A Word from the Pastors

2008-09-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

In connection with our recent look at Ephesians 5:21-33, I want to make you aware of an important document known as the "Danver Statement" and also the organization from which it originated. Let me encourage you to spend some time looking through this site, their statements, and various articles.

http://www.cbmw.org/Danvers

As Christians we cannot afford to be ignorant of what is happening around us concerning this issue; there is simply too much at stake for us to remain passive in our thinking and complacent in our practical living in the area. What we think about this issue will demontrate itself in how we conduct our marriages.

Will the marriages of those who are members at Grace Baptist Church clearly illustrate and proclaim the truth of Christ and His relationship to the church or will our marriages detract and deface this holy picture and disgrace the name by which we have been called?

Pray for one-another that we would each grow in this area so that our marriages would grow in conformity to the beautiful pattern seen and set in the relationship between Christ and His church.

Another Must Read Book

2008-09-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

The discovery of a great book is somthing like happening upon an Indian arrowhead while searching in a 100 acre field, it is as rare as it is exhilarating. When that elusive arrowhead, or book, is finally found you instantly want to share your treasure and awe with others. “More Than Meets the Eye” is such a book for me and one I want you to share in as well.

More than any other book I have read, “More Than Meets the Eye” highlights the genius, the power, sophistication and artistry of God from the smallest aspects of the creation (sub-atomic particles, atoms, systems, etc) to the largest (anti-matter, light, stars, black holes, planets, etc). The author, Richard Swenson, has compiled an impressive, mind-numbing array of medical and scientific data chronicling the works of God in the creation. Although not designed or written to be a biology or science textbook, it does contain much of both so as to force the reader come to grips with a God that is far bigger, greater, wiser, stronger, and faithful than you ever imagined. Let me give you a small taste of what you will find:

“The human body is composed of ten thousand trillion trillion atoms – a number far greater than the stars in the universe. In each person, more than a trillion of these atoms are replaced every on-millioneth of a second. These atoms, in turn, are comprised of sub-atomic particles, some of which have life span of than a billion billioneth of a second. It is entirely possible that we have no sub-atomic bottom. As the technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, we discover yet smaller particles. We are, perhaps, infinite in the sub-atomic direction. pg 94

Each human cell is made up of a trillion atoms. The body contains between 10 and 100 trillion atoms. We tear down and rebuild over a trillion cells every day. Each cell is remarkable in its own miniaturized way, with electric fields, protein factories, and hundreds of ATP energy motors 200 thousand times smaller than a pinhead. In a lifetime, the heart beats over two billion times and pumps sixty million gallons of blood through sixty thousand miles of blood vessels. pg 94

The core temperature of the sun is fifteen million degrees centigrade. It is so hot that a pinhead heated to the temperature of the center of the sun “would emit enough heat to kill anyone who ventured within a thousand miles of it,” explained physicist Sir James Jean. “ pg 148

And on and on he goes.

I highly recommend this book and hope you will purchase a copy today. However big your view of God may be today, “More Than Meets the Eye” will cause you to realize that it is probably way too small.

You can learn more here: http://www.richardswenson.org/index.html

Why We Don’t Display A National Flag When Our Church Meets. (Part 4)

2008-09-05T13:04:00.001-07:00

Displaying a State Flag is Antithetical to Our Baptist Convictions.

Displaying a state flag at our Christian assemblies undermines what our Baptist forefathers believed and sacrificed for at the beginning our great nation. It was because of early colonial Baptists like Roger Williams, Isaac Backus, and John Leland, who persistently and courageously fought for the freedom to worship God, attend, and support the church of one’s choice that we enjoy the freedom to worship as our conscience dictates today. Religious liberty was essentially a new concept even in early America; for many years the state regulated the church, even in colonial America. The two were intertwined each working to aid the other. Baptists argued that the church and state should not be so conjoined. These Baptist champions resented having to financially support the local church/state parish and in its state appointed pastor, they were unwilling to submit to having special state orders so as to be licensed and thus free to preach at will, and so they resisted and worked tirelessly to see that every man had the religious freedom to worship and support the church of his choice based solely upon the dictates of his conscience. The product of their ceaseless effort is the 1st amendment to the United States constitution which guarantees that the state has no authority to establish a state church or religion nor can the state prohibit the free exercise of religion.

Reintroducing the state back into the church is unwittingly undoing and undermining a precious freedom we enjoy as Americans citizens. Why would we want to blur the distinct lines between the two God-ordained, unrelated spheres of church and state by displaying a state flag in our assemblies? What biblical connection is there between these two separate spheres? There are none.

While we as Baptists certainly appreciate our freedoms afforded us as American citizens, it does not follow that we ought to display the flag or feel obligated to do so. Such freedoms are ultimately unrelated to the purposes and responsibilities of the church and her members, and so every effort should be made to preserve the blessings we freely enjoy in the church over what we have been blessed with by the 1st Amendment. After all that is what it was designed to secure for us. As shown previously we do the church no service by displaying a flag, and neither do we do our country a service when we naively and unwittingly undermine our rights as free citizens by reintroducing the state back into the realm sacred to Christ, His church.

(for more on Isaac Backus and other Baptist champions you can click here: http://www.siteone.com/religion/baptist/baptistpage/portraits/backus.htm)

"The Slow Death of Congregational Singing"

2008-09-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

I hope all of our members will read Michael Raiter's article entitled, "The Slow Death of Congregational Singing." Published in April 2008, it's simply one of the best explanations of why congregational singing "in many churches has been in its death throes for some years now." Here are a couple of excerpts that I hope will motivate you to click on the link at the bottom and read Raiter's article.

"People hear the word of God from the mouths of the pastors and the Bible expositors, but they also hear a sermon during the time of singing. Someone has said that a person's theology is no deeper than the songs they sing. I'm sure that's true, and it's quite an indictment on the modern evangelical church. There is, perhaps, no greater evidence of the theological illiteracy of this Christian generation than the songs we sing and write. Every song is a sermon, and it is critical that the God and the gospel that is proclaimed from the pulpit is the same God and the same gospel preached from the music team."

"Whether you travel across the urban areas of Asia, Africa, North America or Australia, everywhere you go, increasingly, the singing in the church—both the songs that are sung and the style of music—is the same. It's the McDonaldization of our world. And in every church you visit across the world, the music is just the same. I'd describe it as the ‘Hillsongization’ of music except that it's such a clumsy word. Oh, the words of the songs might differ, but it's the same music team singing the same way. There's the obligatory leader with the obligatory two or three singers accompanying her, the obligatory drummer, the obligatory keyboard player and the obligatory two guitarists. You're allowed some freedom in your choice of a sax or a flute, depending on the resources available, but it's all exactly the same for every song in every place.
Surely it's time to sit down and ask ourselves what is the best medium for actually promoting congregational singing? From my observation, our present approach has been weighed in the balances and found wanting."

"As I travel around visiting churches, I've noticed again and again that, for all their good intentions (and the vast majority are, I believe, well-intentioned), the music teams are killing congregational singing. I know that sounds harsh, but I see it in case after case. I enjoy the sound of an electric piano, the beat of the drums, the rhythm of the guitars, and the backing of the saxes and flutes, but my favourite instrument is the human voice. Nothing lifts my soul like being a part of 50— 100—300 saints in full voice, singing the praises of God and the glories of the gospel. Unfortunately that's a disappointingly rare experience."

Here's the link:

http://matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/library/5175/

Reading the Bible Together!

2008-09-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

It is a pleasure it is to know that many of us are reading from the same passages of the New Testament together. Last night Connie, Allison, Dylan, and I sat down on our red living room sofas and read Luke 20.41-47 and Hebrews 1.10-14.

Wasn't the contrast striking between our Jesus who is ever the same and whose years have no end [Hebrews1], and the scribes who make long prayers but devour widows' houses [Luke 20]? Jesus says they will receive the greater condemnation.

I prayed for our family, asking God to strengthen us with his almighty power to live in a way that is consistent with our professed doctrine. Faithful is He who calls us who also will do it. I'm looking forward to tonight's prayer meeting.

Psalm 2: The Reign of Christ and the Rage of Kings

2008-08-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

I. 3 Observations

A. Psalm 2 has been Psalm 2 for a long time since Paul refers to it as “the second Psalm” in Acts 13.33.

B. Psalm 2 has no title. But never fear, the believers in Acts 4.25 help us out by telling us that Psalm 2 was written by David.

C. Psalm 2 is ultimately about Jesus [it’s Messianic] because, in the NT, whoever wrote the Book of Hebrews [1.5; 5.5] tells us that God is talking about his Son Jesus in Psalm 2.7. Not knowing that Psalm 2 is about Jesus until you read Acts 4 is like the child who during a temper tantrum throws her dad’s cell phone that he forgot when he went to work into her glass of milk. She might after she’s done it, have an idea of the trouble she’s in [that’s Psalm 2, a partial understanding], but when her mom comes in the kitchen later and tells her how “ticked” her dad is going to be, she really understands [that’s Acts 2 – a full understanding]. We really need Acts 2 [mom’s full explanation later] for Psalm 2 [the child’s incomplete idea of what she’s done] to fully make sense.

