Sanam Doctrinam

In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth,
so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

James 1:18

Delivery rooms are remarkable places. During my daughter’s birth, it fascinated me to see the nurses in the delivery room providing the surgeon with different instruments. I have to confess that I didn’t look at much else besides the instruments, because I wasn’t sure how well I would do observing the procedure itself!

We might not have looked at things this way, but God has an instrument He unfailingly uses during spiritual rebirth. We discover it in James 1:18. There, James refers to it simply as the “word of truth.” James is clearly talking about God’s Word.

In what sense does God use His Word as the instrument of spiritual birth? To understand the answer to that question, we need to consider what happens when a person is spiritually reborn. The sequence of events that lead to this rebirth are detailed in Romans 10. There, in verses 12-14, the Apostle Paul asks a series of questions that explain how a person comes to the point of experiencing salvation and spiritual rebirth, thereby escaping the penalty of sin. There we read: “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

Paul describes the sequence in reverse order from the point of salvation. In order to be saved, Paul reasons, we must call upon the Lord’s name. In order to call upon the Lord’s name, we must believe in Christ. In order to believe in Christ, we must hear a message. And to hear a message, we must have a messenger that provides that message. If we’re at all curious about the nature of that message, we can discover it in Romans 10:17: “the word of Christ.” The word of Christ is that saving message about His Person and work—who He is and what He has done. When we believe this message and consequently call upon God for salvation, we experience spiritual rebirth.

Returning to the text under consideration, James 1:18, we discover the significance of the phrase, “word of truth.” The verse doesn’t refer to just any word and just any truth. It specifically references the true message about Almighty God who was made man, humbled Himself as a servant, died on a cross to secure our forgiveness, and then raised from the dead three days later. This is the word of truth. This is the message, when we believe it, by which God offers us rebirth.

James 1:18 informs our understanding not only of how we experience spiritual rebirth, but also how we help others to experience the same. James tells us that when we carry with us the word of truth, we are bringing the instrument into the delivery room, so to speak, that God uses to bring about rebirth to people.

If nothing else, we want to express gratitude to our Lord for His messenger: someone, somewhere who cared enough to share with us the word of truth. It’s a great privilege to know that we are spiritually reborn, but it’s all the more awe-inspiriting to know that this rebirth came through God’s Word—the message of His Son.

It might be worth adding that the Word by which we’re born is also the Word by which we grow. As we read, study, meditate, and apply God’s Word, the result is that we grow into strong, healthy, mature believers in Christ. To neglect God’s Word is to neglect our very means of spiritual development.

Maybe we can pause now for a moment on this Monday to thank our God for providing His good Word to us that not only gave us life, but that is the foundation of our growth.

Well, I’m sick and staying home from church this morning, so I had to find something to do with my time. I decided to write and express my own opinions about something, where I think the “evangelical” church needs to find some balance.

Let me begin by saying, I am speaking to churches who are trying to be Biblical, and I am not criticizing those who are trying to be Biblical. It is actually interesting that I write on this write after my previous blog. The issue is that of the whole idea of “family integration” as a model of the church. My problem is with those who say, “This is the Biblical way of doing church.” Now if by this someone means the church is made up of families, so we should try to gear the church as much as we can to families (where it is viable without forcing it) then I am in complete agreement. In fact this is what my “job” is at our fellowship. If, however; someone means to say that the family must be together during every meeting of the gathered body, at all times, I think there is no warrant for this position to be considered the only Biblical way.

It is like those people who say that “courting” is the Biblical model for “dating.” Show me where this is the consistent pattern of Scripture, and I’ll sign on. I can’t find it though. I like what Rick Holland of Grace Community Church says (and I am paraphrasing but), “Which model would you choose, having your servant go take your camels the local well, and wait around for the next girl who offers to water them and you servant? Or maybe you should have one of your girls go uncover the feet of her redeemer and lay at the foot of his bed.”

The same is true for those who try to apply Deuteronomy 6:4-9 to everything that the church is today. To take this passage and make a broad sweep and say this is intended for the church today, is taking it really far. It doesn’t take into account the cultural aspects of that day (something I can get into in future posts), and it also doesn’t take into account the whole counsel of God’s Word (Titus 2 for example.) In a general sense of “the whole counsel” the thing we don’t find is a certain “method” by which church should be done. We do find standards that should not be compromised (i.e. this is not license for seeker/emergent methodology.), but age segregation is neither lauded nor condemned in scripture. In fact an honest look into the context of that Old Testament day, would demand that we understand their was age segregation in education.

Indeed, if we are going to stick to a New Testament model of the church then, we would all be in sin, if that model could not be breached. What do I mean? They met in homes, not in buildings. Why? It was how they “did” church in those days. If we want to equate this with Biblical, rather than cultural, then as I said, we are all in trouble.

Now, I do think that the church has failed to support the family in recent years, and we do need to do something about that. I will speak to this in a future post.

It’s unmistakable that we are living in a time when we see trendiness in the Church. I just received a postcard from a friend, which they got in their mail, about a new church here in our area. One of the tag lines on the back of this card (something that was inevitably put there to grab your attention) was the phrase, “Even Jesus gets up to attend”, and another, “About God’s business no up in yours.”

