GOD IN THE HANDS OF COMPLACENT SINNERS...the dire need to recover a reverence for God in ministry

Introduction:

Dealing constantly with young, reformed emerging people and their allied bloggers is exhausting. I feel some days like Simon Cowell (of American Idol fame) trying to be honest with them about what they are saying and how their e-views are not that biblical, profitable, or true. When they get angry and "keep on singing" (though the audition is clearly over) they become more and more incensed that I didn't affirm them, what they stand for, what they are trying to sell, or one of their leaders.

This happens week in and week out; and like I said, it is exhausting.

No matter how many books I read, podcasts or vodcasts I listen to, emails I exchange, or blog interaction I try to have (I don't delete dissenting opinion on this blog - I actually allow people to passionately disagree with me without fear of being shut down) they still just keep on emotionally ranting about their postmodern world of pseudo-reformed, emerging faith.

One of the things that is most interesting is that very few, if any, will ever discuss these things biblically. They usually just appeal to a few evangelical leaders who embrace their movement. They know that I have not fabricated my concerns out of thin air - because I take the time to do my homework and usually they haven't. It's like trying to talk to a Romanist who has never read Tridentine doctrine, but yet wants to defend "the orthodoxy" of the Pope and Romanist theology. An effort in futility. I find this with bloggers too. Young, theologically immature, biblically untested, and undiscerning who are "sympathetic to the emerging cult of personality" types, get defensive at a moments notice.

This brings me to this article today: recovering a reverence for God by having a right view of God. This is hard for any emerging or emergent church leader to humbly submit too. Why? Because it means resigning their cultural hermeneutic to a biblical one and that is painful for them to do. They would rather speak to you about "contextualizing the truth" for they honestly believe that their little methods, techniques, gimmicks, tricks, cultural analysis, market surveys, and postmodern pathology actually adds to the effectiveness and impact of the gospel. They really don't believe in sola Scriptura; they really don't believe that "the gospel IS the power of God unto salvation" and requires no additional assistance from them. They don't understand Acts 17 or 1 Cor. 9:18ff in context and actual think the Apostle Paul was emerging too.  Their blogs are not ministry, but hobby, business and trade.  And if you speak of biblical evangelism - you are out of date. Missional is the new term now.  No one quite knows what it means, but that's the beauty of this movement. They like the ambiguity and still call it the reformed faith.

The nexus of the issue is disturbing: they believe the gospel needs their help. So they swear a bit when they preach; tell some dirty stories; speak in graphic sexual terms about women; even twist Scripture to try and be funny about masturbatory acts, and at some point will treat the Lord and His holy name as only a punchline for their jokes. They think that Chris Rock is a better pastoral role model than Christopher Love. And if you dare confront them or challenge them, they will cry foul (no pun intended) and try and make you the villain.

You see in their world, truth is not the primary consideration: experience, contextualization, conversation, audience expansion, carefully aligned political relationships, being soft and soft spoken IS. They call that humility and grace. Humility to them is never saying anything negative about another; and grace is simply recognizing we all are a little rough around the edges; and besides the other fruit coming from ones emerging church trumps all other considerations. What is that fruit? Numbers--they love numbers. They will tell you about their numbers almost every sermon. Once solid Christian publishers and even some Southern Baptist leaders have been seduced by their charms. It's frankly embarrassing and more than a little disappointing. They are so eager to grow their cause that they will sell out pragmatically and methodologically just to get a seat at the table and feel important as part of the latest boys club. Their motto reads as following: "God is Most Glorified in Us, When We Are Most Satisfied in the Culture." It's their mantra; their four spiritual laws; their purpose driven banner; their seeker friendly badge. It's their password, the secret code to get into the tree-house. It's their version of ministry.

Here is the reality: they really don't want to have to face or deal with the tough issues; it is easier to delete someone then to have to look circumspectly at the clay feet of their own man-made "heroes." They are constantly conflicted; saying just enough to try and come off as being challenging and balanced; but not saying enough to jeopardize their standing within the club. I am aware that I can be a strong, intimidating opponent for someone to have to take on, on most issues. But removing me out of the equation for a minute, these inexperienced "young lions" aren't even men enough to dialogue with biblically solid, kind, gentle, godly women either. They will delete them just as quickly; shut down their threads; take their ball and bat and run home.

So if you have drank the Kool-Aid of the emerging movement, may I challenge you to buck up today, play the man, and read the following article. If you get offended, it is intentional. I hope you even get angry; angry enough to honestly look at your pomo-world of imagined faith; and maybe come to grips with the fact that the "Vintage Jesus" you have been sold is a bill of goods by those who claim to be cutting edge in ministry. And when you get over them (and you will), then come back to the Word of God and to proven, faithful pastoral leadership from the halls of redemptive history and finally learn about the Lord Jesus Christ in all His transcendent glory, His gospel of grace, and how to do biblical ministry within the local church.

Until then, you will have to be satisfied with ministry that is foreign to the Bible, but oh how satisfying to your depravity.

Still Pounding on Wittenberg's Door,

Steve

2 Cor. 4:1-7

Israel had sinned grievously against the Lord.

She was guilty of lying, stealing, adultery, slander, deceit against their own families; they hated discipline and profaned the Word of the Lord. If God's anger burned against the wicked for doing such things, how much more does it burn against those who were pretenders about heavenly things?

Here is the astonishing conclusion: because the Lord kept silent, showed them mercy and did not bring swift and severe judgment upon them for their iniquities, He said, "You thought I was just like you..." Israel had done the unthinkable... they had "created" God in their own image to justify their transgressions.

What a stinging indictment. Those words penetrate our hearts as well don't they? We tolerate sin in our lives; we even justify it; we develop a seared conscience toward it; and even attribute God's supposed delayed chastening in our lives as if He condones our waywardness? Such is the stupor that sin renders to all of us. It reduces us to live as "brute beasts" - slaves to our instincts, when we should be living according to His Word as His redeemed children whom He has shown mercy upon mercy time after time.

When we were without hope, without the Lord and God’s wrath burned against us, we were as Jonathan Edwards once preached, "sinners in the hands of an angry God." Do we now as His children, try to pacify the Lord with such casual feigned worship, tolerating our sin while we raise our unholy hand in prayer to Him? Do we approach Him with such arrogance and self-assurance dulled by the sinfulness of sin, that we, left to our intoxicated deceived state, treat Him as if He has lowered His sovereign, holy character and ceased in His perfect omniscience, by turning a “deaf ear and a blind eye” to our lasciviousness becoming "God in the hands of complacent sinners?" Never!

This fiftieth Psalm has brought me low in conviction of my own sin, so that I may look up in repentance to forgiveness and behold the never-ending mercy of the One to whom I will give an account. “Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity” (Psalm 32:1-2a). May we all find comfort in those great unshakable words of hope… amen?

In conclusion, listen to Spurgeon's thoughts about these verses which unmask us, then offer a great hope in Psalm 50:21-23.

Verse 21. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence. No swift judgment overthrew the sinner—longsuffering reigned; no thunder was heard in threatening, and no bolt of fire was hurled in execution. Thou though that I was altogether such an one as thyself. The inference drawn from the Lord's patience was infamous; the respited culprit thought his judge to be one of the same order as himself. He offered sacrifice, and deemed it accepted; he continued in sin, and remained unpunished, and therefore he rudely said, "Why need believe these crazy prophets? God cares not how we live so long as we pay our tithes. Little does he consider how we get the plunder, so long as we bring a bullock to his altar." What will not men imagine of the Lord? At one time they liken the glory of Israel to a calf, and anon unto their brutish selves. But I will reprove thee. At last I will break silence and let them know my mind. And set them in order before thine eyes. I will marshal thy sins in battle array. I will make thee see them, I will put them down item by item, classified and arranged. Thou shalt know that if silent awhile, I was never blind or deaf. I will make thee perceive what thou hast tried to deny. I will leave the seat of mercy for the throne of judgment, and there I will let thee see how great the difference between thee and me.

