Category: The Church

End times: Why it matters & Why I’m a ‘dispensationalist

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Our view of death determines our view of life. Biblical teachings on end times, known as eschatology, is essentially a Christian view of death. The recent trends to avoid or downplay this teaching is unhealthy. Over emphasizing the doctrine is also unhealthy. In the push away from end times I’m often asked why I am a Dispensationalist. My reply is I’m a little ‘d’ not a big ‘D’ because I don’t emphasize the doctrine or focus on the current possible details. The short answer: in studying scripture, it’s what I see it teaching. I submit we should not shy away from end times.

It’s taught in scripture
Avoiding the end times parts of the Bible is to miss significant teachings of Scripture. In Matthew 16, Jesus chides the religious leaders for being able to determine the weather but were clueless on “the signs of the times.” Paul taught on the rapture, whatever view you take on it, to a baby church plant. He then wrote twice to that baby church to clarify end times teaching. The book of a Revelation is all about end times. The Bible does give us a framework and does teach on the end times. It does not give us a specific time table and tells us to not worry about timing (Acts 1:7).

It’s a matter of encouragement and perspective
The rapture and Revelation give us both encouragement and perspective. These essentials are lost if we avoid the end times. The rapture is meant to encourage us when a saint dies. (A strong argument for pre-tribulational rapture.) We don’t mourn as others do because death is a temporary state. The end times give us the needed perspective so we can practice blessing people instead of returning evil for evil. A HUGE part of end times is God balancing the scales of justice of a world filled with injustice. How can I bless those who persecute me when a I’m faced with injustice? The end times gives us the perspective of why.

It’s a matter of God’s character
I’m a Dispensationalist because I think Israel means Israel in the Bible. As Hosea illustrates, God will go after and redeem national Israel as Hosea redeemed his wife from prostitution. I’d submit that spiritualizing Israel in the New Testament makes the Bible ludicrous. Why? What assurance of salvation do we have if God wrote off Israel? This is the issue Romans 9-11 addresses. Further, Paul makes a clear distinction between national Israel and Gentiles in Romans 11. God’s treatment of Israel gives confidence in His treatment of us and the church. God is the God of second chances, of grace, and He keeps His Word.

It’s a matter of our character
Paul’s states in Romans 11 that we should be careful as God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare us. Much rejection of Dispensationalsim is arrogance of the grafted in branches. End times keeps us humble before God. For sure humans tend toward arrogance. Churches often become arrogant as well. In Acts 1:7 Jesus didn’t say there is no kingdoms of Israel, he said the timeline was none of our business. In Revelation Israel is specifically mentioned as well as mentions of various nations. End times is a check on our character.

It’s a matter of faith
Hebrews 11 has an end times perspective. It is true that the big issue in theology is a matter of interpretation, but not all views are valid. I believe in the plain interpretation of the Bible, meaning what the author intends to communicate is the meaning. All other viewpoints have no true bearing in how to interpret Scripture. There is a pattern of literal fulfillment of prophecy throughout Scripture. Spiritualizing prophecy yet unfulfilled is to play hermeneutical voodoo. While God is mysterious and did not give us all the answers, He is predictable in that he keeps His word with an uncanny literalness.

The bottom line:
Avoiding the end times is to lose much needed perspective and clarity for godly living. While I do not major on a time line of future events, there is a framework given to us for the purpose of encouragement and perspective. Key to all this is that God is not done with national Israel, just like he’s not done with you or me. His grace, mercy and justice are evident in end times teachings of Scripture. Be carefully balanced, but do not avoid this essential doctrine of Scripture.

Side note:
Much of the antagonism towards dispensational thought started with Augustine who was anti-chiliasm (premailinalsim). While Calvin moderated (somewhat) on the matter, the antagonism towards pre-millennial viewpoints endured. As people act based in what they believe, much anti-semitism came from a non-dispensational viewpoint.

