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Pentecost

Saturday, May 18th, 2013

“When the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place…All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:4) The effect upon Peter was startling. This disciple, who had denied His Lord with oaths and curses, stood up with the eleven and preached the first great evangelistic sermon of the Christian faith. About three thousand inquirers were added to the church that day. The only explanation was that the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus (“you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” Acts 1:8) had transformed Peter and used his personality and gifts to reach the multitudes with such convicting power that they were cut to the heart and repented and were baptized and asked to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for themselves.

This incident, and every other one recorded, shows that the Filling of the Holy Spirit is for service. In each instance, the infilling was followed by strong action. The Filling of the Holy Spirit was not, is not, will not be given merely for private spiritual experience, but always for service.

Not only was the Apostle Peter filled on the day of Pentecost: they were all filled. John and James and Andrew and Phillip and Thomas and Bartholomew and Matthew and James and Simon and Judas and Matthias, all apostles; also James and Joses and Judas and Simon, the brothers of Jesus; and Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Mary of Magdala, and Mary of Bethany, and Martha, and Joanna, and Susanna, and Salome, and other women who had been with the Lord in His ministry; a score of these who were filled were named for us, but a hundred others remain unnamed. The filling of the unnamed disciples is an encouragement to every humble Christian who might be tempted to think that the power from on high is for only ones whom God intends to exalt to leadership.

The Apostle Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit again, some days later. The filling of the Holy Spirit has a direct relationship with immediate service. There appear to be times of relaxation and rest in between times of being filled with power. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is under the sovereignty of the Spirit rather than the impulse of the believer.

The book of the Acts of the Apostles chronicles the acts of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people like Stephen, Philip, Saul of Tarsus, and others as they are filled with the Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is given for preaching, for witnessing, for defense, for evangelism, for missionary work, for discernment, and for martyrdom.

What is the experience of the Filling of the Holy Spirit like? The Holy Spirit has been described in terms of fire, wind, water, and other natural elements, so it is possible to have an experience of the Spirit as consuming as a forest fire, as bending as a hurricane, or as gentle as a well of water bubbling up from the depths like a river.

What is the evidence of the Filling of the Holy Spirit? There is the extraordinary power of the proclamation of the Gospel resulting in the conversion of many people. But there is also the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When a Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit, his heart is full of love, full of joy, full of peace, full of patience, full of kindness, full of goodness, full of faithfulness, full of gentleness, and full of self-control. When these qualities are absent then you know that the person is not filled with the Holy Spirit.

There is also the evidence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues and interpretation. These are supernatural gifts, not just natural talents. No one person possesses all of them. The Holy Spirit apportions the gifts to each individually as He determines the need.

What actually is the Filling of the Holy Spirit? The Apostle Paul tells us: “Do not get drunk with wine…instead be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) When a person gets drunk they lose control of themselves: a quiet man can become rowdy, a mean man can become generous, a decent man can become indecent, a cautious man can become reckless: and people excuse him by saying that he is not himself, he is intoxicated. The filling of the Holy Spirit is God-intoxication; not fanaticism, but the possession of the person’s faculties by the Holy Spirit of God, so that he is led to behave as God would want him. The fruit of the Spirit is the very opposite of extravagance or fanaticism.

How does one seek to be filled with the Spirit? Jesus told his disciples: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, but how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” (Luke 11:13) “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9) An asking, seeking, knocking Christian will soon find out for himself what stands in the way of his being filled with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we are led to seek forgiveness, and to surrender our lives anew to God.

I ask for the Spirit to fill me every morning. I know how empty I can be. I know how full of myself I can become. I know how difficult it is to produce the fruit of the Spirit. “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:19) It is only the Spirit of God who lives in us, who can enable us to do that which is good.  I am powerless of myself to help myself. I cannot do it on my own. The more I try in my own strength, the more I fail. That is why the filling of the Spirit is so crucial.

God cannot fill us with his Spirit if we are full of ourselves. We need to be aware of our own need enough, aware of our own deficiencies enough, and want to become a better person enough, that we will ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

“Lord I am a child that has no knowledge, so teach me;

And blind and see not the way, so lead me:

And weak, most weak to choose rightly, so supply your power:

And love myself too well, so show me, give me love, true love, fill me with your Spirit.”

Eric Milner-White

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The Gospel Coalition

Saturday, April 13th, 2013

Last week I attended the Gospel Coalition Conference in Orlando. The GC was co-founded by Don Carson, research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Plenary speakers included John Piper, Colin Smith, Crawford Loritts, Kevin DeYoung, Stephen Um, Gary Millar. In addition there were 58 workshops and focus groups covering all aspects of Christian. Worship music was led by Keith and Kristen Getty and their band. The theology represented was generously Reformed. There were 4,500 registrants, most of them younger than I. There were many young couples with babies! They came from forty-three countries. Sessions were being simulcast and translated into six different languages. I attended workshops led by Tullian Tchividijian on How Suffering Sets you Free, John Yates on Growing into the Leader You Wish You Were, and Tim Keller on A Biblical Theology of Revival.

Eight plenary sessions were devoted to the biblical exposition of the Gospel of Luke. They were inspiring and filled with content and application. I was impressed by the substance of the messages as well as their personal authenticity. They were models of preaching as biblical truth through personality.

In their introduction to the conference Tim Keller and Don Carson wrote that they prayed and hoped that the series on Luke will encourage pastors to preach from the Gospels as well as the Epistles.