Verse 22. Now or oh! it is a word of entreaty, for the Lord is loath even to let the most ungodly run on to destruction. Consider this; take these truths to heart, ye who trust in ceremonies and ye who live in vice, for both of you sin in that ye forget God. Bethink you how unaccepted you are, and turn unto the Lord. See how you have mocked the eternal, and repent of your iniquities. Lest I tear you in pieces, as the lion rends his prey, and there be none to deliver, no Savior, no refuge, no hope. Ye reject the Mediator: beware, for ye will sorely need one in the day of wrath, and none will be near to plead for you. How terrible, how complete, how painful, how humiliating, will be the destruction of the wicked! God uses no soft words, or velvet metaphors, nor may his servants do so when they speak of the wrath to come. O reader, consider this.

Verse 23. Whoso offered praise glorified me. Praise is the best sacrifice; true, hearty, gracious thanksgiving from a renewed mind. Not the lowing of bullocks bound to the altar, but the songs of redeemed men are the music which the ear of Jehovah delights in. Sacrifice your loving gratitude, and God is honored thereby. And to him that ordered his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God. Holy living is a choice evidence of salvation. He who submits his whole way to divine guidance, and is careful to honour God in his life, brings an offering which the Lord accepts through his dear Son; and such a one shall be more and more instructed, and made experimentally to know the Lord\'s salvation. He needs salvation, for the best ordering of the life cannot save us, but that salvation he shall have. Not to ceremonies, not to unpurified lips, is the blessing promised, but to grateful hearts and holy lives. O Lord, give us to stand in the judgment with those who have worshipped thee aright and have seen thy salvation.

Spiritual Malpractice...when pastors fail to restore those fallen into sin

Confrontation is never pleasant, but will most of the time when done in truth, grace and love prove rewarding, healing and profitable.

Confronting other believers is even harder.

Confronting other believers that you know and that know you; whom are your friends and long-term members of the same church can even be more nerve wracking; stretching ones spiritual constitution to the cliff’s edge.

But this is precisely what the duty of the faithful under-shepherd of Christ is to be. Doing all things without partiality; preferring to honor Christ over personal convenience; caring more for the purity of the church than for individual comfort; and ultimately, giving all—forsaking reputation, opportunity and station of life to present every man complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28-29; 1 Timothy 5:19-21; 2 Timothy 2:3-6; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5). One of the greatest acts of love a pastor can ever demonstrate to his people and one of the most Christlike examples he could ever model for the body of Christ is when he and the other elders of the church confront someone in unrepentant sin, seeking for their repentance, restoration and reconciliation (Matthew 18:15-20).

The antithesis of this is also true: like a well-meaning parent who gives strict rules to their children, but rarely, if ever, disciplines when they disobey, is akin to the pastor who from week to week preaches a good sermon, but fails to hold the congregation accountable to its truth. They may agree with the message and even like the messenger, but they never learn to fear the Lord. They have grown accustomed to rhetoric without consequence—they are left to themselves. This is what Paul means when he says “bear another’s burden…” and “…thus fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-3).

Church Restoration – A Loving Act of Worship

The purpose for church discipline is not for retribution or personal revenge. It is not a "spiritual witch-hunt" against someone you have it out for. It is to protect the purity of the church 1 Corinthians 5:9-13); to assure the purity and testimony of the individual believer in Christ (Galatians 6:1-3); to guard against future sin (Acts 5:1-11); and to bring glory to God so that our worship is unfeigned (Leviticus:1-3). It is an act of love (1 Peter 4:8), done in humility (Galatians 6:1), bathed in grace and forgiveness for the repentance and restoration of another (2 Corinthians 2:5-11). It is no cause for rejoicing or pride among anyone in the church when the table of grace must be turned into a table of correction. Oh dear under-shepherd of Christ, you are never acting more like the Lord, than when you are 'winning over' a sinning brother or sister to live for Christ through a repentant, broken life as a result of church discipline.

This is why it is deeply disturbing to hear, without exception, that the most forgotten duty today by local church leadership is the failure to lovingly restore those fallen into sin. It is estimated by some that only one out of a thousand churches in America practice any kind of church discipline whatsoever. This has left the church venerable and susceptible; for God can never be glorified where sin is pacified—and He can never be exalted in praise where sin is entertained and practiced! Matthew Mead, that powerful Puritan expositor insightfully instructs pastors with these profound words when saying, "If sin be as terrible as you say it is, why then are our lives not lived more holy; and if sin is not as terrible as you say it is, why then do you preach against it with such fury?"

Sin's consequence causes the precious Holy Spirit to be grieved (Ephesians 4:30); our prayers to go unanswered (1 Peter 3:7); disqualifies us from ministry (1 Corinthians 9:24-27); causes our praise to be unacceptable (Psalm 33:1); withholds God's blessing from us (Jeremiah 5:25); forfeits our joy (Psalm 32:3-4; 51:12); hinders our spiritual growth (1 Corinthians 3:1-3); causes our fellowship to become polluted (1 Corinthians 10:21; 1 Corinthians 11:28-29); our lives to be endangered (1 Corinthians 11:30; 1 John 5:16); and most paramount, our holy God dishonored (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Sin causes the whole church to suffer (1 Cor. 12:26); it provokes discipline (Matthew 18:15-20); has as its roots the "doctrine of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1); and as its father - the devil himself (1 John 3:8)!

Is it any wonder that the great Puritan preacher, Thomas Watson, said  

"that a sign of sanctification is a hatred of sin...one who not only leaves sin, but loathes it." That is precisely why Solomon wrote in Proverbs 28:13, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes [repentance] them will find compassion." 

 He who covers his sin, God will uncover; he who uncovers his sin, God will cover!

Playing Politics with God

Why does this occur? What turns brave men of God in the pulpit into cowardly ineffectual leaders in the pew? I believe that pastors fail to exercise church discipline for four fundamental reasons: 1. Fear and the fear of man; 2. a low view of sin; 3. failure to tremble at the Word of God; and, 4. a vanishing view of the transcendence of God.

Firstly, is fear and the fear of man. I hear pastors almost on a monthly basis express to me that they are fearful of being sued, black-balled in the church, or possibly even losing their pulpit if they honor the Lord in their churches and discipline sin. No question that congregations can turn against faithful men of God for holding fast the faith preferring their own sinfulness over holiness. Fear usually stems from a lack of knowledge, by the greatness of evil or by the inability to overcome the evil. We are all plagued by this aren’t we? But the man of God must be tempered with the steel of righteousness In his breast and has Paul has said, “by the terror of the Lord I persuade men.” He must not give in to a spirit of timidity; but with firm resolve rely on God’s provision of love, power, and a sound mind. When Better to fear the Lord, honor Him and do the right thing, than to fear man, be paralyzed in ministry and forfeit the blessing and favor of the Lord on their church. It is a dangerous thing to play politics with God!