My Guide to become a recovering fundamentalist: Q&A

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Why the series? Are you anti, pro or neutral to fundamentalism?
There are three big reasons why:
1) Fundamentalism became a strawman argument. So, people can attack ‘fundies’ and gain some quick accolades. Strawman arguments are bad and it’s better to address real heart issues instead. Not all fundamentalist churches are cults or legalistic.

2) Many have been spiritually abused and crushed in fundamentalist circles. Some want to leave the baggage but retain what is good. By addressing heart issues we can sift what’s truth vs human error. I’m finding doctrine isn’t the real issue for people leaving fundamentalist, it’s the actions of some fundamentalists.

3) Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Many in my generation take an unbiblical attack dog stance against fundamentalists and then anyone who acts or smells like one. I wanted a balanced critique and not a tribunal.

I’m pro-gospel and pro-bible. May sound like a cop-out, but I don’t think we should get stuck on words too much.

Will this series be just a critique?
No! I’ll be focusing in three big benefits to fundamentalism just as I focused on three big heart issues.

Is the movement essentially dead?
Yes & no. It’s a recurring movement. Pharisees, monastic movement are two examples of separatist movements. There is a cycle to history that repeats. The break that occurred in the emerging church was along the similar lines as the liberal/fundamentalist controversy in the early 20th century. I think the essence of the movement will continue. I do think our culture tends toward being shallow so the name will die out, as will organizations, but new names and networks will emerge.

You often use act vs react, why is that?
Reactionary movements, what fundamentalism essentially was, are inherently unstable. Acting is far more difficult than reacting. Acting vs reacting is my attempt at articulating God’s instructions to Joshua to follow His Word not turning to the left or the right.

Are you a fundamentalist?
I’m a recovering fundamentalist. I don’t use the word because of the baggage associated with it… What I find is living biblically is the hardest and most elusive stance to take. So I’ve been accused of being ‘fundy’ and being ‘liberal.’ The label isn’t important, walking by faith and being biblical is.

Are you against labels then?
Everyone is for labels. The anti-labels gig is disingenuous, I think. Example: remove all labels from canned goods and then go grocery shopping. Adam labeled things. So did Jesus and Paul. Rather than being anti-labels let’s focus on the issue of being gracious and loving and civil and listening. I sense that’s what the anti-labels gig is going for.

Are you a creationist?
I believe that if you lose the resurrection you lose creationism and not the other way around. Jesus is the best proof and validity for creationism. I do think creationism is a secondary or tertiary doctrinal issue, not primary or a fundamental of the faith.

Dispensational?
I’m little ‘d’ as opposed to big ‘D’… I think the essentials of plain interpretation of the Bible, distinction between Israel and the church, and the Bible is about God’s glory is core. Too often dispensationalists get stuck on a timeline and details rather than the major emphasis of the Bible. We should heed Jesus words that “it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Eschatology is important as our view of death determines how we live. So, those who argue against any focus on studying the end times are off as well. It’s a hard balance.

Baptist?
I’m baptistic. While baptists probably wouldn’t say it this way, they focus on three big areas: Biblical authority (the Bible is the basis for our faith and actions, Individual soul liberty (a person is left to their own choice to believe and should not be coerced into believing) and Priesthood of the believer (in Christ we have direct access to God). These are core themes in the Bible and other baptist attributes stem from those three. I think the label is often, not always, a hinderance based on behavior of baptists and not it’s doctrine per se.

My guide to become a recovering fundamentalist: Separation or discernment?

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“You have no business promoting public schools!”
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” St. Paul

First, separation is a command
The Bible teaches separation. There is no avoiding that in Scripture. Our associations, friendships, business partners, ministry partners have to be viewed through a lens of separation. I often hear from those chucking church or fundamentalism that “separation is wrong.” Oddly, they then “separate” from fundamentalists. The issue is whether separation is a core doctrine or a matter of wise discernment. I take it to be discernment.