II. Structure of the PsalmEqually divided into 4 separate parts [like acts of a play] each spoken by a different character.

vv. 1-3 [Act I] The Narrator Speaks
He introduces the heathen peoples and kings, and rulers of the earth, who like a troop of animals or a flight of locusts, rage and plot and set themselves and take council against YAHWEH and His Son, Jesus the Messiah. Acts 4.26-27 tells us that these people are people like Pilate and Herod who killed Jesus, and that the Messiah of Acts 2 is Jesus.

vv. 4-6 [Acts II] God Speaks
Well, first he laughs with a derisive laugh which [the only time in the Bible we read Gold laughing.] And he speaks in wrath of His decree concerning His King whom He will set in Zion on His holy hill [v. 6].

vv. 7-9 [Act III] Jesus Speaks
[the “me” of v. 7 is the Son of v.7 who is Jesus according to Hebrews 1.5. And Jesus tells us what His Father has said about Him. “You are my Son.” [Baptism, Transfiguration]. Nations will be His heritage, the ends of the earth will be His possession, and He will rule with a rod of iron [Revelation 2. 27 quotes Psalm 2 telling us that Jesus will come back the 2nd time as a warrior King..

vv. 10-12 [Act IV] The Narrator Speaks Again
“Be Wise!” “Be warned!” Serve with fear not with self-sufficiency, Rejoice with trembling not in self-confidence. Don’t rage against Christ. Repent of your sins believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [who will come to judge the earth and you will be saved. Do what the final verse of the Psalm says to do: Find your happiness by finding refuge in Him.

*See Psalms: An Expositional Commentary by James Montgomery Boice

Why We Don’t Display A National Flag When Our Church Meets (Part 3 of 4)

2008-08-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

Displaying a national/state flag is an obstacle to Christian fellowship.

According to Acts 2:42 fellowship was one of four foundational activities that the first church gave themselves to wholeheartedly. Many have come to understand fellowship as just a fancy name for “church-picnic”. There is however much more than that behind the idea of fellowship. The word which we translate as “fellowship” in English is the greek word that is better translated as “sharing”. To share is to hold something in common. When Wendy and I share a Starbuck drink we hold in common the drink, we share (literally:). Christian fellowship is simply Christians sharing and holding together what we have in common. Such things that all believers hold in common, and those which the church should promote among its members, are things like: the Bible, the Holy Spirit, salvation and the new birth, Christ, etc. All else is subsequent to and secondary to these purely Christian, gospel related, unifying, spiritual realities.

Displaying a flag is introducing an element into our fellowship that is unrelated to the priorities and privileges already mentioned. The flag and what it stands for is extraneous to true Christian fellowship and many times it actively hinders fellowship among the faithful. What does the American flag have to do with Christ, the gospel, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, salvation, the cross, etc? How confusing it must be to those who are not American citizens but who visit our American churches and see the flag displayed front and center. Unknowingly the message we convey is that the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Bible, and Christianity is somehow connected to and related to Americanism, and by logical extension our foreign policies, our culture, our laws. How it must incense those who have suffered unjustly because of our policies or the consequences of them.

I wonder how American Christians would respond to attending a church where the communist Chinese flag was on display? Would it not rile our prejudiced patriotic passions into a heated fervor. Such passions rarely if ever produce the fruit of Christian unity, and facilitate the strengthening of the bonds of peace and love.

For these reasons, and the others already mentioned, displaying a national flag is an unnecessary hindrance which the church of Jesus Christ should avoid for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of true Christian fellowship.

Why We Don’t Display A National Flag When Our Church Meets. (Part 2)

2008-08-21T22:22:00.000-07:00

2. Displaying a national/state flag contradicts the true nature of the Church

The purpose of a flag is to represent a set of beliefs, ideas, and purposes that characterize the organizational entity for which it stands. It is far more than just decorative, it is declarative. It serves as the standard around which people who hold similar beliefs and convictions form and unite in one mind and heart. If you were sympathetic to the cause and purposes of the KKK you would have no problem flying (identifying with) their flag. Displaying the American flag at a Christian gathering is asking those present to identify and unite around what the flag represents - a nation, a set of laws, policies, and system of government, all of which have little to nothing to do with the cause and purposes of Christ and His church. Displaying the flag sends a contradictory, confusing message to those who are not “American” by birth or by conviction, but who are born again. By displaying the flag in our Christian gatherings we are tacitly saying that the American system and Christianity go hand in hand and nothing is farther from biblical truth.

Those who have been made part of the church by the unseen baptizing work of the Holy Spirit are no longer identified by race, nationality or color, but by who they are in Christ. According to Eph 2:11-22 those who are in Christ have been “brought near”, we have been made into one “new man”, “reconciled into one body”, have been made “fellow citizens”, and are now one “household”, each descriptions of what it means to be in Christ and part of the church. No state or national flag is able to accurately represent such profound spiritual truth, instead, any state or national flag actually contradicts the true spiritual nature of the church. The wonderful mystery now made known to us, and made possible through Christ alone, is that both Jew and Gentile are now one body without distinction. Therefore when the church gathers together as one body, no consideration is to be given or taken of Jew or Gentile (or American, Iranian, etc) and any and all barriers that would divide us from Christ and from each other must never be permitted to be raised.

Displaying a state flag however does establish a barrier that does not and should not exist in the church. It is an invitation to have unholy, devilish sectarian passions unleashed into the church leading only to schism and division. There is a proper place and time to display the state flag, just not when the church gathers as one body in Christ.

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Eph 3:4-11 ESV)

Why We Don’t Display A National Flag When Our Church Meets.

2008-08-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

The common and widely accepted practice of displaying the national/state flag in our American Christian assemblies is a custom not seen in the rest of the world. Most American Christians however have grown up with the flag prominently on display in the church and few have ever really pondered the numerous implications of doing so – myself included. Over the next few days we will be giving biblical reasons arguing against this practice. There are at least four reasons why we have as a church chosen not to display the American flag during the time when our church gathers. Our decision to do so is based not upon custom, tradition, or driven by “patriotism”, but upon what we believe to be consistent with what we see in Scripture. We have chosen not to display a national flag when our church meets because:

1. Displaying a national/state flag vies for the preeminence that belongs to Christ alone in His church.

According to the stated rules of our government regarding the flag and its’ proper use and treatment (see http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagcode.htm) the American flag is to be given the highest place of preeminence whenever flown or displayed in country. According to the U.S flag code the flag must always be placed on the speakers right hand – the place of highest honor.

Article 7, section K of the flag code states the following: “ When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience.”

The clear implication of this law is that all other organizational entities are subservient to the American flag (by extension our laws, customs, and policies) when it is displayed. One could legitimately understand that the state has the ultimate, final authority – ultimate honor- in the church. For Christians this is an intolerable demand requiring what Christians cannot give: honor and preeminence to a state, a nation, over and above Christ (Acts 4:19)- and that in His own church! The rules of our own flag place it at direct odds with Christ and Scripture when displayed in His church.

As Christians we believe in and honor the divinely ordained role of the state (Rm 13:1-7). We believe that we are to be good citizens and fulfill our responsibilities as such to the state. However when it comes to authority in the church Scripture is clear about who is to have the final and ultimate honor.

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. (Col 1:15-18 ESV)

Over the next few days we will post additional arguments for not displaying a national flag…stay tuned.

Great joy because they had understood: A meditation on the public reading of scripture

2008-08-15T04:15:00.000-07:00

The great joy that results from the necessary public reading of the scripture [Nehemiah 8.3; I Timothy 4.13] is the joy of the people of God clearly understanding the publicly read Word of God. In Nehemiah 8, God's people heard God's priests read and explain God's Word clearly [the doctrine of perspicuity], and the result was "great rejoicing" [v. 12].

Ezra stood on a wooden platform as his priestly brothers helped the people understand the Law as it was being read. Wouldn't that be cool if, during the public reading of the scripture, our deacons at Grace moved around the building teaching the Bible to us while Colin T., Luke L., Dave S., or David B. stood on a wooden platform reading the Bible to us. That would be wild!

I think we often concentrate on Nehemiah 8.10 which reads, "for the joy of the LORD is your strength," and fail to grasp that the objective foundation for their joy was their clear understanding of the Word of God publicly read. Verse 12 says that the people of God made "great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them." What began with weeping [v. 9] ended in joy [v. 12].

The fullest and final joy, however, is not to be found in Nehemiah. The movie isn't over. There's still more popcorn to eat. The story isn't fully told. The child should remain awake a few moments longer to hear the story's end.

The joy of Nehemiah 8.12 is an incomplete joy, awaitng its future fullest and final expression found in the person and work of Christ. As the Reformation Study Bible notes, "Israel's failure to merit life in the land testifies to the universal need for a Substitute thorough whom the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met on behalf of those who could not meet these terms on their own."