Secondly, they have developed a low view of sin. The reasoning goes something like this, “who are we to judge… we all make mistakes don’t we? After all, we’re only human? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” But sin is so powerful and so fatal that it took nothing less than God the Son to give His life as a ransom for many, as our Divine Substitute, High Priest and sacrificial Lamb; to propitiate the holiness and justice of God so that we may have peace with God forever. “He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). How can we treat sin so lightly in light of what it cost our Savior and Lord?

Sin strikes at God and says, “I don’t care what You said, I’ll do what I want.' It is God’s would be murderer. Sin would un-God God if it could. Sin defiles the conscience. Sin is irrational and forfeits blessing. Sin is painful—it hurts. Sin is damning. Sin is degrading it mares the image of God and man. Like Samson, it cuts the locks of purity and leaves men morally weak. Sin poisons the springs of love and turns beauty into leprosy. Sin defeats the mind, the heart, the will, the affections and it has made a whole world of people—all of mankind—children wrath by nature; objects of God’s wrath. Sin brings man under the domination of Satan and his sick sin system, which he controls. Man and the world is a slave to sin, open rebellion and defiance to God and a slave to Satan."

Thirdly, they fail to tremble at the Word of God. This is foundational to all genuine ministry. A low view of Scripture leads to a high view of self, a low view of sin and a diminished view of God. To not tremble at the Word, as Isaiah puts it (Isaiah 66:2), is to show a lack of contrition, humility, and to live in arrogance against the Lord. The battle for the sufficiency and authority of Scripture is as great today as it was in Luther’s time.

“This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrine is holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be saved, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Here heaven is open, and the gates of hell are disclosed.

Christ is the grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, health to the soul, and a river of pleasure. It is given to you here in this life, will be opened at the judgment, and is established forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and condemn all who trifle with its contents.” –Author Unknown

Fourthly, the loss of the transcendence of God. This is the most disconcerting and troubling. When we speak of worshipping a transcendent God what do we mean? Transcendence means that God is lofty and divinely other than who we are. He is holy—I am sinful; He is Eternal—I am created; He is omniscient—I am inadequate in my knowing, etc. When a pastor lives daily in the presence of His glory and has as his supreme objective and pleasure to please the Lord in all things, then he is transformed from being a professional churchman to a worshiping servant- leader in whom God finds favor.

The Catastrophe of Compromise

Several years ago I was privileged to teach a weekly Sunday School class at a local church in Nashville. One night after a concert, I received a heartbreaking phone call from a woman whom with her husband had founded the class. Through tears of brokenness, she told me she had just learned her husband had been unfaithful to her. She was obviously devastated. She asked if I would meet with him as soon as I returned home from the weekend of concerts. I was more than willing to do so.

Over the next few days of painful conversations with this man, he finally revealed that he had had not one, but seventeen affairs over six and half years. This was not a “David” situation, but a lifestyle with him. He asked me if I thought he was a Christian, I told him no, for the practice of his life was one of adultery and those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21). The road to repentance is never an easy one—whether for salvation or sanctification—and in this case it wasn’t going to be either.

Miraculously, his wife still wanted him back even after all of his infidelity. If he was going to have any hope of restoring his marriage and family he needed to do four key things (for the scope of ones influence demands the scope of ones repentance) :

1. Confess and ask forgiveness from his wife;
2. Confess and ask forgiveness from each of his families;
3. Confess to the Sunday School class that he had started and to step down from any future leadership position for due to his lifestyle he was disqualified forever in serving in any kind of local church leadership role, and
4. Go with an elder of the church to every one of these seventeen women in the Nashville area and ask for forgiveness as well.

His wife needed to know, as well as the church, that he had not left any stone unturned, but was willing to do whatever it took to demonstrate true repentance and a new heart in Christ.

What Ever Happened to Sin?

He did the first three with me and with others present to give proper accountability. When he was about to begin the fourth and most crucial area, I received a phone call from the senior pastor of the church. He said he had appreciated my leadership in this situation so far, but things needed to change now. He informed me that this was too much adultery for him as a pastor to deal with and what this man needed was to attend a series of “sexoholic” meetings. I thought to myself, what in the world is a sexoholic and they even have meetings? The pastor recommended ninety sexoholic meetings in ninety days as the way to deal with this tragic situation. (Mind you in these groups you cannot be challenged, you cannot be called to repentance, you cannot be told your views are wrong or out of bounds regardless of the filth that may be shared in those settings. You are simply allowed to vocalize your struggle with what ever sexual perversion is crippling your spirit.)

Long story short, this man came back to me after thirty meetings and said the following, “I have a medical problem. There is an endorphin that my body secretes that forces me to uncontrollably satisfy its impulse by having sex with other women. I also have parental issues: Dad not hugging me enough as a child; Mom not being as nurturing as she could have… I’m sick. I have a disease. And these people can help me.” I immediately thought, he’s bought the lie and the church helped him do it.

I reassured him that he wasn’t sick, but a sinner; he didn’t have a disease, but was disobedient; he wasn’t addicted, but was an adulterer. He didn’t need therapy, but church discipline. He didn’t rehabilitation, but repentance from sin. Unfortunately, the pastors and elders of his church never disciplined this man for his adultery—they didn’t believe in it and to this day still do not. The pastor told me they would never do that (church discipline) because many of them had left “those kinds of churches” to build their church so to be more “grace based” in ministry. What fools! I have never seen that man since then. Sadly, we were left without option and our family had to leave that church over this situation.

Grace Doesn’t Wink at Sin, It Confronts It and Seeks Restoration and Reconciliation

Though we have entered into our eternal rest by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) - grace never leads to the fulfilling of further ungodliness and worldly desires (Titus 2:12); that grace never indulges the flesh (Romans 6:1-2); that grace does not cherish lust or seek its pleasure (Psalm 66:18; Hebrews 11:25-26); but that grace hates sin and calls all who know its voice to turn from their sin and to turn to God. That is what repentance is: an abrupt about-face, in the face of sin.

Grace doesn’t wink at sin; grace doesn’t tolerate sin or turn a deaf ear to its ugly seducing voice. Grace confronts sin, disciplines sin and restores one trapped in its clutches. In the tragic account above, she needed grace for forgiveness; he needed grace for repentance. Regrettably, neither ultimately occurred because the spiritual malpractice of the leadership of that church.

The Evidence of Saving Faith—A Notorious Repentance

The truly repentant person will not put any prohibitions or conditions to what he has to do to demonstrate genuine repentance. He will want to do whatever it takes not as little as it takes. As Spurgeon says, “when ones repentance is more notorious than their sin—then you know it is genuine.”

One of the foundational evidences of a truly regenerated man or woman is their repentance from sin and their hatred of it. Unfortunately, repentance is a forgotten word in the church today! That powerful, truthful word has been exiled and excused from most church pulpits, elder meetings, prayer gatherings, and worship services all under the guise of glorifying God the Father and exalting our Lord Jesus Christ.

Repentance means a change of mind, a turning away from, a reordering of the entire life, an about face, turning from sin and turning to God. It is the amputation of sin from our lives; the cutting away of the gangrenous so the healthy tissue thrives. None of us can negotiate with sin—we’re not strong enough. We must “cut off our hands, pluck out our eyes” and be done with it, or it will be the undoing of us. The young man depicted above thought he could negotiate with three deadly sins: unguarded pleasure, unbridled passion and unbroken pride. He was sorely mistaken.

