A Very Fine Line Indeed

I was talking to a good friend the other day and we were discussing the idea of Lordship (simply put the idea of submitting to Christ as Lord, obeying His ordinances) and where that came into play with salvation. It seems that many people stress Lordship when sharing the gospel and it is very common, especially in the Bible belt, to come across someone who claims to be a “Christian” and yet does not submit to the Lordship of Christ (which is impossible for a Christian to do says 1 Cor. 5:14-15). So the question arose because isn’t it simply faith in the works of Christ that saves a man? Yet, we find so many other people and denominations screaming something else. So let us look at the matter further…

There are many different views on how someone can be saved. Some say it is faith alone. Others say you need baptism as well, some would also say that you need repentance, or confession, or Lordship you get the idea. There are so many different ideas to how someone gets saved and most of these ideas can be found in the book of Acts. This book (which is an account of the early church immediately following the resurrection of Christ) has caused much confusion when dealing with salvation. In the book of Acts you will find multiple sermons by the apostles and others and at the end of most of these sermons you get some sort of command, or response action. For example in Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 he ends it by saying, “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins” (verse 38). Here Peter says simply that if you repent and are baptized then you have forgiveness of sins (saved). Many people see this as a claim that baptism is necessary for salvation, some even say that you need to follow the 5 pillars (hear, believe, repent, confess, and baptism). This seems convincing until we get to Acts 3 where Peter ends his very next speech, or sermon, by saying, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away” (verse 19). Here Peter left out baptism, as a matter of fact there is no mention of baptism in the entire chapter. This is the problem that begins to crop up throughout the entire book of Acts. So many people want to argue that because the apostles commanded men to do it (repent, baptism, etc) for salvation that it must be necessary in order to be saved. Let us examine that claim further.

What we find in Acts is no standard. We find multiple different things a man should do when considering Christ, but they seem to be different each time. Some take this to mean that God has said we need to do it all to be saved, but I would argue that this must mean that those things are not necessary for salvation. If baptism was essential for salvation then I think Peter would have included baptism in every sermon, as the same for Paul. However, we do not find such thinking for the apostles. Instead they seem to want a response from their hearers. Why would they want that? Two reasons, first back in the early church people were being persecuted for professing faith in Christ, so when people were baptized or began to confess that they believe in Christ it was a big deal, it would be like putting a bullseye on your face.

Second reason, I would suggest that there seems to be a common denominator in everything that the apostles ask of their hearers in Acts. Paul wrote in Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” Here Paul puts it simply, man is considered justified (made right before God, sins completely forgiven) when that man puts faith in Christ. Even Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Faith is what allows men to respond in repentance and baptism. Faith alone is what saves a man, but we cannot see faith. But we can see repentance, baptism, confession, prayer, Bible reading, and so on. It’s funny, we walk on a very fine line between saying that works are what get us into heaven, yet if a man does not repent, or is baptized, or makes disciples, or prays then we begin to doubt that person’s profession of faith in Christ. We must understand that faith alone is what brings a person into the New Covenant with Christ. However, God does something supernatural in the lives of all His children that causes them to repent, to be baptized, to confess sins, to kill sin, to read the Word of God, to pray, to evangelize, you get the idea.

So in conclusion there is much more that could be said about this topic and there is much that has been said on this issue. I just wanted to give you a little dose of what it is all about and a small taste of what I think about this topic. It is simple, faith alone in Jesus Christ for cleansing of sin.

August Book Battle

So here is something that I would like to try… that is a book battle. Okay so it’s not really a “battle”. What I am going to do here is take two books that I have read recently and compare them. I will give a light review of each and then put the two together. I hope to do this about every month so we shall see how this goes. For the very first match I would like to take two books that discuss the Christian life. The books are Dug Down Deep (D3) by Joshua Harris and Justification and Regeneration (JAR) by Charles Leiter…

First lets begin with D3, I read this book at the beginning of the summer and I have to say that I enjoyed it. This book takes different aspects of the Christian life and goes through them individually and marks biblical ways to approach them. Such as the church, reading the Word, the Holy Spirit, Jesus (specifically to his divine and human nature), God’s character, and so on. Joshua Harris gives a nice over view of these topics. This is both a pro and a con for me. On one hand it is nice to see all of these topics in one nicely fitted book. The bad is that Joshua Harris doesn’t do the greatest job at developing thoughts throughout each chapter. His ideas are often scattered and they leave you hanging, wondering why this was even in the chapter at all. It is almost like he is trying to do to much given the length of each chapter and the depth of each topic. However, the book is still solid and contains much information.

Second is JAR, I have read this book a couple of times last year and I will go ahead and say that apart from the Bible this is my favorite book. Why? Well because this book hits the Christian life entirely from a gospel perspective. What I mean by that is Charles Leiter deals with 3 main ideas: how we are justified by the blood of Christ, the supernatural working of God through regeneration, and how we ought to look at ourselves and this world by which realm we belong to (for example Adam to Christ, earth to heaven, flesh to spirit, etc.). Charles Leiter does a great job at simplifying and yet not losing truth. He will approach each topic with clarity and precision. I have benefitted greatly from this book and I know of others who have as well. There are a couple of issues, the first is that Leiter’s view can be a little controversial (like his interpretation of Romans 7), he does get repetitive in each chapter, and there are chapters 3 pages long and can leave you wanting a little more. However, despite these issues JAR is a wonderfully designed book that keeps you looking to Christ and can really help put your life in perspective with the gospel.