The bookstore was a wonder to behold. I have never seen so many publications by speakers and theologians. I exercised great restraint but came away with some treasures to read and digest over the next few months. You can learn further about The Gospel Coalition from their website: www.thegospelcoalition.org.

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A Maundy Thursday Meditation

Saturday, March 16th, 2013

“Jesus knew that the time has come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.” (John 13:1)

What a way to describe your last night? When we die we leave this world and go to the Father. It is a journey from here to the presence of the Father. It is to leave the troubles and trials of this world and to enter into the loving embrace of our heavenly Father. As a father, I would welcome my children with open arms and rejoice in their coming to me. Jesus said, “Enter into the joy or happiness of your Master.” There is nothing to fear, for we are going to someone we know and love and trust, the one who has taken care of us in our infancy and childhood, and is always there when we need him. When my children were little and I returned home each day from work, they would see me and rush out into the front driveway to jump into my arms. We are still God’s children when we are old and tired. We still long to go to the Father.

On this last night before he goes to the Father Jesus leaves us his legacy.

First of all, he leaves us a legacy of humble service. He loved his own who were in the world and showed them the full extent of his love. He began to wash his disciples’ feet. He showed them an example of how they should behave to one another. How do we wash each others’ feet today? By noticing their needs and doing something about them. By taking an interest in those around us and being willing to humbly serve them. By listening to their troubles. By being a friend in need. I am aware that each  congregation, and every church member can follow Christ’s example by seeking to serve our neighbors.

Secondly, he leaves us a legacy of true worship by breaking bread in his memory, by giving thanks for our redemption, by instituting a continual remembrance that binds us together as a church community and with him. “Do this in remembrance of me.” We are one body and one spirit. He is our host, our source of salvation and sustenance, the bread of life and the wine of
rejoicing. We eat and drink around his Table. He keeps us together, centered on his death and resurrection until he comes and takes us to the Father. We enjoy a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, the wedding supper of the Lamb that was slain and with his blood purchased us for God from ever tribe and language and people and nation, who has made us a kingdom of priests to serve God. We join the angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven who sing glory around the throne of God.

Thirdly, he leaves us a legacy of the promised Holy Spirit, who will be his continuing presence and empowerment in our lives.  The Holy Spirit will teach us  all things necessary for salvation and will remind us of everything Jesus has said to us through the written word of the apostles. The New Testament is the legacy of the Holy Spirit to us – the divinely inspired words of Jesus. It is the last will and testament of Jesus written to equip us for every good work.

Fourthly, he leaves us a legacy of prayer. He prays for his people, for those he will leave behind, and for those who will come after them, that they may be one, that they may be sanctified, that they may grow in grace and numbers. He prays for himself, that he will do God’s will. The legacy of prayer ensures that our communication with Jesus continues. Our communion with him is not broken by his departure from us. He is still listening to us and interceding for us.

Fifthly, leaves us a legacy of how to die. He surrenders himself to the events of his departure from this world without losing his dignity and destiny. He is taken by the powers of this world but is not intimidated by them. He submits to embarrassment and suffering. He dies in pain and discomfort. Leaving this world is not always easy or smooth. But he knows where he is going – to the Father.

He leaves us this legacy. Let us learn from it. To humbly serve one another. To worship together around his Table and the throne
of God.  To receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and his written Word. To practice prayer for ourselves and for others, for those who come after us. To learn how to die well.

This a legacy that we can treasure, and that will continue to pay dividends over the course of our lifetime.

 

 

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The True Audience in Worship

Saturday, March 2nd, 2013

How do you see yourself in worship? Are you evaluating and passing judgment on the worship leader, or the preacher? Reflect on this thought from Kierkegaard.

In the theater, the play is staged before an audience who are called theatergoers; but at the devotional address, God himself is present. In the most earnest sense, God is the critical theatergoer, who looks on to see how the lines are spoken, and how they arelistened to: hence here the customary audience is wanting. The speaker is then the prompter, and the listener stands openly before God. The listener, if I may say so, is the actor, who in all truth acts before God….from the secular point of view, the devotional address is simply held for a group of attenders and God is no more present than he is in the theater. God’s presence is the decisive thing that changes all. As soon as God is present, each man in the presence of God has the task of paying attention to himself. The speaker must see that during the address he pays attention to himself, to what he says; the listener, that during the address he pays attention to himself, to how he listens, and whether during the address he, in his inner self, secretly talks with God. If this were not done, then the listeners would be presuming to share God’s task with him, God and the listeners together would watch the speaker and pass judgment upon him.

Soren Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart, p.164f.

What do you think about this analogy of God as the audience?

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He Descended to Hell or Hades or the Dead

Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

Many people have asked me why we say in the Apostles Creed: “Jesus descended into hell”? The primary passage of Scripture on which this statement in the Creed is based is Psalm 16:10, which is quoted by Peter in his sermon at Pentecost: “you will not abandon me [my soul] to the grave [Sheol or Hades], nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” Peter applies this to Jesus as a prophecy:“seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave [Sheol or Hades], nor did his body see decay.” If the soul of Christ were not left in Sheol or Hades at the resurrection, then his soul was there before his resurrection; therefore after his death and before his resurrection, the soul of Christ descended into the place of the departed.

If this is so, what did he do there? What was the purpose of his going there? Many theologians say that it merely means that he experienced everything that we experience. He totally identified with us in our death experience. Others point to 1 Peter 3:18-4:6 “He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah…. The gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged.”