Paul gives this same encouragement to a young timid Timothy when he says to his true son in the faith, "flee youthful lust and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22). John the Baptist said, "repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). Our Lord Jesus said, "repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). Paul talked of a "repentance without regret" and a "godly sorrow that leads to repentance" (2 Cor. 7:9f). And finally Peter tells us that, "the Lord...not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

Am I Christian? Evidence That Demands Fruit

How do I know that I am truly saved when my life is constantly being bombarded with sin and its luring? A.W. Pink makes this outstanding observation, "How may I know I'm elect?:

First, by the Word of God having come in divine power to the soul so that my self-complacency is shattered and my self-righteousness is renounced.

Second, by the Holy Spirit convicting me of my woeful, guilty, and lost condition.

Third, by having had revealed to me the suitability and sufficiency of Christ to meet my desperate case and by a divinely given faith causing me to lay hold of and rest upon Him as my only hope.

Fourth, by the marks of the new nature within me - a love for God; an appetite for spiritual things; a longing for holiness; a seeking after conformity to Christ.

Fifth, by the resistance which the new nature makes to the old, causing me to hate sin and loathe myself for it.

Sixth, by avoiding everything which is condemned by God's Word and by sincerely repenting of and humbly confessing every transgression. Failure at this point will surely bring a dark cloud over our assurance causing the Spirit to withhold His witness.

Seventh, by giving all diligence to cultivate the Christian graces and using all diligence to this end. Thus the knowledge of election is cumulative."

THE WORSHIP CENTERED LIFE...living daily in the presence of His glory

We live in a time where people say that Elvis lives and God is dead. We live in a generation that plants trees but uproots marriages. We live in a culture where individuals will bring nations together to save a few dying whales, but are swift to kill unborn babies. It's against the law to post The Ten Commandments in public schools, but it's responsible education for teachers to hand out condoms. Sin is now called sickness; disobedience is now called disease; and adultery is now called addiction--nothing more than extra-curricular political activity for the politicians.

How is it in the midst of this kind of moral and spiritual chaos that we can and must live lives that will bring glory to God? I hope this article will in some way equip and encourage you to "live daily in the presence of His glory."

THE EXCUSE
We all have Phd's in rationalizing our behavior, don't we? We can cast blame and avoid responsibility for our own actions by putting it off on others so effortlessly; this has even become acceptable within the church. I know that in Nashville, TN this technique is considered by many to be a "spiritual gift." Even Pastors have fallen prey to the times. Very seldom do men of God shepherd or disciple their own church people in and from the truths of God's Word. Sadly, the norm today is that the church has adopted a theraputic form of sanctification and become little more than a referral service for the local psychologist or counselor who are more than willing "fix" someone for only $150 an hour. Church Restoration  is rarely exercised for fear of being sued, viewed as judgemental, or unloving. This is caused, I believe, because people have lost a right view of the glory of God and their duty to live every part of their lives for His names sake. Let's take a look together at what it means to live for God and His glory each day.

THE EXHORTATION
I first began serving the Lord Jesus through song in 1974, a remarkable pastor/evangelist named Dr. Stephen Olford, who was arguably one of the finest orators for the gospel and whom I was privileged to call a friend, encouraged me with these powerful words, “Make up your mind, Steve, who will receive the glory—the Lord or you—for He will not share it with another.” Those words branded me like a hot iron and serve even today as not only a mantle for my life and work, but as a “grace reminder” that contrition, brokenness, and humility are not just spiritual hyperbole, but the essence of the servant-leader attitude for genuine ministry.

Paul’s exhortation to the church at Thessalonica to not waver in their worthy walk for the Lord brings a further dimension to this truth, “Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:11-12).

THE ENCOURAGEMENT
The Christian life is not first and foremost about man and his needs, but about God and His glory! As John Calvin so poignantly pens in his institutes, “The sum of the Christian life is the denial of self [and the glory of God].” And as the great Richard Baxter so humbly says, "I was but a pen in the hands of the Lord... and what glory is due a pen?" God won’t share His glory with another, beloved, and we must use all our gifts, talents, and abilities ultimately for one preeminent purpose—not to magnify ourselves or further our own name, but to glorify the Lord and Him alone!

The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins by asking this guileless and lucid question, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is clear and biblical: “To glorify God and enjoy (worship) Him forever” (1 Cor. 1:26-31).

We are not to seek this glory from man (Matthew 6:2; 1 Thess. 2:6) for the glory of man quickly passes away (1 Peter 1:24); nor are we to glory in our own wisdom, might or riches, but to glory in understanding and knowing the Lord (Jeremiah 9:23-24). This glory is given by God (Psalm 84:11), secured in Christ, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one” (John 17:22), is the work of the Holy Spirit, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of God” (2 Cor. 3:18) and is made evident in the new covenant—the ministry of righteousness (Ibid. 9-11).

Scripture makes it clear that God has created man to glorify Himself and this is the prominent purpose of all of our lives. From the common things of life, eating and drinking, to the most profound seasons of worship and praise—whatever we do in vocation and avocation, we are to glorify Him for who He is and all He has done.

THE EVIDENCE
Question: How do we bring glory to the Lord each day in the problematic world that we live in? We bring glory to Him when we confess Christ as Lord (Phil. 2:11), through praise (Psalm 50:23), as we plead in prayer (Ibid. 79:9), as we daily confess our sin in the beauty of holiness (1 Chron. 16:29), and as we exercise a recurrent life of repentance exemplified in the fruits of righteousness (Phil. 1:11). We glorify God when we are privileged to suffer for Christ (1 Peter 4:12-16), and are patient in affliction (Isaiah 24:15), even die for Him (Job 13:15a). We glorify Him when we rely on His promises (Rom. 4:20), and honor Him in our body and spirit—for we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:20). We glorify God for His holiness (Exodus 15:11), mercy and truth (Psalm 115:1; Romans 15:9), faithfulness (Isaiah 25:1), grace to others (Galatians 1:24), deliverance from sin (Ephesians 1:6-14), and for our eternal salvation (2 Timothy 2:10).

THE EXALTATION
The greatest songwriter in the Bible, David, exclaimed, “Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name…” (Psalm 105:2-3). The centrality of glorifying God is also proclaimed in Psalm 29:2, “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” This Old Testament truth is brought forward into the New Testament. Notice how far-reaching it is in the Apostle Paul’s mandate for God’s believing children: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

God’s glory is described as being great (Psalm 138:5), eternal (Ibid. 104:31), rich (Eph. 3:16), and highly exalted (Psalm 8:1; 113:4). God’s transcendent glory is a visible manifestation of His presence (Ezekiel 1). All the heavens declare the glory of God for they demonstrate His eternal power and divine nature (Psalm 19:1-6; Romans 1:20-21). God will even be glorified in His wrath, for in judgment too He is holy, just, perfect and righteous (Romans 9:22-24).

God is the only One worthy of praise, worship and glory, “and My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8). The Psalmist again exhorts us by saying, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth” (Psalm 115:1).

THE EFFECTS OF DISOBEDIENCE
Lucifer fell from heaven because he would not glorify God and tried to exalt himself above God by desiring worship for himself (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28). King Nebuchadnezzar lost his throne and was driven to insanity for seven years for not giving God glory (Daniel 4:19-36). Herod in Acts 12:20-23 was struck by an angel of the Lord, eaten by worms, and died. Why? “Because he did not give glory to God” (verse 23). And this will be our end too. As Charles Bridges has said, "Pride is self contending with God for preeminence."

