Really? That's Blasphemy?

Originally posted on the Gig Harbor Reformed Bible Study blog:

This Lord's Day I am preaching a sermon on Exodus 20:7 - the third commandment. Quick... what is it?

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."

As I was studying for and writing this sermon it was fascinating to unpack all that this seemingly short commandment tells us as children of God. One of the areas that I was most fascinated with was how this commandment speaks of our salvation. How in the heck can "not taking the Lord's name in vain" lead to talking about our salvation?

Blasphemy is the direct or the indirect detracting from the glory and honor of God. Doing anything to take away from the glory and the honor that is due the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) alone is blasphemous.

There are many preachers today who are telling believers that they can lose their election and their salvation if they are not righteous enough, if they are not faithful enough. When Christ comes again, in that final judgment these teachers say that when you are standing before God the Judge he will look at your obedience and render a verdict based on what you have done. To put it another way some would have us believe that God’s favor and acceptance of us ultimately depends on our obedience. This has taken root in many churches across the world (unfortunately) under the heading of "Federal Vision Theology." It is amazing that the Reformed Confessions (both the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity) speak so clearly against this errant theology, but yet somehow they are tolerated even in so-called Reformed churches.

Teaching such as this takes away from the finished and completed work of Christ! Christ’s active obedience is our obedience and righteousness before God. Anybody that teaches or believes otherwise is diminishing the finished work of Christ and making our acceptance before God based, at least partly on our own work. Put simply, this is blasphemy!

Maybe you think that this is too strong. Really? Blasphemy? If you think that then listen to what The Belgic Confession says in article 22:

We believe that for us to acquire the true knowledge of this great mystery [what Christ has done for us] the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, and makes him its own, and no longer looks for anything apart from him. (Not even looking at ourselves.)

For it must necessarily follow that either all that is required for our salvation is not in Christ or, if all is in him, then he who has Christ by faith has his salvation entirely. (Its one or the other. Either completely not in Christ, or entirely in Christ)

Therefore, to say that Christ is not enough but that something else is needed as well is a most enormous blasphemy against God-- for it then would follow that Jesus Christ is only half a Savior.

This is serious! "A most enormous blasphemy against God." If this is misusing the name of God, then what does the commandment say? “… And the Lord will not hold him guiltless.” This blasphemy means that you will stand before God still clothed in your own filthy rags trying to impress him. God is not going to look on these blasphemers and see the perfect righteousness of Christ, but their own pitiful merits which the Heidelberg Catechism says in Q&A 114 “even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience.” The name of God and of his Christ is the basis of our salvation. Looking to anything or anybody else means that we are misusing the Name of God and breaking the Third Commandment.

I hope and pray that if you believe in teaching such as this that you will seriously consider the ramifications of holding that position. The Federal Vision is not just a benign, innocent interpretation of Scripture and the Reformed Confessions and the only difference is just a misunderstanding. This theology is breaking one of the Ten Commandments, and one of the commandments that speaks of God's just punishment for those who break it - "you will not be held guiltless." Not quite the position that one wants to be in when they are standing before God. I am thankful everyday that I am standing before God guiltless, not because of anything I have done, but because I have been clothed in the pure garments of Christ and that he is my righteousness before God.

Flights

Well, my calendar only has one more engagement scheduled and that is on October 25 at Emmanuel URC in Hanford, CA. We are going to drive up there for a little mini-road trip so at least for the time my flying around the country has come to a close. As I have mentioned before I really do enjoy flying, but flying someplace every week for five weeks was a little too much.

Since June of 2009, and including my vacation to Maine (flying into Providence, RI) I have flown a lot!! There is a web-site called Flight Aware that plots out the flights of pretty much any flight (at least in the US and Canada). These plots can be transferred over to Google Earth which also includes altitude data. So here are some images concerning the actual flights that I have taken this summer up to my flight home from Regina, SK, Canada. The only flight whose plot is missing is my flight from Regina to Calgary. For some reason the only part that got "recorded" was on approach just west of Calgary. Oh well.

