Help Our Unbelief. . .

I have been giving a lot of thought to a post I read a few days ago on the Evangelical Outpost entitled "Plagued by Certainty." In sum, Carter indicates he simply never has doubts about his faith nor fears death, while his wife struggles with unbelief and the thought of death regularly. I imagine that if you took a survey of Christians, you would find more that struggle, from time to time, with unbelief than those who express absolute certainly as to their convictions all the time.

That leads me to the following question. Are we required to have certainty or faith? I do not know that they are the same. To be absolutely certain of anything would we not have to be God?

Consider this hypothetical. There is a wooden chair that you intend to sit in. Before you sit in it, can you be certain that it will not break? What if you have a structural engineer examine it first? He says that it is safe. What if you have a five (500) hundred pound man sit in it to test it out? It does not even creak. What if you have sat in the same chair a thousand (1000) times before? You never had a problem. Still, can you be certain that this time it will not break? Even given the previous tests, I submit that you can not be certain that the chair will bear your weight. However, you do have faith that the chair will not break and because of your faith, you sit down. It does not break. You were not certain that the chair would not break, but you did trust that it would not and acted on it. Is that not the difference between faith and certainty?

John Calvin's examination of the Mark 9:24 is very helpful in understanding our belief/unbelief. Calvin writes in his commentary:

"Lord, I believe. He declares that he believes, and yet acknowledges himself to have unbelief These two statements may appear to contradict each other, but there is none of us that does not experience both of them in himself. As our faith is never perfect, it follows that we are partly unbelievers; but God forgives us, and exercises such forbearance towards us, as to reckon us believers on account of a small portion of faith. It is our duty, in the meantime, carefully to shake off the remains of infidelity which adhere to us, to strive against them, and to pray to God to correct them, and, as often as we are engaged in this conflict, to fly to him for aid. If we duly inquire what portion has been bestowed on each, it will evidently appear that there are very few who are eminent in faith, few who have a moderate portion, and very many who have but a small measure."

There is no doubt that we must believe the Gospel. We must believe that Christ will get us to the promised land. But how much faith is enough? Any will suffice. May we continue to grow in faith until that blessed day when we will no longer need faith, because we will see with our own eyes.

God of Promise -- Holiness

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' Matthew 7:21-22.

In addition to Hebrews 6:4-6, I use to worry about the Matthew 7 passage above. I read these verses to mean, Jesus was saying you can never have assurance of salvation. Even if you have prophesied in the Lord's name, cast out demons, and done many mighty works that may not be sufficient. How could I have hope of salvation when I had done so little comparatively?

I read it differently from a Reformed perspective now. If you look closely, the folks in this passage are not saying have mercy on us because we are wretched sinners. Rather, they are saying look at OUR good works -- look at what WE did for you Lord. Surely, we DESERVE to enter the kingdom of God. Patently bad answers! Are we not lost unless we rest on the complete and finished work of Christ? His sheep have no room to boast.

Michael Horton writes on holiness:

"Jesus made it amply clear that the sheep will be distinguished from the goats on the last day by the marks of their profession (Matthew 24). It is important to remember, however, that the sheep are apparently unaware of their having fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and cared for the poor and those in prison, while the goats insisted that they had. Holiness, which is defined by love of God and neighbor, is usually something that is seen by others rather than by us [Matthew 25:34-40]." God of Promise P. 182.

Let the Little Children Come to Me. . .

At least one (1) consumer driven church is now offering First Class and Economy Class Sunday School. Check out this link to First Class Kids. :)

The Potter and the Clay

In his post entitled Don't be Stingy, John Hendryx, over at Reformation Theology (one of my favorite blogs), responds to Brian McLauren's assertion that anyone who believes in election must be so self-absorbed in their standing before God that they view themselves as having what he calls 'exclusive privilege' over others. Here are a few nuggets from his response. . .

"If Jesus died for all our sins, this includes the sin of unbelief. So even the very heart and new life needed to apprehend the excellency of Christ are granted to us. Our unregenerate wills are not sufficient to pull ourselves out of our own hostile nature. In other words, the moment we remove divine election from Christianity is the moment we remove salvation by grace alone in Christ alone."

"Let me say this, if you reject election, EVEN if, in word, you say that all glory goes to God, your theology loudly declares otherwise, for it is not the grace of Jesus Christ alone that saves but grace plus some additional element you wish to keep back for yourself. So in actuality it is those who reject the biblical doctrine of election that can boast of privilege due to some factor in their natural selves."