THE EXAMPLE
But nowhere is God’s glory more magnified and exhibited than in the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:1-5; Hebrews 1:1-4). “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus Christ is the full expression of the glory of God. “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). But He is just not a reflection of God’s glory—for He, Himself, is God of very God (Phil. 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:8). “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col.2:9); “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58); “He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (Ibid.14:9b); “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made the Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36); and as the writer of Hebrews affirms when describing the supremacy of Jesus Christ, “Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

When we live our lives with a clear understanding and knowledge of the character of God, then it is out of the depth of that knowing we worship Him. What we will do in eternity, let us begin to do here in time—let us live daily in the presence of the glory of the Lord.

Peddling the Word of God for Profit...should we be charging for ministry?

an encore presentation

Stewardship or Sales? The Means of Ministry

The Scriptures forbid charging for ministry (worship, preaching and teaching of God's Word, evangelism, fellowship of the church, psalms/hymns or spiritual songs, discipleship, etc. in any circumstance or situation. It is that black and white. Here are some important Scriptures to ponder in this matter (all verse quotations taken from the ESV):

Matthew 10:8-9, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,[a] cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 9Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts" (emphasis added).

1 Corinthians 9:7-18, "Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? 8Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9For it is written in the Law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain." Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 15But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. 18What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel" (emphasis added).

2 Corinthians 2:15-17, "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ."

3 John 5-8, "Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles [nonbelievers]. 8Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth" (emphasis added).

God's people through faithful giving are to supply the financial support for ministry.

Ministry being: 64. Ministry is defined as service to God and His creatures as we employ our Spirit-given giftedness, according to the instruction of Scripture as good stewards of the manifold grace of God for the advancement of His kingdom; that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:10-12)

65. God has designed genuine ministry to be inseparable from the life and leadership of the local church. Any ministry that does not strengthen one's commitment to the local church is inconsistent with the purposes of Christ. (Acts 2:42-47; Hebrews 10:23-25) (source: from the 107 Theses by Steve Camp, part five, #'s 64-65).

All genuine ministry for the Lord cannot have an advanced price tag to pay before the ministry is given. Why? Because then it is no longer ministry, but commerce, employ, trade or entertainment.

With ministry being defined above as service to God and His creatures; and with Christ as our example, we are to give all that we are for all that He is. I used to charge honorariums and tickets to my concerts. It was wrong and I have repented. The Lord deeply convicted me after studying His Word that there ws no justification for every charging for the work of the gospel. Think of what I was doing: charging people to pay a ticket to come to a church or civic venue to hear the gospel and worship the Lord. I was ashamed. How grateful I am to the Lord for His severe mercy and restorative grace over my sin of charging tickets for that which is eternal.

I now receive love offerings from churches; and I am very grateful for those that stand with this ministry in its convictions in this area and becoming "fellow workers in the truth."

One Final Thought in Closing
The greatest proof-text people will misuse out of the Bible to try to “justify” charging for the ministry of the Lord is this familiar phrase: "the workman is worthy of his hire."

I fully agree with that phrase for it is God’s Word; but they wrongly applied when trying to condone treating ministry like a business, trade, or entertainment.

It doesn't mean we have the right to charge for “hire”. More appropriately it means those "who proclaim the gospel should receive their living by the gospel" (1 Cor. 9:14b) and do so in a manner commensorate with the gospel.

The only question is how?

Answer: by not requiring a set fee or charging tickets for people to hear genuine ministry by those who want “go into into all the world and preach the gospel.” But, biblically, genuine ministry should be supported through the cheerful, faithful giving of God's people. Aren't you glad that the Lord didn't charge any of us to hear about the good news of the gopsel unto salvation? Aren't you glad that the Holy Spirit doesn't charge any of us for the spiritual gifts He gives to the church?

Money, beloved, should not be a prerequisite for ministry. Amen?

Please pray for CCM artists, pastors, authors, speakers, and evangelical leaders who are still trapped by the allure of a market-driven ministry; parroting worldly techniques rather than emulate the humility and servanthood of Christ. This principle should even effect Christian retail bookstore outlets and how they “sell” their items; but that is for another time.

GOD'S GREAT GOLDEN CHAIN...our unshakable hope of salvation in Christ Jesus the Lord

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified" -Romans 8:29-30.

This is one of the most profound and assuring promises in all of Scripture. It is commonly referred to as, "The Golden Chain of Salvation." It is a chain of five eternal links: God foreknew; God predestined; God called; God justified; and God glorified. Every aspect of our salvation is all and only of Him. No room for man's self-glory here; no room for a hint of human praise; no room for boasting in ourselves. This is the great work of the Lord alone in our salvation. Past, present and future hope secured for us in Christ Jesus. So therefore, we joyfully say with the apostle Paul, "if God be for us, who can be against us? For it is God who justifies..." (Rom. 8:31f).

1.) God foreknew: foreknowing (and/or foreknowledge) does not mean here to know about future events in advance--even though God does know all things. That is in keeping with Him being omniscient. He knows all things, in all times (past, present and future), concerning all His creatures and creation. Nothing is hidden from His sight and He, contrary to the heresy of The Open Theists, is not "presently learning" nor stunted in His knowing (Psalm 139).

Foreknew/foreknowledge, however, is never used in terms of knowing about future events, times or actions (omniscience). "Foreknowledge is a predetermined relationship in the knowledge of God. God brought the salvation relationship into existence by decreeing it into existence ahead of time" (MacArthur Study Bible, 1 Peter 1:2). God foreknew us by setting His electing love in pre-establishing an intimate relationship with those that He has sovereignly chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world (Eph. 1:4-6; 1 Peter 1:1-2). It is, I believe, only used in regards to God's electing love of His people and not, as some suggest, a "knowing ahead of time of events and actions." God knew us, had established relationship with us in times past eternal. He foreknew us. The antithesis of this is what the Lord said in Matthew 7:23, "depart from, I've never known you." Those are the most frightening words in Scripture, aren't they?

Foreknowledge was also used pertaining to Christ. Peter says, "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake" (1 Peter 1:20). Christ was foreknown in the eternal Trinitarian relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There was intimacy of relationship within the Trinity before anything that was made was made. The promise for us is that He foreknew us before the world was made... What God established in eternity, He brought about in time in our salvation through Christ our Lord.

John Murray says: "

Even if it were granted that `foreknew' means the foresight of faith, the biblical doctrine of sovereign election is not thereby eliminated or disproven. For it is certainly true that God foresees faith; he foresees all that comes to pass. The question would then simply be: whence proceeds this faith, which God foresees? And the only biblical answer is that the faith which God foresees is the faith he himself creates (cf. John 3:3-8; 6:44, 45, 65; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; 2 Peter 1:2). Hence his eternal foresight of faith is preconditioned by his decree to generate this faith in those whom he foresees as believing."

The late Dr. James M. Boice summarizes that:

"foreknowledge means that salvation has its origin in the mind or eternal counsels of God, not in man. It focuses our attention on the distinguishing love of God, according to which some persons are elected to be conformed to the character of Jesus Christ, which is what Paul has already been saying."

2.) God predestined: It means to determine a person's destiny beforehand. To be "pre" - before; "destined" - appointed. God in His sovereign electing love has predestined us, marked out beforehand, our eternal destiny. Again, what comfort this brings to the discouraged believer in the Lord in our daily sanctification in Christ. It tells us that, God, having fixed his distinguishing love upon us (foreknew), he next appointed us "to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." And what is that destiny for the people of God? To be made like Jesus Christ--"conformed to the image of His Son." That is why beloved, "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

3.) God called: James Boice in his excellent commentary on Romans says,

"The next step in this golden chain of five links is what theologians call effectual calling. It is important to use the adjective effectual at this point, because there are two different kinds of calling referred to in the Bible, and it is easy to get confused about them.