Gospel joy is Nehemiah's joy fully realized. "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised--who indeed is interceding for us" [Romans 8.34].

So Grace Baptist Church, rejoice that we devote ourselves to the public reading of Scripture [I Timothy 4. 13]. Rejoice that every week our brothers in Christ carefully give us a sense of and clearly read God's Word at our Lord's Day service [Nehemiah 8.8]. And rejoice that the "Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" [John 1.14].

Forget about "rethinking the Church"

2008-08-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

As the 21st century Church becomes increasingly unchurched because of a kind of preaching that makes legalists of saints and consumers [shoppers] of the lost, [thanks Pastor Ben for your comment on Sunday that if we want to quench the Spirit, just turn the Bible into a self-help manual rather than a God-glorifying book that changes lives by putting on display with all of its implications the staggering beauty of the person and work of Christ] perhaps we need to forget about rethinking the Church since it wasn't our idea in the first place. The Church is "the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth" [I Timothy 3.15]. As the note on this verse in the 1599 Geneva Bible puts it, "the Church is the preserver of truth, but not the mother." What the Church is is a "body" of brothers and sisters who are saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ "whereby He took our sin, bore God's judgment in our place, and now clothes us in His righteousness."

At the end of his book, The Courage to Be Protestant [2008], David Wells helps us see the folly of rethinking the visible [those we see saved and lost in our pews or "chairs"] Church:

"Everything about the church must be [is being] rethought! We must rethink how it becomes successful! We must rethink it all because this is what businesses have to do. Their products are all the time dying as new niches and needs arise. So it is in the church! Rethink or die! For the multitude of pragmatists who are leading churches in America today . . . the church is nothing but its performance. There is nothing to be said about the church that cannot be reduced to how it is doing, and that is a matter for constant inventories, poll taking, daily calculations and strategizing. I beg to differ . . . The church is not our creation. It is not a business. The church, in fact, was never our idea in the first place. No, it is not the church we need to rethink. Rather, it is our thoughts about the church that need to be rethought. It's the church's faithfulness that needs to be reexamined. It is its faithfulness to who it is in Christ, its faithfulness in living out its life in the world, that should be occupying us. The church, after all, is not under our management but under God's sovereign care, and what he sees as health is very often different from what we imagine its health to be . . . God has given us the blueprint for its life in Scripture. What we need to do, then, first and foremost, is to think God's thoughts after him, think about the church in a way that replicates his thoughts about it" [pp. 222-223].

New Hymn Text written in thanks for Pastor Ben Rust

2008-07-10T03:13:00.000-07:00

Hey you all,

Last night was one of those sweet summer Wednesday evenings we'll likely remember. God was pleased, sovereignly working through the congregation, to give Ben Rust to us as our senior pastor. The vote was unanimous. Here's the hymn text I wrote for the occasion. Ben preached from I Thessalonians 5.12-13 last Lord's Day Sunday morning.

“We Ask You Brothers to Respect Those Men Who in the Lord”
A metrical version of I Thessalonians 5.12-21

1. We ask you brothers to respect
Those men who in the Lord
Among you labor, love, correct;
Give praise for grace outpoured!

2. God’s peace we urge you now to seek,
Be patient with them all;
Rebuke the idle, help the weak,
And lift the faint that fall.

3. Seek good for all, rejoice and pray,
Repay no one with ill;
Give thanks in all, this is God’s way,
In Christ this is God’s will.

4. Quench not the Spirit, good hold fast,
The preached Word love but test;
Abstain from evil, sin’s black past,
Seek Light, bask in the Blessed.

David Harris – written 07/09/08 in thanks for Ben Rust.

Nothing quite so sweet

2008-06-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

When the Apostle John wrote back home (to members of his former congregation) he said, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." Nothing is quite so sweet as seeing that people you love are moving on with their lives in the Lord. My visit with the church this past weekend was a wonderful encouragement to me, seeing that Grace Baptist Church is growing as it should and how it should.

Love your pastors as you loved me. Pay them well, both because they deserve it and because it is a visible token of your love for them. Build up each other in the church. And ... enjoy the church, because your time there is all too short.

Colin & Anita

"Building' in the OT and the NT

2008-05-26T00:26:00.000-07:00

The subject of 'building,' Hebrew BNH, is central to OT and NT theology. For example, God build the garden in which man dwelt in innocence and Solomon's attempts to build such a garden were crowned with vanity (Ecclesiastes). The addition of children in the OT is classed "building up,' in such notable passages as Sarah's plea to Abraham and Psalm127. Building in post-exilic Israel is the predominant theme of the book of Nehemiah and Haggai.

The anchor of the NT church is stated by Jesus in Matthew 16:17-19. Although it is hardly likely that the OT audience of Jesus fully understood what this meant, the audience of the book of Matthew, the NT church, certainly would have understood the reference. The power and the responsibility to build the church resides in her Lord. Paul resounds the same theme in 1 Cor 3:5-16 (dealing specifically with the local church) and Ephesians 4:11-16 (dealing ambiguously with the universal church and the local church).

The modern church growth movement, which is still very much alive despite the despite of the post-modern emergent movement, needs to take care that it does not remove the responsibility from the Lord of the church and turn to the gurus of the world for the power to build the church.

At heart, the failure of local churches to grow, in any sense of the term, has led pastoral leaders to seek answers from the world, albeit with a veneer of Christianity. If the local assembly, the real church, uses the power of the risen Christ and His Word, their growth will be undeniable evidence that "building" is a biblical principle that deserves more genuine biblical attention that it receives.

Pastor Smith
Sunday, May 25

"Houses, Cities, Workers, and Kids"

2008-05-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

Psalm 127 – A Song of Ascents of Solomon
“Houses, Cities, Workers, and Kids”

“There is a ‘kind’ of house that, when it is built, looks sturdy and steady and serene. There is a ‘kind’ of city that looks safe and secure and insurmountable. And there is a ‘kind’ worker that gets up early, works late, and makes anxious plans so that he might sleep more peacefully. However, built houses and safe cites and ‘working hard f0r the money’ [to quote Donna Summer] are only vain, vaporous, and vanishing unless the LORD builds the house, watches over the city, and gives sleep to the worker.

There is a kind of child that the LORD builds who, rather than shaming their parents, are an inheritance from the LORD. They are like fruit. They are like arrows from the LORD provideding protection from the enemy. The more of them the merrier and the fuller our nursery.

The Jewish children of Psalm 127 partially fulfill the promise made by the LORD to Abraham to make of him a great nation. More importantly, these children point to a future reality when strangers from every tribe and tongue and nation will become the adopted children of promise ‘in Christ.’” Doc 5/21/08

A Stranger in a Strange Land

2008-05-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

The goodness of the LORD is never so evident as when we are are alienated from all that is comfortable and comforting in this world. Greetings to our loved ones at Grace. We have made the move down to Winston-Salem and are enjoying our new surrounding and making new friends. but, all in all, we continue as aliens in a friendly, but unfamiliar environment.

Our apartment is nice, two rooms (a kitchen/dining room and master bedroom upstairs and two rooms and a full bath downstairs), right across from the campus, and partially furnished ... er, we have a fold up table and a futon mattress. We're planning on getting furniture as we go, but right now we are living like pilgrims and/or newly married college students; and we like it. With high-speed internet (no TV) a stove and fridge, we have all the mod-cons we need!

It will be some time before we settle into a church home. We've started traveling on weekends to speak. Yesterday we were 3 1/2 hours north on the Virginia/West Virginia border in Covington, VA at New Hope Baptist Church. wonderful folk, good services, a magnificent Sunday meal prepared by Mrs. Miller, a German lady who used to run her own restaurant with German food. beef, pork, brats, 7 side dishes, three desserts and several pounds later I staggered to the pastor's home to sleep before the evening service. The drive was through the beautiful Allegheny mountains both ways. I hope to do a lot of weekend travel for the school as time and health permit.

Spending a lot to time in admin. work and prep for a PhD class coming up the week of August 2-6. Only three students so the time should be very profitable. I'm scheduled to represent the school at the GARBC conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, so I should meet some of my former BBC compatriots around the booths. Lots to talk about :-)

We love you guys, miss you more each weekend, and could not have make the move down here without the magnificent love gift that you gave us. After I found out how to silence the chimes (no one needs to be that aware of the time) we are enjoying the pendulum clock in our kitchen/dining room. We miss the grandkids something terrible.

