Posted in assurance, theology

We all need the Gospel, especially the falsely assured

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Isaiah 5:20- -“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

It sure seems like lots of people are acting like this today, doesn’t it? And I’m speaking of Christians!

As Barnes Notes says of the Isaiah verse, “Woe unto them that call evil good … – This is the fourth class of sins denounced. The sin which is reprobated here is that of “perverting and confounding” things, especially the distinctions of morality and religion. They prefer erroneous and fake doctrines to the true; they prefer an evil to an upright course of conduct.”

1 Timothy 4:1 – “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”

In the verse above, in various translations, we read that The Spirit says it expressly, explicitly, directly, clearly in well defined words, that’s what it means. And He is now saying it present tense. ~John MacArthur

Present tense means that the Spirit is still saying that people will abandon the faith and follow doctrines of demons.

The first sign Jesus gave in response to the disciples’ question about the last days in Matthew 24 was religious deception. This theme is carried throughout the other verses in Old Testament and New where we read even in Amos 8:11 that He will send a famine on the land, a famine for the Word. That prophecy was fulfilled when the time came when no prophet spoke the words from the Lord. It is also coming again, when doctrines of demons tickle the ears but fail to fill the soul.

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3)

Apostasy is a process. Hebrews 2:1 says “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” No one falls away from the faith all at once. It’s incremental.

Therefore the antidote to apostasy is to pay attention. Pay attention to what? The Gospel. Pay attention to Who? Jesus. Always test one’s self to see if we are in the faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5). If we do not pay careful attention, making constant small course corrections, the tiny drift eventually becomes a wide sea, and the person is adrift on a stormy ocean of spiritualism but is far from a peaceful shore.

Believers cannot lose their salvation, the Holy Spirit is in us, a deposit as the guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:22). What kind of guarantee would it be if we could possess a guarantee then it turns out to be void? (Isaiah 55:11).

I’ve been enjoying RC Sproul’s daily lectures on the topic of Assurance. His most recent lecture (Wednesday, May 1, 2019) was on the 4 kinds of people:

Folks who know they aren’t saved
Folks who know they are saved
Folks who believe they’re saved but struggle with doubt
Folks who assure themselves they’re saved, but aren’t.

It’s an interesting lecture. Sproul said that those people in the 4th category, fully assured they are saved but aren’t, may have a lot more doubt inside themselves than they are showing.

People who you believe are saved need the Gospel too. We all do. People you know who say they are saved but you havent’ seen any fruit, perhaps aren’t, and they might need the Gospel as well. People you know who seem saved, who talk the talk and even walk the walk, if they begin drifting, do not be afraid to share the Gospel and evangelize them. They, too, need Jesus, the Anchor, the Light, the One who saves. Actually, every person on the planet needs the Gospel. What a joy it is to know the Good News. We might not know who is saved or are unsure of our own salvation, but we know the Answer. Jesus’s Gospel.

Twitter Gospel

Posted in encouragement, theology

Can We really Do All Things Through Christ?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata*

What Christian isn’t familiar with one of the New Testament’s most famous comfort verses?

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

It is good to be reminded that it’s His strength and not our strength which propels us along in sanctification. It is good to be reminded that He is our all, and that all is possible.

However too many people misunderstand and misuse the verse. It does not mean I can attain whatever desire I have through Jesus. And it doesn’t mean Jesus plops all things or all strength down into us fully formed and ripe for use.

Let’s back up a little and take a look at what came before that verse. There is more to it than what many Christians of today take the verse to mean.

Paul said several times that he learned contentment. Learned it. He had to work at contentment, and learn the skill of practicing contentment over his long road of personal tribulation.

The two verses which precede the all things of verse 13 are:

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” [emphasis mine].

What Paul was learning is the power of Christ as the daily means of sanctification as he strove to holiness, and ultimately, contentment in all circumstances.

