I found this really neat. I hope you do to. There is evidence all around us of God - we just have to open our eyes to see. Romans 1 talks clearly on this topic.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Gospel Coalition Regional Conference Snippet
The weekend prior to this I was able to attend the The Gospel Coalition's Regional Conference at Desert Springs Church in Albuquerque. The theme of the conference was "The Cross Shaped Life" and featured D.A. Carson and Fred Zaspel as speakers. Needless to say it, it was excellent and refreshing for my wife and I. It was also a wonderful time to spend in fellowship with the close to 20 people from Mountain Christian Church.
With a conference like this, I try to go back and look at my notes after the conference is over. There is just so much to take in during the conference so looking back at my notes helps to bring important points out that often times get lost in the shuffle of everything during the entire conference.
In an effort to keep this post short, I just want to actually quote from the conference booklet that we received regarding the topic of the conference. I thought it was just so good and said so well that I wanted to share it. So here it is...it is about the gospel:
"This gospel fills Christians with humility and hope, meekness and boldness, in a unique way. The biblical gospel differs markedly from traditional religions as well as from secularism. Religions operate on the principle: “I obey, therefore I am accepted,” but the gospel principle is: “I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey.” So the gospel differs from both irreligion and religion. You can seek to be your own “lord and savior” by breaking the law of God, but you can also do so by keeping the law in order to earn your salvation.
Irreligion and secularism tend to inflate self–encouraging, uncritical, “self–esteem”; religion and moralism crush people under guilt from ethical standards that are impossible to maintain. The gospel, however, humbles and affirms us at the same time, since, in Christ, each of us is simultaneously just, and a sinner still. At the same time, we are more flawed and sinful than we ever dared believe, yet we are more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope.
Secularism tends to make people selfish and individualistic. Religion and morality in general tend to make people tribal and self–righteous toward other groups (since their salvation has, they think, been earned by their achievement). But the gospel of grace, centered on a man dying for us while we were his enemies, removes self–righteousness and selfishness and turns its members to serve others both for the temporal flourishing of all people, especially the poor, and for their salvation. It moves us to serve others irrespective of their merits, just as Christ served us (Mark 10:45).
Secularism and religion conform people to behavioral norms through fear (of consequences) and pride (a desire for self–aggrandizement). The gospel moves people to holiness and service out of grateful joy for grace, and out of love of the glory of God for who he is in himself."
Couldn't have said it any better.
P.S. This quote is found on TGC's web site under Vision for Ministry.
With a conference like this, I try to go back and look at my notes after the conference is over. There is just so much to take in during the conference so looking back at my notes helps to bring important points out that often times get lost in the shuffle of everything during the entire conference.
In an effort to keep this post short, I just want to actually quote from the conference booklet that we received regarding the topic of the conference. I thought it was just so good and said so well that I wanted to share it. So here it is...it is about the gospel:
"This gospel fills Christians with humility and hope, meekness and boldness, in a unique way. The biblical gospel differs markedly from traditional religions as well as from secularism. Religions operate on the principle: “I obey, therefore I am accepted,” but the gospel principle is: “I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey.” So the gospel differs from both irreligion and religion. You can seek to be your own “lord and savior” by breaking the law of God, but you can also do so by keeping the law in order to earn your salvation.
Irreligion and secularism tend to inflate self–encouraging, uncritical, “self–esteem”; religion and moralism crush people under guilt from ethical standards that are impossible to maintain. The gospel, however, humbles and affirms us at the same time, since, in Christ, each of us is simultaneously just, and a sinner still. At the same time, we are more flawed and sinful than we ever dared believe, yet we are more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope.
Secularism tends to make people selfish and individualistic. Religion and morality in general tend to make people tribal and self–righteous toward other groups (since their salvation has, they think, been earned by their achievement). But the gospel of grace, centered on a man dying for us while we were his enemies, removes self–righteousness and selfishness and turns its members to serve others both for the temporal flourishing of all people, especially the poor, and for their salvation. It moves us to serve others irrespective of their merits, just as Christ served us (Mark 10:45).
