How far has the church come?

In 1955 A. W. Tozer wrote these words in his book, The Root of the Righteous:

For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was - a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability. For this she got herself abused roundly by the sons of this world. But of late she has become tired of the abuse and has given over the struggle. She appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the great god Entertainment she may as well join forces with him and make what use she can of his powers. So today we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the serious things of God. Many churches these days have become little more than poor theaters where fifth-rate 'producers' peddle their shoddy wares with the full approval of evangelical leaders who can even quote a holy text in defense of their delinquency. And hardly a man dares raise his voice against it.

A Synopsis on God's Sovereignty

There is no reason to reinvent the wheel and so, as I have been asked about this very issue by several people, I found it providential to have such a great synopsis concerning how God can be sovereign over all things and at the same time man held responsible for his sin. The following was posted on Grace Community Church's “Shepherds Fellowship” - This is the direct link, however I have posted the entire article here for both your own as well as for my convenience:

http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/posts.aspx?ID=4144

Our Sovereign God
(By John MacArthur)


No doctrine is more despised by the natural mind than the truth that God is absolutely sovereign. Human pride loathes the suggestion that God orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything. The carnal mind, burning with enmity against God, abhors the biblical teaching that nothing comes to pass except according to His eternal decrees. Most of all, the flesh hates the notion that salvation is entirely God’s work. If God chose who would be saved, and if His choice was settled before the foundation of the world, then believers deserve no credit for their salvation.

But that is, after all, precisely what Scripture teaches. Even faith is God’s gracious gift to His elect. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). “Nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). Therefore no one who is saved has anything to boast about (cf Eph. 2:8, 9). “Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

The doctrine of divine election is explicitly taught throughout Scripture. For example, in the New Testament epistles alone, we learn that all believers are “chosen of God” (Titus 1:1). We were “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11, emphasis added). “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world . . . He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (vv. 4, 5). We “are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son . . . and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28–30).

When Peter wrote that we are “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:1, 2), he was not using the word “foreknowledge” to mean that God was aware beforehand who would believe and therefore chose them because of their foreseen faith. Rather, Peter meant that God determined before time began to know and love and save them; and He chose them without regard to anything good or bad they might do. We’ll return to this point again, but for now, note that those verses explicitly state that God’s sovereign choice is made “according to the kind intention of His will” and “according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will”—that is, not for any reason external to Himself. Certainly He did not choose certain sinners to be saved because of something praiseworthy in them, or because He foresaw that they would choose Him. He chose them solely because it pleased Him to do so. God declares “the end from the beginning . . . saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’” (Isa. 46:10). He is not subject to others’ decisions. His purposes for choosing some and rejecting others are hidden in the secret counsels of His own will.

Moreover, everything that exists in the universe exists because God allowed it, decreed it, and called it into existence. “Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Ps. 115:3). “Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps” (Ps. 135:6). He “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11). “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11:36). “For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1 Cor. 8:6).

What about sin? God is not the author of sin, but He certainly allowed it; it is integral to His eternal decree. God has a purpose for allowing it. He cannot be blamed for evil or tainted by its existence (1 Sam. 2:2: “There is no one holy like the Lord”). But He certainly wasn’t caught off-guard or standing helpless to stop it when sin entered the universe. We do not know His purposes for allowing sin. If nothing else, He permitted it in order to destroy evil forever. And God sometimes uses evil to accomplish good (Gen. 45:7, 8; 50:20; Rom. 8:28). How can these things be? Scripture does not answer all the questions for us. But we know from His Word that God is utterly sovereign, He is perfectly holy, and He is absolutely just.

Admittedly, those truths are hard for the human mind to embrace, but Scripture is unequivocal. God controls all things, right down to choosing who will be saved. Paul states the doctrine in inescapable terms in the ninth chapter of Romans, by showing that God chose Jacob and rejected his twin brother Esau “though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls” (v. 11). A few verses later, Paul adds this: “He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (vv. 15, 16).

Paul anticipated the argument against divine sovereignty: “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’” (v. 19). In other words, doesn’t God’s sovereignty cancel out human responsibility? But rather than offering a philosophical answer or a deep metaphysical argument, Paul simply reprimanded the skeptic: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?” (vv. 20, 21).

Scripture affirms both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. We must accept both sides of the truth, though we may not understand how they correspond to one another. People are responsible for what they do with the gospel—or with whatever light they have (Rom. 2:19, 20), so that punishment is just if they reject the light. And those who reject do so voluntarily. Jesus lamented, “You are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life” (John 5:40). He told unbelievers, “Unless you believe that I am [God], you shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). In John chapter 6, our Lord combined both divine sovereignty and human responsibility when He said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (v. 37); “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life” (v. 40); “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (v. 44); “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (v. 47); and, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (v. 65). How both of those two realities can be true simultaneously cannot be understood by the human mind—only by God.