Paul had to consciously strive toward contentment through constant practice of cultivating it through reliance on God’s provision and promise. And he is not talking of self-sufficiency here, but of a diminishment of worldly desires as he strove to do all things God would have Him do in the name of Jesus.

Paul had many trials and difficulties. Paul isn’t saying that Jesus plopped down a supernatural contentment to his heart as he took a deep breath and relied on Him to do all things through Him. Not at all. As a matter of fact, Paul admits to dissatisfaction covetousness brings, in Romans 7:8. Through all his varied circumstances, Paul is saying, he had the opportunity to practice being content in the circumstances he found himself in, because those circumstances are divorced from earthly measures of contentment and joy. He had to learn it. This indicates an active participation on the part of the Christian.

Whenever Paul was low or high, had plenty or hunger, abundance or need, didn’t matter, because Christ was strengthening him in love, growth, joy and the other treasures we hold dear. If we divorce our joy or contentment from worldly things, what remains is Christ! Through Christ, all things are possible! Paul learned that. It took him a while and he had to work at it. But what glory for the Savior when we learn it.

So be careful what you are really saying when you say “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Are you working at learning how to do all things, apart from our flesh and distinct from the baggage of worldly wants? No matter your circumstances?

Phil Johnson preached on it recently, and this little note is a summary of what I took away from his sermon. I found his sermon exposition to be tremendously enlightening and inspiring. For a full explanation of what that verse means, I encourage you to take a listen and /or look at the transcript.

How to Find Contentment in a World of Discontent

Pastor Johnson ends his sermon this way:

“By the way, verse 13 contrasts wonderfully with Jesus’ statement in John 15:5: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” But “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” If the boundaries for “all things” that you seek to accomplish are set by the express commands of God and the righteous example of Christ, then there truly is no limit to what you can do through His power. That is the secret to true contentment. It’s not really a complex mystery. But the reason it is so difficult to learn is that it entails the mortification of our worldly lusts, our carnal ambitions, our selfish pride, and our ungodly attitudes.

 

quote content poor

*This first appeared on The End Time in January 2013.

Posted in theology

When the Bible repeats a name…

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

When the Hebrews wanted to express intimacy within a close relationship with someone, they repeated their name twice. Doing so was an expression of a close, personal bond. Knowing this ancient manner of speaking brings all the more sweetness to the following biblical examples:

On Mount Moriah when Abraham had been instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac, and Abraham was about to plunge the knife into Isaac, the Angel of the LORD (Preincarnate Christ) stopped Abraham, saying,

“Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Genesis 22:11).

When God called to Moses from within the burning bush, He said,

 “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:4b).

God encouraged Jacob to go to Egypt in Genesis 46:2, He called to him:

And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.”

God called to Samuel in the night, “Samuel, Samuel” in 1 Sam. 3:10.

God called to Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4)

We must not forget the most intimate relationship in the universe that sparked the most desolate lament upon separation- from Jesus on the cross, crying out “My God, My God.” (Matthew 27:46).

You might note that some of these intimate, loving calls from the LORD happened before the person He was calling knew Him. Samuel had just begun his training in the temple. Saul/Paul certainly didn’t know God. But we do read in 1 John 4:19 that “We love because he first loved us“. He initiates the love, He establishes the relationship.

Therefore, the question of life is not whether we know Jesus, but does He know us?

My two points, the notion of the repeated name calling and the the scriptural truth that He knows us first is tied together in one verse that has devastating meaning. Matthew 7:21-24.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Let’s unpack this.

The people standing before the judgment throne of God thought they knew Jesus. They are abruptly and shockingly told they never had the relationship they thought they had. They were ignorant of the one-way nature of it. Or they were self-deceived. Or they never examined themselves to see if they were in the faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5). Perhaps they bumped along in what they thought was a walk with Jesus but no one ever lovingly confronted them with the fact that fruit is absent. Or maybe they were never lovingly disciplined by their elders at church on church non-attendance.

Jesus looks them in the eye and dismisses them from His presence. “I never knew you,” He will say.

