The Call to Quit

September 29, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
No, the hourly “ejaculations” to which Whitefield referred meant to “exclaim something suddenly,” not what some of you apparently thought. Now that I have that cleared up, let us move on to things a bit more theological, as opposed to illogical (I actually had someone ask me to remove her name from my perspective list!).
This past Sunday, as I was having lunch with some folk, one of them (right out of the clear blue sky) asked me if God hadn’t released me from preaching. No, this person is not one of my flock; in fact, I don’t think she has ever heard me preach, other than at a funeral service, so I am not sure what prompted her question. No one has ever asked me that question before! I must admit, however, that since then, I have done quite a bit of thinking about her question.
I guess I could be paranoid and believe that some of my flock found out that we were having lunch and put her up to asking me the question, hoping that I would come to my senses and retire, but I ain’t paranoid. Who is that following me, anyway?
Yes, I am rather old, especially for a man of my age, but I do still have a pulse and most of the time, I can read and write. Admittedly, I probably don’t, put all the, commas in the, correct, places, but I do, try. I will be the first to admit that the passive voice is some-times used by me, when the active voice should have been used, but who cares? John was hit by the ball—regardless. You can accuse me of doing so, if you so choose, but I never use split infinitives, to so do would be humiliating. And I never begin a sentence with “and,” and furthermore a preposition is something I never end a sentence with!
The fact that I lost my voice immediately after lunch is probably significant, but that just occurred to me, so I haven’t had time to process it. If it doesn’t return by Sunday, I will probably begin to think that this woman was a messenger from God, trying to tell me that I need to throw in the towel.
Admittedly, my congregation is small, consequently, I don’t preach to a very large crowd, which should probably tell me something, as well; you know, something like, “If your preaching days weren’t over, you would have a crowd of people standing in a long line waiting with eager anticipation to hear you preach.”
On the positive side, I can remember John 3:16, not to mention, Hebrews 10. That should count for something! If my memory serves me correctly, I can still quote most of Romans 5, 6, 7, & 8, as well as John 14 & 15, but my memory might not be serving me correctly. I think I can even name from memory the books of the Bible—all 26 of them, or was it 46?
Praise God! Hallelujah! Justification by faith! And God bless Abraham! That woman is not going to talk me out of preaching, and that is that! I might finally wind up with a room full of empty pews, but I will preach to them. Heck, a few of those who attend now, sleep through the entire sermon (but they do tell me how much they enjoyed it; go figure!), so what is new!?
I remember when God called me to preach the gospel but I do NOT remember Him calling me to quit, so I ain’t!

Keeping a List

September 28, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,

For reasons that would probably seem strange to most people, I am reading Arnold Dallimore’s book, “George Whitefield: The life and times of the great evangelist of the 18th century revival” and I am loving every page of it (all 600 of them!).
As you may (or may not) know, he was a contemporary with John & Charles Wesley and they were all the better for it. Although it took some time for God to reveal the truth to Whitefield, when he finally saw it, his life was forever changed. The following is a quote from this book (p. 80) that he entered into his diary after his conversion but before the Lord revealed the doctrines of grace to him. It is a list of criteria which he used each night as a basis of judging himself on his actions during the day. Sadly, he faithfully carried out this exercise primarily out of his fear of having to face the judgment seat of God without suffi-cient assets in his account to satisfactorily please God.
Have I,
1. been fervent in private prayer?
2. used stated hours of prayer?
3. used ejaculation every hour?
4. after or before every deliberate conversation or action, considered how it might tend to God’s glory?
5. after any pleasure, immediately given thanks?
6. planned business for the day?
7. been simple and recollected in everything?
8. been zealous in undertaking and active in doing what good I could?
9. meek, cheerful, affable in everything I said or did?
10. been proud, vain, unchaste, or enviable of others?
11. been recollected in eating and drinking? Thankful? Temperate in sleep?
12. taken time for giving thanks according to Law’s rules?
13. been diligent in studies?
14. thought or spoken unkindly of anyone?
15. confessed all sins?
This is what Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-29).
Of this I am certain: the only people who ever experience what Jesus said in this passage are those who are blessed to have been given eyes to see the doctrines of grace. The rest simply continue adding to Whitefield’s list.