In the early Church it came to be believed that this is what Jesus did during his time in the place of the departed. He preached the Gospel to those who had died. Does this give the departed a second chance to believe? Or is the Gospel only preached to the saints of the pre-Christian era, so that they might see the promises fulfilled in Christ? Or does this mean that those who had never heard of Christ in their day, get an opportunity to do so? These questions became issues of controversy, and the medieval church created elaborate scenarios that speculated beyond the truth of Scripture.

The core of truth in these Medieval fantasies is that Jesus perfected the spirits of Old Testament believers, and those who had trusted in the Savior without knowing him by name (Hebrews 11:40; 12:23). He made Hades into Paradise for the penitent thief, and for all others who died trusting him during his earthly ministry, just as he does now for the faithful departed (see Philippians 1:21-23; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8). The widespread belief of the early Church was that the Lord released the souls of the Old Testament saints, and carried them with him to heaven.

James F. Kay of Princeton Seminary, quotes John Calvin’s view that the descent into hell refers to the sufferings of Christ on the cross: “The point is that the Creed sets forth what Christ suffered in the sight of men, and then appositely speaks of that invisible and incomprehensible judgment which he underwent in the sight of God in order that we might know not only that Christ’s body was given as the price of our redemption, but that he paid a greater and more excellent price in suffering in his soul the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man.” Kay goes on to comment: “Christ died in the place of sinners (Isa.53:4-6). As such, he suffered in body and soul the torments of damnation, of God’s severity, wrath and judgment. ‘No wonder, then, if he is said to have descended into hell, for he suffered the death that God in his wrath had inflicted on the wicked!’ This is shown in the ‘cry of dereliction’ from the cross: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Ps.22:1; Matt.27:46). Calvin comments, ‘And surely no more terrible abyss can be conceived than to feel yourself forsaken and estranged from God, and when you call upon him, not to be heard.’ In other words, hell in the Creed is defined by the cross of Jesus Christ. Hell is godforsakenness. To enter into this state is what it means to descend into hell.” (James F. Kay in Exploring & Proclaiming the Apostles’ Creed, ed. Roger E. Van Ham, pp.125,127,128)

Jesus took upon himself the judgment we merited, and endured for us, as our substitute, so that we could be forgiven. He identified with all “suffering humanity in the grips and clutches of hell. By descending into hell, God in the person of Jesus Christ places the worst that can befall human beings within the redeeming embrace of the cross.”

Jesus went into the regions of darkness so that our souls might never come into those torments that are there. By his descent he freed us from our fears. “By his death he destroyed him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

(Excerpted from Ted Schroder, BURIED TREASURE, pp.177-184)

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Timothy Dalrymple on Wendell Berry’s Epic Rant

