to do so annually as a memorial and Ebenezer.

Some will declare my position on the Advent of Christ - which in summary is affirming the personal observation but not the corporate worship observation - as a vile compromise. Some will say I can't make a Biblical stand to give up the idolatry of pagan symbols. Others will charge me with Puritanical prudence because I do not support church decorations and candlelight services for the holidays. (Which is rather funny, since i really love the Puritans!). Some, I pray, will be happy to find moderation. So be it. I draw my observation of the Advent of Christ from the Word, and rejoice without hesitation unto the Lord.

Merry Advent!

Einwechter on A Christian Perspective on War

2011-12-17T23:44:00.002-06:00

William O. Einwechter has written a superb essay on just war. A Christian Perspective on Just War has made some rounds on Facebook and stirred up a good amount of commentary. I believe it is important for Christians to understand the Biblical standard for war making, the role of the state, statesmen, international law and the place of the military. If we intend to reform our thinking in every area of life, who we vote for an why must be informed by such perspectives as this.

On the Death of an Atheist

2011-12-16T08:21:00.002-06:00

As I ate a Fuddrucker's burger with my family and enjoyed small talk about such trivial topics as the Houston Texans impending playoff run, not more than a few miles away a much more weighty and profound event quietly passed. During that time, atheist celebrity Christopher Hitchens became a very convinced theist as he died at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Hitchens, the militantly proud atheist and general contrarian who declared that "God is Not Good", died of pneumonia as a complication of his cancer.

I'll admit I have a hard time thinking rightly about the death of God's enemies, considering that I was one of them for so long. My immediate thought upon hearing this news was to rejoice, for today an openly vocal and (in my opinion) offensive enemy of the Lord is silenced and no longer able to so brazenly blaspheme the One who gave him his breath. This man was a chief among sinners, I thought, justifying my silent celebration.

This is an appropriate response to such a death... partly. But I remembered rather swiftly afterward, as I always do when considering the death of a lost soul, that I would scarcely wish the fury of God's wrath on anyone, and so found myself troubled, and trembled at the thought of Mr. Hitchens' prospects going forward. After all, what makes him any more deserving of such wrath than me? Nothing. Except grace. That I did not earn, stir up, cause, deserve, or muster. Apart from that grace, I too would be a stiff necked enemy of God actively working to mock and ridicule the One Who gave me life.

Thus, as usual, I was somewhat deflated that I could not gloat in the death of a headline anti-Christ. Instead, I was forced by reality to dwell upon the finality of death coupled with the horror of a life spent warring against God. Headline sinners, 'rock star' evildoers - those who excel to the point of making a living being anti-God - trouble me in life, but in death I often find my emotions mixed. I don't like the eventual conclusion of my thoughts because they rob me of my smug pride and rejoicing that "God sure showed that guy", and cause me to instead be humble, quiet and introspective before the Judge of All.

Mr. Hitchens, in his rebellion and rejection of God, will ultimately glorify the Lord God by submitting to His Lordship under force and judgment, and will be a spectacle of perfect justice. The thought of a reprobate man being called to stand judgment deeply moves me to sorrow, and compels me to think about those with whom I might speak with now- while there is still time - to plead with and reason with concerning the Gospel.

Douglas Wilson, whom I consider a very excellent writer despite the theological errors some charge him with, debated Mr. Hitchens a while back. I remember fondly enjoying the debates and blogging about it as it went along. Because of his relationship with the late Hitchens, Wilson has written yet another excellent piece for Christianity Today, "How to think about the death of the outspoken atheist." This is a well written piece, please have a read.

Doug Philips of Vision Forum has written a very clear piece, Anti-Christian Polemicist Christopher Hitchens Dead at 62, which proposes five responses Christians should have. Mr. Phillips, as usual, is very perceptive by noting that Hitchens was - despit his atheism - obsessed with God.

Seven Observations from the NCFIC Conference

2011-12-15T13:23:00.000-06:00

I fully support the work of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, and have had several good conversations with the folks there about their efforts. Each year, the NCFIC hosts a conference themed to one of the major issues facing the church today. Last year's theme was "Gospel Centered Marriages", the year before it was "Love the Church" (we were blessed to attend that one!). Next year's conference is "White Unto Harvest". Here is a brief description:

At White Unto Harvest 2012 A Great Commission Mega-Conference, we will seek, by the grace of God, to unpack the Great Commission, as it applies to the individual, the home, and the church. There is no more powerful force at work in the world than the life-saving, culture-transforming, disciple making power of the gospel of Jesus Christ

With topics ranging from discipling your children to discipling the nations, to applying the Great Commission in the office, to street preaching, to counting the cost of following Christ, we desire to encourage a passion for fulfilling the Great Commission. We desire that Christ would be exalted in the church and in all the nations of the earth."

What speaks to me about the success of the NCFIC is not so much the invigorating teaching and encouragement I get personally. Its not even the excellent wisdom that I can take back to my home and church. Instead, it is the encouragement I see in others who approach the FIC movement with skeptical, but honestly open, minds. The NCFIC blog linked to such a story today. Pastor Kevin Ivy attended the latest conference. In his own words he felt like he would be an "outsider looking in", because he does not pastor a Family Integrated Church. His findings, Seven Observations from the National Center for Family Integrated Churches Conference, confirm yet again the good fruit of the NCFIC's mission.

Biblical Qualifications for Civil Rulers

2011-12-13T23:42:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite blogs, Theonomy Resources, is a rich repository of sound doctrine, good principled teaching and, of course, theonomic resources. In light of the sorry field of candidates lining up to run for president, as well as the myriad local and state offices needing your vote, this post - Biblical Qualifications for Civil Rulers - should be of interest. If we truly desire to reform every area of life and thought according to the Word of God, then our votes should be pleasing to the Lord. A vote for a candidate that is Biblically qualified will always be pleasing to the Lord, even if it is called a wasted vote by compromisers and 'lesser of two evils' voters.

Maturing in the Gospel

2011-12-13T14:04:00.001-06:00

Adapted from a sermon on the life of the maturing believer taken from Colossians 1. The themes include the half gospel of behavior change (which is, of course, no Gospel at all), the preeminence of Christ, and the relevance of the Gospel to sanctification in the life of a Christian. This is one of many sermons specifically addressing the weakness of the modern church's partial Gospel.

Colossians 1:15-22 ESV "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ..."

What you have just read is the basic, foundational power of Christianity, namely the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now note that this is not the call to embrace the gospel, this is not the command that Jesus gives to all men to repent and believe in the work of Jesus Christ - that is not the good news, that's a call to embrace the good news. No, this, what we have just read, IS the good news. That God the Son, holy and eternal, preeminent above all else - reconciled you, a doer of evil deeds, by His death, in order to present you to Himself holy. That is exceedingly good news.

But I have some concerns, a burden that I have held for a while now, and its this - scripture tells me in Romans 6:22 that you who have been set free from sin have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification. 1 Peter 2:2-3 teaches me that we who are born again ought to "grow up into salvation-- if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." and verses like 1 Corinthians 1:18 tell me that the Word of the cross is the power of God to us who are being saved. The problem that has me burdened is that I frequently see professions of faith and fervent striving after righteousness, but among Christians I don't always see the power of God behind it and little true sanctification leading to a victorious life.

My heart was so heavily burdened for my congregation about this topic of being sanctified, about being matured, because scripture is clear that God's desire for His children is that we be growing and maturing in the faith in such a manner that we stand every trial, endure every conflict, weather every storm, and come through life praising God and basking in His goodness to us and anticipating that day with great joy when we will see Him in glory. This is my desire for myself, my family and my congregation.

But I have also come to realize that not all of us get excited when I say 'today I will speak of the Gospel'. If you are thinking to yourself "Again? This is the basics, lets move on to meat!", then you don't understand the fullness of the Gospel. If that's you, my friend, if you are thinking the Gospel is for conversion and then we move on, dear believer you have missed the very essence of the Christian life.

I have been trying for years to best describe what the believer should be pursuing in order to mature in his walk with God. You've heard me say things such as the most important thing for us is to "know who God is and know who we are". I've said things like "the most vital and important task of any believer is to study the attributes of God, the glorious depth of the gospel, and the depravity of your own black heart". If you come to my house and hang out with us, that's what we will probably talk about. Dig deeply into the character of God to cultivate an increasingly and ever higher view of him, and study what the Word says about you and your worthless righteousness and your evil-prone heart. Then see how God reconciled Himself with you. I firmly believe that this is the essence of the fear of God, and the heart of the Christ-honoring life. I also believe that this is the absolutely non-negotiable foundation of a constantly maturing walk with Christ that will weather any hardship.

I stand by these, even more today than before. But I always feel like saying such things doesn't really suit people. When I start speaking that way, its as if many folks will respond with a sentiment that says "I know that, now tell me something I really need." or "Yeah, yeah, everyone knows that, but how do I do..." and then you can insert any practical and outward exercise of our faith at the end of that sentence. People want to know how to be faithful in their external behavior, and they want to know what to DO in order to walk the walk. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with this, what troubles me is the lack of concern many Christians seem to have for the more important issue, that question of internal faithfulness - knowing who God is and who man is.

There is a lot of interest in Godly behaviors, but not frequently a deep longing interest in the nature of God. There's a lot of interest in what we should wear and how we should speak and what kinds of music we can listen to, but not much excitement over the holy nature of God, or His justice, or His glory and such things.

And this is Christianity that is incomplete and weak at best; at its most severe, its a false Christianity. And it is almost always uncovered for what it lacks in the midst of a trial, for such a half-faith is powerless when tested.

Many churches preach the Gospel for justification, and that is of course a good thing. But the failure of so many churches is that they do not preach the Gospel for sanctification. Instead of preaching the gospel that leads to transformed lives and behaviors and thinking, many preach the imperatives - do this, think this, wear this, don't listen to that, say this, avoid that - but entrap their flock in law without power to obey. Author Christian Smith coined the term “Christian Therapeutic Moralistic Deism” to describe this powerless preaching that leaves out the power to be matured, transformed and equipped daily for the Christian life. In other words, they preach, “This is how a Christian behaves, this is how you don’t behave." Christian Therapeutic Moralistic Deism is the name given to a false form of Christianity that we all know far too well - the one that says "be good, be happy, God isn't much interested in things except when you have problems".

The problem here should be obvious - this half-Gospel sets people up to fall short when trying to obey all the commands of Christ, because they have no power to do so. If you preach this therapeutic moralism, and if you have not labored to teach your flock what the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is, then they are going to be busy doing all sorts of things to put off their sins and to grow in godliness that don't work, because there is no power apart from the Gospel. When you preach at them "This is how you should change your behavior", you set them up for a life long cycle of failure because they are trying to mortify their flesh with weapons of the flesh. These people will never really love God fully because they do not know God fully. They are dependent upon themselves and their ability to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to be holy and good. Such church life is a self righteous, works based behavior-modification regiment and it is deadly.

And this is why, dear friends, I am so burdened, because all of us have some moralistic therapeutic deism in us. This is why I constantly try to teach the importance of knowing the nature of God and the nature of 'you'. I used to say "knowing the nature of God and the nature of man", but lets get down to where the real rub is - its about you. Remember Jesus did not say "If men, being evil, know how to give good gifts", He said "If YOU, being evil, know how to give good gifts," Lets take the message of scripture out of the general realm of anonymous classes such as 'men' and 'people' and mankind' and place it where it really matters - You, me. Our heart.

So the issue at hand is growing in maturity as a believer, or our sanctification, and its the good news of the Gospel message that grows us and sanctifies us, because it is the only power that can do such an amazing and great thing.

How is it so? I propse we scarecly know the Gospel. What we can the Gospel, the good news, is only a partial gospel, and usually just the outward call portion of it. We say the gospel is the 4 spiritual laws and an invitation, but that's only part of the Gospel. No dear church, the Gospel message is the fullness of God's reconcilliation of wicked men to Himself throughout history, and all that it entails. It is unsearchable in its depth, because of the parties involved - Holy God and evil men - and to plumb these depths takes us out of the me-centered religion which demands God be my helper when I'm in trouble but leave me alone when I'm doing fine. But the depth of the true Gospel puts us into constant and ongoing wonderment of things we can scarcely understand. As we dig deeper into the true Gospel, we desire more and more of it, because it is absolutely amazing. You see, we are quick to say in the truncated Gospel proclamation what 1 John 4:15 says - "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.", and we stop. But what we should do is continue, and read what it means in the next verse! It says in v.16 "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. "

And I believe this is the whole point of our verse in Colossians today. This is a declaration of the gospel, the good news, the centerpoint of all history and the very purpose why anything exists at all. This is the reason, right here, why you and I and this world exists. Look at the focus of this declaration of the good news, its almost all on God Himself, not what can be done for us. Step through it with me and lets see what the Gospel says, v.15

Col 1:15 He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

He is called the the firstborn of all creation, telling us He, Jesus, is the focus of created history, the beginning, the most important. Christ is preeminent, everything is all about Him.

Now v.16, notice for WHOM you and I exist.

Col 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him.

Do you see - in this verse alone - that a large chunk of what Christians believe today is utterly destroyed? You were created for Him, not Him for you. He is not to be evoked to make you happy when you fall on hard times. Jesus is not an insurance policy for when your marriage goes up in smoke. Instead, YOU are to be all about Jesus, no matter the circumstance. Now v.17, its because of Him that anything continues on...

Col 1:17 And He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

In Him all things hold together, yet so often we act as if he's far away until we need Him. That's how many who claim to be Christians act. That's how Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Desim works. Jesus is not the sustainer of all things, his eternal character never even crosses the mind of CMTD practioner. I pray that if you maintain some of that kind of thinking that its diminishing right now, because your very breath is only taken because God the Son is actively sustaining you this very second. He is not far away, uninterested in you, hands-off until you have a train wreck. He sustains you second by second and that demands a response.

And now we see the purpose of the creation which He sustains, the purpose of the church and the purpose for all who are His people

Col 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent

Are you seeing the big theme here? I hope so, because considering the preeminence of Jesus Christ and learning what all these things mean, and why they are true, and how they are right and good is of far more value than anything else you can do. When we say we want to glorify Jesus, be like Jesus, follow Jesus, these are the glories of the Word that we need to dwell on first and foremost, above all the other applications of our faith like how to do this or that. Because if you don't grasp the preeminence of Jesus Christ, His divinity, his sovereignty above all else, then when we compare ourselves to Him to see the great divide between us, its really not that big. If Christ is not properly understood by studying these truths about Him, then we tend to think of Him in manners not much different than ourselves, and that's dangerous. If Jesus is just a good man, or a God that is mostly like man, then when we look at our own heart, our own condition, well it doesn't look that bad. Danger, friends, there is great danger in that!

Thankfully, Paul reminds us of one of the most incredibly profound realities of this Gospel in verse 19. He says

Col 1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

Can you even start to understand this? But here is a verse that should make your redeemed heart leap with joy and tremble with fear. God Almighty, condescending to become like one of those who were made for Him? Coming in the flesh? In the likeness of a man?

There had to be a man in your place friends, as you know, to become subject to the Law, to suffer the penalty of the Law, and to do so with no guilt, and it had to be God Himself. God Himself! The one who holds all things together, made all things, is sovereign over all things, has no need of anything, is holy and spotless - HE BECAME like you, flesh, and walked among us sinners. Can you imagine what it must have taken to become so low and humble? Can you even begin to imagine the sorrows of God the Son voluntarily taking on lowly flesh? Why did he do it? What could possibly motivate Him to go to such lengths? Verse 20:

Col 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And there it is. He did not come to merely save you into a good life, or to redeem you so you could go to heaven and have great reward. If we can get our eyes off of ourselves, Christians, we see a greater cause at work. To reconcile to Himself all things, making peace by the blood of his cross. Amen.