Oh! WOE!

He says that all their religious work was for naught. Everything that they did in His name is completely and totally rejected. The teaching they did in His name, and their mighty works, and casting out of demons, everything else, all for nothing. Empty. Void.

‘And then He will declare to them’…the word declare here is homologeó which means to publicly declare. A deeper meaning of this compound word in the Greek is to “speak to a conclusion.” It’s very final, this word. He will proclaim, or declare, with finality, the non-existent relationship.

Here is MacArthur’s explanation:

And here Christ openly proclaims that He does not know them. That same word, homologia him will I confess before My Father.” The same word is used. If you’re not willingly openly proclaiming Christ here, then He will not openly proclaim you there. Instead He says, “I never knew you.”

Worst of all, He calls them evildoers, workers of lawlessness, ye that work iniquity, lawbreakers, or simply evil people (depending on the translation.) In all cases, the news is very, very bad. Where they say “Lord, Lord”, their expression of intimacy, He utterly rejects any knowledge of or hope for a relationship by voiding their life.

Their final moments standing before Jesus will be of shock, rejection, and pain. As the Judgment concludes, He says,

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.‘ (Matthew 25:41).

This is serious, serious stuff. I do call out false teachers, people who think they are doing the Lord’s work, but are not. Why? This verse is haunting. It makes me cry every time I work with it. Can you imagine this scene? I have to, because it’s in the Bible. But do I want to? No. But this is the verse I think of every time I engage with a false teacher or their disciples. This. Every time.

It is agreeable that the Lord calls to His people by an endearment like the repeated name. We have a loving and perfect Savior who is also our Friend, Groom, Brother and so much more. For those who are truly saved, they will hear the welcoming words of Jesus. Maybe He will say, “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, well done good and faithful servant.” How sweet those words would be.

jesus love

Posted in encouragement, theology

“I have confidence”

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

When I was little I used to love the movie The Sound of Music. This slightly fictionalized version of the real life travails of the Von Trapp family first came out in 1965.

At the beginning of the movie were two scenes I loved. One was where the nuns are singing about a “Problem like Maria”. Maria was a candidate for the novitiate at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg. According to the movie version, Maria’s free spirit never settled down at the Abbey, and she had become a problem (in a mild way) such as being late for Mass, singing when she was supposed to be silent, and the like. When an opportunity to tutor the Von Trapp family children became available, the elder nuns thought Maria might be better suited for life outside the Abbey as governess to the Von Trapp children.

confidence 1

Leaving the comfort of the cloistered and familiar Abbey, Maria faces an unknown future. The movie depicts her walking along toward her destination, with her satchel in one hand and her guitar in another. Singing happily in order to bolster herself, she sings, “I Have Confidence.” Here is part of the lyrics:

I have confidence in sunshine,
I have confidence in rain.
I have confidence that spring will come again!
Besides what you see I have confidence in me.

It is a happy song, sung in a pretty setting. As Maria bounces along the byway she sings about having confidence in sunshine, in rain, in springtime, and in herself.

I loved it. I thought, I can have confidence, too! All I need to do is whip up some confidence from within! If I tell myself so, then my confidence will appear from nowhere and everything unknown or hard or scary can be faced!

That was my reasoning as a child, watching this movie.

I am no longer a child.

I wonder, where does confidence come from?

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. (Hebrews 10:35)

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible explains the verse:

Cast not away therefore your confidence – Greek “your boldness;” referring to their confident hope in God. They were not to cast this away, and to become timid, disheartened, and discouraged. They were to bear up manfully under all their trials, and to maintain a steadfast adherence to God and to his cause. The command is not to “cast this away.” Nothing could take it from them if they trusted in God, and it could be lost only by their own neglect or imprudence

“Our” confidence comes from our hope in Jesus. We trust His promises, we trust His plan, we trust that what He is doing is for our good and His glory.