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013
Wendell Berry’s Epic Slanderfest: Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage Are “Perverts,” Guilty of “The Lowest Form of Hatred”
January 15, 2013 By Timothy Dalrymple
In case you were wondering, those who defend traditional marriage and oppose same-sex marriage are continuing the tradition of those who slaughtered the Jews and the Native Americans. They’re also perverts who are trying to theocratize America. According, at least, to Wendell Berry. And no, I’m neither making this up nor exaggerating. I write this post with deep disappointment. I appreciate Wendell Berry’s literary artistry, and I appreciate his spiritual insights. But he indulged in an epic rant against gay marriage opponents to a gathering of Baptist ministers on January 11th in Kentucky. His comments were relayed by Bob Allen of the Associated Baptist Press. While Berry repeats uncritically a slew of bumper-sticker arguments and engages in some serious straw-man pyromania, the people in the comments box nonetheless marvel at his genius. This deserves a response.
Bear in mind that I have openly suggested that the time may have come for evangelicals to drop their legal opposition to same-sex marriage, even as they uphold biblical standards for the morality of sex outside of wedlock and the theology of marriage in the true sense ordained by God. I’ve also been repeatedly critical of the ways in which evangelicals historically have responded to homosexuality, and called for a radical grace and extravagant love shown toward our GLBT neighbors and friends. Also, sincerely, I’m very tired of talking about this. But the constant onslaught of hatred (read the below and tell me that word isn’t justified) for those who affirm traditional biblical sexual ethics and who wish to defend legally the model of marriage instituted by God is so extreme that I find myself compelled time and again to respond.This will be a long post. But let’s fisk what he has to say:
“My argument, much abbreviated [when he referenced it before], was the sexual practices of consenting adults ought not to be subjected to the government’s approval or disapproval, and that domestic partnerships in which people who live together and devote their lives to one another ought to receive the spousal rights, protections and privileges the government allows to heterosexual couples,” Berry said.
Fair enough, but defending the traditional definition of marriage has nothing to do with making “the sexual practices of consenting adults” subject to government dis/approval. It has to do with the divine creation of marriage and the family. The overwhelming majority of defenders of traditional marriage in America have no interest, none whatsoever, in outlawing homosexual sex. Many would also be perfectly fine with domestic partnerships that grant “rights, protections and privileges” enjoyed by married couples. But that is not what the advocates of gay marriage are seeking. They are seeking a legal redefinition of marriage — and I think it’s fair to say (though some will deny it) that the movement would also like to see an ethical affirmation that there is nothing morally objectionable with homosexuality.
Berry said liberals and conservatives have invented “a politics of sexuality” that establishes marriage as a “right” to be granted or withheld by whichever side prevails. He said both viewpoints contravene principles of democracy that rights are self-evident and inalienable and not determined and granted or withheld by the government.
Actually, no. Conservative Christians do not believe that marriage — homosexual or heterosexual — is a “right.” That’s the point. There is no right to join yourself to whomever you please and demand that the government recognize and reward it as “marriage.” The government does not define marriage. God does. But the government may have a compelling interest in recognizing and encouraging marriage. The only people who argue that marriage is a “right” are those on the Left. The “rights” language has infected the debate, turning everyone who believes in defending traditional marriage into the violators of gays’ “rights” and therefore not only mistaken or misinformed but gravely unethical, perhaps even criminal, equal to those who would deny their rights to women or racial minorities. I believe that gays ought to have – and as human beings do have inalienably – the same rights as heterosexuals, but I do not believe that either gays or straights have a “right” to compel the state to recognize their relationships as marriages.
“Christians of a certain disposition have found several ways to categorize homosexuals as different as themselves, who are in the category of heterosexual and therefore normal and therefore good,” Berry said. What is unclear, he said, is why they single out homosexuality as a perversion.“The Bible, as I pointed out to the writers of National Review, has a lot more to say against fornication and adultery than against homosexuality,” he said. “If one accepts the 24th and 104th Psalms as scriptural norms, then surface mining and other forms of earth destruction are perversions. If we take the Gospels seriously, how can we not see industrial warfare — with its inevitable massacre of innocents — as a most shocking perversion? By the standard of all scriptures, neglect of the poor, of widows and orphans, of the sick, the homeless, the insane, is an abominable perversion.”
It’s immensely disappointing to see Berry parroting these superficial points. First, no one is saying heterosexuals are “good.” None are good; all are sinful. We all stand as sinners in need of God’s grace. Second, the frequency with which a sin is discussed in scripture has nothing to do with whether or not it’s a sin. There are many things not frequently condemned in scripture — genocide, spousal abuse, child abuse, and even rape — that we would all agree are grave sins and deserving of our attention. The scriptures emerged from a Hebrew world in which the rightness or wrongness of homosexuality was not a live issue. And we need to attend not only to the scriptures condemning homosexual relations but to all the scriptures affirming the proper place for sex and the created definition of marriage. Third, Christians since the first century have employed a hermeneutic that distinguishes between ritual and ceremonial laws that were intended for a specific people at a specific time and place, and the moral law that is written into the order of creation for all people. To pretend suddenly as though Christians are being arbitrary when they choose to affirm the condemnations of homosexual relations and ignore the shellfish rules (or etc.) is disingenuous in the extreme. Fourth, Berry may wish to mount an argument that surface mining is wrong, but that has nothing to do with the proper definition of marriage and God’s design for human sexuality. Fifth and finally, yes, the Bible spends far more time encouraging us to care for the least and the laws than it does reiterating the moral law, which is why Christians and their churches spend a lot more time and effort caring for the least and the lost than they do defending their moral views in the public square.
“Jesus talked of hating your neighbor as tantamount to hating God, and yet some Christians hate their neighbors by policy and are busy hunting biblical justifications for doing so,” he said. “Are they not perverts in the fullest and fairest sense of that term? And yet none of these offenses — not all of them together — has made as much political/religious noise as homosexual marriage.”
The defense of traditional marriage is not about “hating your neighbor” but about defending biblical truth and preserving a clear understanding of what God has said. Caring for the poor does not create “noise” because no one wants to tell the stories of Christians doing daily heroic work through Catholic Charities or the Salvation Army or World Vision or Compassion or any number of organizations whose budgets individually are several orders of magnitude larger than any budget for any organization defending traditional marriage. And Christian organizations do advocate for the policies they think will best care for the poor and for all people. Nothing would please us more than to see this issue go away, but it remains a constant because those interests are seeking to redefine marriage, which we hold sacred, and constantly seeking to brand the defenders of traditional marriage as hateful and bigoted.Another argument used, Berry said, is that homosexuality is “unnatural.” “If it can be argued that homosexual marriage is not reproductive and is therefore unnatural and should be forbidden on that account, must we not argue that childless marriages are unnatural and should be annulled?” he asked.
“One may find the sexual practices of homosexuals to be unattractive or displeasing and therefore unnatural, but anything that can be done in that line by homosexuals can be done and is done by heterosexuals,” Berry continued. “Do we need a legal remedy for this? Would conservative Christians like a small government bureau to inspect, approve and certify their sexual behavior? Would they like a colorful tattoo verifying government approval on the rumps of lawfully copulating parties? We have the technology, after all, to monitor everybody’s sexual behavior, but so far as I can see so eager an interest in other people’s private intimacy is either prurient or totalitarian or both.”
Colorful images, but again disappointing. Has Wendell Berry never actually read a defense of traditional marriage? It’s not as though we just discovered the problem of childless couples. Has he never heard of the Catholic Church, which has a very sophisticated theology around this question? If he has heard it, he chooses to caricature it instead with colorful images of backside tattoos. Once again, this is not about legally forbidding sexual behavior. Trying to turn this time and again into an effort to illegalize same-sex sex may be effective rhetoric, but it’s fundamentally dishonest.
“The oddest of the strategies to condemn and isolate homosexuals is to propose that homosexual marriage is opposed to and a threat to heterosexual marriage, as if the marriage market is about to be cornered and monopolized by homosexuals,” Berry said. “If this is not industrial capitalist paranoia, it at least follows the pattern of industrial capitalist competitiveness. We must destroy the competition. If somebody else wants what you’ve got, from money to marriage, you must not hesitate to use the government – small of course – to keep them from getting it.”
One wonders how a mind as supple as Wendell Berry’s can accept these talking points so uncritically. Christians and their churches devote enormous amounts of resources to marriage ministries in an effort to strengthen marriages. A favorite target of the left, Focus on the Family, is almost exclusively focused on building up marriages and families. The lion’s share of effort does go toward strengthening heterosexual marriages. But just because heterosexual marriages are struggling is not a reason to abandon the biblical definition of marriage. There is no fear that homosexuals will “corner the market.” This probably ranks among the most ridiculous things Berry has said in a long series of ridiculous things. The concern is that, in a society where marriage is already suffering, altering the fundamental definition of marriage will only hasten the disintegration of the God-given family structure and therefore of society as a whole. Whether or not we find it convincing, let’s be honest about the argument.
“If I were one of a homosexual couple — the same as I am one of a heterosexual couple — I would place my faith and hope in the mercy of Christ, not in the judgment of Christians,” Berry said. “When I consider the hostility of political churches to homosexuality and homosexual marriage, I do so remembering the history of Christian war, torture, terror, slavery and annihilation against Jews, Muslims, black Africans, American Indians and others. And more of the same by Catholics against Protestants, Protestants against Catholics, Catholics against Catholics, Protestants against Protestants, as if by law requiring the love of God to be balanced by hatred of some neighbor for the sin of being unlike some divinely preferred us. If we are a Christian nation — as some say we are, using the adjective with conventional looseness — then this Christian blood thirst continues wherever we find an officially identifiable evil, and to the immense enrichment of our Christian industries of war.”
Accusing churches that are trying to hold fast to how (they believe) God defined marriage of perpetuating the same “Christian blood thirst” that led to the annihilation of Jews and American Indians is calumny of the highest order. Wendell Berry should be ashamed of himself. Worldwide, homosexuals historically have been persecuted. Christians, who have been persecuted worldwide as well, should be sensitive to this. But tying those who believe homosexual sex is wrong and that God made marriage for male and female to the instigators of genocide and religious warfare is truly beyond the pale.
“Condemnation by category is the lowest form of hatred, for it is cold-hearted and abstract, lacking even the courage of a personal hatred,” Berry said. “Categorical condemnation is the hatred of the mob. It makes cowards brave. And there is nothing more fearful than a religious mob, a mob overflowing with righteousness – as at the crucifixion and before and since. This can happen only after we have made a categorical refusal to kindness: to heretics, foreigners, enemies or any other group different from ourselves.”
“Perhaps the most dangerous temptation to Christianity is to get itself officialized in some version by a government, following pretty exactly the pattern the chief priest and his crowd at the trial of Jesus,” Berry said. “For want of a Pilate of their own, some Christians would accept a Constantine or whomever might be the current incarnation of Caesar.”
Now the defenders of traditional marriage are likened to those who crucified Jesus. Apparently no blow is too low here. Even though Christians today are not advocating laws against adultery, or against premarital sex, or homosexual sex, nonetheless Christians are trying to get Christianity “officialized.” (I think he has a point here, but it has to be much more nuanced and qualified.) And what would Wendell Berry say of condemnation of habitual adulterers or environment-destroyers “by category” (which really means to say that those actions are sinful)? My only point is to underscore the ridiculousness of the charge that “condemnation by category is the lowest form of hatred.” While I do not disagree that there are some out there who are simply hateful bigots, the great majority of people I’ve come to know who wish to defend traditional marriage are not hateful but simply attempting, in the face of epic slander such as this, to uphold what they perceive to be the truth of God’s Word.
“Finally,” says one commenter, “sanity in the discussion.” Says another, “We have been blessed with such a profound mind.” Comments like these, in some ways, sadden me even more than Wendell Berry’s comments themselves. Have we lost the ability even to recognize a sane and balanced and nuanced discussion? Because Wendell Berry, in this case, offers neither sanity nor profundity. There is no nuance here, no attempt to understand the arguments on both sides — really, there’s no grace here whatsoever. There is a raging condemnation of one side of the argument as the “perverts” who indulge in “the lowest form of hatred” and can be justly identified with the perpetrators of genocide and inter-religious slaughter.
Tell me again who is engaging in “condemnation by category”?