Pastor Smith

"I'm living in a dream that's coming true"

2008-05-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

Psalm 126 – A Song of Ascents
“I’m living in a dream that’s coming true”
Celine Dion, from “I’m Loving Every Moment With You”

v. 1 “When” the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion” [“When the LORD returned the returning of Zion”] is an “allusion” to Jewish captives returning to Judah in or around 536 B.C. Cyrus, king of Persia, is the instrument; however it is the covenant keeping LORD [YHWH] who restored their fortunes. The joy is so overpowering that they ask themselves if it could be real. Are they dreaming?

vv. 2-3 “Then” There was laughter. There were shouts of joy and gladness and affirmations from even the nations that the LORD had done great things for them.

v. 4 “Restore” [v. 1] “Turn our captivity.” The Psalmist is waiting for the full return from Babylon of the captives back to Judah not only under Cyrus but under Darius and Xerxes. Albert Barnes [1798-1870] writes, “As those streams when dried up by the summer heat are swelled by autumnal and winter rains, so let the streams of the returning people, which seem now to be diminished, be . . . kept full like swollen streams.”

vv. 5-6 “More” The backbreaking and painstaking toil and burden of planting seed on ground you’ve plowed, planting and seeing no results will be repaid harvest. So the bondage of captivity will “more” than be repaid with a harvest of captives going home. The temporal captivity and return of God’s people looks forward to our Jesus who finally and fully “led captivity captive” [Ephesians 4.8].

Killing sin with Christological satisfaction

2008-05-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

I noticed, as I was reading II Corinthians 6.16-18 this morning, that on either side of the command to “go out from their midst and be separate” from darkness are the pleasures or benefits that will induce the people of God to separate from that darkness – namely that God will dwell and walk among them, that He will be their God, and that we will be the sons and daughters of our God and Father [Matthew 6.9].

My prayer is that I will see and savor Jesus, my superior satisfaction at God’s right hand. These intoxications don't leave you with a hangover the next morning. Edwards puts it this way: “To be happy to all eternity is better than all other good; and to be miserable forever under the wrath of God is worse than all other evil.”

Looking forward to prayer meeting and maybe some Armetta's later on!

Purity

2008-05-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

47And if your eye cause you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell. Mark 9 ESV

Has been crushed, is being crushed, will be crushed

2008-04-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

The good news of the gospel is that our Jesus has crushed [justification], is crushing [sanctification], and will finally and fully crush [that’s glorification] the head of the serpent. And we know that the serpent of Genesis 3 is Satan, in part, because of the language Paul uses to describe Satan in Romans 16.20. So let’s read Genesis 3.15 [the Protoevangelium or first gospel] and Romans 16.20 and make a redemptive historical connection. Let me read it in the Harris paraphrase.

15[God the Father] will put enmity between [Satan] and the woman [Eve], and between Satan’s offspring [the reprobates who loves self]; and Eve’s offspring [the redeemed who love God in Christ]; [Jesus] shall bruise [Satan’s] head, and [Satan] shall bruise [Christ’s] heel. 20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Big barking black white fanged canines and the Great Commission

2008-04-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

It was fun to be out on Saturday. Like we do every month, we invite people to our services, sometimes proclaim the gospel, and seemingly always "run" from big black barking canines with white fiangs who don’t seem interested in the Great Commission.

What’s really mind-blowing is that “doing the work” of the Great Commission [telling others about Jesus and discipling them] is not the heart of the Great Commission. The heart of the Great Commission is the absolute universal supremacy and authority of Jesus.

Notice in the Great Commission that Jesus places His glory and His authority and His power at the beginning of the Great Commission so that strategies and methods and personalitites and how many souls we've won to Christ won’t be central – but rather that as God saves souls, His supremacy “in Christ” will be the central story and our boasting all the day.

Matthew 28.18-20
18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” English Standard Version

A Face Only A Mother Could Love.

2007-09-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

Wendy is now in the eighteenth (18) week of her pregnancy and so far everything looks good, except maybe for the baby’s facial profile. (Yes, the baby DOES look like a vampire!). This past Friday we experienced the joy of seeing “Ellie” for the first time. We are most grateful to report that she appears to be developing normally and according to schedule. Sitting in the darkened room with Calvin on my lap and watching the small ultra sound screen as the tech scanned Wendy’s tummy, I was again confronted with the mystery and wonder of new life. I admit that I could not, and cannot fully grasp the miracle that was before me on the screen – a fully formed, four chamber heart, a perfect spinal cord, limbs, fingers and toes, and if the baby is a she, already there are over 6 million eggs deposited in her ovaries – a lifetime supply stockpiled for the start of a new generation one day! As I reflected on the miracle before me, my thoughts though were drawn to something far greater, even more profound and wonderful – God himself. How wise He must be to have created life with all of its’ delicate intricacies, how good must he be that He allows us to enjoy the unspeakable delights of his creation, and how merciful must He be in patiently putting up with a world of men that spurns the life He creates by ruthlessly destroying it in its’ most vulnerable state? Not only did I see God today, but I also felt the weight of His glory pressing down on my heart. As wonderful as Ellie is, she does not, nor can she ever compare to the gracious God who loved me and gave himself for me. May this redeeming God enrapture your heart and mind this evening as you contemplate His beauty and saving grace.

A BIG Post For A BIG Topic:)

2007-09-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

Did you notice Time magazine’s cover story this week? The lead story focused on Mother Teresa’s “faith” or absence thereof. Though both interesting and sad, the main reason for familiarizing yourself with this article is so that you will have a point of contact in communicating the gospel with your unsaved Catholic friends. The following excerpt provides the gist of the story. www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html)

… Yet less than three months earlier, in a letter to a spiritual confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet, that is only now being made public, she (Mother Teresa) wrote with weary familiarity of a different Christ, an absent one. "Jesus has a very special love for you," she assured Van der Peet. "[But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me — that I let Him have [a] free hand."
The two statements, 11 weeks apart, are extravagantly dissonant. The first is typical of the woman the world thought it knew. The second sounds as though it had wandered in from some 1950s existentialist drama. Together they suggest a startling portrait in self-contradiction — that one of the great human icons of the past 100 years, whose remarkable deeds seemed inextricably connected to her closeness to God and who was routinely observed in silent and seemingly peaceful prayer by her associates as well as the television camera, was living out a very different spiritual reality privately, an arid landscape from which the deity had disappeared.
And in fact, that appears to be the case. A new, innocuously titled book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (Doubleday), consisting primarily of correspondence between Teresa and her confessors and superiors over a period of 66 years, provides the spiritual counterpoint to a life known mostly through its works. The letters, many of them preserved against her wishes (she had requested that they be destroyed but was overruled by her church), reveal that for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God whatsoever — or, as the book's compiler and editor, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, writes, "neither in her heart or in the eucharist." That absence seems to have started at almost precisely the time she began tending the poor and dying in Calcutta, and — except for a five-week break in 1959 — never abated. Although perpetually cheery in public, the Teresa of the letters lived in a state of deep and abiding spiritual pain. In more than 40 communications, many of which have never before been published, she bemoans the "dryness," "darkness," "loneliness" and "torture" she is undergoing. She compares the experience to hell and at one point says it has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor. "The smile," she writes, is "a mask" or "a cloak that covers everything." Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal deception. "I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God — tender, personal love," she remarks to an adviser. "If you were [there], you would have said, 'What hypocrisy.'" Says the Rev. James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit magazine America and the author of My Life with the Saints, a book that dealt with far briefer reports in 2003 of Teresa's doubts: "I've never read a saint's life where the saint has such an intense spiritual darkness. No one knew she was that tormented." Recalls Kolodiejchuk, Come Be My Light's editor: "I read one letter to the Sisters [of Teresa's Missionaries of Charity], and their mouths just dropped open. It will give a whole new dimension to the way people understand her."
The book is hardly the work of some antireligious investigative reporter who Dumpster-dived for Teresa's correspondence. Kolodiejchuk, a senior Missionaries of Charity member, is her postulator, responsible for petitioning for her sainthood and collecting the supporting materials. (Thus far she has been beatified; the next step is canonization.) The letters in the book were gathered as part of that process.

(Just so you know, the official stance of the Roman Catholic church on these “dark letters” as they are called, is that they are just further proof of her great “faith.” The “faith” they speak of is her perseverance in her work Christ over the course of 50 years, despite her intense personal doubt and spiritual deadness. How could she not be a woman of great “faith?” )

Just a few quick thoughts on this for you to think about. First the faith spoken of is different than the faith spoken of in the Bible. Bible faith is faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ; it is not a “blind” faith (I hope so), or a confidence in something we are or may have once done. Bible faith is the firm assurance that Jesus Christ did come, has died, is now risen and ever lives to give eternal life to all who come to him, trusting him alone for forgiveness and eternal life through faith (Heb 9).

Second, there is the dangerous possibility of being religious and yet not being right (or righteous) with God. This was the case with the many of the leading religious figures in Jesus’ day; they honored him with their lips, but their hearts were far from him, and in vain they worshipped him, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Matt 15:8-9). Being a Christian is not about a religion, it is about a relationship. I fear that Mother Teresa was so close, and yet so very far away.