Here is an overview of all the flights:


Here is an oblique view of the flights looking roughly north from San Diego:


Finally, here are all the approaches and landings out of and into San Diego. Obviously there are a few data points which have the altitude messed up so ignore those "triangles"!

The Tour Goes International!

This weekend marks stop number 4 in my tour of the Western Half of the North American continent. Michelle will be joining me as we go to Regina, Saskatchewan. We are both looking forward to getting away from the Southern California heat (which has cooled off quite a bit the last few days) and enjoying some fall weather (high 40s to mid 50s is forecasted). There is an independent Presbyterian church (long story) who is thinking about joining the URCNA, but is currently without a pastor. Therefore, myself and three other men (two of whom I know) have been asked and accepted the invitation to candidate there. It sounds like a great little church and I am excited to meet the people there and bring them God's Word for the next two Lord's Days.

My last two trips were wonderful as I was able to relax and fellowship with others on absolutely gorgeous days. Two weekends ago while I was in Loveland, CO I went hiking with four other guys. We hiked to Chiquita Peak (13,069') and had a great time. Then in the evening there was an open house for people of the congregation and I was able to meet some new faces. Last weekend in Lynden, WA I went to a high school football game on Friday evening, helped pour concrete on Saturday morning, went for a boat ride around Whatcom Lake, then had a BBQ outside and ate around a firepit. Both of those great Saturdays were followed up by the immense privledge of leading God's people in worship and bringing them God's word which is why I was flown out to those churches in the first place!

These past few weeks have been really busy, so I am looking forward to staying put for one whole week! If I am able I will update you with our happenings up north at some point next week.

An over-realized what?

Originally posted at the GHRBS Blog:

Martin Luther coined the terms "Theology of Glory" and "Theology of the Cross" after seeing in his own day (the mid 1500s) the church's striving to obtain things that were only promised of believers and the church once we enter into the glory of heaven. Luther pointed people to a "Theology of the Cross" which is the Biblical approach that pilgrims in this present evil, passing age are to understand our current situation awaiting the second advent of Christ.

Today, many people have gone back to a "Theology of Glory" as the recent post of Joel Osteen's new book points out. They expect God to bless them right now with blessings that really are only promised to us once we are in heaven. This is what is called an "over-realized eschatology." Let me explain. "Eschatology" is simply the study of the end times. Usually in popular theology this centers around the events that will take place when Christ comes again and when those particular events will happen. However, eschatology really encompases everything concerning not only Christ's return, but the eternity that comes after! It is in the New Heavens and the New Earth where we are going to be blessed by God beyond imagination. When one has an "over-realized eschatology" then they are pulling out of the future (so to speak) events and blessings and expecting them right now.

It is true that we live in a weird time in redemptive history, the kingdom of God has been inaugurated (with the coming of Christ), but it has not yet been consummated. Christians are living in a time of already and not-yet. We already do experience some of the blessings of God (we do have a realized eschatology!), but those blessings are centered around the church as the visible manifestation of the kingdom of God here on earth. These blessings include the Holy Spirit regenerating and empowering us, the Word and Sacrament creating and sustaining faith, and the providential care of God over all creation. But as Christians there is a not-yet element to our lives as well. We are pilgrims wandering through this age looking for that place where we can settle down, fully and finally. We live in bodies that sin, see decay, and fail us constantly. We aren't living in our permanent home, and times can be very tough for us here on earth (as Christ told us they would).

A Theology of Glory and an over-realized eschatology takes a Christian's eyes off of the cross of Christ and looks to one's own situation as the measure of what God has done and is doing for us. What if things go horribly wrong in your life? What if you loose your job and have to declare bankruptcy? If these things happen to you as a Christian with an overly-realized eschatology then you are going to determine that either your faith isn't strong enough or that God is not the all-powerful deity that you were led to believe. If it is the former then what despair you will be under as you try to constantly build your faith on a false foundation? If you determine the latter, then why wouldn't you go to Buddism, Islam, or atheism to try and obtain the life that you want?