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Our Time in Newtown

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

Christopher Leighton is an old friend who is Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Darien, CT. He posted the following on his blog: www.frchristopherblog.wordpress.com

Our Time in Newtown

By Fr.Christopher Leighton and Pastor Gabrielle Beam

A Reflection on These Five Days

December 19, 2012

We’ve spent five straight days going to Sandy Hook, a small village that is part of Newtown, Connecticut. Last Friday, as we heard the breaking news, we set out in the early afternoon. I, Christopher, had contacted the priest in charge of St. John’s in Sandy Hook – a friend, Fr. Mark Moore. Fr. Mark was not able to go, but he said he could open the church for us, and we could lead prayer for the town – and for any and all who wanted to come in. We did lead prayer, into the evening, with a small number of folks stopping in. We had brought along with us a large sandwich board sign that was placed in front of the church, offering “healing prayer today”. The sign stayed up for 24 hours, and was a source of comfort to many.

Actually, St.Paul’s’ connection goes back decades. We would send a van full of lay ministers weekly to be with the residents in the extraordinarily large mental hospital called Fairfield Hills in Newtown. Ordained ministers from our church led worship for years at St. John’s, Sandy Hook, and we actively supported a Cursillo community centered at St. John’s. Most recently, since June, a handful of us from St. Paul’s have been traveling to Newtown in order to meet there in the home of a member, and to pray for the town. We found ourselves concentrating each week for the citizens to know their need for God.

