Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible & The Future, Pg. 108
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
A Christian Death
"Our present life is actually a being away from the Lord, a kind of pilgrimage. Death for the Christian, however, is a homecoming. It is the end of his pilgrimage; it is his return to his true home."
Friday, October 24, 2008
Faith
"Author of Da Vinci Code:
Are you a Christian?
Yes. Interestingly, if you ask three people what it means to be Christian, you will get three different answers. Some feel being baptized is sufficient. Others feel you must accept the Bible as absolute historical fact. Still others require a belief that all those who do not accept Christ as their personal savior are doomed to hell. Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify ethereal concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the points where we entiresly miss the obvious--that is, that we are all trying to decipher life's big mysteries, and we're each following our own paths of enlightenment. I consider myself a student of many religions. The more I learn, the more questions I have. For me, the spiritual quest will be a life-long work in progress."
Are you a Christian?
Yes. Interestingly, if you ask three people what it means to be Christian, you will get three different answers. Some feel being baptized is sufficient. Others feel you must accept the Bible as absolute historical fact. Still others require a belief that all those who do not accept Christ as their personal savior are doomed to hell. Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify ethereal concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the points where we entiresly miss the obvious--that is, that we are all trying to decipher life's big mysteries, and we're each following our own paths of enlightenment. I consider myself a student of many religions. The more I learn, the more questions I have. For me, the spiritual quest will be a life-long work in progress."
Repentance in the Church
"I firmly believe that the church of God will have to confess her own sins, before there can be any great work of grace. There must be a deeper work amond God's believing people. I sometimes think it is about time to give up preaching to the ungodly, and preach to those who confess to be Christians. If we had a higher standard of life in teh Church of God, there would be thousands more flocking into the Kingdom. So it was in the past; when God's believing children turned away from their sins and thier idols, the fear of God fell upon the people round about. Take up the history of Israel, and you will find that when they put away their strange gods, God visited the nation, and there came a mighty work of grace... The judgement of God must begin with us.
If... confession of sin is deep among believers, it will be so among the ungodly also. I never knew it to fail. I am now anxious that God should revive His work in the hearts of His children, so that we may see the exceeding sinfulness of sin."
- Dwight L Moody (Repentance Begins in the Church)
If... confession of sin is deep among believers, it will be so among the ungodly also. I never knew it to fail. I am now anxious that God should revive His work in the hearts of His children, so that we may see the exceeding sinfulness of sin."
- Dwight L Moody (Repentance Begins in the Church)
Contemporary Pentecost
"What I hear from people today is an agnosticism about the Holy Spirit. Not disbelief, but an aching, 'I just don't know' - and a longing to understand who He is and how to live in the flow of His power... The greatest longing in the church today, stated both directly and indirectly, is teh quest for soemthing more than dull religion. People are in need of the intimacy, inspiration, and impelling power of the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to live the Christian life without the indwelling Spirit... The greatest need in the church today is for contemporary Pentacost."
- Lloyd Ogilvie
- Lloyd Ogilvie
Politics
"... Theological conservatives have tended to respond to the demans of politics in one of two ways. At worst, they have shunned politics as a dirty, worldly, and humanistic endeavor alien to the concerns of the gospel. At best, they have regarded politics as a legitimate enterprise only when placing it at a level of secondary importance to the "church's primary task of preaching the gospel." What both groups of conservatives have failed to see is that the gospel itself is, among other things, a gospel of political redemption. Conservatives have so often spiritualized the gospel as to be guilty of practicing a modern form of Gnosticism-surely a heresy no worse than the humanism of the theological liberals. Theological conservatives must recognize that political concers are not simply incidental to the message of the gospel, but integral to the very meaning of the gospel itself.
Conservatives have virtually immunized themselves from recognizing the political dimensions of the gospel. They are almost blind to the fact that the birth, life, and death of the Messiah were interpreted among his contemporaries in political terms. Conservatives have emphasized the priestly function of the incarnation at the expense of the prophetic and kingly functions which were all to be united in the Messiah."
Paul B. Henry (Son of theologian Carl F.H. Henry)
Conservatives have virtually immunized themselves from recognizing the political dimensions of the gospel. They are almost blind to the fact that the birth, life, and death of the Messiah were interpreted among his contemporaries in political terms. Conservatives have emphasized the priestly function of the incarnation at the expense of the prophetic and kingly functions which were all to be united in the Messiah."
