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On April 24, 2023 By In Church, Family and Children

The Coddling of American Sons

Raising boys is an adventure toward maturity. It’s a contact sport, including physical affection and discipline. It is the glory of kings to search things out and the role of little princes to enter into that discovery with them. But kings must draw their princes into that curious endeavor.

This does not take place unless the environment is suitable for discoveries. A young son cannot see his dad pondering whether he should search things out. He must see dad hungering and actively getting his hands dirty by seeking the concealed things hidden by God’s happy providences.

The young men I have seen excel in his vision and continue in the curiosity degrees have fathers who refuse to coddle them. For that matter, he also has a mother who refuses to coddle him. And speaking of the coddling of the American sons, we need a magna carta contra coddling young boys. Fathers and mothers must be equally committed to the task of being firm and loving but never hindering boys from the task of moving from glory to glory.

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On March 17, 2023 By In Church, Culture

SOFT WHITE UNDERBELLY: A Brief Reflection on a Pentecostal Snake Handler

The following reflection is based upon this fascinating and heartbreaking video by Mark Latia.

Never have I felt so conflicted about a man’s faith as when I listened to Pastor Wolford talk about his trust in God while handling venomous snakes.

On the one hand, the sheer simplicity of his unwavering trust hails from some impressive quadrant of childlike obedience, the likes of which may very well make a mockery of my own reliance upon God. On the other hand, the sheer unsophistication of his backwoods approach combines into what can only be described as a deadly foolish ignorance.

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On February 23, 2023 By In Church, Worship

Embodying Lent

“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell…” – Mark 9:43a

The Lenten season is all about repentance. During this season we look inward to examine our lives and root out sin no matter the cost. Our Lenten practices tend to be personal in nature. We read the Scriptures, pray, and fast in the closet. While this is all good practice, Lent can often be a time of too much ‘me’. What are our prayers, fasting, and repentance for? Of course, they are offered up as spiritual sacrifices to God from whom we receive the forgiveness of sins. But our prayers, fasting, and repentance are also for one another.

I remember preaching on Mark 9:42-50 about two years ago. As I prepared to preach on this well-known passage, I had sermons rolling through my head that I had heard throughout the years. They all focused on the personal nature of repentance and avoiding temptation. “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! Do whatever it takes! If your T.V. causes you to lust, throw it away!” But this is a misreading of the passage. The context of this passage is social, not individualistic. Of course, applied consistently, it does speak to personal struggles and living holy lives, but it is primarily about church discipline and removing sin amid the Church. “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble…” (v. 42a).

There is a social dimension to repentance within the Church. The Church must purge herself of those who wish to divide and hurt the flock or cause her little ones to stumble. But if we were to work this idea positively, our personal repentance is for the health of the whole. It strengthens the faith and love of our brothers and sisters within the body of Christ. Personal repentance is our spiritual antibody, and repentance done together with the rest of the Church is our corporate antibody.

The Lenten season is a time for the Church to practice this corporate inspection. In our personal devotions, we are to examine ourselves in relationship to the whole Church. We are not isolated individuals that just happen to have something in common. We are united by the same Spirit, knit together into one body, and all serve the same Father in heaven.

Lent is not just the practice of individualistic prayer, but fervent prayer for one another – for healing, faith, needs, and comfort. It is not just the practice of fasting, but the giving up of something so that we might give more to each other – our time, help, food, and clothing. It is not just the practice of personal repentance but solving disputes, restoring relationships, asking others for forgiveness, and extending that forgiveness freely. Lent is not so much about giving up but giving more.

This is because Lent is preparation for resurrection life. We not only prune ourselves but prune each other so that we might grow in the faith and life of our Lord Jesus. Repentance is a death, it is a cutting off, but it is a cutting off so that the life of the body may be preserved. Your personal devotions this season should be toward those ends, not just for your health but the health of your brother and sister. Your practices of prayer, fasting, and repentance should be used like food for others. They should strengthen, nourish, and give joy to the body. May you season the sacrificial body of the Church with the salt of faith and repentance so that we all might be conformed more and more into the image of our resurrected Lord and have peace with one another.

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On February 21, 2023 By In Church

What is Shrove Tuesday?

Shrove Tuesday is a day of feasting. It marks the conclusion of the Epiphany Season. On this day, the Church feasts before she enters into a more solemn and penitential season called Lent, which is referred to as a Season of Confession.

Shrove Tuesday is celebrated with a pancake dinner, which is accompanied by eggs and syrup (bacon can be added–and it should!).

