“If I Weren’t a Christian, I’d Get a Mohawk”…

…this is what my youngest son said this past New Year’s Eve.  We were sitting in a Mexican Restaurant, the best place for theological discussions by the way, and out of the blue he says this.  I laughed at first and then asked him if he really was a Christian.

There is so much wrong with that statement, that it would be hard to know where to begin.  I decided to give as complete and detailed explanation of the Gospel as he could understand.  But I have thought off and on about his statement for the past week.  There are three wrong views expressed in the statement.

First, he assumed he was a Christian because his parents are Christians.  He’s always gone to Church and Sunday School, and he reads his devotions at night.  But that does not make him a Christian.

Second, he assumed that because he did not indulge himself in this particular ‘sin’, that he was a Christian.

Third, he assumed that because he was a Christian, mohawks were off-limits.

In other words, he is a legalist.  I can’t think of anything I’ve said that would give him this idea, but do I live my life in such a way as to display legalism to him?  I know my words are on target concerning the Gospel, but is my life on target concerning the Gospel?  Do I live my life as a legalist?  Am I Peter in Galatians 2?  I’ve been asking myself this question ever since that night. 

Sorry.  No answers yet.

It’s something to think about anyway…

Thankful

I am thankful for God’s salvation, Election by the Father, Redemption by the Son, Sanctification by the Spirit, and Membership in God’s family, the Church.
I am thankful to God for each of you, your fellowship in the Gospel, your fellowship in the good times, and your fellowship in trials.
I am thankful to God for my wife, my boys, my extended family, my friends, and my co-laborers in the Gospel (David and Charlie).
I am thankful to God for all His blessings, and I pray that He would keep reminding me of the difference between the blessing, the one who is blessed, and the ‘Blessor’.
I am thankful to God for my country, my President, my representatives in Government, and our system of justice.
I am thankful to God for all good things, as well as the not so good things that serve to remind me that only God is good.
I am thankful to God for life, love, liberty, and happiness.
I am thankful to God for laughter, sight, taste, sound, touch and smell.
I am thankful to God for the truth that no matter how wonderful life here is, or how bad it could become, there is a place that is infinitely better, where I will live in eternal joy at the feet of my Savior.

A Thanksgiving Sermon

Here’s a link to the message I preached this past Sunday morning from Colossians 3:12-17.

A Thanksgiving Sermon

Inoculated Pagans

We’ve all met them, they are unbelievers who have been exposed to just enough of the “Gospel” to build up a tolerance against it. Its like being infected with cowpox and now smallpox has no effect against them.

Truth be told many times its the “Gospel” that is shown on TBN or that Joel Osteen has talked about (although I don’t know that Joel Osteen has actually talked about the Gospel) so if you talk to them about the wrath of God (Rom. 1:18), or the wages of sin (Rom. 3:23). They hold up their hands and say that they’ve heard it before as they are walking away.

So I’ve have this friend who I’ve worked with for quite some time and we’ve had the discussions about God, evolution, the Bible, interpretation of scripture, Gnostics, reincarnation, truth, we’ve talked about everything.

So his Mom is dying, and I’ve offered him what comfort I can give him, as he said to me he appreciates my concern because I’ve gone through this with both my parents so I know what it is to watch your mother or father fade away from sickness. And I ache to tell him its okay, his mom will be in heaven which I have no possible way of knowing. And he’d thank me politely and smile that patient smile because he is sure she’ll be reincarnated into something else. Which is both horrifying and sad at the same time.

So pray for my friend, pray that God’s will be done and that the true Gospel be presented to him (1 Cor. 15:1-4), that God’s Spirit will open his heart (Acts 16:14), and that God will have mercy on me and give me the right words to say to him.

June 11, 2008

Update: His mother died last night.

Token Blog

By Jeremy Weaver

I need to get back into the habit of blogging…but I’ve been having more fun not blogging lately.  I just thought I would leave you with a thought, if in fact you still read this blog, which I’m confident that you do, otherwise why are you reading this?

Enough of that chitter-chatter, let’s get to business.  The topic is Election, and the question is for non-Calvinistic type Christians:

If God did not choose you, then why did you choose Him?

This is not a rhetorical question.  I really want to know.

David, Goliath, and the Purpose of Life…

Not a VeggieTales Gospel.

Mention David and Goliath to me and I immediately picture Junior Asparagus fighting a Giant Pickle.  Yes, I admit it.  I own nearly all of the VeggieTales videos.  So don’t imagine this is a rant against the videos themselves.  This is a rant against an evil far more sinister than vegetables pretending to be Bible characters.  This is a rant against Sunday School teachers, curriculum, and how our children are taught in our Churches.  It is precisley this evil that has given rise to what some have called the VeggieTales Gospel.

