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On December 23, 2016 By In Theology

Two Births of Jesus

One night in Nazareth, God became man in the virgin womb of Mary, a young lady betrothed to Joseph. Three trimesters later, Jesus was born on Christmas day. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes (Lk. 2:7). Gentile worshipers brought him gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Mt. 2:11). The infant’s life was threatened by an evil king, but he escaped death (Mt. 2:13-15).

Thirty-three years later, Jesus had his life threatened again by evil rulers (Mt. 26:65-68). Instead of escaping, he volunteered to die (Jn. 10:18). At his death in Jerusalem, Israelite worshipers prepared spices and oils for him (Lk. 23:55-56; Jn. 19:39-40). He was wrapped in fine linens and buried in a virgin tomb, a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea (Mt. 27:57-60; Lk. 23:53). Three days later, he was reborn on Easter Sunday.

As we celebrate the nativity of our Lord, let us recall the glorious providence of God. Let us remember that not only does Christ’s first coming look forward to his second coming, but that his birth out of the womb foreshadows his birth out of the tomb. King Jesus conquered death and now sits on heaven’s throne. We join his mother in singing these words from the Magnificat: (more…)

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On December 20, 2016 By In Theology, Worship

10 Questions Preachers Should Ask Before Sunday Morning

I have been a pastor for almost a decade. I spend between 12-15 hours each week thinking, researching, and writing before I deliver the first words in my Sunday sermon.a The process of writing my sermon goes through a lengthy journey each week. I contemplate several questions from Monday to Friday which force me to edit and re-edit my manuscript. There is no perfect sermon, but a sermon that goes through revisions and asks import questions has a much better chance of communicating with clarity than the self-assured preacher who engages the sermonic task with nothing more than academic lenses.

I have compiled a list of ten questions I ask myself each week at some point or another.

Question #1: Is this language clear? When you write a manuscript ( as I do) you have an opportunity to carefully consider the language you use. I make a habit of reading my sermon out loud which leads me to realize that certain phrases do not convey the idea clearly. A well-written sermon does not necessarily mean a well-delivered sermon. Reading my sermons out loud causes me to re-write and look for other ways to explain a concept or application more clearly.

Question #2: Is there a need to use high theological language in this sermon? Seminary graduates are often tempted to use the best of their training in the wrong environment. People are not listening to you to hear your theological acumen. I am well aware that some in the congregation would be entirely comfortable with words like perichoresis and Arianism. I am not opposed to using high theological discourse. Words like atonement, justification, sanctification are biblical and need to be defined. But extra-biblical terms and ideologies should be employed sparingly. Much of this can be dealt in a Sunday School class or other environments. High theological language needs to be used with great care, and I think it needs to be avoided as much as possible in the Sunday sermon.

Question #3: Can I make this sermon even shorter? As I read my sermons each week, I find that I can cut a paragraph or two easily, or depending on how long you preach, perhaps an entire page. This is an important lesson for new preachers: not everything needs to be said. Shorter sermons–which I strongly advocateb–force you to say what’s important and keep some of your research in the footnotes where it belongs. Preachers need to learn what to prioritize in a sermon so as not to unload unnecessary information on their parishioners. (more…)

  1. Thankful for great interactions before this article was published. It helped sharpen my points  (back)
  2. By this I mean sermons no longer than 30 minutes  (back)

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On December 20, 2016 By In Culture, Theology, Worship

Meaningless rituals?

One of the most common misunderstandings about rituals is that it’s necessary to understand them in order for them to be meaningful. In particular, we are told, unless we understand:

(1) what the significance of a given ritual is (what we might call the meaning of the ritual); and perhaps also

(2) why the ritual has the significance it does (what we might call the rationale for the ritual);

then the ritual means nothing.

At least, that’s how the argument runs.

The trouble is, the argument is complete nonsense. It’s very easy to see why.

(more…)

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On December 2, 2016 By In Theology, Worship

10 Reasons to Celebrate the Church Calendar

Advent has begun in full force. The pro-calendar apologists have started to fight for their cause. The anti-calendar intoleristas are in full Puritan gear armed to fight for their white walls and the right to preach on Leviticus on Christmas morning.

I side with the pro-calendar party. We believe we can make America great again by incorporating a heavy dose of Jesus throughout the year. My claim is that many evangelical churches that share a slight Catholic-phobia towards the Church Calendar are already drinking much of the calendar. Most Baptist churches here in the South—who have always celebrated Christmas and Easter–are now adopting the Advent Wreath by prominently displaying it on Sunday morning. My modest proposal is to encourage these churches to take a few more steps.