Secularism and religion conform people to behavioral norms through fear (of consequences) and pride (a desire for self–aggrandizement). The gospel moves people to holiness and service out of grateful joy for grace, and out of love of the glory of God for who he is in himself."
Couldn't have said it any better.
P.S. This quote is found on TGC's web site under Vision for Ministry.
Monday, March 12, 2012
The Gospel and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
Hello blog, my name is Rob – remember me? Yes, it has been quite a while since my last entry for sure. But I’ve had a good reason for this – moving from one state to another and starting a new job. This whole process started in motion back in the very end of September (last day of the month) and though we moved into our new house just before Christmas, it seems to be continuing. As with any move, there are many things to be done in order to be settled. We’re not there yet, but we are getting very close. To top everything off, my new job has involved a very large scale rollout of a new database application to be used across the state. Yes, it is all a lot but we praise God for His sustaining grace through all of this. We are certainly enjoying this new adventure.
Several weekends ago I was asked to fill in and teach the adult Sunday School class at Mountain Christian Church. It is a great privilege to teach and with it comes great responsibility. Having freedom to choose what to teach on, I chose what else? The gospel. In addition to going over that of “first importance” (1 Cor 15:3) we also went over moralistic therapeutic deism in order to compare and contrast this false gospel with the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m happy to report that the class went very well and I was greatly encouraged by the discussion, comments, and questions that came out of it. And I’m always grateful anytime I get to talk/teach about the gospel.
As a result of the class, I wanted to take a moment to recap and summarize what we went over in class.
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
This is a term that most people have never heard of. In fact, no one other than Amie and I had heard of this term in our Sunday School class. This, to me, makes it all the more dangerous as it is such a prevalent belief system (i.e. worldview) in our culture that many people—young and old—have bought into hook, line and sinker. So let’s take a look and see what moralistic therapeutic deism is and where it came from. In 2005 the term moralistic therapeutic deism (MTD) was introduced in the book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton. This came from privately funded research project where over 3000 teenagers were interviewed. The conclusion – or definition of MTD is five-fold so let’s see where you land with these:
1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. God people go to heaven when they die.
* Above information is from Wikipedia
How did you do? Did all five of these points sound good/reasonable to you? If so, you MUST continue to read the following section.
What does the Gospel mean?
The word gospel comes from the Greek word euggelion which simply means “good news.” Our word is derived from the Anglo Saxon word which meant “the story concerning God” and in most cases these days it describes the message that Christianity announces.
So what is this message? Strangely—and extremely sadly, most Christian either assume it or just plain don’t know!!! Author Michael Horton who hosts the White Horse Inn radio program recounted how a reporter traveled to an evangelical Christian conference to ask some simple questions about the Christian faith. When asked of 50 people “what is the gospel” only 1 got it right!!! And about justification, nobody knew!
The Gospel
When I share the gospel, I like to do it in five points. For someone like me it makes it easy to remember as I have a point for each finger on my hand. And as a good reformed person, I just like 5 points. So here goes…
God – Always has existed and never been created. Before time he was pleased with Himself and had no needs. He plans and acts according to His good pleasure at ALL times. He is without fault, right and good in all of His ways. God created according to His good and perfect plan—not out of need or because He was lonely. He chose to create as an outflow of His own good pleasure and His own love. See Gen 1 and John 17.
Man – Man was made in the image of God. Man was given to be sub-rulers over creation and authority is derived from God. See Gen 1. The key is we (man) have to give an account to God.
Sin – A popular definition of sin is to “miss the mark.” Sin can be broken down into two categories: 1) born fallen or “natural sin” that is derived from being related ultimately to Adam and Eve. It is also sometimes referred to as sin nature. 2) Transgressions against or the breaking of God’s law. Romans 3:23 states “all have sinned” and in 6:23 is says that the penalty of sin is death. We stand condemned because of the offense of sin against God’s holiness. And there is no middle ground—no gray area. We are all—no matter how hard we try to be good, moral people—running as fast and as hard as we can towards hell. And hell is where we will suffer eternal punishment. Many people think those in hell people just cease to exist, but the bible clearly does not say this. Thus, this sin “problem” we have is really, really bad news which helps to clearly see how the next point makes the gospel “good news.”