Thirdly, her example supports the Bible truth that no amount of good works or personal sacrifice can ever secure God’s favor, not now, and not later after we die. The Roman Catholic church teaches that salvation is by faith PLUS works, or to say it another way, a person is infused with righteousness by “believing in God” AND by performing good deeds or works. The Bible however is clear on this point, man is justified (declared righteous, made righteous) apart from the works of the law (Rm 3:28) and that perfect and complete righteousness comes through faith alone in the finished work of Christ (Rm 3:22).

One of the pesky problems that arises out of a theology of faith PLUS works is the problem of doubt, because it is impossible to know how much one must do before God becomes appeased and satisfied with you. Therefore doubt is something Catholics must live with and accept; it is just part of living the “faith” life. Some good questions we could ask ask our Catholic friends that might cause them to see the folly of accepting doubt as part of their “faith” would be: if Mother Teresa died not knowing that she was right with God, after all that she did over 50 plus years, is there then even the possibility of earning God’s favor through good works? Is it reasonable to think that anyone might succeed where she has failed? Is this (Mother Teresa’s) the kind of relationship that you think God desires with those whom he made for the express purpose of fellowship? Is it possible to know for sure that you are right with God?

Of course the Bible has a whole lot to say about these questions which you should spend some time looking them up. One passage for sure would be Romans 5:1-2 which reads: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we EXULT in hope of the glory of God!”

The Spoils of Victory

2007-08-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

In many ways Christians are like the soldiers of WWII who were in Europe when Germany surrendered and yet had to remain several months longer for the purpose of establishing the peace. For Christians, the battle has been decided – decisively, and our mission is to now preach the peace that has resulted. We should not go about our mission discouraged and dejected as if defeated, but joyously because of the knowledge of Christ’s victory over the world, sin and Satan. Yes, there are still pockets of resistance and there is much work to be done before we go home, but our attitude is constantly one of great joy, immense gratitude and unceasing praise knowing that the victory is sure in Christ.

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
(Eph 1:16-23)

Two Sites Worth Your Time...

2007-08-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

It seems that everybody has a "good" book "you should read!" Some actually turn out to be winners while others, well...you know how it goes:) With that caution in mind I would like to recommend to you two "good" web blogs "you should read." The first is actually just a single post by Pastor John Piper. The second is a site containing numerous posts that will both tickle and inform your mind. Let me know what you think of both sometime, and enjoy.

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/745_putting_my_daughter_to_bed_two_hours_after_the_bridge_collapsed

http://www.teampyro.blogspot.com/

I Saw God Today

2007-08-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

I saw God today. And I heard him. Today at the Tunkhannock Geisinger Medical building God was unmistakably present in the examination room where we quietly sat as our obstetrician, Dr. Wetzel, scanned Wendy’s uterus with a small, black, hand-held doppler. He quickly came across a rapid swishing sound, the kind of sound you hear when you swish with mouth wash. The strong, rapid swish we heard was the heartbeat of a 12 week old baby, or Ellie as we call her (we think it’s a girlJ). Ellie’s heart actually started fluttering when she was just 4 weeks old, when she was about the size of a lentil bean. Ellie is now about 2.5 inches long, or as one site describes it, she would fit snuggly on a soup spoon. In fact all of her vital organs and structures are already in place. She has all the same components that you and I have at just 10 weeks! As I sat there I reflected upon the mysterious wonder of life that we so often dismiss as ordinary because it is so common place. How something so intricately perfect, begins and grows unaided by any outside human help into a mature person, is incomprehensible to my finite mind. The only rational explanation is that God himself is present in a small way,there in Wendy’s womb, creating, forming, sustaining, and gracing his new creation with mercy and love. As amazing and wonderful as the physical creation and birth is, the Bible tells us of something even more amazing and gracious – the new spiritual creation and birth known as regeneration. In 2 Timothy 1:9 God provides us with something similar to a doppler scan of that spiritual birth: “(God) who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” Notice that it was God who did the creating and calling forth into life, it was based solely upon his good pleasure and not our works, and made possible by the sacrifice of his son in our behalf. And most incomprehensible of all – it was from all eternity. May these wonders drive us to worship today.

On Experience in Worship

2007-06-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the quote that was in last week's worship folder from Bob Kauflin on experience in worship:

“As I paged through a Christian magazine last year, I noticed one add for a new worship CD mentioned ‘experience’ six times. We all love ‘worship experiences’ with God. Experiences aren’t evil. But the concept of worship as an ‘experience’ is fairly foreign to Scripture. I say ‘fairly’ because there are times when worshipping God was definitely an experience! [II Chronicles 5.11-14; Acts 4.31; I Corinthians 14.24-25] However, the goal of gathering as God’s people is not to feel something but to see and remember something. That ‘something’ is the Word, works, and worthiness of God, especially as He has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. [II Corinthians 4.6] If I pursue goose bumps or heightened emotion during a meeting, God becomes simply one of numerous options I can choose to seek them from. This doesn’t minimize the importance of pursuing encounters with the living God characterized by profound emotion and awareness of the Holy Spirit’s active presence. Scripture is filled with examples of longing for, pursuing, and delighting in God’s presence. [Psalm 84.1-2; I Chronicles 16.11; Psalm 16.11] But I become aware of God’s nearness by dwelling on His nature, promises, acts, not by pursuing an emotional fix.”

Gospel+Culture+Church

2007-06-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

Mark Driscoll, in his book Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out, asks his readers to see that Jesus has called us to:

1. The Gospel [loving our Lord]
2. The Culture [loving our neighbor]
3. The Church [loving our brother]

Driscoll continues: "When we fail to love our Lord, neighbor, and brother simultaneously, we bury our mission in one of three holes." Driscoll's three holes are:

1. Parachurch
2. Liberalism
3. Fundamentalism

Gospel+Culture-Church= Parachurch
"The success of these ministries [he mentions Campus Crusade for Christ, perhaps Bible Colleges] is due in large part to their involvement in culture and loving people, whereas the church often functions as an irrelevant subculture." Driscoll believes that spiritual immaturity is the result of an often generationally connected group of people disconnected from the rich tapestry of generations found in the local church. He concludes, Parachruch Christians tend to love the Lord and love its neighbors, but not to love its brothers."

Culture+Church-Gospel= Liberalism
This sort of hole is dying in mainline denominational churches. The liberal church is "so concerned with being culturally relevant, though they are deeply involved in the culture, they neglect the gospel. In their desire for relevance, the liberal church has become irrelevant by having nothing to say to the culture that the culture could not say to itself without the church.Driscoll writes, "Their failure is that they bring to the culture a false gospel of accommodation, rather than confrontation, by seeking to bless people as they are rather than calling them to a repentant faith that transforms them." Liberal Christians risk loving their neighbors and theiPick up Driscoll's book and give it a read. Driscoll is sometimes edgy; however he's thoroughly orthodox. He's giving the emergent church fits because he's proved that Reformission is reaching out without selling out.r brothers at the expense of loving their Lord.

Church+Gospel-Culture=Fundamentalism
Driscoll writes, "The success of these churches lies in that they love the church and often love the people in the church. Their failure is that . . . pastors at these churches are prone to speak about the needs of the church, focusing on building up its people and keeping them from sinning . . . Over time, they can become so inwardly focused that the gospel is replaced with rules supported with mere prooftexts from the Bible. Fundamentalist Christians are commonly found to love their Lord and their brothers, but not their neighbors."

Pick up Driscoll's book and give it a read. Driscoll is sometimes edgy; however he's thoroughly orthodox. He's showing the emergent church that Reformission can reach out without selling out.

On the Road

2007-06-11T18:20:00.001-07:00

I've been on the road for the past week, visiting my our son Adam, his wife Stephanie, and little Adelyn and Elizabeth - now that is real R & R.

In the photo above, our son Adam is in the middle holding on to Adelyn, Anita has little Elizabeth, and I have Hezekiah. We took this photo when we were on vacation back in March.

Tomorrow I travel to Ashland Seminary for a workshop with Hebrew profs from all over the world. We are trying to find better ways to teach first year Hebrew by using proven techniques from Second Language Acquisition models. Any project that makes the Bible, especially the Hebrew Bible, more accessible is worth the time. Until believers are better grounded in the Bible, they will be susceptible "to every wind of doctrine and sleight of men."

Lord willing, I will be back in the area on Friday afternoon. If you need me, I still have my cell phone and, of course, email, email, email :-)

Posted Monday, June 11, by Pastor Smith

Eating Solo at Armetta's

2007-06-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Compared with hanging out at Armetta’s after prayer meeting with some of you guys, eating alone at Armettas on Saturday night was a rather solitary adventure. Connie and our kids went to Dorney Park with another mom and her kids, which left me with a “hankering” hunger for some wings. Even the waitress who normally helps us on Wednesday's remarked, "You sure like wings, don't you?"

So what do you do when you forget to bring a book into the restaurant to look busy while you're waiting for your food? Well, I played Galaga on my cell phone [destroy the Arminians!], and took a picture of my Pepsi glass with an empty chair in the background to visually capture the solitude.