One kind of calling is external, general, and universal. It is an open invitation to all persons to repent of sin, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved. It is what Jesus was speaking of when he said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Or again, when he said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37). The problem with this type of call is that, left to themselves, no men or women ever respond positively. They hear the call, but they turn away, preferring their own ways to God. That is why Jesus also said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. .." (John 6:44).

The other kind of call is internal, specific, and effectual. That is, it not only issues the invitation, it also provides the ability or willingness to respond positively. It is God's drawing to himself or bringing to spiritual life the one who without that call would remain spiritually dead and far from him.

There is no greater illustration of this than Jesus' calling of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, who had died four days before. Lazarus in his grave is a picture of every human being in his or her natural state: dead in body and soul, bound with graveclothes, lying in a tomb, sealed with some great stone. Let's call to him, "Lazarus, Lazarus. Come forth, Lazarus. We want you back. We miss you. If you will just get up out of that tomb and return to us, you'll find that we are all anxious to have you back. No one here is going to put any obstructions in your way."

What? Won't Lazarus come? Doesn't he want to be with us?

The problem is that Lazarus does not have the ability to come back. The call is given, but he cannot come.

Ah, but let Jesus take his place before the tomb. Let Jesus call out, "Lazarus, come forth," and the case is quite different. The words are the same, but now the call is no mere invitation. It is an effectual calling. For the same God who originally called the creation out of nothing is now calling life out of death, and his call is heard. Lazarus, though he has been dead four days, hears Jesus and obeys his Master's voice.

That is how God calls those whom he has foreknown and predestined to salvation."

4.) God justified: Here is the great Reformation truth of the gospel, justified by faith alone. It means that the Sovereign Judge of the universe declares us “not guilty” by grace through faith through our Lord Jesus Christ (Roms. 5:1). We are no longer under the wrath of God, no longer the enemy of God. We have become His children and are now the objects of His love and mercy and no longer estranged by His enmity. But being justified is not just a declaration; but also a reality for the Christian. We have been clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ. As Dr. MacArthur so wonderfully says, "Christ was treated on the cross as if He lived your life, so that we might treated as if we lived His life." He was clothed with our sin, though sinless; and we are clothed with His perfect righteousness, though sinful. Our sin imputed to Him; His righteousness imputed to us (Roms. 5:21). This is the great doctrine of imputation in our justification.

"Those whom, God effectually calls he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God" – WCF Ch 11

“Justification is a judicial act of God, in which He declares, on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that all the claims of the law are satisfied with respect to the sinner” (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 513).

"The phrase in ipso (in him) I have preferred to retain, rather than render it per ipsum (by him,) because it has in my opinion more expressiveness and force. For we are enriched in Christ, inasmuch as we are members of his body, and are engrafted into him: nay more, being made one with him, he makes us share with him in every thing that he has received from the Father." (John Calvin Commentary on 1 Cor 1:5

"This calling is an act of the grace of God in Christ by which he calls men dead in sin and lost in Adam through the preaching of the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, to union with Christ and to salvation obtained in him." - Francis Turretin

5.) God glorified: Notice that Paul says this in the past tense. Our future glorification is already secured and perfected in Christ in eternity future. He knew us, determined our destiny to be like Christ, called us, justified us, and now the fifth link in the chain of our salvation... He glorified us. What hope, what promise of eternal life in and with Christ! Paul wrote in Philippians, "I always pray with joy ... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:4, 6). God began the "good work" by foreknowledge, predestination, calling, and justification. And we can know that He will carry it on until the day we will be like Jesus Christ, being glorified.

No wonder Jude proclaims with absolute confidence: "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen" (Jude 24-25).

What a fitting doxology for us today. Here it is beloved: have you gone through a time of trial and brokenness lately? Has your world been shaken--turned upside down by tragedy? Have you been through a divorce, death of a family member or suffered the loss of a child? Maybe you've lost a job or been fired for living honorable for the Lord? Who can bear the weight of such overwhelming pain on their own? But friend in Christ... here is our hope. The golden chain holds you fast. "Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you;" "He will never leave nor forsake you;" and that "nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Rejoice in the Lord and find your hope, security, significance, rest, worth, and purpose only in Him. He is everything we need!

this has been an encore presentation

OUR GREAT SALVATION - REMEMBERING GOSPEL REFORMATION...by God; in Christ; through the Holy Spirit

by grace alone; through faith alone; because of Christ alone; on the Word alone; to the glory of God alone!

Article 1: God's Right to Condemn All People
Since all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence of the curse and eternal death, God would have done no one an injustice if it had been his will to leave the entire human race in sin and under the curse, and to condemn them on account of their sin. As the apostle says: The whole world is liable to the condemnation of God (Rom. 3:19), All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).*

(*All quotations from Scripture are translations of the original Latin manuscript.)

Article 2: The Manifestation of God's Love
But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel
In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sends proclaimers of this very joyful message to the people he wishes and at the time he wishes. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. For how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent? (Rom. 10:14-15).

Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel
God's anger remains on those who do not believe this gospel. But those who do accept it and embrace Jesus the Savior with a true and living faith are delivered through him from God's anger and from destruction, and receive the gift of eternal life.

Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith
The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ (Phil. 1:29).

Article 6: God's Eternal Decision
The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from his eternal decision. For all his works are known to God from eternity (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11). In accordance with this decision he graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of his chosen ones and inclines them to believe, but by his just judgment he leaves in their wickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in this especially is disclosed to us his act--unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just--of distinguishing between people equally lost. This is the well-known decision of election and reprobation revealed in God's Word. This decision the wicked, impure, and unstable distort to their own ruin, but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words.

Article 7: Election
Election [or choosing] is God's unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:

Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, he chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. He did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation. And so he decided to give the chosen ones to Christ to be saved, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ's fellowship through his Word and Spirit. In other words, he decided to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of his Son, to glorify them.

God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of his glorious grace.

As Scripture says, God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified (Rom. 8:30).

Article 8: A Single Decision of Election
This election is not of many kinds; it is one and the same election for all who were to be saved in the Old and the New Testament. For Scripture declares that there is a single good pleasure, purpose, and plan of God's will, by which he chose us from eternity both to grace and to glory, both to salvation and to the way of salvation, which he prepared in advance for us to walk in.

Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith
This same election took place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen, but rather for the purpose of faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, and so on. Accordingly, election is the source of each of the benefits of salvation. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, and at last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits and effects. As the apostle says, He chose us (not because we were, but) so that we should be holy and blameless before him in love (Eph. 1:4).

Article 10: Election Based on God's Good Pleasure
But the cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. This does not involve his choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, but rather involves his adopting certain particular persons from among the common mass of sinners as his own possession. As Scripture says, When the children were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad..., she (Rebecca) was told, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" (Rom. 9:11-13). Also, All who were appointed for eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).

Article 11: Election Unchangeable
Just as God himself is most wise, unchangeable, all-knowing, and almighty, so the election made by him can neither be suspended nor altered, revoked, or annulled; neither can his chosen ones be cast off, nor their number reduced.

Article 12: The Assurance of Election
Assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God's Word-- such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.