Surprisingly, the VeggieTales Gospel is much older than the VeggieTales videos are.  I was taught a VeggieTales Gospel on many different occasions as I was growing up in conservative, Bible-believing and preaching Churches in the Bible Belt.  What is this VeggieTales Gospel?  It is a Gospel that takes Old Testament stories of heroes and their faith in God to deliver and twists them into morality lessons.

Take David and Goliath, for example.  Over the years I heard about how that I should be like David and stand up against bullies, cut the head off of sin in my life (of which the applications can be endless as I remember one lesson where little Goliaths with various sins written on them were cut into pieces), help my friends when they are in trouble, and become self-confident.

All of those lessons are true, for the most part.  Sometimes you gotta stand up against bullies, you gotta help your friends, a little self-confidence never hurt anyone (as long as we remember that the Gospel requires that we have no confidence in the flesh), and, to paraphrase John Owen, ‘Ya gotta kill sin or sin’ll kill you.’

But what if I were to say that none of those applications are in the story of David and Goliath?  They’re not.  The story of David and Goliath is a story about God who takes down His enemies, God who delivers His friends, God who David trusts in, and God who takes care of our sin problem.  The application of the story is not, ‘Be like David’, but instead, ‘You are Israel on the sidelines waiting for a Deliverer.’

Do you get the picture?  Israel out there on the battlefront, playing like they’re ready to whip up on some Philistines, when in reality they are scared stiff.  They’re scared stiff for forty days as morning and evening a nine and a half foot monster walks out onto the battlefield to challenge them.  “If you came to fight, then lets fight.  If not, then let’s not waste our time here.  Just go ahead and surrender and we’ll go home and you can be our slaves.  Or you can send someone out to fight me and the winner gets to take the other side as slaves.”

But Israel has a problem.  The man who had delivered them before, their King (Saul), no longer has the Spirit of God or the Word of God.  The Spirit of God left Saul when he disobeyed God’s Word spoken by His prophet. (1 Samuel 15)  Israel has not been left without a deliverer, however.  A young boy by the name of David has been anointed by Samuel with oil, but by God with the Spirit. (1 Samuel 16)

So here comes Spirit-filled David to the battle on the fortieth day.  He hears the giant defy the armies of Israel and recognizes that it is not only flesh and blood that is being defied, but that God’s name is being blasphemed.  And one thing David knows is this, God’s name is not to be blasphemed.  David then decides God has put him on earth in Israel at this moment for a reason.  He has placed David in a position where he may deliver God’s people from God’s enemies, and that he might magnify God’s name in all the earth. (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

Long story short, David, by the supernatural aid of God defeats Goliath.  The Anointed King of God’s people kills God’s enemy.  Sound familiar?  It should.  That’s what Jesus has done for us.  When we were in a helpless situation, God became man and defeated His enemy for us.  Not just because we are soooo special, but because our enemy is God’s enemy, and because by defeating this enemy, God’s name should be magnified in all the earth.

The battle is over.  We didn’t win it.  Jesus won it.  Let the nations rejoice and exult in the Name of the Lord our God!  That is the purpose of life, isn’t it?

Do you REALLY believe Salvation is by Grace alone?

The Word of God proclaims that salvation is by God’s grace alone. Most professing Christians today will unreservedly avow that they too believe that salvation is by “grace alone”.  And that’s a good thing. However, there is reason to believe that the theology that is embraced by the vast majority of those who affirm the Reformation doctrine of  “Sola Gratia” is antithetical to the biblical truth; “Salvation is of the Lord.” (Jonah 2:9). What follows is a graphical representation of the understanding of the doctrine of salvation held by most Evangelicals today. It is hoped that this will aid many to think seriously about what they believe, at least intellectually, and realize that it does not represent in actuality the truth that “Salvation is of the Lord God; by His grace alone!”

Take up and read the rest…

 

Technorati tags: Gospel, Sola Gratia, Theology

First a petition

My dear brother in the Lord, Matt, has asked for prayer regarding his child. Tomorrow (2/22/07) at nine am he’ll be taking his son in to be tested for Cystic Fibrosis. His son has been sick for some days now and one of the symptoms he is exhibiting makes the doctor want to test for CF. Pray that God’s glory can be manifested in all of this, that God’s grace will be present with Matt and his wife, and God’s mercy will be on Matt’s son.

Theology for Doxology