The Hebrews at the time were experiencing persecution. Their homes and lands were being plundered and confiscated. They were being publicly exposed to reproach. They’d had a hard struggle with afflictions. So the writer of Hebrews reminds them that they had suffered those things, yet had retained a joy and a confidence in Him that surpassed the earthly trials. He urged them to continue having confidence in Jesus.

Additionally, we read in chapter 4 of Hebrews,

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16).

The throne of grace is the place from which the fountain of our confidence stems. We turn to Jesus for everything. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Even have confidence. Oh, we might generate a temporary euphoria in our own talents or abilities, but soon enough, that confidence evaporates. Indeed, Maria’s confidence disappears when she comes face to face with the grandeur of mansion in which she is about to reside. She suddenly feels very small.

confidence 2

confidence 3

However if one’s confidence is in Jesus, one never need feel small. One never need to feel insecure. We are a large part of His plan, and His fountain of grace never ceases. We can confidently approach and confidently drink there very time we feel low, scared, unsteady, or uncertain.

In other words, whatever you’re facing, a new job, medical issues, relationship woes, loss, or tragedy, He’s got this. Rest confidently in Him.

Posted in theology

Why Write?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I’m a writer. It’s not my profession, though I’ve tried. I can’t live off my writing. I write on the side. I have a job I love, that not-coincidentally affords me time to ponder, percolate, and write. I’ve kept a blog every day for 10+ years, and another personal blog on and off for 13 years.

I’m not introspective. Being on the Autism Spectrum, I am not adept at looking internally and understanding what I feel or why I feel it. I have never written in a journal or a diary. I don’t even journal my thoughts about my Bible reading after I became a Christian.

Rather, I chronicle.

Before I learned I was on the Spectrum, I’d obsessively chronicle everything that happens, looking for reasons as to why things happen. I’d hope that a pattern would emerge, so I could understand the cycle of life here on earth. I looked for meaning to it all.

I didn’t find it.

Being a journalist, I’d investigate, interview, and again, chronicle events so that the readers would know what was happening in their town. They’d learn who the people were and what they did the things that were going on, so then, maybe they would learn the meaning of it all, and in turn tell me.

It didn’t happen.

After I was saved by faith in Christ, I understood the meaning of life. So writing didn’t have to perform that function for me any more. But I still needed to process the world by writing. I’d become so used to chronicling everything, and writing down questions to be followed up on later, I transferred that habit to my blogging. I’ve written 4,788 essays. This one when I hit the publish button will be the 4,789th. That’s a lot of words.

Social media in many of its forms offer an opportunity to extol the virtues of Christ and to exhort others (and by immediate extension, myself) to holy living. I can and do warn, encourage, think, promote Him, and explore verses. It’s great. I mean, it’s great for me, I hope for others, too.

Now comes this essay by Andreas Kostenberger called “Reflections on Writing: Why Write?”

It’s so good!

“Writing can be a strategic stewardship.”

Kostenberger continues with talking about passionate persuasion, making a contribution, etc. It’s aimed at seminarians and those who plan to pursue a writing career, or at least, plan to author a book or contribute to the scholarly canon.  But I thought it was a good article and food for thought for any blogger.

I try to say something that adds to the general Christian discussion, edifies women, and doesn’t hinder or confuse. The Lord gives talents and abilities as well as the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts. I have written since I was a child, making lists, notes, observations,  snippets of lyrics or poems that struck my fancy- and I’ve continued to this day at age 58.

Putting that God-given ability to use for His glory, shepherding it and using it for His purposes is very sweet. Any talent or ability that God has endowed you with can and should be turned into a stewardship that strategically promotes His good name. Carpentry, music, maths, speaking, decision-making, researching, graphics, foreign language…any talent can be used for Him. Keep doing it, see where it leads you, organically.

When I was young, there were no blogs. But I wrote for the school newsletter. When I was a young adult there were no blogs, no self-publishing platforms, but I wrote for academia. When I was an older adult, there were no blogs, but I wrote for a newspaper. The Lord was propelling me toward that vertex where suddenly I’d be saved AND there would be a self-publishing platform on which to write about Him. And so it was.