It just reminded me that fellowship is a joyful ingredient of our church. I was again reminded yesterday of the joy of Christian fellowship. Our family, Janet and Howard, Jeremy K., Jan, Kevin, and Brianna Wells ate lunch together at Colarusso's. I left a worship folder with a little note on it for Tara, our waitress. Pray that she might desire to visit us.

A likemindedness of doctrine has been the foundation for some of the sweetest fellowship our family has experienced at a local church. Thanks for the sweet communion of the saints!

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2.42 ESV

Treasuring the letters of a Scottish Preacher

2007-05-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

I'm convinced that the letters of Samuel Rutherford [1600?-1661] are some of the smartest, sweetest, and perhaps overlooked treasures available to the 21st century church.

There are 365 letters in the Banner of Truth reprint [2006]. You could spend a year with a great preacher.

In his 2nd letter entitled, To a Christian Gentlewoman on the death of her daughter, Rutherford writes:

"Do you think her lost, when she is but sleeping in the bosom of the Almighty? Think her not absent who is in such a friend's house. Is she lost to you who is found to Christ? If she were with a dear friend, although you should never see her again, your care for her would be but small. Oh, now, is she not with a dear friend? And gone higher, upon a certain hope that ye shall, in the Resurrection, see her again, when [be ye sure] she shall never be hectic ['of relating to a fever' or 'flushed'] nor consumed in body."

Here's a link where you can order the letters. They're worth the wade.

http://www.cvbbs.com/inventory.php?target=indiv&search_back=keywords%3DSamuel+Rutherford%26searchstyle%3Dall%26page%3D1%26session%3Dbde72bfae5e96752ef6d6bb5468e98d5%26title_keyword%3D%26isbn_keyword%3D%26publisher_keyword%3D%26author_keyword%3D%26sort_by%3D&bookid=7840

The end of the story is like its beginning

2007-05-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

As Adam Miller was publicly reading Revelation 22 this morning, I saw again that the end of the story of the Bible [recreation] is like its beginning [creation] -- only better in Christ.

1. We begin with creation. [Genesis 1.1]
We end with recreation. [Revelation 21.1]

2. We begin with darkness over the face of the deep. [Genesis 1.2]
We end with no need of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. [Revelation 22.5]

3. We begin with a river flowing out of Eden. [Genesis 2.10]
We end with a river of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. [Revelation 22.1-2]

4. We begin with a serpent. [Genesis 3.1]
We end with the Serpent-crusher. [Revelation 22.21]

5. We begin with the first man Adam's sin. [Genesis 3.6-7]
We end with the second man Adam's salvation. [Revelation 22.14]

6. We begin with sin's curse. [Genesis 3. 14-19]
We end in a place where no longer will there be anything accursed. [Revelation 22.15]

7. We begin with God driving the man from the garden. [Genesis 3.23]
We end with the Spirit and the Bride saying, "Come." [Revelation 22.17]

8. We begin with the tree of life guarded by a cherubim and flaming sword. [Genesis 3.24]
We end with the tree of life with 12 kinds of fruit, its leaves for the healing of the nations. [Revelation 22.2]

9. We begin with the destruction of the world. [Genesis 7.11-12]
We end with the construction of the new world. [Revelation 22.3]

Satisfied and Excited

2007-05-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

It's 11:47 p.m. I've just put the finishing touches on tomorrow's worship folders. Although it's late, my heart is light with the satisfaction and excitement of having shared our Church with others in Newton this morning.

Pastor is right. It is fun to be able tell someone else about what God is doing at Grace. The joy is in the sharing. God will give the increase. In fact, he may give us increase in ways we don't expect as we patiently tell others that God has raised up a local church for the praise of His glory in Newton, PA.

It was also a great time of fellowship with Luke and Pastor Ben. Yes, we made it all the way to the end of School Street.

I look forward to the Lord's table tomorrow morning. My prayer is that I will come hungry and thirsty for spiritual meat and drink. Jesus is our Passover Lamb. I love the line we'll sing in the morning from the hymn Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent:

"Lord of lords, in human vesture, in the body and the blood, / He will give to all the faithful his own self for heav'nly food."

See you tomorrow!

Velvet Elvis and "Heavy Petting" with Heresy

2007-05-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's really crazy that today's evangelical church, instead of lamenting and repenting its abandonment of Scripture, continues to flirt with heresy -- that ancient, painted prostitute who in the shadows looks young and inviting but laughs the morning after at the disease the church has contracted from her.

Notice how Rob Bell in his recent book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith [2005], playfully questions the necessity of the Virgin Birth while personally affirming its validity [Bell compares Biblical doctrines with the metaphor of springs underneath a trampoline]:

"What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being 'born of a virgin' also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse? What if that spring was seriously questioned? Could a person keep jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best way to live? Or does the whole thing fall apart?" [pp. 26-27]

This is really nothing more than "heavy petting" with heresy. Innocently maintaining that you haven't "gone all the way" won't hide the fact that the perfumed bed is only inches away.

Paul, at the end of his grand systematic theology, says it this way to his brothers and sisters in Rome:

"I appeal to you brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive." Romans 16. 17-18

1 Corinthians 9:1

2007-05-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

Someone in our church found out that our financial situation (Anita and I) would be unusually tight this summer; we'll be between salaries for two months, insurance costs involving special tests, moving to a different home and, well, the circumstances don't really matter. The congregation heard about the need and voted to give us an incredibly gracious love gift.

The most gracious thing about the gift was the way it was given, simply: no strings, no questioning, just given liberally. This is how God gives (James 1:5) and how He tells us to give (Romans 12:8). I wish it were as simple to explain our gratitude.

But I do want you to know how gratifying it is to see a local church, a small church plant like our own, that "works." Anita and I are just one of a number of families that have been overwhelmed by the loving care of the body at Grace Baptist Church. God is at work in our church and He is graciously giving us evidence of it at a time when we need it most.

We want to thank you and let you know that we thank God for you.

Posted by Pastor Smith, Saturday, May 12

The water of Life and the tree of Life

2007-05-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

"He (the blessed man) shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season...." (Psalm 1:3) We memorized this promise in Sunday School. We saw the river, blue and clear, on our flannel graph with the spreading oak tree flourishing on the river bank. Oaks don't produce much fruit, but flannel doesn't lie and who were we to quibble?

Actually, the scene depicted in the first Psalm is quite different and the promise is all the more precious for it. The word pelgey, translated 'rivers,' refers to channels laboriously carved out of rock or watercourses dug from the earth to irrigate an orchard. Water is the most precious commodity in the Near East, because there are no rivers as we know them in North America and the rainfall is seasonal. The Jordan is so salty that it was useless for farming. Water from fresh springs, living water, was channelled to pools such as Siloam in Jerusalem. Farmers would terrace the hillside to hold the rainfall for the olive trees and they would dig irrigation ditches to distribute the life-giving water to the fruit trees.

When the blessed man in Psalm One meditates day and night in the Law, the instruction of the LORD, he is digging channels that will bring the life-giving water to his soul. Meditation is not searching the soul or basking in silence. Meditation is searching the Word and rehearsing its truth. The blessed man delights in his work, just as Adam did in the garden of Eden.

The book of Psalms begins with the centrality of the Word of God in the life of the godly. The praises and worship of the book of Psalms, just as the leaves and fruit of the tree, spring from the Word of God itself. How dry and unsatisfying is worship that is not saturated with the water of the Word!

Posted by Pastor Smith, Friday May 11.

Valuable Biographical Resources

2007-05-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

Maybe you have already heard about the biographical messages delivered each year by Pastor John Piper at what I believe is an annual Pastor’s conference held at Bethlehem Baptist Church. But for those of you who have not been introduced to these messages please allow me the privilege. About two months ago a pastor friend of mine told me about these messages and suggested that I take time and listen to at least one. Well I did and now I am hooked! Essentially what Pastor Piper does each year is to select a noted figure from church history and for one hour he gives an overview of their life, their work, and their unique contribution to the work of God in history. These messages are full of memorable vignette’s about the person’s life and ministry that will inspire and encourage you in your own service for the Lord. What I have discovered about each of these extraordinary men is that they lived, for the most part, very ordinary lives. They faced the same hardships and heartbreaks that we do today. But what sets these men apart from many of us is their response to God when trouble was their lot. I do not want to minimize their intellectual capacities as there are some very bright people on this list, but rather what I hope you will see is their radical single mindedness for the Lord and His church. I can’t begin to describe for you the influence these messages have had in my own life and also in Wendy’s life as well. We would highly recommend them to you and your family.

Here’s all you need to get started:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/

We would love to know which is your favorite, so please let us know!

Anticipating more than eating Connie's southern biscuts

2007-04-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in our living room drinking coffee [thanks Paul and Jenean for the Kona Blue Sky Coffee Beans] anticipating the delicious taste of Connie's homemade biscuits that are already in the oven but not yet baked. More than the culinary anticipation of eating Connie's cooking, I'm joyfully anticipating the experience we'll share together on Sunday celebrating the declaration that Jesus was declared to be the "Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead" [Romans 1.4]. In other words, "He was 'descended from David' in order to share our weakness, but was transformed by the 'Spirit of holiness' at the Resurrection, and was brought into a new epoch of His personal human existence" [TRSB, p. 1612].