Now, we are prone to be short sighted on the cross. Most Christian will say something like "Jesus loves me so much He would have died just for me if I had been the only person needing saving." Maybe you have said that. I confess that I once said such things. While it is true that Jesus loves those for whom He died, and he laid His life down for you, and this is precious to us and worthy of our frequent meditations -- Christ did not die only to save sinners. No.

He died to vindicate His holy name, to demonstrate His mighty power, to show His love and to glorify the His own name. He died to set right a corrupted order and universe, to prepare a bride of purity for Himself, and to demonstrate to all that He is faithful to accomplish his decrees from eternity past. More is riding on the blood spilled on that crude cross than our salvation. Much more. The fullness of the Gospel is far greater and more glorious than what He has done for US, its about what He has done for His own name sake. He shows by life, death and resurrection that God almighty is holy, just, glorious in all respects, powerful, sovereign, and loving. This demonstration of His attributes is what the cross is all about, He reconciles all things, making them right so that no one might say He can't.

This God we serve, this Jesus Christ who we love, He is divine, holy. His nature is unsearchably rich. Verse 15 through 20 are spent lauding and declaring the glories of God the Son, because this is the great view of God that we must have, foster, nurture and pursue in order to mature in our understanding of our great privileged state as Christians. When I say we must have a high view of God, I mean these things - we track them down, we treasure them, we cherish them, we study them in all the Word, we dig them up as treasure from every page of the Word of God, and we meditate on them every hour, turning them over and over in our minds as we contemplate the nature of God. Because we need that great view of Him in order to recognize our natural state. Here it is in v.21

Col 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

This sentence makes me desire to please Him because He saved me for Himself. This sentence makes me desire to obey all of His commandments because I am floored by what He has done with me. This sentence is the power of the Gospel toward sanctification because only when I come to terms with the fact that I was hostile in mind to Jesus Christ, alienated from Him, and a worker of evil -- only then am I so moved by thanksgiving and devotion that I willingly and with grateful joy obey all that He has commanded. I am reconciled! Me! A vile sinner and worker of evil, and man destitute of any good in me, a stiff necked rebel shaking my fist at God! Being made holy and blameless and above reproach for Him! Oh my friends, this is how we obey Him, this is how the commands of Christ are no burden but a joy! This is how we suffer with joy, this is how we embrace His yoke eagerly, this is how we refrain from sin, confess sins with quick eagerness, love our unlovable brethren! This is the power to BE a Christian out of devoted affection rather than to obey a bunch of commands in order to make us feel like we are doing the right thing.

How many of us, for example, have decided to shut off the television or dress a certain way, or follow some practical wisdom from the Word, simply because it is shown in scripture to be pleasing to our Lord? Most of us should be answering yes. Now how many of us have done these things with resistance, a grudge, or only tentatively to try it out for a while or to put a band aid on our problems? How many of us have taken some practice from scripture and laid it upon our backs because we thought it might solve our problems or fix our sinful tendencies? How many times have we all done that? Now, did it work? No.

The Christian life of godliness is more than a a collection of rules and commands and practices to mask our symptoms of evil. We can't obey the Word in order to cover over the effects of being sinners so we can start behaving like saints. Behaving like saints is impossible if that's all we are trying to do. There is no power in the law, the commands, the imperatives of the Word, the practices Jesus gives us - no power to make us righteous. Yet so many believers fall into that trap and try to behave in a certain way, as if that's the narrow way Christ has called us to. No! So much effort is poured into modifying our behavior to match the scriptures that we wear ourselves out and come to weariness and wonder what Jesus means when he says his yoke is easy and His burden is light. Instead of being refreshed in our Lord we remain weary and heavy laden, and its bey our own doing. All of those things cannot be done by you or me or anyone without the fullness of the gospel being that which our efforts are poured into. Please get this, this is the key to unlocking the power of the Christian life! Even if you have gone your entire life in what you consider to be a strong walk with God, ask yourself if you have dwelled more upon the behavior of Christianity rather than the One who makes it possible.

The power to live out a life of obedience to all the commands of God comes from not from pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and doing things we hate, but from knowing Him deeply and understanding Him more fully each day. If you pour your effort into this, your view of yourself will diminish along with you needs, your burdens, your cares and desires, and gradually all that slips away to second fiddle because you are making Him preeminent in your thoughts. All your good works then FLOW OUT FROM this understanding of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospel. Everything should flow out from that, not be a means by which you enter into the righteousness of Christ. That was the error of the Pharisees. You cannot effort yourself by behavior modification into greater maturity in Christ, it is impossible, yet such a common error.

Irrelevant Church
And this is why the church at large today is irrelevant to our society. People aren't dumb, they can see this Christianity for what it is. When tried under fire it fails, when put through the furnace it burns up, because its grounded on a veneer of a gospel that only tells half the picture. The modern gospel that all of us have been effected by is like an oil slick on the ocean. Its broad and wide, its intricately beautiful with all its colors and rainbows, but its only microscopically deep. Its just on the surface and then nothing. Its just a film, a skin. And when waves come and the sea billow roll, it breaks up and betrays its lack of substance. This is why so many Christians are hurting today, and perhaps you too are reeling from a faith that has not carried you through storms. Perhaps you have been wondering how this yoke that Christ has asked you to carry seems so hard and the burden so heavy. Maybe you have been tried by fire and come out burned and weak.

Then turn to the fullness of the Gospel and repent of your sins and believe. Brothers, sisters, if you are limping in your faith and carrying a heavy load like Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress, you have only to look to the cross of Christ in its full richness! Take your eyes off of trying to BE a Christian and embrace Christ, search Him out, dwell in His Word to see Him as He is, not as you imagine He is. Turn to Christ and drink in His nature, His holiness, His glory! Like Paul said in Philippians that we heard earlier today "count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" You, if you are a Christian, will then begin to tremble inside at the mention of His name because your own heart's leanings will become offensive to you, your own efforts will become loss, your own righteousness will become like chaff - and then you will marvel at this Jesus Christ whom you profess. Come to Him, you who labor. You who are heavy laden, and He will give you rest from your struggles to be something you can't be on your own. Throw yourselves like desperate, dying men and women upon Him by devoting your first and best efforts to understanding Him, that He is the image of the invisible God, that He is the firstborn of all creation, that you were made for Him and not Him for you. Meditate on each breath and let it remind you that in him all things hold together. Pursue Him in every page of your Bible, that He might be preeminent in your thoughts, because you belong to Him. This is the path to maturity, to sanctification, to the peace that passes all understanding.

Seek Him first, and it will then be no burden to embrace the works and actions and thoughts you have been struggling to do but can't, because they will naturally outflow from your heart and mind that have a high and full understanding of God.

Those who are trusting to an outward form of godliness, or those who are inclined to try real hard to do all the commands of Christ because it is considered a mark of spirituality; and those who attend churches because its going to help you behave in a certain way - listen! You are in the way which "ends in death". You are trusting in your own efforts. You are self-righteous. However pure your motives, however noble your intentions, however well-meaning your purposes, however sincere your endeavors, God will not acknowledge you as His child, unless you put down your own righteousness and accept His Son. Repent of your sins, believe the good news.

A.W. Pink says the following to those who are laboring under the burden of a self-powered facsimile of Christianity. He reminds us of that verse that should strike terror into the heart of the self righteous man - Matthew 7:22-23:

Mat 7:22-23 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?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

"Yes," says Pink, "it is possible to work in the name of Christ, and even to preach in his name, and though the world knows us, (though) the Church knows us, yet to be unknown to the Lord! How necessary is it then to find out where we really are; to examine ourselves and see whether we be in the faith; to measure ourselves by the Word of God and see if we are being deceived by our subtle Enemy; to find out whether we are building our house upon the sand, or whether it is erected on the Rock which is Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit search our hearts, break our wills, slay our enmity against God, work in us a deep and true repentance, and direct our gaze to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."

Cast your eyes upon the Lord of Glory, the Lord of Calvary, and believe the fullness of the Gospel, for you are destitute and dead in your sins without it. Do not be so proud that you cannot flee to Christ in repentance, saying "Yes, I have trusted in my own works, my own righteousness, my own efforts to make myself a Christian, and have not know you!" Plead with Christ that He would show you your hopeless condition, and hold on to Him, believe Him, trust Him, know Him. This is the way to salvation, my friends, and for those who are His, the path to an unshakable faith that outflows with joyful obedience and a life of rich blessing.

Biblical Sanctification in the Context of the Local Church

2011-12-12T10:33:00.000-06:00

This article attempts to lay out the Biblical view of sanctification as I believe the scripture most clearly teaches, especially as it should inform the life of the church and the various relationships therein.

The prompting of this paper is the debate about the means of sanctification in which it is proposed that nouthetic counseling methodologies are equivalent to daily discipleship and acceptable for use in daily brotherly relationships in order to achieve sanctification. My position is that while nouthetic counseling is certainly a valuable tool when used in its proper place, it must not be over-emphasized so as to replace the more normative means of sanctification that we see taught in Scripture. I also have cited other sources that establish this position - leaders in the Nouthetic Counseling movement itself, most specifically by David Powlison in his book “Crucial Issues in Contemporary Biblical Counseling” and several articles by Dr. Ed Welch, a counselor and faculty member at CCEF.

Having recognized the potential for leaning too far to one side of the “sanctification spectrum” by over-emphasizing particular valid teachings rooted in nouthetic counseling and placing them outside of their proper place and context, my article attempts to answer questions about the more normative means by which Christians are sanctified. It seeks to briefly express what the Biblical teaching is regarding sanctification. The format preserves the original questions that I was asked regarding the debate.

Q: What is sanctification?
I have made much study of sanctification over the last six years because I had never been truly taught the depths of this encouraging truth in my former Christian education. In our previous church lives, growing up in mainline evangelical protestantism, the doctrine of sanctification was not emphasized nor was ‘being sanctified’ really expected. Having now been the beneficiary of faithful Christian preaching and teaching, I am encouraged by the doctrine of sanctification greatly.

Sanctification is a work of God to purify, mature and renew the whole man toward the image of God, and enables him to perform the good works to which we are saved. These good works are the external manifestation of a God-wrought internal transformation and should be always increasing. The classic text that many theologians point to when making this point is 2 Corinthians 7:1 - it assures us that sanctification is internal and external. We further know that the invisible condition of the heart of men is evidenced by visible outward words and actions (Matthew 5:19). Sanctification, then, describes the working of God over time to remove and cleanse the corruption and pollution of sin. In essence, it seeks to restore the fullness of the image of God in sinners by making us Christ-like. It serves to strengthen, to increase, and to fortify the new life in Christ. There is one important aspect that must be remembered when speaking of sanctification, and that is the reality that sanctification always remains imperfect as long as man is on earth.

Basic Definition
A good working definition of sanctification is found in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

SANC'TIFY, v.t. [Low L. sanctifico; from sanctus, holy, and facio, to make.]
1. In a general sense, to cleanse, purify or make holy.
2. To separate, set apart or appoint to a holy, sacred or religious use.
God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Gen 2.
So under the Jewish dispensation, to sanctify the altar, the temple, the priests, &c.
3. To purify; to prepare for divine service, and for partaking of holy things. Exo 19.
4. To separate, ordain and appoint to the work of redemption and the government of the church. John 10.
5. To cleanse from corruption; to purify from sin; to make holy be detaching the affections from the world and its defilements, and exalting them to a supreme love to God.
Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.
John 17. Eph 5.
6. To make the means of holiness; to render productive of holiness or piety.
Those judgments of God are the more welcome, as a means which his mercy hath sanctified so to me, as to make me repent of that unjust act.
7. To make free from guilt.
That holy man amaz'd at what he saw, made haste to sanctify the bliss by law.
8. To secure from violation.
Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line.
To sanctify God, to praise and celebrate him as a holy being; to acknowledge and honor his holy majesty, and to reverence his character and laws. Isa 8.
God sanctifies himself or his name, by vindicating his honor from the reproaches of the wicked, and manifesting his glory. Ezek 36.

- Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Q: Who Sanctifies?
Furthermore, ‘being sanctified’ is a work of God in us. God alone is its chief cause, though our responsibility is not diminished to work obediently according to the means he has established in the Word that affect our sanctification. John 15:5 demonstrates that we are helpless apart from Christ: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”; and Philippians 2:13 as well: “...for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

We also know that God has expressly made our sanctification His will, and shown us how the internal mind that is set on the Spirit is to look outwardly:

1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.” (ESV)

So, sanctification is the work of God to grow us over time toward Christ-likeness, renewing our minds internally, and demonstrating that by outward fruit of obedience. It is the essence of the Christian life, to be strengthened and well equipped as a set-apart people, growing in Christ-likeness by the means He has established.

Section 13 of our London Baptist Confession summarizes it clearly, and I affirm that statement whole-heartedly. (Reference: http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/bcof.htm#part13)

Q: How is sanctification obtained?
Only the Word is ultimately the source of our sanctification

Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (ESV)

Ultimately, it is only the Word sanctifies. But that Word is clearly applied and brought to bear by many means - reading, preaching, conversation, exhortation, counsel, rebukes, etc. All of these means of course are powerless if not quickened by the Spirit. Our obedience to the Word in its fullness, regardless of the means by which we receive it, work to sanctify us. That Word exhorts, convicts, instructs, enlightens, illuminates, uncovers, etc. in order to stir us up to action, both internally and externally. Sanctification then is obtained when the Word of God is applied as an instrument in the hand of God the Holy Spirit. We often use the illustration of the surgeon. It is not the scalpel that does the work, it is the surgeon who cuts. But surgery is the means and the scalpel is the tool by which the surgeon cuts, and probes and uncovers the cancer so as to remove it. So then the Word and Spirit working together sanctify, but the means by which that Word is brought to bear on us are many.

From my study, this belief that the Word is the only source for obtaining sanctification is both the traditional historical view of the church. This agrees with Scripture:

John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Ephesians 5:26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

We teach the put on / put off principle as the manner by which we practice the Word of God (Colossians 3:5-14), for by obedience inwardly (Colossians 3:2, setting our mind on things above), we then outwardly transform, bearing the fruit of sanctification in all those practices Paul speaks of in v.5-14. Paul then summarizes the Christian life in v15-16, demonstrating that it is the rule of Christ in our hearts and the Word dwelling richly in us that is the power to live outwardly in the world.

Q: Can true believers cease being sanctified?
He cannot stop, lest he make God a liar:

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

One who is without sanctification is necessarily without regeneration and justification. A person who has experienced the grace of God in regeneration and in justification will continue to experience His grace through sanctification - the putting off of the old man, along with its evil practices, and the putting on of the new man, along with its righteous practices (Colossians 3:5-17).

Being an eternal decree of God, that the elect will be made holy and perfected, it is unthinkable that such a decree can be thwarted. (Philippians 3:12, Hebrews 10:14, and really all of that chapter). In other words, He has promised to sanctify us through many means, and man cannot thwart this will. How then would any become ‘made perfect’ if the perfecting work of Christ is stopped? Ultimately it is never completed until we are given new bodies in glory, but the process of Christ-likeness on this earth is ongoing and expected. However glorious this truth is to me and all believers, it does not grant us license for complacency or disobedience.