Separation as objective idolatry
For some fundamentalists separation is a core tenet of the faith. Not always by articulation, but often by practice. This unbalanced view of separation leads this idea of a particular articulation of theology and/or method of doing ministry as being pure. Others as to be critiqued and questioned. Theological correctness becomes more like a God and not the God of correct theology.

Theological separation isn’t dead
In reading about the emerging church split that evolved into “missional” and “emergent” circles, the lines of separation were similar to the liberal/fundamentalist controversy of the early 20th century. If people are going to deny the Gospel, there is an obvious line and clear expectation for separating. There are times when discerning whether to separate or not is blatantly clear.

In the world
Jesus in his priestly prayer talks about how we’re to be in the world and not of it. The great commission sends us into the world. The Gospel and the church are culturally neutral and able to contextualize the Gospel in a way that doesn’t violate Scripture or the Gospel. Still, in North America the issue of proclaiming the Gospel in a way that our culture understands gets clouded by an unbalanced view of separation. An unbalanced view of separation is a fortress mentality, not a discernment one.

Fear of man
An unbalanced view of separation focuses on one’s self and not God. Yes God is all holy and to be honored. But we shouldn’t neglect grace to fulfill the command of separation. A hard focus on separation creates an environment of distrust, is poisons grace and it often leads to an unloving culture. I often observe that it seems more about gaining approval of certain men the focusing on what God. We all love the pats on the back for standing firm in the faith by our peers or congregants. Jesus was called a friend of sinners- not always as a compliment.

The public school
I remember an intentional “you’re not going to be invited back” conversation based on a comment I made in a workshop. “The easiest place to live a dynamic Christian life is the Public School. There you have no choice, you’re either on fire or a hypocrite.” Apparently, I violated the doctrine separation by that statement. After being instructed on separation, I was then told that nothing good comes from public schools, broken homes, etc. A good christian has no place in a public school.

By God’s grace, I was able to start a Bible study, hold a regular morning prayer meeting and witness in my public school. I remember conversations about respecting parents, not having an abortion, being a servant and others. I remember people accepting Christ and being affirmed in the faith. I came form a broken home, and again by God’s grace, I’m a minister of the Gospel pointing people to Jesus. This explanation wasn’t good enough.

The bottom line:
An unbalanced view of separation distracts from the mission of making followers of Jesus. It violates love as described in 1 Corinthians 13. It pulls us away from the world. Separation is a command in Scripture to be obeyed through wise discernment. It’s not a command to build a fortress and hide until the rapture. Don’t react out of a fear of man or protectionist ideology. Act out of wisdom, applying the Scriptures to each situation.

My guide to become a recovering fundamentalist: Legalism

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“As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” ~St. Paul

Legalism as the issue
There is a bit of legalism in everyone. As we look at the concept of becoming a recovering fundamentalist it’s important to focus on heart issues and not a strawman. Legalism is a major heart issue to overcome. Often people who flee traditional legalistic churches swing to progressive legalistic churches. It’s the same heart issue, just a different “standard” of what being spiritual looks like. So, be careful and don’t thank God that “you’re not a legalist like those people over there.”

Control
Legalism lacks faith and is really about control. There is a strong desire for us to want to merit Grace. We simply need to trust Jesus. God already showed His love towards us. Apart from Jesus, anything good we do is rubbish. Without faith it’s impossible to please God. We desire legalism because we desire control. Sometimes we even call things legalistic that aren’t because we hate to submit and desire to control. You and I are control freaks. Faith means placing trust in and submitting to God. It means He’s in control and not us.

Gospel plus nothing
Legalism is adding to the Gospel to be saved or sanctified. It’s a false Gospel. The Bible clearly teaches it’s the Gospel plus nothing equals salvation and sanctification. Simply, the Gospel is the “life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Act by placing faith in God. Don’t react by trying to control, you and I are lousy at being God.

