Luther and the Contemporary Church

For the anniversary of the Reformation, Carl Trueman writes on how Luther would view the contemporary church and its issues.  Carl at his pithy best.


http://www.reformation21.org/articles/95-theses-on-martin-luther-against-the-selfindulgences-of-the-modern-church.php?utm_source=Twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

For Those of Us Who Preach

For those of us who preach, we would do well 

to remember that we are nothing special, but His 

word is.  It is not our words that save, and heal,

and bless, and restore; but His.  It is not our

words that have power and cut to the heart, 

but His.  It is not our gospel, but His. It is not 

our eloquence, but His unction that moves 

the heart. We are earthen vessels who 

preach the unfathomable riches of Christ.  

We are not the attraction, but merely the messenger.

A Prayer for Sunday...A Prayer for Worship

In the congregations I shall bless the Lord.

I will tell of Your name to my brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that

is within me, bless His holy name.

Psalms 26:12b, 22:22, 103:1

Lord, cause us to ever be mindful of

why we are gathered here today.  May

You be blessed in our praying, in our 

praises, and in the preaching; and may

all of these bring blessing to Your holy name.

To You and You alone, as Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit belong blessing, honor, 

and glory.  May blessing and glory be

given to You through us this day.

Amen.

The Source of Sin

Battling sin and its accompanying temptations is an internal battle.  As much as the temptation might come from the outside of us, it is the inside of us where the battle takes place.  Sin always occurs in the heart, before it manifests itself in our actions or behaviors.  James 1:14 tells us this, "Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust."  Notice here that is is not someone else's lusts that we are battling against, but our own; it is not someone else's lusts that we are dealing with, but our own. This was Paul's point in Romans 7 as he talked about indwelling sin.

Unlike the old comedy skit by Flip Wilson, where he cried out, "The devil made me do it!"; we are complicit in our sin, because it starts and ends with us.  The source of sin is within, within each one of us; and although we have been washed and made clean through regeneration, we still live in a body where sin lurks, and where it is all too ready to respond to temptation, all too ready to indulge its desires in both our flesh and our mind (Ephesians 2:3).  James paints a graphic picture for us in 1:21 where he tells us that filthiness and wickedness still remain with us, as part of us.

What's the point?  Be aware, be very aware of the ease with which we are tempted.  Be aware, of how easy it is to sin.  Be aware that we, as Christians, are still in a body of unredeemed flesh, in which filthiness and wickedness still remain.  This is why Christ was chiding His apostles when they could not even fight their flesh to stay awake; and told them to watch and pray that they might not enter into temptation, because even though their spirit was willing, their flesh was weak.  This is also why we are told in the Lord's prayer to  pray to be led away from temptation and to pray that evil would not have its way with us.

So let us not be lulled to sleep, let us not be deceived, as sin is still crouching at the door desiring to master us; just as it has done from the beginning (Genesis 4:7).  But let us be strong in the Lord, and the strength of his might, let us be watchful and praying, let us be ever diligent in awareness of our own weakness.  Let us who stand, take heed lest we fall.

Humor and Perspective

Not only do Atheists have no song, they also have no hope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wogta8alHiU

Eternal Life

Eternal life is not only everlasting

but also shares the qualities of

the life of God Himself,  its

indestructibility and its joy.

I. H. Marshall

The Pastoral Epistles

Page 125

Keeping Elections in Their Proper Perspective

One of the great blessings and freedoms we have in our land is the ability to vote and have a voice in those who occupy the places of decision and determination in the governmental system that rules over us.  We have that privilege from city to county to state to the federal level.  It is a freedom and blessing that we should not take for granted; and it is a responsibility that we should not take lightly.  As Christians, in considering elections, politics, and the state and future of our governing entity we should also keep in mind that in all of this the Lord is still sovereign over the affairs of man, including those who govern and what form the governing system takes,  from despots and dictators, to military juntas, to kings, and to elected officials.

So let’s start with understanding the sovereignty and providence of God as it regards governing authorities and countries.  First, Romans 13:1-7 tells us all governing authorities that exist have been established by God, and they have a God ordained purpose.  So governments are no accident, but necessary and purposeful.  Another good place to gain insight is in the book of Daniel, as he was held captive in the most powerful empire in the world at that time. 