The above articles were taken from the Canons of Dort (1618-1619)

HE MUST INCREASE - I MUST DECREASE...challenging protestant popery and the cult of personality within the pastorate

Encore Presentation

I was speaking with a friend of mine recently who asked an intriguing question: "why is it that it seems that most famous pastors of mega-churches tend to reach a point very quickly where they embrace a "cult of personality" persona in regards to ministry?" Generalizations aside, there is some truth to that in that question. I think the answer is simple: we have made personalities of them and given them power, admiration, and authority that is not in keeping with servant-leadership or imitating Christ; and their lofty platforms, prove more times than not, very difficult for any man to handle. When sectarian loyalty abounds (1 Cor. 3), then believing ones own press release becomes a real danger. Even the best-intentioned subordinates on church staffs can succumb to this pressure when much of their time is spent trying to get close to "the senior pastor" and remain in his good graces for either reasons of influence, job security, or to gain advancement by riding on anothers coattails.

Whatever the reason, what is true in the secular business world known as "brown nosing" is sadly true within the Christian community as well. We don't like to admit it; we seldom talk about it; and very rarely challenge it. And in part, if one does, one might find oneself on the outs with some "leaders of influence" in local church or greater denominational circles.

That is why I am firmly against what I call "Protestant Popery"; and favor the biblical model of servant-leadership we see in the pastoral epistles. In saying that, I am blessed and very grateful to the Lord for my pastors at my home church who are a model for me of Christlike humility; who are submissive to the standard of God's Word as their final authority; who invest tirelessly in the daily lives of the people of the church; and who are content to be servants of Christ, instead of stars in evangelicalism. They have a low visibility, yet high impact for the kingdom of God. May their tribe increase!

Our Lord is not like what Tozer used to call "the glory boys of today." Paul said in 2 Cor. 10:1, "we are mindful of the humility and gentleness of Christ." What an example for pastors today. Our Lord, though King of kings and God in human flesh, humbled Himself as a bondservant (Phil. 2:5-11); washed His disciples feet (John 13:1-12); was a friend of sinners (Luke 7:31-50); embraced the cross despising the shame (Heb. 12:2); and even submitted to the injustices of evil men (Acts 2:19-23). Pastors of large influential media driven churches today need to follow Christ and His example of leadership. They need to come down to the people, take up the towel, water and washbasin, serve God’s people daily, be men of fervent prayer privately before ever ascending to the pulpit publicly. They need to be more than expositors--more than effective communicators and leaders; they need to be under-shepherds who smell like sheep and are invested in the lives of the people. They need to be on the radio less, writing fewer books, maintaining a low visibility on TV with making the news talk-show appearances a rarity, limiting personal appearances around the country, and in their churches more. They need to disciple their fellow elders, deacons and lay leaders every week. They need to be more than excellent orators; they need to servants (1 Cor. 4:1-2). Ministry in famous pulpits alone breeds not humility, servanthood and Christlikeness, but left imbalanced could result in increased power, unjustified authority, and fosters unbroken pride. What's the solution? Accountability. Who shepherds the shepherd each week beloved? Who does the pastor submit himself too for discipleship? Who is willing to challenge his words, evaluate his preaching, examine his life, and hold him responsible to his holy charge from heaven? (2 Tim. 4:1-5).

May I encourage you today to email this to as many pastors, youth group leaders, missionaries, elders and deacons as you can. It will convict them, and in turn, bless them. Pray for your pastors and leaders at your church. Love them, serve them, encourage them, exhort them, and walk with them (Heb. 13:7; 17). May the following words give you some good insight in beginning to answer those important questions above.

Grace and peace,
Steve

To God be the glory alone; and may God help the man who takes any for himself.

“When all men honor us, then we may very well he content; but when the finger of scorn is pointed at us, when our character is held in ill repute, and men hiss us by the wayside, it requires much gospel knowledge to be able to endure that with patience and with cheerfulness. When we are increasing, and growing in rank, and honor, and human esteem, it is easy work to be contented; but when we have to say with John the Baptist, “I must decrease,” or when we see some other servant advanced to our place and another man bearing the palm we had longed to hold, it is not easy to sit still, and without an envious feeling cry with Moses, “Would to God that all the Lord’s servants were prophets.”

To hear another man praised at your own expense, to find your own virtues made as a foil to set forth the superior excellence of some new rival —this, I say, is beyond human nature, to be able to bear it with joy and thankfulness, and to bless God. There must be something noble in the heart of the man who is able to lay all his honors down as willingly as he took them up, when he can as cheerfully submit himself to Christ to humble him, as to lift him up and seat him upon a throne. And yet, my brethren, we have not any one of us learned what the apostle knew, if we are not as ready to glorify Christ by shame, by ignominy and by reproach, as by honor and by esteem among men. We must be ready to give up everything for him. We must be willing to go downwards, in order that Christ’s name may ascend upwards, and be the better known and glorified among men.

“I know how to be abased,” says the apostle.” (Phil. 4:11)

(author unknown)

The EMBARRASSING INEFFECTUAL MEMORANDUM OF POLITICAL PREACHERS...time to act

Cal Thomas is easily one of the most articulate political commentators ever to grace American soil. He is the most syndicated journalist today and what sets him apart from the rest of the pundits is not only his brilliant and insightful “uncommon sense” to the issues of the day; but his ability to see things clearly through the lens of Scripture. He is a consummate biblical thinker and I for one am grateful for the daily contribution he makes on behalf of the gospel in the marketplace of our culture.

His razor sharp analysis is spot on about the political sea change that has occurred among many evangelical leaders: “On the right and on the left, ordained and self-proclaimed "reverends" and honorary "doctors" appear to spend more time trying to reform a fallen and decaying world through politics and earthly power than they do promoting and proclaiming the ultimate answer [the gospel] to that fallenness.

While these apostles of political parties and personal agendas have every right to make fools of themselves, they are enabled in their foolishness by millions of people who blindly send them money.”

His thoughts distill so much of my ongoing concern for the ecumenically charged ECB movement that prescribes political remedies as the cure for moral maladies. These “political preachers,” as Cal so aptly names them, not only deliver a misleading duplicitous message (i.e. Pat Robertson’s latest faux pas) but also do unwarranted “harm” to the testimony of Christ. I have recently received several emails from missionaries from all over the world who have said that their witness for the gospel has been made increasingly more difficult because of Robertson’s careless remarks. That is tragic.

However, by far Cal’s most devastating and stinging rebuke to those in the ecumenical evangelical camp of political co-belligerence are these powerful words: ”Too many Christians think if they shout loud enough and gain political strength the world will be improved. That is a false doctrine. I have never seen anyone "converted" to a Christian's point of view (and those views are not uniform) through political power. I have frequently seen someone's views changed after they have experienced true conversion and then live by different standards and live for goals beyond which political party controls the government.” That is astute and bold analysis ladies and gentlemen that I agree with wholeheartedly. When evangelical leadership is diverted to reducing the importance and impact of the gospel of sola fide in society by relinquishing that God-given duty to politics, then the only “good news” that can bring lasting change in peoples lives for eternity is marginalized and made impotent.

What is the solution to these preachers turned social/political commentators? Once again, Cal Thomas provides the word of wisdom: “[Pat Robertson’s] penance should be to retire and to take his bombastic conservative and liberal colleagues with him.” Instead of Justice Sunday we need a series of Reformation Sundays that will preach the Word, proclaim sola fide and call the church in America and the current evangelical pontiffs to repentance. Until then, we’ll have to tolerate the benign gospel of political preaching—which is really no gospel at all.

