How living faith lives

The Christian life is like a three course meal, but many Christians have only the starter and desert. Beginning with the cross, finding their past sins forgiven, many Christians then look forward to future glory, but miss the main course. This illustration is chronological, as everyone knows, desert is the best part of any meal. Christians should feast on the present, daily benefits of faith in Christ, but many skip this. Horatius Bonar sets out the past, present and future benefits of faith in Christ at the opening of the 8th chapter of God’s Way of Holiness:

The alphabet of gospel truth is that “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3). By this we are saved, obtaining peace with God, and “access…into this grace wherein we stand” (Rom 5:2).

But he who thus believes is also made partaker of Christ (Heb 3:14), partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), par-taker of the heavenly calling (Heb 3:1), partaker of the Holy Ghost (Heb 6:4), partaker of His holiness (Heb 12:10). In the person of his Surety he has risen as well as died; he has ascended to the throne, is seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6), his life is hid with Christ in God (Col 3:3). That which he is to be in the day of the Lord’s appearing, he is regarded as being now, and is treated by God as such…

He goes on to explain that with the knowledge of salvation in Christ comes a tightrope to walk in the Christian life. On the one side, softness and complacency and on the other hardness and cold zeal:

Surely, then, a Christian man is called to be consistent and decided, as well as joyful, not conformed to this world (Rom 12:2), but to that world to come, in which he already dwells by faith. “What manner of person ought [he] to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11).

It has been matter of complaint once and again that some of those who were zealous for these “higher doctrines,” as they have been called, were not so careful to “maintain good works,” or so attentive to the “minor morals” of Christianity as might have been expected. They were not so large-hearted, not so openhanded, nor so generous, nor so humble, as many whose light was dimmer; also they were supercilious, inclined to despise others as dark and ill-instructed, given to display their consciousness of spiritual superiority in ungentle ways or words.

…Let the whole soul be fed by the study of the whole Bible, that so there may be no irregularity nor inequality in the growth of its parts and powers. Let us beware of “itching” ears and eyes. True, we must not be “babes,” unable to relish strong meat, and “unskillful in the Word of righteousness” (Heb 5:13). But we need to beware of the soarings of an ill-balanced theology and an ill-knit creed. True Christianity is healthy and robust, not soft, nor sickly, nor sentimental; yet, on the other hand, not hard, nor lean, nor ill-favored, nor ungenial.

7 reasons to grasp justification by faith

In his book, The Marrow of True Justification, Benjamin Keach gives 7 reasons why Christians should grasp the doctrine of justification by faith:

1. Because the doctrine of justification is one of the greatest and most weighty subjects I can insist upon; it being by all Christians acknowledged to be a Fundamental of Religion and Salvation…Other subjects a Minister may Preach upon, and that unto the Profit and Advantage of the People; but this he must Preach, this he cannot omit, if he would truly Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Because I fear many Good Christians may not be so clearly and fully instructed into this Doctrine as they ought…
3. Because the present Times are perilous, and many Grand Errors in and about this great Fundamental Point too much abound and prevail..
4. Because if a Person err herein, or be corrupt and of an unsound Faith, in the case of Justification, he is in a dangerous condition, though he may seem to be otherwise a Good Christian and of a Holy Life…
5. Because this Doctrine tends so much to the Honour of God, and the magnifying of his infinite Wisdom, and his Free Grace, and Mercy in Jesus Christ, and also the abasement of the Creature.
6. Because from this Doctrine doth proceed all the Hope we have of Eternal Life.
7. Because ’tis a Doctrine that affords so much sweet and Divine Comfort to our souls, when rightly understood and apprehended; and I am persuaded ’tis through the want of Light, and clear knowledge of this Doctrine, so many Doubts and Fears attend many Good Christians: For, divers weak Saints are ready to judge of their Justification according to the degree and measure of their Sanctification, and can hardly be brought to believe, such vile Creaturese as they are, who find such evil and deceiptful Hearts, and so many great Evils and infirmaties in their Lives, can be Justified in the sight of God.

Point 7 is the mistake of the neonomian, where gospel and law, justification and sanctification are mingled. Keach goes on in his book to expound Romans 4:5:

And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness

Moving

We are moving home, church, kids’ school and town today. I’ve been curate of St Luke’s for 3 years and 8 months. It has been a good season. The cross has regained centre ground in my life and I’ve come to appreciate the present benefits of faith union with Christ. We got embedded in the life of Blakenhall and made many good friends.