Daniel 2:20-21 Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.  It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings.  Here Daniel understands that the Lord is in charge of this kingdom, its king, and its time on the earth.

Daniel 4:24-25…this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: that you be driven away from mankind and your swelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.  This was Daniel’s pronouncement of God’s judgment on the king of Babylon, the most powerful king on the planet. 

God determines who rules, whether it is a king or an elected official or a military takeover.  Yes, we vote and campaign, but in the end it is the Lord who works in and through the process and determines the outcome.

What about the nations, their time and place in history, and their rise to power and fall from power.  Let’s look to Acts for this:

Acts 17:24 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.

Yes, just as the Lord removes kings and establishes kings, He also establishes nations and removes nations; having already determined the length of time of their existence and their physical boundaries. 

So let us keep the elections in perspective.  God is ultimately in charge and works all things after the counsel of His will in accordance with His eternal purpose, the one purpose which runs through the millennia of the ages and the one purpose to which everything works together to accomplish. 

Also, we need to keep the end in mind, the end toward which all things are working together.  The end in which our Lord Jesus Christ shall come back to earth to set up His physical kingdom.  This is pictured for us in Daniel chapter two, especially verses 44-45; and also in Daniel chapter seven  (Also, Revelation 17:12-18).  God is at work even now in bringing all this to pass, and our country has its own part to play in all of this. 

In praying about an election we should always ask the Lord for His mercy and compassion upon us in not giving us as a city, state, or country what we deserve in the way of leadership.  There is no such thing as a Christian city or state or country, as these entities are made up of the people that inhabit them.  As those people go morally, so goes their government.  We have seen this over the last couple of decades here in our country as sin and an anti-God attitude has taken the driver’s seat in our culture.  And as the church has less and less influence upon our culture, we see the exacerbation of immorality of every kind, and the loss of a Christian consensus in our culture.  Therefore, we see God’s judgment on the people of a nation as the outcome of their voting highlights the extent of their degradation and depravity.  God gives them the desires of their heart by giving them over to a deeper level of depravity.  So, in essence, they elect the person they both desire and deserve.  You can see this pattern in Romans 1:18-32.

With all of this, what should we keep in mind regarding the current election?

*We are electing a government official, not a pastor or a spiritual leader.
*The elections do not determine the spiritual course of our country, but are an indicator of the spiritual    condition of our country.
*As Christians, part of the way we are salt and light in this culture is through our vote.
*There is never a perfect person to vote for.
*However, decisions are never made in a moral vacuum.
*All officials bring their morality into the office with them.
*As such, we should vote for the person that would bring a greater level of morality to the position.
*We should remember that that elected officials also appoint officials of like mind and morality.
*As citizens, voting is part of our civic responsibility.
*As Christians, we should be a citizen of this country as unto the Lord, and therefore be the best citizen we can be.
*We must not pin our hopes upon man, any man, but on the Lord.  Regardless of who gets elected the Lord is in charge, and in His good providence this elected official is part of God's plan for the culmination of all earthly kingdoms into the kingdom of His Son.

Remember, that we are instructed in I Timothy 2:1-2 to include those who rule over us in our prayers; and should do this keeping in mind Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes."

Pastors and Discouragement

This is some interesting information regarding pastors being discouraged or lonely.  What I did find interesting is the correlation between age and being discouraged or lonely.  I wonder if it is purely an age issue or an age/length of time in the ministry issue.  Here is the link.

http://www.thomrainer.com/2012/09/pastors-are-hurting.php

When the Gospel is Banned from the Church

There are times you want to say things about things that have made an impression on you or affected you or stirred you up. This is one of those times, but it is also one of those times that I know that I won't be able to convey the entirety of what I was thinking and feeling, maybe because I had several thoughts and feelings about what happened.  In the big scheme of things, well, even in the little scheme of things, it probably isn't that big.  But, to me, it is a sign of where we are in our life in the church here in the US; and it bothered me. It made me a little sick at my stomach, it caused me to have an anti-smalzy reaction, made my hypocrite alarm go off, and left me with sense of disgust. And, I'll admit, it played right into my prejudice towards the types of churches I mentioned in this recent post http://morris-pressingon.blogspot.com/2012/08/another-gospel.html