Above all, we must not conclude that God is unjust because He chooses to bestow grace on some but not to everyone. God is never to be measured by what seems fair to human judgment. Are we so foolish as to assume that we who are fallen, sinful creatures have a higher standard of what is right than an unfallen and infinitely, eternally holy God? What kind of pride is that? In Psalm 50:21 God says, “You thought that I was just like you.” But God is not like us, nor can He be held to human standards. “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isa. 55:8, 9).

We step out of bounds when we conclude that anything God does isn’t fair. In Romans 11:33 the apostle writes, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” (Rom. 11:33, 34).

(Today’s post was adapted from John’s book Ashamed of the Gospel published by Crossway Books.)

Radical

"The gospel truly is radical. It makes radical sinners radical Christians."

Something I'm Working On

I am a blood-bought; born-again, radically-regenerated, determined disciple of the one and only true King of kings and Lord of Lord – Jesus Christ. I am unashamed of the Gospel and while I am always learning, I am not afraid to be one of those strange premillennial, calvinistic, leaky dispensationalists who craves a high view of God (perfectly holy), a right view of man (utterly sinful apart from the imputed righteousness of Christ), a deep love for the Word of God and a life that seeks to show just how AWESOME it is to have “Christ in you, the hope of glory” - which is called a mystery and yet it can be known!!!

Victory over the flesh

The best antidote against the poison of sin is to walk in the Spirit, to be much in conversing with spiritual things, to mind the things of the soul, which is the spiritual part of man, (more than those of the body, which is his carnal part) to commit ourselves to the guidance of the word, wherein the Holy Spirit makes known the will of God concerning us, and in the way of our duty to act in a dependence on His aids and influences.

Matthew Henry (1662-1714)

Integrity

I've often heard integrity defined as "doing the right thing even when no one is looking." However, I've been working on a definition for integrity as follows:

"Integrity is doing the right thing, all the time, with the right motives, all to the glory of God."

When David was presented with the news of the death of Saul and Jonathan, or of the murders of Abner and of Ish-Bosheth (2 Samuel), he publicly revealed his integrity, how he had not been involved with such deaths.

Integrity is not just about doing things right when no one is looking (for God is always watching), but rather seeking to do all things, publicly or privately, to the glory of God.

Psalm 7:8 (A Psalm of David)
The Lord judges the peoples; Vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me. (NASU)

New Church Schedule - A Personal Testimony

I would like to share my personal testimony regarding the “summer” schedule and the prospect of continuing it indefinitely. When the Elders first began to discuss the idea of having Worship Service, followed by a meal and then followed by a second time of teaching, I was most skeptical and reluctant. I liked the idea in theory, but really wondered about the practicality of such a schedule. Would people be inclined to stay and eat so early? Would people be inclined to stay at church until 1:15 pm? Would such a schedule interfere with people’s previous plans and expectations of church on Sunday? I realize that these are not necessarily spiritual questions, but they are questions I was concerned about. As far as the spiritual questions, I saw the schedule as wonderfully supplying our congregation with a means of practicing meaningful worship and fellowship in accords with Acts 2:42.

But even with all this and with personal prayer, I was hesitant. My two Elders were quite excited about the potential and after several weeks of discussion and prayer, I was inclined to get out of my traditional comfort zone and see what such a schedule might produce.

Remembering that in addition to seeking the fulfillment of congregational activities as outlined in Acts 2:42, I know that practically speaking the new schedule has been a tremendous blessing to those of our congregation that for either economic or time reasons (living some distance from the church) have appreciated being able to participate in the “whole” of the church’s activities on Sundays and not feeling as though they were missing out as an evening service was taking place.

One of the hopes of the Elders in pursuing this schedule was to encourage and stimulate (Hebrews 10:24) the congregation to participate “in” and “with” the type of teaching that was being done in the evening services. We have been blessed with a number of men who desire to communicate the word of God. Each of these men has brought their various styles and experiences to light during such teaching opportunities. Prior to the summer schedule, second hour participation was being decreasingly attended. Believing that any stagnant ministry is a dying ministry, the Elders had prayed that the new schedule might encourage those who had not stayed for the second hour previously to now consider staying. By and large, this has not proved to be the case, but when you put the pencil to the paper, the overall attendance of the second hour teaching time has been better attended than our evening services due to the fact that those who had previously been unable to return to Hope for evening services were able to “hear” and participate in the type of teaching time previously held in the evening.

With regard to our fellowship meal, I must say that one of my main concerns was how the women (and some of the men) would feel about making a meal every week. Would this be asking a lot of such meal preparers? I have been encouraged by so many of the reports. Many meal preparers have shared testimonies along the lines that the fellowship meal helps them out because rather than coming home and trying to figure out what to make for their families, they simply prepare one thing and know that their families’ meal is taken care of. Other testimonies have included how this fellowship time has been economically helpful for some were accustomed to eating out because they would have a meeting or be staying around until evening service. Some have conveyed how this practice has disciplined them to truly preparing for Sunday; both for worship and for fellowship, getting things ready the night before. These are things I was not anticipating hearing. Some have communicated how they thought it would be a burden, but as they have considered it and seen the blessings of it, they have now come to appreciate the time.

