Saturday, March 25, 2017

Reformation Hymn


I have mixed emotions about the Protestant Reformation. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that the Reformers studied scripture, and in doing so uncovered the biblical Gospel that had been largely shrouded by Roman Catholicism for so many years. On the other hand, the Reformers for the most part did not look to the bible to inform what they believed about church life. Frankly, the majority of the church today functions in a very similar fashion to Rome.

One of my favorite aspects of the Reformation is the Five Solas (Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria). In part because this is the 500 year anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing of his 95 Theses, Bob Kauflin and Chris Anderson have written a new, excellent piece entitled Reformation Hymn. Click here to listen, enjoy, and be edified!

Friday, March 24, 2017

I Guess I Haven't Evolved Enough


I came across this graphic a little while back. I can only assume that a Wordpress person put it together. Well, bully for them! I'm remaining in my caveman state with Blogger. Ha!

Monday, March 20, 2017

NTRF

If I was only allowed to recommend one site to you about church practice it would be New Testament Reformation Fellowship (NTRF).

According to the NTRF website, "The New Testament Reformation Fellowship is simply a fellowship of brothers who desire to continue the reformation of today’s church by the adoption of New Testament church practice." It goes on to say, "We advocate orthodox Evangelical Christian theology poured into the wineskin of New Testament church practice as established by the apostles."

Click on the link and enjoy the massive amount of helpful information you will find!

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Two Wonderful Things


I highly recommend both coffee and blogging. However, if you have to choose one, take the coffee.

Monday, March 13, 2017

How Much Freedom Do We Have In Our Gatherings?

Those of us who are in Christ are free from the Law. Romans 8:1-2 tells us, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." What a wonderful truth this is!

Our salvation is not contingent upon our following of the Old Testament Law. Our salvation is contingent upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resultant resurrection. Additionally, as we live today we are not expected to live according to the O.T. Law. Rather, God has laid out His expectations for us in the New Testament (with some input from the Old).

This brings up an interesting question: How much freedom do we have in our church gatherings?

Since Christ has set us free from the Law, can we do whatever we want when we get together? Or, are we allowed to do whatever we think is right as long as we don't specifically violate commands of scripture? Or, should we try to emulate every aspect of church meetings that we see in the New Testament?

I believe the best answer to the above question is that as we come together as the Bride of Christ we should be following principles set forth in the New Testament. While we may have some freedom in the details, we must follow the principles that God has made clear and unavoidable for us. Those principles include, but are not limited to, the following (in no particular order):

Jesus Christ is the unquestioned Head.
Gatherings are to be Holy Spirit led and directed.
Everything that occurs is to be for mutual edification.
Meetings are to essentially be family get-togethers.
The body eats together (the Lord's Supper).
Group participation is the norm.
Each person uses his or her spiritual gifts to benefit the body.
Children are present and active.
Meetings are simple, preferably in homes.
Gatherings are a time to carry out the one-anothers.
Leadership = service.
Elders come from within the body.
Meetings are free-flowing and generally unplanned (unceremonial).
Reading of scripture takes place.
Giving is to meet needs.
Decision making comes through consensus.


The above are principles were approved of by the writers of the New Testament. The Bible testifies about itself that all scripture in inspired by God (II Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.") Therefore, we can and should trust that God approves of these principles and expects us to gather according to them.

So, how much freedom do we have when we gather? We have as much as we need as long as we first focus on meeting by God's principles.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

It's Low Attendance Sunday!


This is the day each year in the United States that churches experience low attendance. That's what springing forward and losing an hour will do. Lot's of folks who normally think they must attend weekly worship services conveniently come up with an excuse to skip today. Funny how that works.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

God Has Given Us All We Need

God has given us all we need to be the church He wants us to be. Period.

God has done everything in the work of salvation. We only know Him by His grace.

God has also done everything that we, His people, need in order to live in the manner He desires and expects. Far too often Christians act as if God has left some things out when it comes to the life of the church. This is when the trouble begins. They decide to invent new things that they think will benefit the body. Simply put, they are wrong. God neither needs nor asks for our creativity. It's fine to be creative in other aspects of life, but as it relates to the church it is unnecessary. By giving us the Holy Spirit and the Bible, God has done all that needs to be done. The Holy Spirit empowers and convicts us. The Bible instructs us. This is all we need.

I tire of hearing well-intentioned Christians speak about all the new things their churches are doing. Instead, what they ought to be doing is looking in scripture to see where they are and are not following the model God has given to us. If you look at almost any institutional church you will find a long laundry list of things that have absolutely no Biblical basis. These churches routinely spend large portions of their budgets on all sorts of stuff that, quite frankly, God doesn't care about.

If you read this blog, then you are likely convinced that what we see of the church in scripture is far more than descriptive. Rather, it is prescriptive. The institution fails to see this, much to its detriment. Since we recognize the authoritative nature of the Bible in church life, it's our responsibility to look at self. Are we obeying that model? Are we following it? Or, are we sort of playing around with it, picking and choosing what we like and don't like? It's simple and quite easy to point the finger at all the ways institutional churches are failing. More difficult is looking in the mirror to see where we are being disobedient.

God has given us all we need. I challenge you to take a hard look to see where you may be falling short. It can be a painful process, but it is utterly worthwhile.