This was brought about when I was recently standing in line at Starbucks.  Our Starbucks is the number two grossing Starbucks in the state of Texas, so you usually have a bit of a wait to make your order.  So as I was waiting in line, a thirty-something year old man came in and queued up behind me.  As we were waiting he made a phone call, and being as close as we were, I could not help but hear some of the conversation.  His tone was fairly crass for most of the conversation, and he used a couple of inappropriate terms that were in step with the tone of the conversation.  I chalked it up to just another person in the world doing what people in the world do.  Well, after I received my order I was talking to a friend of mine, and up walks this same man who was having the conversation.  My friend introduced us, and lo and behold, this man was on staff at one of the local churches that were referenced above.  In fact, he was the staff person in charge of the elementary school age children.  After my friend told him that I was a pastor the tone of his voice changed and he was so sugary that my anti-smalzy alarm went off; I mean it was to the point of being insincere.  You would not have been able to reconcile the person in line behind me with the person I was introduced to.

I wondered if there was any conviction on his part about having two personas, or if he even sees the problem with having two different personas, or if he even is aware that he has two personas.  One, which is obviously the way he normally is, and the other, which is his church staff persona.  Two masks representing two different people.  But, I don't think that those who hold to a Moralistic Therapeutic Deism philosophy (see post referenced above) see any problem with hypocrisy such as this.  They don't make the connection between their profession and their life, in fact they don't see that there should be a connection to what you profess and how you live.  And just to add to this, another man told me of a conversation he recently had with a member of one of the churches I alluded to in the post above.  They were telling him about how they would follow their pastor no matter where he went, and then in the same conversation talked about getting drunk the last weekend and having a hang-over the next day.  Again, seeing no problem with talking about being a church member and drinking so much you feel bad the next day, all in the same conversation.

This bothers me for these people, and reminds me of Titus 1:15-16.  I am concerned for their spiritual state, that they can go to church, or be a staff member at a church, and not see the disconnect between what they say they are and how they live.  I am concerned not only for them, but for others in those churches, and also for the churches themselves.  But you see, when you are preaching messages designed to make people feel better about themselves, or improve their worldly lives, or preaching sermons designed to attract the worldly,  this is a logical result.  And I wish these were isolated incidents, but they are not.

You might say, Morris, we have always had hypocrites in the church and always will.  And I would agree with you, but at the same time, I don't think this type of compartmentalization of the Christian life, this type of disconnect between profession and lifestyle has ever been this rampant and this rife in our churches, nor has it ever been as accepted as normal to the point that most have become oblivious to it, as it is now.

If you never preach and teach on sin, never talk about man's sinfulness then there is never a need for a Savior.  If people do not see their sinfulness, then they won't see the disconnect between their profession and their lifestyle, much less see their need for a Savior.  The true Gospel tells man the truth about his sin, his  separation from God and his alienation from God on account of his sin.  The true Gospel tells man of God's remedy in Christ for his sin and the reconciliation with God that is provided through Christ.  The true Gospel tells man the truth about himself, not so he will feel good about himself, but so he will place his faith in what God has done for him in Christ.  And, actually, nothing should make you feel better than to know the mercy, grace, love, and compassion of God that He bestows upon you in salvation.

Unfortunately, this Gospel, the true Gospel, has been banned from so many churches and replaced with the false gospel of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, the false gospel of self.  Friends, let us make sure the true Gospel is preached in our churches.  Hold fast to the faithful word, do not be ashamed of the Gospel, as it is God's power to save, to heal, to restore, to reconcile, to make holy.  If there will be hypocrites in our churches, let it not be because we have banned the true Gospel.

Pastor-Holistically Disciple Your People

We as pastors must disciple (train, educate, teach, counsel, and encourage) our people with the finished product in mind, which is our people being complete in Christ, and Christ being fully formed in our people.  We must design the ministries of our church with this in mind, and we must engage our staff as well.  A tall task, the task of a lifetime, both for our people and for us. 

This means that our goal cannot be making them Reformed, or Covenental, or Dispensational, or Denominational.  Our goal cannot only be for them to be a good tither, or someone who gets grace, or more loving, or more patient, or happier, or better adjusted, or forgiving, or more knowledgable, or more....I think you can get my drift here.  Our goal for them must be all of Christ, in all of His fullness.  This will take you, your staff, and your church all pulling in the same direction with the same goal in mind.  Paul was laboring so that Christ would be fully formed in those whom he taught, so must we. 