God the Father receives glory from the God the Spirit's transformation of God the Son at His resurrection from the dead! This is the purpose [end] of all of God's redemptive acts whether the creation of the world, the erecting of 12 stones to commemorate the passing over the Jordan "on the day the Passover lamb was to be chosen," or Christ's resurrection from the dead. The purpose for these wonderful saving acts was that "all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever" [Joshua 4.24].

In our prayer circle on Wednesday, Albert shared his passion for evangelism. I was stirred and am happy that Grace Baptist is stirring into flame a desire to share the gospel with Newton Township and beyond. The fan that will increasingly enliven the flame will be the God-given desire that God's fame be spread and poured out over Northeastern PA. Our brother Peter puts it this way:

"Whoever speaks, as one who speaks the oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies - in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" [I Peter 4.11] .

So we do not ultimately exalt those things that are merely used to echo God’s glorious shout. That would be to exalt a sun’s beam rather than to bask in its effulgent radiance. To ultimately exalt those means is to flirt with idolatry. This is a great danger for all of us in the 21st evangelical church. As Louie Giglio reminds us, we worship the waiter and miss the meal.

So on this resurrection weekend, let's exult with Peter the Name of the One who is risen from the dead and has raised us to be seated with Christ in the heavenly places: “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” [Acts 3.6]

Worship - More Corporate Than We Realize

2007-02-24T18:38:00.000-08:00

Worship – More Corporate Than We Realize.

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” Heb 12:22-24

Have you ever seriously consider these verses? In this section the writer of Hebrews is encouraging these stunted and persecuted believers to press on in their Christian faith and commitment by reminding them of their privileged status under the New Covenant. He reminds them that they no longer must come with dread and a trembling uncertainty to a God that they must worship from a distance (vs 18-21). Instead, now that they are in Christ (and Christ in them), they have full and free access into the heavenly city of God, Zion (vs 22) where there are myriads of angels gathered in festal dress, departed Christians, God the judge of all, OT saints, and Jesus - the mediator of the New Covenant.

These verses give us a small glimpse of what the redeemed will see and experience in heaven. It is hard to even imagine what this will be like – the perfect, undistracted worship of God, accompanied by literally innumerable angels collectively echoing their unique and eternal praise (Rev 7:12). Along with the redeemed from every age who also loudly cry out their praise (Rev 7:11). Collectively they all stand before God the judge of all, and before Jesus their mediator.

To just think of this as something still future, as an event yet to come, is to miss the point. The writer tells us that we have come now to this state, or to say it another way, we have entered into this reality even now. Though we are not yet present in our glorified bodies, we do however participate today in spirit. This is the reality of New Covenant worship!

Think of this, because of Jesus our New Covenant mediator, it is now possible for us to be ushered directly into this scene described above during our times of worship – “you have come” into the very presence of God as described above. This is not imaginary stuff here – it is real, as real as anything we see around us now. Our duty is to believe it, and by faith receive it as real, and enter into it joyfully.

The next time you find that your heart dull and maybe even cold during times of worship, remember that you are not alone, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” Heb 12:22-24

Knowing this should enrich our sense of reverence and sense of wonder and joy as we privately and collectively enter into the very presence of our redeeming God.

Just Do It?

2007-02-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

How many sermons have we heard begin with an appeal from Romans 12:1-2 for us merely to do something, never considering that God’s righteousness as seen in the gospel [Romans 1-11] is God’s power for accomplishing God’s work? The beauty of the gospel is that, although we are the means by which God is pleased to diffuse His glory, He is the end. If we are the beam, He is the sun. If we are the echo, He is the shout. If we are the appetizer, He is the meal.

I love how Paul puts it in I Corinthians 15:10 when he says: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” This is an astonishing admission! It was Paul’s understanding of an “alien righteousness” that was not his own that enabled him to work harder than any of them.

Often in our pragmatic evangelical age, the “knowledge of the Holy” has been replaced [not necessarily denied] with the “knowledge of the How to” – How can I have a better marriage? How can I be a better parent? How can I beat my addictions? The tragedy with this sort of humanly-preoccupied thinking is that the person [the infinite worth] and work [the glorious fruit] of Jesus Christ as the answer for those important questions is sidelined.

So instead of beginning with Romans 12:1-2, let's ignore chapter divisions and start with verses 33-36 of chapter 11:

33Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor” 35“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

The Virtue of Single-mindedness

2007-02-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite professors, Dr. Rembert Carter, used to say, "I am so narrow-minded that I can look through a keyhole with both eyes." He had a way with words. He would spark our thinking by taking common words and using them in a specific biblical context.

A some point, we've all encountered those single-minded companions, who are so focused, so convinced of their rightness, so persistent … and oh so ready to help you to see things more clearly, the way they do! The last thing you want is to be as single-minded as they are.

The good news is that you can be single-minded the way God is rather than the way men are. James tells us that God gives wisdom haplos "single-mindedly" in contrast to men who won't receive the gifts of God because they are "double-minded" (James 1:5-8). God's grace has no motive or motivation; He gives freely, simply because it is His nature to give. God gives singly, without strings attached, and without reproach. Because of our nature, we find it difficult even to receive gifts in this manner. We are double-minded, we doubt, we wait for the other shoe to drop. When do I get The Lecture?

Why won't we give and, more importantly, forgive single-mindedly? "I can forgive, but I can't forget." "If I just forgive, they won't learn!" A little later in the book, James reminds us that not many of us should seek to be teachers (James 3:1). Are you a lover of men or a teacher of men? "If I just forgive them, they will do it again." Of course they will! That is why we forgive quickly, before the offenses start to pile up and we become bitter.

We don't forgive single-mindedly, because we have a second option: "I've been wounded." The wounded brother or sister is the one who gets the attention. The church musters her resources to help the wounded and doesn't have the time or the energy to help the dying. We involve ourselves in conflict resolution because we won't accept the simple solution: give and forgive the way God does.

Single-mindedness narrows our options and keeps our eyes upon God. This kind of single-mindedness is not characterized by intensity, but, rather, it is characterized by simple intent. Jesus, teaching about our attitude toward money and giving, said. "...if your eye is single, haplous, your whole body will be full of light" (Matt 6:22). We walk in the light when we see things, simply, single-mindedly, as God has shown them to us.

What is acceptable worship? Part 1

2007-02-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

I'm at the office [it's 9:00 a.m. and it's the Lord's day] thankful that in Christ I can "offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe."

Hebrews 12:28 looks back to the beginning of the paragraph that begins in verse 25. It looks back because vs. 28 begins with the word "Therefore." So perhaps, in context, vv. 25-27 and even vv. 18-24 will help us answer the vital question, "What is acceptable worship?"

1. Acceptable worship begins with hearing and receiving the One who is speaking. Notice that vs. 18 speaks of the "hearers" at Sinai. The glory of God, on Sinai and in Christ, is not a negotiable conversation. In fact, if we refuse and reject the voice of God who is speaking through the Bible His gospel from heaven, we are in greater peril than those who rejected when God spoke on earth at Sinai.

I like how David Wells puts it: “Revelation is not the human being reaching up to seize the meaning of life, or gazing into itself for that meaning, but God reaching down to explain life’s meaning.” David Wells, Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World [2005]

So my desire is to hear and receive the One who is speaking. I'll continue later with a part 2. If I don't leave, I'll be late and risk not hearing and receiving the Word from our pastor.

I'm thankful, commonly, for Starbucks coffee. Since Jordan and Jen both work there, I am the undeserving recipient of much free and delicious caffeine.

Doc

Mister, can you spare some change?

2007-01-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

It's a paradox: we want change and we need change, but we fear changing and we avoid changes. The reason for this paradox is simple; humans beings are not simple. The human soul is a complex combination of impulses, experiences, needs, and choices. Change is a paradox because it touches two of our most basic needs. We need hope, the expectation that our situation can change for the better. But we also have a deep, abiding need to fit in, to be part of something larger than ourselves that tells us who we are. The same force that makes hope possible, change, unsettles us and makes us doubt that we can fit into a changed world.

The believer comes to terms with this paradox by faith, by trusting in what the God of the Bible has said in the Word about who we are: We are His workmanship, created for works which God has prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10). Significantly, the Bible does not have a lot to say about why things change. Faith and hope (expectation that God will work all things together) replace explanation. The need for explanation pales beside the recognition of God and His authority. We can deal with change because it is the tool of the One who tells us who we are and where we fit.

But what about the rest of the world? How will they deal with the paradox of change? Harold Bloom, a great mind and a prolific author (though no friend to the authority of God or of the Bible) suggests that our society is in peril because, "Authority ... has vanished from Western culture ...." (Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds, Warner, 2002, p.2.) Authority, which links us to other people and makes us value things like genius, precisely because it brings about change, has been replaced by a thoughtless egalitarianism: everyone is equal, every idea has equal merit. Human authority, even the authority that comes from recognizing superior thought, superior ideals, superior achievement, is being lost.

If we are right, and authority is necessary for humans to come to grips with change, then what will happen in a postmodern world in which authority is lost? For the unbeliever, the answer is that change is its own authority. The Darwinist sees change as the single Law of the Universe. Isaac Asimov said, "It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today," (from "My Own View," published in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, ed. by Robert Holdstock, 1978). The postmodernist labels the Darwinist a "modernist" and rejects all of his conclusions, but retains his basic law. Even Christians in a postmodern age are adopting this new outlook. In place of the the "solas" of the reformers, the Emergent church is embracing sola mutatio "change alone." Anything that is new, any kind of change, has some kind of value that we must discover. The kindest and most congenial of the Emergent writers make no attempt to hide their scorn for any Christian 'brother' who questions change.

The Good News is that the one thing that never changes, the Word of God, is the most effective agent for changing the world. When we live under the Authority of the Bible we are changed by the Bible and the changes in the world around become dim and pale. This is what the Bible calls hope: the expectation that one day we will be changed into the image of Christ. While we wait expectantly, the Word of God changes us to suit the world in which we live:

I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. John 17:15-17 (NKJV)

We used to call this sola scriptura :-)

Pastor Colin Smith

How to use your worship folder [Part I]

2007-01-28T06:41:00.000-08:00

There is a difference, in my way of thinking, between a church bulletin and a worship folder. A church bulletin may contain an order of service; however it's often cluttered with clip art, announcements from nearly every conceivable church ministry, and distracts the corporate worshipper from "seeing and savoring] the one thing that is needful.

That's why our folder conforms itself to the logocentric [Word-centered] nature of an acceptable corporate worship service. It is a written affirmation that we are praying the Word [opening prayer, pastoral prayer, prayer for the gifts and offerings taken], singing the Word [hymns, modern hymns, and worship songs], reading the Word [this morning Revelation 6] and preaching the Word [everything points to the preaching of the Word heard by faith from the brothers and sisters in the congregation].

So how can the worship folder help us to prepare our hearts for corporate worship, even for the few moments you have before the service begins?

First, look at the Scripture or sometimes the quotation on the front of the folder. Pray the message of the content to your own heart. For instance, this morning [January 28, 2006] I might pray, "Yes, Lord! I desire to glorify and enjoy your forever! Yes, Father! I enjoy so many things more intensely than I should. I know that at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. At your right hand is where I desire to be!"

Praying like this might be a great first step in learning how to use your worship folder.

Pastor David

Focusing on people and their deeds, and not on what God says and does

2007-01-20T07:59:00.000-08:00

I'm enjoying [along with John Piper's What Jesus Demands from the World and David Wells's Above All Earthly Pow'rs: Christ in a Postmodern World] a book by Graeme Goldsworthy entitled Prayer and the Knowledge of God: What the whole Bible Teaches [2003].

Goldsworthy mentions that a popular strategy for teaching prayer is the “exemplary approach” [Jesus got up before sunrise to pray, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and C.H. Spurgeon all regarded two hours of prayer a day as normal]. Rather than encouraging us, the “exemplary approach” often does quite the opposite. It makes us want to give up completely.

The danger of the exemplary approach "is that it focuses on people and their deeds, and not what God says and does." This, of course, is a grave danger of the church growth movement where growth, rather than the fruit of what Christ has done for us in Christ, becomes confused with the vine or becomes the focus of why the church is successful.

So the modern evangelical church is quite like the medieval Roman Catholic Church in that sanctification [personal holiness or deeds and exploits] becomes the ground for justification [right standing with God or the basis of approval]. This is legalism which Goldsworthy describes as "the attempt to achieve righteousness by our own efforts in fulfilling the requirements of God."

Goldsworthy mentions that Jesus did not come primarily to set an example: "It was first of all a matter of believing in him as the unique fulfiller of the Old Testament prophecies of the Christ, the Savior who was to come to do for them what they were powerless to do for themselves.”

Goldsworthy’s answer is to "keep reminding ourselves of what God has done for us as the central focus of the Bible. It is true that the Bible contains many commands and exhortations to Christian behavior. However when a biblical text dealing with the things we ought to do is appropriated apart from its wider context of the good news that God has first acted for us, legalism will begin to manifest itself."

I’m curious to know what you are reading. Let's talk. By the way, and excellent blog to connect with is Justin Taylor's Between Two Worlds: A Mix of Theology, Philosophy, Politics, and Culture http://theologica.blogspot.com/ Justin is the executive director of Desiring God Ministries. I’m excited that tomorrow we’ll be seated around the Lord’s Table. Pray that we'll be hungry and thirsty for heavenly food and drink.

Pastor David

100 Yards, Four Downs, Goalposts, and a Football

2007-01-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

America's preoccupation with football is, in part, a preoccupation because of football's adherence to the grand tradition of the game. Of course in any given year there be variations made to the game [even these slight changes are vigorously discussed and often ignored after one season of use]; however the infinite variety, excitement, and creativity of the game is preserved because of and not in spite of its grand traditions. Boise State's 43-42 overtime win over Oklahoma was exhilarating because we knew that fourth down meant "last chance." Creating a fifth down or deciding to throw a basketball instead, or playing the game on a golf course would inevitably change its nature, rendering football something else. Football's form [it's adherence to traditional structure] ensures the almost limitless excitement of its content.

Worship's form [logocentrism or singing, praying, reading, and preaching the Word] ensures the limitless beauty of our "seeing and savoring" its content [God]. The tragedy of the worshipping 21st century American church is that she is changing the rules of the game. The game is now about her whims and not about that great Being worthy of infinite admiration. The church's singing and preaching have become humanly preoccupied. Her praying and reading the Word have almost ceased to exist. And in its place [our pastor instructed us last Sunday that nature abhors a vacuum] she has created shiny new methodologies - fifth downs, new playing fields, and odd looking game balls that render the worship of God something other than God's Worship. This is syncretism, the mixing of the worship of God with something else. This was the nation of Israel's sin. They worshipped the true God falsely [Exodus 32.5].

This morning my Bible reading plan led me to Psalm 12. The Psalmist writes, "The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times." Oh, that our worship [corporate and personal] will continue to be in accordance with the words of the LORD!

Pastor David

Revelation vs. Dialogue

2007-01-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

The need to communicate and the ability to communicate freely may be the most telling characteristics of our our generation. Technology has given us the ability to communicate with almost anyone, anywhere and at anytime. For our generation, communication itself, regardless of the content, has a virtue of its own. We love the media (television, phones, the Internet) because they inform us, they amuse us and they meet our needs.

Our world is experiencing a new sense of 'connectedness.' We don't talk about living in our world; we talk about interacting with our world. We don't speak and listen, these are individual actions; we dialogue. Dialogue is the great leveler, making us all peers, making us all equal participants in conversation with one another.

And ... herein lies the problem. For believers, born again by the Word of God, communication not a right, it is an act of grace. The Creator reveals himself to the world. He reveals the truth (an unpopular word) about Himself, about ourselves, and about our condition. In the premodern world, humans believed that they needed revelation. In the modern world, humans rejected the possibility that there was a God who could reveal himself. In the 'postmodern world,' humans reject the possibility of revelation from any source: facts are discovered, life is experienced, and each man communicates based upon his own internal language.

The psalmist who composed Psalm 119 would have recognized this philosophy à la mode. He said, "My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to Your word. I recounted my ways, and You answered me; teach me Your statutes." Psa 119:25, 26 He understood that, as humans, we want to hold on to the things of this life, the things of this ephemeral, dying world. Real life, eternal life, is given by God through the words revealed in the Bible. We do talk to God and He responds, but, more importantly, He makes us understand His statutes, the established order by which men must live.

Psalm 119 speaks of precepts, instruction of law, statutes, and commandments. This kind of communication is not dialogue. It is a sinner (another unpopular word) saved by grace receiving the truth about the life that he or she must live. These words are not about information or amusement nor are they about meeting the needs of man. Precepts are heeded, instruction is followed, statutes are observed, and commandments are obeyed.

The reader of the Bible is not a peer of the author nor is he a participant in a conversation. He is either a 'hearer' or a fool. Much of modern communication is foolishness, but we crave it anyway. Even the best communicators, Shakespeare, Donatelli, Charlie Chaplin, can only speak about things that humans share in common. The psalmist craved something better, "Make me understand the way of your precepts so that I can meditate on your wonderful works." Psa 119:27

If it is true that bread is the staff of life, then dialogue is the stuff of life. We communicate with humans about our humanness, and we pull ourselves deeper into our human condition - we cling to dust. We might ask, with the psalmist, that God will revive us according to His Word.

Just some things on my mind and in my heart, this first week of 2007.