I should say at the outset that I have no intention to take this to the “next level.” I am a happy ecumenical Protestant who has zero interest in jumping onto the Vatican bandwagon. I say this to stress that I am not advocating the officialization of the celebration of saints and their pets into the life of the Church. I think the Church does best and remains most faithful to the Holy Scriptures when she sticks to Jesus and his life and its effects in the world. Keep it simple students!

With that in mind, here are ten reasons I think evangelicals should celebrate the Church Calendar:

First, for those of us in the Reformed tradition, we should note that there is precedent for such observance. For instance, the Second Helvetic Confession of 1566 states (XXIV):

“Moreover, if the churches do religiously celebrate the memory of the Lord’s Nativity, Circumcision, Passion, Resurrection, and of his Ascension into heaven, and the sending of the    Holy Spirit upon his disciples, according to Christian liberty, we do very well approve of it.”

The continental Reformers differed with our Scottish brothers on these issues. Celebrating the Church Calendar can be unmistakably reformational.

Second, the Church Calendar helps us to see the world through the life of Messiah Jesus. We live in an era where political messiahs come and go. One way to de-emphasize the politics of man is to proclaim the politics of heaven. We do this most beautifully by following the Church Calendar and teaching our people and the nations about the only true Lord.

Third, the Church Calendar can serve to differentiate God’s time from the world’s time. Christians ought to give the question “What time is it?” a fundamentally different answer. It may be 9:22AM central time as I write these words, but the Christian knows that it’s 9:22AM in God’s world. God controls time, and he also orders time, and he has chosen Jesus (Hebrews 1) to speak. We redeem time most Christianly when Jesus is the center of it.

Fourth, some may ask: “Isn’t Jesus always proclaimed whether we celebrate Epiphany or not?” Of course He is. And I do not doubt the motives of many who do not follow the Church Calendar. My response, however, is that we can’t say everything about Jesus all the time, which is why we need to walk through his life and give emphasis to different portions of his life so that God’s people can know that Easter is not complete without an Ascension Sunday. Celebrating the Church Calendar helps us to understand the total Christ and his total life.

Fifth, celebrating the Church Calendar gives us parents beautiful ways to catechize our children with Jesus. Our children’s ABCs need to be Christocentric. They need to know that life only makes sense because Jesus has come for us. Numbers, letters, and playtime are taught best when Jesus rules supremely in the catechism of the home. Children love stories. Story-telling is fundamentally the role of the Calendar. The Calendar helps our kids to be formed by right chronological habits. It helps our children to know we are part of a larger story.

Sixth, celebrating the Church Calendar is useful for counseling. Calendar use is helpful to those who grieve. The Church Calendar most accurately reflects the eclectic nature of the Psalmist who laments, rejoices, and prays. Many who grieve may be a part of a community that is strict, abstract, and heavily theological. While good exegesis is good for the soul and while good systematic theology cheers the mind, a three-year series through I Corinthians can frustrate the broken-hearted. Walk the broken through the Calendar, and she will understand that Easter comes after Lent; that joy comes after sorrow. On the other hand, we can use the Calendar to teach the over-realized optimist that we need to set periods of time to focus on grieving and confessing our sins to the Lord of Calvary.

Seventh, celebrating the Church Calendar gives us an opportunity to add colors to the Church. The Christian faith is true and good, but it is also beautiful. This may seem like a minor point, but colors add to the brilliance of Church life. The Bible loves colors. It shows the favor of God (Gen. 37:3). The Church Calendar glorifies natural colors and gives them greater meaning.

Eighth, celebrating the Church Calendar gives us something to talk about. You can’t speak of the Advent Wreath without talking about hope, joy, love, and peace. The Church Calendar helps us to focus on those Christian virtues that form us as a community.

Ninth, celebrating the Church Calendar also encourages our children, friends, and unbelievers to ask questions about the faith. Why are there forty days in Lent? Why are there 12 days in Christmas? Why is purple the color of Lent? When questions arise, we draw people to the text where questions are answered and Jesus is revealed.

Finally, celebrating the Church Calendar gives us a big gospel. We are an expectant people. We no longer wait for a Messiah, but we expect the Messiah to come again and again into our lives to disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death’s dark shadows put to flight. We need the Calendar because we lose sight of what’s important. We need the Calendar because the Gospel is too big and our Lord too mighty. The Calendar focuses our attention carefully, chronologically, and conscientiously through the work of Jesus and what that work means for us and the world.

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On November 29, 2016 By In Theology

Look away if you’re easily offended…

I recently overheard a conversation between a father and his young daughter at Emmanuel that made me laugh so hard I asked their permission to share it with you.