I missed the boat
When we think of heresy we think of denying Scripture, the cross, miracles, etc. Legalism is right up there with that list. I often viewed legalism as an issue to be addressed, and not a false gospel to be condemned. Look up what accursed means and you’ll see my point. Paul’s quote above is in the context of dealing with legalism. Fundamentalism would be viewed differently if the movement vehemently stood against legalism as other false Gospels.

Semantics
To avoid the accusation of legalism people often try to hide it using various terms. Rules, standards, being missional, oh my. Let’s be honest and call it for what it is, it’s legalism. Even the touch of “we do this to honor God” sugar coats the idea. Legalism springs to judgement of one’s spirituality based on a set of rules. It creates a putrid environment whereby people look to please people instead of focusing on pleasing God. If the “standard” is a mark of spirituality it’s legalism.

Two examples
Legalism is: I visited a church where everyone (infants included) was in a suit or dress. I was one of the few (the only in the coming conversation) not in a suit. As a person was striking up a friendly conversation the tone shifted dramatically when I said I was a pastor. This wasn’t a fluke as the conversation happened numerous times. The eye glares were interesting to say the least. I was wearing a white polo shirt and khaki’s (a friend of mine calls them baptist pants) and brown dress shoes. The temperature was in the upper 80’s. I was on vacation.
Legalism isn’t: Doing open air evangelism in New York city we were told to dress and carry ourselves a certain way, no exceptions. This was a mater of safety and also respect for the cultures we were trying to reach. Do I have the freedom in Christ to wear want I want? Yes. I also have the freedom to give up that right to best meet the spiritual needs of those I’m trying to reach. Standards of conduct do not equal legalism.

Methods and programs
Often legalism set’s itself up in the form of a method or program. We think that a certain way of doing ministry will make us more spiritual or God honoring. We get so tied down with performing a certain way that we look down at (really we’re judging) others for how they do ministry. I’m not anti-program or anti-methodology. Our faith, prayer and theology should come before our programs and methodologies. We should act in faith & the power of the Spirit.

The bottom line:
Legalism is a false sense of control. It’s heart issue we all struggle with and a false Gospel of grace by works. Legalism is one of the great heresies of our day. Act in faith instead of reacting by trying to control. God already loves you. In Christ your salvation is secure. Rules do not mean legalism, but can easily become such.

On Humility: My guide to become a recovering fundamentalist Part 3

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“You should read my book, ‘Humility and how I achieved it.’” ~Unknown
“Every side has it’s ‘fundamentalists’.” ~Joe M.

Admit it
You’re arrogant. We all struggle with pride. Arrogance isn’t exclusive to any movement. This is why it’s best to deal with heart issues; not create a strawman. For example, I interacted with two churches that made this statement:

“They’re not [blank] because they’re wearing [blank]. It’s important to [blank] to [do what God wants].”

One church was a hysterical fundamentalist church. The other was a progressive outreach oriented church. Both had the same heart problem and both make a good point. Name the issue and its most likely there is arrogance on both sides.

Humility modeled: Dr. Arp
“Right now, this is what I believe what the text is saying,” said Dr. Arp. My tongue dropped to the floor. I’m in seminary, the professor is to be the grand know all guru of all things Bible. Dr. Arp amazed me by his humility. He was a student of the Word. (And a really hard grader!) More than anything he discipled me to approach the Scriptures with humility and to listen. Confidence and humility are not exclusive.

Humility modeled: John Calvin
I read Calvin’s Institutes of Theology. I wanted to see if I was truly a “Calvinist” or not (a discussion for another day). I was amazed by the humility and grace Calvin projected in his writings. He demonstrated confidence in what he said, but also grace and approachability. Those who debate “Calvinism” could learn a lot from Calvin’s humility.

Humility prescribed: St. Peter
Peter had what I like to call “foot in mouth disease.” Ambitious or spirited people often struggle with that. He says this in 1 Peter 5: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” It’s in the context of shepherding the church. This attitude stands out as I see Peter struggling with this area.