Steven Camp, of the Calvinist Gladfly, has called for the discipline of McLauren for his heretical beliefs, i.e. his challege to "the veracity and authority of Scripture; justification by faith alone; imputation of the righteousness of Christ; substitutionary atonement; the omniscience of God, Hell-eternal punishment, etc." While I second the motion, I doubt the Emergent Church folks have the courage or the structure to begin such a task.

God of Promise - Hebrews 6

I use to lose a lot of sleep over Hebrews 6. Could I fall away? If I did, could I ever be restored? Even approaching it from a Charles Stanley once saved always saved position, I still could not truly understand the passage. It was not until I came to believe in covenant theology that this enigma, like so many others, was answered.

"[A]ll of those who belong to the covenant of grace may be said to participate in the semi-eschatological life, even those who fall away, but they are in a worse position than those outside the covenant, for they are those 'who have once been enlightened [baptized], who have tasted the heavenly gift [the Eucharist], and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come' (Heb. 6:4-5)." God of Promise (2006) P.152.

Although some theologians view this passage as a hypothetical, I tend to agree with Horton. Hebrews 6 is addressing the covenant child who has received all the benefits thereof, yet does not have a circumcised heart. Thus, while scripture gives us great hope that the covenant child is elect, this is not always the case. That is, being in covenant does not equal being elect.

God of Promise -- Horton on Israel

I finished reading God of Promise by Michael Horton a few weeks ago and I thought I would share some of my thoughts on his work over several post. I welcome your comments.

Horton on Israel

Horton attempts to take a middle position between replacement theology or supercessionism and the notion of two peoples with two distinct plans of salvation.

"The church does not replace Israel. . .despite its [Israel'’s] national judgment as a covenant-breaker, is nevertheless kept alive by extensive pruning and grafting at the level of individual salvation through Christ. After bringing in the full number of elect Gentiles, God will pour out his Spirit on the Jewish people en massse (Rom. 11:25-32)." P. 132.

I am not sure that I agree with Horton's view on Romans 11. However, perhaps it would be better to describe the church as the maturing Israel rather than replacement of it. This may be somewhat similar to the view that covenant baptism does not replace circumcision but is the maturing sign of it.

Mars Hill Podcast

Mars Hill Audio now has a podcast. Enjoy!

The Messengers

The past few weeks I have been following a new reality show on TLC entitled The Messengers. The stated purpose or goal of the series is to find the next great inspirational speaker. Each week, the “messengers,” who come from all walks of life, are given a topic to speak on such as charity, struggle, etc. After hearing all the speeches, which are no more than two (2) minutes in length, the audience then votes one (1) of the messengers off.

While I have enjoyed the show and agree that the art of public speaking needs to be recovered by our culture, the messengers ultimately leave me empty. You see, the central criteria given to the audience for judging the messengers is “did it move you” and did it “come from the heart.” Frankly, that scares me a little because, if the producers of the show were honest with themselves, Hitler, along with a long list of historical tyrants, would be superstars based on that standard.

When I hear a speaker, I am looking for them to present to me not so much how they feel about something as much as an objective truth. I know that their hearts are deceitful and wicked just the same as mine (Jeremiah 17:9). That is, of course, where the Gospel comes in. The Gospel stands outside of me as declaration made by God. Left to myself, there is only condemnation and weak excuses. Michael Horton writes in God of Promise, “Every person carries around within himself or herself the tarnished recognition of the covenant of works, the law written on the conscience. The gospel, by contrast, comes as news from outside of us, brought to us by a messenger. It is not natural to us, but utterly foreign. Law cannot bring life. Religion is the house of bondage. Yet the gospel brings good news about what someone else has done for us” (p. 191). How beautiful are the feet of those who bring it (Romans 10:15)!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs. . .

If your church is considering getting one of those signs with movable letters to place out by the highway, I would respectfully suggest that you nix the idea. They can be a practical means of communication with folks as they whiz by in their SUVs. However, I assure you that the person in charge of the sign is going to feel compelled to put something on it whether they have anything beneficial to say or not. I have found that this often results in some bad theology and evangelical efforts gone awry. If you still feel the need to have a church sign you might want to try the church sign generator first. Maybe it will help get it out of your system.