Instead, He has ordained our participation in His work of sanctification. Our obedience is not perfect, but springs from the principle of love to God and faith in Him. This obedience is done in conscious, willful conformity to the revealed will of God with the final goal being the glory of God.

Further, being jealous for His Name (Romans 1:5), and desiring zeal in His people (Revelation 3:14-16), God is faithful to discipline us for the purpose of purity (Hebrews 12:6-11), accomplishing His purifying purposes for those whom He has justified. This faithfulness of God is the source of our great assurance, that God will accomplish in us His gracious work of saving a people out of sin. This is encouragement that the Father loves His children, and gives us hope that the saints will persevere. To say that a Christian can cease being sanctified is to deny the promises of God, to rob all assurance from the believer, and to embrace a false doctrine that maintains sanctification is dependent upon man’s external efforts apart from God’s certain promise to cleanse His elect.

So sanctification is ongoing and can not stop completely, otherwise we could not be those who are “set apart” or peculiar in the world. We would have no place among the “called out ones”. While some would believe that a person can become saved and then continue living like the world yet still truly be saved, we reject that outright. This view cannot be supported by the Bible. This view fails to recognize the purpose of God’s calling (1 Thessalonians 4:7), it denies the ever-present power of the Spirit in the life of every true believer (2 Thessalonians 2:13), and misses the purpose of the loving discipline of our Father (Hebrews 12:4-17).

Q: Can sanctification slow down, decrease, or become lax?
As for a slowing down of sanctification, certainly from our human perspective a believer can grow lazy and cold in his spiritual mindedness. An apparent cessation in maturing and growth toward Christ-likeness is demonstrated for us over and over in scripture, most notably in the Epistles which are so often written to address such problems. We see also that the Laodiceans were rebuked for lukewarmness, they were commanded to be zealous and to repent. Their zeal had left them, their fervency departed, leaving them in a state of apparent stasis and earning a rebuke from the Lord. This rebuke and command to repent, with it’s divine authority, ought to convict and stir up their spirits toward zeal.

Romans 12:11, by encouraging the positive, affirms the possibility of the negative: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord”. Hebrews 5 teaches that we can remain immature when we should have been mature. It is clear that men can disobey the Scripture because of their sin, and resist sanctification for a season. I do not believe that we can support from scripture that a Christian can remain perpetually stagnant, for God is faithful to chastise that servant for his good. But we do see abundantly that men can neglect their responsibilities to practice holiness. This is a result of a pitiful view of God’s attributes as revealed in His Word.

What are the signs that God is pointing out our lack of sanctification in a particular area? In other words, is there anything that should make us suspicious of our hearts as we go through our day?

In answering this question we must be sure to define the phrase ‘lack of sanctification in a particular area’. I am assuming that ‘a particular area’ means a sin that we habitually commit repeatedly, and that there is stunted growth toward maturity in overcoming that specific repeated sin. For example, certainly we can be characterized by a failure to overcome temptations in particular sins, such as greed, envy, bitterness, lust, pride, sloth, anger, etc.

But how do we know that we are languishing in defeat regarding a particular sin? Most certainly, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. This of course is the only Biblical means by which the Word comes alive, giving us the knowledge of sin and our transgression of that sin. We must again be cure to remember that the Spirit uses many means to accomplish that conviction.

The Bible is clear to teach us that we are to be frequent in self-examination (Proverbs 4:23 among others). This examination seeks to dig deeply into the inner man (our heart) to discover what lurks there, always comparing what we find to the Word. Without comparing our thoughts, affections and will to those of God as revealed in His Word, we could never find conviction. The Holy Spirit’s role to convict us with the Word is dependent upon the Word.

Further, we would be destitute and hopeless without this conviction of sin. Conviction is abundant, God has given us many means, all of which rest upon the truth of the Word.

We are commanded to “be suspicious” as Mahaney says, or to test our hearts and examine ourselves as the Bible teaches. We should both do this as a matter of course through the promptings of our prayer, Bible reading and regular disciplines of the Christian life, as well as when specific temptation arises.

These ample scripture passages should make us suspicious of our inward man, and as we know this is merely a sampling of abundant scriptures that speak to our inclination to harbor sin and to be self-deceived:

Psalm 19:12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality...

And many others.

Specific signs
Further, the specific signs that God is pointing out our ‘lack of sanctification in a particular area’ begin with the faithful ministry of the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins and to bring to bear the weight of God’s displeasure upon us. Without this, we would be hopeless, and yet He is faithful to do so. The means by which our sins are pointed out are many, primarily through the Word and through prayer, but also through the work of the church - preaching; teaching; shepherds, family and brethren identifying and confronting us in love concerning our sins.

Q: How do we know we have victory over a sin area, not just externally, but from a heart transformation?
To be clear, I will again address the question by clarifying definitions, specifically “a sin area”. I will use the term “besetting sin” for accuracy.

Our victory is already gained for us in Christ, so that we are encouraged to have hope to overcome our besetting sins, or those sins that we struggle with repeatedly. As we put them off, renew our minds, put on Christ and walk in obedience, we can never assume we are inoculated from temptation. We will always struggle, which is why we are exhorted to be on guard, watchful and alert, even regarding specific temptations (Malachi 2:15, Acts 20:31, 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 6:1, 1 Timothy 4:16, etc.)

If one can proclaim victory over a besetting sin, he cannot do so without retaining the suspicion we speak of, lest he lull himself into a false sense of security, for the enemy prowls looking for those who can be devoured (1 Peter 5:8), and our flesh is constantly at war with our spirit (Romans 7:21)

However, we can know the joy produced by the fruit of obedience that we are walking in growing strength, and take hope in the promises of God that He is faithful to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Confession and repentance produce fruit (Matthew 3:8) and deepen the fear of the Lord’s undeserved grace. Proverbs 14:26 tells us that “In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence...”

If we have victory over a deeply rooted sin, our lives and inner affections will align with the Word. 1 John gives us ample tools to test ourselves, and 1 John 2:28-29 encourage us that our confidence flows from abiding in Him. Thus it is the observed fruit of obedience by which we know we are growing, and the testimony of peace in Christ that assures us that we walk in the Light. (As a help to illustrate the point, we lay this over against the peacelessness of conviction as a contrast to the peace of knowing the victory of the Spirit-led life.)

Q: What is the role of the church in sanctification?
This question has been addressed above. The role of the church is to equip, build up, exhort, rebuke, correct and confront for the purpose of sanctification.

Q: Do you believe that part of the responsibility of pastors is to be soul physicians, taking Scripture and applying it to the heart struggles of the sheep? If so, when?
Yes, indeed it is. When sin is evident, the most loving act is to bring the Word to bear upon the sinner, showing him where he has transgressed and encouraging him to repent and to be restored. This is the essence of brotherly love, to bring the only source of life - the Word - to a brother.

Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

1 Peter 5:2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;

Richard Baxter speaks of this in The Reformed Pastor

Now it is our duty to give assistance to all these; and partly by dissuasions, and clear discoveries of the odiousness of the sin, and partly by suitable directions about the remedy, to help them to a more complete conquest of their corruptions. We are leaders of Christ’s army against the powers of hell, and must resist all the works of darkness wherever we find them, even though it should be in the children of light.

Q: If part of the responsibility of pastors is to be soul physicians, taking Scripture and applying it to the heart struggles of the sheep, how do we prepare potential shepherds to shepherd in this way?
We train them up in the fullness of the Word, for only the Word is sufficient to equip shepherds for soul-care:

Titus 1:9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

If the shepherd is unable to hold to and instruct in sound doctrine, he cannot apply it in his duties of instruction. Further, it is only the Word that has power to convict the sheep:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

We must have men well equipped in the Word, and equipped in how to apply that Word in gentleness (Galatians 6:1 again). It is not necessarily sufficient to know the right words to say or methods that pragmatically produce desired results. But a shepherd must also exercise gentleness in the manner by which the Word is brought to the sheep in order to demonstrate brotherly affection and Christ-likeness.

Q: As a pastor, do you see that it is your responsibility to help the sheep see their outward sinful actions and words as revealing a heart problem? If yes, how do you do that?
Of course. Indeed outward sinful actions are fruit of inward corruption. We have not only the desire to address sin, but the responsibility to do so. Since ministers preach the Word of God and urgently call our congregation to repentance and sanctification, we are used by the Lord as a means unto sanctification. This is a great paradox that the Lord uses sinful men as a means, but also a great proof that it is not the man himself or his methodologies (because he is a sinner), but that the Word he preaches and instructs is that which the Spirit uses to sanctify. It pleases God to use the weakest means to exalt Himself. (1 Corinthians 1:25-29)

We must confront both the outward manifestation of sin and seek its resolution as modeled in the Bible for all Christians, but as shepherds we must further ask questions of our brother when he exhibits the external fruits of a sin to best show him his heart as compared to the Word. Only the Spirit convicts the sinner by the Word, so that all of our focus ought to be to bring the sinner’s sin into the light of the Word, to be a means by which the work of confession and repentance are wrought.

Our confidence is that we are tasked with such oversight of souls, the Lord has commanded us, therefore we do so knowing the Spirit will be active in the work. Further, we dare not neglect the task, for we are accountable to God for all those given to our care:

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Our brethren should always be taught, especially in times of peace and godliness, that the work of a shepherd is a soul-searching task that the Spirit uses as a means for convicting. We ought to be teaching the church that shepherds will be faithful to help sinners see where they are deceived, to help them search their hearts, to encourage them to ask the Spirit to search them, and to see the speck in their eye that they are not able to see. This we teach because it is the desire of all true Christians to put off sin completely, to willfully desire to have all sins exposed and brought to light for cleansing, and to do so without fear of condemnation or judgment, for all sin has been paid for and victory declared in Christ. The church member should know that the love of Christ, and the love of Christ’s undershepherds, are for their good. They should be taught that there is no fear in exposing sin because its exposure leads to strength and sanctification:

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Conviction of sin is certainly never to be viewed by the believer as condemnation (Romans 8:1), but a grace from God through various means - including the works of a shepherd - that affect him for his good.

Q: As a pastor, how do you know if the sheep are putting on externals only or dealing with sin from the heart?
Fruit of repentance and obedience are evident externally if there is an internal change of heart. That fruit will be consistent with the Word.

These are some of many evidences that a repetitive sin is not being successfully put off: Repetitious sin, patterns of sin, repeated shortcomings, or a man characterized by a lack of good fruit in one aspect of Christian holiness or another. Discord, bitterness, lack of peace, ongoing anger, withdrawing from the fellowship of the saints, lack of prayer, evasiveness, deception, judgmentalism, quarrels, carnality, etc. All manner of sin, especially those kept hidden and made a lifestyle, or sins that engross and entagle, are sure to be evidenced by outward behaviors over time. As we have been learning, it is the role of any brother - but most especially the shepherd - to love that brother enough to confront, exhort and work toward the Lord’s restoration of that man. This is one of the many means of sanctification.

Sins that are not immediately or clearly evidenced by external fruit or confession cannot be known by men or shepherds. No one knows the heart but God (Revelation 2:23). In the absence of bad fruit, we are to assume the best in men rather than probe for unevidenced sins (1 Corinthians 13:7) for the peace of the congregation. I appreciate Matthew Henry’s exposition of 1 Corinthians 13:7 as he describes the essence of Christian love in practice among the brethren:

It cherishes no malice, nor gives way to revenge: so some understand it. It is not soon, nor long, angry; it is never mischievous, nor inclined to revenge; it does not suspect evil of others - it does not reason out evil, charge guilt upon them by inference and innuendo, when nothing of this sort appears open. True love is not apt to be jealous and suspicious; it will hide faults that appear, and draw a veil over them, instead of hunting and raking out those that lie covered and concealed: it will never indulge suspicion without proofs, but will rather incline to darken and disbelieve evidence against the person it affects. It will hardly give into an ill opinion of another, and it will do it with regret and reluctance when the evidence cannot be resisted; hence it will never be forward to suspect ill, and reason itself into a bad opinion upon mere appearances, nor give way to suspicion without any. It will not make the worst construction of things, but put the best face that it can on circumstances that have no good appearance. - Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible

In this happy state, it is pastor’s responsibility to preach the Word for the Spirit’s use upon men, to equip and teach the flock to employ the personal disciplines of a healthy Christian life - prayer, Scripture reading, family devotions, etc. Through these, we equip and build up the church to maturity and participate in the ongoing work of sanctification. Therefore we treat the congregation in balance, preaching and teaching in the general sense for the sake of those who are bearing the good fruit of holiness, as well as privately speaking the truth in love for the restoration of those who have born the bad fruit of sin. Both work in concert for the strengthening and equipping of the church.

My desire for gentleness
I believe that there is academic agreement about the nature of sanctification. What my concern has been in the context of the local church is not the theological understanding of the means or mode of sanctification, but the way sanctification is being practiced and taught. It is evident in the methods by which questions are asked of a brother. Using questions specifically tailored to be blunt and forceful works well in a counseling environment where the sinner has come seeking remedy, and has voluntarily asked for help. That brother has said “I invite you to come in and bring it on, help me with triage, help me with tough questions, hold nothing back, let us get to the problem”. This brother expects boldness, he has invited the sugeron’s scalpel. While he may not know the depth of his sin, and may come to denial and resistance, he has asked for help and there is an agreement between counselor and counselee that the manner of speaking is to be direct. When I go to a brother and exhibit some sin, confess some sin, or ask for him to hold me to account, I then expect him to use the scalpel directly without concern that I will be offended, for I have asked.

But if I use those same bold and forward methods where there is no evident specific sin, no external manifestation of that specific sin, or no request for help with a specific sin, then my words ought not be sharpened for precision sin surgery nor intended for the probing of specific manifest sin. I then am whipping the sheep, being bold when it is not called for:

2 Corinthians 10:1-2 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ--I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away! I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.

1 Corinthians 4:21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Ephesians 4:1-3 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Gentleness is a trait of the Christian, a requirement for us as shepherds, and a buffer against the temptation to sin by being harsh in confrontation, selfish, arrogant and domineering. To deploy a scalpel when a loving arm around the shoulder is most fruitful is a danger we must resist.

Summary
To summarize, the power of sanctification is the Word, applied by the Spirit through various means, including shepherds. These means are most normally the preaching, teaching, reading and meditation upon the Word itself; prayer, service, fellowship, exhorting one another in love. All of the “one anothers” in scripture function as means through which the Spirit makes the truth found in the Word alive to us, and the fruit of these means is maturity, growth and victory. Formal counseling methods, strong rebukes and probing questions have their place, but these means of sanctification are most accurately to be viewed as remedies to known sin, and function to bring the infirm believer who is struggling with sin back to the state of relative health where the normative means of sanctification are most fruitful.

If we deploy and equip the sheep to use methods best suited for emergency triage in the daily life of Christian relationships, we are neglecting the most powerful and more normative Scriptural teachings about daily growth and relationships. It is a question of emphasis. Surely there is a very valuable place for formal counseling and its methods, but these methods are not tailored for brother to brother daily living. An example would be employing a defibrillator on a brother when he only needs (and desires) a warm and healthy meal. Everyday life is not triage and remedial action. It is abiding in the Word, walking in assurance, living in the victory of the Cross, and encouraging one another with the Word with love and gentleness.

For Further Reading

Powlison, David A.C.; Crucial Issues in Contemporary Biblical Counseling (Excerpt)

Powlison, David A.C.; The Biblical Counseling Movement: History and Context, New Growth Press

Welch, Ed ; Are We Skilled Counseling Mechanics?