Jesus – He was fully God and fully man. He left heaven and dwelt in the flesh among us (see John 1). He lived a perfect (i.e. sinless) life and did not deserve the punishment of the cross because he was sinless. Jesus bore the penalty of God’s wrath for sin (see Romans 5:8) and we know it was accepted by God the Father through the resurrection.
Response – What must we do? Repent (turn away from) sin and put our faith (trust) in Christ and what He has done (see Acts 3:19). Interestingly, “turn again” can also be translated “turn back” to God. Repenting means to turn away from and not be ruled by sin. Another word for faith is “trust” (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Important to note that repentance and faith are inseparable – like two sides of one coin—both are needed. Our response is to repent in faith and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15). It should also be noted that this is an imperative—in other words a command. It is also one that involves personal trust. And when you do, the GREAT EXCHANGE happens – your sins are put on Jesus at the cross and his perfect righteousness is put on you – you are declared righteous (justified) in God’s sight. Lastly, many people quote John 3:16 regarding eternal life and the Greek there means “believe into Him.” Responding in such a way, God gives you new life, fellowship and communion with Him—the Creator of all things—for all eternity!!! That’s good news!
Things to Consider
It is important to note a few things about what I wrote above. I will summarize them in bullet points: • Knowledge alone is not enough – even the demons believe all of the above and tremble!
• Knowledge and Approval are not enough – see Nicodemus in John 3
• It involves personal responsibility in which God works beforehand to regenerate us and open our spiritual eyes
• Right motives – ask why forgiveness and eternal life are important. If you could go to heaven and have all your close friend/relatives there, do all the fun activities you want, eat all your favorite food, no more pain, no more suffering, no more guilt, etc. and Jesus was not there would you still want to go?
• The whole goal of salvation is God (i.e. reconciliation with Him). See John 17:3
Summary
If this impacts you and you respond by repenting and placing your faith and Christ and receiving his free gift of forgiveness, please let me know! I'd love to hear from you! And if you have questions, I'd also love to hear those too! I’ll close with this brief summary of what was stated above: Holy God sending His Son to die as a substitute bearing the sins of everyone that would repent of their sins and trust in Him. So those who do repent and trust are saved from their own sins against God and from God’s just punishment of us. For convicted sinners, this is GOOD NEWS!!!
Several weekends ago I was asked to fill in and teach the adult Sunday School class at Mountain Christian Church. It is a great privilege to teach and with it comes great responsibility. Having freedom to choose what to teach on, I chose what else? The gospel. In addition to going over that of “first importance” (1 Cor 15:3) we also went over moralistic therapeutic deism in order to compare and contrast this false gospel with the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m happy to report that the class went very well and I was greatly encouraged by the discussion, comments, and questions that came out of it. And I’m always grateful anytime I get to talk/teach about the gospel.
As a result of the class, I wanted to take a moment to recap and summarize what we went over in class.
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
This is a term that most people have never heard of. In fact, no one other than Amie and I had heard of this term in our Sunday School class. This, to me, makes it all the more dangerous as it is such a prevalent belief system (i.e. worldview) in our culture that many people—young and old—have bought into hook, line and sinker. So let’s take a look and see what moralistic therapeutic deism is and where it came from. In 2005 the term moralistic therapeutic deism (MTD) was introduced in the book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton. This came from privately funded research project where over 3000 teenagers were interviewed. The conclusion – or definition of MTD is five-fold so let’s see where you land with these:
1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. God people go to heaven when they die.
* Above information is from Wikipedia
How did you do? Did all five of these points sound good/reasonable to you? If so, you MUST continue to read the following section.
What does the Gospel mean?
The word gospel comes from the Greek word euggelion which simply means “good news.” Our word is derived from the Anglo Saxon word which meant “the story concerning God” and in most cases these days it describes the message that Christianity announces.
