Monthly Archives: October 2018

Why the Reformation Isn’t Over

Posted on by
Reply

Dr. Michael Reeves

(1) Why the Reformation Isn’t Over

(original source here)

More Than History
People might think that the Reformation is irrelevant today—just a feature on the pages of history. And they may not like history so they might not find that at all interesting. People might think that the Reformation was mainly a reaction to a historical issue 500 years ago that we’ve moved on from and therefore that reaction is no longer relevant.

But the Reformation was not merely a reaction to some problem that was in the church 500 years ago. The Reformation was, at its heart, a project to move ever closer to the gospel—that we might be ever more purified and reformed as believers and the church by the word of God.

That was how it all began for Martin Luther—with him digging into Scripture and seeing how Scripture could confront and overturn the teachings of his day, and it went on as that.

Change in the Church
The whole Puritan movement started in the 1560s in England—a generation or so after Luther—and was a movement that was dedicated to what John Milton called the reforming of the Reformation, because the Puritans were people who saw we cannot settle with any level of change that God has brought about in our life or in our church.

Therefore, we need to be constantly searching in his Word to see how further reformation needs to work itself out and what it looks like in our lives. And so, the reformation movement was a movement of constant change, constant purification by the word of God. And if the Puritans were right in that, that’s what the Reformation is: a project of being ever more purified by the word of God. If that’s true, and I believe they are absolutely right in that, then the Reformation cannot be over.

Here are principles that we need to hold onto. Let’s be constantly purified by the word of God. The central principles of the Reformation still apply because they’re ever-relevant. The matter of justification hasn’t gone away and so the issues of the Reformation cannot have gone away.

(2) Justification: The Heart of the Reformation by Dr. Michael Reeves (original source here)

Internal vs. External Transformation
The issue at the heart of the Reformation was without a doubt the question of justification. When Luther was growing up, the understanding of justification that he was taught (and which really drove him to despair) was an understanding of justification inherited from Augustine who had thought that Romans 5:5 was the clearest single text to articulate justification. It says that “God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit he’s given us.”

So with that understanding, God pours his love, by the Holy Spirit, into my heart so that in my heart, I am transformed to become more and more loving, more and more holy, more and more justified. It is an internal transformative process and that’s simply not what Romans 5:5 is actually about. But that understanding of justification as the transformative process meant that you could not be sure that you’d been internally transformed enough to be worthy of heaven.

And the answer to that question should normally, according to the Catholic Church be no. They would have said that most of us, bar a few exceptions, will spend a good time in Purgatory having remaining sins purged from us. What Luther saw as he turned to Romans chapter 1 was that justification is not an internal transformative process, it’s a declaratory act of God.

Divine Declaration
God declares by his word that a sinner, not on the basis of any internal transformation but by his own promise, is righteous as he is clothed with the righteousness of Christ. That meant that the sinner can be still a sinner in themselves and yet clothed with the righteousness of Christ— therefore confident before God in the face of death.

That was really the dividing line between a transformative understanding of justification and a declarative understanding of justification—one which has works as a cause of justification that contribute to justification, and one which has works as a consequence or an overflow of the transformation that happens when we find ourselves united with Christ and so clothed with his righteousness.

(3) Why You Can’t Have Justification without Sanctification

Limiting and Preventing Pastoral Burnout

Posted on by
Reply

Article by Rev. Bartel Elshout, pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Hull, Iowa. Original source: Jan/Feb 2018 edition of The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth.

For far too many pastors in North America the condition of pastoral burnout has been, or is, a painful reality. At times, this condition can have far-reaching consequences, as it will prompt some pastors to resign permanently from pastoral ministry, whereas others will have been so severely impacted by this condition that it has permanently disabled them.

All pastors, given the nature of their responsibilities, are potentially vulnerable to succumbing to this debilitating condition. Therefore the question must be asked, “what steps can be taken to prevent pastors from burning out as they deal with their multifaceted and demanding responsibilities”?