An overly-realized eschatology can also lead one to expect that their complete sanctification will be a reality in this life. We will expect to conquer all sins in our life and stand before God holding out our own obtained sanctification as the grounds of our being justified and one of the elect. Being fully sanctified is not something we will ever be able to achieve here on earth in non-glorified mortal bodies. Every part of our being: body, mind, and soul is tainted with sin, and will be so until we die. When we are given glorified bodies on that great and final day, only then we will be fully sanctified.

Looking to the cross of Christ constantly in a Theology of the Cross keeps our faith properly grounded in the life and work of Christ. We realize that we cannot keep any of the commands of God, but we also realize that Christ has kept all the laws of God perfectly for us!. We thank God for his condescension to us in Word and Sacrament every Lord's Day and we long for that day when our faith will be made sight and the ordinary means of grace will be made obsolete. Let us remember that we do have "realized eschatology" but one that is grounded in the already and not-yet where we are not trying to pull heaven down to make an overly-realized eschatology in this present evil age.

The Polish Reformation

For a fanscinating (but largely forgotten) look at Poland's contribution to the 16th Century Protestant Reformation take a look at the first answer on the White Horse Inn Blog's "Five for Friday" post on Sept. 18. The following Q&As focus on more recent history which are great to read as well.

Keep Dr. Brycko and his colleagues in your prayers as they try to bring the Reformation back to Poland!

This just makes me angry

Repost from the Gig Harbor Reformed Bible Study blog

So Joel Osteen is coming out with a new book on November 3. The title of the book is It's Your Time, which considering the current economic depression a title like that is bound to sell millions. Obviously I am not angry with Joel for writing a book--he can write whatever he wants--but he cannot call this a "Christian" book. Why do I say that? Well, Joel is offering an excerpt from his book that contains an introduction and the first chapter. All in all this selection is 14 pages long and not once, NOT ONCE, does he pen the words "Jesus" or "Christ". How can you write a whole chapter of a book without mentioning the central character of our faith? This is just another sad case of American Evangelicalism reducing its message to nothing more than platitudes that narcissistic man can't get enough of.

Joel does talk a lot about "faith", but he never gives that faith an object. It is just generic faith, at least what I read here. Faith has to have an object and that object is Christ and all he accomplished. From what I can tell, faith for Joel is a belief in blessings from God, material and physical blessings right here and now. Sure we can trust in God to provide for our needs, but our faith is in Christ and Christ alone. What Joel is giving is what Martin Luther called a "Theology of Glory" instead of the proper "Theology of the Cross."

There is a lot more I could say, and I might use this popular form of Evangelicalism to springboard into the truth of the Bible concerning Christ and our redemption through him. In the mean time I want to point you to two resources that are invaluable in evaluating the theology of Joel Osteen. The first is a "Case Study" on Joel Osteen and the Glory Story which can be found here. This essay discusses the "Prosperity Gospel" and the need for a proper understanding of the Law of God especially as it relates to our sin. The second is a review of Joel's last book, Become a Better You, which gives a really great insight into the "theology" of Joel and how it works itself out. That great review can be found here. If you know people who are enamored with the message of Joel Osteen then please pass along these documents to them.

And so it begins...

This morning I sent in the bulletin information for the first church I will be visiting over the next five weeks, which means my travels across the West will commence shortly. I am really looking forward to the travel and also that Michelle will be traveling with me for two of the four trips, which will be really nice.

For those that are interested here is where I am going to be for the next five Lord's Days:

September
13 - Trinity URC, Walnut Creek, CA
20 - Calvary URC, Loveland, CO
27 - Lynden URC, Lynden, WA

October
4 & 11 - Grace Presbyterian Church, Regina, SK, Canada

So keep us in your prayers as we travel!