I’m not sure what the future holds for us at Holy Trinity West Bromwich. The church family is very welcoming and so we look forward to our move. My guess is that there will be all sorts of distractions in leadership which did not exist in the curacy. I’m also guessing that the demands of the post will be more exhausting. Please pray that I’ll always echo Paul in saying “what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5)

How the cross enables ‘liberal’ church

Following on from yesterday’s post on Council Estate Christianity, I preached through Romans at the end of last year and have seen the need for justification by faith alone to be re-established in my life and church life as the sole basis for acceptance before God and so of each other (Romans 15:7). This means that the church in tough areas might be seen, at times, by other conservative churches, as liberal.

I do not want to be misheard. I am not advocating the teaching of liberalism, which undermines God’s holiness by a denial of the law. I am arguing for a high view of justification by faith.

Justification by faith alone means that when a sinner looks at the cross and sees the Son of God dying in his place for his sins so that in his heart he repents of those sins and find he has faith in Christ as Saviour, he is made right with God, accepted and adopted as a son. This is the doctrine of justification by faith alone, without works (Romans 4:5) and the sole basis for Christians to accept each other across great divides (Jew-Gentile, Romans 15:7).

There are a number of implications of this, including:

1. religious traditions and practices lose their power to unite or divide (Romans 14).
2. the rich and poor mix are able to share hospitality without being patronising or pretentious (James 2).
3. cultural differences including race and youth culture, where it is not immoral, are overlooked (Romans 10:12)
4. believers are concerned to know what others think of Christ and do not divide over other matters of doctrine but seek to grow together in knowledge of God (Ephesians 4)
5. there is no need for moral compliance for the sake of acceptance, everyone is accepted on the basis of faith in Christ alone (Romans 15:7) and so ability to change is not a measure of faith. New believers need not be rushed to comply to the law, but rather they have time and space to grow into Christ likeness whilst mature believers bear with the weakness of the young (Romans 14). This is where the church might appear liberal, though holding to an orthodox justification by faith and upholding the law.  A church with a high view of justification by faith will be messy, even apparently liberal, while new believers work through what it means to live as slaves to righteousness (Romans 6), under the teaching of the word at church and at home, at their own pace.

Another Christian Inner City Blogger

I recently discovered Duncan Forbes’ blog, Council Estate Christianity. I’m about to move, next week, from one inner city church to another and have found Duncan’s stuff spot on. Here’s some of his really useful observations from his blog category “Council Estates“

On Christianity being synonymous with the middle class, viewed from both sides of the divide:

There is a common perception on council estates that Christians are middle class. This results in many people thinking:

1) They will never be accepted by Christians because of their background
2) Christians will never understand them.
3) They could never be a Christian – unless they changed their culture.
4) They need to change their fashion, venacular, and sense of humour in order to be more Christian.

I think there are a number of factors for this problem:

1) The majority of Christians in England are middle class.
2) The majority of Christians dress in a middle class manner. Some churches even have dress codes for the preachers that involve a shirt and tie (which is often perceived as a class marker).
3) The majority of Christians talk in a middle class manner.
4) The majority of Christian leaders are middle class – hence both their example, and their sermons come across as very middle class.
5) The majority of Christian authors are middle class.
6) The majority of Christians do not look into council estate issues, but rather focus on middle class issues e.g., How to evangelise post-modern university students.
7) Many Christians actually confuse middle class values with biblical values. Of course some mc values may well be biblical, but some, such as self-reliance are clearly unbiblical.

So, if you grow up on a council estate, you are not gonna see many Christian role models. And if you do see any, they might well be portraying the middle class lifestyle more loudly than the Christian lifestyle.

On why there are few Council Estate Christians:

In my humble opinion this is the main reason why there are so few churches on council estates. Very few people are sent out to preach the gospel on council estates.

On the greatest problem for council estates:

Over the years I have heard shock from some people about the social deprivation and crime of council estates, but this is not the greatest problem. Our greatest problem is not knowing God as our loving creator. Our greatest problem is that we live as enemies to God, and we need to be brought into a right relationship with God.

On learning styles and bible teaching:

The whole notion of learning styles for individuals is on shaky ground, yet has been surprisingly naively accepted (even by myself). To then apply this notion to Council Estates goes well beyond the evidence.

And on the danger of making something current:

10 years ago, when I felt God call me to plant a church on a Council Estate (which I was born and raised on), hardly any Christians seemed to be talking about Council Estates. Recently however, it appears to have become one of the ‘in things’ to talk about.

Thanks Duncan, keep posting!

The vicar’s wife and lads’ mags

There’s been little local storm brewing over at the Express and Star after they ran an article about the successful complaint by the vicar’s wife which led to lads’ mags at Asda being moved to the top shelf.