Before considering steps that can be taken to limit and/or prevent pastoral or ministerial burnout, we first need to consider what pastoral burnout is and what circumstances precipitate this condition. Also regarding this condition, we must first diagnose the disease before we can prescribe the remedy.

Burnout is essentially what the word suggests: It means that someone’s “candle” has completely burnt out. Practically this means that a burnt-out person’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual reserves have been completely depleted. Consequently, a burnt-out person can no longer function normally.

The following symptoms will often manifest themselves—symptoms that will vary according to the severity of one’s burnout:

• Fatigue
• Lack of energy
• Insomnia
• Inability to concentrate
• Inability to engage in mental tasks
• Depression and/or anxiety
• Spiritual despondency

I know from personal experience what a debilitating effect these symptoms can have on a person. What a frightening experience it is when it seems that your mind no longer functions and when you can no longer engage in what would otherwise be viewed as normal tasks and responsibilities! That’s what happens when one’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual batteries have been completely drained.

As is true for physical batteries, this usually does not happen overnight. The condition of burnout is usually long in coming. A person who burns out frequently has been burning the candle on both ends for a prolonged period of time, and has thus chronically neglected to observe the normal rest cycle that is so essential for the healthy and normal functioning of our minds and bodies.

When the divinely ordained rest cycle is inadequately observed for an extended period, the natural reserves of our minds and bodies will gradually (and initially imperceptibly) be depleted. Though someone may, for quite some time, get away with violating and/or compromising the rest cycle, there will come a day of reckoning when one’s reserves will have been fully depleted. The nature and demands of the ministry are such, however, that ministers are often vulnerable to overextending themselves.

The full scope of ministerial responsibilities is difficult to define, for the nature of the work is such that there will always be another responsibility and/or task on the horizon. Ministers therefore often have the sense that they are never really truly finished with their work.

Since the ministry is in a sense a twenty-four-seven calling, there can at times be a relentless inner pressure (sometime reinforced externally by unreasonable expectations) to work day and night. When this goes on for an extended period of time (sometimes years), the specter of burnout begins to loom on the horizon.

Since such burnout is usually long in coming, it will often require a considerable period of time to recover fully. It’s like a rechargeable battery—when it is fully drained, it cannot recover by merely being recharged for a few hours. It needs to be recharged overnight to regain its full functionality.

Let me illustrate this from the Scriptures. The last chapter of 2 Chronicles records for us why God chastised Judah with a seventy-year captivity in Babylon. Its purpose would be “to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years” (2 Chron. 36:21; see also Jer. 29:10).

The author clearly implies that Judah had robbed the land of its divinely prescribed sabbaths. Every seventh year, the land was to have a year of rest, and God had promised the farmers in Israel that they would prosper if they would obey His precept.

The implication of this text is that they had skipped the sabbath year seventy times—and thus over a period of four-hundred ninety years! Having violated God’s ordained rest cycle for this lengthy period of time, the Lord now compelled Israel to let the land rest for seventy consecutive years. Rather than the land resting at regular and prescribed seven-year intervals, this rest now had to be made up all at once.

Hopefully, the application of this story will be obvious. If we consistently and chronically violate God’s ordained rest cycle, we will ultimately burn out, and then we, too, will have to make up that rest all at once.

What must ministers do to prevent this from happening to them? We must obey God’s revealed will and honor His ordained rest cycle for our bodies! That means two things: (1) We must honor the day/night cycle and get a proper amount of sleep each night; and (2) we need to understand also that ministers must rest one day after six days of labor.

The weekly day of rest (preferably Monday) is especially essential for the long-term health of a minister. Both my father and I had to learn this the hard way, as both of our ministries were interrupted by burnout.

I remember my father telling me how the Lord had convicted him that he, too, had transgressed the fourth commandment by not resting one day out of seven. Upon recovering from our burnout, we both resolved that the remainder of our ministries we would rest one day out of seven. My father did so faithfully until the Lord translated him into glory, and I try to follow in his footsteps by also making Monday my weekly day of rest.