Now I know tat t is not very tolerant of me to pick on these folks whose clear intention is to one up the last church…I mean reach the lost through a catchy post card with phrases that make the feel all warm and fuzzy, like church is not going to offend them. This church tries to put itself off as just a church that teaches the (well they never actually use the word Bible at all their website, I know, I know another thing to make people feel comfortable), well they just put themselves off as being very plain and simple, no agenda but to know God and make Him known (By the way it just feels better to capitalize the “G” in God, or so their website says.)

The problem is as you start digging a little into their website you find they have, as the best I can tell, charismatic roots! They also talk about how you should be able to do church without looking nuts.

Wait for it….

WHAT! O.k. even if you’re not completely charismatic, but the church who holds you “accountable” (to what standard I might add, since there is no doctrinal statement whatsoever to be found on your website) seems to be, how can you not look at what the charismatic movement has become in the last three decades and not consider that nuts? Furthermore the organization you are trying to get hooked up with is clearly charismatic with an “apostolic leadership” team! Again, have you not encountered the charismata of the last century?

How intolerant of me, I know. They are seeking to be something they can never be, not nuts. All the charismatic stuff aside, just the lack of any information about what they stand for makes them nuts to me. Just the two or three examples that I give from above make them seem like their nuts to me.

Have these people read their Bibles? How about 2 Timothy 4:3 or Galatians 5:11? Both of these verse describe the slippery slope these kinds of churches are on.

Just the sheer feigned cleverness/hipness is enough to make me vomit, I can’t imagine how God must feel.

If you look around in the meta, you notice one of our contributors has turned in his pen (or keyboard.) Yes, Jeff Miller, has given up the blogging ghost and seems to be busy with church work or something. So we say a fond farewell, to our good friend.

Feel free to stop by anytime com padre, you are always welcome here. We’ll try to keep the theological coffee pot warm for you (I really don’t even know what that means.)

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk 2:14

What happened to the Monday Musings? The Monday Muser got a bit off track with the Christmas and New Year excitement, and then with the ensuing “catch up” afterwards. Hopefully I will be consistently back at it, for better or for worse.

I hope that Monday Musings proves an encouragement to some of you who receive it. I started doing Monday Musings to try to improve my writing skills and, while I’m not sure that this has happened, I do enjoy thinking through short passages of Scripture and sharing any insights I may have with others. So, thanks for enduring with me.

Changing the subject abruptly, may I ask if you have ever been through a flood? I grew up on a hill. I never feared floods. Tornadoes maybe, but never floods. The fact that I never experienced a flood in our home doesn’t mean I never experienced one. I remember a trip my family took into the back country of Missouri. We had a 1979 Dodge Omni. The place we were going was squirreled away in the deepest reaches of the woods. It had rained throughout the day and the creeks that crisscrossed the dirt road we traveled were swollen. We forded a few of these cautiously and then came to one that made us a little more uncertain. Having traveled that far, we figured we might as well continue our journey. Midway across what we thought was a relatively shallow stream, the car stopped moving. Water started pouring across the floorboards and the car began to rock from the force of the water beating against the side of the car. Thankfully, some men with a pickup truck with an electric winch came to our rescue.

As scary as floods can be, today I’d like to direct our attention to a good type of flood. The prophet Habakkuk speaks of this type of flood in the second chapter of the book that bears his name. The flood the prophet mentions is not one of rising water but of knowledge of God.

God is providing a future picture of the judgment that Babylon will receive as Israel’s enemy. On the heels of this judgment, God promises that the people of the world will gain a close acquaintance with their Creator. This event clearly falls in the 1,000 year long epoch of time in which Jesus Christ, seated on David’s throne, will directly administer His kingdom on earth (Revelation 20:1-6).

At this future time, there will be no lack of familiarity with God. Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ will be visibly, personally present on earth again during this time. People the world over will be intimately familiar with God’s character and ways. They will know what He requires. They will be certain of what He has done for them.

The reality for us, however, is that we are not there yet. This future flood has not appeared on the earth. Right now, if anything, we’re in the midst of a drought of the knowledge of the glory of God—the fullness of who He is.

What do we do in the time before this coming flood? May I humbly suggest that we are called to be waterers in the midst of the current drought.

Being a waterer means spreading the knowledge of God. It means pouring out to others who God is, His ways, His purposes, His requirements. If we don’t water, it’s difficult to imagine who possibly will. A person without water, can’t water. If we have believed in Christ and have grown in our understanding of His Word to any degree, we have become water carriers, by default.

People in our world today have a great host of fallacious ideas about God, ideas grossly divergent from the way His Word depicts Him. People delight in seeing God, for example, as nothing more than a benign, benevolent grandfather who calls no one to account, who requires nothing, and has no expectations. Worse, some see God as a cosmic Santa Claus who is obligated to dispense material goodies to anyone who asks. We’re called to water people with the knowledge of the glory of our God. We’re called to tell others in sensitive, thoughtful ways that God requires that everyone believe in His Son because until they do, His wrath remains on them (John 3:36). What’s more, we’re called to water those who’ve already believed with the realities of who God is and what He commands His children to do.

The flood is coming, but it’s not here, yet. We’re living in an extended drought. We’ve got the water. Let’s get to pouring.