They kindly agreed.

It was one of those moments that all parents are familiar with, when you suddenly understand the reason why God has ordained praise from the mouths of children and infants – they have a way of getting to the point that most of us adults wouldn’t think of, largely because we’d be worried about offending someone.

(That was your warning, incidentally: if you’re fragile, easily offended, or otherwise in need of theological Safe Spaces, please look away now.)

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On November 9, 2016 By In Theology, Wisdom

101 Things I’ve Learned from David Field

David Field has been an Elder at Emmanuel Evangelical Church in London, England, where I serve as Minister, since we began in March 2009. Before that, he taught at Oak Hill Theological College in North London. It was there that I first met him when I trained there a decade or more ago.

Since that time, David has been everything I could have wished for as a mentor, fellow-Elder, and friend. I think I can say without fear of exaggeration that I have been shaped more by David as a Christian, husband, father, and Minister of the gospel than by anyone else I’ve ever met. Indeed, the whole Field family have been an immeasurable blessing to the whole congregation at Emmanuel ever since we began.

But the Fields have left Emmanuel and moved to Oxford. This will be wonderful for them, as they’ll be able to see a lot more of their second daughter (more…)

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On October 31, 2016 By In Theology

My Reformed Journey

My Roots

Growing up in independent Baptist churches and spending about 15 months in a Brethren Church, one could say that my theology had a distinctly non-Reformational flavor. I had always been around people that shared similar theology. One could say it was an incurious faith. Unfortunately, my theological heritage did not expose me to much beyond some basic Christian doctrines and an untiring fascination for the end of the world.

Back in 1999–when computers took longer to load a page than Guttenberg’s press to print a page–I was looking for information on Genesis 1 & 2. I was attending a college founded by Bible Presbyterians and was urged to write a paper on Creation. After searching on Google or Web Crawler (yes, the latter was a search engine) I came across an article on the meaning of the word “day” by a writer named Gary North. The man had impressive credentials, but I also noticed he had an impressive list of detractors. North was the first writer in my adult life that offered a coherent view of theology that was not embarrassed by the Biblical account of creation nor the biblical paradigm. In the article, he quoted Calvin and Luther and a vast number of Reformed scholars. The essay opened the doors to the Reformed world to me. While it did not convince me to embrace any particular school of biblical interpretation at the time, it left a profound impression. Those memorable 20 minutes of reading affirmed to that college freshman that theology can be rigorous and intelligent while at the same time conservative and unashamedly rooted in the text of Holy Scriptures.

Peculiar Voices

I had a friend in college who was fairly committed to the proposition that my theology was wrong. He often came into my room and brought literature. Lost of literature. Rushdoony, Gentry, Demar, Sproul, etc. He was persistently frustrating. One day he brought me a book called “Putting Amazing Back Into Grace” by Michael Horton. At the time I had grown increasingly skeptical of my Reformed friends. So the book sat unread and untouched for several months.

As I prepared to go to Pennsylvania for my Christmas break I decided to take the book with me. I don’t remember if I had the intention to pick it up or if it was simply an attempt to prove I could resist the grace of the book.

As the snow poured down slowly, but surely as the grace of God, I was left with many, many hours to read. And read I did. After exhausting the few books I had brought with me I was left with Horton’s book staring at me from the corner of my room.

I picked it up and began to read it. “Election,” he wrote, “does not exclude anybody from the kingdom of God who wants in. Rather, it includes in God’s kingdom those whose direction is away from the kingdom of God and those who would otherwise remain forever in the kingdom of sin and death.” I read and kept reading and before I could realize what I had read, several hours had gone by and the book was completed. I don’t know what had happened, but my former antagonism had disappeared in light of the multitude of texts and the sheer logic of the grace of God for sinners. The Reformation had reached my heart, soul and mind.

The Change

I remember coming back to college in the Winter of 2000 and feeling a tremendous relief both psychologically and theologically. I no longer had to attempt any hermeneutical gymnastics to explain away the simple meaning of Romans 9 or I Corinthians 1. The whole thing made sense: God was sovereign over my will and intellect. My salvation was not a transformation from sickness to health, but from from death to life.

My Greek professor couldn’t believe it. The once antagonistic anti-Reformed student was now speaking the language of grace. I actually remember apologizing profusely to some of my dear Reformed brothers for my pugilism and unkindness toward them and their theological positions. As I look back I believe that their kindness actually won me over. While we had several heated discussions I remember being flummoxed by their gentleness.