Now to conclude I would like to talk about how I would recommend these books. JAR is a book that I would recommend to everyone for the reasons listed above and because it is a book that is filled with gospel in every chapter. D3 is a book that I would not recommend to everyone. Simply because the book can be scattered and hits a lot of different areas in each topic. I think D3 is a great book for small groups simply because the leader has the opportunity to hit a plethora of topics through one book. The book can be tailored to the group by the leader and the leader can really make this book deep and enjoyable. In short both books are great and are designed to help young Christians understand the Christian life.

Should We Believe In the Bible?

A few months ago I heard this short talk by Voddie Baucham on why he chose to believe the Bible. I have really enjoyed listening to the talk and so I decided to share it on this blog. I hope you find it encouraging and informative. It seems that this is becoming a very tricky and difficult topic when discussing Christianity to non-believers and even some believers (how they are believers I do not know, later discussion I suppose.). So here is the talk... you can just click here to listen or you can click here to download it. Hope you enjoy it.

The Hardest Blog for Me to Write

You would think that writing about something that is so central to my life wouldn’t be that difficult, but for some reason this blog has been a challenge. It’s hard to approach such a worthy, valuable, and pure message as this one. I can remember the first time I heard it, how it changed my life. How I had thought I knew the message quite well, but as it turned out had never even heard of it up until my freshmen year of college. Some may know of this message and its power. Some may think they know it. No matter, we all have heard of it in some form or fashion. The gospel has affected millions throughout history it showcases one of the greatest acts in human history (whether you actually believe the gospel or not). The gospel has been at the heart of so many controversies and wars and protests and debates. I often wonder if people have thought about what the actual message means. We often plague it with religion and Christianity like it is a bug that constantly keeps festering us, but you can never swat away. Some people treat it as a way to get rich quickly or to get money from other people. Some say that it is just a fairy tale and could never be true. No matter, this single word has shaped so much of history and for good reason.

The gospel is the most important and significant message ever. That’s it. You may ask how do I know this? Well I'm glad you asked… the gospel says more truth about our world than any of us can imagine. We are not talking about mere fairy tales but actual reality. The world is in rebellion. Rebellion from God, everything that the world does is in opposition to Him! And because of this God has every right to pour out His wrath on all of mankind. So many people think that in order for God to be loving He cannot be angry or have any hatred. Such a view is foolish, in order for anyone to love their must be anger and hatred else you don’t have love. For instance in order for one to love children they must hate everything that goes against it (like child abuse and abortion). God must be righteous and must judge rightly. There would seem to be no escape from His wrath! Yet, there is… there shouldn’t be, but there is. God being rich in love and mercy has sent a way out of His wrath and that is Christ. Christ hung on a tree and bore our sins! He took our hell. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. What glorious news. This fixes everything… if only we repent and entrust everything to Christ. Faith is simply relying upon something and we must rely upon Christ if there is to be any hope. For Christ’s crucifixion is not just story, but reality. He died! He shed his blood for evil, wicked, and sinful people like us! We deserve so much wrath, and yet Christ came and took it.

That is just a little taste at why the gospel is the most important and significant message ever. I can’t think of anything greater, simpler, and yet more difficult to explain. The gospel does so much for the individual… it redeems, reconciles, purges, cleanses, unites us (to God and to a people), justifies, sanctifies, glorifies, propitiates, regenerates, and makes our hearts beat. The gospel is life and nothing else will ever give life. This is why we preach for it is what we live for... because the gospel has given us breath.

You Can't Handle the Truth! So Why Bother?

So I was doing some reflecting the other day about some of the evangelistic conversations that I have been apart of and the more I thought about it the more I saw a common pattern. When I spoke with people about Christianity most people either said that I was “narrow-minded” to say that Christianity was the only true religion or they said that all religions are equally true. So what I would like to do is make the case that truth is absolute.

If you do not know what absolute truth or relativism is let me clue you in. Relativism is the idea that some elements or aspects of experience or culture are relative to, i.e., dependent on, other elements or aspects. Relativists say things like, “That’s true for you, but not for me.” or “You can't judge other cultures by the standards of your own.". Now absolute truth is whatever is always valid, regardless of parameters or context. Meaning that truth is absolute it does not change and whatever that truth claims anything that opposes or contradicts that is wrong.

Now there are several problems with the relativists view. The first problem is the idea of noncontradiction. Something cannot “be and not be” at the same time. For example I cannot, be wearing a red shirt and not be wearing a red shirt at the same time it is impossible. When it comes to saying that all truth claims are equal you have a problem. You may say “What you believe is true and what I believe is true.” and I will respond by saying “Well I believe you are wrong.” (Hope you see the problem here). Next we see that relativism is not practical. What I mean is that if it is all up to me to decide what is true, then my professor needs to regrade my last math test because I believe I got all of the answers right. It doesn’t matter what he thinks because I believe that every answer I marked on the test was right. Not only is it not practical, but we almost always are trying to make people conform to some standard. You may not have a problem with me believing in Christianity, but you might have problem with me sacrificing babies to the god of Yemiii (I just made that up). The police might have a problem with that as well. So relativism is not practical. Finally, relativism contradicts itself. By saying “That there is no absolute truth and that all truths are equal.” you have just made an absolute statement. You believe that all truths are valid therefore everything should conform to that standard.

Now you maybe wondering why does this matter to me. Well it is a big deal because there are many big truth claims out there (Many claiming where you could spend eternity). You see all of society operates on absolutes the government, schools, businesses, and even military. We all have laws and standards that must be abided by. So why is religion any different? Why do we treat faith views as a different commodity? They have some of the biggest and audacious claims out there and if anything should be carefully looked at it should be those different faith claims out there. This is why we search for truth, because we need to be certain about life and death and everything in between because we do not want to waste our lives on nothing.