Pastor’s Blogs
Do you believe in God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? How does God speak to people today? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? How does God save people and for that matter what is salvation? What is the nature of God? Are there things about God, salvation, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, scripture, God’s church and other things that are set in stone (forgive the pun) and others with which the church can be somewhat flexible? And even if we do settle upon some of these things today what about tomorrow? Should the church revisit and perhaps even revise these issues each generation or each time it comes into contact with a new or different culture? I don’t think we have to. Why?
Did I ever tell you about the time I got saved? No? Well let me tell you the story. I think I was in the fifth or sixth grade. There I was minding my own business when for some reason I aroused the ire of a certain very big and very mean high school student. Honestly, I cannot tell you what I did to this child that made her (yes, it was a girl, but keep in mind, a much, much bigger girl than I was) so mad, but suffice it to say that she set her sights on me and salivated over the opportunity to throttle me after the last day of school. Finally, the last day of school dawned and I ventured to Lamberton School filled with fear and trepidation. (Now I know how some of those Old Testament kings felt). Unlike the rest of my schoolmates I simply couldn’t get into the joy of that last day. There was no talk of summer plans, final grades or who was breaking up with whom. My world was filled with the dread that sometime after the final bell rung my bell was going to be rung.
Not too long ago I was at a bar-b-que and during the usual conversation at such things couldn’t help but pay attention to the song playing in the background. At first I thought it was the music of a popular gospel choir I’m familiar with. But what really caught my attention was the words and theme of the song. Basically the song was about me, my blessing and in essence my expectation of the good life. Following that I decided to take a morning to tune into my local praise inspirational station. I was treated to much more of the same. Most of the songs I listened to for two hours or so were about my blessing and my prosperity‘. In fact the title of one number was ‘My Name Is Victory’.
Regardless of where one stands concerning the state of the American church today few can deny that faith is a very popular concept. ‘Faith’ has soared to new heights even as other biblical words such as justification, propitiation and redemption have fallen out of our collective spiritual lexicon. For many faith is the gateway toward the good life. It is the key that unlocks the door to a life of prosperity, achievement and full health.
The more things change the more they stay the same. Here we are almost five hundred years, an entire continent and a completely different language from 16th century Europe and we are still more or less grappling with the same issues with which they wrestled. Five hundred years ago the question was quite simple: how does one obtain favor with God and a place with Him in eternity?
Why are bible believing Christians so adamant about Jesus being the one and only way to obtain a perfect, permanent relationship with God the Father? In a world torn by religious strife and hatred isn’t it prudent to share Jesus as one of many ways to God? Wouldn’t it be more humble to admit that none of us can really know the mind of God and therefore back up from the proclamation of Jesus and Jesus alone? And wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier to have a faith that respects and accepts the truth claims of others?
How does God speak today? How should you go about discerning His voice? How should the church decide what to believe, teach, and promote regarding God, His Son and the gospel of Jesus Christ? How should believers seek God’s direction regarding the important issues of their lives? In what ways should we settle disputes that arise about church believe and practice? Are our beliefs and practices based on our experiences plus scripture, the private revelations from people who say they’ve heard directly from God plus the scripture or on scripture alone? This is crucial because churches, families and individuals will pursue their relationship with God based on something. We’ll submit to the guidance of our own experiences, a pastor/guru or the scriptures.
About a year ago I wrote that among other things CRC is a group of churches that stand on an promote the historic five solas of the reformation. I return now to take a little bit more in depth look at each of the solas and why we believe they are still important and relevant for God’s church today.
In the last installment of our current blog series our brother Michael Leach exhorts us to press toward faithfulness in the biblical distinctives of the church so that we can avoid the pitfalls of recasting the church according to the shifting winds of our current culture.
The third installment of our current blog series features the marks of a biblical church as spelled out by our brother Michael Leach.