Don't be a one-dimensional discipler, don't be a hobby horse pastor, have it as your goal to teach and train the whole person; so that when you see them, you see Christ in them, and the longer they are under your care, the more of Christ you see in them.

Growing in Sanctification

Growing in sanctification is growing in personal holiness.  As such it is a practical, progressive, holiness.  It is a growth in holiness that, as Peter puts it in II Peter 1:8, leaves us neither useless nor unfruitful in our knowledge of Him.  So then, growing in holiness is also growing in our practical knowledge of Him.  Conversely, as our practical knowledge of Him grows, so does our holiness; and as our holiness grows, so does our sensitivity to sin.  As such, we will repent more readily and more deeply and more completely.

Additionally, as we grow in sanctification we also grow in our faith; and the heights of holiness we attain are matched by the depth of our faith.  Growth in faith gives us a greater ability to trust His Word, to trust in Him, to entrust ourselves over to Him regardless of the situation.  This depth of faith is really the bedrock of our sanctification and is the rich soil out of which our holiness grows.

Also, growing in sanctification is also growing in love.  It is the enlarging of the heart to love Him more, to love your neighbor more, and to fervently love your fellow Christians.  It becomes the great motivation in your living out your Christian life, the great motivation in growing in your faith, the great motivation in your desire for holiness...the great motivation behind the sacrifice and service of your faith.  It is this love that gives you the desire, indeed the increasing desire, to please the Lord in every respect.  Since all the Law and the prophets are fulfilled in the commands to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as our self; then as we grow in our love for God and neighbor we will also be growing in holiness.

Growing in sanctification, therefore, is not an isolated event, but affects the whole of our spiritual life.  There is not an area or aspect of our spiritual life that is not touched.  We are set further and further apart from the person we used to be.  We become less like that old man, and become progressively more like the new man that is being conformed into the image of Christ; and in the daily renewing of our inner man we grow in all aspects into Him

Growing in sanctification, then, is the progressive reality of our salvation.  Friends, I hope this reality is yours.

Raising the Spiritual Bar

Pastors should not be afraid to set the spiritual bar for their people as high as it is set in Bible. Of course, the bar the Scripture sets is Jesus Christ, Himself. He is the One against whom we all are ultimately measured. He is the One whom we all are being conformed into, and it is Him that we all will be like on that day (Ephesians 4:11-15, Romans 8:29, Colossians 1:28, I John 3:2). If this is true, rather, because this is true, then pastors should be concerned with the personal holiness of their people, not their personal happiness.

Pastors need to exhort their people to be great Christians. They need to lay out an expectation for them to be the best Christians they can be. They need to entreat their flock to love the Lord with all their heart, so they will be filled with an ongoing desire to please Him. They must to encourage them to pursue Christ. They need to keep the Gospel fresh, so that the joy of  salvation will not grow stale. Pastors need to extol the greatness of God, so that the people's reverence for Him will not wane. They must not hide the cost of discipleship, but encourage their people to press on. They must prepare them to be diligent and to persevere, and cheer them on to not grow wearing in doing good.They must be faithful in giving them the Word, so by it all under their charge and care may grow with respect to their salvation.

This is tough and demanding, because if pastors raise the bar for their people then they must also raise the bar for themselves. They must then raise the bar for their own personal holiness and its pursuit; raise the bar for their personal Christ-likeness; raise the bar for their preaching and teaching; raise the bar for their spiritual leadership; raise the bar for their own diligence and perseverance; raise the bar for their worship; raise the bar for their prayer life; raise the bar for how they do church. But is that not the task pastor's have been assigned, is it not the stewardship they have been given? Is it not why the warning is given in James 3:1? Daunting as that may seem, His grace is sufficient, and it is the Lord that makes us all adequate as His servants.

Pastors, press on in the fulfillment of your calling. Press on to be the best shepherd you can be. Press on to be great shepherds of the sheep, as any less of an effort is a disservice to them, a dishonor to your calling, and a disappointment to the Master.  And on that day may you all hear, "Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master."

Made Clean in Christ

To the pure, all things are pure; 

but to those who are defiled and 

unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both

their mind and their conscience are

defiled.  They profess to know God,

but by their deeds they deny Him,

being detestable and disobedient and

worthless for any good deed.

