"Always remember, when somebody comes up with something new,
it's usually wrong. We are to be plagiarists of the same information that
God gave the first Christians." -- Dr. Matthew McMahon, aPuritansMind.com

 

28 May, 2007   comments: (0) Audio Clips   Don't Make The Church Mars Hill, Go There Instead Not only did the Apostle Paul preach the Gospel in Jewish synagogues, but he also showed his flexibility to preach amongst the gentiles up on Mars Hill. Wherever he found an appropriate forum for public debate he went out and made his case for the Gospel. And so, the bible tells us how he was willing to become many things for the sake of the Gospel. Unfortunately today, a category error is being made in the interpretation of this flagship verse of the Seeker movement. What is being done today under the banner of relevance, is to bring Mars Hill into the church. After "judge not lest you be judged", this passage in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 has to be one of the most abused portions of the bible: For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. In one of his presentations on the Seeker movement, Pastor Bob DeWaay explains how this passage gets used by pragmatic churches as a license to conform to the world by adopting it's methods, ideas, and attractions, for the sake of the Gospel. But as you'll hear in the examples from the bible in this 10 minute audio clip, Paul did this by going out (out of the church) in public settings; that's when he flexibly conformed to the forums and methods of whatever environment he chose to participate in. By no means did Paul ever intend for church gatherings to conform to these worldly paradigms. In other words, he did not try to bring Mars Hill into the church. Though unbelievers should be welcome to attend our church services, when they do - they should encounter a plainly spoken biblical message based on the whole counsel of God, amongst a group of people that are worshipping in spirit and in truth. Listen-in now to this short excerpt exhorting churches to leave Mars Hill out of their church gatherings. It also warns Christians not to become isolationists, but to speak in their own Mars Hill environments outside of their church. CLICK HERE TO PLAY NOW . . . or to download this MP3 file for later: right click the link and then "save target as"   More Old Truth Audio Files: 04/25/08 - The False Peace of Truth-Compromised 03/20/08 - The Arrogance of Abandoning Church History 02/25/08 - Judging Fruit By Biblical Standards 01/30/08 - The History of Praise Songs: Simple from Semple 11/06/07 - Audio Archive: How God Converts The Human Soul 07/19/07 - Theology Q&A's: Does Prayer Change God's Mind? 06/03/07 - Addressing Our Culture w/Reformed Christianity 05/07/07 - Old Truths versus The Quest For 'Something New' 04/27/07 - Lost and Found: The Fear of The Lord 03/13/07 - Goofy Eschatology That Sproul Wants Left Behind Detailed Listing of All Audio Files   Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/.id.2.pid.693   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism