The Only True Path To A Sound Faith

In a day and age when evangelical Christians are outright neglecting biblical revelation, or seeking sources of extra-biblical revelation, or mixing God's revealed truth in the Scriptures with their own personal "truths," this J.I. Packer quote is invaluable. It captures the only true path to a sound faith (Ps 119:105; Rom 10:17; 1 Thes 2:13).

"The work of the Spirit in imparting this knowledge is called 'illumination,' or enlightening. It is not a giving of new revelation, but a work within us that enables us to grasp and to love the revelation that is there before us in the biblical text as heard and read, and as explained by teachers and writers.

Sin in our mental and moral system clouds our minds and wills so that we miss and resist the force of Scripture. God seems to us remote to the point of unreality, and in the face of God’s truth we are dull and apathetic. The Spirit, however, opens and unveils our minds and attunes our hearts so that we understand.

As by inspiration he provided Scripture truth for us, so now by illumination he interprets it to us. Illumination is thus the applying of God’s revealed truth to our hearts, so that we grasp as reality for ourselves what the sacred text sets forth."

(Source: J.I. Packer, Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs, pg 155.)

Should Christians Elevate or Defuse The Raging Culture War?

(Link to book on Amazon: Unified)

   U.S. Congressmen Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) are close friends who've learned some invaluable cultural lessons. These lessons are captured in a book they've written together regarding cultural diversity and unity in a divided country.
   My interest in this friendship and book was especially piqued after I listened to the video posted below. In it, the outspoken Trey Gowdy (obviously a devout Christian) is tenderheartedly addressing other Christians in a Baptist church regarding the critical cultural lessons he's learned. He's spot on, and his message is contributing to a healing cultural narrative that holds out some real promise. Instead of elevating the raging culture war what if American Christians defused it?


In contrast, the article below demonstrates precisely what is not helpful nor biblical.

How To Support A Friend Going Through A Difficult Time

Very insightful!

Whose Truth Are You Listening To?

Our so-called "truth" is often at the root of our identity problems. This song is an extraordinary example of a believer who moves from her destructive, subjective "truths" to God's healing, objective truths. The words "you say" are implicitly rooted in God's written Word. The song unfolds a journey from a faith in self to a faith in God, the true foundation of a stable identity.

C.S. Lewis and The Weight of Glory

“The promises of Scripture may very roughly be reduced to five heads. It is promised, firstly, that we shall be with Christ; secondly, that we shall be like Him; thirdly, with an enormous wealth of imagery, that we shall have ‘glory’; fourthly, that we shall, in some sense, be fed or feasted or entertained; and, finally, that we shall have some sort of official position in the universe—ruling cities, judging angels, being pillars of  God’s temple.” (C.S. Lewis) 

Read the entire sermon here: The Weight of Glory

Your Credibility Really Matters

    Your credibility really matters. If you're not perceived as trustworthy, your potential for living in harmony with other people is slim to none. This is because credibility is built on the three pillars of integrity, benevolence, and competence. In the perception of others, you must maintain these pillars. Otherwise, you'll carry no weight with them, so influencing them will become impossible. You must be above reproach, charitable, and equal to the complexities of your given roles. Your credibility really matters.
    In addition, your credibility is all-encompassing. Trust impacts every one of your relationships from the trivial ones to the critical. If you're a mechanic, you desperately need credibility to maintain customers. And, if you're a parent, your children must trust you deeply. Otherwise, they'll hold you at arm's length. Think about the lengths you personally go to every day to ensure other people are trustworthy, even about trivial matters. Everyone is keeping score when it comes to credibility. You can't afford to neglect this reality. Your credibility is all-encompassing.
    Moreover, your credibility is fragile. It is gained in nickels and dimes and lost in one hundred dollar bills. Ever imperfect, you are always damaging it, so your integrity and benevolence and competence deposits into credibility must be greater than your withdrawals from it. This isn't easy. Also, there is the matter of distorted perceptions. Here the issue of credibility can take an unfair turn in its fragility. Even if you maintain reasonable levels of integrity, benevolence, and competence, you can still lose your credibility. Whether just or unjust, other people live by their perceptions, even when their opinions are inaccurate or unrealistic or unfair. Your credibility is fragile.
    Your credibility is also elusive. When you lose credibility, you often don't realize it, at least at first. People are all different. A few people tell you upfront you have a trust problem, but most people safely and secretly adjust their lives, usually distancing themselves from you. You may think everything is fine, but as time passes, it all adds up. Something feels different; it's hard to put your finger on it. With such people you begin to feel like you live in a glass room with them, a relational glass room furnished with but one door for entering and exiting. When you enter the room, you can see through the glass walls, but there are no doors into the other rooms of the relationship. Similarly, you can see through the glass ceiling above, but there is no relational stairway up. Hence, you can enter and exit the relational glass room, but you can't move past that point. Your credibility is elusive.
    In conclusion, since your credibility matters so much, you desperately need God's perspective on it (Ps 119:105). God, speaking via the Scriptures, indicates that credibility is invaluable (Prov 22:1), so you should establish it and preserve it accordingly. Moreover, He also wants you to be relationally conscientious with everyone (Matt 5:23-24; Rom 12:18), even your enemies (Matt 5:44). Furthermore, God also says that salvaging your credibility won't always be possible (Lk 6:26), even if losing it is undeserved and unfair (Matt 5:11; Lk 7:33-35; 1 Pet 4:14-16). After all, God the Father didn't even expect Jesus, who was "without blemish or spot" (1 Pet 1:19), to please everyone all the time. And, if you're a believer, Jesus' story will reflect your story (Jn 15:18; Matt 10:24-25). Finally, if you're wise, you'll live within the parameters of these complex tensions, trusting God and His Word, especially when life doesn't seem fair. Your all-encompassing credibility, while ever-fragile and ever-elusive, is, nonetheless, vital. Your credibility really matters. 