That day of rest has proven to be a real blessing for me personally, and I would lovingly urge my brothers in the ministry to do likewise. After all, there is no exemption for pastors in the fourth commandment! And thus the best way to limit and/or prevent ministerial burnout is consistent and faithful obedience of God’s ordained rest cycle. Pastors will only prosper physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually when they honor God’s revealed will!

What is Calvinism?

Posted on by
Reply

Article: What is Calvinism? by Dr Herman Selderhuis, professor of church history at the Theological University Apeldoorn in the Netherlands and president of the International Calvin Congress. He is author of John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life. Original source here.

Calvinism” emerged as a term of insult from Lutherans addressing Reformed Protestants in order to separate themselves emphatically from the Reformed doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Although John Calvin distanced himself from it, just as Luther protested the name “Lutherans,” this term has nevertheless been preserved, although it is problematic. Calvinism is considered a synonym for “Reformed” and thus is typically understood as referring to something broader than the theology of Calvin himself. In addition to the Holy Scriptures as the most important norm, Calvinism serves, apart from Calvin’s own theology, as an independent continuation of the theological work of others including that of Augustine and Luther, as well as the works of Reformers such as Philip Melanchthon, Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, and Theodore Beza, all of whom are sources for what is called Calvinism. The explanation for the fact that Calvin’s thinking is manifested not only in a multitude of Calvinist movements, but also in Lutheran Pietism, Methodism, Anglicanism, Baptist theology, and Puritanism, has to do with the fact that Calvin’s theology contains elements that made it interesting and attractive in the early modern period because it was easily transformed and adapted. The term Calvinism is too broad and too diverse to be exact and could be replaced by Reformed Protestantism. Since, however, Calvinism is widespread and widely used, it should continue to be used, with a few caveats.

THE SPREAD OF CALVINISM
The spread of Calvinism in the sixteenth century may be called impressive in terms of time and scope. By 1554, there were about half a million Reformed Christians, but as early as 1600 there were approximately ten million. From the very beginning, Calvinism was strongly internationally oriented and has remained so since then. Factors relating to this rapid and extensive dissemination were, above all, Calvin’s Academy in Geneva, the universities of Heidelberg and Leiden, and other Reformed academic institutions where theologians and lawyers from all over Europe were trained. Calvinism has also had a great influence in Eastern Europe, especially in Hungary and parts of Romania. The initial spread in France could only be counteracted by force. In the German-speaking world, Calvinism gained the upper hand except in some Swiss cantons and in areas such as the Palatinate and East Frisia. In Scotland and the Netherlands, there were no Calvinist churches but national Reformed Churches, which in reality were connected to secular governments by law and as such were less “Reformed” in practice. Reformed theology has contributed to a worldview that has had a great impact on Western society and has also affected developments in church and theology in the Far East (Indonesia, Korea, Japan) and South Africa. That there is great diversity within the broad Reformed tradition is, for example, evident from the fact that both Friedrich Schleiermacher and Karl Barth belong to it. Although efforts have been made to create a contradiction between Calvin and the Calvinists in the sense that developments in Reformed orthodoxy had substituted rigid scholasticism for the dynamics of Calvin’s theology, more recent research has proven that there is no basis for such a contradiction. Also, the Synod of Dort (1618–19), which is seen as a highlight in the history of Calvinism, remained in Calvin’s line. Its decisions on double predestination, for example, were supported by delegates from Switzerland, Germany, and England, all representing various traditions within Calvinism.

THE THEOLOGY OF CALVINISM
The authority of the Bible as the source and norm for all of life, the sovereignty of God, and the responsibility of man are essential elements of Calvinistic doctrine. The Reformed doctrine of the Scriptures is formulated emphatically in the Reformed confessions. There it is confessed that the Scripture has supreme authority (because it is theopneustos, “God-breathed”), and that it is perfect, reliable, and sufficient.