Welch, Ed ; Who Talks About Idols Among Friends?

Open for Business...again

2011-12-11T23:25:00.000-06:00

After almost a year or dormancy and certainly two years of inactivity, I have decided to re-activate the blog and add more writings as I see fit. I've also purged two thirds of my previous posts that were written over the years. What remains are articles, observations, reviews and and posts that I hope are useful. We'll see where it goes.

A Review of and a Response to Andreas Kostenberger’s Critique of the Family-Integrated Approach to Church Ministry

2010-10-14T12:49:00.003-05:00

William Einwechter has written "A Review of and a Response to Andreas Kostenberger’s Critique of the Family-Integrated Approach to Church Ministry: Part 1", published at the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches. We have already looked at Dr. Baucham's response to Dr. Kostenberger's criticism, it is good to see another.

It is encouraging to see respectful dialog from men of character about the Family-Integrated Church; Dr. Kostenberger, Dr. Baucham, and Pastor Einwechter are all respected men who's sound character and devotion to Jesus Christ is evident in the good fruit they bear. Sadly, a public display of Christ-like character has not been the norm for many of the most vociferous opponents of the FIC movement. Instead, the vitriolic smear of the FIC and other closely related orthopraxy issues have been loudly proclaimed by largely anonymous bloggers and self-published book peddlers who undermine their criticism with shaky doctrine, inconsistent arguments, fallacious reasoning, outright falsehood and personal assaults. Christ-likeness, humility and charity goes a long way toward profitable debate, and it is good to see it happening.

Part 2 is now available as well (Thanks Kris)

"Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning" by Nancy Pearcy

2010-10-12T00:53:00.002-05:00

I am not frequently so taken by a book that it causes me to break my rather lengthy blogging hiatus, especially since I am not yet finished reading it myself. However, Nancy Pearcy's Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning is one of those exceptional works that I must point out. In fact, the introduction alone had me clamoring for Post-it flags, a pencil, a notebook and for any sign that there might be an electronic text available at some point to make searching and referencing easier. This is a book that will certainly be re-read.

Pearcy's latest effort is most definitely a strong call to Christians. There have been many such calls to shape up, smarten up, wake up and get on with it, but few have been so comprehensive and clear. It is an investigation of sweeping societal themes with here-and-now implications and consequences. It is a toolkit for understanding the assaults of secular irrationality and how to do something about it. Much to the delight of the designer in me, Saving Leonardo accomplishes these with a heavy dose of 'visual culture', for a society's morality, values, worldview - it's very pulse - are most clearly seen in the arts. And what's more, the bibliography is rich in width and breadth.

Byron Borger at Hearts and Minds Books has posted a review titled A fantastic new survey of art history (and more) by Nancy Pearcey: Saving Leonardo. Borger states:

Even if one does have a bit of a liberal arts education, and knows a bit about the roots of Western culture, I am confident that her way of "seeing" various works will be illuminating, enjoyable, even exciting as the dots are connected and you have the joy of an aha insight.

This has been my own experience with reading Pearcy's book. Indeed, because of the focus on the arts and the ample, well reproduced images, I find myself quite elated to have those a-ha! moments of clarity that I never had when studying art history under some of Academia's finest secularists. Pearcy is gifted at packing every sentence with clarity, crafting a brilliant flow of ideas and linking causes and effects together with such ease that I am relishing her skill as a writer as much as I am enjoying the effort to absorb all the information. As Borger continues:

Nancy is a wide, wide reader, a studious and thorough thinker, and an energetic virtuoso at connecting the proverbial dots. And she is a glad popularizer. I so value those who can be both erudite and plainspoken, who can talk about medieval string quartets, 20th century Marxism, and popular, silly cartoon strips. I love this kind of a book, thoughtful and yet very enjoyable.

I strongly believe that any Christian would profit immensely from this work, and will be suggesting it frequently.

Count it all joy

2010-01-11T13:11:00.001-06:00

"A people who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted because their countercultural lifestyles stick out like a sore thumb. When family patterns are reformed, it is so public that everyone notices. Family, friend, co-worker and church member are easily offended by family reforms." - Scott Brown

Reforming Our Thinking About the Inflammatory Topic of Christian Dating

2009-12-28T00:41:00.012-06:00

If you want to cause a stir and make people angry, yell "fire!" in a crowded theater when there is none. If you want to multiply that ruckus, start speaking of the virtues of John Calvin on any typical evangelical radio talk show. But if you really want to make people believe that you have lost your mind, toss this hand grenade into a crowd: recreational dating is sinful.

Very little stirs up the wrath of the "cultural Christian" more than taking a stand upon the authority and sufficiency of the Word of God and actually trying to live it out in practice. The blatant unbelievers, well, they already think we're nuts and usually could not care any less and will merely treat the idea of Biblical courtship with typical contempt and repulsion. At least they are behaving consistently with their profession of faith (or lack thereof). But those who claim to live for Christ, yet embrace the worldly practices of dating and flirting, these are the folks who will be most vociferously stirred up. It never fails.

Stand upon the sufficiency of the Word to reform, transform and inform our manner of living and you can be sure it will ruffle some feathers and get you labeled as a fanatic, a fundy, a legalist, or even one of those horrid Puritans.

But IF the Word of God is true, then it is the believer's responsibility to conform to it. Thus I will attempt to make a case from scripture against a practice that is so entrenched in our modern Christian thinking that it seems radical to oppose it. That practice is the sinful exercise of a marriage relationship, both physical and emotional, outside of the covenant of marriage - otherwise known as dating.

We who take this stand believe that the time of physical changes in a young man or woman is specifically designed by God for His glory. As our sons and daughters make the transition from boys and girls to men and women, they have an opportunity in the midst of powerful challenges. Because they are saturated in a culture that says dating, passion, lust and recreational relationships are normal parts of growing up, our sons and daughters are even more challenged because what we have all known and accepted as 'normal' is coming under the scrutiny of the Word of God as the Holy Spirit reforms our thinking.

It is clear from scripture that the practice of recreational dating and the acceptance of flirting and entertaining 'crushes' is a modern thing. No where in the Bible do we see women pursuing men as a holy thing, or men pursuing women for mere recreational dating. Instead we see the opposite: Men who trifle with lust are considered to be fools, and the women who embrace carnality are described as wicked and dangerous (Proverbs 5).

What the world calls 'adolescence' (a term coined by godless, humanistic psychology) is instead a specific time of preparation for young men and women. This preparation time should to be used for learning how to exercise self-control over their thoughts that lead to youthful passions and to direct their days toward growing in the knowledge of God, practicing the precepts and principles of a godly thought life and protecting physical purity. These days are to be spent wisely, under the protection of parents, in the fellowship of like-minded believers, under the security of a community that supports purity. In this kind of preparation, the son or daughter understands and rejoices that the covenant of marriage is the only legitimate and God-honoring union of man and woman, and they train themselves under the guardianship of parents and church toward a proper and pure marriage relationship.

As we rediscover the Biblical precepts established by God for relationships, marriage and youth, we must take an honest and fresh look at our ideas of what is acceptable for our children. Even more, we must teach these things to our children so that they will joyfully embrace the wisdom of God's word and rejoice in the liberty found in following God's will for their lives. Beyond the basic need to have your child's heart firmly trusting in your loving guidance, reforming our thinking also means we will have to re-evaluate our understanding of recreational dating. This will challenge us to actually BE those peculiar people who do not do what the world around us does. Are you willing to trust God's word even if it means you will be a scandal among the heathen? Even if it means your family and friends might laugh and mock? Even if it means you will be a scandal among nominal Christians? Rejecting the world's ways does that, after all, we can be sure of it because Christ has told us so.

We know that through Christ we "are more than conquerors" over even death, rulers, powers, and anything else in all creation (Romans 8:38). By submitting to God, we are to resist the devil himself and he will flee (James 4:7). The enemy is prowling, seeking one to destroy, yet we are to stand in our faith, sober-minded and watchful, knowing who we are in Christ, and the enemy will flee from us as God restores, confirms, strengthens, and establishes us (1 Peter 5:8-10). Yet with all this hand to hand combat on the front lines, down in the trenches resisting evil itself, we are told to "flee youthful passions" (2 Timothy 2:22). Flee! Retreat, run away! What is this saying? Can it be that what is inside of us, residing in the flesh as "residual sin" (Romans 7:21-25) is far more powerful than even the devil himself? Is there something bound up in our flesh that we cannot fight or resist, but instead must turn and flee?

Yes, indeed there is something there, it is a principle, a law or a power as Paul describes it in Romans 7, that is in tension with our Spiritually tuned mind, if indeed we are regenerate. And it is how we respond to this sinful fleshly tug as it wars against the right and lawful governing of a youthful but maturing body is the issue.

God has designed into men and women very special emotional and physical passions that are glorious in their power and intensity. These emotional and physical passions are particular in their purpose and reserved by God for the building of marriages. They are to be used lawfully and in a manner that God has intended, for within the wisdom of God's design these emotions and passions bring immense glory to God. These particular emotions and passions are not to be stirred up until a man and woman come together in marital union. We see no other option or outlet or use of these passions in the Word of God.

Thus, young men and women who place themselves into situations in which the youthful passions of their young, hormone-filled bodies are awakened have no power to resist them. They have not fled as we are commanded, but instead they find themselves trying to exercise restraint. Can a young man ask God for purity in a circumstance that God has commanded him to flee away from? Can a young woman expect to be pure and honoring to God if she enters into an unbiblical relationship that causes her passion to be stirred? And, lest one say that two young people can entertain a crush or enter into recreational dating and at the same time keep themselves pure, we must be reminded that purity is not merely physical. Matthew 15:18 says that it is the content of the heart that defiles a person. Acts 8:22 makes it clear that the sinful intent of the heart is sin enough to condemn, not merely the carrying out of an intent. Jesus said that one who even looks at a woman with the intent to lust after her has already committed adultery (Matthew 5:28). So why then would we ever even consider encouraging or allowing our precious sons and daughters to play with foolish relationships, juvenile crushes and recreational dating that stir up something so powerful that we are told to flee? Why would we encourage thoughts that are wicked and defiling? Why would we as parents enable sin and place our children into temptations that the Bible says they cannot resist? Proverbs 6:27-28 asks us "Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?" Why have Christians so departed from the Word of God as their standard for living that they play with fire at the expense of their children?

The fact is, men and women cannot enter into a one-to-one relationship, or entertain thoughts of such a relationship, and remain pure in thought. They simply cannot do it. The scriptures are clear, men and women are not to be concerned with man/woman relationships until the intended result of that relationship (courting) is the covenant of marriage (and even then, that relationship ought to be very guarded and wisely guided). Only in marriage should thoughts of passionate desires be entertained, and these toward the spouse alone. God is greatly glorified and His wisdom demonstrated in profound ways in the union of marriage, but life-long damage and deep scars result when this joyful gift is defiled in unholy lusts and desires, and even worsened in unlawful union.

We have, however, a supposedly Christian culture that says it is legitimate, and even healthy, for men and women to date, have crushes, and act out the relationship of marriage without the covenantal promise. Young men and women today desire the pleasures and passions of marriage without the responsibility and commitment to marriage. They desire to play with holy things outside of the holy union. Further, Christians have fallen into thinking that they can seek God's approval to trifle with passion yet remain pure. Its like praying "God help me to be pure and undefiled as I rob my neighbor." It is utter foolishness. The power of the thought life toward the opposite sex can quickly overwhelm, leading the foolish from sin to more sin. Activities such as dating and flirting generate thoughts of lust which are sinful before God and should be confessed to Him, but when those thoughts lead to action, another person is brought into sin. Not only has one sinned inwardly against God, but now he or she has sinned outwardly against God AND has sinned against another, AND most likely caused another to sin. The sinful thoughts were sinful enough indeed, but to act upon those thoughts by expressing them and stirring up passions in another has caused the defiling and defrauding of another. Song of Solomon 4:12 describes the idea that a husband and wife's pleasures are reserved only for one another, that they are for one another, locked up and protected. Coercing, encouraging or forcing one's way into another's thoughts is to unlock what is to be sealed until marriage. It is to do violence to the purity of one's own heart and flesh, as well as the heart and flesh of another.

This is why I cannot condone flirting, crushes, or recreational dating. Scripture must be the believer's standard, not tradition, culture or even the modern church. If it makes me 'old fashioned' and backwards in the eyes of culture, then so be it, because if I have the approval of the world, I know I am probably not on the right path (Galatians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 6:15). So if a young man or young lady has come toward my children with thoughts of flirtation or has a 'crush' on one of them, the world says "aww, isn't that cute, there's nothing wrong with that, its innocent fun". I say absolutely not. These seemingly innocent acts and advances stir up thoughts in my children that they should not have until they are committed to holy marriage. They stir up passion before its time. They defraud my children of the time they should be spending preparing for a proper exercise of these passions and instead fill their hearts with stress, confusion and conflict. They encourage my children to trifle in their minds with the holy things reserved for the marriage bed, to speculate, to become aroused toward the secret things that are to remain covered until two cleave into one flesh. I adamantly stand against such seemingly innocent advances because the Word of God says to flee from them, for they cannot be resisted.

My children should be thinking of things like brotherly love and Godly obedience, how to prepare a home and how to keep a home. They should be deeply drinking from the Word of God and learning to walk in His ways. They should be learning about His world, how to read well, build things, cook, run businesses and sew. They should be making grand music and rejoicing in their brothers and sisters. They should be learning to provide for a family and how to pray, how to lead children to the Lord and how to solve problems in righteousness. They should be reading books and driving nails, opening doors for sisters and taking joy in preparing a good meal. They should be training for righteousness according to the Word of God.

Should then some peer of theirs come along and turn their mind to things that are for marriage? Should these peers do so with the approval of their own parents because 'it is all in innocent, good fun?' No. This is not God's will nor the Bible's teaching.

Flirting, crushes and dating have no place in my home and with my children, and I expect my brothers and sisters to honor my stand on the Word out of simple Christian charity. Though my brethren may disagree with me, I do not believe they can do so from scripture. I do not expect all of Christendom to come along side me on this culturally radical position, as evidenced by the gasps of horror and cries of "Puritanical over-protection" that come from those who claim Christ but live like the world. But I do encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ, who honor His Word and are seeking to reform all aspects of life according to the Word, to consider the great joy and good fruit that will be manifest in our childrens' lives when they are joined together in pure marriages. Those few among us today who have lived this once normal but now radical Christian youth testify of the great joys of obedience to the Word, and affirm that God's ways are rewarding beyond measure.

Further Study
Please take time to enjoy the following sermons and discussions on this touchy subject. Most of these are from Paul Washer, one of the few preaching on this topic consistently and with clarity:

Other resources for further study:

Conviction, not condemnation

2009-12-27T23:48:00.001-06:00

Convicted men are guilty of a crime that demands punishment. A convict receives a sentence, and for the sinner, the sentence is condemnation.

There is a stark difference, however, between condemnation and the similar term conviction. The Christian stands convicted of sin, yet he is not condemned (Romans 8:1). His confession and plea is 'guilty', and his verdict is 'guilty', but to his great amazement, he discovers that the punitive wrath that is prescribed for his guilt has already been poured out. It was poured out upon Christ.

Christ suffered the wrath of our guilt, and thus made peace between those for whom he suffered and God (Rom 5:1) This is joy and more joy to the believer, who now has no condemnation and eternal peace with God.

