The Works & Greater Works

John 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=71220204393974

Let’s Talk Statistics

St. Andrews in Scotland is known as the home of golf. The game started there, and there is a Golf Museum near the 18th green that commemorates that fact. What you may not know about me is that I once came 3rd in a golf tournament at St. Andrews.

Sounds impressive doesn’t it? Actually, it sounds SUPER impressive. Yes, Pastor John must be a great golf player, right?

But here’s the thing. What I told you is true. No false statement was made. I did come 3rd in a golf tournament at St. Andrews.  But that statistic gives a very false impression. Allow me to explain.

On a short preaching tour of 2 weeks in the United Kingdom a couple of decades ago, I had preached at nearby Dundee, Scotland on a Sunday. The following day (Monday), the Pastor of the Church had a day off and asked me to join his wife to go to St. Andrews to see the sights. I visited the golf museum and was then asked if I wanted to play a round of 18 holes. The main course had a 6-8 month waiting list and the price would have been crazy anyway, and so that was out of the question, should a round of golf even had been available. So, we did what we could do… the three of us decided to play the 18 holes of the putting greens adjacent to the main course.

You can perhaps guess what happened. The three of us – the pastor, his wife and me – played the 18 holes, and, I had a horrible round. I bogeyed almost every hole. It got so bad at one point that on a couple of holes, we stopped counting after six strokes. Yes, I did terribly. Three players played and I came third – dead last!

But I could come away from my terrible display by spinning the story to make it sound oh so impressive…. Yes, did you know I once came third at a golf tournament at St. Andrews?

The moral of the story… statistics can be true but can also give a very false impression. It is what was not told that misleads people. This is intentional and happens all the time in our world today.

Why do I write all this?

Well, the New York Times recently wrote an article targeting churches for the spread of COVID-19. As this article (by way of response) explains, it is what we were not told in the NYT statistics that presents a very false narrative: https://www.challies.com/articles/are-churches-a-major-source-of-coronavirus-cases/

The Westminster Confession of Faith – A Topical Outline

Dr. Ligon Duncan writes:

“This summer I’ve been teaching a course on The Theology of the Westminster Standards to a group of outstanding Reformed Theological Seminary students… One of the things I realized after outlining the Confession (and this is an outline of the American edition, adopted by the PCA General Assembly and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church) is that there are at least 186 sections in the Confession in which discreet theological assertions are made, and more than 200 distinct theological propositions. Here is the latest edition of my topical outline.”

Source: https://ligonduncan.com/a-topical-outline-of-the-westminster-confession-of-faith/

A Topical Outline of the Westminster Confession of Faith

1. Holy Scripture
1.1 The necessity of Scripture
1.2 The contents of Scripture (positively stated): canon
1.3 The contents of Scripture (negatively stated): “apocrypha”
1.4 The authority of Scripture
1.5 The authenticity of Scripture
1.6 The sufficiency of Scripture
1.7 The clarity of Scripture
1.8 The immediate inspiration, preservation and translation of Scripture
1.9 The interpretation of Scripture
1.10 The supreme authority of Scripture in all theological controversy

2. God and the Trinity
2.1 God himself
The one, living, true, infinite, perfect God
The spirituality, invisibility, incorporeality, and impassibility of God [and simplicity*]
The immutability, immensity, eternality, incomprehensibility, and omnipotence of God
The unchangeable and righteous purpose of God
The love, grace, mercy, patience, goodness, faithfulness, and forgiveness of God
The generous reward of God
The just and terrible judgment of God
2.2 God in and of himself
The inherent blessedness of God
The all-sufficiency and glory of God
The self-existence (aseity) of God
The sovereignty of God
The omniscience of God
The holiness of God
The worthiness of God
2.3 God the Trinity
The Trinity defined: God is one essence in three persons, consubstantial, co-omnipotent, co-eternal
The personal property of the Father: neither begotten nor proceeding
The personal property of the Son: eternally begotten
The personal property of the Spirit: eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son (filioque)

