Understanding and Owning Christian Theology
Week 8 (Sept 25): The Sovereignty of God & Responsibility of Man – Why It Matters
The Sunday School Class was recorded and can be heard here: The Sovereignty of God & Responsibility of Man
For most Christians today – the very idea that God is sovereign in anything (salvation, or in the world generally) is not something that would get a “Like” for – more probably a “Dislike.” Do you agree? Why do you think that is? I bring up the question of “liking” the sovereignty of God because I’ve had many people tell me that they don’t – and they don’t want to believe in that kind of God. It is quite understandable that people have struggled with this for 1000’s of years – and it is good for us to feel the weight of it.
Let take a few minutes to reason together from the scriptures.
Tags: Bible Classes, Free Will, Reformation Covenant Church, Salvation, Sovereignty of God, Sunday School
Understanding and Owning Christian Theology
Week 7 (Sept 18): Union with Jesus Christ – Why It Matters
The Sunday School Class was recorded and can be heard here:Union with Jesus Christ – Why It Matters
Today I want to discuss “Union with Christ.”
Tags: Bible Classes, Image of God in man, Reformation Covenant Church, Salvation, Sin, Sunday School, The Fall of Man, Union With Christ
Joshua Harris.com
My dear wife forwarded to me a link to an article (posted by Josh Harish, by Reb Bradley in the Virginia Home Educator Magazine ) that is getting a lot of well deserved attention, even by the likes of Doug Wilson and Nancy Wilson. In this article we are given a number of thought provoking cautions about homeschooling that ring very true in my experience, both in my own family and in my ministry. May God use this fine article to help us think deeply and biblically about our families!
Tags: Education, Family, Homeschooling, Josh Harris, Reb Bradley
Understanding and Owning Christian Theology
Week 6 (Sept 11): The Salvation of Man in Jesus Christ – Why It Matters
The Sunday School Class was NOT recorded and can NOT be heard here because I failed to get it turned on properly 
Salvation – What is it?
Everyone knows that there are problems in their lives and the world. The world is broken. Is it right to say that we need salvation economically? In our families? Internationally (wars)? Politically?
RCC Confessional Statement:
8. We believe that God the Son, namely Jesus Christ, though existing eternally in the Godhead, was born to the virgin Mary, and that He lived a life in complete obedience to God’s Law, and yet suffered and died on the cross, becoming the sinbearer of the elect. We believe that all those that believe on Him (being enabled to believe by the Holy Ghost) are saved from eternal damnation and will live forever with God. We believe that all those that do not believe on Christ (being unable and unwilling to do so apart from the quickening of the Holy Ghost) will spend eternity in damnation and death.
The guilt of sin requires forgiveness – Ex. 34:7; Num. 14:18
“And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”” (Exodus 34:6–7, NKJV)
Atonement – To be made one with God – Bloody
Biblically – Life is associated with blood (Gen. 3:21; 4:4:10; 9:4-5) – Blood is required
“But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.” (Genesis 9:4–5, NKJV)
Every attempt of man to be right with God apart from the shedding of blood (both OT & NT) is an attempt at making things right in life on man’s terms – not in God’s terms. Necessity of Atonement: Guilt & pity; sadism & masochism. Only by the blood of Christ can men have their sins forgiven.
“And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22, NKJV)
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7, NKJV)
Atonement restores relationships – with God and with others.
Justification: Vicarious (substitutionary) sacrifice = forensic justification (a legal/court act)
Justification = Righteousness in the Bible
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21–26, NKJV)
It is by grace, through faith, we are saved – not by any works that we do: No boasting.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8–10, NKJV)
There are so many more biblical concepts related to salvation: redemption, adoption, sanctification, etc.
The solas of the Reformation: Jesus Christ alone, Faith alone, grace alone
Why It Matters
How much of man’s life is impacted by salvation in Jesus Christ?
When we sin against each other – do we require a bloody sacrifice? How do we deal with sins?
What are other means (apart from Christ) that men use to bring salvation to their lives? Politics (negotiation, compromise, funding/investment), economics, education, counseling, medications
Tags: Bible Classes, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Sunday School, The Fall of Man
Understanding and Owning Christian Theology
Week 2 (Aug 13): The Triune God – Why it matters
This week’s young adult Sunday School Class was recorded and can be heard here: The Triune God – Why it matters
“It is this Trinitarian confession that distinguishes the Christian religion from all pagan religions and philosophies and every cultic distortion of the Bible. No doctrine of the Christian faith is more important or more profound.” Smith, Trinity & Reality
Beginning of our services RCC: “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”
Historical Importance to the Church: Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds
RCC Confessional Statement: “3. We believe that God is one God, yet three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We therefore believe in the equal ultimacy of the one and the many.”
