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Have you ever thought about taking a cruise that combines a tremendous vacation with great Bible teaching, encouraging worship through song, rich fellowship and a chance to have face to face late night theology talks with Phil Johnson, james White, Don Kistler, David King and myself on a myriad of issues facing us in the church today? Then bring the blog to life and join us on the Alpha/Omega - AudienceONE cruise this November!
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This offer is good for new bookings only and will only be offered while supplies last. Offer expires 4/1/06 at 5pm. Don't miss this great opportunity to join James White, Phil Johnson, Don Kistler, David King and myself for our "Pulpit Crimes" cruise! CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFER!
If any of you have researched what it costs to take a cruise these days, you know what a tremendous offer this truly is. I look forward to seeing you on board!
Grace and peace,
Steve Camp
2 Cor. 4:5-7
Friday, March 31, 2006
The "Pulpit Crimes" Cruise with Phil Johnson, Dr. James White, Don Kistler, David King (and myself)
Monday, March 13, 2006
Death is loss...
...but oh, what gain!
This past weekend I was ministering in a wonderful church in Greenville, SC. One thing that was unusual and an added blessing, was I had the privilege of meeting several Christian "bikers" at the Sunday morning service. One gentleman in particular, named Dave, came over and introduced himself and we had about ten minutes or so to converse. He had a beautiful fully dressed Harley Davidson Heritage Classic and wore a full set of his best leathers to church as well. He was an articulate, stately man blessed with the most charming tenderhearted southern grace about him. He also had this unmistakable speaking voice that I told him "should be heard on the radio." He graciously smiled and we continued to share stories about family, childhood, faith and ministry. He was very encouraging about the message from Hebrews 2:17 on "The Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Christ on the Cross” that I had just finished preaching.
Last evening, about five minutes before the Sunday evening worship concert was to begin, Pastor Scott came up to me and told me of a tragic situation that had just occurred only a few moments earlier. One of the members of the praise team, the organist Rob who I had worked with yesterday morning, was riding his motorcycle to last evening’s service along with Dave and his girlfriend on their bike. As I understand it, the front wheel of Rob's motorcycle nicked the back wheel of Dave's motorcycle and a severe accident resulted. Rob and the woman were injured, but Dave died immediately and went home to be with the Lord.
As most of you know my older brother Norm went home to be with the Lord just two months ago—so the memory of what the Lord recently brought me through in that situation had a profound impact as to the direction of how the evening worship concert and time in the Word unfolded when ministering to these dear people. In light of this situation, I am dedicating the content of the blogs and website today to two articles, one by written by J.I. Packer and the other by C.H. Spurgeon on this theme of the hope of the resurrection for the believer in Christ.
What joy there is to know beloved that in the midst of such heartache and pain, that we do not sorrow in vain; for "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord..." Amen?
May I encourage you to pray for Dave's family and girlfriend today; pray for Rob and the emotional shock he is going through; for Pastor Scott as he ministers to the congregation and community this week; and pray that the Lord will use this tragedy to give opportunity to proclaim His gospel, to show the frailty and “vapor” of this life, to inquire of others “are they ready if their soul was required of them today?”; and to use this sobering event to press upon all our own hearts the great need to keep the eternal things ever dear and near to us as we long to please the Lord and glorify Him in all things.
"Grave where is thy victory, death where is thy sting?"
Grace and peace,
Steve Camp
2 Cor. 5
Resurrection
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead
by J.I. Packer
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. (LUKE 24:1-3)
Jesus’ resurrection, which was a divine act involving all three Persons of the Godhead (John 10:17-18; Acts 13:30-35; Rom. 1:4), was not just a resuscitation of the ruined physical frame that was taken down from the cross for burial. It was, rather, a transformation of Jesus’ humanity that enabled him to appear, vanish, and move unseen from one location to another (Luke 24:31, 36). It was the creative renewing of his original body, the body that is now fully glorified and deathless (Phil. 3:21; Heb. 7:16, 24). The Son of God in heaven still lives in and through that body, and will do so forever. In 1 Corinthians 15:50-54, Paul envisages that Christians who are alive on earth at the moment of Christ’s return will undergo a similar transformation, though in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 he shows himself aware that Christians who die before the Second Coming will be “clothed” with their new body (the “eternal house in heaven”) as a distinct event, at or after the time of the old body’s return to dust (Gen. 3:19).