3. God’s Eternal Decree (comprehensive, eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, sovereign purpose and plan)
3.1 The scope of the decree defined in relation to sin, choice, and contingency
3.2 The relation of the decree to God’s absolute, exhaustive foreknowledge
3.3 The inclusiveness of the decree (both predestination to life & foreordination to death)
3.4 The absolute unchangeability of the decree as to predestination and foreordination
3.5 The noncontigency of predestination to life, not conditioned or caused by the creature
3.6 The comprehensiveness of the decree, entailing the ends, means and subjects of redemption
3.7 The proximate cause and end of the decree of preterition
3.8 The special pastoral care and prudence required in the handling of this doctrine

4. Creation
4.1 The purpose of creation: the display of the Triune God’s glory
4.2 The creation of man, male and female, in God’s image, with law on their hearts

5. Providence
5.1 The nature of divine providence
5.2 The decree of God, noncontingency, providence and second causes
5.3 The ordinary providence of God, and means
5.4 The providence of God, the fall, and sin
5.5 The providence and the sin of believers
5.6 The providence of God and the sin of the ungodly
5.7 The providence and the care of the church

6. Fall, Sin and Punishment
6.1 The first sin, and the permission, purposes and glory of God
6.2 The consequences of sin for Adam and Eve
6.3 The consequences of their sin for their descendants
6.4 Original corruption and our actual sins
6.5 The persistence of original corruption, even in the regenerate
6.6 The nature and consequences of sin

7. God’s Covenant with Man
7.1 The necessity of God’s covenant as his means for communion and blessing
7.2 The nature of the covenant of works
7.3 The nature of the covenant of grace
7.4 The covenant of grace as testament
7.5 The covenant of grace under the law
7.6 The covenant of grace under the gospel

8. Christ the Mediator
8.1 The election, identity and offices of the Mediator
8.2 The divine-human person of the Mediator
8.3 The unction and vocation of the Mediator
8.4 The willing work of the Mediator
8.5 The atoning work of the Mediator
8.6 The atonement effective for the elect even before the incarnation
8.7 The Mediator’s hypostatic union and the Reformed communicatio idiomatum
8.8 The application of redemption

9. Free Will
9.1 The nature of human freedom
9.2 Human freedom in the state of innocence (posse peccare, posse non peccare)
9.3 Human freedom in the state of sin (non posse non peccare)
9.4 Human freedom in the state of grace (posse non peccare)
9.5 Human freedom in the state of glory (non posse peccare).

10. Effectual Calling
10.1 The subjects and nature of effectual calling
10.2 The effectual call is unconditional, the subjects passive until enabled by the Spirit
10.3 The effectual calling of elect infants and other incapables
10.4 Effectual calling and the non-elect

11. Justification
11.1 The nature of justification
11.2 The alone instrument of justification that is never alone
11.3 The ground of justification in Christ’s obedience and death
11.4 The act of justification is in time, not eternal
11.5 The state of justification and the sins of the justified (simul justus et peccator)
11.6 The nature of justification under the old testament and the new

12. Adoption
12.1 The nature, subjects, basis, and blessings of adoption

13. Sanctification
13.1 The nature of sanctification
13.2 The extent and imperfection of sanctification
13.3 The eventual overcoming in the war of sanctification

14. Saving Faith
14.1 The source of saving faith
14.2 The nature and acts of saving faith
14.3 The degrees of saving faith

15. Repentance unto Life
15.1 The source of repentance, and the necessity of preaching it
15.2 The nature of repentance
15.3 The necessity of repentance
15.4 The warning and warrant of repentance
15.5 The specificity of repentance
15.6 The practice of repentance

16. Good Works
16.1 The nature of good works
16.2 The place and value of good works
16.3 The ability of good works
16.4 The imperfection of good works (supererogation)
16.5 The imperfection of good works (merit)
16.6 The acceptance of good works
16.7 The works of the unregenerate

17. Perseverance of the Saints
17.1 The certainty of perseverance
17.2 The grounds of perseverance
17.3 The trials of perseverance

18. Assurance of Grace and Salvation
18.1 The certainty of assurance
18.2 The nature and grounds of assurance
18.3 The experience of assurance
18.4 The fluctuations of assurance

19. Law of God
19.1 The law given to Adam in the covenant of works
19.2 The moral law, from fall to Sinai
19.3 The ceremonial law (now abrogated)
19.4 The judicial law (now expired)
19.5 The moral law (still binding)
19.6 The usefulness of the moral law
19.7 The moral law not contrary to the grace of the gospel

20. Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience
20.1 The nature of Christian freedom
20.2 The nature of freedom of conscience
20.3 The perversion of Christian freedom (licentiousness)
20.4 The perversion of Christian freedom (rejection of lawful civil authority)

21. Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day
21.1 The duty and terms of worship
21.2 The object and means of worship
21.3 Prayer as an element of worship
21.4 The content of prayer
21.5 The other elements of worship (reading, preaching, hearing of Scripture, singing, sacraments, etc)
21.6 The place of worship
21.7 The day of worship (Christian Sabbath/Lord’s Day)
21.8 The observance of the Christian Sabbath

22. Lawful Oaths and Vows
22.1 The definition of lawful oaths
22.2 The basis of a lawful oath
22.3 The limits of oath-taking
22.4 The obligations of oath-taking
22.5 The definition of vows
22.6 The parties and purposes of vows
22.7 The limits of vows

23. Civil Magistrate (Civil Authority and Government)
23.1 The divine institution, purpose and power of civil government
23.2 The legitimacy and conduct of Christians in public office
23.3 The limits of civil authority in relation to the church
23.4 The duty of the people to civil authority

24. Marriage and Divorce
24.1 The nature of marriage
24.2 The purpose of marriage
24.3 The prerequisites of marriage
24.4 The explanation of forbidden marriages
24.5 The basis of lawful divorce and remarriage
24.6 The grounds and process of divorce

25. The Church
25.1 The identity of the church in all ages (universal and invisible)
25.2 The identity of the church under the gospel (universal and visible)
25.3 The endowment, purpose, and dynamics of the church’s mission
25.4 The varying visibility and purity of the church
25.5 The admixture, degeneration and preservation of the church
25.6 The head of the church

26. The Communion of the Saints
26.1 The basis and nature of the communion of the saints
26.2 The practical expression of the communion of the saints
26.3 Misunderstandings of the communion of the saints

27. Sacraments
27.1 The definition and purpose of sacraments
27.2 The relationship between sign and thing signified
27.3 The efficacy of sacraments
27.4 The number of sacraments
27.5 The relationship of old to new testament sacraments

28. Baptism
28.1 The nature and significance of baptism
28.2 The element and administration of baptism
28.3 The mode of baptism
28.4 The subjects of baptism
28.5 The necessity of baptism
28.6 The efficacy of baptism
28.7 The frequency of baptism

29. Lord’s Supper
29.1 The institution and purpose of the Lord’s Supper
29.2 The nature of the Lord’s Supper
29.3 The administration of the Lord’s Supper
29.4 Practices contrary to the nature of the Lord’s Supper
29.5 The outward elements and sacramental relation of signs and things signified in the Supper
29.6 The error of transubstantiation
29.7 The way in which we receive Christ in the Lord’s Supper
29.8 The danger of unworthy participation in the Lord’s Supper

30. Church Censures (Church Discipline)
30.1 The government of the church appointed by Christ
30.2 The commitment and nature of the power of the keys
30.3 The aims of church discipline
30.4 The types of church discipline

31. Synods and Councils
31.1 The need for wider church assemblies (synods or councils)
31.2 The work and authority of synods and councils
31.3 The fallibility of synods and councils
31.4 The jurisdiction of synods and councils

32. The State of Men After Death and of the Resurrection of the Dead
32.1 The nature of death, and the intermediate state of the dead
32.2 The last day, the living changed, the dead resurrected and reunited body and soul
32.3 The difference between the resurrection of the unjust and just

33. The Last Judgment
33.1 The nature of the day of judgment
33.2 The purpose of the day of judgment
33.3 The practical use of the doctrine of the judgment

Well Said, Pastor Joel!

My friend, Pastor Joel Ellis of Reformation Orthodox Presbyterean Church, Apache Junction, AZ writes:

“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Over the weekend a statute of Frederick Douglass was vandalized and toppled in New York. Yes, that Frederick Douglass: minister, orator, author, social reformer, statesman, also a former slave, a black man, and an abolitionist. Maybe you thought the only statutes that would be torn down were those honoring Confederate generals and founding fathers who owned slaves. Maybe you felt sympathy for the grief and moral outrage such monuments were said to cause. Your heart was in the right place, but your sympathy was misguided.