Jesus
Jesus didn’t stand out in a crowd. He didn’t come into the world with much fanfare. As much as we bash religious leadership of his day, He did interact with them and some came to believe in Him. Jesus was a man’s man, and Jesus was fully God. Jesus dealt with and pointed to heart issues. There was times He was stern, and times he was very approachable. Our task is to be like Jesus. Without humility, we wont’ get very far.

The bottom line:
To become a recovering fundamentalist you need to be humble. Act with humility and grace instead of reacting to a strawman out of arrogance and vindictiveness. We all struggle with pride and arrogance. No movement claims a monopoly on this. Listen, be approachable, and seek to be like Jesus.

We the people. We the problem.

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If you want rock star status. If you want accolades. In Christianity you only need to throw “religion” under the bus, or its close cousin fundamentalism. (Ironically, I’ll be posting about fundamentalism this week.) We love to bash religion. Sometimes we couch this as arguing against “false” religion. Sigh. We need to stop it.

Strawmen…
Today’s favorite mode of discourse is the strawman. We hide, we couch, we equate, we consensus build, we allude. We don’t call things for what they are. Doing such is often viewed as mean or unloving. More to the point, we’re afraid we may be called worse than religious we’d be called fundamentalist. What do we do? We couch a real issue of right & wrong under a word and we attack that vague concept. How nobel of us.

Jesus…
We love Jesus because the love word is attached to him. I’m reminded of what a professor once said: “People say Jesus is a loving lamb, but one day they will be surprised when the lamb roars.” Jesus called out what was right and what was wrong. He did it graciously, with humor, and at times direct and in your face. Jesus, and John (remember that guy who’s task was to get people ready for Jesus) called people to repent. Jesus pointed, exhorted, taught and pleaded with people to connect with God the Father.

Church…
Jesus loves the church. Jesus died for the church. Jesus’ bride is the church. There are legalistic churches that need to repent, doctrinally inept churches that need to repent, non serving churches that need to repent, etc. We need to remember, Jesus loves the church. Our tone in critiquing the church or local churches could use refinement. Every church has issues. It’s time to spur one another on to good deeds, and let the Holy Spirit be the Holy Spirit.

We the people…
Religion isn’t the problem. We the people are the problem. Religion is made of people like you and I. Now comes the fun topic: Friends, we are depraved. Apart from grace and the Spirit’s work in our lives, we’re in trouble. Am I saying there is a lack of grace and a lack of leaning on the Spirit today? Yes. Religion started no war, people did. Blaming religion is like blaming guns for killing people. Both are only as good as the people behind them.

The bottom line:
Promote Jesus. Bashing religion may seem authentic and mainstream, it isn’t. We’re lost and apart from Jesus we’ll remain lost. People act based on what they believe. What we have is a theology problem not a religion problem. Rather than inauthentic apologizing or religion bashing, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

How long would you wait?

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14 years is a long time. I can’t imagine being told I was to do something and then have to wait 14 years to make it happen. Paul waited 14 years or more before he engaged in aggressive evangelism. I define aggressive evangelism as church planting. No doubt Paul was sharing the good news and establishing himself. But 14 years is a long time.

Paul was well trained, he was smart, he was one fine-looking Jew. He waited. Out of the gate he could defined the Gospel and his teacher was Jesus Himself. He still waited. Paul likely started his church planting efforts as an old man.

So, why bring this up? Too often we’re impatient. Here is the take away:

1) Paul remained faithful and continued to pursue doing ministry where he was at.

2) Being established does mean something in a church. There is often a gap between being called and serving, and the gap is important.

3) Humility is a key theme in Paul’s writings. It’s possible it was a key thing God was working on before sending Paul.

4) Even after a long wait, God did some incredible things through Paul in God’s timing.

Ministry is a marathon. Don’t be afraid of a gap in time. Be faithful and God in His timing will send you on mission.