Yet, even knowing this, even being at peace with the supreme judge, even having a sentence of condemnation absorbed by the Lord Himself, men still sin. It is this gnawing fact of life that grieves the believer, for it has the ability to throw him into confusion and dismay if he is not well equipped by the Word.

In the Romans 7:14-25, Paul demonstrates that the man who loves the law of God and delights in the law of God thus agrees that the law of God is good. He agrees with his mind, and because he is even able to agree with God - that God's ways are good - it is clear the Holy Spirit dwells in Him, for no man loves the law of God apart from regeneration. Yet he recognizes that in his flesh there is a 'law', or a principle or a power, that is actively at war with his Spirit-focused mind. In his members dwells sin, remnants of the fallen man. The tension between the spiritually renewed, quickened mind and the vestigial sin-baggage of the worldly flesh are in constant conflict like a tug-of-war game. This is a great source of stumbling and confusion for so many.

Romans 7 is a clear illustration of the need for what many call "progressive sanctification", which, in a nutshell says we are:

justified (legally or positionally declared righteous), being spiritually alive and now able to "work out our salvation in fear and trembling". Once justified, we enter into a life of
sanctification (made righteous over time, never fulfilled until death) or being set apart and gradually conformed to the image of Christ. This process includes growth and struggle and correction and progress. We are working out our salvation, and growing in the grace of God. Sanctification never ends until ultimately, through death, we and even our corruptible bodies are
glorified (that final state of sinless perfection only possible in death)

I believe that Paul's words throughout Romans 7:14-25 indicate he (or that hypothetical man he is speaking of in the first person) has in fact been justified, for he knows "that nothing good dwells a in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right...", and he delights "in the law of God, in my inner being". This is a man who has been justified, there can be no other option if he agrees with God on these points. Yet, he struggles with the ongoing working out of his faith by warring with his flesh - it is this conflicting tension in the midst of his ongoing sanctification that causes him to eventually cry out "wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of flesh!" Gladly, he answers that cry with the only answer possible, it is Jesus Christ.

Many times we fall to these battles between the spiritually tuned mind and the sinful flesh. Sometimes we lose. Sometimes we lose big. We lash out in wrath at someone, get caught slandering or gossiping, find we have been lustful or liars or cheats. David was an adulterer and a murderer, Moses had anger issues, Joseph had pride, Peter was a coward. God's people lose the battle sometimes. We are left bruised, despairing, sorrowful and beaten. We find the tempter, the accuser, close at hand to whisper accusations to us, heaping upon us wrong thoughts, causing us to feel as if indeed we were condemned and God has become our adversary.

Herein is the glory of Romans 8:1. There is NOW, at this point and at every point in time forthcoming, even in the midst of sorrow and conviction for sins, NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation! We do not stand before God condemned under a wrathful judge for sinning and falling yet again to our fleshly desires of anger, jealousy, unbelief, lusts, hatreds, jealousies, and whatever else our flesh may throw at us repeatedly. God is not then our adversary! We are not condemned even though our conscience and our enemies testify loudly so.

But there is conviction.

Sweet conviction! That bittersweet working of the Spirit for which we owe great thanks!

Conviction comes with a purpose to remind us that we are in reality sinners, and that we actually have done wrong, and that our offense is real. This is the time to look upon our Lord in a right manner, not as a condemning judge of wrath and hatred - not as an enemy - but as a loving father. He has indeed been offended by our transgression, but in love he chastises and corrects. A murderer convicted of heinous crimes before a judge gets condemnation to death, but a son or daughter who has offended a perfect loving father will never get such condemnation, only loving reproof. This may come in many forms from sorrow leading to quick repentance, all the way to hard chastisement of the rod and even death, but it is in love as a father to a son for that child's good.

In this sorrowful state we cry out confessions. Confessions and groanings and sorrows are part of it, for we need to feel the sting of reproof. We cry out like David in Psalm 51:

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Now here's one of a vast many reasons why this Psalm has great worth during conviction and correction - David recognized and agreed with God that his sin was vile, and he recognized that God had been wounding him, cleansing him and chastising him, and he saw it all for his good: "let the bones that you have broken rejoice". But notice, is there any hint of condemnation in this Psalm? No! Instead, you see the heart of a true son , not a condemned criminal. Indeed, this is a son who is groaning under the conviction of the Lord, even the wounding and chastisement of the Lord, yet this son fully believes by FAITH, that God is not his enemy, but will, as sure as the sun will rise each day, cleanse him, restore to him the joy of his salvation, and will then set him back to work doing His father's will.

In these kinds of difficult times of conviction and affliction, we often let our conscience and our accusers pile on false condemnation. In these times when God through the Spirit is convicting us, chastising us, wounding us to rebuild us in strength, it is much like the bruised reed and smoking flax spoken of in both Isaiah and Matthew - we should be careful not to let our faith grow dull because He will not break us, destroy us, extinguish us or become our adversary. The soul of the broken and contrite man, weeping and mourning for transgression, should bear up under these afflictions like David did when he said "let the bones that you have broken rejoice" The Lord in his refining work of chastisement will not be too severe. He will heal and give new strength.

Now - here's a blade of the Word that comes to your defense. Indeed this is the cry of Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress when Apollion has battled him to what seems to be a certain victory.

Micah 7:8-9 is our cry to our enemies, to our conscience, and to our accusers when we are taken out to the woodshed by our loving father, when we fail and fall, and when we come under his reproof.

Rejoice not over me, O m my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be a light to me.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord
because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
I shall look upon his vindication.

It is true that in our sin it our loving Lord who has been offended, but we are not condemned under His wrath. Still, like the prophet proclaims and what David confesses, we must bear his indignation with hope for our good and ultimate glory. For He is refining, cutting and healing, chastising His wayward child for whom His love can never be quenched. The accuser will whisper and say to you in that sorrowful state "He has condemned you, how can He love you in your wallowing sin?" or "He is against you, your God is your enemy, for look at your misery!". Accusers will mock and make sport over you, but the precious words of the prophet ring true and are our battle cry:

"Rejoice not over me, O my enemy, for indeed I have sinned and bear my Lord's indignation as a son, but He will plead my cause and He will bring me out into His light, because He has paid my price." There is now, right now and forever more, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Can you and I believe that when we fall to our sinful flesh? We must believe it, lest we wallow and pile sin upon sin with our unbelief. When we are under conviction for our sins, deep conviction, is the Lord our light in that darkness? Do we really believe that our father will come for us, bring us out into the light once again, as a loving father, and say "Come child, I love you, precious one."

For many this is a hurdle that tests their faith sorely. God is no enemy to His children, to believe it so is only to sin further. In those places of chastisement and sorrow for sin, that is where the light of the Lord should be our focus. Take heed here! Rather than seal up our lips and cease praying, our prayers should increase in affirmation that the Lord is good, His corrections are just and worthy! Rather than retreat and wallow in self-condemnation, we should flee to His word which is our comfort. We can bear up under that refiner's fire with confident assurance that we do not do so as a condemned, hopeless soul, but a precious, well-loved son or daughter to whom the promise of life abundantly is sure.

There is now and in the darkest of sorrows no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Take comfort and be refined.

Some Answers for Critics

2009-11-04T16:28:00.002-06:00

Scott Brown has posted an excellent series of Answers for Critics at the NCFIC blog. This is an excellent series of answers to the common mischaracterizations of the Family Integrated Church. Please have a look.

Known by Love?

2009-08-30T17:04:00.009-05:00

Does love so prosper in our churches that the world looks at us from outside and immediately sees an amazing display of servant-hearted, earnest care and concern for one another? Do unbelievers marvel at the active, resolute expressions of love being poured out upon Christians?

I do not believe this is the first thing the world notices about churches in general. Sadly, they see the money spent trying to be culturally relevant or the gross displays of questionable 'witness' in the form of giant crosses, tacky fountain sculptures and performance events cloaked in vaguely Christian terms passing as "worship". They see the TV preachers fleecing their flocks and the hideous gilded graphic cheese of Rococo-looking networks busy with prophetic laughing and circus-like shenanigans. They see Christians in their workplaces who act no different than the unbelievers around them but have a WWJD sticker on their car.

There was a time, however, when the outsider saw things differently.

See...how they love one another; how they are ready even to die for one another... - Tertullian on pagan observations of Christians; Apology, Ch. XXXIX, written in 197AD

and another, perhaps more powerful testimony

They recognize each other by secret marks and signs, and they love one another almost before they become acquainted...indiscriminately calling each other brothers and sisters (edited to remove offensive pagan slanders) - Minucius Felix, Octavius ch. 9, 2nd or 3rd century

Is your church practicing active, resolute love toward one another? Is your family expressing tangible love in the form of hospitality, service, and sacrifice for the brethren? Are you, personally, seeking ways to love the brethren, to make your profession of faith more than empty words? 1 John 3:18 commands us to do so: Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Today we studied 1 John 3:11-18 and 1 Peter 4:8-11 in church, and we saw that our love for one another ought manifest itself in such a way that it is the chief identifier or characteristic of Christians. We looked at this in terms of hospitality, exercising the gifts we have been given by God for the benefit of the body, as an act of service.

It is essential to the church today to regain that lost practice of exercising resolve in loving one another, to earnestly seek to love one another in word and deed. These ought to identify us, for if we have the means to do so and neglect the doing part, John asks us "how does the love of God abide in you?"

Let us be known by our love.

To Behold the Lord of Glory

2009-07-09T12:24:00.012-05:00

If we believe in Jesus Christ, it is our great hope that we will someday enjoy His very presence. The Christian presumably cherishes Christ, and finds all his earthly desires being gradually stripped away in great anticipation of having these blinders removed and being able to see Him as He is (2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2). This is our ultimate reward, to behold the Lord. Not crowns and honor and mansions nor a lack of suffering and rest of heaven - no, in fact these things are simply the perks, the consequences, the outcomes of seeing Him like He is. To be in His presence, glorified and strengthened, is to look upon the source of all love and holiness, everything else diminishes in light of the presence of God.

That is what I see in scripture. Do I live that way? Not always. However, it is becoming clear to me that the great desire of a Christians heart, as he grows in sanctification, cannot move in any direction BUT toward a desire to see the Lord and gaze upon His glory forever. To the unbeliever this is foolishness and lunacy. To the believer, this is life and hope!

Over the last few years I've been listening to several sermon series and reading several books about the glory of Christ and its implications to the believer's life. Lately, in my personal reading of scripture, I have been looking at the various visions God has given His people of Himself. One very edifying and useful training course I have begun is Paul Washer's "The Son's Glory", available as video at Heartcry Missionary Society or on I'llBeHonest.com's Youtube channel. The audio version is available at Sermonaudio.com. Much of my reflection contained in this post came together as Brother Washer walked through a wealth of systematic theologies and expounded the Word. Thus, it is, essentially, my notes on the last section of his first session, for it began to bring together many of the ideas of Christ's glory that I have been taking in over the years. Our brother Paul Washer is a mere man, he is fallible indeed. However, I am very grateful that God is using this man and his gift of teaching and preaching in an age where unashamed workmen are scarce.

Perhaps the most plainly explicit vision in the Bible of the presence of God is Isaiah's vision. Revelation is filled with visions and apocoplyptic throne-room imagery, but for plain clarity, Isaiah's has been a great source of wonder and awe to me.

Isaiah 6:1-8
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Consider what we can about these 'seraphim' - the burning ones, flaming ones. These are created beings, the closest ministers to God. These glorious creatures are created beings who seem to be aflame with fire and glory. However, God shares His glory with no one, thus these creatures must be reflecting the glory of God in some manner that their very presence near the throne of the Most High reflects His brilliant glory to make them appear to be burning. God's creatures are to do that. Even us. Glorify God, reflect His glory back to Him, let Him be pleased to see the beauty of Christ in us, that He may delight! These seraphim, burning ones - they minister to Him in his presence, the deduction is that they must be among the greatest creatures ever made due to their proximity to the Lord. Note that they cover their face and feet. They hide themselves. We would think that this is in reverence or because they cannot bear to look upon the Lord in glory lest they die. We would also think that they cover their feet because the feet are the means of touching the ground, yet another show of respect. These would be true indeed. The fathers of the old testament covered their faces in respect, or placed their faces to the ground in the presence of a manifestation or vision of God. Yet consider that these 'burning ones' are the chief ministers of God at His glorious throne, calling out praises of holiness to one another such that the very thresholds of the foundations trembled! So great these beings! So high a position to be perpetually in the presence of God to praise Him and serve Him and cry out with power and might declaring the holiness of God. But in the vision, when Isaiah shows up, these mighty and flaming creatures hide themselves and make their own presence hidden from Isaiah. They seem to say "do not look upon us, look upon the Lord! Look upon the Lord who is Holy, Holy, Holy!" What a message to us, we who are created beings like the seraphim. But unlike them we are wrapped in flesh, redeemed from sin, still bound to the world in which unholiness is ramapnt, among a people of unclean lips. By the grace of this One who sits on the throne, high and lifted up, we too are called to minster. Let us learn that a good minister of the Lord diminishes himself, hides himself, and directs all attention and focus to the Lord God alone.

In our ministry work, let us hide our selves, but may God use our voices from guiltless, redeemed lips to say “Here am I! Send me”. And may we be faithful to direct every heart toward the one who is Holy, Holy, Holy!

It is important to note here that the Gospel of John claims that this Holy God upon a lifted throne is Jesus Christ (John 12:41). "No man has seen the father" (John 1:18) but only the Son makes the Father known. If "God is spirit" (John 4:24) then He cannot be seen by men unless revealed by the Son. Thus any vision, manifestation or presence made known of God is the Son, Jesus Christ in glory. This is the One who humbled Himself to step into the created order, to take on flesh, because He loved those sheep given to Him by the Father. This glorious God enthroned in splendor is the same Christ who was hung upon a crude tree and humiliated. Think about that. We should be cautious how we speak of Jesus that we do not minimize this Lord of Glory. He was not a mere man, though fully man. He was fully man and fully God. This is the one who exhausted the wrath of God stored up for us. It makes me tremble and want to hide my face.

There is a proper sense that we who are redeemed by the blood of our Lord can and should relish our brotherhood and union with our Lord, and as children of God and brethren with Christ the firstborn (Hebrews 2:11), we can play like children among the folds of this mighty robe filling the temple at the throne of God. We can approach with confidence and boldness, being co-heirs of the kingdom (Romans 8:16). Yet there is also a sense in which we should dwell on the holiness, glory and beauty of our Lord God and approach Him in these times with covered faces, worshiping Him as a King, the worthy Lamb, the reigning sovereign. Study this Lord, and see His majesty, dwell on Him, and we begin to see the greatness of His name, the unspeakable richness of the free gift of grace He has given to us. He is no longer a mere character in a story book or a movie, but the Lord of Glory.

Knox on the Exercise of Family Worship

2009-07-02T18:26:00.002-05:00

Speaking of family worship, at Cal.vini.st, there is a great quote by reformer John Knox. Rather than quote a mere portion, I will post the whole quote.

Dear brethren, if you look for a life to come, of necessity it is that you exercise yourselves in the book of the Lord your God. Let no day slip or want some comfort received from the mouth of God.

Open your ears, and he will speak even pleasant things to your heart. Close not your eyes, but diligently let them behold what portion of substance is left to you within your Father’s testament. Let your tongues learn to praise the gracious goodness of him, whose mere mercy has called you from darkness to life. Neither yet may you do this so quietly that you admit no witness. No, Brethren, you are ordained of God to rule your own houses in his true fear, and according to his word.

