Looking Back - John Calvin

"Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God... men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God."

~ John Calvin

Spirit-Led and Flesh-Fed

Can you be “filled with the Holy Spirit” and have the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” without also being led and changed and sanctified and purified and convicted and controlled and governed and made holy by the Holy Spirit? Can you be filled with the life of the Holy Spirit while your life is filled with the works of the unholy flesh? Can you be full of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and also full of the works of the unholy flesh? Can you love the Spirit and also love the sin? Can you love the Spirit while also suppressing the truth? Can you eat from the table of the Lord and also the table of demons? Can you be the temple of the Holy Spirit and also the temple of idols? Can you experience the Spirit while enjoying the flesh? Can you feel happiness without finding holiness? Can you have the presence of holy fire and also the passion of fleshly flames? Can the Spirit of God be your leader without the Son of God being your Lord? Can you hear the Spirit and ignore the Word? Can you be controlled by the Spirit and uncontrolled? Can you be swimming in the Spirit and soaked in sin? Can you have the gifts of the Spirit without the fruit of the Spirit? Can you love what is holy without hating what is unholy? Can you be Spirit-led and flesh-fed? Is, or is not, the Holy Spirit Holy? The apostle Paul said “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16)

Looking Back - Eternity

"God hath given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends."

~ Jeremy Taylor (1650)

Looking Back - Evangelism

"There is no true evangelism without the doctrine of sin, and without an understanding of what sin is. I do not want to be unfair, but I say that a gospel which merely says “Come to Jesus,” and offers Him as a Friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convicting of sin, is not New Testament evangelism. The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the law; and it is because the law has not been preached that we have so much superficial evangelism…evangelism must start with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man and the eternal consequences of evil and wrong-doing. It is only the man who has been brought to see his guilt in this way who flies to Christ for deliverance and redemption."

~ Martin Lloyd-Jones

We Need MORE Religion!

I'm sick and tired of hearing fellow Christians bad-mouth and bash "religion." It is an insult within Christian circles (especially the charismatic ones) to be labeled "religious." Religion is bad. Religion is the problem. Religion is what's wrong with the church. You hear this kind of thing all the time these days. I can't take it anymore. I have had my fill of popular religious leaders attacking "religious people." The modern church's attack on religion is like a drowning man attacking a life vest. The church today needs a lot more religion. We don't need to be warned about too much religion; we need to be warned about too little religion.

If you believe in God's Law, you're just being religious. Even if you just believe in ethical standards, you're just being religious. If you believe that, in worship, all things should be done decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40), you're just being religious. If you "do not let your good be spoken of as evil" (Rom 14:16), you're just being religious. Morals? Religious. Form? Religious. Modesty? Religious. Propriety? Religious. Suit and tie? Religious. Discernment? Religious. Church bulletin? Religious. Self-control? Religious. Everything seems to be labeled religious unless it is spontaneous, casual or carnal. Somehow, within Christian circles, "religious" has become the insult of insults similar to "intolerant" or "legalist" or "bigot."

At the risk of being labeled "religious" for doing so, I am going to use Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary to define the word "religion." I know it is not very postmodern or emergent to define terms these days but here I go anyway:

Religion:

1. Religion, in its most comprehensive sense, includes a belief in the being and perfections of God, in the revelation of his will to man, in man's obligation to obey his commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in man's accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral duties. It therefore comprehends theology, as a system of doctrines or principles, as well as practical piety; for the practice of moral duties without a belief in a divine lawgiver, and without reference to his will or commands, is not religion.
2. Religion, as distinct from theology, is godliness or real piety in practice, consisting in the performance of all known duties to God and our fellow men, in obedience to divine command, or from love to God and his law. James 1.
3. Religion, as distinct from virtue, or morality, consists in the performance of the duties we owe directly to God, from a principle of obedience to his will. Hence we often speak of religion and virtue, as different branches of one system, or the duties of the first and second tables of the law.

Being accused of having too much religion is like being accused of having too much belief in the being and perfections of God or in the revelation of his will to man or in man's obligation to obey his commands or in a state of reward and punishment or in man's accountableness to God. What's wrong with godliness? What's wrong with performing all known duties to God and our fellow men? What's wrong with religion? James said, "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless" (James 1:26). James says that to not bridle your tongue makes your religion worthless. I'm afraid that many Christians today would say bridling your tongue makes you religious.

James continues by adding, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (James 1:27). Performing our duties to our fellow man and keeping ourselves unstained from the world is religious, yes, but it is also good. Pure religion is the only true religion. As Noah Webster said: "the practice of moral duties without a belief in a divine lawgiver, and without reference to his will or commands, is not religion." False or filthy religion is not religion at all. Also, reverence, respect, ritual and rote does not quench the Spirit. When we do not allow the Spirit to be seen in our actions (pure religion), that is when we suppress or “quench” the Spirit (but that's another post). What we, the modern church, need is more religion. May the Holy Spirit grant us more religion.

Too Pious to Party

In a dark world full of lost souls, starving children and unreached tribes should Christians feel guilty for celebrating and rejoicing? When the world is weeping should Christians be laughing? When the world is mourning should Christians be dancing? When the world is famished should Christians be feasting? Does physical happiness refute personal holiness? Does partying contradict piety? Many Christians are confused by these questions. They tend to feel guilty and ashamed when they compare what they have to what the lost do not. When they look out at the world and see pain, persecution and poverty they feel ashamed of their own health, liberty and wealth. What is a Christian to do?