One more thing… Just cause you’re nearing “retirement age” doesn’t mean God is done with you!

A quote on a dynamic church…

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A friend sent this quote by Chuck Colson to me. It got me thinking and its something we should ponder:

“I miss traveling abroad.  I always returned home from visiting out partners in Third World nations invigorated, revived, and encouraged.  I would often find more exciting, growing, church vitality in places like Sri Lanka or Papua New Guinea or Peru than in comfortable churches at home.

In many nations, the church is a tiny, embattled minority – and it has no superstars. So when the church wants to evangelize, for example it can’t depend on a celebrity or bring in Billy Graham for a crusade. The people do the work themselves. Which means the church functions as the church, not a bunch of observers watching someone else perform.

When we sit passively in our pews, paying some charismatic leader to entertain us and other staff people to do ministry, we do much more than miss the living dynamic of how Jesus intends His church to work in the world.  When we mimic the culture around us with our pedestal complex, we offend a holy, all powerful  God, the most grievous consequence of all.

Of course we should respect those who are invested with spiritual authority.  That’s biblical.  But there’s a difference between respect and adulation. With the latter, we are always in danger of stepping over the line giving glory to man rather than God.

It’s easy to see how the world’s fascination with fame has snuck into our tents  and sapped our effectiveness. Yet this attitude runs absolutely contrary to that which Christ modeled when He, the King of the universe, came to live among us as a suffering servant.”

P. 334-335  Being the Body by Chuck Colson.

One another…

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In eternity past God started time when He spoke the world into existence. As His crowning achievement He created mankind-in community- male and female He created them; in His image He created them.

Mankind fell into sin and so the epic struggle against depravity began. But in Genesis three there was prophecy by God of a future savior. Mankind continued to rebel against God. Cain killed Abel, and human government was established. But man, becoming vastly wicked and needed to be wiped out. So came the Flood. God was gracious, he allowed man to continue through Noah. Man, even after the flood, again rebelled against God by not going out, but instead built the tower of Babel.

God in His sovereignty chooses a man, Abrahm. And it was to be through this man that all nations would be blessed. This man’s family grew and ended up, again through God’s providence, in Egypt. While continuing to grow, God’s chosen people underwent bondage. God redeemed them and the nation of Israel was born, and God was to be their king.  It was through Israel that all the world was to know God., YHWH, the I AM.

Israel rebelled against God. And God, according to his character and justice, punished Israel and sent them off to captivity- but not without comfort or promise. There would one day be a Messiah. There would one day be a new covenant where Israel would be fully restored and the problem of sin resolved.

The Messiah did come to restore Israel, but Israel rejected him. Not only did they reject him, but they crucified him. “And I delivered unto as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” Appearing to peter, the twelve and more than 500 hundred at one time. Christ conquered sin and death. But Christ did not remain here on Earth.

When the disciples asked Christ if now was the time to restore the kingdom of Israel, Christ said it was not for them to know “But you will be my witnesses.” The twelve disciples served as witnesses and the foundation of the church, something once hidden but now revealed. The church was born.  A growing community of devoted followers of Christ. The success of the disciples is evident, the church is still growing.

When God saved us through His son and sealed us with His Spirit, He placed us into the church, a community of believers. Christ’s work binds us together and it binds us together for service.

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Paul talks about it, James talks about it, Peter talks about it, John talks about it, our savior talked about it and lived it. God is concerned about how we interact and minister each each another. It is a responsibility that Everybody has. Church is not the same or complete with out you involved.

Ephesians 4:15-16 “but speaking the truth in love we will grow up into all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted together by what every join supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the whole body for the building up of itself in love.”

It is the work of Christ that binds us together. It is the one another’s of scripture that give us responsibility to each another and it is the growth of us as a community that God has us here. Study the one another’s of Scripture. The health and growth of the community is essential to spreading the Gospel.