Titus 1:15-16

What makes people worthless (unfit, unqualified, incapable, examined and rejected as useless) for any good deed?  Is it because they are detestable or disobedient?  No, because these are the by-products of the real issue.  Is it because they profess to know God, but deny Him through their deeds?  No, again, this hypocrisy is but a by-product of the root cause.  Is it because their mind and conscience are defiled?  Once again, no, as these are the result of their real condition.  Well, then, what is the root cause that renders one unfit for any good deed?  It is the one fact, the ultimate condition of their being...they are unbelieving...unbelieving in the Gospel, unbelieving in Christ as their sin-bearing substitute, unbelieving in the work of Christ, unbelieving in the person of Christ, unbelieving in the necessity of Christ, unbelieving in the awfulness of their own sinfulness and wickedness, unbelieving in their own personal defilement and its stench before God, unbelieving in God's own holiness and its demands upon them.  

What then does this mean in regards to unredeemed and unbelieving man's place before God?  It means that no matter what he does, it is not good.  It cannot be good.  It will never be good.  Why?  Because man's unbelief has defiled him and rendered him incapable of doing anything good; and, in fact, according to Titus 1:15 everything he touches becomes impure.  Well, what if they are fighting aids in Africa?  Impure!  Okay, what about feeding the hungry and clothing the poor?  Impure!  What if they are doing something to stop the sex-trafficking of young girls? Impure!  What about the person who donates a kidney or bone marrow?  Impure!  Surely, if they give their life to save another that would be good enough?  Sorry, still impure!  Why, you ask?  Because God has said so (Isaiah 64:6...and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.). Because God Himself is the standard (Matthew 5:45..you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect). Because He alone is good (Luke  18:19...Why do you call Me good?  No one is good, but God alone.) Because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  

What then makes the believer pure, so pure, in fact, that all things are pure to him?  He is baptized into Christ, and Christ's righteousness has now become his (Romans 6:3-4).  Yes, he now has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and he is seen as righteous, just as Christ is righteous (II Corinthians 5:21, I Corinthians 1:30). He has been washed and made pure by Christ (John 13:8,15:3, Ephesians 5:26, Hebrews  10:22, I John 1:7).  This is the reality of being united with Christ.  We are now capable of performing good works (Titus 2-3, James 2), whereas before, nothing we did was good because we were incapable of doing anything good.

Once again we see the wonderful and magnificent benevolence, the gracious favor of God to those who come to Him in faith.  We are now able to please Him, to perform works appropriate to Him, and these works will follow us when we come back to rule and reign with Christ (Revelation 19:7-8).

So, my friends, are you depending on your own good works to save you?  Are you hanging your eternal destiny on what you have determined as meritorious?  Have you determined for yourself what is good? If so, how good is good enough?  How many deeds will it take?  Where is the bar of righteousness set?  How will you know if you have hit the mark?  Don't be blinded by your own self-righteousness.  Obtain the righteousness of Christ, the only Righteous One, by placing your faith on what He has done in your stead, by placing your faith in Him instead of yourself, by confessing that you are a sinner who can never be not just good enough, but good at all in the eyes of God.  Come to God acknowledging your own defilement, and ask Him to cleanse you and give to you the righteousness of His Son, which He will gladly do.

If you have already done this.  If you have already been made clean in Christ.  Then take this time to praise Him and thank Him for the Holy Spirit who indwells you and the righteousness He has placed you into.

Giving to the Lord

Giving to the Lord is an act of love,

not an act of duty.  When He has captured 

your heart, the money will follow.

Rejoice this Day

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice and be glad, 

rejoice and let your heart exult in your

salvation.  Give thanks to the Lord for

the greatness of His mercy to you.

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice in the eternal

love with which you have been loved, and 

in which you will be loved for all time.  Be 

thankful with a heart full of gratitude for His

bestowal of His great love upon you.

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice that your name

is graven upon His hand, and written in 

His book, never to be forgotten.  Give 

thanks that you are kept by the 

power of God. 

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice in the reality

of His indwelling presence.  Rejoice 

in the reality of His power at work

in your inner man.  Rejoice that sin

no longer has its way with you.  Give

Him thanks for sharing His holiness 

with you.