Calvinism is distinguished in particular by the function of the law as well as by an openness to earthly life. In Calvin’s mind, the law has continuing meaning and is regarded as a rule for Christian life. This view is expressed in various ways, including paying attention to a correct lifestyle, a commitment to mercy, continuing reflection on law and justice, and the question of the right of resistance of subjects to the authorities. Openness to the earth has to do with Calvin’s view that God is also revealed in creation; thus, scientific research contributes to the recognition of God (Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton, among others). Culturally, Calvinism inside the church led to resistance to the cult of images as a threat to the proclamation of the Word and outside the church to an impulse for art and culture as a means of worshiping God. There is, at the same time in Calvinism, a sense of reservation concerning culture and science, because these can also become a spiritual danger.

Concentration on the Word and the cognitive approach of the theology of Calvin can be seen in the fact that Calvinism has a distinguished history in terms of creating a reading culture and has attracted many intellectuals to its folds over the centuries. This “binding to the Bible” has resulted in a church order that emanates from the independence of the church over against the governing authorities and assigns the elders the direction of the church. The function of the elders, who play the central role in the church, is typical of the Calvinist understanding of the church. The key to the Lord’s Supper lies in the exercise of the church’s discipline.

The understanding of the unity of Scripture results in a strong identification with Old Testament Israel. This identification manifests itself in a predilection for the book of Psalms both in preaching and in liturgy. The singing of these psalms further strengthened this identification, indeed, because of another characteristic of Calvinism, namely the pilgrimage motif. The persecution of the Reformed and their refugee existence led them, in their own opinion, to play the role of Israel expelled from Egypt to live in the desert on their way to heaven, the Promised Land. This predilection for the Old Testament can be seen in the many commentaries that appeared from the Reformed side on this part of the Bible. As a result of this understanding, the study of Hebrew and related fields has also reached an especially great flowering in Reformed circles.

LUTHER AND CALVIN
As much as Calvin desired to do so, he never met Martin Luther personally. The only occasion for contact that could have occurred between Calvin and Luther was prevented by Philip Melanchthon, because he did not dare to forward the letter Calvin had written to Luther in January 1545. There are some remarks of Luther in which he reports positively about Calvin’s works. As to Luther’s influence on Calvin, it is evident that the Genevan was in the true sense a pupil of the Reformer in Wittenberg. Calvin was convinced to build on the foundation Luther laid down, not to imitate Luther or just repeat what he had said but to further develop Luther’s theology without changing it. As to differences, it can be said that Calvin had more trouble with Luther’s character than with his ideas. That Calvin saw his own teaching of the Lord’s Supper substantially in agreement with that of Luther is clear, but he did criticize him for sticking too much to the physical presence of Christ in bread and wine. Apart from this point, Calvin stays completely in line with Luther. This influence of Luther on Calvin means Luther’s thought can be found in a much wider selection of theological traditions than just the Lutheran one. It is also due to international Calvinism that Luther can be found worldwide, as his spirituality, his liturgical insights, his views on preaching and teaching, and much more of his work has shaped endless numbers of Calvinists worldwide to this very day.

INFLUENCE
It goes without saying that Calvinism has a worldview of its own. It, thus, has exerted great influence in the fields of sociology, politics, economics, and law. Although the so-called Weber thesis, according to which there is a direct link between Calvinism and capitalism, is scientifically disproven, a certain influence of Calvinism on economic developments cannot be denied. Calvin was the first Christian thinker to develop a theory of the biblical right to interest rate recovery, which gave trade a vital impetus. Calvinism’s views on justification and sanctification and the strict practice of church discipline have led to a lifestyle that is strongly inspired by the Bible.

The influence of Calvinism, with its very own view of law and order, is also clearly perceptible in the sphere of law. The political and legal theories of John Althusius (1557–1638) and Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) are examples of this. Calvinism has also contributed to the democratic development of the Western world. The organizing principle of the “Calvinist” church, in which democracy and Christocracy are connected, has become, politically, a model wherein the government binds itself to the Bible as a norm without causing the theocratic element to be exercised at the expense of the democratic one. In addition, Calvin’s theory of the right to insurrection became one of the main foundations of the uprising that led to the independence of the Netherlands.