1. There is one God (Dt. 6:4; 1 Sam. 2:2; 2 Kngs. 19:15; Is. 37:16; 44:8; Mk. 12:28-34; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; 1 Tim. 2:5; Jas. 2:19). That the Bible teaches this proposition is not disputed.
2. The Father is God (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 8:6; 15:24; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 4:6; Phil 4:20). Again, this proposition is seldom disputed.
3. The Son is God. Because this proposition is frequently denied, I give a fuller statement of evidence, but still only scratches the surface.
a. The Son is called God (Jn. 1:1; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Tit. 2:13; Heb. 1:8)
b. The Son is given divine names (Jn. 1:1, 18; Acts 5:31; 1 Cor. 2:8; Jas. 2:1; Rev. 1:8; 21:6; 22:13)
c. The Son has divine attributes:
i. Eternity (Jn. 1:2; 8:58; 17:5; Rev. 1:8, 17; 22:13)
ii. Immutability (Heb. 1:11, 12; 13:8)
iii. Omnipresence (Jn. 3:13; Mt. 18:20; 28:20)
iv. Omniscience (Mt. 11:27; Jn. 2:23-25; 21:17; Rev. 2:23)
v. Omnipotence (Jn. 5:17; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 1:8; 11:17)
d. The Son does divine works:
i. Creation (Jn. 1:3, 10; Col. 1:16-17)
ii. Salvation (Acts 4:12; 2 Tim. 1:10; Heb. 5:9)
iii. Judgment (Jn. 5:22; 2 Cor. 5:10; Mt. 25:31-32)
iv. The Son is worshipped as God (Jn. 5:22-23; 1 Cor. 1:2; Phil. 2:9-10; Heb. 1:6)
4. The Spirit is God. Those who accept the biblical evidence for the deity of the Son seldom have trouble understanding the evidence for the deity of the Spirit.
a. The Spirit is called God (Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 3:17)
b. The Spirit is given divine names (Matt. 12:28)
c. The Spirit has divine attributes (1 Cor. 2:13-14; Gal. 5:22; 1 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 3:7; 9:14; 1 Jn. 5:6-7)
d. The Spirit does divine works (Jn. 6:33; 14:17, 26; 16:13; Acts 1:8; 2:17-18; 16:6; Rom. 8:26; 15:19; 1 Cor. 12:7-11).
e. The Spirit is worshipped as God (Mt. 12:32)
5. The Father, Son and Spirit are distinguishable persons in relationship with one another. They are not merely different names for the one God.
Smith, Trinity & Reality
Ontological & Economical
Perichoresis – Mutual Indwelling; God is by nature relational – loving/self-sacrificial
The One and the Many
The Trinity and the Three spheres of human life:
Church
Family
State
Tags: Bible Classes, RCC, Reformation Covenant Church, Sunday School, Trinity
God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us,
That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth.
Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
How is it that songs of joyful praise from all the nations to our God will come about? This question presupposes that the nations will want to do such a thing. We are assured by the scriptures that indeed the command to disciples the nations will be brought to completion and that the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. Thus, the gospel will indeed bring the nations to want to sing of the blessedness of our own God! Further, the question presupposes that the nations will be able to sing His praises.
I recently came across the work of Eric Whitacre and his virtual choir. The video below is his own explanation of what he has accomplished.
Toward the end of his clip he talked about two things that struck him as a result of this project:
1) Human beings will go to any lengths necessary to find and connect with each other…
2) People seem to be experiencing an actual connection…not just a virtual connection…
These two things don’t surprise me because indeed we are created as image-bearers of the Truine God – who has an infinite capacity and desire to connect socially. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have loved each other perfectly throughout eternity, and have made us to yearn for connection with Him and one another. This social connectivity in manifested in so many ways over the last six thousand years that we could not possibly imagine them all. Chief among the ways that the Bible tells us that we are to be connected to other people, by the Spirit of God, is to speak to one another in song (Eph. 5:18-21). In so doing we learn to lay down our lives for one another in mutual submission and love.
Fascinating to me is the phenomenon of social media and how people actually feel some connection with people, virtually, that they wouldn’t feel without it. While I neither understand it, nor do I think all of it is edifying, it is without doubt very important to our world today.
In some way, when seeing the work of Whitacre and his virtual choirs, it occurs to me that this is indeed an expression of the human race united together in song and beauty. It puts me in mind of what it is like for God, each Lord’s Day, when He hears the songs of His beloved children singing to Him in worship. It puts into perspective precisely what is happening when we sing together each week, along with millions of other believers around the world. If only we could see and hear what God Himself experiences – it seems to me that we would have a much larger and more healthy view of the world – and the goal of the kingdom of God. It would cause us to long and labor all the more to see the nations be glad and sing for joy along with us!
Tags: Eric Whitacre, NT - Ephesians, Psalm 67, social media, Virtual choir
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