The civil unrest, moral outrage, and (not so peaceful) protests we are witnessing around the nation are not about what the agitators, advocates, and apologists in the media claim. This is not about racial injustice, ongoing oppression, or restorative justice and reconciliation. This is about anarchy. The enemy is not white supremacy; we all agree in condemning such evil. The enemy is not police brutality; we all agree in standing against such violence. The enemy is tradition, history, and the present order. That is what must be deconstructed, destabilized, and finally destroyed.

“This is the revolution. Change is coming.” “Now, we transform.” Those are the slogans posted on the homepage of Black Lives Matter. It’s not as though they are hiding the agenda. On the contrary, they are proud to say the quiet part out loud, because they are empowered and protected by those who lack the moral conviction and courage to speak truth.

“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.

“We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).” —https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/

Tradition is regarded as evil. History must be erased and rewritten. Violent revolution is in order. That is the world in which you live. These are the ideals that a significant number of Americans, and sadly many professing Christians and leaders in the visible Church, are supporting. But there are two things we ought to bear in mind.

First, those who seek to burn the world down and re-make it in their own image will not succeed. They may destroy America. Our society may never recover from recent events. But creation is larger than any one nation. Nations rise and fall. Movements develop and then die. But the purpose of God stands forever. It cannot be thwarted.

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever,

The plans of His heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:10-11)

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD

As the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

The One who is and who was and who is to come,

Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,

And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,

And those who fear Your name, small and great,

And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

(Revelation 11:15-18) Second, the visible Church must maintain her spiritual, otherworldly, boldly confessing identity in the face of social turmoil and change. We are not a political action group. Our hope is not in the Republican (or Democrat or Libertarian) party. We will not be spared temporal persecution or eternal judgment by capitulating to and compromising with the spirit of the age. If they are willing to tear down statutes of Frederick Douglass, do you suppose they will be content to leave your congregation alone because you agree that black lives matter? Our hope is in Jesus Christ. We must stand upon the Word of God and behind the cross. As history and tradition are attacked all around us, the Church must re-dig her fathers’ wells. There has been far too much of the world in the Church for far too long. We don’t need more pastors in skinny jeans, more praise teams that rival the local rock band, or more worship programs that feel more like a social mixer than an ancient service of prayer in the presence of God. Now is not the time for the Church to forget her history, but rather to remember, learn from, and cherish it. “We are God’s people, the chosen of the Lord.” Let’s not only say and sing it. Let’s be sure we sincerely mean it.

Jesus, Satan and the New Age

My friend, Steven Bancarz, now a Christian, was formerly a successful writer in the New Age movement. Summing up the vast chasm of difference between the two, he writes:

New Age spirituality is 100% premised on the idea that God is something already within man. Man shares in the divinity of God, either by extension, by indwelling, or both. If anything could be called a “staple” of New Ageism, it would be the idea that man is intrinsically divine. Some say the universe is made out of the substance and being of a transcendent God, emanating from His being. Man’s being is an emanation of God, and therefore man is divine in this sense. Others may say there is a field of consciousness within nature that can be called God that acts as the ground of being and gives rise to all particles and forces in the universe, and since this field (God) grounds and fills everything in creation, we can be said to be divine because this field of consciousness makes up the fabric of our inner and outer being.

The entire Bible however, cover to cover, is premised on man being separated by God in nature and in relationship: “The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit” (Isa. 31:3). The sacrificial and temple system of the Old Testament provided limited space where the manifest presence of God could dwell among the people, because He was too holy to actually dwell in man or with man without the shedding of blood for sin. Sin has separated man from God, and the entire purpose of Christ was to take us from being ontologically and relationally separated from God to being reconciled with God relationally.

“but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” – Isaiah 59:2

One affirms man in his nature state God by nature in constant relationship to God while indwelt by Him, the other affirms man in his natural state isn’t God by nature having a broken relationship with God while being devoid of Him. New Age affirms a Creator-creation unity. Jesus affirms a Creator-creation distinction. They are polar opposites by definition and are logically incompatible with one another.

If Jesus’ theology is correct, New Ageism is as far away from the truth about man’s nature and relationship to God as you could possibly be. Nothing could be farther than the truth of man’s nature and status before God than New Age theology, because it is diametrically opposed to the propositions Jesus affirmed.

