Pursuant Love

This past Monday for chapel (at The Master's College) our provost spoke, and the message was labeled "pursuant love." His main passage was 1 John 4:7 which simply states:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

So what is “pursuant love” and what does it look like?

The very reason we desire to pursue people and desire for people to pursue us is because God in Christ pursued us! He did this for us “while we were yet sinners” so this tells us that this kind of love is not performance based. I think often we live our lives day to day with an underlying fear or unrest that our friendships are at risk. We’re constantly worried at the prospect of not being funny enough, or athletic enough, or even spiritual enough to keep our friends around. But there is peace with pursuant love.

1 Corinthians 14:1 tells us to “pursue love.” It’s active. It also isn’t always easy if you have to pursue it. We can’t ever manipulate our character enough to transform our friendships into pursuant love kind of friendships on our own. It is only when we live at the foot of the cross, realizing that God sought us out when we hated Him, that we can love people without condition.

Another thing Tatlock said was “don’t wait around your entire life for someone to pursue you. You’re wasting time. Be the pursuer.” If this love truly is unconditional then we can love even when we are not, knowing that the love of Christ is perfect and fully satisfying. The result is unity in the body which exemplifies Christ’s love and gives glory to God.

Pastors, Stop For A Moment...

When you preach from the Old Testament does it resemble the way the Apostles preached from the Old Testament? You might think that your preaching is Biblical because you use the Bible, but Biblical preaching from the Old Testament hones in on Christ and the redemptive story--sin and the gospel.

Your sermons are to be Christian, not moralistic or therapuetic. I plead with you to help God's people get their eyes off of themselves and on to something much more grand. Not many of you should want to be teachers of God's Word because the Lord will hold you accountable for aptly teaching His Word or mishandling it. Rightly divide it.

Please stop being selective in preaching only from the New Testament passages of Scripture that address familial life, duty to government and our employers. In context, all of those passages are rooted in the gospel and can only be properly addressed when Christ is front and center. If you're going to teach from a New Testament letter, might I humbly suggest that you teach from the beginning of the letter to the end of it to see how the doctrines of the gospel are to shape our life in Christ. The Apostles admonished the church to live holy lives only after bringing redemption into high definition so that the church would be motivated to honor Christ in the mundane and ordinary moments of life.

In the words of theologians....indicative first, imperative second. Or orthodoxy before orthopraxy. Get them aligned in the gospel before you send them back to the law for obedience. If all you do is lay down the LAW (do this, don't do that) on them you will lay a heavy yoke upon them and they will fail to remember that Christ lived the perfect life for them and died in their place for all their acts of disobedience--even the ones you command them to do in your sermons but they fail to do again and again.

Scripture is not a manual for living. Although there are guidelines for holy living, it is self-declaration of God's work in a fallen world and all that He does through Christ, the Spirit and His Word to effectively change things for His glory. I beg of you to read the beginning of Genesis and see that the story of redemption starts immediately after sin enters the picture and a Savior is promised. Then go to the end of Revelation and see Christ there as well. Everything in between those pages falls within this amazing story. Love it. It is our only hope of ever being delivered from these wretched and sinful bodies. It is our only hope of ever being delivered from the wrath of God. It is our only hope for eternal joy in the presence of God's glorious might.

Authorial Intent And "Christian" Music

I enjoy newly written songs that express the Christian faith. Every now and then you stumble across a song that musically is easy to learn and easy to sing. As the pastor of our church, I also enjoy introducing new songs to our congregation. Introducing new songs not only encourages the congregation to grow musically, but it also keeps them aware of "what" they are singing. There are times when singing an "oldie but goodie" that we go on auto-pilot and forget the meaning of the lyrics and gospel message. But great care must be administered when selecting songs (newer or older) to introduce to the church because not all songs express the Christian faith clearly and some songs are contrary to the Christian faith even if they carry the label "Christian."

For example, the following lyrics were written by a "Christian" musician.

Oh, how could it be
That my God would welcome me
Into this mystery
Say take this bread, take this wine
Now the simple made divine
For any to receive

This musicians songs are sung in a large portion of churches today. But when you discover the background of the worship leader, you discover that his theology is Catholic. And while it could be true that many of his songs express true Christian doctrine, one should expect some songs to carry theology that is distinctly Catholic.

Knowing that this musician is Catholic, I have to wonder what he meant when he penned the lyrics "now the simple made divine." The song, being about communion, would seem to work musically and lyrically. But when put it up to a doctrinal test, it would seem that it fails the test of true doctrine--if I correctly understand the author's intent. In Catholic theology, the view of communion is that the elements of bread and wine become the true body and blood of Christ--transubstantiation. In the words of the musician, the "simple [is] made divine." If that is what the author intended to say, then this should not be a song sung in Protestant churches. If the Catholic author intented to say something else, then his lyrics are ambiguous at best.