Within your houses, I say, in some cases, you are bishops and kings; your wife, children, servants, and family are your bishopric and charge. Of you it shall be required how carefully and diligently you have instructed them in God’s true knowledge, how you have studied to plant virtue in them, and [to] repress vice. And therefore I say, you must make them partakers in reading, exhorting, and in making common prayers, which I would in every house were used once a day at least.

But above all things, dear brethren, study to practice in life that which the Lord commands, and then be you assured that you shall never hear nor read the same without fruit. And this much for the exercises within your homes.

John Knox - Taken from a letter written by John Knox in 1557 before he left Scotland for exile in Geneva.

Photo adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Knox_statue,_Haddington.jpg, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

What is the Purpose of Christian Education?

2009-07-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

Our fellow worker in Christ, Tony Konvalin at "For His Glory", has a good series entitled What is the Purpose of Christian Education?. In part one, he has shown from scripture those verses that speak to education. His second part demonstrates the Biblical nature and direction of education. Tony will address additional questions regarding education from a Biblical perspective in future posts, I'm excited and look forward to his insights.

How do we actually DO Family Worship and Devotions?

2009-06-29T17:09:00.008-05:00

To follow my article on the basis and need for family worship and devotions, some practical advice might be useful for those families who have never practiced family worship or had failures in trying. Fathers who are convinced of the need often immediately ask themselves "how?". These are insights from experience, and while I do not profess to be an expert in family worship and devotions, our family has learned much from others and through experience.

This article is aimed toward those fathers who have already come to accept the basis and need for family worship and devotions, but are stumped as to how it looks. Perhaps you are going through a reformation in your thinking and God is drawing you closer to Him. Maybe you have been convicted of your role as a Biblical leader and spiritual teacher of your family but don't know how that looks day to day. If so, I pray that these suggestions will benefit you, and that God would use the ideas and scriptures ahead to bring joyful answers.

Much of what is written here I have learned from others more mature in their faith who have shown from scripture what the role of a father should look like. I've listened to men that I consider to be spiritual mentors - they've encouraged me and my family, and we've been greatly blessed by their opening of the Word in this regard. But, also, much of these suggestions are the fruit of trial and error. Having been convinced from the Word, and encouraged by Godly people, the ball was in my court. I was forced to ask "How do we, in our house, with our particular idiosyncrasies and family way, implement this scriptural truth?" We have tried many approaches and many methods, and I encourage fathers to do the same. We'll look at a few of these.

Prayer I
All family worship and devotions should begin with prayer. In our home, I pray or ask another to pray, and we seek the Holy Spirit's help and counsel in our time together. I believe this is a non-negotiable, for apart from seeking God's work in us, we are wasting our time. We do not want to labor in vain. I would also suggest that any conflicts and strife, anger and offenses be dealt with at this time as well. We all need to be free from harboring sin if we expect to profit from our family time and enjoy one another. Once we have prayed and become settled, we employ one or more of the many options that bring us to the Word.

The Bible
The Word of God is God's revealed will to men. The Word is living and effective, thus it should always be the chief focus of our efforts to learn about God. In a family worship or devotional time, the Bible should be the centerpiece, with every other resource acting in a supporting role.

This principle is the governing guide to all other suggestions. If a devotional booklet or workbook does not take the readers to the Word, it may have use but not necessarily in family worship and devotions. Only the Word of God has the power to change lives, and it is by the ministry of the Holy Spirit illuminating the Word that our hearts are changed. Books and writings about the Word or about theological topics are valuable and good, and we should fill our private reading with them, but in the context of family worship and devotions, the goal should be to disciple our families in the Word, to worship and praise God, and to revel in His revealed will.

In our family, we have enjoyed seasons of simple Bible reading. As the father, I will consult with my wife to benefit from her wisdom and then prayerfully select a book of the Bible, or a section of chapters from a book, that seem either particularly helpful for our season of life and the things we are experiencing, or that has been particularly impressed upon us by the Spirit. We'll then set out to read this portion of the Word during family worship. We will read a chapter at a time, or sometimes only a section, depending upon the weight of that section. We will spend as many days or weeks as necessary to work through the section of scripture. During our reading, I ask my children to write in their notebooks words and concepts that they do not understand, and concepts that seem particularly difficult or interesting. We read aloud, each taking turns with a few verses or paragraphs each. Once we have finished reading, I will ask my family for immediate impressions and insights to see if they have understood, or if they have been convicted or had any significant revelation of truth. What a joy to see a child come to understand a truth and connect it to some other portion of scripture, or to our family, church or society! I will usually teach a little about the verses, or choose a particularly important concept out of the verse and discuss it a bit. This is often as simple as describing the principles in the verse clearly, or showing how these principles are to be acted upon by us now that we have heard them.

Father's need to be teachers. In your home you are the prophet - the one who opens the Word of God and declares "thus says the Lord of Hosts", bringing His Word to your house (meaning your children, your wife and yourself). Father's should be careful to be honest and humble. If you do not know what a verse or chapter is teaching, that's perfectly fine, but you should say so. "Children, I don't really know what this is teaching us, I'm learning just as you are, but as your father, I will study this and learn so that we can come back to it and together understand what God's Word is saying to us." A humble and honest father who demonstrates to his children a teachable heart is a far better witness to the work of the Spirit in him than a father who opines from ignorance so as to be seen as a theologian. We must not speak when we do not know.

This of course implies that the father needs to be constantly training himself in the Word and in sitting under sound teaching of the Word. To follow Timothy's example of following Paul's "teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness" (2 Tim 3:10), the spiritual head of the house should himself be spending his private reading and study time wisely, and asking for advice, discipleship and accountability from his pastors, teachers and spiritual mentors. He should be pro-active in his learning, and enjoying the gracious gifts that God has given to his church to "equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ" (Eph 4:11-12)

As we finish our Bible reading in our family worship time, we then write in our family devotions journal what we have learned from this particular reading. We write a brief summary of what the section of scripture is about, its main point, the insights that have been gained by father's commentary, and any pertinent applications to us. I believe these journals will be useful tools for future reference when we study these same scriptures in the future. This is another tool useful in family devotions that can be not only fun, but greatly cherished later in our walk with God as we discover how we have grown in the faith.

Bible reading plans
A Bible reading plan that maps out a course for reading a Bible through in a year, or in chronological order, can be helpful in some instances, but I suggest that these are better used in your private reading time. There can be a tendency to read for the sake of keeping on the schedule or to check off the day's assignment, and the volume of reading is often difficult to accomplish in the context of family worship and devotions. There will be many times when reading will inspire questions and open opportunities for meaningful discussion or prayer. These opportunities for discussion and prayer should be taken.

Reading plans have a great benefit and help to hold us accountable to be in the Word, but in the context of the family with small children, they can become burdens and wooden. If Bible reading is to be implemented (and it should be), it is best to take smaller sections or to take verses themselves as part of a study, catechism or workbook. This keeps the focus on the principles and truth of the Word, not on reading for volume's sake.

Memory verses
Working together on a memory verse can be a useful and even fun activity as a family. We have often used memory verses in our family devotions as part of the time we spend. Occasionally, we have focused on learning what the verse teaches us, making sure our children understand the verse and discussing its implications. Then we will take turns memorizing, each repeating a section of the verse in turns. We add to the verse through the week and hope to accomplish our goal by week's end. We don't abandon other aspects of family worship when we are using memory verses, for prayer should always be part of any family worship or devotion time.

Catechisms
Catechism is a time honored teaching tool that have been used by the church since the earliest times. Essentially a list of questions and answers, catechisms teach the basics of the faith in a form easily memorized. A good catechism always has scripture references for the answers. During catechizing in the context of family devotions, it is a good practice to look up the scripture references and have fathers lead in discovering God's Word. With smaller children, there are specific catechisms designed to teach them profound truths, but expounding scripture for them may not be appropriate in the family devotion time. But, whenever a child is able, it would be a very good exercise to ask the family to go to the Word to discover the basis of the catechism's answers. As always, catechism and any other tool for devotions should be a support to the Word of God, and never an alternative.

We have used various catechisms for our children, mostly the simple "Catechism for Boys and Girls", which helps teach youngsters sound doctrine in easy to remember questions and answers. Catechism can be used all day long, all the time. Asking my children "Why did God make you and all things?" will always gain the response "For His glory!", because we have learned it well, and occasionally ask it of them in our daily comings and goings. Catechism makes and excellent and fun tool for family devotions.

Workbook Studies
I'm usually not a big fan of workbooks in the family devotional time. However, some workbooks can be beneficial if they take the family to the Bible as the primary focus of our hearts. A workbook that teaches on Biblical principles and merely quotes portions of scripture in the book text does not encourage the act of opening God's Word. There is more substance and value in demonstrating to your children the primacy of the Bible in the home when fathers insist on its use during worship and devotions. Besides illustrating in a practical sense the reliance on the Word of God, it trains children (and mothers and fathers!) how to use their Bibles. From building a familiarity with the arrangement of the books in the Bible to demonstrating the proper way to handle translation variants, opening the actual, tangible copy of your own Bible has great benefit.

Currently, my family is using a workbook during much of our family devotion time. We have chosen a workbook that requires us to open our Bibles with every question. Paul Washer's "The One True God" study book leads us through the scriptures to discover the character and attributes of God by having us do the work of discovering what the Word says. We have enjoyed the many discussions and questions that come from this study and the ample opportunities that have arisen for teaching and application. Its been very edifying.

Hymnals, Songbooks and Audio CDs
Singing is an integral part of worship as described in scripture. Having a good hymnal or songbook can be very useful. One church I know selects one great hymn of the faith each month and they sing it every Sunday for the month. This could be a good practice in family worship as well. If you have a musician in the house, family singing can provide a great opportunity for musicians to serve their family.

Some of us have no musicians in our homes, so musical accompaniment is not always an option. Having a musically talented family member should be a goal of all houses, for that is one area in which children can minister greatly to their family. For many of us, audio CDs can fill that need, or families may enjoy singing a capella. In our home, we have tried singing with musical CDs, and it has been limited in its effectiveness. We have much work to do in this area, because I am convinced that musical worship adds vitality to the family worship time. As we train up musicians in our home, one of our stated goals is to fill our home with praise, singing and worship in musical form. My task as a father, and yours too, is to put off those hindrances that keep us from music because our Lord prescribes music as a proper method of worship.

Family Questions
One further activity that should not be neglected is the family question time. If, during our private study and reading our wife or children have come upon a difficulty, the whole family can benefit from it! We often have times when a question will be brought up about a particular verse in scripture, and I will have an opportunity to explain it (or confess my ignorance and seek to find out). These are very often the times when hearts are most teachable and tender, becuase the Spirit has prompted a desire to learn more. Fathers must be careful to teach truth, to know what they are saying, lest they mislead their flock. If a father doesn't know the answer, as we have said already, it is his job to humbly say so and then go find out.

Prayer II
No family worship or devotion should go without prayer and intercession. Fathers should ask all of their children and family to communicate areas in which they need prayer. Sometimes young children do not have the maturity or understanding to seek prayer from their family members, and these little precious gifts should be given something to pray about. Little ones should be involved and encouraged to participate as much as possible in prayer, even if they do not know how to pray well or 'like daddy does'. Giving them a share of the family prayer time equips them with something important and builds them up as contributing members of the family. When we were praying for God to bless us with another child, our daughter prayed faithfully every night for God;s blessing for our family. It was her responsibility and her joy. Because of that, we can today look back to that time and encourage her, showing that her prayers were answered.

During prayer times, each person should pray. We find it useful to go around one after another in order, each one having established before hand what we will pray about. We often pray for one another, our church family, special needs, and for missionaries. We have prayed repentently, confessed sins to God, wept, laughed, and praised His great name in prayer. Prayer should not always be needs and intercession. Simply praying praises to the glorious Lord and offering worship by prayer to Him is immensely valuable.

We spend perhaps a third or half of our family devotions in prayer, and these times are often sweet, convicting, profound and joyful. Our children benefit so very much be hearing the prayers of their father and mother. If for no other reason, little ones should be trained to participate in prayer times to gain a familiarity with coming before the Lord and to hear the heartfelt prayers of their parents and siblings. You will find the prayers of your children maturing and growing more effectual as they learn by hearing. And men, how precious and joyful it is to hear your children in prayer!

Don't Squelch the Spirit
In family worship and devotions, there are surely many other useful tools and practices that are edifying and useful. One final suggestion is to never be too rigid, program driven, schedule-minded or task-oriented that you cannot perceive the Holy Spirit's prompting to address special or immediate needs in the family. Occasionally we have abandoned all plans because the Holy Spirit was moving and working in our midst and we were brought directly to prayer, confession, teaching or searching the Word.

Kevin Swanson on God's Law and the Church

2009-06-17T00:33:00.003-05:00

I know that Mr. Swanson is not a prophet, but I believe he understands the times well enough to extrapolate the trends of men. Anyone who stands upon the authority and sufficiency of scripture, and examines it enough, will come to the same conclusion. In his post "God's Law and the Church", Mr. Swanson predicts:

For now, those of us who take a firm stand on God’s law from Old and New Testaments happily serve as the pariahs of the conservative wing of Christendom. But as civilizations fall, and as “Christians” hurry to synthesize with each new daring socio-moral travesty, these anti-theonomists will render themselves entirely irrelevant.

Essentials of the Family Integrated Church: Fathers are being equipped to be spiritual leaders of their homes

2009-05-04T15:17:00.003-05:00

Part four of the series investigating the particular marks of the Family Integrated Church. This series was prompted by Tony Konvalin's review of Scott Brown's lecture "What is a Family Integrated Church". Tony summarized the 14 points that Scott Brown asserts as the marks of Family Integrated Churches. I will expand on point 4: Fathers are being equipped to be spiritual leaders of their homes.

In a Family Integrated Church, fathers are discipled to fulfill their scriptural role as the spiritual head of their homes. We believe this to be one of the most critical and immediate tasks of the church. While we do not try to present Christianity as 'relevant' to pop culture or to the historical period in which we live, we do believe that the failure of fathers to fulfill their God-ordained role as the spiritual head to their wife and children is a critically pressing issue that must be addressed for today's church. The failure of our modern evangelical churches to teach and hold men accountable to the duties of the God-honoring husband and father have wreaked havoc on families, churches and culture throughout the last two centuries. We've seen what the consequences are - we must return to the Biblical model of manhood. A commitment to the doctrines of family and of Biblical gender roles are foundational to a well-grounded, full Christian life; it follows then that a Biblical church should teach these doctrines boldly and without compromise. Without such a commitment to basics, the church, family at large, marriages, child raising, the civil spheres, and personal sanctification all suffer. We believe we are witnessing the painful suffering of abandoning these foundations today in weak churches, broken families, an immoral culture, and emasculated men who are not spiritual leaders.

Because this series is focused on the church, we will not go into the challenges faced by Christian men as individuals in reforming their thinking and conforming to scripture in terms of spiritual leadership. While this is the first step of reformation in the family, and absolutely critical, we are looking at the role of the church in equipping men to lead and to overcome these challenges. For an exceptional and challenging resource on spiritual leadership for men, we suggest "Family Man, Family Leader" by Phillip Lancaster as an excellent resource.