If New Age theology is correct, Jesus Christ is wrong and should be dismissed as having the lowest spiritual intelligence you could possibly have for being as wrong about man’s nature and relationship to God as you could possibly be. He is 0% correct about man’s nature and status before God if New Ageism is true, and is even more incorrect about man’s nature than Satan who at least affirms man should be a functional “god” over his or her life. After all, Satan promised Eve that her and Adam would become as God (or the gods) if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan promised divinity, and Satanism today affirms functional divinity at the very least.

If New Age theology is true, Satan and Satanism is closer to the truth than Jesus is. Is man divine by nature as Satan affirmed in Genesis 3? Or is man separate from God by nature as the entire Bible affirms cover to cover? If one wants to affirm New Age theology, one must side with Satan. If one wants to affirm the words of Jesus, one has to denounce New Age theology.

The text of Scripture leaves us with no other option. The only other option is to be intellectually irresponsible and twist Scripture to fit the narrative that man is intrinsically divine, a theology all the prophets, disciples, and church fathers rejected which can be easily documented with primary quotes.

“Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men!” – Psalm 9:20

Money – a Blessing or a Curse

In a weekly devotional email sent out to his mailing list, Paul Tripp writes the following:

Money will either bless you or curse you.

It can be a rescuing blessing in the hands of your Savior. Your desires for and use of money can reveal what is ruling your heart (see James 4:1–3, Deuteronomy 15:10). Money can also be an invitation to experience blessing by being a blessing. Generosity allows us to respond to others’ physical needs, and as we do, participate in activities that are literally of eternal consequence (see Acts 20:35, Malachi 3:10). But money can also be spiritually dangerous and should be handled with extreme caution. Here are four reasons why:

1. Money can cause you to forget God. Physical neediness prompts us to cry out to God for help, and in so doing, we remember that we’re spiritually needy. A pastor of a church in an extremely affluent community told me that since his people can spend their way into or out of just about anything, it’s hard for them to think of themselves as spiritually destitute.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

2. Money can change the way you think about you and cause you to look down on others. What’s the difference between a billionaire and a person in poverty? God made both in his image, both are sinners in need of redemption (which cash can’t purchase), and both are reliant upon God for daily breath and sustenance. So why do those with money often look down on those without? There are too many answers for us to consider here, but generally speaking, money can redefine your identity outside of Christ and stimulate a prideful prejudice that lurks somewhere in the heart of every sinner.

Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. (Proverbs 16:8)

3. Money can weaken your resolve to fight temptation. For years, a friend told me that he prided himself on being committed to a simple, God-honoring lifestyle. Then he stumbled into a small fortune, and it quickly revealed that he wasn’t satisfied in God’s glory alone; he was living “content” because he couldn’t afford anything more! Money can be dangerous because it removes a restraint—affordability. Most of us can’t afford to pursue every desire that pops into our heart. It’s typically not because we have such a strong commitment to fight temptation and choose instead to live for the Kingdom of God.

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. (1 Timothy 6:9)

4. Money can finance your allegiance to the kingdom of self. There is no neutrality when it comes to your finances; what you are doing is worship. I have rarely misused money because I was ignorant or without a budget. No, I dishonored the Lord with my wallet because, at that particular moment, I didn’t care what God or anyone else said. I wanted what I wanted, and if I had the resources to chase it, I did. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

Now, it must be stated that there is no teaching in Scripture that would lead us to believe that poor people are better off spiritually than others. The Bible also emphasizes the tremendous good that can be done with accumulated wealth. But in our daily experience with money, the Word of God alerts us to the many dangers that it poses. Our only defense is the powerful grace of the Redeemer. He comes and lives inside of us so that when desire within meets temptation without, we will have just what we need to fight the battle.
Reflection Questions

1. When was the last time you asked God for provision or healing for a physical need or ailment? How can this prompt you to cry out to God regarding your spiritual poverty and sickness?

2. Is there someone (or a group of people) you look down on now, regardless of financial reason. What does this prejudice reveal about your spiritual pride?

3. What about this person (or group of people) makes you look down on them? How are you more like them than unlike them?

4. Regardless of your financial position, what rabbit trail of selfish desires have you gone down recently? How did Christ face similar temptation and defeat it on your behalf?

5. How can you steward the money God has entrusted to you—no matter how much—to serve him this week? Get specific in the ways that you can connect financially with the move of the Kingdom of God.