Why write? To proclaim Christ. Why employ any talent one possesses? To proclaim Christ.

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Posted in christian persecution, theology

The days of Christian persecution in America are coming

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

My good friend Pastor Phil Andrukaitis wrote this on Facebook this morning, with the accompanying photo-

The days are fast approaching when Christians in this country will be confronted face-to-face because of their faith in Jesus. Some saints will fearfully remain silent while other saints may fearfully proclaim the gospel in love. Either way, stand strong in the Lord. Scripture states that God will never leave or forsake those who trust in the Lord. He is our Rock and salvation.

 

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Many faithful pastors have been reminding and warning for years that Christians everywhere, including America, will face persecution. Scripture says,

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33).

strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. (Acts 14:22).

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. (1 Peter 4:12-13).

I’ve noticed, as I’m sure you have, that the unsaved world is blind to the glories of Christ.

They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch. (Matthew 15:14).

He does not understand the glories of Christ.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14).

But there’s not understanding and not understanding. There’s blind and there’s blind. Let me explain.

Some in the Gospels who heard the Good News went away sad, as the Rich Young Ruler did. (Matthew 19:22). Others, even disciples, simply could not accept the hard truths Jesus was teaching, and simply drifted away. (John 6:60, 66).

However, others who were confronted with the truth had a much more drastic reaction. The Bible tells us that some will react harshly. We are actually warned against approaching these kind of people with holy words or deeds-

Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.  (Matthew 7:6).

The NASB says “tear you to pieces” which is apt for today’s discussion.

For example, anyone who rebuts, protests against, or refuses to bend to the homosexual agenda on the basis fo Christ is torn to pieces. Their business is ruined. Their character is assassinated. Their person or family is threatened. Their straits become dire because of the lawsuits they must defend or the job they lost, and so on.

Many Christians who who speak in the political arenas for conservative issues, or in any way positively about the current (or any Republican) President has been on the receiving end of all of the above as well.

Anti-abortion on the basis of what the Bible says? You’re torn to pieces.

Many people in these days who make a strong stand for Christ in the workplace or out, are also attacked viciously and bitterly. These kind of attacks are becoming more common in America. Social media makes it very easy to assassinate a person’s character in a moment’s time, with flash mobs inciting others getting whipped up so quickly. This is a fascinating article about that, and the subject who was fired was not even Christian:

The Scruton tapes: an anatomy of a modern hit job
How a character assassination unfolded on Twitter
By David Murray

We here in the States are not experiencing the hard persecution that our brethren do in places elsewhere. But we will. Jesus promised that we will have trouble, persecution, and anger against us. Should we escape the perils that Paul underwent? Should we be less hated even though our Savior was more hated? No.

The Hatred of the World
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin,[a] but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ (John 15:18-25).

They will hate you. They will hate me. We can be the kindest, most compassionate and personable people in the world, but holy words and holy deeds will incite them to violence. It’s only word violence now, though sadly with real and devastating consequences. But soon enough, as Pastor Phil noted above, we will suffer. It won’t be just character assassination any more, but bodily assassination.

Did you know that 16 of the 26 worshipers killed at Zion Church in Sri Lanka on Easter morning were children?

“How many of you are willing to die for Christ?” asked the teacher on Easter morning. Every one of the children dutifully raised their hands. [A few minutes later} Half the children died on the spot.

More of the story here. Had those children done anything to warrant assassination? Had they even thrown anything holy tothe dogs? No. As a matter of fact,t he suicide bomberwho detonated the bomb at Zion Church was in fact looking for the nearby Catholic church in Batticaloa but discovered on Easter morning that they had no Easter service and the church was empty. He wandered to the next available target instead, which happened to be Zion.

They were killed, just because.