St. John’s is only hundreds of yards away from the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Memorial shrines have been set up all along the area. Thousands of people have come and gone since the massacre, grieving. Myriads of members of the press, from all over the world, have been telling the story.

Fr. Mark led a Eucharist on Saturday December 15, and we were invited to help lead. Dozens of reporters were there, and joined members of the church and community in being profoundly moved. Nobody knows what to make entirely of all of this, and
certainly, questions we’ve received from reporters convey despair at the overwhelming evil. Each day we’ve gone, simply to be present, to offer a listening ear, an open heart, and prayer for those who wish it.

Yesterday we found St. John’s Church door open, and those who work at the basement food pantry were present. About a dozen of retirement-age people were gathering. We entered in, and asked how everybody was doing. These elders have never experienced anything so devastating, and they welcomed us to minister to them. We formed a prayer circle, led a time of prayer for healing, and concluded by all holding hands, and saying the Lord’s Prayer. We squeezed our hands at the final sentence, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” Hugs and tears abounded, and they resumed their work with joy in the midst of sorrow.

Reporters feel like they’re being intrusive; we’ve attempted to include them as part of the community. The story must be told so that we will never forget – and that in remembering, lasting fruit might be borne. What we hear over and over is that no one has ever covered a story this disturbing. Wars, calamitous storms, 9/11/01 – all seem more manageable. It’s the slaughter of the innocents, the raw evil that assaulted the children, adults, and their families.

We were instantly drawn to the Collect for December 28, Holy Innocents: “We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims, and by your great might, frustrate the designs of evil tyrants, and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We have prayed this prayer over and over, substituting “the holy innocents of Newtown…”

There’s no question that some folks are rather testy. How could God allow such a thing to happen? When we ponder a response, we usually begin by saying, “Don’t accept any easy answers to that question.” I, Christopher, remember my grandparents’ skeptical charge against God, when my parents’ friends lost a son in a car accident. The father was an ordained minister, and the accusation came: “Where was his God when this happened?”

We’ve experienced untimely deaths, disasters, and unbearable suffering in this life. Frankly, it is harder to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in good times, because it seems like no one really needs God. Apathy in the face of God’s offer of grace can be very discouraging to His ministers. Funerals, and tragedies, bring some in their pain to God. We like to say that God is very present in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1) – that Jesus Christ wept at the death of His friend Lazarus (John 11) – and that God the Father knows what it is like to lose His precious child.

Since Friday, we’ve prayed for God to throw a blanket of His comforting love around Newtown – and really, on each person so profoundly affected by what has happened. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. God is a God of love. His
kindness and love are meant to lead us into truth, especially truth about Him, and truth about ourselves.

There is something terribly wrong with the human heart. All of us are capable of spurning God, and of harming our neighbors. In the sacred Shema in Deuteronomy 6, Moses tells us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” To this, Jesus added, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Love is a choice, and in Deuteronomy 30, we are told to choose life and good, as opposed to death and evil, to love God and to walk in his ways … so that we may live. We are also warned that if we turn away, and are drawn to other gods, then we will perish. We are to choose life.

Our nation, and indeed the entire world, must ask deep searching questions about our relationship to God. Have we pushed Him away, so that now we accuse Him of being absent? Have we refused to believe in Him, and then blamed Him? What a loving God He is, who allows us to ask such questions, and then who receives us, even when we come to Him as a last resort!

It is time for Americans to once again put our money where our mouth is. On some of our money it says, “In God we trust.” We’ve trusted in many things ahead of God. It is time to repent and return to Him. A culture of death has brought forth incidents such as the Newtown shootings. With all of our heart, we must trust God, and build together a culture of life.

This doesn’t lessen the pain of what’s happened. But it begins a new way to live, in the One who gives resurrection and life.

We approach Christmas this year perhaps differently then ever before. The pain of death is great and seems incongruous in celebrating birth – even if it is the birth of a Savior. Yet Christmas is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. He wasn’t born in a palace but in a small town named Bethlehem at the edge of an Empire. The humble circumstances of his parents led to there being no room for them. That’s why he was born in a stable.

Is there room in the heart of the world today for Jesus? Will Americans bend low before Him who came to serve us? Is there room in your heart for Jesus?

We offer this prayer for you to consider addressing to the One who came to be your Lord:

Lord, I ask you into my heart. I have not allowed you in – please forgive me. I surrender before you. Come take your rightful place as my Lord. Let me choose and receive your life today. I will live for you. Amen.

Link from www.frchristopherblog.wordpress.com

 

 

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Protestant Decline in America?

Saturday, October 13th, 2012

- The Gospel Coalition Blog -
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc -

6 Reflections on Protestant Decline in America

Posted By Don Sweeting On October 11, 2012

Protestants have lost their majority status in the United States, and the number of Americans with no religious affiliation is rising. Those are the two big conclusions of a recently released study of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in America. [1]

For the first time in American history, the United States does not have a Protestant majority. The adult Protestant population reached a new low of 48 percent. That’s down from the 1960s when two in three Americans identified themselves as Protestants. The report records declines in both mainline and evangelical numbers, and that many of these people have joined the ranks of “the Nones,” those who say they have no religion (now one in five Americans).

Reading deeper into the study, I wondered about two things. The study counted among the “Nones” those who say they believe in God, pray, and are spiritual but are not religious. I wonder if the study recognized that many evangelical Christians define themselves in this way—we often say (rather simplistically) “our church is not about religion, but about a relationship with God in Christ.” I also questioned when the study said the number of Protestants has decreased in part due to the growth of non- denominational churches. I know many non-denominational groups that consider themselves Protestant. And I know many non-denominational groups that do not emphasize being Protestant but still act and believe in Protestant ways. But I also know many non-denominational Christians who really aren’t Protestant at all, which makes counting this demographic difficult.