In addition to all this, I have heard, and have as my personal testimony as well, that many have come to learn of, be encouraged by, and very much blessed by the opportunity to eat with others from the congregation. This time has afforded a very real way by which to get to know people in the context of church. Some, including my wife, have told me that they prayerfully consider whom they might have lunch with on any given Sunday. Many of our newer families have expressed how such a time has given them a great opportunity to come to know people more easily in the church. During the course of our meals together, I have heard people sharing prayer requests, conveying their joys, expressing their sorrows, encouraging one another and being encouraged. While the timing of our fellowship hour may not be perfect and suit everyone, I have known no other time (except perhaps for our Family Unity Nights) in which the congregation can so actively engage in true Christian fellowship.

At the beginning of this new schedule I was also concerned about the many families with young children. How would we accommodate naps and such? Of course we have been working on getting areas ready for naps, but upon reflection of the issue the reality is that most of the children’s nap schedules have had to be altered only slightly. Previously they were not leaving until about 12:15-12:30 pm, getting home, having a meal and then putting the kids down by around 1:30 or so. With the new schedule, they may not get home until 1:45 or so, but the nap schedule has only been changed by about a half-hour. I hope this is an encouragement to other parents who have had this concern.

I like to think that Hope CBC seeks to be appropriately active. And in our efforts to reach the most people most conveniently, we do have various meetings, events and even outreaches on Sunday afternoons. For many in the church under the previous schedule (myself included), Sundays were a non-stop, whirlwind that began at 8 or 9 am and continued with very little time to pause until about 8:00pm. Then, because little of this time had been engaged in “fellowship” many would get together after that to visit with others. Believe me, this is not a complaint, but my typical Sunday under the old schedule began at 4:30 am and would not generally come to an end until between 10-11 pm. Under the new schedule, the congregation can participate in afternoon activities and events (i.e. Quiz meets, Missions Meetings, Nursing Home Ministry, Youth Staff meetings, etc) and still be done before or by dinner time, opening opportunities for more intimate fellowship and still allowing families to be home at a reasonable hour on Sunday evening before the start of the work week.

I know that children’s ministries have been a concern in this new schedule. Previously, apart from the summer, the children had “Jesus Club” on Sunday mornings and “LiFE Kids” on Sunday evenings. Believing that there is a need to come along side of parents and aid them (not replace them) in the conveying of Biblical truth, we have continued through the Summer with the Jesus Club format, that is a more “one room” type of teaching ministry for the younger children during the second hour as opposed to the more age-oriented style of LiFE kids. If the summer schedule is maintained, it would most likely mean that we would maintain a “Jesus Club” style of ministry for the children, having two or three teachers rotate through a series. This would not preclude the use of the LiFE Kids materials for such a teaching time as this. As I have given much thought and prayer about this, I believe that the “one-room” ministry (or if we were to grow significantly a “two room” – younger and older groups) is in keeping with one of the philosophies of ministry sought by the leadership of Hope CBC for the past decade, a focus on fellowship. I have always believed that Sunday worship ought to be as “congregational” as possible. Sunday is a time for God’s people to come together corporately and worship together, to fellowship together, and to learn together. There are some practical divisions in this. Jesus Club would be a “congregation” of young children. A nursery is needed for the babies and perhaps a toddler class as well. But there is no reason why those from Jr. High up through Senior Adults should not learn to worship together and then interact together. Both the “youth group” and the adults have times throughout the week to focus in on their “level” – so I have come to believe that we should strive to keep Sunday’s as congregational as possible. I know that the future may force us to consider other things, but for this time, such a schedule seems to meet the greatest amount of real needs for the congregation.

The long and the short of it is this; I was the skeptical one. I was the doubtful one. I was the one who looked for all the problems and shortcomings. And while I know that no schedule is perfect, and while I know that no schedule is necessarily permanent, I have come to appreciate and anticipate this schedule, believing it to be the most beneficial to the most people to the glory of God at this time in the life of Hope CBC. I am grateful to the many who, like me, have come to see not only how the schedule might benefit them personally, but how it also has come to benefit so many in the congregation. I know it will not be the most personally beneficial and pleasing to everyone anymore than our previous schedule was the most personally beneficial and pleasing to everyone.

I write this as my personal testimony concerning the new schedule for the church. These are my thoughts, the things I have had to work through asking myself questions like, “Why do we have an evening service?” or “Why do we do the things we do?” I do not believe that one way is more godly than another, but I have come to believe that our current “summer” schedule is the most beneficial to the congregation at this time.