I was amused by the journalistic licence which turned what was a five minute bluster at customer services into a “battle”. I am more concerned by some of the comments made by male readers of the Express and Star. Wanting to appear bold and brave, the comments expose a great weakness in many British men.

I’ve just finished preaching a 6-part series on Samson at church. He was the strongest man in the world, reduced to a drooling puddle of spineless slime as he worshipped Delilah’s beauty. She accepted his worship and so successfully reversed the power dynamic in their relationship. By a combination of manipulation, guilt-tripping and threatening to stop giving out, she exercised her girl power in much the same way lads’ mags encourage women to treat men. Samson was physically strong but a sad weakling with beautiful girls.

Any lads who argue for the availability of lads’ mags are asking to be like Samson. They want to be made weak, led by their bits not their brains to be subject to girl power. Strong men do not worship women but worship Christ as crucified Saviour. These men find Christ’s strength to focus their sexual urges appropriately.

If you are a man who wants to stop being weakly led by your groin, please have a read of For Men Only.

The Doubts of Liberalism and Darwinism

One striking aspect of the popular liberal theology of the last century was a retreat to the subjective in the face of the bullish confidence of the scientific era. Liberal theology had its doubts because scientists had none. There are lessons to learn as the battle is not yet won.

Three defining texts of British Liberal Theology bear the same mark: Lux Mundi (Gore, 1889), Honest to God (Robinson, 1963) and The Myth of God Incarnate (Hick, 1977). The honesty of the authors makes their theological suppositions easy to uncover. In each case, the theologians evidently capitulated to modern scientific knowledge. Liberals retreated from orthodox interpretations of scripture and tradition to a defensive position where internal experiences of love were claimed to be the supreme source of Christian truth.

For example, the opening essay in Lux Mundi is ‘Faith’, by the Rev H.S. Holland. In it, Holland sets out to defend Christian faith against modernism and speaks about faith as “an elemental energy of the soul”, “a profound and radical act…these innermost convictions of our souls”, “an instinct of relationship based on an inner actual fact”, “an affection of the will, by which it presses up against God, and drinks in divine vitality with quickened receptivity.” Christian faith then, according to Holland, is not primarily based on an objective view of Christ on the cross but on an internal feeling, an inner experience in God, which can neither be measured nor prodded nor discovered by scientific enterprise, and thus it was deemed safe from modern criticism.

Having placed faith beyond measure, investigation or reason, Holland attacked the modernist, pointing out that their “immense”, “complicated”, “confident”, “successful” and “powerful” scientific knowledge “is but an empty and hollow dream, unless they are prepared to place their utmost trust in an unverified act of faith.” Modernism’s arrogance was clearly palpable and Holland had no means of rebuttal except to say it was an act of faith. This is a good argument, except that the modernist would say it was fact not faith. What made this “fact” hard to argue against was the high degree of scientific specialisation. Atheist geneticist Richard Lewontin points out in his book Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA (1991) that scientists superceded theologians as “the chief legitimating force in modern society.”

It is easy to sit in a post-modern culture and criticise liberals for crumbling before modernism. In today’s world, science is discredited and new legitimating forces battle for supremacy. We don’t share Holland’s sense of overwhelming inadequacy when faced with the “rapidity” of the growth of modern knowledge. It understandable, to some extent, that given the tidal wave of confident scientific assertion, Holland and others found themselves, as theologians, ill equipped to construct a rational and systematic critique of specialist modern knowledge.

Bishop John Robinson caught the mood of the UK in his little 1963 book “Honest to God”. In it, he describes again the effects of modern truth claims on theology in experiential terms:

The only way I can put it is to say that over the years a number of things have unaccountably ‘rung a bell’; various unco-ordinated aspects of one’s reading and experience have come to ‘add up’. The inarticulate conviction forms within one that certain things are true or important. One may not grasp them fully or understand why they matter. One may not even welcome them. One simply knows that if one is to retain one’s integrity one must come to terms with them. For if their priority is sensed and they are not attended to, then subtly other convictions begin to lose their power: one continues to trot these convictions out, one says one believes in them (and one does), but somehow they seem emptier. One is aware that insights that carry their own authentication, however subjective, are not being allowed to modify them.

The growth of Robinson’s doubts is obvious:

“one continues to trot these (Christian) convictions out, ..but somehow they seem emptier.”