The striking element was not that my theological paradigm changed on one issue, it was that it changed everything else around me. My disposition towards my education increased in a positive way. My grades improved and so did my love for Christ. The changes, of course, happened gradually, but the greatest change occurred in my ecclesiastical experience.

I See That Hand

I had attended several Independent Baptist churches at the time. My Baptist bona fides were obvious. I was even awarded a scholarship from an anynomous donor because of my Baptist convictions in college. But all that was beginning to change. As my theology transitioned so did my ecclesiology. Interestingly, I immediately began to feel discomfort in church on my first Sunday back. The flippancy of preaching and the casualness of worship began to bother me greatly. I had only embraced a high view of God’s Sovereignty in salvation, but it was already affecting my understanding of reality and worship.

I began to read. Rushdoony, Schaeffer and Sproul began to destroy some previously cherished categories. The things that were so common in my early years like altar calls, emotionalism, lengthy pastoral appeals to come down the isle now seemed inconsistent and even irreverent at times.

There is no doubt I experienced the “cage-stage.” I wish some older men had come alongside me and helped me articulate my new-found convictions with greater grace. I needed a bigger cage because I always seemed to find a way out and make a mess out of things.

Still, God was gracious and forgave my lack of grace by showing me grace. Quickly thereafter, my ecclesiastical discomfort compelled me to leave my once cherished Baptist tradition to the waters of Geneva.

Decrees, Please?

In my Independent Baptist years we were somewhat imprisoned to a very narrow ideology: Southern Baptists are bad and liberal and Billy Graham is a compromiser. I never embraced these perspectives, though I am sure I looked with suspicion at all those “seeker-sensitive churches” (so 80’s, I know).

As I took my first step towards Geneva Road I realized that there were many ways to get to Geneva. I even discovered, to my surprise, that there were Baptists of varying Reformed persuasions. These folks were really bright. A few of these Baptists carried around the two-volume set of Calvin’s Institutues in their professorial looking bags. They were spiritually challenging and helped me increase my Spurgeon collection. While I was tempted at one time and even considered parking in that parking lot, I think I was looking for a stout Protestant experience. And as we know, Baptists only like sweet tea.

I remember being invited by a Presbyterian friend to visit his PCA church on a Sunday evening. It was the perfect invitation. My heart was ready to explore Presbyterianism. I had many reservations, among them was the fear that Geneva Road might lead me to that dreadful font where babies (fear, dread, scary) were sprinkled. “Man-made tradition,” I mumbled to my Presbyterian friend on my way to church that evening. My friend had a quiet demeanor and gently explained things in a way that quieted my anger. We walked into the church. They were meeting in a Christian school. I honestly did not know what to expect. “Where is the sacrificial lamb?” I asked my friend who simply smiled at my idiocy.

A man opened in prayer. It wasn’t a trivial prayer. It was bathed in Scriptural language, genuine; the kind of prayer that left me feeling humbled. “We’re continuing our study on the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap. III on God’s Eternal Decrees,” he said. I had read the Confession before as an intellectual exercise. I read the Bible verses that come with each proposition. This teacher, however, explained this doctine as a comforting theology where I had only seen it as a necessary evil. It was fresh, biblically-saturated. I was almost speechless, if you can imagine a Brazilian without words to say.

I ran up to him to thank him. He seemed apologetic. “I hope I was clear. I really tried my best to explain this.” I was mesmerized with how this man had opened his Bible and here he was apologizing for lacking clarity. It was like Neymar apologizing for only scoring three goals in a match.

After that evening my objections seemed childish compared to the riches I was to gain in this congregation. “I will probably disagree with many things, but I know I will be fed in this Presbyterian Church,” I said to my friend on our way home. My Reformational journey was leading me somewhere concrete. I was fearful, but child-like in expectation.

The Lessons

As I look back I realize that how a community communicates her theology is as important as her theology itself. For the first time in my life I longed to be with God’s people. I never despised the Lord’s worship, the difference is that now I was eager to learn from ordinary people. I was pursuing a college degree in pastoral studies but I was the student.

It didn’t take long before I succumbed to the beauty of infant baptism and covenant theology. The whole Bible became a consistent story of redemption. The God of redemptive history covenanted with his people and drew us near by the blood of the covenant through the efficacious death of Jesus Christ for his people.

Almost 15 years have passed since that recognition. Since then my theology has “refined,” or as some of my old friends might kindly ask, “What in the world has happened to you?” I have learned, grown, and hopefully increased in knowledge and wisdom.