This day allows the Church to celebrate once again the abundance of the Gospel in our lives and the world. The glory of the Epiphany season is that Jesus has given us life and life more abundantly (Jn.10:10).

Following the rich feasting tradition of our Hebrew forefathers, the English-speaking Church has broadly practiced Shrove Tuesday for over 800 years.

What’s the Importance of this day?

Individuals or churches are not bound by such traditions since it is not an explicit imperative in the Bible. However, if churches do practice this, it is vital for members to join in this festive occasion. It gives the Church another healthy excuse to fellowship and form greater bonds through a delightful and bountiful meal.

On the day before we enter into the Lenten story, Christians prepare rightly by celebrating God’s gifts to us so that we can rightly meditate, fast, pray, confess, and repent by remembering the sufferings of Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

What if my Church does not do Shrove Tuesday?

Assuming the congregation is silent on the issue and has not taken any theological position on the matter, then as a family, you are also free to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. You may also want to invite friends over to enjoy a pancake dinner and sing hymns of praise.

To Shrive

Traditionally, Shrove Tuesday is the day before the first day of Lent. Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40 days of Lent (Sundays are excluded from this number). Shrove Tuesday celebrates the Christ who has given us all things, including His own body for our sakes (I Pet. 2:24).

Shrove comes from the word “shrive” meaning “to confess.” As we celebrate, let us not forget that the Christian life is, as Luther stated, a “life of daily repentance.” Confession is not just reserved for Lent, but it is for all seasons. But as we approach the Lenten Season, we receive a particular reminder (through our liturgical readings and singing) that a repentant heart is a clean heart before God (Ps. 51:2).

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On February 16, 2023 By In Church, Culture, Theology, Worship

Transfiguration & Asbury

Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him to the top of a mountain to pray (Lk 9.28). Mountain praying would not be something unusual to the disciples. Throughout history, God met with his people on mountaintops. History begins on a mountain in the land of Eden with a sanctuary at its heart. Abraham meets God on a mountaintop when he sacrifices Isaac. After being delivered from Egypt, the children of Israel worship at Mt Sinai, the same mountain where Moses met with God earlier in the burning bush. The temple is built on a mountain, and, according to Hebrews 12, we still ascend a mountain in our weekly worship. The three disciples had ascended mountains to worship throughout their lives, many times singing the Psalms of Ascent (Pss 120—134) as they went to worship festivals. But on this particular day, God pulled back the veil to reveal to them what happens on the top of the mountain every time they pray … even when they don’t see it.

God spectacularly revealed his glory. Though rare, this was not unique. The children of Israel experienced this at Sinai. Just as Jesus was transfigured before the eyes of the disciples, Moses was transfigured on the mountain. The children of Israel couldn’t look upon his face because of the brightness of glory (Ex 34.29-33). Some believe that this epiphany of Jesus was his divine nature bursting through the veil of his humanity. There is truth to that, but that is not the emphasis. Jesus speaks of himself in this context as the Son of Man. This reference gains layers of meaning throughout history, but its fundamental meaning is “Son of Adam,” the one to whom God gave the blessing and command to be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion. God’s intention for Adam, in the beginning, was that he grow to share his glory. Adam fell short of the glory of God (Rom 3.23). Jesus is the second Adam, the Son of Man, who will obtain this kingly glory. God reveals Jesus’ destiny in his resurrection and ascension and, with that, the destiny of man united with him.

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On February 9, 2023 By In Church, Culture

The Demise of Religious Liberalism

My friend, Dr. Daniel Strand, writes,

“…that Protestant mainline churches used to dominate American life. They ruled the Ivies and produced brilliant and influential public intellectuals. Now we can’t name a single mainline churchman. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

I recently addressed this topic and concluded:

“The mainline consisting of PCUSA, ELCA, American Baptists in the USA, United Methodists, etc., have taken trajectories of death throughout. They have sought to bestow power on inclusivism and anointed corrupt priests to lead the way, and to hell, they led.”

This was confirmed just a few hours ago as the Church of England reached a crescendo of filth “approving blessings for gay couples for the first time.” The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said in a joint statement:

“For the first time, the Church of England will publicly, unreservedly and joyfully welcome same-sex couples in church. The Church continues to have deep differences on these questions which go to the heart of our human identity.”

