Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

2 September, 2007   comments: (0) Sound Doctrine   Definitely Not Church As Usual I will admit it, the church that I attend is not normal, at least by today's standards. The seeker church that I was once a part of had a sign outside the building that said the words "definitely not church as usual". Years later now, I actually think that my former church is pretty typical, and the church that I attend now is the highly UNusual one. Let's face it, now days - it's really unusual to care a whole lot about what you believe, and so - just in that area alone, my church would probably be thought of today as having an unnecessary obsession with things doctrinal. Is that valid criticism? Take a short tour with me and find out. Yeah, there's some pretty unusual stuff about the church that I attend. There's no offering plate ever, just a money box at the back that nobody ever mentions. We don't let just anybody off the street participate in our monthly communion, our elders want to make sure that you have a reasonably legitimate sounding profession of faith (that's the Puritan practice called "fencing the table"). None of the music is ever "performed"; all of us sing along. Kids sit with their parents during worship; we don't send them down the hall to a Christian playland or video game parlor. I'm actually not all that dogmatic about some of the things that we do at my church, and I'm sure there are some great churches that do things somewhat differently. But I am really hooked on much of what we do. My favorite thing about my church however, is something that I am very dogmatic about, and that's our beliefs. We take 'beliefs' very seriously, and we follow a set of doctrinal standards called a Confession of Faith. It's a detailed belief statement, that was written back in the 17th century when there was a lot more concern for that kind of thing. If you come to our Sunday School hour prior to the church service, you'll see kids interacting with the pastor on the catechism Q&A's that they've been learning throughout the week. Then the adults spend the rest of that hour listening to one of our elders teaching a paragraph from the Baptist Confession of Faith. We break it down to the scripture level, and use it like a bible study, every single week. Imagine that, talking about 'beliefs', in church:-) Let me show you why I think the historic Confessions (like ours as well as the Westminster Confession and others) are so valuable. We'll take an example topic found on most belief statements even today; it's the definition of a human being. Here's the description of mankind from a trendy seeker church that advertises "Casual Dress, Kickin Music, and a Christian Message": About You You are made in the spiritual image of God to be like Him in character. You are the supreme object of God's creation and love. Although you have tremendous potential for good, you are marred by an attitude of disobedience towards God called "sin." This attitude separates you from God until the relationship is restored through a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Gen 1:27 || Ps 8:3-6 || Isa 53:6 || Rom 3:23 || Isa 59: 1-2 That's it! That's all they could say about people. Sin is just an attitude? They don't even mention Romans 5, which is one of the key passages relating to Adam's effect on mankind. Here's one more. This one is from a church that meets in a movie theater and is currently running one of those iPod themed sermon series (yawn): Human Beings [We] believe men and women were created in the image of God. People are the supreme object of God's creation and His affection. Besides their physical dimension, they have a moral dimension allowing them to differentiate right from wrong. They also have a spiritual dimension that would allow them to commune with God. However there remains a problem. Although every person has tremendous potential for good, the human race has been marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called "sin." Because God is Holy, sin separates people from God and causes a myriad of problems. The ultimate result of sin is spiritual death and eternal separation from God. People are incapable of changing this situation alone and therefore require God's intervention. Well at least that one connects death with sin, and I actually like that last sentence about people being incapable of change on their own. Still, there is a lot missing, though it's much improved over the first one, which is hardly even Christian by biblical standards. And finally, let's take a look at the description of man in the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith: Of the Fall of Man, Of Sin, And of the Punishment Thereof 1._____ Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it, and threatened death upon the breach thereof, yet he did not long abide in this honor; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, then by her seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did willfully transgress the law of their creation, and the command given unto them, in eating the forbidden fruit, which God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory. (Genesis 2:16, 17, Genesis 3:12,13, 2 Corinthians 11:3) 2._____ Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. (Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12, etc, Titus 1:15, Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10-19) 3._____ They being the root, and by God's appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free. (Romans 5:12-19, 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22, 45, 49, Psalms 51:5, Job 14:4, Ephesians 2:3, Romans 6:20, Romans 5:12, Hebrews 2:14, 15, 1 Thessalonians 1:10) 4._____ From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions. (Romans 8:7, Colossians 1:21, James 1:14, 15, Matthew 15:19) 5._____ The corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and the first motions thereof, are truly and properly sin. (Romans 7:18,23, Ecclesiastes 7:20, 1 John 1:8, Romans 7:23-25, Galatians 5:17) from chapter 6, of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith Now that's more like it! It's not necessarily 'easy' to understand, it's more like a fine wine. You have to savor it, and let it soak in, and you may have to study it with a good dictionary in hand. You'll find this same kind of doctrinal precision in many of the other Confessions that come out of the Puritan and Reformation time periods. There's no wiggle-room in that description of man. And if a church really believes what that says, there's no room for compatibility with many of today's popular man-centered fads and theologies such as Purpose Driven, Semi-Pelagianism, and Pop-Psychology. Unfortunately, the common attitude today towards this kind of thing is "so what!", but you see - even the way you define mankind impacts the way you evangelize mankind. As AW Pink said in one of my first ever postings: "It is our deep conviction that the vital question most needing to be raised today is this: Is man a totally and thoroughly depraved creature by nature? Does he enter the world completely ruined and helpless, spiritually blind and dead in trespasses and sins? According as is our answer to that question, so will be our views on many others. It is on the basis of this dark background that the whole Bible proceeds. Any attempt to modify or abate, repudiate or tone down the teaching of Scripture on the matter is fatal. ... [Since the 19th century] the steady trend of a deteriorating Christendom has been to underrate the evil of sin and overrate the moral capabilities of man." Think of Creeds, Catechisms, and Confessions as anchors that will keep your boat from drifting away in today's postmodern storm. We should recognize that biblical truth doesn't change, and so the old truth Confessions are still as valid and valuable today as they've always been. They are the always-relevant guideposts of the Christian faith. Even if you don't attend one of the Confessional churches like mine, you can still pick a good Confession of Faith and study it. It will really help you to connect the dots in scripture. There are also a number of good commentaries available that can help you understand all of their nuances. And believe me, these things have plenty of nuances, as you would expect from a document written by teams of careful Puritan scholars, over long periods of time. In case you still aren't convinced that my church is unusual, take a look at this picture of my pastor and I chatting after church last week: Ok, just kidding. We're not really THAT unusual. Thanks to the Emerging Church for use of that photo though :-) Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.763   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism