The End of Christianity

Very thought provoking article published recently in Christianity Today.

The End of Christianity as We Know It

Church Stuff

This week I came across two posts that powerfully address a couple of issues challenging the church today.

The first is a video from John Piper and addresses the question of church membership:

The other post is from R. Scott Clark, Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. In this post he analyzes the recent controversy surrounding Ergun Caner and Liberty University (if you are unfamiliar with the controversy you can find the details here). What is important about this post is not what he says about the particulars of this case but his analysis of what this issue says about the state of the modern evangelical church. You can find R. Scott Clark's post here.

Giving Oneself

One of the books I am currently reading is "The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline" by Jonathan Leeman. It is formatted in an unusual way and is as a consequence somewhat difficult to read but the content is outstanding. One of the points he makes throughout the book, as he discusses the Christian's relationship to the church, is that as members of a local church we are not called to give of ourselves but rather we are called to give ourselves to one another. He says this:

"...uniting to a local church is not just a matter of "joining" something like a civic society, a country club, of a chess team. It's not about contracting as a self-sovereign with some organization, paying dues and receiving the due benefits in turn. No, such ideas completely miss the connectedness implied in the biblical metaphors for the church such as family, citizenship, temple, vine, or body...joining a church is not about giving of yourself as you might do with another organization; it's about giving yourself, which is an act of submission. It is about identifying your name with all those who belong to the church. It's about being united in heart, mind, and mission. It is, in sum, to submit your discipleship to Christ to a geographically bound, numerically concrete group. It is to submit, it is to be ruled, and it is to rule."

I believe that to our modern ears this sounds somewhat strange, maybe even difficult to digest but I believe that his understanding of the church is soundly biblical. If he is correct in his assessment, and I believe that he is, then I think we would do well to contemplate what this actually means for us as members of Christ's church; here are just a few thoughts.

1. Every decision we make not only impacts us and our children but it will impact our church as well. I would guess that most people don't take their church membership into account when they make life decisions.

2. The consequences of our sin will reverberate throughout the church of which we are a part.

3. We must not look out for our own interests but rather we must humbly, graciously and lovingly put aside our own desires and wants for the good of Christ's body.

4. Membership is important.

5. Church discipline is an act of love.

These are just a few thoughts and I am sure that there are many other ways in which we could apply these principles.

I would encourage you to read the book because I believe that you will be humbled and challenged by it.

Love One Another

Read John 13 and 17. Francis Schaeffer said this about the injunction given in these passages about believers loving one another:

"Our love will not be perfect, but it must be substantial enough for the world to be able to observe or it does not fit into the structure of the verses in John 13 and 17. And if the world does not observe this among true Christians, the world has a right to make two awful judgments which these verses indicate: That we are not Christians and that Christ was not sent by the Father."

Two things stand out to me about this aspect of the Christian life. First is that it is an essential priority. Francis Schaeffer highlights this when says that if the church fails to love one another it indicates that we are not Christians and that Christ was not sent by the Father. Second is that it is impossible. On our own and in our flesh we will never be able to love one another. Because of this I offer four exhortations:

1. Pray that God will give you a heart to love people who are difficult to love.
2. Pray that God will give you grace to forgive those that have wronged you.
3. Pray for and keep your eyes open for opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ.
4. Pray for the courage to ask those you have wronged for forgiveness.

We are told that the evidence of our new birth is the love we show for one another. In order to love one another we need the Spirit of God to produce in us the fruit of the gospel. The same gospel that called us must sustain and sanctify us. This is yet another reminder that it is all about Christ.

Day Two, Part Two

Better than my summary, here is the manuscript from Dr. Pipers sermon:

Did Jesus Preach Paul's Gospel?

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

One of the great things about Together for the Gospel is the singing. This morning we sang two hymns that were not familiar to me but I instantly fell in love with them. Here are the lyrics:

How Deep the Father's Love by Stuart Townsend

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure,

that He should give His only Son to make a wretch his treasure

How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away

as wounds which mar the chosen One bring many sons to glory.

Behold the Man upon the cross, my sin upon His shoulders.

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished.

His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no pow'r, no wisdom;

but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer;

but this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom.

I Asked the Lord by John Newton

I asked the Lord that I might grow in faith and love and ev'ry grace,

might more of His salvation know and seek more earnestly His face.

'Twas He who taught me thus to pray, and He I trust has answered prayer,

but it has been in such a way as almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour at once He'd answer my request

and by His love's constraining pow'r subdue my sins and give me rest.

Instead of this He made me feel the hidden evils of my heart

and let the angry pow'rs of Hell assault my soul in ev'ry part.

Yea more with His own hand He seemed intent to aggravate my woe,

crossed all the fair designs I schemed, humbled my heart, and laid me low.