Even so, I do not doubt the broad trend that the Pew study has identified. In fact,the reality may be worse than what the Pew study suggests. In his recent book Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics [2], New York Times columnist Ross Douthat writes about the slow-motion collapse of traditional Christianity in America. He argues that Christian orthodoxy is losing ground to the many ascendant heresies of our day—new Gnosticism, prosperity gospel, new sects, spiritual narcissism, nationalism, and so on.

Why this trend? The Pew report only touches on a few of the reasons—but all kinds of causes have been suggested: a move away from the gospel, failure of Christians to live out their faith, identifying Christianity too closely with politics, suffocating materialism, the pluralism of our global age, a spiritual but post-Christian worldview pumped to the young through countless new media portals.

This trend does not quite fit the old secularization thesis—that societies become less religious the more modern they become. Spirituality and religious pluralism in America are on the rise. Nor does this trend say anythingabout the overall decline of Christianity. Because while Christianity is declining in the West, it is growing in the Global South and East.

Cause for Reflection

Nevertheless, American Christian leaders need to reflect long and hard about the trend that Pew is reporting. Here are a few quick observations.

(1) This is another reminder denominationalism is in decline.

Identification with a Protestant label such as Presbyterian or Baptist is no longer valued by many, and in some cases it is seen as a hindrance to Christian witness. That said, I am part of a denomination and think healthy denominations are still quite useful. But I realize that the trend is going in the other direction.

(2) Protestants (even evangelicals) have done a poor job of imprinting our identity on our children.

We have either focused on spiritual vibrancy without catechizing, or catechized without emphasizing spiritual vibrancy. Either way, we have lost ground with our youth. Church leaders need to think doubly hard about how we are going to reach and train up the next generation of Christians. We have to rethink the way we do children’s and youth ministry.

(3) There are three wrong responses to this Protestant decline.

One is to batten down the hatches and adopt a fortress mentality when it comes to our culture. Another is to emphasize a lowest common denominator Christianity that insists on as little as possible of Christian truth in order to connect with secular audiences. Still another is to redefine central tenets of the Christian faith and so accommodate the faith to the late modern world.

In contrast to these approaches, I believe we need to affirm a robust orthodox Christianity, even a confessional Christianity, that keeps Christ and the gospel central to everything we do and say. It should be confessional, but center focused; it should be gracious and not doctrinally belligerent on peripheral concerns.

(5) We need to re-examine how we define Christian discipleship in a culture coming apart.

The early Christians might help us here. They were known for their distinct way of life. They could tell others that following Jesus is a better way to live. Perhaps that is why they were called people of “the way.” The whole era of the early church is more and more relevant to our new cultural setting. They had the challenge of living for Christ in a pluralistic, pagan, pre-Christian environment. We have the challenge of living for Christ in a pluralistic, neo-pagan, post Christian environment. We can learn a lot from the early church.

(6) Some of us are used to thinking of America in Jerusalem or New Jerusalem-like categories.

Without being postmillennial about it, we grew up with the “city on the hill” image. Yet as our culture changes, some aspects of our society are starting to look a lot more like Babylon than Jerusalem. We are looking more like a mission field than a mission-sending center. In terms of evangelism, we can no longer assume that everyone around us is a theist who can draw on long-forgotten Sunday school lessons. More and more people have no church background at all. All of this means that we really do need to live and think like missionaries as our neighborhoods are populated with Muslims, Mormons, spiritualists, and Nones.

The Pew study is another cultural indicator. Take note of it. Talk about it with other Christian leaders. And get ready for the wonderful yet incredible challenge ahead of us—to be truly Christian in this new environment.

Article printed from The Gospel Coalition Blog: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc

URL to article: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/10/11/6-reflections-on-protestant-decline-in-america/

URLs in this post:

[1] Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in America.: http://www.pewforum.org/Unaffiliated/nones-on-the-rise.aspx

[2] Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics: http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Religion-Became-Nation%20Heretics/dp/1439178305?tag=thegospcoal-20

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The Christian Ministry

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

Today is the 45th anniversary of my ordination to the Christian ministry. It took place at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England, on September 29th, 1967, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, commonly known as Michaelmas. There were thirty-one of us and the Christopher Wren cathedral was packed with friends and family members. My parents traveled all the way from New Zealand. Each ordinand received ten reserved tickets but only two were eligible to receive Holy Communion because of the numbers involved.

The ordination liturgy was from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and included the following charge given by the Lord Bishop of London.

“We exhort you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you have in remembrance, into how high a dignity, and to how weighty an office and charge ye are called: that is to say, to be messengers, watchmen, and stewards of the Lord; to teach, and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord’s family; to seek for Christ’s sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who are in the midst of of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever.

Have always therefore printed in your remembrance, how great a treasure is committed to your charge. For they are the sheep of Christ, which he bought with his death, and for whom he shed his blood. The Church and Congregation whom you must serve, is his spouse and his body. And if it shall happen the same Church, or any member thereof, to take any hurt of hindrance by reason of your negligence, ye know the greatness of the fault, and also the horrible punishment that will ensue. Wherefore consider with yourselves the end of your ministry towards the children of God, towards the spouse and body of Christ; and see that you never cease your labour, your care and diligence, until you have done all that lieth in you, according to your bounden duty, to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your charge, unto that agreement in the faith and knowledge of God, and to the ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ, that there be no place left among you, either for error in religion, or for viciousness in life.