But in terms of the church at large, one way in which it has failed to uphold the scriptural role for husbands and fathers is by embracing the humanistic model of age and family segregation. The church has also embraced the unscriptural idea that 'trained professionals' are the only ones who can rightly disciple our families in the Word. We have split families in churches, sending children and parents to age-tiered classes under one who has been 'trained' and to church services under the watchful eye of professionally trained worship ministries. Breaking up the family has been a methodology of the enemies of the Gospel, and the church, by and large, has adopted it. Equipping fathers to be spiritual heads is severely undermined when we send our families in all different directions for the corporate worship. In the Family Integrated Church, we worship together in the body, fostering and reinforcing the spiritual leadership role of fathers, but we also encourage fathers to flourish in this role at home as well.

We believe that it is the father's responsibility to be the spiritual leader in his home, and we teach men to fulfill this essential role by appealing to the authority of scripture. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 God re-iterates His will regarding order and roles by declaring through the inspired words of Paul that "the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." In these roles, God is declaring authorities and responsibilities first established in Genesis. While the Old Testament is filled with patterns for us to follow regarding the leadership of the father in the family, the example of Adam in Genesis just after the fall is perhaps the most useful to make the point. Adam was not the instigator nor the first to reject God's direct command not to eat the fruit, it was Eve. However, Adam was the responsible party as the head of his wife. Paul takes great pains to clarify this point in Romans 5 - we are represented as "in Adam" for a basis for our condemnation under Adam's sin imputed to us, and the greater picture of being represented by Christ before God, wearing His righteousness imputed to us as a basis of our being saved. This is the idea of representative headship and it is clearly foundational to Christian order and it is part of the church's duty in equipping the saints to teach this truth: that God requires men to be the spiritual heads and leaders of their homes, accountable for the good or bad direction in which he leads those whom he represents. We must be clear - we do not teach that individuals under a father's leadership are judged in terms of their salvation by the head of the household, for we affirm with all Christians that all men and women stand before God on as individuals. We are all indeed saved and sanctified on the grounds of our personal and individual relationship to Christ, but in terms of order and jurisdiction, God clearly establishes a headship in all spheres that must be honored. So important are the concepts of role and authority to God, that our very salvation includes the pillar of representative headship. The church must call men to this doctrine.

As the spiritual head of the home, husbands and fathers are in a situation that demands humble submission to Christ and a loving servant's heart. Men must grasp this or they will be unbearable tyrants; churches must teach the full meaning of Christ-like headship lest they equip a congregation of unbearable brutes. True servanthood is at odds with imposing one's will on others. Instead men are to take up the model Christ, treating their wives with honor and selfless love as the Savior treated His Bride, the church. In His roles as head of the church, Jesus is often shown from scripture to have fulfilled the servant-offices of prophet, priest and king for His people. We believe that this is clearly taught, and men after Christ's example ought to be busy filling their time with these duties rather than selfish empire-building or golf.

As prophets in the manner of Jesus (Matthew 7:28-29; John 14:26, 16:12-13), godly men are to lead their wives and children in bringing them to the Word of God, making known and teaching them and declaring to them the good news of the Gospel and the precious life of the narrow way. Churches must be about the business of equipping men to be theologically competent, well trained in the Word of God, and able to fulfill this duty with care and attention. A Family Integrated Church equips its men to do just this by encouraging men to constantly be in the Word, in prayer and in fellowship with other godly men. We encourage accountability and transparency among men and a respect of the church, including those elders and teachers whom God has called to equip them. We also encourage self-study, asking men to be leaders by example in learning. Most of all we encourage fathers to lead their families at home in family worship. This builds relationships, strengthens our family unity and identity, and trains us well in the Word. A well-trained spiritually minded man is equipped to fulfill the office of family 'prophet', bringing to his wife and children the meat of the scriptures in the home.

As priests after Jesus' example (Hebrews 5:1-10; 7:1-28; 9:11-15; John 17) godly men are called to pray for their wives and children, constantly interceding on their behalf at the throne of Grace. The Family Integrated Church encourages this role also - men are to be prepared to sacrifice of themselves, even unto death, by putting aside self-gratifying desires that cause him to neglect being concerned about the spiritual well-being of their family. While we affirm that the perfect sacrifice has been made in Jesus and that no further atoning sacrifice but that of Jesus Christ is necessary for anyone's salvation, His example demonstrates how mens' hearts ought to conform to the pattern of our Lord in sacrificial love. The priestly man is concerned for his wife and children, and actively, sacrificially brings his concerns, joys, sorrows, needs and desires for them to the Father in prayer. This implies a knowledge and intimacy with his family, for he must know their needs, concerns and joys if he is to intercede for them. He must always be fostering a joyful and loving relationship with every member of his family; he must have his wife's full and complete trust and he must have his childrens' hearts. The Family Integrated Church seeks to encourage these relationships by keeping families together as often as possible, not placing others in an un-Biblical leadership position or unhealthy influential role over families. Instead, we try to keep the family unit intact to honor the authority and roles established by God. These relationships bear much fruit and joy in our churches, and cause men to flourish as intercessors for those whom God has entrusted to his leadership.

As kings after Jesus' example (Mark 1:15; Matthew 12:28, Ephesians 1:22-23) godly men are to provide, defend and care for their families. This provision supplies a level of physical security and material blessing to families. It is indeed the duty of a man to work and do these things. Scripture teaches that the man who does not provide for his family is worse off than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8), so we are compelled to call men to be diligent in their provision and work, and for fathers to train their sons in this role of provider as well. By leading in this role, husbands bless their wives and provide a rich and gratifying environment for them to flourish without undue stress and worry, and the husband-wife relationship grows deeper. A Family Integrated Church equips men to see the role of provider as a rich blessing, but also as a duty fulfilled out of love.

These are three commonly cited "offices of Christ" that many churches have taught on some level. We believe that these are given to us in the Word as clear teaching. We see these as they are presented in scripture - roles, responsibilities, duties and commands that are essential for followers of Jesus Christ. As such, we in the Family Integrated Church are actively equipping fathers to be spiritual leaders of their homes.

If Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians was Published in 'Christianity Today'

2009-05-04T11:17:00.003-05:00

If you have never had the pleasure of reading the goods at Sacred Sandwich, you will get a great intro by enjoying, or reeling at the truth in the parody, the article If Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians was Published in Christianity Today

Family Worship and Devotions

2009-05-01T11:33:00.018-05:00

In our house, we practice what is commonly called 'family worship'. This is what has also been called family discipleship, home discipleship, family devotions, family Bible study, and a host of other names over the centuries. In modern Christian culture, this practice is less common than in past centuries. For whatever reason, Christians have become too busy, too fractured, too distracted or otherwise inconvenienced to find time to establish a regular family gathering to study the Word of God together. I believe this is a sad state of affairs, and hope to encourage those brothers who are sitting on the fence about instituting this practice that it is not only good for all involved, but it is critical to the spiritual growth of all the members of our families. In fact, so vital is family devotion that in some Christian churches throughout history, fathers who neglected to bring their families together once or twice a day for devotions were considered neglectful of their duties as spiritual leaders and were risking church discipline. If some aspect of the Christian life was once considered an essential duty of fathers, it seems that we might want to investigate the benefits and see what was so important. Many families today have done just that and rediscovered the benefits of family worship. I believe that today's churches not only should be encouraging the practice of family worship, they should be equipping fathers to do so.

The testimony of church history, powerful as it may be, is only a help that supports the basis of family worship and devotions. The witness of those who came before us is easy to disregard, if we even bother to take time to see what our forefathers were doing at all. How easy it is for us to become arrogant in our modernity by proclaiming that we have different circumstances, challenges and responsibilities that our brethren did not have in the preceding centuries! Time is short in today's Christian homes, we have so much to do - soccer practice, choir, activities, events, school. And that's just the kids. With parents working mostly outside the home, there are precious few hours in the day when a family is together at all, much less with time to spend having devotions or worshiping the Lord! Friends, this must change if families are to be growing in grace and knowledge. With 70-80 per cent of Christians walking away from the faith as soon as they are out of college (depending on who's numbers you look at), it is clear that what we have been comfortable doing for decades is failing. Gladly, there are many Christians are waking up to their duties in families all across the nation and I hope that you are reading this rather long and laborious article because you are one of those people!

Is there a Biblical mandate regarding family worship and devotions?

We are given a picture of home discipleship that looks radically different than many Christian households today. If we say we are believers, we owe it to the One we claim as our Lord to see what His word tells us about discipling our family. The believer truly delights in the Word, and diligently searches its depths for the precepts of God which bring us into a greater joy in our walk with Him. King David delighted in the law of God, claiming it to be a rich blessing and a way of preservation and vitality (Ps 1). It is no burdensome thing for a follower of Christ to obey the precepts of God. Though it may be difficult to embrace, it should be our heart's desire to seek out the will of God. So like David, we investigate and ask "what does the Word say?"

To truly convict Christians of the importance of family worship, we look to the scriptures which do not change, the standards which do not fluctuate because they flow from the mind of Him who is the same today as yesterday and tomorrow.

I want to present a brief case to any brothers who might be on the fence about family worship and devotions. This is particularly a cry to those men who are discovering the richness of God's Word and the reforming nature of a deeper walk with God. You are being called out of old ways into new ways. Your understanding of scripture is being renewed, your desire for growing in the Word is becoming strong. This is for you, because God is at work in you and He is calling you to see freshly His will for your family. Consider then, the Psamlist's words:

Psalm 78:1-7

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.

He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments; (Source)

We see a precept in this Psalm that re-states the commands given to the people of God. Fathers have received a command, not a suggestion or an invitation to disciple their children, but a command to teach the next generation. We see the purpose clearly as well, and can immediately relate the good fruit of family discipleship, "...that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God," to the bad fruit of failing to do so today.

In Ephesians 6:4 we have yet another direct command from Paul, "Fathers...bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord". What directive is more clear? It is the responsibility of fathers to train up a generation of believers, not the school, not the Sunday School teacher, the youth pastor or the church. Fathers. Surely you have heard arguments that these passages can be satisfied today by youth pastors and Awana organizations, but further scriptures make this position merely a convenient excuse for us to hand off our responsibility to someone else. It is especially clear in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, where it is explained with no room for wiggle that fathers are the ones who have the charge.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Source)

Here is a picture of constant training and a home infused with the Word of God. Now unless you bring the youth pastor to your house to sit there, and take him with you wherever you go, and give him a bed to sleep in 24/7, you cannot honestly state that this precept is being honored. It is the father who is present in the house (he 'sits' there, does he not?), who goes to and fro (he 'walks by the way') with his children, he sleeps there 24/7 (rising and lying down). It is the father who establishes his house as a place where the Word is integral (doorposts), and sees everything in light of God's Word (frontlets) and does everything with the Word governing his deeds and quickly at hand (bindings). To declare that some other person is the ideal or approved means of discipling our children is to do great harm to the plain intent of this verse.

As fathers it is plainly expressed in the Word that it is our duty to disciple our children ourselves, always and continuously. While there is a great blessing in other ordained venues and through gifted teachers such as the corporate worship and preaching of the Word, the primary duty passing on of the faith falls squarely upon the father; the father is the responsible party. This is why family worship is critical, it is a great and mighty tool in the duty of discipling children. You, dear brother, should lead out by establishing this practice in your home.

What exactly is family worship and devotions?

Let's examine why we call it worship and devotions, or one or the other, or both. Though a finer point, the practice of establishing this distinction illustrates even further the authority of scripture in governing our thinking about our walk with God. This brief exercise might even be a good point of study for a family devotion, asking "what does the Lord say about how we should worship him?" It might offer a good illustration of searching the Word to see how we ought to change our lives to be in the Will of God. This sort of exercise is especially edifying for our children when they see father and mother actually adjust their thinking to conform to the scriptures, how rich an example they recceive!

Technically speaking, 'worship' has certain aspects that make it worship or not. As a reformed Baptist church, my congregation and most other reformed churches hold to the "regulative principle of worship" that affirms what we have already established - that the Word of God governs what we ought to do. The Regulative Principle, in a very brief summary, says we should worship God according to how He wants us to worship Him, and nothing else. We ought not bring 'strange fire' or go outside of the principles established by God in our worship, to do so is to place our own wisdom above God's. Some say this is splitting hairs and burdens God's people down with rules and regulations. But we affirm that God's Word is no burden (Matthew 11:30), His ways are joyful, right, sweet and rewarding (Psalm 19).

In scripture we see that worship includes the several essential elements of which some are reserved for the gathered body in the corporate setting (The Lord's Table, for example) However, psalm singing and spiritual songs, prayer, and the hearing and reading of the Word of God are not exclusive to the corporate body and may be brought to the home. We also see the additional activities of the church that are not worship per se, but are given as gifts of God for the building up of the saints. Teaching and expounding the Word is one of these gracious gifts we can use in the context of the family to edify and instruct, and these we generally call devotions.

Family worship and devotions, then, should attempt to institute those things that God has established and given and not those things that man thinks are best. If we wanted to be completely and technically accurate, family worship would include the singing, praying and reading of the Word that make up worship, and this should be the standard. Families ought to sing together, they should pray together, and they should read the Word together. But families should consider those gifts from God that have some building-up functions as well, such as devotional studies, Bible studies, or simple discussions about the scripture reading or songs. Families ought to use this time as well to confess sins to one another, restore relationships, share concerns and give thanks. Family worship should open up avenues by which these added beneficial activities called devotions are natural outflows. The father's leadership demands that he use discernment and wisdom to prayerfully consider what family worship and devotions will look like in his house.

What are some suggestions to implement family worship and devotions?

If you have been convinced from the Word of God that you need to begin this very lucrative practice, what sort of things would work best for your family? Consider if you have little ones, or older children. Consider where your family is spiritually, and then just start meeting. Start reading the Word and praying together, sing some songs and discuss the scripture reading. You will probably need to adjust and make changes as you go, but once your family is in the good habit of daily meetings, things will begin to become easier, natural and extremely enjoyable.

Our church helps fathers in the area of family meetings by frequently encouraging them to bring their families together daily for worship. We also help equip these families with additional resources to add devotions, Bible study and scripture memory to this family time in order to build up and sharpen our flock in the doctrines and ways of God. We assign weekly memory verses for study, and also assign a few question and answers from a reformed Catechism. We've also provided a yearly Bible reading schedule to help families read through the entire Bible in a year. These tools are useful for establishing foundational doctrine and for storing up the Word of God in our hearts and are readily available online.

Family worship or devotions need not be long, complex or difficult. Some of us have small children who can't sit longer than 10 or 15 minutes before losing focus. Depending on the members of our household, we should wisely incorporate worship and devotions with ages in mind. This doesn't mean water down the meat of the Word or to color pictures of Noah's Ark, for even little ones can learn to sit for 10 or 15 minutes as the Word is read and prayers are lifted up. Some parents wonder if there is any value in devotions at all if the smaller children do not understand what is being read, but God's Word is appropriate for all ages and families are constantly reporting how much the little children actually grasp. Keep in mind that there is great benefit in the smallest children seeing their fathers lead spiritually, and great habits are formed in them from early on in life when children are included in the family devotions, even when they may not grasp the greater themes. Training the small children to learn to sit peaceably and attentively in family worship translates to children who are able to do so in the church service. Keep things reasonable in length, but bring those little ones in soon to participate and to establish good habits, they usually enjoy it right away.

What are some of the benefits of family worship and devotions?