"Lord why is this," I, trembling cried; "Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?"

"Tis in this way," the Lord replied, "I answer prayer for grace and faith."

"These inward trial I employ from self and pride to set thee free,

and break Thy schemes of earthly joy that thou may'st find thy all in me."

T4G Day Two, Part One

Today's sessions started early. The first speaker was Thabiti Anyabwile. He had fun with his name by telling us that Thabiti means "who did I tick off to get the 8 AM spot" and Anyabwile means "thank God they gave you free coffee." His talk was entitled "How Wrongly Engaging the Culture Adjusts the Gospel," and his text was Colossians 1:24-2:23. He started by recognizing that it is not uncommon to hear people talk about engaging the culture or winning the culture. He then highlighted the reasons why that proposition is so difficult; it is hard to define culture, we need to ask at what level do we need to engage culture (popular, ethnic, political, high) and it is hard to define the objective (how do we know if we have won the culture?). He then addressed us as pastors (a good portion of the attendees are pastor) and asked the question - is it the pastors task to engage or win the culture? Using Colossians he showed that engaging the culture is not the pastors task and he then outlined what Colossians puts forth as the pastors task. The pastors task is clearly revealed in Col. 1:24-2:5. It is to make the word fully known and to present everyone mature in Christ. Paul emphasized the importance of this task by revealing that he joyfully suffered for the sake of this purpose. Mr. Anyabwile said that it is easy for churches to embrace something that seems good (like engaging the culture) and in the process lose sight of their true purpose.

He then revealed the philosophy that guides the purpose. The philosophy is the sufficiency of Christ. We have been given the knowledge of Christ, Christ rules over all creation, we have been filled with Christ and are to be rooted and growing in Christ. The sufficiency of Christ and the fullness of His work comes to us only in the gospel. Thus we need to put aside the pressures that weigh on us (worldly philosophy and tradition) and be content to proclaim the gospel.

Next he reemphasized the necessity of gospel proclamation. He reminded us that there is great pressure to measure ourselves by the false standards of righteousness prominent both inside and outside the church. The culture is a poor standard of measure since the gospel is counter cultural. At this point he made a powerful statement, he said that every human culture is fundamentally apostate and that through the proclamation of the gospel God was in the process of creating a new culture. He also told us that the church is multi ethnic but it is not multicultural.

He concluded with what he called the proper pastoral perspective and told us that in order to do any earthly good that we must be heavenly minded. Capitulating to the culture is no way of engaging the culture, the culture needs to be confronted with an unadjusted gospel.

Thabiti Anyabwile was followed by John MacArthur. His talk was entitled "A Theology of Sleep." He started by telling us that his theology helped him sleep well and that if the salvation of soul's depended on him he would not sleep well. He then compared the circumstances facing Jesus and the disciples with the problems facing the modern church. Jesus had spent a great deal of time preaching and teaching and had a number of followers who were drawn in by a superficial fascination but He had very few believers. Dr. MacArthur then put forth that the disciples might have been tempted to suggest a different (better) strategy; Jesus had been preaching and would not allow anyone to talk about the miracles He had done. The disciples might have been tempted to tell Jesus that He wasn't meeting the crowds felt needs or that he was out of touch and needed to adjust his message in order to produce more believers. Dr. MacArthur was obviously making the point that this is what many churches today are doing; they adjust the gospel becasue the gospel does not seem to work.

After establishing this context he pointed to Jesus' teaching in Mark 4:26-29. Jesus compares the work of evangelism to the work of a farmer. The farmer plants the seed and goes to sleep. While he is sleeping the seeds grow and the farmer does not know how. The same is true of the work of evangelism. We must sow seed (proclaim the gospel) and sleep. Once we have proclaimed the truth it is up to God to bring forth truth. Dr. MacArthur then put forth four attitudes that we must have as we contemplate our responsibility to proclaim the gospel. By the way he was not limiting this proclamation to pastors. He pointed out that in the parable of the sower there are no adjectives to describe him, he was simply one that sowed seed. All believers need to be sowing seed. As we sow these are our attitudes:

1. We sow seed humbly knowing that we do not have to power to change the human heart. In our humility we do not try and improve the message but we proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He warned against appealing to emotion or the will and said that we need to appeal to the mind proclaiming the objective truth about who Christ is and what He has done. He even said that the sharp edge of our proclamation is sin and repentance. He suggested that in our proclamation we need to make acceptance hard and press the foolish message of the cross and resurrection. By doing this we guard against spurious "conversions."
2. We sow obediently knowing that we possess the light. Even though we do not have the power to change the heart we have the message that God uses to change hearts. Because of this we must obediently sow the gospel.
3. We go diligently because we are motivated by God's promises and rewards.
4. We go confidently knowing that God has determined an exponential outcome.