The cross waves higher than the flag,
SJ Camp
Jer. 29:4-9

this is an encore presentation - originally posted 6/2/2005

THE CROSS CHURCH WEBSITE IS ONLINE!...joining the conversation of faith

The Cross Church website is online! 

I have been pastoring this wonderful church since last October and am so excited to help them launch its first website. Many thanks to Les Lanphere who developed this site. Great job!

So many of us are used to tweeting, facebooking, texting, and blogging that it is second nature by now. But to some it is a brand new way to do ministry and communicate with each other. Our church is brand new at this - but so eager and thrilled to be ministering through the web.

We have several articles already up, some audio messages (with more and some video to come soon), featured issues, and some of the ministries that we are involved with at The Cross.

I hope you will stop by and check us out! And as we like to say at our church: Jesus is a far greater Savior than you are a sinner! Amen?

Grace to you and peace,

Steve
2 Cor. 4:5-7

HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM READING YOUR BIBLE...by Thomas Watson

I think that getting the most out of studying and reading the Bible is a subject always near to God's people. This was David's prayer in Psalm 119:18 when he said, "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law." Not content with just surface knowledge, the once shepherd boy knew that God must draw the veil from his eyes so that he could behold the vast treasures of His Word.

As Spurgeon says,

"The prayer implies a conscious darkness, a dimness of spiritual vision, a powerlessness to remove that defect, and a full assurance that God can remove it. It shows also that the writer knew that there were vast treasures in the word which he had not yet fully seen, marvels which he had not yet beheld, mysteries which he had scarcely believed. The Scriptures teem with marvels; the Bible is wonder land; it not only relates miracles, but it is itself a world of wonders. Yet what are these to closed eyes? And what man can open his own eyes, since he is born blind? God himself must reveal revelation to each heart. Scripture needs opening, but not one half so much as our eyes do: the veil is not on the book, but on our hearts. What perfect precepts, what precious promises, what priceless privileges are neglected by us because we wander among them like blind men among the beauties of nature, and they are to us as a landscape shrouded in darkness!"

Thomas Watson gives some very practical steps to get the most out of our time in God's Word each day. It has been a strength to my own heart--I trust it will be with yours as well.

Grace and peace,
Campi
Psalm 110:54

Biographical Note THOMAS WATSON (c.1620-1686), was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was noted for remarkably hard study. In 1646 he was commenced a sixteen year pastorate at St. Stephen's Walbrook. In 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love's plot to recall Charles II. He was released on 30th June,1652, and was formally reinstated vicar of St. Stephen's Walbrook. He obtained great fame and popularity as preacher until the Restoration, when he was ejected for nonconformity. Notwithstanding the rigor of the acts against dissenters, Watson continued to exercise his ministry privately as he found opportunity. Upon the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he obtained a license for the great hall in Crosby House. After preaching there for several years, his health gave way, and he retired to Barnston in Essex, where he died suddenly while praying in secret. He was buried on 28th July , 1686.


1. Remove hindrances. (a) remove the love of every sin (b) remove the distracting concerns of this world, especially covetousness [Matt. 13:22] (c) Don't make jokes with and out of Scripture.

2. Prepare your heart. [1 Sam. 7:3] Do this by: (a) collecting your thoughts (b) purging unclean affections and desires (c) not coming to it rashly or carelessly.

3. Read it with reverence, considering that each line is God speaking directly to you (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Psalm 19:7-11).

4. Read the books of the Bible in order.

5. Get a true understanding of Scripture. [Ps. 119:73] This is best achieved by comparing relevant parts of Scripture with each other.

6. Read with seriousness. [Deut. 32:47] The Christian life is to be taken seriously since it requires striving [Luke 13:24] and not falling short [Heb. 4:1].

7. Persevere in remembering what you read. [Ps. 119:52] Don't let it be stolen from you [Matt. 13:4,19]. If it doesn't stay in your memory it is unlikely to be much benefit to you.

8. Meditate on what you read. [Ps. 119:15] The Hebrew word for meditate' means to be intense in the mind'. Meditation without reading is wrong and bound to err; reading without meditation is barren and fruitless. It means to stir the affections, to be warmed by the fire of meditation [Ps. 39:3].

9. Read with a humble heart. Acknowledge that you are unworthy that God should reveal himself to you [James 4:6]

10. Believe it all to be God's Holy Word. [2 Tim 3:16] We know that no sinner could have written it because of the way it describes sin. No saint could blaspheme God by pretending his own Word was God's. No angel could have written it for the same reason. [Heb 4:2]

11. Prize the Bible highly. [Ps. 119:72] It is your lifeline; you were born by it [James 1:18] you need to grow by it [1 Pet 2:2] [cf. Job 23:12].

12. Love the Bible ardently [Ps. 119:159].

13. Come to read it with an honest heart. [Luke 8:15] (a) Willing to know the entire and complete will of God (b) reading in order to be changed and made better by it [John 17:17].

14. Apply to yourself everything that you read, take every word as spoken to yourself. Its condemnation of sins as the condemnation of your own sin; the duty that it requires as the duty God would require from you [2 Kings 22:11].

15. Pay close attention to the commands of the Word as much as the promises. Think of how you need direction just as much as you need comfort (Psalm 119:9-11).

16. Don't get carried away with the minor details, rather make sure to pay closest attention to the great things [Hosea 8:12].

17. Compare yourself with the Word. How do you compare? Is your heart something of a transcript of it, or not? (James 1:21-25)

18. Pay special attention to those passages that speak to your individual, particular and present situation. e.g. (a) Affliction -- [Heb. 12:7, Isaiah 27:9, John 16:20, 2 Cor 4:17. (b) Sense of Christ's presence and smile withdrawn -- [Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 57:16, Ps. 97:11] (c) Sin -- [Gal 5:24, James 1:15, 1 Peter 2:11, Prov 7:10&22-23, Prov 22:14] (d) Unbelief -- [Isaiah 26:3, 2 Sam 22:31, John 3:15, 1 John 5:10, John 3:36]

19. Pay special attention to the examples and lives of people in the Bible as living sermons. (a) Punishments [Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Num 25:3-4&9, 1 Kings 14:9-10, Acts 5:5,10, 1 Cor 10:11, Jude 7] (b) mercies and deliverances [Daniel, Jeremiah, the 3 youths in the fiery furnace]

20. Don't stop reading the Bible until you find your heart warmed. [Ps 119:93] Let it not only inform you but also inflame you [Jer 23:29, Luke 24:32].

21. Put into practice what you read [Ps 119:66, Ps 119:105, Deut 17:19].

22. Christ is for us Prophet, Priest and King. Make use of His office as a Prophet [Rev 5:5, John 8:12, Ps 119:102-103]. Get Christ not only to open the Scriptures up to you, but to open up your mind and understanding [Luke 24:45]

23. Make sure to put yourself under a true ministry of the Word, faithfully and thoroughly expounding the Word [Prov 8:34] be earnest and eager in waiting on it.

24. Pray that you will profit from reading [Isaiah 48:17, Ps 119:18, Nehemiah 9:20].

Natural obstacles You may still be able to profit from reading even though:

1. You don't seem to profit as much as others do. Remember the different yields [Matt 13:8] though the yield isn't as much as others it is still a true and fruitful yield.

2. You may feel slow of understanding [Luke 9:45, Heb 5:11].

3. Your memory is bad (a) remember you are still able to have a good heart despite this (b) you may still remember the most important things even if you cannot remember everything, be encouraged by John 14:26.