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Cor 4:1-5).

Our Current Postmodern Cultural Context

Link - Sally Quinn, Finding Magic: A Spiritual Memoir

This interview epitomizes the significant shift in our culture's religious thinking; this is what the philosophy of postmodernism looks like in real life. The author (a former atheist) went from believing in nothing to believing in everything. Moreover, the classic ways of determining truth are now taboo, and postmodernism is clearly the new cultural "truth" norm. Any form of religious objectivity is now considered absurd. Religious truth is something found within us not outside of us, and it is individual and relative.

Some Daunting Cultural Challenges Indeed

Per Dr. David Wells, here are the daunting cultural challenges Christ's church faces at the beginning of the 21st century:    

"The fact is that we are living in a time of the most extraordinary paradoxes. Never have we had so much in our society and yet never have people had so little. Never have we had more affluence, despite some economic ups and downs, and yet seldom have we felt so empty. We have brilliant technology but disconnected, fragmented families. Never has so much talk filled the air through radio, television and the Internet, and yet never before has so much talk been left unheard. We are connected to everyone, potentially, in every place, and yet never have we felt so alone. Ours is a world of extraordinary opportunity but one that is also littered with many broken dreams and forgotten hopes. It is a world dark with hatreds but one in which, for so many people, evil is no longer a part of their vocabulary. If the church cannot become the place where all these issues are given their deepest and truest treatment, then the church will have lost its reason to exist. These are the questions now facing us. If we fail, Christianity may well stumble and falter throughout the West (italics mine)."

 

A High View of Marriage Includes Divorce

"Friendly Fire"

I don't agree with every minor detail of this blog post, A High View of Marriage Includes Divorce, but I do wholeheartedly agree with its central, long-overdue message: In the interest of maintaining a high view of marriage, Evangelical and Reformed officers/churches/believers often further victimize spouses who pursue a Biblically legitimate divorce. Over the years, I have witnessed this tendency first-hand many times, privately counseled many such wounded and bleeding sheep, and I have personally experienced some of this pain myself (since I'm the spouse of a believer who obtained a divorce through a legitimate church court in the OPC). Inadvertent as some of it may be, Evangelical and Reformed officers/churches/believers have their ways of issuing emotional sanctions against legitimately divorced believers, whether via overt messages of rejection or shame, subtle marginalization (e.g. treating them as though they were invisible), or putting such believers in a glass room, as it were, with a limiting glass ceiling and walls, lacking any doors, thus thwarting their ministerial influences and opportunities. At the end of the day, such is nothing less than a form of "friendly fire," to a borrow a military concept; the church often shoots yet another bullet into an already severely wounded brother or sister.

Thank you Rebecca VanDoodewaard for speaking up for some of the "least of these" in this post.

The Scriptures and Inventive Gimmicks

Here's one good reason why one should avoid utilizing the Scriptures to facilitate inventive gimmicks.