So what is this message? Strangely—and extremely sadly, most Christian either assume it or just plain don’t know!!! Author Michael Horton who hosts the White Horse Inn radio program recounted how a reporter traveled to an evangelical Christian conference to ask some simple questions about the Christian faith. When asked of 50 people “what is the gospel” only 1 got it right!!! And about justification, nobody knew!
The Gospel
When I share the gospel, I like to do it in five points. For someone like me it makes it easy to remember as I have a point for each finger on my hand. And as a good reformed person, I just like 5 points. So here goes…
God – Always has existed and never been created. Before time he was pleased with Himself and had no needs. He plans and acts according to His good pleasure at ALL times. He is without fault, right and good in all of His ways. God created according to His good and perfect plan—not out of need or because He was lonely. He chose to create as an outflow of His own good pleasure and His own love. See Gen 1 and John 17.
Man – Man was made in the image of God. Man was given to be sub-rulers over creation and authority is derived from God. See Gen 1. The key is we (man) have to give an account to God.
Sin – A popular definition of sin is to “miss the mark.” Sin can be broken down into two categories: 1) born fallen or “natural sin” that is derived from being related ultimately to Adam and Eve. It is also sometimes referred to as sin nature. 2) Transgressions against or the breaking of God’s law. Romans 3:23 states “all have sinned” and in 6:23 is says that the penalty of sin is death. We stand condemned because of the offense of sin against God’s holiness. And there is no middle ground—no gray area. We are all—no matter how hard we try to be good, moral people—running as fast and as hard as we can towards hell. And hell is where we will suffer eternal punishment. Many people think those in hell people just cease to exist, but the bible clearly does not say this. Thus, this sin “problem” we have is really, really bad news which helps to clearly see how the next point makes the gospel “good news.”
Jesus – He was fully God and fully man. He left heaven and dwelt in the flesh among us (see John 1). He lived a perfect (i.e. sinless) life and did not deserve the punishment of the cross because he was sinless. Jesus bore the penalty of God’s wrath for sin (see Romans 5:8) and we know it was accepted by God the Father through the resurrection.
Response – What must we do? Repent (turn away from) sin and put our faith (trust) in Christ and what He has done (see Acts 3:19). Interestingly, “turn again” can also be translated “turn back” to God. Repenting means to turn away from and not be ruled by sin. Another word for faith is “trust” (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Important to note that repentance and faith are inseparable – like two sides of one coin—both are needed. Our response is to repent in faith and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15). It should also be noted that this is an imperative—in other words a command. It is also one that involves personal trust. And when you do, the GREAT EXCHANGE happens – your sins are put on Jesus at the cross and his perfect righteousness is put on you – you are declared righteous (justified) in God’s sight. Lastly, many people quote John 3:16 regarding eternal life and the Greek there means “believe into Him.” Responding in such a way, God gives you new life, fellowship and communion with Him—the Creator of all things—for all eternity!!! That’s good news!
Things to Consider
It is important to note a few things about what I wrote above. I will summarize them in bullet points: • Knowledge alone is not enough – even the demons believe all of the above and tremble!
• Knowledge and Approval are not enough – see Nicodemus in John 3
• It involves personal responsibility in which God works beforehand to regenerate us and open our spiritual eyes
• Right motives – ask why forgiveness and eternal life are important. If you could go to heaven and have all your close friend/relatives there, do all the fun activities you want, eat all your favorite food, no more pain, no more suffering, no more guilt, etc. and Jesus was not there would you still want to go?
• The whole goal of salvation is God (i.e. reconciliation with Him). See John 17:3
Summary
If this impacts you and you respond by repenting and placing your faith and Christ and receiving his free gift of forgiveness, please let me know! I'd love to hear from you! And if you have questions, I'd also love to hear those too! I’ll close with this brief summary of what was stated above: Holy God sending His Son to die as a substitute bearing the sins of everyone that would repent of their sins and trust in Him. So those who do repent and trust are saved from their own sins against God and from God’s just punishment of us. For convicted sinners, this is GOOD NEWS!!!
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