The recent series of programmes on the BBC celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species has one striking theme. Poor old David Attenborough has been saying things like “it is very well attested fact that birds evolved from dinosaurs as we have found some very good fossils of dinosaurs with feathers.” This is hardly the stuff of the grand, old, confident scientific enterprise. Far more the wistful speculation of a man with growing doubts in his belief that there is probably no God.

The process of doubt might yet be reversed. How long will it be before the confidence of theologians, pastors and Christians in general returns and no doubt in Christ remains? And how long until a prominent bishop of the church of scientific endeavour says “one continues to trot these (Darwinian) convictions out, ..but somehow they seem emptier”? The Intelligent Design movement may have dented neo-Darwinian confidence but only a full scale return of confidence in Christ crucified will finish the job.

Down Grading Christ (2)

In this extract from The Down Grade Controversy, Charles Spurgeon highlights the danger of both theological and practical Arianism. The former denies the theological principles of Christ as fully God and fully man and the latter denies Christ by an air of cold detachment from the truth.

In most cases, in both preachers and hearers, it was only a short step down from the Arianism which makes the eternal Son of God a super-angelic being to the Socinianism (miscalled Unitarianism) which makes him a man only, denying alike original sin, human depravity, the mediation of Christ, the personality and work of the eternal Spirit, and that new birth without which divine truth has declared no one can see the kingdom of God. The descent of some few was less gradual, but more commonly, when once on “the down grade” their progress was slow, though unhappily sure. The central truth of Calvinism, as of the Gospel, is the person and work and offices of the Lord Jesus Christ. We love to use this Pauline and inspired description of our divine Savior and royal Master, and so to “give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.” When men begin to hesitate about, and hold back the truth in relation to him, it is a sign of an unhealthy state of soul; and when these truths are diluted, omitted, or otherwise tampered with, it is a sign which in plain words means “Beware.”

The remark of a writer of reliable ability in reference to these times is worthy of quotation:—

“The deficiency of evangelical principles in some, and the coldness with which they came from the lips of others, seem to have prepared the way for the relinquishment of them, and for the introduction, first of Arminianism, and then of Arianism.”

Down Grading Christ (1)

I’ve begun reading Charles Spurgeon’s The Down Grade Controversy. The following clips from the first chapter briefly outline all sorts of ways in which ministers can drift away from the central wonders of Christ crucified:

By some means or other, first the ministers, and then the Churches, got on “the down grade,” and in some cases, the descent was rapid, and in all, very disastrous. In proportion as the ministers seceded from the old Puritan godliness of life, and the old Calvinistic form of doctrine, they commonly became less earnest and less simple in their preaching, more speculative and less spiritual in the matter of their discourses, and dwelt more on the moral teachings of the New Testament, than on the great central truths of revelation…

The Presbyterians were the first to get on the down line. They paid more attention to classical attainments and other branches of learning in their ministry than the Independents, while the Baptists had no academical institution of any kind. It would be an easy step in the wrong direction to pay increased attention to academical attainments in their ministers, and less to spiritual qualifications; and to set a higher value on scholarship and oratory, than on evangelical zeal and ability to rightly divide the word of truth…

These displayed, not only less zeal for the salvation of sinners, and, in many cases, less purity or strictness of life, but they adopted a different strain in preaching, dwelt more on general principles of religion, and less on the vital truths of the gospel. Ruin by sin,
regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and redemption by the blood of Christ—truths on the preaching of which God has always set the seal of his approbation—were conspicuous chiefly by their absence…

There was another section among the Presbyterians who, like the former two, retained a nominal orthodoxy, and professed to believe, though they seldom preached, evangelical sentiments. Men of this stamp were chiefly remarkable for the extreme coldness of their sermons, and the extreme dullness of their delivery.

Who to spend time with?

Every church leader has a limited time to meet with people. Who should this time be spent with and what should be done in this time? The following diagrams come from Chris Green’s lectures at Oak Hill College on ministry training.

VIPs are Very Important People, local government bods, diocesan reps, school governors and so on.
VDPs are Very Dependent People in need of counselling or other social care.
VNPs are Very Nice People, the sort of friends you’d spend your day off with.
VTPs are Very Trainable People, eager to learn about Christ and to serve him.

The aim of ministry is to maximise time with VTPs. As they are trained the work of the church expands and the pastor achieves the goal of ministering to many VDPs through the VTPs (left hand diagram below):

What often happens in ministry is VIPs and VDPs demand the minister’s time. This creates a circular pattern where the minister only spends his remaining time with VNPs as a means of escaping the pressure. VTPs get overlooked and the church does not expand (right hand diagram above). In spite of high ideals, I’ve found it easy to drift in this regard and need these diagrams to remind me of the work of the pastor.