My exhortation is to fellow conservative pastors: prepare yourselves to absorb thousands of refugees. Conservative ecclesial bodies must invest in catechetical discipleship and build a reservoir of resistance against liberalizing forces without and battle locally and nationally against such forces that seek to crawl their way into the midst of the assembly. People are hungry for ordinary worship, biblical preaching, and a conservative backbone.

But while mainline churches have been precipices of disdain for righteousness, there are additional signs that contemporary conservative bodies are headed toward such ends as well. Forthcoming decisions at ecclesiastical gatherings need to be firm, sustaining the biblical rationale for sexual ethics in all it entails without reservations. There should be no more tolerance for biblical embarrassment among conservative denominations.

The first sign of a failing corpus is the over-explanatory nature by which they undertake to excuse themselves for believing certain principles and affirmations. Therefore, they explain away texts which make them look deranged or unfriendly towards the woke cause. Such signs within these bodies are prequels to well-developed franchises.

The great exodus is already occurring. It’s time to add more chairs to our tables.

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On February 8, 2023 By In Church, Theology

Theology as Application to All of Life

One of my most cherished moments in seminary was being exposed to John Frame’s definition of theology. For Frame, theology was defined as “the application of the Word of God by persons to all areas of life.”a

There were always academic dimensions to theology, but theology was something immensely practical. It brought people to a “state of spiritual health.” This definition is helpful because,

“Theology is thus freed from any false intellectualism or academicism. It is able to use scientific methods and academic knowledge where they are helpful, but it can also speak in nonacademic ways, as Scripture itself does – exhorting, questioning, telling parables, fashioning allegories and poems and proverbs and songs, expressing love, joy, patience . . . the list is without limit.”b

I have since used this definition repeatedly and have learned to appreciate it even more as a pastor. The Spirit does not implant in us an application ex nihilo. Instead, theology is applicable and needs to be made applicable by pastors to parishioners and from parishioners to parishioners.

It is also freeing to consider this definition in light of the theological illiteracy in our day. Certainly, we wish to see the church grow in biblical knowledge, but this definition means that a pastor can instruct even the newest convert on how he ought to live. He can take the measuring of the temple in Revelation 11 and find clear applications for God’s people.

Frame’s definition accentuates the pastoral task in that it calls pastors to ask consistently “How Now Shall We Then Live?” In this sense, as Frame has argued elsewhere, unless theology is practically applied, it has not become true theology.

On the other hand, the one doing theology must first understand it before applying it. We have seen our share of faulty applications in the realm of the home and the church. Therefore, to properly grasp this definition of theology, one needs to be familiar with theology.

David’s battle with Goliath was more than a remarkable example of how we can overcome difficulties in our lives, but also how God can use the weak to defeat the strong and how a nation needs to put its trust in God rather than chariots and how the Church needs smooth stones of faithfulness to destroy the wicked. There are individual and corporate obligations involved in that straightforward narrative.

Theology prepares us to ascend with our Lord; in that reign, we can learn to apply this rulership in all areas of life. In applying our theology, we become ambassadors for our theology. Theology is life, and life is theological.

  1. Systematic Theology, pgs. 8-9  (back)
  2. The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, p. 81.  (back)

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On February 1, 2023 By In Church

Three Theses on Postmillennial Eschatology

One of the joys of speaking loudly around here is seeing some fine china broken in real-time. That’s a metaphor for views being shattered and replaced by something else.

What is that thing broken and replaced? The thing broken is a variation of pessimistic eschatology, and it is being replaced with some happy postmillennialism. Mind you, I am not so much concerned about the loyalty to the systematic category but about the heart of the matter.

It pleases me to see folks going through that theological transformation and sending me notes about it. It is amazing to plant seeds and see them bear fruit much later. God seems to work like that on many occasions.

I believe we are reaching a stage of massive theological conversions, and I have alluded to some of these factors before, but the postmil conversion is a fruitful blossoming of many seeds planted long ago. I have been harping on the postmil “C” chord for a really long time, and I think it’s beginning to see a resurgence.

This may be the result of ecclesiastical behaviors these past three years. In fact, I will go so far as to say that the churches who have been pushing against government tyranny and sundry silliness have postmil bones. Now, lots of other non-postmil flocks have come alongside our efforts or later decided to peek behind the curtain, but the reality is that the majority of pastors I know who decided to fight the tide named one of their kids or their dogs, B.B. Warfield.

This happens not because dispensationalists are gnostic pirates but because theology and ideas matter. A theology that urges the Christian population to cave in cannot be a theology that says, “Jesus shall reign where’r the sun doth his successive journeys run!” It simply can’t!