Christianity rests on the certainty of Jesus’ resurrection as a space-time occurrence in history. All four Gospels highlight it, focusing on the empty tomb and resurrection appearances, and Acts insists on it (Acts 1:3; 2:24-35; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30-32; 13:33-37). Paul regarded the Resurrection as indisputable proof that the message about Jesus as Judge and Saviour is true (Acts 17:31; 1 Cor. 15:1-11, 20).
Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated his victory over death (Acts 2:24; 1 Cor. 15:54-57), vindicated him as righteous (John 16:10), and indicated his divine identity (Rom. 1:4). It led on to his ascension and enthronement (Acts 1:9-11; 2:34; Phil. 2:9-11; cf. Isa. 53:10-12) and his present heavenly reign. It guarantees the believer’s present forgiveness and justification (Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:17) and is the basis of resurrection life in Christ for the believer here and now (John 11:25-26; Rom. 6; Eph. 1:18-2:10; Col. 2:9-15; 3:1-4).
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." — Philippians 1:21by C. H. SPURGEON
Surely DEATH is loss.
When I look upon thee, thou clay-cold corpse, and see thee just preparing to be the palace of corruption and the carnival for worms, I cannot think that thou hast gained! When I see that thine eye hath lost light, and thy lip hath lost its speech, and thine ears have lost hearing, and thy feet have lost motion, and thy heart hath lost its joy, and they that look out of the windows are darkened, the grinders have failed, and no sounds of tabret and of harp wake up thy joys, O clay-cold corpse, thou hast lost, lost immeasurably.
And yet my text tells me that it is not so. It says, "To die is gain." It looks as if it could not be thus; and certainly it is not, so far as I can see. But put to your eye the telescope of faith, take that magic glass which pierces through the veil that parts us from the unseen. Anoint your eyes with eyesalve, and make them so bright that they can pierce the ether, and see the unknown worlds. Come, bathe yourself in this sea of light, and live in holy revelation and belief, and then look, and oh, how changed the scene! Here is the corpse, but there the spirit; here is the clay, but there the soul; here is the carcass, but there the seraph. He is supremely blest; his death is GAIN.
Come now, what did he lose? I will show that in everything he lost, he gained far more. He lost his friends, did he? His wife, and his children, his brethren in church fellowship, are all left to weep his loss. Yes, he lost them; but, my brethren, what did he gain? He gained more friends than ever he lost. He had lost many in his lifetime, but he meets them all again. Parents, brethren and sisters who had died in youth or age, and passed the stream before him, all salute him on the further brink. There the mother meets her infant, there the father meets his children, there the venerable patriarch greets his family to the third and fourth generation, there brother clasps brother to his arms, and husband meets with wife, no more to be married or given in marriage, but to live together, like the angels of God.
Some of us have more friends in Heaven than in earth; we have more dear relations in glory than we have here. It is not so with all of us, but with some it is so; more have crossed the stream than are left behind. But if it be not so, yet what friends we have to meet us there!
Oh, I reckon on the day of death if it were for the mere hope of seeing the bright spirits that are now before the throne; to clasp the hands of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, to look into the face of Paul the apostle, and grasp the hand of Peter; to sit in flowery fields with Moses and David, to bask in the sunlight of bliss with John and Mary Magdalene.
Oh how blest! The company of poor, imperfect saints on earth is good; but how much better the society of the redeemed! Death is no loss to us by way of friends. We leave a few, a little band below, and say to them, "Fear not little flock," and we ascend and meet the armies of the living God, the hosts of his redeemed. "To die is gain."
Yes, brethren, "TO DIE IS GAIN."
Take away, take away that hearse, remove that shroud; come, put white plumes upon the horse's heads, and let gilded trappings hang around them. There, take away that fife, that shrill sounding music of the death march. Lend me the trumpet and the drum. O Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah; why weep we the saints gone to glory; why need we lament? They are not dead, they are gone before. Stop, stop that mourning, refrain thy tears, clap your hands, clap your hands... "They are supremely blest, have done with care and sin and woe. And with their Saviour rest."
What! weep! weep for heads that are crowned with coronals of heaven? Weep, weep for hands that grasp the harps of gold? What, weep for eyes that see the Redeemer? What, weep for hearts that are washed from sin, and are throbbing with eternal bliss? What, weep for men that are in the Saviour's bosom?
