"The keys of the Kingdom are a sacred trust from Christ to His church. Those keys symbolize custody of the very entrance to the Kingdom. He has placed the church in the world and commanded us to preach the gospel so that we can stand as a beacon to point the way to that Kingdom. If we compromise His Word or camouflage the gospel, we cease to be that beacon, and we forfeit the only authority we have to use the keys of the Kingdom.
When the church is faithful to God and His word, however, we actually enact heaven's decisions here on earth. We can speak with authority to an unbelieving world. When heaven is in agreement with us, the issue is settled in accord with the highest possible authority. But if we compromise God's Word, we forfeit the very source of our authority. That is why it is so crucial for the church to deal seriously with God, to handle His Word with integrity, and to stand apart from the world. And that is what we mean when we pray, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10)." -John MacArthur, "Ashamed of the Gospel" (cf, 2 Timothy 4:1-5)
My point is I believe he got some things wrong, and he was not known to be the most gracious when challenged. Many who comment on this blog reflect what I would say are problems of that sort.
ReplyDeleteYikes, that bites.
Who are the many? Are YOU one of the many? ME? WHO? Name the MANY and list them upon the Internet, along with all their other sins.
Are three fingers pointing at you as you point the finger at others?
How often do you lift a finger to help others and point them in the right direction?
"Are you persuaded you see more clearly than me? It is not unlikely that you may. Then treat me as you would desire to be treated yourself upon a change of circumstances. Point me out a better way than I have yet known. Show me it is so, by plain proof of Scripture. And if I linger in the path I have been accustomed to tread, and am therefore unwilling to leave it, labour with me a little; take me by the hand, and lead me as I am able to bear. But be not displeased if I entreat you not to beat me down in order to quicken my pace: I can go but feebly and slowly at best; then, I should not be able to go at all. May I not request of you, further, not to give me hard names in order to bring me into the right way. Suppose I were ever so much in the wrong, I doubt this would not set me right. Rather, it would make me run so much the farther from you, and so get more and more out of the way."
Martin Luther
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Martin Luther was born in 1483 into a strict German Catholic family. His parents intended him for a law career, but he became a monk and a theology professor instead. A sensitive soul, he struggled mightily with a guilty conscience and an intense fear of God and hell until he realized the doctrine of "justification by faith" while studying the book of Romans. This doctrine, his Augustinian understanding of the bondage of the will along with his conviction that the Bible should be the basis of religious life and available to all, became the theological foundation of Protestantism.
"As Luther grew in understanding, he had come to detest scholasticism as a betrayal of the biblical message. He violently opposed the way that the schoolmen had blended Christianity with the philosophy of Aristotle. He had also, by this time, rejected the neo-Pelagian teachings of William and Ockham and Gabriel Biel about salvation, and followed Staupitz in becoming a disciple of Augustine of Hippo; from now to the end of his life, Luther was to be a whole-hearted believer in Augustine's doctrine of the sovereign grace of God who chooses helpless sinners for salvation by His unmerited mercy. This was the first of Luther's two great spiritual breakthroughs, and it occurred around 1513 ...(what fully developed Protestant theology would call "regeneration" and "sanctification")...Luther's second great breakthrough was when he came to understand faith as essentially personal trust in Christ rather than assent to the Church's teachings, and the 'righteousness of God' as God's imputation of Christ's righteousness to the believer's account, changing the believer's legal status before God but not the believer's heart (justification in the sense in which Evangelical theology uses the term). This second breakthrough did not happen till much later, probably in the period 1518-19."
excerpt 2000 Years of Christ's Power Part Three: Renaissance and Reformation pg 70
Proverbs 18:10The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
Thanks, Steve, for these two quotes by Luther and MacArthur. Good to always be reminded of the truth!
ReplyDeleteWe gotta put this quote up on the wall in the regenerated.us room. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteRon,
ReplyDeleteI know many guys that work with Francis Chan and I can tell you that few of them are concerned about what a blog may or may not say about them.
I also have gotten to know Steve over the last couple of years and I was floored by the change in his demeanor and tone the last time I talked to him. He has grown in humility in ways that I can only attribute to the Holy Spirit working in him. He is a really neat guy.
There has been a shift on this blog about a year ago. It has been much more gracious around here. (i.e Mark Driscoll) Some of the commenters may not always be gracious but we are all in process.
You are right, Luther is just a man, but one we can learn from. He was prone to the profane but also used by our mighty God to do great things. What an encouragement that should be to all of us!!!