On Missing the Point and Purpose

Mac's Perspective on the Intricacies of God’s Amazing Grace

September 17, 2009
Dear Fellow Travelers,
This is what the apostle, Paul, said in that infamous, albeit often misunderstood, third chapter of his second letter to the church at Corinth, where he so aptly contrasts the Old and New Covenants: “But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:14-17 NASB).
In other words, their minds hardened and their hearts veiled, they missed the point and purpose of the Law. Their only hope for understanding and for freedom—for having the veil removed—was in their turning to Jesus and they weren’t about to make that turn.
Because their minds were hardened and their hearts veiled, they completely missed these life-changing truths: (1) In verse 7 the Law of Moses is called “the ministry of death” and, therefore, contrasted (in vs. 8) with “the ministry of the Spirit; (2) In verse 9 the Law of Moses is called “the ministry of condemnation” and, therefore, contrasted (in the same verse) with “the ministry of righteousness”; (3) In Romans 8:2 “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is contrasted with “the law of sin and death.”
In other words, because their minds were hardened and their hearts veiled, they could not and would not accept the truths that would set them free and allow them with unveiled face to behold, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, and to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory. “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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 from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 2”17-18 NASB).
In their minds, Paul, in calling the Law of Moses the ministry of death, the ministry of condemnation, and the law of sin and death, qualified as a heretic. There is no wonder he was on their “hit” list!
From what I have been able to observe, “they” are not the only people who have missed the point and purpose of the Law. Have you missed it? Are you using it as your means to justification and righteousness and freedom? If you are, you, too, have missed its point and purpose.

On Being a Good Samaritan

September 16, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
As you have probably figured out by now, I am an avid fan of Robert Capon’s writings, so without apology, I offer this as another example of his ability [Kingdom, Grace, Judgment” p. 213-214]: “For if the world could have been saved by providing good examples to which we could respond with appropriately good works, it would have been saved an hour and twenty minutes after Moses came down from Mr. Sinai. ‘For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe’ (Galatians 3:21-22 KJV). Do you see the problem? Salvation is not some felicitous state to which we can lift ourselves by our own bootstraps after the contemplation of sufficiently good examples. It is an utterly new creation into which we are brought by our death in Jesus’ death and our resurrection in His. It comes not out of our own efforts, however well-inspired or successfully pursued, but out of the shipwreck of all human effort whatsoever.”
Capon wrote this in reference to his treatment of the passage we know as the story of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:25-37). Among other things, he is attempting to show that the main character in this story (parable) is not the good Samaritan, but the man who found himself in the ditch and half-dead. In other words, the example we need to follow is not the one of the Good Samaritan, but the one of the half-dead man in the ditch, who was helpless to help himself.
You see, if we are not careful (and most of us are not, when it comes to theology), we will find ourselves placing the Samaritan on a pedestal, and believing, much like the Galatians, that Jesus is essential, but our good deeds are also necessary for our salvation. The fact is this: Our good deeds are like filthy rags! “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; . . .” (Isaiah 64:6a NASB).
Just as a reminder, both the priest and the Levite saw the man in the ditch as being unclean—spiritually and physically—which is why they conveniently pass on by him. It never dawned upon them that the man they saw in the ditch was really themselves.
It is also noteworthy that Jesus offered this parable in response to the Lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?”, and He ended it with this question: “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands”? In other words, Jesus placed the lawyer in the ditch, in an effort to help him understand his desperate need for Someone, namely the One who was speaking to him, to do for him what he could never do for himself!
Unfortunately, I don’t think he ever got the message.
Sadly, from what I can see, even today, most never get the message.
For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law, but. . .

What Are We to Believe?