Now, yes, there are peoples of all eschatological stripes who act inconsistently with their theologies and opine like disciples of John Murray, but by and large, attitudes of reconciliation with government officials who were eager to steal your liberty didn’t come from postmil reformers. They came from those who believed and affirmed a spiritualized kingdom only, one that was content with “If the ship is sinking, why polish the brass!”Postmillennial eschatology is a direct contact sport eschatology. It’s not flag football; it’s the result of a baby created by rugby and the Constantinian religion. It’s real. It’s fleshly. It’s in your face. And wherever it goes, it carries three central affirmations:

First, it affirms that the Christian faith is rooted in the proto-evangelium (Gen. 3:15). It believes that the first Gospel preached was a Gospel that de-throned disciples of the Serpent and moved forward on the offense against religious and political tyrants (II Cor. 10:5). The seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent in tangible ways, which necessitates the confrontation of institutions and systems that do not harmonize with the kingdom of heaven.

Second, it affirms the centrality of the Cultural and Great Commissions (Gen. 1:26-28; Matt. 28:18-20). Postmil is not an eschatology of guesses; it’s an eschatology of certainty. We don’t walk around wondering whether the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven; we affirm the kingdom shall come on earth as it is in heaven in history and time. Christ shall return to receive a glorified bride, not a defeated bride. The great feast is a glorious feast of victorious proclamations (Rev. 7:12). What God commands shall be fulfilled, and there are no nuances to that.

Finally, it affirms a bodily sacrificial life before the watching world (Rom. 12:1-2). The certainty of postmil eschatology is not naive about suffering and pain. In fact, it triumphs through our suffering and pain. It sees the sacrifice of the Church as a sacrifice towards something, a symphonic movement reaching its finale. It moves through sacrificial acts of worship first on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7) and then throughout the rest of time (I Cor. 10:31).

Postmillennialism breaks the fine china of the spiritualized/escapist church and calls her to take up the sword in one hand and the shovel in the other (Neh. 4:18). That means we will protect our right to worship the Triune God, and we will work as unto the Lord, and we will strive with all our hearts to ensure that our children and our children’s children seek the good of the city until that day.

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On January 28, 2023 By In Church

The Case for Weekly Communion

Evangelicals like myself, rooted in the Reformation, came very late to the beauty of weekly communion. I was a sophomore in college before I realized that the vast stream of the Protestant tradition celebrated communion weekly. For most of my life, I assumed the table was reserved for special occasions like Easter or Christmas. In fact, I attended a Brethren congregation that did communion once a year.

However, as I broadened my theological interests, I understood the Supper’s function in the liturgy and in the theology of the church, and it became unbearable to contemplate its absence during a worship service.

Historically, our Reformed forefathers—including Luther and Calvin—desired communion to be weekly. In fact, in the early centuries of the Church and the majority of Protestant Churches in the 16th century practiced weekly communion. It was only in the 19th century, and in particular, during the Prohibitionist movement, that weekly communion became mostly obsolete.

Therefore, the infrequent practice of communion is relatively new in the church. This does not mean it’s wrong, but it should raise questions and challenge our assumptions about what the Bible says concerning the frequency of such practices.

The Didache, one of the earliest records of the church after the Bible, says the following:

“On the Lord’s own day gather together and break bread and give thanks, having first confessed your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure.”

The Church believed that we become a purer people by celebrating the sacraments weekly. This is not because there is something magical in the bread and wine but because God uses these means to communicate his presence and strength to us (WCF XXIX.1).

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On January 26, 2023 By In Church, Family and Children, Politics, Wisdom

Authority’s Secrets

“The heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable.”

~Proverbs 25.3

Recently government classified documents are showing up frequently and in some odd places. Classified documents are those secrets to which only certain high-level government officials are privy. The intention of classifying documents is to protect people from the knowledge that they don’t need to have. The government may be protecting those who are working undercover or information that they have on other countries that concern our national security. Sometimes classified documents are a coverup for people who would be punished for crimes if the right people discovered what went on. Nevertheless, the government keeps secrets, and they don’t want those secrets to get out by someone wandering through a former vice president’s garage, his son’s laptop, or even wandering through a former president’s house.

Whatever you believe about the classification of documents and the secrets that they hold, the principle of authorities keeping secrets is a sound one. That is, the Bible teaches that there are some things that authorities will know that others don’t. This is not a gnostic-type special revelation given only to the upper-echelon Illuminati. This is a perspective that subordinates may not have along with information that may hurt them or other people.

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