I know you noticed that the politicos commenting on the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka refused even to mention those who were killed as Christians. That’s a soft persecution and one that shows their hatred even to the point of refusing to speak of the Name.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11).

They refuse to bow. They refuse to name the name. But they will bow. Every tongue will confess to God. (Romans 14:11).

But between now and then, be prepared for hatred,persecution, anger, and trouble.

“The days are fast approaching when Christians in this country will be confronted face-to-face because of their faith in Jesus. Some saints will fearfully remain silent while other saints may fearfully proclaim the gospel in love. Either way, stand strong in the Lord. Scripture states that God will never leave or forsake those who trust in the Lord. He is our Rock and salvation.”

Posted in theology

The fallout from a hyper-casual generation (of pastors)

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

“Pumped” “Juiced” “Excited” “Amped”

The above are words by pastors you read on Facebook or Twitter or Church Web pages who try to artificially intensify an upcoming Sunday/Good Friday/Easter church service. Not everything is a party.

In fact, the commands in the Bible for how to live and how to worship use words that declare the opposite. We are called to be holy, sober-minded, dignified, reverent, self-controlled, and more.

Not that we don’t get excited for worship, or that we shouldn’t declare our heightened emotions at a wedding or an Easter service or a conference or a Choir performance etc. But to use juvenile language to constantly artificially promote reverent services is well, juvenile. It’s especially silly language if coming from 40 and 50 year olds. Church services are not a circus, a performance, a festival, or a sports game, but using the same language that mimics those other more fleshly pursuits diminishes the dignity of a church service.

See how the juvenile excitement language is used for a car giveaway, a movie release, a grocery store opening, a hockey game, and a….worship service?

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The Bible says we are to prepare for services this way:

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13).

The phrase “set” your hope indicates an intentionality of action for living and for worshiping. That intentionality should include a sober-mindedness (meaning, no silliness). It’s a sober-minded decision to reverently consider and declare the wonders of our Savior.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; (1 Chronicles 16:29)

I listened to a fascinating Q&A conversation between Dr. Austin Duncan and Dr. John MacArthur on ecclesiology, the study of the church. It’s here.

Duncan asked MacArthur why he programs his Sunday services the way he does, the order of what occurs and if it has always been that way. MacArthur replied that when he came to Grace Community Church 50 years ago, the order of service had been different, but he instituted this order for certain reverential and particular reasons.

Invocational prayer, sometimes aloud led by a pastor, sometimes silent.
Reason: Refocus the congregation’s attention from fellowship to the Lord for worship.

Series of songs
This is also a call to worship, now for the purpose of bringing people to the presence of the Lord. The congregation “sings our salvation joys back to Him,” MacArthur said. Singing songs that extol His grace and mercy and salvation again focuses attention to the Lord and gives Him glory.

Read scripture
Reason: To hear from Him. We hear from Him through His word. MacArthur reads a lengthy portion. “Scripture carries divine power”, he said. It is read carefully and soberly.

Choral Prayer
Reason: To ask the Lord, please receive our worship and our praise. Now it’s a united community prepared to hear the words of the scripture. MacArthur now acts as priest, bringing the congregation into the presence of the Lord in communion.

Brief intro visitors, announcements
Reason: Because, lol, “This is still real life.”

Offering
Giving is part of worship.

Song
Reason: More expressions of our praise.

Sermon, 1 hour
Now the pastor switches from acting as priest bringing the people to the Lord, to prophet bringing the Lord to the people, through His word.

Song or benediction

MacArthur emphasized that of course this not the only way to conduct a service, but it seems to him to be a good and dignified way that honors the Lord.

He also said that there is a cultural issue involved in how people approach church services. Increasingly, he said he has observed that people in their entire lives have never attended a sober event. They don’t know how to act. They simply don’t know how to act. They don’t know how to be serious when the event or the situation calls for dignity or seriousness. But church services need to “have a loftiness and a dignity,” he said.