There are so many lessons, but I think a few come to mind as I celebrate 15 years of Reformed enculturation and as the world celebrates 499 years of the Protestant Reformation:

First, we begin living by affirming that our first identity is not Reformed, but Christian. While we believe that the Reformers were most faithful to the Bible and while we affirm that the theological system developed by the Reformers most reflect the reality of God and his salvation, we need to remember that our identity is first and foremost a Christian identity. We are Christians first, and Reformed second.

Second, we must remember that “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” If our Reformed heritage is causing us to love ourselves, our systems, our ways over everything and everyone, we have made an idol out of our theology, and we need to properly repent. Reformed theology is winsome theology which causes us to listen more carefully to those who disagree with us rather than lord over others because of our supposed superiority.

Finally, never forget that the Gospel of Grace is the beauty of what we believe. It is the gracious, marvelous, overwhelming gift of God that we should breathe when we deserved to die. It is his pleasure that we should be called sons and daughters of God. It is his perfect purpose that we should sing his praises in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

The mighty fortress of Luther’s pen is our mighty fortress. Were we to trust in our own strength, the Reformation would have been a temporary movement that would have died with the showers of a Wittenberg afternoon in Germany in 1517. But the grace of God knew that history needed more than some showers to cool the day, but a storm to shake the world of lethargy. Indeed the world continues to shake and may it continue to stir for the Reformation did not die with an Augustinian monk, it continues in all of us who believe that the sovereignty and grace of God in the hearts of sinners and history is a message worth telling and singing:

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

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On October 27, 2016 By In Books, Theology

Antimodern Presbyterianism: Challenging the Spirit of the Age

dabney-2

After writing my piece comparing Mercersburg Theology with Neo Calvinism, my online-friend Gregory Baus pointed out that the tenets I was describing can be found in the best, if not the whole, of the Presbyterian tradition. As an example, he pointed to Sean Michael Lucas’ definitive biography of Robert Lewis Dabney, specifically his chapter dealing with Dabney’s public theology. Below is a short excerpt from that chapter, of interest to those Presbyterians concerned with cultivating an ancient, “antimodern” faith:

dabney“Dabney’s strong adherence to an older faith placed him closer to antimodernists, who were discovering ancient religions such as Buddhism or rediscovering Catholicism, than to New South Presbyterians, who downplayed their creeds in order to influence Southern Culture….

In a gilded age that made the seemingly impossible possible though unprecedented technological manipulation, antimodernists sought a refuge in otherworldly faiths, which proclaimed a transcendent deity who was shrouded in mystery.

Though most scholars have failed to recognize the possibility that Old School Calvinism—as maintained at Princeton Seminary or defended by Dabney—could be as antimodern as Buddhism or Anglo-Catholicism, for Dabney it appeared that the older faith in a transcendent, sovereign deity both put him out of step with the prevailing modernist spirit of the age and provided resources to challenge the modern age of the Spirit.”

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On October 20, 2016 By In Theology

On The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, A Review

As we approach the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Martin Luther’s 95 theses remain the most revolutionary document in Western History. Luther’s attempt to begin a conversation about indulgences provoked an ecclesiastical and sacramental revolution. This revolution reverberated through the last 500 years and will continue to do so for many centuries to come. But Luther’s theses served the purpose, unbeknownst to him, of catapulting this Augustinian monk to the center of the church’s disputes of the day. Spurred by a prolific genius, this trilinguist sought comfort in the liberating power of God’s revelation.

Luther wrote on a host of issues, but particular to his concerns, was a hunger to recover proper worship in the Church. Martin Luther’s On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church[1] is a biblical examination of the seven sacraments of the medieval church. The Luther-revolution began as he opened his Bible and examined the practices of the Church in light of scriptural teaching. The reformer was compelled “to become more and more learned each day” implying a continual testing[2] of these practices in light of his voracious commitment to the Scriptures.

For Luther, the Papacy is a “kingdom of Babylon,” twisting the clear articulation of Holy Scriptures.

In his treatise, he begins by addressing the Lord’s Supper. In direct fashion, Luther viciously attacked the church, claiming its “tyrants” were denying the laity reception of both elements. Luther argues from Paul and the Gospels that the Lord’s Supper belongs to the entire Church. (more…)

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On October 7, 2016 By In Theology, Wisdom

An alternative to therapeutic theology

There are many books designed to help Christians deal with issues such as anxiety, depression, alcoholism, loneliness, (lack of) fulfilment, bereavement, grief, marital struggles, addiction, low self-esteem, and so on. Many of them are very good – I’ve read a good handful myself. However, it seems to me that there might be a more fruitful way of addressing the issues underlying these symptoms.

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