Church is not a sporting event!

Have you ever heard someone compare church services to sporting events?  Basically, people have said that large groups of people go to sporting events because they’re exciting and entertaining, and we should incorporate this into our church services to draw more lost people. 

Does anyone else have a problem with this? I hope so.

I am a Yankees fan, albeit a casual one, and I had the pleasure of attending one of the last games in the old Yankee Stadium a few days ago.  While I was there, this comparison between church and sporting events popped into my head, and I was thinking about it while watching the game.  I think it’s a big mistake to compare these two things and also very dangerous, as continuing down this path could put your church in a situation others are in right now, where sin and repentance isn’t preached, only an ear-tickling, feel-good message about God’s love, and the reality of God’s wrath is hardly mentioned.  People come to be entertained, not to worship God or grow spiritually.

Now in defense of those who do this, I will say that it’s noble to have a desire to see people converted or saved, whichever term you prefer.  It is important to preach the gospel and make disciples, because Jesus commanded it.  But let us not get so energized to see people come to knowledge of the truth that we forget what the Word of God says:

18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.       1 Corinthians 1:18

The gospel message is offensive to those who are perishing (lost) !  So why do we try to dress it up and make it more palatable?  Can we really improve on God’s Word?  Can we really shorten the gospel message into “four spiritual laws” and expect the same real conviction and conversion as the entirety of Scripture?

Unfortunately, there are many who disagree with me and others who believe this, and this definitely contributes to the condition of most of the churches in America today.

God, help us to not strive after popularity or entertainment value, but Scriptural truth and a desire for personal holiness!  Guide Your people back to Your Word to understand what You desire to be accomplished when Your people come together!

Reflections on Psalm 1

1Blessed is the man
   who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
   nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
   and on his law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree
   planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
   and its leaf does not wither.
 In all that he does, he prospers. 4The wicked are not so,
   but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

 5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
   nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
   but the way of the wicked will perish.

I realized something this morning- the reason why the man is blessed is not because of what he does or doesn’t do- that would be works salvation, and God has mercy on whom he will have mercy (romans 9) so it’s not like God blesses according to our righteousness (which would mean we would never be blessed, apart from the righteousness worked by the Holy Spirit).  

This man is blessed because God has chosen to bless him with salvation, and the results of this blessing include a desire to do what is righteous and flee from what is evil, and also a desire to learn and grow in knowledge.  

He doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers because he doesn’t belong there- he doesn’t feel comfortable being somewhere he is not intended to be.  A heart in tune with the Holy Spirit’s leading cannot be comfortable in a lifestyle of habitual sins.

I’m so grateful that God chose to reveal this to me today.  This truly illustrates what Spurgeon said in his sermon How to Read the Bible, that the ultimate goal of reading the Bible is to understand the spiritual principles behind the writing, otherwise we might as well read it upside down!

The Sinner’s Prayer

The sinner’s prayer is one of the most-accepted facets of evangelism in America.  But where did it originate?

In the 1730’s or 1740’s, a man named Eleazar Whitlock used a technique called the “mourner’s seat” where he targeted sinners and had them sit in the front row.  He found that they were more open to counseling after sitting through his sermon.  

Then a man named Charles Finney took Whitlock’s “mourner’s seat” and changed it to the “anxious seat” practice, once again targeting sinners, putting them on the front row while he preached, and he developed his own personal theology around it, saying it was a “public manifestation of their determination to be Christians,” similar to how most people view baptism being an outward sign of an inward conversion.

Dwight Moody took this system in the 1860’s and modified it so that instead of a seat, there was a room where people were counseled.  They were shown the Bible and prayer was the end of the process, and it was loosely associated with conversion.

Then a man named R. A. Torrey changed Moody’s system to include immediate conversions for street witnessing, a no-strings-attached salvation.

Billy Sunday was “saved” in a Moody-style crusade.  He became an evangelist, encouraging people to either pray a prayer to be saved or just walk up the “sawdust aisle” and grab his hand.

Billy Graham was “saved” at a Billy Sunday-style crusade in 1936.   During the 1950’s, the  “four spiritual laws” were invented, based on Billy Sunday’s “four things God wants you to know.”  Of course , the four spiritual laws ended in a sinners prayer.

—

Let’s square this teaching up with the Bible:

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.   John 6:44

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.  Acts 13:48

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.  John 6:37

And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  Romans 9:10-13

 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.  I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.  Ezekiel 36:22-27

It’s so important to conform our theology to the Bible, and not the other way around.

This chapter changed my life…

Romans 9

God’s Sovereign Choice

 1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

 6But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

 14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

 19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25As indeed he says in Hosea,

    “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
   and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.'”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
   there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'”

 27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29And as Isaiah predicted,

    “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
   we would have been like Sodom
   and become like Gomorrah.”

Israel’s Unbelief

 30What shall we say, then?  That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33as it is written,

    “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
    and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

I love my wife!

I’ve been learning some mindblowing things about marriage.  According to Ephesians 5, husbands are supposed to love their wives like Christ love the church and gave Himself for her so that she could be holy and blameless.  That doesn’t only mean giving up most of what I want to do, it means protecting her spiritual growth.  Making sure that she has a healthy relationship with God.  And it reinforces what I’ve been told before- that we (as husbands) are accountable to God for our family’s spiritual growth.  Not saying that we determine their eternal destiny- only God can do that- but that we listen to the Holy Spirit’s leading on how to encourage them and help them grow in their faith once they’ve surrendered to Christ.  

Great principles to live by- all from God’s Word!

Is Birth Control Biblical?

You may be surprised at the answer.  This is a great resource.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/AskPastorJohn/ByTitle/1440_Does_the_Bible_permit_birth_control/

This guy hit the nail on the head.

A great quote about churches:

“The situation that we face today is one in which the moral norms and cognitive expectations of the culture have also invaded the church. They form the foundation on which much doctrine is unwittingly built. The doctrine produces outward Christian activity-an informal code on what is “Christian” life-style (the agreed points of which are nevertheless being whittled down with each passing year), Christian activity in and out of church, and a Christian empire with organs of entertainment, education, and political influence-but it does not necessarily produce Christians who are, at the roots of their being, Christian. It does not necessarily produce men and women who have the capacity or the desire to contest the worldliness of our time or to flesh out an alternative to it. This doctrine, even in its most orthodox forms, can become nothing more than a mask which conceals the real operating principles in a person’s life which may be worldly and secular. It is, then, the task of theology to expose these principles in the interest of securing a real adherence to the doctrine which is being given outward assent.”

-David F. Wells, “The Nature and Function of Theology.”