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice that He

is conforming you to the image of

His Son.  Rejoice that you are being

made complete in Him.  Give thanks

that the old self becomes less, and 

the new self becomes greater.

Rejoice this day!  Rejoice in the hope

laid up for you in heaven.  Rejoice in

the imperishable, undefiled and unfading

inheritance reserved in heaven for you. 

Give thanks to the Lord for preparing a 

place for you, and the reality of His

coming back for you to take you

to Himself forever.

Rejoice this day!  O, yes, rejoice this 

day for all the Lord has done for you.

Is it Us or God?---Enabled by the Spirit

By by the grace of God I am what I am,

and His grace toward me did not prove

vain; but I labored even more than all of them,

yet, not I, but the grace of God with me.

I Corinthians 15:10

...sinners are moved from death to life, from passivity to activity, as they are enabled by the Spirit to participate in Christ.  The new life of the Spirit in sanctification is received as a gift.  But it activates our capacities.  As we see in Jesus Christ, true humanity (in harmony with God) is active humanity--actively obedient to the Father, active in loving God and neighbor.  While Christians receive participation in Christ as a gift, the result of this reception is an enlivening of our capacities by the Spirit.  As Calvin says in the Bondage and Liberation of the Will, God does not "cause" faith or action in us without our assent. Yet "assent is properly called ours, but not in such a way that it should be understood to derive from us."  Declaring that God deserves the credit for the fruit of the preaching of the gospel, Calvin warns that "this is not because in doing everything by the power of his own Spirit [God] excludes the ministry of his servants, but so as to secure for himself the entire praise for the action, just as the effectiveness derives from him alone, and whatever labour people do without him is empty and barren."  Thus, communion with the Spirit is what makes our faith and action our own.  Stated differently, God does use our will , our mind, our ministry, and our efforts to preach the gospel and to live faithful Christian lives.  But wherever there is fruit, the credit should not be divided between God and us.  When we pray and the prayer is answered, we should not congratulate ourselves for praying with wisdom and diligence.  No.  In all things, we should give praise to God, because even sanctification is a gift, first and foremost, that we receive from God.

At this point, in seeing not only justification but also sanctification as a gift received in union with Christ, we are at the heart of the issue on an experiential level for Christians.  If sanctification is a matter of me drawing deeply on my self to do good things for God, then my own holiness--and my own effort--becomes an end in itself, and preaching should focus on Christ only to the extent that he is a moral exemplar who goads us to work harder.  Why?  Because in this way of thinking, since Christ's justifying work is done, it is up to us to achieve our sanctification.

J. Todd Billings

Union with Christ

Page 46

Our Great Purpose

We are to exalt his name because it is the great purpose of our beings.  For this we have been created.  As the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it in the first answer:  'Man's chief end
is to glorify God...". God has made us to praise, worship, and honour him--to recognize and declare all that we know and can learn about him.  By his Spirit we are to bring ourselves into line with him and his glory--so that, ever more fully, his name will be exalted in the world and heaven will come down to earth more and more......

......We, God's people, are the only beings whom he rescues from hell.  He makes us his children, transforms us into holiness and brings us to heaven, all by the person and work of his Son.  Our redemption displays so much about God--Father, Son, and Spirit.  In no one and nowhere else in the universe can such reality be displayed--'things into which angels long to look' (I Pet. 1:12).  What a wonder it is and will be for us alone to tell this story for all eternity!  Here is why, on earth and in heaven, we are to exalt his name together.  

Edward Donnelly
Let Us Exalt His Name Together
Banner of Truth
August/September 2012
Page 35

Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism = Another Gospel

Post cards, I am sure you get many of them, not so much from friends on vacation, but those which advertise the latest and greatest.  They are a good marketing tool, and a relatively inexpensive one.  And they are a marketing tool which many churches are using as a promotional piece.  I am sure, if you live in the United States, that you have received many over the span of the last decade.  Well, one of our church members gave me a post card he had received in the mail from an area church, which was promoting its up and coming sermon series.  He looked at me with a grin that was anticipating the response he knew was coming.