September 9, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
Bible study, to say the least, is quite challenging, especially in light of the fact that there are so many varied translations—NIV, NASB, KJ, NKJ, AMP, RSV, NRSV, ASV, to mention a few. In spite of all the good intentions of the various translators, it is virtually impossible for any of them to translate without theological bias; consequently, not every passage is translated in accordance with the original manuscripts. If you do not believe me, read, Ro-mans 5, 6, 7, & 8 in both the NIV and the NASB. I think the proof is in the tasting of the pudding, as someone much wiser than I has already indicated.
Since most of us are neither Hebrew nor Greek scholars, about all we can do is de-pend on those who are scholars for some understanding of the original manuscripts. Unfortunately, those who are scholars are biased—every last one of them—so we must be careful about jumping to theological conclusion and, then, casting the conclusion into cement.
Now, I do not want to be misunderstood, so listen up: I preach and teach from the Scriptures, and I do so because I am absolutely convinced that they are the inspired, inerrant, Word of God; however, I am not so naive, as to believe that each of the various translations from which I read are all without error, as in accurate. The fact is this: they differ in many places. Allow me to give you this example:
“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3 NASB).
“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man” (Romans 8:3 NIV).
In the first place, the NASB capitalizes “Law”; whereas, the NIV does not, which in my opinion is very significant. In the second place, the NASB references “sinful flesh”; whereas, the NIV references the “sinful nature,” which is positively significant. In the third place, the NASB indicates that God condemned sin in “sinful flesh”; whereas, the NIV indicates that He condemned sin in “sinful man,” which is surely worth noting.
Surely, it is fair to raise this question: Why these differences? Is it because it is so difficult to translate New Testament Greek into English, or is it because it is so difficult to abandon one’s theological biases, when doing the translation? In my opinion, it is some of both, with most of the weight on the latter.
Anyway, this is what concerns me: Many people, who have virtually no knowledge of either Hebrew or Greek, think they can solve the translation issues by going to a concordance or lexicon and discerning for themselves what is accurate. BEWARE!
I well-remember the TV ad where the patient was talking on the telephone with his surgeon, who was telling him where and how to make an incision into his abdomen, so he could remove his own appendix. BAD IDEA! I also well-remember the TV ad that depicted an English speaking man sitting on his French speaking shrink’s couch, trying to understand his counsel. BAD IDEA!
It might be a good idea to be careful about casting your interpretation of the Scriptures into cement, especially in light of the fact that using a sledge hammer is very difficult work, not to mention, that your well-being just might be affected in a very negative way, if your interpretation happens to be incorrect.
On this you can rest assured: God will not change His mind to accommodate our ideas of truth, regardless of how convinced we might be of their truthfulness.

Salvation by Bookkeeping

September 9, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
Since your response to my excerpt from Capon’s book, “Kingdom, Grace, & Judgment” was rather positive, I think I will offer another for your consideration (p. 204): “It is not just the Samaritans, though, whose bookkeeping leads them to miss the point of Jesus’ determination to go to Jerusalem and death. In Luke 9:54, his disciples James and John turn out to be no better. Even though they have heard everything Jesus has said about lostness—even though they have been the butt of his irony about Gentiles, tax collectors, and other outcasts, and even though they have heard His words to Peter about unlimited forgiveness—they still instinctively resort to salvation by bookkeeping. Confronted with the Samaritan village’s rejection of the Jesus they have accepted as the Messiah, the only thing they can think to do is even the score. ‘Lord,’ they ask Him, ‘do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?’ They say in effect, ‘We are the ones who are winners when it comes to Messiah-watching; let’s just get this villageful of losers out of the game with one good, hot blast.’ Yet, they were not winners; they themselves consistently failed to understand Jesus’ plain words about His coming death. It would only be much later, after they had seen Jesus Himself dead and risen, and after they came to see themselves as dead and risen in Him, that they would really be winners. And even at that, most of them would win only by martyrs’ death—by the very loss, ironically, that they were in such a hurry to inflict on the Samaritans.”
Whether or not you believe everything Capon said and/or implied in that excerpt is really not important to me; however, there are several implications that are undeniably true, not the least of which is this one: Salvation by bookkeeping always causes its adherents to miss the point of the gospel—always. Sadly, “salvation by bookkeeping” is the preferred method for most, and, consequently, they have missed the point of the gospel.
The truth is this: Jesus did not come to rank us according to our goodness; instead, He came to rescue us from the pit of sin and death. Yesterday, I read this line is a book (I do not remember the name of it): God does not reward us according to our goodness; goodness is our reward. I am not sure that reward is the best choice of words, but I think you get the point. Whatever you do, do NOT miss the point of the gospel!

In the Black!

eptember 8, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,

The following is an excerpt from Robert Capon’s book, “Kingdom, Grace, Judgment” (p. 203): “Jesus came to save a lost and losing world by His own lostness and defeat; but in this wide world of losers, everyone except Jesus remains firmly, if hopelessly, committed to salvation by winning. It hardly matters to us that the victories we fake for ourselves are two-bit victories, or that the losses (and losers) we avoid like the plague are the only vessels in which saving grace comes; we will do anything rather than face either the bankruptcy of our wealth or the richness of our poverty. And what then is it that we do when we thus disregard our true wealth? We delude ourselves into thinking that our own salvation can be achieved by keeping books on others. The Samaritans wrote Jesus’ name down in red ink because He fell short in their religious audit; the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable looked down at the publican and thanked God that he himself was not a crook. And we do the same: ‘I know I’m no prize, but at least I’m better than that lecher, Harry’—as if putting ourselves at the head of a whole column marching in the wrong direction somehow made us less lost than the rest of the troops. It would be funny if it were not fatal; but fatal it is, because grace works only in those who accept their lostness. Jesus came to call sinners, not the pseudo-righteous; He came to raise the dead, not to buy drinks for the marginally alive.”
If you should be honest, you would have to admit that the church, even the one you attend, is very involved in the “religious auditing” business, and it has written the names of most of its members in red ink. I’m betting that it even has YOUR name written in red ink! If that is not true, then you are in the minority—a very small minority.
You can, however, count on this: Contrary to the way your church has entered your name, every name that is written in the Lamb’s book of Life is written in black ink, thanks to the shed, RED blood of Jesus. The certificate of debt that was against you and hostile to you, has been cancelled and nailed to the cross. “And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14 NASB ).
Maybe it is time for the church to get out of the “religious auditing” business and get back to the preaching of the one, true Gospel, the one that proclaims this glorious truth: He did for us, what we could never do for ourselves; namely, satisfy God’s requirement for righteousness.
As Capon implied, it makes no sense at all to put ourselves at the head of a whole column marching in the wrong direction, thinking that, somehow, that makes us “less lost” than the rest of the troops.