No; weep for yourselves, that you are here. Weep that the mandate has not come which bids you to die. Weep that you must tarry. But weep not for them. I see them turning back on you with loving wonder, and they exclaim, "Why weepest thou?" What, weep for poverty that it is clothed in riches? What, weep for sickness, that it hath inherited, eternal health? What, weep for shame, that it is glorified; and weep for sinful mortality, that it hath become immaculate? Oh, weep not, but rejoice. "If ye knew what it was that I have said unto you, and whither I have gone, ye would rejoice with a joy that no man should take from you." — "TO DIE IS GAIN."
Ah, this makes the Christian long to die — makes him say, "Oh, that the word were given! O Lord of Hosts, the wave divide, and land us all in heaven!"
And now, friends, does this belong to you ALL?
Can you claim an interest in it? Are you living to Christ? Does Christ live in you? For, if not, your death will not be in gain. Are you a believer in the Saviour? Has your heart been renewed, and your conscience washed in the blood of Jesus? If not, my hearer, I weep for thee. I will save my tears for lost friends; there, with this handkerchief I'd staunch mine eyes forever for my best beloved that shall die, if those tears could save you.
O, when you die, what a day! If the world were hung in sackcloth, it could not express the grief that you would feel. You die. Oh death! Oh death! how hideous art thou to men that are not in Christ! and yet, my hearer, thou shalt soon die. Save me thy bed of shrieks, thy look of gall, thy words of bitterness! Oh that thou couldst be saved the dread hereafter! Oh! the wrath to come! the wrath to come! the wrath to come! who is he that can preach of it?
Horrors strike the guilty soul! It quivereth upon the verge of death; no, on the verge of hell. It looketh over, clutching hard to life, and it heareth there the sullen groans, the hollow moans, and shrieks of tortured ghosts, which come up from the pit that is bottomless, and it clutcheth firmly to life, clasps the physician, and bids him hold, lest he should fall into the pit that burneth. And the spirit looketh down and seeth all the fiends of everlasting punishments, and back it recoileth. But die it must. It would barter all it hath to coin an hour; but no, the fiend hath got its grip, and down it must plunge.
And who can tell the hideous shriek of a lost soul? It cannot reach heaven; but if it could, it might well be dreamed that it would suspend the melodies of angels, might make even God's redeemed weep, if they could hear the wailings of a damned soul. Ah! you men and women, ye have wept; but if you die unregenerate, there will be no weeping like that; there will be no shriek like that, no wail like that. May God spare us from ever hearing it or uttering it ourselves! Oh, how the grim caverns of Hades startle, and how the darkness of night is frighted, when the wail of a lost soul comes up from the ascending flames, whilst it is descending in the pit.
"Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Christ is preached to you. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Believe on him and live, ye guilty, vile, perishing; believe and live. But this know — if ye reject my message, and despise my Master, in that day when he shall judge the world in righteousness by that man, JESUS CHRIST, I must be a swift witness against you. I have told you — at your soul's peril reject it. Receive my message, and you are saved; reject it — take the responsibility on your own head. Behold, my skirts are clear of your blood. If ye be damned, it is not for want of warning. Oh God grant, ye may not perish.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Boy in a Bubble
...Peggy Noonan's insightful look at this year's Oscars
"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths." -2 Tim. 4:2-4
Peggy Noonan is easily one of the smartest and most insightful people in American politics/journalism today (and my personal favorite). She was special assistant to President Ronald Reagan from 1984 to 1986. In 1988 she was chief speechwriter for George Bush when he ran for the presidency; the best selling author of seven books on American politics, history and culture. She is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and a weekly columnist for the Journal’s editorial page website; and Noonan is also the author of the best selling “The Case Against Hillary Clinton” (HarperCollins, March, 2000). Her first book, “What I Saw at the Revolution” was called “A love letter to the American political process,” by Time Magazine. All to say, this and more has made her one of conservatism's most respected thinkers. If you would like to sample her razor-sharp wisdom and cultural acumen you may do so here. (If she was only a Reformed Baptist too. Let me pause...)