Cessationist Life

Posted on by
Reply

Article Living the Cessationist Life by John Divito (who currently serves as Pastor of Cornerstone Fellowship Church in Newburgh, IN. He is also a Director of African Pastors Conferences and a Board Member of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. John and his wife Jennifer have been married for 20 years and have four children. He received his MDiv from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Original source here.)

Will the debate over the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit ever cease? Maybe not, with many books coming out, debates being held, and conferences taking place on this controversial subject. One of the primary reasons for the intensity of this issue is that it directly relates to how we should live the Christian life. For those who hold that the charismatic gifts continue, we should seek these gifts in our lives so that we will live our lives in the fullness of God’s blessing. But what about those of us who believe these gifts were given during the apostolic age and have ceased with the completion of apostolic doctrine recorded in Scripture? How do we live our lives? What does the life of a cessationist look like? Here are three aspects of our life in Christ.

We are Filled with the Spirit

This may sound strange to some ears, but cessationists live the Spirit-filled life. I remember once visiting a charismatic church where a man came up to me after the service and introduced himself to me. He asked me where I was from and where I went to church, and when I told him that I was a Baptist, he replied: “I used to be Baptist, but then I came to believe in the Holy Ghost.” I’ve sometimes heard charismatics say that the cessationist Trinity is “God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Bible.” But these are gross and even dangerous misunderstandings of what cessationists believe.

Of course we believe in the Holy Spirit! He is the third person of the divine Trinity whom we worship. The Holy Spirit regenerates our hearts, removing the heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, giving us spiritual life. The Holy Spirit bears fruit through us, equipping us with lives of righteousness and devotion to God. The Holy Spirit empowers us, providing us the strength we need to obey God’s law and to serve His kingdom. The Holy Spirit seals us, guaranteeing the inherited blessings God has promised us. The Holy Spirit leads us to eagerly wait for Christ’s return when we will finally receive all of God’s blessings as we enjoy life in His presence. And until then, the Holy Spirit blesses us with spiritual gifts for the good of Christ’s body, the church. We are filled with the Holy Spirit through our faith in Christ so that we will live for His glory. What a glorious gift!

How frustrating it is then to hear the role of the Holy Spirit reduced to providing the charismatic gifts of prophecy, tongues, and miraculous healings in the minds of many. The Holy Spirit fills us without the extravagance of outward wonders. After all, His goal is not to get our attention and become our focus, but to direct us to Jesus Christ in whom we find our salvation and our souls’ rest.

We Hear God’s Voice

We also recognize that as God’s people, we need to hear from God. So how does God reveal Himself and His will to us? He speaks to us in and through His Word. The Bible is not simply a collection of ancient inspired writings that we are supposed to read. God speaks to me today in Scripture. I hear His voice, not through my ears, but through the Spirit’s illumination of my mind and heart as I read God’s Word. As a result, Scripture reading is more than a daily discipline for me. It is a blessed opportunity to hear from God and commune with Him.

At the same time, I also hear God’s voice with my ears when His people gather together in worship to listen to the preaching of His Word. God calls and sets apart men to become His mouthpiece as they stand behind the pulpit on the Lord’s Day and open His divinely revealed Scripture to us. Pastors have been appointed by God to speak to His people, and through them, when they correctly explain and apply the Word of God, it is our privilege to hear God’s voice weekly so that our covenant with Christ is reaffirmed by the gospel and our lives will be transformed through the renewal of our minds.

When the church meets for worship, it is not to see supposed signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit, but it is to experience the Holy Spirit’s ministry as He applies God’s Word in my heart and works His Word out in my life. Furthermore, my daily communion with God does not depend on tongues from the Holy Spirit or a private prayer language, but on the Holy Spirit’s enlightening of my mind and enflaming of my heart as I read and study His Word.

We Rely on God’s Word

Finally, the life of a cessationist is one that is thoroughly committed to the sufficiency of Scripture, which gives us all that is needed for a life of godliness. We please God by our obedience to His Word. Our relationship with God does not depend on our subjective feelings, but it is nourished and flourishes by our devotion to obeying God’s objective revelation to us in Scripture.