That His Works Might be Displayed in our LIves

September 7, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,

There is a passage in John’s gospel that has long-intrigued me: “And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him’” (John 9:1-3 NASB).
Now, take a minute to think this through: this man was born blind SO THAT the works of God might be displayed in him. In other words, God chose for this particular man to be born without eyesight—blind as a bat—and for this good reason: that His works might be evidenced (displayed) in his life. Sadly, when Jesus’ disciples saw him, they reacted out of their Jewish roots—“Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?”—apparently completely oblivious to the true reason for the man’s blindness. Religious people still think this way!
Admittedly, this passage is a bit difficult, especially in light of Jesus’ answer to their question: “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.” In other words, this man’s blindness had no connection to anyone’s sin, not even the blind man’s; instead, it was the direct result of God’s own hedonistic choice (If you can read anything other than that into this, I would like to hear about it.).
In my opinion, most of us have the tendency to forget that God does, as God pleases [“But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3 NASB)]. without regard for our feelings, nor consideration of our opinions. Whether we like it or not, this is the fact: God is not only free to cause a baby to be born blind, He is also free to do so for whatever reason that pleases Him. In this case, it was that His works might me put on dis-play in this man’s life. God caused this man to be born blind, so that He, in His time, could heal him, and, thereby, display His works.
But was that really the works He wanted to display? I think not. That was merely His attention-getter. The works that He wanted to display were these: His ability to forgive sins and to give sight to the spiritually blind. “Jesus heard that they (the Pharisees) had put him out; and finding him, He said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered and said, ‘Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.’ And he said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped Him’ (John 9:35-38 NASB; parenthesis, mine).
Looking back, I feel sure that this man was incredibly thankful for God’s hedonistic choice, but I wonder how he would have voted, if he had been given the opportunity in advance, knowing only that through his blindness, God would display His works in his life.
By the way, God will demonstrate His works in your life and mine, even if it means that He makes another hedonistic choice.

Pleasing the Masses

September 1, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
The following is a portion of an article from Ligonier Ministries (author unknown); please read it carefully:
We believe that God has ordained the preaching of His Word, prayer, and the sacraments as the means by which He sanctifies people’s lives. There is no substitute for the Scriptures if we want to know and please God, and this is especially true in our worship. Unfortunately, the church today is dethroning God and the power of His Gospel for alternatives and counterfeits. Instead of transcending cultural preferences and uniting the church on truths of His Word, contemporary worship seeks to please people by catering to particular groups and their tastes, thereby dividing the people of God. The result of using man-pleasing tactics rather than simply focusing on the preaching, reading, singing, and praying of God’s Word is that the knowledge of God’s glory is diminished, His people become spiritually malnourished, and the church becomes weak and susceptible to false teachers and their doctrines [a portion on an article from Ligonier Ministries; author unknown].
Deep within my heart, I know that this article is true. I am more-than convinced, that doing anything for the sake of catering to people and their preferences, serves only to create a man-centered environment, one that reproduces itself over and over, with each new generation being more self-serving that the previous ones.
In my opinion, when the church decided to abandon the Scriptures it also decided to abandon the gospel. When it abandoned the gospel, it abandoned its God-given mission and purpose—to glorify God—and took on a completely different one—to glorify man. The fruit is obvious: churches everywhere are working diligently, albeit futilely, to find ways to please man.
In my opinion, it is time (past time!) for you to take a stand against these self-serving, man-centered, religious shenanigans. Insist that the church you attend stop, as in cease and desist, trying to cater to the preferences and whims of the masses, and, instead, to simply preach the unvarnished, offensive Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you will notice, Jesus never wasted His time trying to please anyone, especially the masses. His mission and passion was single-minded—to please His Father.