Her latest OpinionJournal contribution published on March 9th is about this years Oscars Awards; and in specific, by way of illustration, George Clooney. The subtitle of her article "Boy In the Bubble" reads, "What George Clooney doesn't know about life." Ms. Noonan demonstrates unusual sagacity in her commentary. Before presenting a biblical worldview on this subject, here is a sampling of quotes from her trenchant and articulate pen offering sound reasoning compared with Mr. Clooney's artistic ululating:
"We all like Jack Nicholson not because he's classically beautiful--he's not--but because somehow he signals, in the way he lives his life, in the way he walks into the world, at least as seen through newspapers and magazines, that on some level or to some unusual degree he . . . gets the joke. It is odd to think, as a moviegoer, that you know Jack Nicholson, and yet in a way you do. We watch the young ones coming up. Will Charlize turn into someone who gets the joke, or someone who is the joke?"
"George Clooney is Hollywood now. He is charming and beautiful and cool, but he is not Orson Welles. I know that's like saying of an artist that he's no Rembrandt, but bear with me because I have a point that I think is worth making."
"Orson Welles was an artist. George Clooney is a fellow who read an article and now wants to tell us the truth, if we can handle it."
"More important, Orson Welles had a canny respect for the audience while maintaining a difficult relationship with studio executives, whom he approached as if they were his intellectual and artistic inferiors. George Clooney has a canny respect for the Hollywood establishment, for its executives and agents, and treats his audience as if it were composed of his intellectual and artistic inferiors. (He is not alone in this. He is only this year's example.)"
But Mr. Clooney's remarks were also part of the tinniness of the age, and of modern Hollywood. I don't think he was being disingenuous in suggesting he was himself somewhat heroic. He doesn't even know he's not heroic. He thinks making a movie in 2005 that said McCarthyism was bad is heroic."
"In an odd way they haven't experienced life; they've experienced media. Their films seem more an elaboration and meditation on media than an elaboration and meditation on life. This is how he could take such an unnuanced, unsophisticated, unknowing gloss on the 1950s and the McCarthy era. He just absorbed media about it."
What Ms. Noonan brilliantly describes is the futility of Hollywood's postmodern message, messenger, and methodology. The Apostle Paul's strong words to young Timothy are profound and stand in strong defiant contrast to the transient ideals of Clooney's superficial media-schooled world-view:
"Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed upon you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things; for as you do this you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
This is the eternal, politically incorrect, immutable foundation we need to employ in our daily lives, isn't it beloved? Look at Paul's continued exhortation to Timothy. First to holiness - be an example in in five areas: speech, conduct, love, faith and purity (v. 12); then to the truth of God's Word: reading, exhortation, and teaching (v. 13); accountability to authority: the laying on of hands by the presbytery, don't neglect, take pains, be absorbed, progress evident to all (v.14-15); and then to a circumspect conscientious of life and doctrine (v. 16a); and finally to the work of the gospel: insurance of salvation (v. 16b).
We don't have the luxury in Christianity to be content with "a momentary philosophical whim appealing to the audience for approval by sound bite." Or "cultural change by media engagement." Or Malcolm Muggeridge's timeless, yet inaccurate, assertion, "the medium is the message." No... The message of the gospel IS the message (Rom. 1:18-17; 2 Cor. 4:5-7; and we are "to know nothing among [them] save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." The solution to Mr. Clooney's temporary convictions is the life-changing truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Matt. 5-7).
Here is the real question for us today: I'm fearful that "as Hollywood goes, so goes the church" may have more merit than we care to recognize. IOW, a personality driven, pragmatic popularity that seeks to define itself and be measured by cultural acceptance than by eternal canon (i.e. Brian McLaren's "Generous Orthodoxy."). With a seeker friendly, politically driven, social gospel, Emergent church, postmodern accommodationalism on the rise, evangelicalism may not be far behind the Left Coast in its methodological moorings. I mean, it's not out of the scope of probability that Mr. Clooney's social/political/cultural agenda could find its way affording him a keynote address at one of many Willow Creek services or conferences to share, by way of interview, his "take on things." (Hybel has bestowed that honor, as well by way of interview, to Jim Collins and to former President Clinton).
May we not look back at the last twenty years of redemptive history and have to face the saddening conclusion that we failed to sound the alarm of the impending danger when methods gives way to worldliness and worldliness to error infiltrates the church and men of God have fallen asleep with their sword in sheath in the darkness of perilous times. To paraphrase Ms. Noonan: "The Church in the Bubble" - What Evangelicalism doesn't know about life, truth, the gospel, and biblical ministry."
Please take time to read to her astute words--it is well worth the investment.
Grace and peace,
Steve
2 Timothy 3