If someone believes that he must have additional experiences from the Holy Spirit for his spiritual vitality (whether prophecy, tongues, or miraculous healings), then at some level he believes that Scripture is not enough. We need more to live the Christian life. The Holy Spirit must provide us with some kind of supplemental revelation to grow in the gospel and draw close to God. This will subtly undermine our commitment to God’s Word.

When we rely on the treasure of God’s Word, then we don’t need anything more. We are kept focused on the glories of Christ by the Holy Spirit’s work in us and desire to love God and love our neighbor because our Savior first loved us. Cessationism doesn’t forbid us from fully living the Christian life; it frees us to fully live the Christian life through the means of grace that God has given us.

Vessels Prepared for Destruction

Posted on by
Reply

Excerpt from Dr. James White’s book “The Potter’s Freedom” (pages 211-214):

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. Romans 9:17-18)

The example of Pharoah was well known to any person familiar with the Old Testament. God destroyed the Egyptian nation by plagues so as to demonstrate His might and power in the earth, and key to this demonstration was the hardening of Pharoah’s heart. Before Moses had met with Pharoah the first time God told him:

When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21)

It was God’s intention to bring His wrath upon the Egyptians. God’s actions were not “forced” by the stubborn will of the Egyptian leader. God said He would harden Pharoah’s heart, and He did. Listen to the impudent response of this pagan idolater to the command of Moses:

And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharoah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.'” But Pharoah said, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” (Exodus 5:1-2)

Is this not what God said He would do? Will someone suggest that Pharoah’s heart is “soft” here? No indeed, and Moses well knew that God was behind this for when the Pharoah then increased the work load of the Israelites, Moses complained to God in Exodus 5:22. Why complain to God if, in fact, God had nothing to do with it and it was all just a matter of the Pharoah’s “free will choice”?

This provides the background of Paul’s citation of Exodus 9:16. The portion of truth that here stings the pride of man is this: it is more important that God’s name is magnified and His power made known than it is that any single man get to “do his own thing.” Pharoah was surely never forced to do anything sinful (indeed, God probably kept him from committing many a sinful deed). He acted on the desires of his wicked heart at all times. But he is but a pot, a creature, not the Potter. He was formed and made and brought into existence to serve the Potter’s purposes, not his own. He is but a servant, one chosen, in fact, for destruction. His destruction, and the process that led up to it (including all the plagues upon Egypt), were part of God’s plan. There is simply no other way to understand these words.

Paul then combines the fact that God showed undeserved compassion and mercy to Moses (Exodus 33) with God’s hardening of Pharoah’s heart (Exodus 5) and concludes that whether one is “mercied” or “hardened” is completely, inalterably, and utterly up to God. The verbs here are active: God performs these actions. He “mercies” whom He wills and He hardens whom He wills. The parallel between “mercy” and “hardening” is inarguable. We may like the “mercying” part more than the hardening, but they are both equally a part of the same truth. Reject one and you reject them both. There is no such thing as preaching God’s mercy without preaching God’s judgment, at least according to Scripture.

The passage reaches a crescendo in these final verses:

You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? (Romans 9:19-20)

Paul knew well the objections man presents to the words he had just penned. If God has mercy solely based on His good pleasure, and if God hardens Pharoah on the same basis, all His own glory and honor, how can God hold men accountable for their actions, for who resists His will? Paul’s response is swift and devastating: Yes, indeed God holds man accountable, and He can do so because He is the potter, the one who molds and creates, while man is but the “thing molded.” For a pot to question the Potter is absurd. These words cannot be understood separately from the fundamental understanding of the freedom of the Sovereign Creator and the ontological creatureliness of man that removes from him any ground of complaint against God. Though already devastatingly clear, Paul makes sure there is no doubt left as to his point:

Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. (Romans 9:21-24)

The Potter’s freedom pulses through these words, flowing inexorably into the sea of sovereignty, rushing any would-be proponent of free will out of its path. God has the perfect right to do with His creation (including men) as He wishes, just as the Potter has utter sovereignty over the clay. Just as God had demonstrated His wrath and power by wasting idolatrous Egypt, so too He demonstrates He wrath upon “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” Are these nations? Classes? No, these are sinners upon whom God’s wrath comes. They are said to have been specifically “prepared for destruction.” That is their purpose.