Forasmuch then as your office is both of so great excellency, and of so great difficulty, ye see how great care and study ye ought to apply yourselves as well as ye may shew yourselves dutiful and thankful unto that Lord, who hath placed you in so high a dignity; as also to beware, that neither you yourselves offend, nor be occasion that others offend. Howbeit, ye cannot have a mind and will thereto of yourselves; for that will and ability is given of God alone: therefore ye ought, and have need, to pray earnestly for his Holy Spirit. And seeing that you cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a work, pertaining to the salvation of man, but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the Holy Scriptures, and with a life agreeable to the same; consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures, and in framing the manners both of yourselves, and of them that specially pertain unto you, according to the rule of the same Scriptures; and for this self-same cause, how ye ought to forsake and set aside (as much as you may) all worldly cares and studies.”

This charge goes on to repeat the sentiments already expressed and to conduct an examination of us to make sure that we understand and are qualified for ordination.

As you can see it is a weighty responsibility. I remind myself of it every year on this day when I re-read the words of the liturgy and re-commit myself to my ordination duties. I have need, as the bishop says, to “pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit.”

The role of a pastor today is very complicated and demanding because you are expected, not only to be the spiritual leader of the congregation, but also the CEO of the organization. We are multi-tasked with being good communicators, teachers and preachers, but also counselors, prayers, and skilled in pastoral care. We have to work well with people in committees and boards, and in the wider community. All this requires spending a great deal of time studying, preparing and praying earnestly for the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, guidance and empowering. I read recently, in an article by Dallas Willard, that a well-known contemporary teacher of ministers has remarked that few ministers finish well. After forty-five years, I pray that I may finish well, whenever that may be. I am grateful to God for the many opportunities he has given me for ministry, and for protecting me and sustaining me over the years. I am now making myself available to some younger pastors as a mentor/coach to pass on to them what I have learned. It is a privilege to be able to encourage them as I was encouraged so long ago.

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The Priority of Prayer

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

I have recently read with great profit, The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God, by John Piper, who is a pastor and author in Minneapolis. In the chapter entitled, The Pleasure of God in the Prayers of the Upright, he makes the distinction between what appears to be the real battle of life: divorce, death, disagreement, sickness, family problems etc., and the main battle: the war against the spiritual forces of evil who hold captive so many of God’s people (“that they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:26). He writes, “And so the minefields must be crossed, the barbed wire cut, the snipers evaded and gospel antidotes for Satan’s mind-altering drugs administered against immense opposition (Luke 21:12-19).”

“So again I ask, ‘How will the church every come to think this way? How will millions of lukewarm churchgoers be brought to wartime readiness and put on military alert? How can the massive mentality of American prosperity, peace with the world, and family comfort ever be overcome?’

I believe the answer, beneath and behind the renewed empowering of the Word of God, is a movement of persevering, believing, expectant prayer. Because it is prayer that opens our hearts to the surpassing worth of God (Ephesians 1:17f.), and makes us feel the height and depth of Christ’s love (Ephesians 3:18). It’s prayer that makes us love lost people (1 Thessalonians 3:12) and have a passion for righteousness (Philippians 1:11). It’s prayer that opens doors for the gospel (Colossians 4:3) and brings in the recruits (Matthew 9:38), and makes them bold (Ephesians 6:19). It’s prayer that protects from the enemy (Romans 15:31; Matthew 6:13) and makes the Word of God run and be glorified (2 Thessalonians 3:1).

Prayer is the walkie-talkie on the battlefield of the world. It calls on God for courage. It calls in for troop deployment and target location (Acts 13:1-3). It calls in for protection and air cover (Matthew 6:13; Luke 21:36). It calls in for firepower to blast open a way for the Word (Colossians 4:3). It calls in for the miracle of healing for the wounded soldiers (James 5:16). It calls in for supplies for the forces (Matthew 6:11; Philippians 4:6). And it calls in for needed reinforcements (Matthew 9:38). This is the place of prayer – on the battlefield of the world. It is a wartime walkie-talkie for spiritual warfare, not a domestic intercom to increase the comforts of the saints. And one of the reasons it malfunctions in the hands of so many Christian soldiers is that they have gone AWOL.

God has given us prayer because Jesus has given us a mission. God’s pleasure in the prayers of his people is proportionate to his passion for world evangelization. We are on this earth to press back the forces of darkness, and we are given access to Headquarters by prayer in order to advance this cause. When we try to turn it into a civilian intercom to increase our material comforts, it malfunctions, and our faith begins to falter.”

If we want family, friends, co-workers and neighbors to come to Christ, and join our fellowship of faith, we must be prepared to pray for them, that God will change their hearts. If we believe that faith in Christ, in St. Paul’s words, “depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy” (Romans 9:16), we will pray that he will have mercy on them. We will pray:

“God, take out of their lives the heart of stone and give them a new heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19)

“Lord, circumcise their heart so that they love you.” (Deuteronomy 30:6)

“Father, put your Spirit within them and cause them to walk in your statutes.” (Ezekiel 36:27)

“Lord, grant them repentance and a knowledge of the truth that they may escape the snare of the devil.” (2 Timothy 2:25,26)

“Father, open their hearts so that they believe the gospel.” (Acts 16:14)

Let us pray for our loved ones that they may come to know the love of God in Christ Jesus.

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