Paul B. Henry (Son of theologian Carl F.H. Henry)
Ray Ortlund Jr. on the Importance of the Local Church
“. . . the church of the living God, the pillar and buttress of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15
The church is suffering massive loss of prestige in our time. This may be the most salient and abiding mark of our generation. Does it matter? Why fight to re-dignify the church? What is at stake here?
“The church of the living God." A church is where the idols of our culture can be clearly discredited and the living God rallied around, rejoiced in, worshiped, studied, loved and obeyed. If the church is dead, God’s own appointed testimony to his living reality powers down. The felt reality of God in the world today is at stake in our churches.
“The pillar and buttress of the truth.” A "pillar" holds something up high for all to see. In this world, the one truth that will not only outlast America but will outlast the universe needs to be put on clear display rather than submerged under all the stuff that’s demanding our attention week in and week out. A church can make the gospel obvious and accessible through preaching, teaching, memorizing, catechizing, blogging, etc.
A "buttress" firms something up, makes it strong. For many, the gospel does not feel strong. Other things hold them together. A church buttresses the gospel by showing that it really works. Not only does the gospel create the church, but a church also buttresses the gospel. The gospel starts feeling solid and believable and urgently needed as our greatest resource in all of life.
By divine appointment, the church makes the real God seem real, it shouts the truth loudly enough that busy people actually start paying attention, and it embodies living proof that the gospel is a saving power for real people living real lives today.
The church matters. Your church matters. God bless you this Sunday.
- Ray Ortlund Jr. (blog post)
The church is suffering massive loss of prestige in our time. This may be the most salient and abiding mark of our generation. Does it matter? Why fight to re-dignify the church? What is at stake here?
“The church of the living God." A church is where the idols of our culture can be clearly discredited and the living God rallied around, rejoiced in, worshiped, studied, loved and obeyed. If the church is dead, God’s own appointed testimony to his living reality powers down. The felt reality of God in the world today is at stake in our churches.
“The pillar and buttress of the truth.” A "pillar" holds something up high for all to see. In this world, the one truth that will not only outlast America but will outlast the universe needs to be put on clear display rather than submerged under all the stuff that’s demanding our attention week in and week out. A church can make the gospel obvious and accessible through preaching, teaching, memorizing, catechizing, blogging, etc.
A "buttress" firms something up, makes it strong. For many, the gospel does not feel strong. Other things hold them together. A church buttresses the gospel by showing that it really works. Not only does the gospel create the church, but a church also buttresses the gospel. The gospel starts feeling solid and believable and urgently needed as our greatest resource in all of life.
By divine appointment, the church makes the real God seem real, it shouts the truth loudly enough that busy people actually start paying attention, and it embodies living proof that the gospel is a saving power for real people living real lives today.
The church matters. Your church matters. God bless you this Sunday.
- Ray Ortlund Jr. (blog post)
The Hammer of the Gospel
"Beloved, if we want to have fruit in our ministry, if we want to see sinners
converted, we must preach up Christ’s death. As the blacksmith strikes the
hot iron upon the anvil, we must keep the hammer of the gospel at work
upon this great foundation truth, “Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures.” It is no talking to men upon other topics in the hope that it will
lead to their conversion. The great soul-quickening agency is “Jesus Christ,
and him crucified.” Whoever will come and trust in the God-appointed
Substitute for sinners shall be eternally saved, for life comes only through
his death. The salvation of sinners is not even by preaching the great and
glorious truth of Christ’s second Advent, nor by preaching about Christ’s
millennial and eternal glory, but by incessantly pointing to Christ lifted up
upon the cross. There is the grain of wheat that, put into the ground, brings
forth much fruit; and we must keep to that theme beyond all others."
- C.H. Spurgeon
converted, we must preach up Christ’s death. As the blacksmith strikes the
hot iron upon the anvil, we must keep the hammer of the gospel at work
upon this great foundation truth, “Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures.” It is no talking to men upon other topics in the hope that it will
lead to their conversion. The great soul-quickening agency is “Jesus Christ,
and him crucified.” Whoever will come and trust in the God-appointed
Substitute for sinners shall be eternally saved, for life comes only through
his death. The salvation of sinners is not even by preaching the great and
glorious truth of Christ’s second Advent, nor by preaching about Christ’s
millennial and eternal glory, but by incessantly pointing to Christ lifted up
upon the cross. There is the grain of wheat that, put into the ground, brings
forth much fruit; and we must keep to that theme beyond all others."
- C.H. Spurgeon
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