Why are there vessels prepared for destruction? Because God is free. Think about it: there are only three logical possibilities here. Either 1) all “vessels” are prepared for glory (universalism); 2) all “vessels” are prepared for destruction; or 3) some vessels are prepared for glory and some are prepared for destruction and it is the Potter who decides which are which. Why is there no fourth option, one in which the pots prepare themselves based on their own choice? Because pots don’t have such a capacity! Pots are pots! Since God wishes to make known the “riches of His grace” to His elect people (the vessels prepared for mercy), there must be vessels prepared for destruction. There is no demonstration of mercy and grace when there is no justice.

The vessels of wrath, remember, like being vessels of wrath, would never choose to be anything else, and they detest the vessels that receive mercy…

Church Membership – Like a Marriage?

Posted on by
Reply

Article: A Pastor’s Reflections: Like a Marriage by J. V. Fesko (original source here)

It seems like far too many people treat relationships of all sorts as being disposable. As soon as they hit a rough patch of any sort they decide to pull up stakes, move on, and find a new relationship. This is especially the case, I believe, when it comes to church membership. Rather than viewing one’s church membership as something closer to a marriage, they treat their membership like a health club. When the church does not meet their expectations, they start looking for the door. In this vein I think many in the church look at their membership with a product consumer’s mentality. The membership is all about receiving benefits and service.

As common as such thinking might be, our attitude towards church membership should be closer to a marriage relationship than a health club membership. A marriage is supposed to be nearly unbreakable. The Bible gives very few legitimate reasons for breaking a marriage vow. The words, “till death do us part,” captures the nearly unbreakable bonds of marriage. Now while church membership is not a marriage, we should nevertheless treat our membership vows like a marriage vow. In other words, just because we hit a rough patch should not mean that we immediately look for the door.

When we find ourselves in difficult circumstances, the first question we should ask is, “Does my church still exhibit the three marks?” In other words, does it still preach the gospel, rightly administer the sacraments, and perform church discipline?

If our answer is, yes, then chances are we don’t have a really good reason for leaving. Intra-personal conflicts, for example, might make us uncomfortable, but they don’t rise to the level of legitimate biblical grounds for leaving a church. When we find ourselves in a difficult spot, our first response should be prayer—we should pray that the Lord would help us figure things out and bring reconciliation.

If we always leave a church the moment we have conflicts, then we’ll never give ourselves the relational space to mend broken relationships. Mending broken relationships, I believe, is like mending a broken bone—the relationship will often come out stronger. Do you feel like your church is no longer serving you? It might be that it’s not time to leave but time for you to roll up your sleeves, look around, and find out how you can serve others in your church. All too often people think that the church is for their own benefit rather than an opportunity for them to serve others. In other words, how can you make your church a better place through your own sacrificial service?

How much does the world shape the church? How does the mentality of disposability affect our attitudes? In one egregious example I remember listening to someone list more than a dozen churches where she had been a member over the course of forty years despite the fact that she had lived in the same home for that same period of time. It was a very sad testimony, to say the least. My hope and prayer is that we would think twice before we leave a church.

Instead of running for the door we should drop to our knees in prayer and figure out how we might serve our brothers and sisters around us. Instead of leaving because of difficult relationships, our hope should be to strengthen our friendships in spite of whatever challenges we face. In the end, this all amounts to seeking to show the love of Christ to the church.

Four Incriminating Witnesses

Posted on by
Reply

Text: John 5:30-40

While Christ’s own testimony, by itself, should be more than enough evidence to convince the greatest skeptic, He then calls on four others to testify to His claims – John the Baptist, the works He did, the Father who sent Him and the very Scriptures the Jewish leaders were supposedly immersed in. A powerful Gospel call!