This paragraph will most certainly end with the word "but..." Christians should have a heart for the lost. We should, like Jesus, look out on the crowds with eyes of compassion. We are to mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep. Jesus said when we give the hungry food and drink and when we welcome the stranger and clothe the naked and when we visit the sick and those in prison we do or don't do all those things to Him (Mt 25). God's Law tells us this: "For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’" (Duet. 15:11) We should always be proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world. If we love Jesus we will feed His sheep. But...

There has always been lost souls in the world. There has always been poverty and suffering. God is sovereignly at work in history restoring what was lost at the fall. The kingdom of God is advancing and Christ will reign till all enemies are under His feet. Until it is all restored and Christ returns we will and always have had the lost, the dying, the sick, the poor and the persecuted in the world. In spite of the reality of sin in the world God wanted His people to celebrate. We don't have to, out of guilt or pity, wait till all is restored before we laugh and dance. There will always be plenty of reasons to mourn but there is also plenty of reasons to celebrate.

God's people Israel, in the Old Testament, were surrounded by pagan cultures. There was poverty, idolatry and suffering in those cultures. In that context look at what God commanded them to do: "...then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household." (Duet 14:25-27) Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson, in their book "Angels in the Architecture" sarcastically commented on this verse: "Such unthriftiness. Such waste. Such gluttony. Such winebibbing. Such is a command of our holy God."

They also wrote this:

• Celebration is worshiping God with our bodies, with the material creation He has set up around us. Celebrating – whether in feasts, ceremonies, holidays, formal worship, or lovemaking –are all part of obeying God’s command to “love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength” (Duet 6:5; Mk 12:30) We are to show our love for God not just with one portion of our being (the spiritual aspect); we are to love God with our whole body, heart and strength and legs and lips.
• Complaint is the flag of ingratitude, and it waives above the center of unbelieving hearts –“when they knew God, the glorified him not as God, neither were thankful” (Rom 1:21). Yet by grace, God’s redemption in creation ought to keep us in a perpetual state of thanks which bursts out in celebration at every opportunity. Again, we are celebrating God’s dominion...

There is indeed, in time and history, "a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance" (Ecc. 3:4) "The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up." (1 Sam 2:7) Let us celebrate the Lord. We must resist the gnostic tendency to separate the physical things into the category of evil and the spiritual things into the category of good. We serve a God who clothed Himself with human flesh and after He died His body was resurrected. “Asceticism” is the doctrine that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing rigorous self-denial and extreme abstinence. The apostle Paul made it clear that asceticism was not the answer: "These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh." (Col 2:23)

Victorious kingdom living includes celebratory kingdom feasting and dancing. It is sin that causes us to forget our blessings and fail to celebrate them: "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you" (Duet. 28: 47-48). We Christians sometimes have such a hard time gratefully honoring God's blessings in celebration. Yes, we should not forget about the lost but we should also not forget to celebrate the fact that we've been found! Have we become too pious to party? "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor 10:31)

Holy Ground

When Moses approached the burning bush God spoke to Him saying, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." (Ex 3:5) In the Old Covenant the ground was cursed. God told Adam "cursed is the ground because of you" (Gen 3:17). God also, because He had made Adam from the ground, told him that part of the curse was that he would return to the dust (Gen 3:19). The ground is cursed with death. In the Old Testament, they wore shoes or sandals because the ground was cursed. This was also the reason for all the foot-washing. Anything that got dirt on it was seen as having the curse of death on it. Only God's presence could reverse the curse and make the ground holy. This is why the priests were always barefoot in the temple.

James Jordan expounds on this idea: "Only the serpent travels with his belly or flesh in the cursed soil. Clean land animals wear shoes (hooves). Men only take their shoes off on “holy ground” (Ex. 3:5; Josh. 5:15). Entering someone’s house, you washed your feet, to avoid bringing contamination into the house (Gen. 18:4; 19:2; 43:24; Jud. 19:21; Luke 7:44). In the death and resurrection of Christ, the curse has been removed from the soil."

Just as being dirty represented death, in the Old Covenant, when you touched a dead body you would be considered dirty or unclean. Dirty represented death and death represented dirty. Anything, in the Bible resembling death is considered dirty or unclean. One who was unclean had to go through various ritual washings, by which ceremonial defilements were removed (Num 19). Interestingly, Hebrews 9 refers to those "various washings," which could also be accurately translated "various baptisms," and they always involved sprinkling or pouring. Jesus reversed the curse of Adam. Through baptism we are washed and made clean and we stand, as the body of Christ, on holy ground.

Without Holiness ALL IS LOST

"The loss of the traditional vision of God as holy is now manifested everywhere in the evangelical world. It is the key to understanding why sin and grace have become such empty terms. What depth or meaning, P.T. Forsyth asked, can these terms have except in relation to the holiness of God? Divorced from the holiness of God, sin is merely self-defeating behavior or a breach in etiquette. Divorced from the holiness of God, grace is merely empty rhetoric, pious window dressing for the modern technique by which sinners work out their own salvation. Divorced from the holiness of God, our gospel becomes indistinguishable from any of a host of alternative self-help doctrines. Divorced from the holiness of God, our public morality is reduced to little more than an accumulation of trade-offs between competing private interests. Divorced from the holiness of God, our worship becomes mere entertainment. The holiness of God is the [foundation of reality]. Sin is defiance of God's holiness, the Cross is the outworking and victory of God's holiness, and faith is the recognition of God's holiness. Knowing that God is holy is therefore the key to knowing life as it truly is, knowing Christ as he truly is, knowing why he came, and knowing how life will end."

~ David Wells - No Place for Truth, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?