“Seriousness, sober-mindedness,and dignity is something this generation desperately needs. This hyper-casual generation…the manifest irresponsibility they demonstrate in life by the way they dress and the way they act shows a lack of discipline. They may be able to discipline themselves at the gym, but they have a very difficult time disciplining their minds.” ~John MacArthur

Now, that is the crux of the matter right there. I’m not a fuddy duddy, complaining for kids to get off my lawn and to bring back only ‘traditional’ services. There are two issues, one I’ve mentioned: a lack of sober-mindedness in the way so many church leaders and congregants approach their services. What they say (i.e. ‘pumped’), how they dress, and how they act displays a lack of dignity, and thus reverence, in worshiping the Holy God.

Secondly, pastors who pander to this hyper-casualness fail to teach how to BE sober-minded and dignified – to a generation that desperately needs it. As MacArthur said in the Q&A, if you can’t get them to sit there for an hour and a half without some sort of frivolity, they aren’t going to go through life pursuing holiness.

An undisciplined mind will succumb to the world, fizzle in its walk, and short-circuit its sanctification. That’s why being “pumped” for church services is far from the same as one who soberly prepares, contemplates, and rigorously disciplines their mind to receive truth- and reject sin.

Are we soldiers on a mission? Or are we puerile party goers so “pumped” that we can’t tell the difference in how to behave in a church service or a frat party?

 

Posted in encouragement, theology

Some JI Packer Encouragement

Posted on by elizabethprata

Chapter 19 of J.I Packer book “Knowing God”-

I am a child of God. God is my Father; heaven is my home; every day is one day nearer. My Savior is my brother; every Christian is my brother too. Say it over and over to yourself first thing in the morning, last thing at night, as your wait for the bus, any time your mind is free, and ask that you may be enabled to live as one who knows it is all utterly and completely true.

adopted

Posted in puritans, theology

Do away with the “Antichristian garbidge!”

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

PuritanGallery

Above, I could not find a portrait of Marshall. Here are some other more famous Puritans: Gallery of famous 17th-century Puritan theologians: Thomas Gouge, William Bridge, Thomas Manton, John Flavel, Richard Sibbes, Stephen Charnock, William Bates, John Owen, John Howe and Richard Baxter. Public Domain.

Stephen Marshall, (1594?-1655) was a non-conformist Puritan.

His sermons, especially that on the death of John Pym in 1643, reveal eloquence and fervour. The only “systematic” work he published was A Defence of Infant Baptism, against John Tombes (London, 1646). He was born at Godmanchester in Huntingdonshire, and was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (M.A. 1622, B.D. 1629). After holding the living of Wethersfield in Essex, he became vicar of Finchingfield. In 1636 he was reported for “want of conformity.”

In 1642 Marshall was appointed lecturer at St Margaret’s, Westminster, and delivered a series of addresses to the Commons in which he advocated episcopal and liturgical reform. A moderate presbyterian, he contributed to the “Shorter Catechism” in 1647, and was one of the “Triers” in 1654. He died in November 1655 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, but his body was exhumed and maltreated at the Restoration. Wikipedia

More on Marshall at A Puritan’s Mind, here.<

I was struck by the section of his “SERMON PREACHED To the Right Honourable the House of LORDS at the Monethly Fast, March 26. 1645.”

First, for the purgation and reformation of it; all the rubbish, all the drosse, the Antichristian pelfe [booty] and garbidge that the house of God is defiled with, you are to throw it all out, with Josiah, into the brook Kidron; to sweep it all out,

and to bring back the people, who have been misled into Arminianisme, to Popery, to Superstition, to any of these abominable wayes, you are to remove all these stum∣bling-blocks, and to bring them back againe unto the knowledge of the Lord their God:

We are 374 years later, and we are still struggling with Arminianism, Popery, and Supersitition. These things are ‘Antichristian garbage” said Marshall. Sadly, many hesitate to call them that. But remember, anything not of Christ is against Christ. (Matthew 12:30).