Unfortunately, most musicians don't offer a commentary on all of their songs and indeed it seems that many might even allow a vast array of interprations of their songs as long as it encouraged others in the "faith" and in their "walk with God." What the songs "meant to you" and what it "did for you" can in no way be the means of authenticating it's message. As always Scripture alone is the rule of belief and practice. And if one is writing a song to express Christian doctrine, then one should be clear in what he/she is intending to say. In this case, the message seems clear enough and thus the song would not pass the test of right doctrine.

A word of caution would be helpful for all of us. Just because someone writes one or two theological correct songs, doesn't mean that all of their songs are given a free pass. Always be discerning and remember that is the habit of Satan to subtly introduce heresy into the church.

every single thing.

Every single thing that happens to us expresses God's love to us, and comes to us for the furthering of God's purpose for us. Thus so far as we are concerned, God is love to us--holy, omnipotent love--at every moment and in every event of every day's life. Even when we cannot see the why and the wherefore of God's dealings, we know that there is love in and behind them, and so we can rejoice always, even when, humanly speaking, things are going wrong. We know that the true story of our life, when known, will prove to be, as the hymn says, "mercy from first to last" -- and we are content.

_j.i. packer, Knowing God, page 123

Meet The Puritans.

On this day (August 24th) in 1662, English Parliament/The Church of England banished the puritans from the churches and schools in England. The decree was known as "The Uniformity Act of 1662" or "The Great Ejection." Puritans didn't let that stop them from preaching God's word. They ended up preaching in fields, barns, or wherever possible. In 1664, The Conventicle Act was passed. This banned all "non-conformists" from preaching in fields or conducting services in secret. In 1665 the Five Mile Act was passed and outlawed puritans from coming within five miles of their former churches or any city or town.

Although Puritans were barred, it didn't silence them. They continued to preach God's word and write many incredible God-exalting books.

The reason for such hostility against the Puritans was for their fervent dedication to God and scripture, that provoked them to speak up about the problems within the Church of England. The church began to become weak on scripture, which led to much compromise in teaching, church leadership, obedience, and truth. Some major goals/focuses of the Puritans were:

1. Dedication to search and study the truths/doctrines of scripture and apply them to their lives. They believed doctrine and life-change went hand in hand.

2. A fascination with the character of God and His work in their lives (but not on the experience itself) to give all glory to God for any work done in one's life. Their high view of God was also evidenced also by their strong reformed theology. (High view of God/Low view of Man.)

3. A passion for love.

"It is unusual today to find books that feed the mind with solid biblical substance and move the heart with affectionate warmth, but the puritans do both. They reason with the mind, confront the conscience, and appeal to the heart. They write out of love for God's Word, love for the glory of God, and love for the souls of readers. They set forth Christ in His loveliness, moving us to yearn to know Him better and live wholly for Him."

-Meet The Puritans (Joel R. Beek & Randall J. Pederson)

4. In the same mind as the Reformers, they sought for change within the church that called for the church to conform to the instruction of Scripture on all matters of doctrine, leadersip, and fellowship.

5. Focused on personal evangelism by proclaiming God's word/the gospel.

There is so much more I can write about these men and women. They were/are my heroes.

(much of the information that i got for this post was summarized from what I read in the book "Meet The Puritans")

Biblical Principles Can't Sanctify You

Studying the great Romans 7 debate, I have come across some beautiful gems of Gospel truth. One of them, once again, points out the inadequacy of relying on Biblical "do's" for sanctifying work. These Biblical principles that we all have a tendency to cling to in our Bible reading are no more than the "law" as described in Romans 2,3,4,5,6,7 and so forth.

Romans 7:4

"Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God."

Doug Moo:

"[in Romans 7], Paul argues that a person's bondage to the law must be severed in order that he or she may be put into a new relationship with Christ (7:1-6)... Despite [the law's] divine origin, the law can neither justify nor sanctify."

We are quick to say that the law will not justify us (save us), but after we are "in", we quickly hug the law as our sanctifying tool. Instead, we should use the law in the same way it was used to show us our need for Christ for justification - As unregenerate sinners we only bring sin to the table. But as believer's we STILL only bring sin to the table. We can't depend on our ability to "love God and love others" but we need complete reliance on the cross. The righteousness of Christ is our only righteousness. So instead of "do" we rely on His "did".

why pray?

Hebrews 4:16

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Psalm 27:7
"Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me."

"You say, “Well what is the point in talking to God like that? I mean, if you know God is sovereign and you know God is all wise and all powerful and all knowing and has purposed everything from the beginning to the end and all the way through the middle, what in the world is the point of praying?” And the answer is because God has not only ordained the end, He has ordained the means to the end. And I don’t know about you but I’d rather be a part of God’s means than anything else."

-John MacArthur