The practice of meeting daily as a family has deep and enduring benefits to the Christian. Families are constantly rejoicing and testifying in our church about the deeper relationships formed between wives and husbands, parents and children, and between siblings. When families resolve to spend time together doing that which is good and edifying, they can't help but grow closer. Offenses are brought out to be resolved, joys and sorrows are shared, burdens are borne, and ties are strengthened. Relationships between family members are solidified as family traditions are established, people grow to actually like one another. Here are several great benefits of many that come to mind:

During the worship and devotions, the Holy Spirit often brings convictions upon family members and we are opened to profound ministry opportunities, Fathers and mothers often get that rare invitation to enter the very tender parts of their childrens' hearts in the midst of family devotions, and God has used these times in many homes for deeply meaningful spiritual guidance, teaching, encouraging and correcting. These are the precious times where love can flow richly, times that are rarely encountered outside of the safe and trustworthy environment of the family.

Disciples of Christ are honed and sharpened in their knowledge of the Word through family worship and devotions. Many knowledge and doctrine challenges surface as a result of the Bible reading or the devotional tools, study tools and discussions. This is the prime opportunity for a father to bless his family in the role of spiritual leader, explaining those difficult passages and expounding the Word. If he doesn't know, how great a testimony it is for family members to hear the father honestly say "I don't have the answer for that just yet, but I'll study it and seek some counsel and we'll look into it again." The blessing of a humble, teachable father who is honest yet eager to learn, lead and study to show himself approved encourages children and wives greatly.

Affirming the leadership role of fathers is another benefit. If the father takes the initiative, his wife is blessed, his children encouraged. His love for them is demonstrated by his consistent concern for their spiritual well-being and the accuracy of what he teaches them.

By gathering daily for family worship and devotions, family traditions, unity and identity are formed. Scripture often speaks of God's people in terms of families, nations of families, tribes, and as the family of God. These families are commanded to pass down the faith to their sons and daughters, and those who do so are blessed. By establishing a strong family identity as a family that serves God, greater growth as individuals is sure to follow. Traditions, family idiosyncrasies, memorable seasons, unity of purpose and common experience all add to the joy of family life. There is great joy and laughter, shared tears and brokenness over the years. Such precious times spent together bind hearts in love and devotion, and make happy homes.

Family worship and devotions are a vital part of the thriving Christian family, making time for it should be a priority. If you have to give up some event or adjust schedules, do it! Your family's eternal souls are far more important than soccer games and careers. By establishing a consistent and daily family worship time, you are leading your family to a deeper devotion to God, the Word, His people and the generations to come.

For an excellent exposition of the Deuteronomy 6 passage, and further explanation of the Psalm 78 passage in relation to family worship, I highly suggest the article Family Worship by David Prince at the CBMW Blog.

The Assault from the Anti-family, Anti-child Camp

2009-04-29T14:03:00.007-05:00

The true colors of a death-loving, pagan-steeped culture of intolerance is on the march. As many Christian families know first-hand, those who assault the Biblical idea that children are a heritage and blessing to be desired are quick to attack with ruthless abandon, slinging mud and making charges that are designed to foment hatred and spread division. Those who deplore any notion of the Biblical family, traditional role models for men and women, and traditional fruitfulness of the womb have always used half-truths, unbiblical arguments, personal attacks and name-calling in their efforts to tear down and undermine. Many of these self-appointed watchdogs parade their assaults under the banner of Christianity, often appealing to academia, philosophy, professional 'experts' and political theory to bring charges against Biblical doctrine and practice, but rarely reference the Bible itself. Those who at least have the honesty to represent themselves as non-Christians are even more forward in their disgust of all things Biblical. These are the folks who are currently the most vocal.

In an ongoing attack against the Bible's teachings about children and family, these people have targeted many on the web and now they are moving into print. It has been no secret that the founder of Vision Forum Ministries, Mr. Doug Phillips, has been the chief target of an ongoing smear campaign on the web. Many who have promoted a similar Biblical world view have also come under these same assaults, including this blog on many occasions. Now these attacks have come to print in a book published by a rather disreputable publishing house. In his recent article, "The Return of the Child Catcher of Vulgaria: Why Christian Homeschool Families Are Being Targeted for Public Censure", Mr. Phillips examines not only the nature of the attack at hand, but also the underlying drivers and associations that unmask the motives of those who are actively seeking to destroy all opposition to their culture of militant humanism. Mr. Phillips supplies footnotes and source material, something the opposition only feigns or lifts out of context, and uncovers the expected source of such vehement hatred in the expected places.

I applaud Mr. Phillips' powerful exposition of these intolerant proponents of evil, bringing to light the shaky foundations and Marxist agenda that underlies those who see homeschooling Christians with lots of children as an enemy. The Biblical family has always been a target of Marxists and humanists in general, because they inherently know that the Biblical family is the foundation of social order and the chief obstruction to their tearing down of all that reflects their Creator.

While there is sadness and sorrow when Godly people come under the guns of the enemy, there is also great joy. Jesus said we would suffer for His sake, and be mocked, ridiculed and persecuted. It follows that if the Christian church is coasting along and not coming under any sort of enemy fire, it means we've probably not been faithful to the scripture, which is offensive to the unbeliever merely because it demands obedience to a sovereign God. When the enemies of the church are out in the open, when they cease to be subtle and resort to public railing and waving of hands, we can be sure that the truth of scripture has struck a nerve. When the enemy launches openly vitriolic tirades, the Word of God has been at work. There is encouragement in knowing the enemies of God are being flushed out into the open, for the scriptures assure those who find shelter in the Rock of Ages that the gates of Hell will never prevail against God's people.

We need to be in prayer for these enemies of the Gospel, loving them as Christ commanded, by bringing the bold and full truth of God's Word to bear against all ungodliness in the hopes that they might also enjoy the rich blessings of salvation and the liberating joy of being under the headship of Jesus Christ.

Added: Please listen to Kevin Swanson's broadcast of Generations with Vision from April 14th that discusses this book.

A Christian Nation?

2009-04-20T13:32:00.006-05:00

Yesterday many of our fellowship discussed the question that asks whether or not the US was indeed a Christian Nation. This was a timely question and can help point us to our greater mission as believers who have duties and responsibilities in the community and nation. I responded by saying that we were once a Christian Nation but somewhere along the way we have abandoned Gods design for His people, and our nation has come under God's judgment. We talked about the truth that the Bible teaches us - that certain signs and conditions are proof of God's judgment upon a nation, and that if you see these signs, you know your nation is in fact under the judgment of God. In our nation, we have seen these signs for some time, and they are compounding at an ever increasing pace. So how is it that we can continue to say that we are a Christian Nation? I believe that President Obama was correct when he said recently that we are not a Christian nation. Sadly, I think he was correct in saying so, but I do not believe his motivation nor purposes for saying so were based on the same benchmarks as found in scripture. It pains me to acknowledge the truth, but we must look to the Word to tell why this is so, not to the president.

Thankfully, we can look back and affirm that we are a nation with a rich and beautiful Christian Heritage and a foundation that can trace a direct line of faithful men to the very heart of the Protestant Reformation. As difficult as it is to sift through modern historical revisionism, if one studies even a small portion of the actual words written by our founders and those who established our land, we find undeniable declarations of a Godly heritage. It is evident that our nation was established on the Bible, for the purpose of advancing the Kingdom of Christ, and by imperfect but well-meaning men who held to the laws and precepts of God as the standard for civil and ethical matters. This is true and should give us much hope. In what we can learn from the foundations of our nation, we should be thankful. But we ought to also be wise in understanding the times, recognizing that we cannot continue to coast along unaware on some vague notion that we are a Christian nation. We need to be careful to recognize our errors. We should be humble enough to admit there have been multi-generational failures among the people who call themselves by the name of Christ.

During the past decades, we have all heard "God Bless America!" said as a sort of rallying cry or motto, and sadly it is often said in ignorance of the real situation. While we should desire for God to bless us and ask for His will to be done among us, and we should earnestly desire His blessing to be restored with abundance, we need to do a quick reality check. During all these past decades God's people have been like the Israelites of old, and have fallen away from the Lord. Abandoning our posts and vigil, we have allowed the enemy to methodically undermine our foundations (literally, they have 'under-mined', dug under, subverted, secretly penetrated) right under our sleepy eyes to wreak havoc from within the institutions and jurisdictions that rightly belong to God, family and church. As a nation, we have given over the sanctity of the family, the influence of the church, God's roles for men and women, our children, our moral purity. There is blood on our hands as Americans murder innocents by the millions in the name of convenience. As a nation, we tax and then fund iniquity, break covenants and teach others to do the same. Our cultural conscience has become seared and we drink in lust and greed like water. We are, collectively as a nation, a lawless bunch and we do what is right in our own eyes.

And then we have the audacity to proudly say we are a Christian Nation?

Even questioning this raises hackles. The outcry from conservative people in response to President Obama's statement attests to the touchy nature of even questioning our national stance before the Lord. Why is it touchy? Are there really any out there who would take time to look and see what defines a Christian nation? Is there anyone who will investigate and compare the nation to those hallmarks of Christianity? If we were really interested in Christianity, the state of the nation before the God of Christianity, or basic intellectual honesty in general, those who cried out in protest might be expected to be have compared the nation to what the Bible tell sus about nations under the blessing of the Lord.

So by the standard of scripture, not some vague notion of patriotism or past heritage, are we a Christian nation?

No. A Christian Nation understands the limits of governing authority, the jurisdiction. A Christian nation openly and emphatically declares that there is no King but Christ! What's more, they operate in that manner, under the Kingship of Christ, with the government functioning day by day as the ordained means of civil affairs among men; as an extension of the Kingdom of God. We have, instead, allowed our government to usurp its right and lawful role as God's civil authority in civil affairs, and it has taken the place of Christ as King over us, and for this we cannot rightly claim to be a Christian Nation.

A scripture that warns God's people of the judgment that will come upon a people when they abandon the Kingship of Christ for the kingship of men is 1 Samuel 8. This scripture is but one of many that identify the consequences of abandining God's design for nations.

The prophet Samuel pleaded with the God's people, who were supposed to be a 'called out' people, different from all those around them, uniquely ruled by God alone, and under His design of civil order and moral ethics. The people of Samuel's day had gone astray, left the principles of God far behind, and in an act of grace, God sent one to call them back. Samuel warned them that their desire to be like the surrounding nations, not a peculiar people ruled by the one true God, would be overly harsh and burdensome. It would result in judgment. Look at the prophets words:

10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men [1] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.” (1 Samuel 8:10-22, ESV)

We can draw out principles that inform us, and relate those principals to our own situation. Let us look and see if we have rejected the prophet:

10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. The people desired to disobey God's plan to have no King but Him, in their hearts they were already rebels. Personal unfaithfulness had eroded their desire to be conformed to truth, and they were rejecting God's ordinances for nations. This is indicative of an eroding basis of faith among the people, and points us backward where the wise will uncover the errors of the past and seek to avoid repeating them. Personal unrighteousness works its way outward into family unrighteousness, and then on to the culture at large. If it is true what Henry R. Van Til said, that "Culture is religion externalized", then the people of Israel show the state of their hearts by their demand for a human king.

11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: This is God's warning through Samuel, one more chance, a pleading of grace, and offer of mercy! Is this is what you are asking for, do you really want the following?

he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. Your sons will be compelled to serve the king in war, he will "take" them, rather than the men of the nation rising up voluntarily to defend their precious land as in the time of Nehemiah. If a nation operates according to the riches of God's ways, scripture gives ample force to the idea that God will raise up men to come to the aid of the nation in times of war. While the magistrate will call to arms, he should not compel.

12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will govern with a large, burdensome, hungry infrastructure, he will inflate the role of the civil magistrate beyond its jurisdiction, he will build for himself a great and large government with much power, draining the resources of his own people, and transferring the bounty from the people to his own hand to feed the monstrous entity.

13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. Not only sons, but daughters will be compelled by the government and king to serve outside their homes, he will trample God's order for the family, usurp the father's authority as the protector of his precious daughters, and defraud these daughters by double-cursing them by laying upon them Adam's curse, on top of Eve's curse.

14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. Your property will no longer be your own, private property rights shall be eliminated or made arbitrary. Like most tyrannies and statist opressors of history, private property is not tolerated. This warning includes the idea of eminent domain, that the government can take from you private property that is in the interest of the government without fair compensation or consent. This is not only theft, but it violates the jurisdiction of the family and the jurisdiction of the magistrate, undermining the opportunity for families to bless their generations with economic assets. Likewise, the magistrate will levy burdensome taxes on top of the tithe, and will assume roles of wealth redistribution ("...will give them to his servants.").

16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. Yet another warning against compulsory work and asset seizure from both men and women. This collectivizes the best of the labor, assets and wealth under the government's control. This warning, taken with other Biblical warnings, implies the elimination of the proper view of money being a token of the value of a man's labor. When labor and production means reside under the king's control, men are made slaves of another, as in the following warning:

17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. The tyrant reigns with oppressive state-sanctioned robbery. When a nation gives up its personal property and liberties, those people are slaves who are unable to change their condition, they have become tools and resources at the whim of the king and are no longer free.

18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” And it will be very, very burdensome what you have asked, and you will realize your foolishness but will suffer the consequences of sin. When a people choose by their own collective will a course of government outside of God's ordained and outlined design for His people, they are rejecting God as sovereign and have then no right to complain to God about it. This is a frightful warning, but has it fallen on deaf ears?

19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. Rejecting God's will through God's called prophet, the warnings do fall on deaf ears. Rejection of wisdom, teaching and correction is a sign of judgment.

And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” They said "We will be like the pagans around us! We will not be obedient to our God and be a called out, peculiar people." They have said we will be our own standard, we will reign where God should reign. They have stormed the throne of God as if to depose Him.

21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.” This is most sad, but what can we say? Paul has expressed it for us best in Romans 1:28:

"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them."

God have mercy on us as a nation and let your people return to you, and call those around us to repentance and humility!

Where is hope? Is there any? We know that all judgment serves to chastise God's people for a good purpose, a wise and gracious purpose. It is always with hope! As "a wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke"(Prov 13:1), so we can count it all joy that our Lord is active and present in the affairs of men. To my brothers especially, because it starts in the hearts of men, hear a plea! Our job, our assignment, our mission as agents of dominion for God, is to be faithful servants of the Most High within the jurisdiction in which we operate. Humble yourself before the Lord and reform your thinking as an individual believer. Men, lead your family as the God-ordained prophet and priest of your household. Love your wife sacrificially as Christ loved the church, and disciple your children in the ways of the Lord to prepare a new generation of faithful men and women. This is our task and this is how, through history's testimony and through the inspired record of the Word, that culture is changed. Not through politics, though we are to be active. Not through revolutions, not through moving to remote islands and bunkering down in isolation. Not at all. We advance, and we engage, but we do so where it most counts, in our own walk with God and in our families. If we are faithful to follow the Lord in these jurisdiction, those corrupt areas of our nation have no hope to stand in light of God's promises. If we raise up a godly people, these godly people will be prepared to faithfully follow the ways of God even in the midst of severe chastisement, persecution, wickedness and destruction, and will be prepared to overcome these wicked days in influence, power and even sheer numbers. God's ways start at home. And when they do, in the next generation, or the following, or even three or four or five, He will find a people in the land who to whom he will be faithful to fulfill His promise: "if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chron 7:14) This is our great hope for our brief pilgrimage on the earth, and we will reap a greater reward when our greatest hope is fulfilled and we see Him as He is. What a great time to be in the hands of a mighty and faithful God!