I did not disappoint him, but at the same time my heart was saddened by the latest iteration of what has come to be labeled as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, MTD for short.  It has become the religious philosophy, the religious viewpoint of our age, and unfortunately several of the churches in our area have knowingly or unknowingly succumbed to it.  MTD as a religious philosophy has also attached itself to a religious methodology that has become prevalent here in our country.  In their drive to be appealing to the masses, the Willow Creek, seeker sensitive, Purpose Driven adherents have assimilated this view of church and religion into their methodology.

This sermon series being promoted by a local church is a great example of how this philosophy has infiltrated the church.  Here is what the postcard said:

Life in the Permian Basin is a little crazy right now.

With unemployment low and the price of oil high,

opportunity is everywhere, but with that opportunity

comes new challenges.  Managing the balance of work,

relationships, finances, and recreation can be difficult 

at times.  But how should our faith influence our normal, 

but crazy everyday life?  Join us for "Babylon, Bucks,

Babes, and Brewskies,"  a new sermon series beginning

August 5.

Pretty catchy, eh, as each B word is the heading of that week's sermon?  You can come learn how to deal with, and find balance in, our crazy life here in the Permian Basin.  Besides being catchy and cool, it sounds as if it will be problem solving, help giving, encouraging, comforting, and anything but convicting or confronting.  You know, I wouldn't be quite as upset if this just wasn't so prevalent in our area.  Here are recent sermons/series from two other major churches in our area:

1. A four week series on God in the movies.

2. How to handle stress, and being too busy.

And these are the sermon topics for the last few months at these churches.  We have had other post cards from these and other churches over the last few years with similar topics.  Honestly, this is not new, as Robert Schuller (Self Esteem, the New Reformation), Emerson Fosdick, and Norman Vincent Peale espoused this philosophy during the last century.  We can also see elements of it during the Down-Grade controversy in England during the time of Charles Spurgeon. However, it has now become mainstream, and is the dominant philosophy/methodology in the religious life of our country, and its adherents know no denominational or tradition boundary.  What has bothered me is the blindness that so many who say they hold to the authority and inerrancy of the Sciptures have in this area.  Yes, even many of the young, restless, and reformed group are caught up in this as well. 

This philosophy exalts man and lowers God. It deemphasizes salvation and marginalizes the gospel. It eliminates sin from the church's vocabulary. Its emphasis is on happiness not holiness with the goal of personal betterment, not sanctification; in other words become a better you instead becoming more like Christ (which would automatically make you a better you, right?) The church service is designed to comfort you, not confront you; to entertain you, not train you; to make you feel better about yourself, not feel bad about your sin.  

MTD is nothing more than a refined legalism, with each individual determining his own set of rules. It redefines good to whatever each person determines is good. It bears the slogan, "Deeds not Creeds" proudly. It is a subtle form of self righteousness. It is narcissism with the veneer of religion, and plays to the exaltation of self, instead of the exaltation of God. It is all about what God can do and should do for the individual instead of the individual's responsibility to God. It is truly the religion of self as humility, thankfulness, and gratitude are foreign concepts.

Of course this is a different gospel. It is the gospel of self-improvement, self gratification, self-awareness, the gospel of anything that makes the self feel better....about its self. And we know from the Scripture that a different gospel is no gospel of all. This gospel of self does not save, it damns. It doesn't lead you to Christ, but leads you away from Him. It truly is the broadest of the broad paths that lead to destruction. 

Our Savior, the Savior of the true gospel, was self-emptying, self-denying, and self-sacrificing; and He has called us to do the same, and has said that these are what we must do to be a true disciple. 

My friends, be on guard against the leaven of self, perhaps the most pernicious of all the leaven.  Listen to Michael Horton as he gives us insight into this philosophy and how it is spread.

Michael Horton gives a good thumbnail sketch of MTD in this short interview.

http://youtu.be/OfnJ9lW8XxM

And he gives a more detailed presentation here.
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/christless-christianity-2010-west-coast/moralistic-therapeutic-deism/

The True Christian

The True Christian understands that his good works

are but the product of the grace of God in his life.

The True Christian

The true Christian understands that it is God's glory

to save sinners of every stripe:  from the social 

sophisticate to the social misfit, from upper class

 to no class, from the well-known to the unknown,

from the prince to the pauper.  It is His glory to save,

and to save all whom He saves.  The true Christian  

understands that is God's glory to save those who  

 are not just like him.