Looking Upward

The reason why the men of the world think so little of Christ is that they do not look at Him; their backs being turned to the sun, they can see only their own shadows, and are therefore wholly taken up with themselves; while the true disciple, looking only upward, sees nothing but his Saviour and learns to forget himself.

Edward Payson, cited by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ: An Exposition of Ephesians 3, p.244

Reasons Christ Died

He died not only that we might be forgiven; He died to make us good.  He died not only that our sins might be blotted out, but also that we might be given a new birth; not merely to save us from punishment, but also that we might be made children of God, sons of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.  Such is His purpose for us, and all He did had that end in view.  Furthermore, having given us this new birth, this new principle of life, He causes to dwell in us the same Holy Spirit that was in Himself.  "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him," we are told (John 3:34).  He gives the same Spirit by measure to us.  That is the height of His love to us.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ: An Exposition of Ephesians 3, p.227

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

Many unbelievers will attack Christianity by demonstrating the horrors perpetrated in the name of Christ; one of these horrors is the Inquisition.  They will often say hundreds of thousands, or even millions were kill by Christians.  Of course you must first explain that was instigated by the Roman Catholic Church, which was not operating in accordance with the teachings of Christ.  Then you might want to refer them to this article which gives the real estimate of those tortured and/or killed in the Inquisition, and ask them to stop exaggerating.

An example of the rank heresy taught by Rome is the recent “Mass of Reparation” in the Philippines.  Ex-Catholic Mike Gendron had this response to this (in e-mail newsletter):

“This grieves my heart to see the spiritual blindness of so many devout Roman Catholics. Clearly, the prince of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers from the light of the Gospel and the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). Only when they turn from the worship of a false Christ to the true Christ of the Bible will the veil of blindness be removed (2 Cor. 3:15-16)”

I really don’t understand the Roman Catholic Church.  This is an organization which claims to have the “vicar of Christ” as their leader who obeys all of Christ’s teachings.  And yet the Vatican hosted a feminist conference featuring a professor who compares their Mass to homosexual behavior!

I came across a new site which I’m following:  Entreating Favor.  An interesting post was about Jefferson Bethke, someone I hadn’t heard of but is apparently quite a “Christian celebrity.”  It seems he endorsed and spoke approvingly of “Macklemore,” who is a “rapper” who disdains Christianity.  Says he “loves” him.  So why would a Christian give accolades to someone who mocks Christ?  And when someone rebuked him for doing so, Bethke blocked them!  So there’s another name to put on your “do not follow or buy books by” list.

Another good post by Entreating Favor showed how God’s purpose can still be served with false teachers — there are names of false teachers named!

Hat tip to Erin Benziger for the next two items:

Andy Stanley is on the fast shuttle to apostasy; he doesn’t seem to care if you become a Christian, so long as you live a better life [link gone by 3/6/36] by following his teachings.  24 Emmaus Road gives some “Final Thoughts” on Stanley’s new series.

Word of Faith heretic Christine Caine has a “profound” statement demonstrating her false teachings.

The New York Fire Department has sworn in its first woman chaplain — a lesbian.  First, she’s not qualified to be a chaplain by virtue of not being a man, and secondly she is not qualified BECAUSE she is a lesbian.  God will not give credence to those claiming to be spiritual leaders while the are in direct and abject rebellion against Him.  I have a difficult time believing that any true Christian in that fire department would seek her counsel for anything.  But of course, the NYFD was only seeking “diversity.”

There are so very many items of apostasy and heresy in the Church at large, no one can keep up with it all — and it will only continue to get worse!

"Ordinary" Should Be Enough

A dangerous consequence of the spread and influence of megachurches and media ministries is that many Christians now evaluate their churches and ministries based on all the wrong things.  They want the extraordinary.  They expect non-stop excitement, amazing growth, cutting-edge programs and novel techniques.  Faithful proclamation of Scripture in the pulpit, a godly congregation that faithfully worships together and pursues sanctification under leadership – all that smacks of the ordinary.  And ordinary just isn’t enough.  Evangelicalism has cultivated an adolescent appetite and expectation for an emotionally fulfilling, ever-expanding, earth-shattering church experience that ordinary just can’t compete with.

Cited from a letter from John MacArthur’s ministry, related to “The Ordinary Church,” a sermon MacArthur preached.

Gift of Tongues?

The current interest in tongues stems from a longing for genuine religious expression in the midst of a secularized society.  People long for an authentic relationship with God, but they are not as interested in knowing God in truth.  If spiritual maturity can be attained by attending emotionally charged meetings and receiving instantaneous supernatural experiences that deliver spirituality, why labor at the hard work of Scripture study, memorization, prayer, and walking by the Spirit?  The charismatic movement has offered a shortcut to godliness.  That this shortcut leads to a dead end is often not recognized until one has faced disillusionment.  But then many have lost their way and have no scriptural compass to guide them safely back to the truth.

Gary E. Gilley, "Ambassadors of the Sensational: The Doctrinal Distinctives of the Charismatic Movement," The Quarterly Journal, April-June 2015 (Personal Freedom Outreach)

Worldliness

“If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15).

Worldliness is not so much a matter of activity as of attitude.  It is possible for a Christian to stay away from questionable amusements and doubtful places and still love the world, for worldliness is a matter of the heart.  To the extent that a Christian loves the world system and the things in it, he does not love the Father.

Worldliness not only affects your response to the love of God; it also affects your response to the will of God.  “The world passeth away . . . but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (2:17).

Doing the will of God is a joy for those living in the love of God.  “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”  But when a believer loses his enjoyment of the Father’s love, he finds it hard to obey the Father’s will.

When you put these two factors together, you have a practical definition of worldliness: anything in a Christian’s life that causes him to lose his enjoyment of the Father’s love or his desire to do the Father’s will is worldly and must be avoided.  Responding to the Father’s love (your personal devotional life), and doing the Father’s will (your daily conduct) — these are two tests of worldliness.

Be Real - 1 John, by Warren W. Wiersbe, p.68-69

What Is Your Motive?

The real motive for living the holy life should be that it pleases God, and that sin is displeasing to Him.  I must not set up my own little standard of holiness and rectitude and my little moral code, and pride myself that I am a man who always keeps his word and lives up to his own code and standard.  That is ultimately unChristian.  The world acts frequently from such a motive.  The only true motive for holy living is that it grieves God and offends Him when I am not holy.  My desire must be to please Him; not simply to obey the divine law, but to give joy to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ.  That should be the motive in all our actions and activities.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ: An Exposition of Ephesians 3, p.189

"None of Self, and All of Thee

O bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be,
When I let the Saviour's pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered:
"All of self, and none of Thee!"

Yet He found me: I beheld him
Bleeding on the accursed tree, 
Heard Him pray: "Forgive them, Father!"
And my wistful heart said faintly:
"Some of self, and some of Thee!"

Day by day, His tender mercy, 
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong, and ah! so patient,
Brought me lower, while I whispered:
"Less of self, and more of Thee!"

Higher than the highest heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered;
Grant me now my supplication:
"None of self, and all of Thee!"

Theodore Monod

O Jesus Christ, Grow Thou In Me

O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me,
And all things else recede;
My heart is daily nearer Thee
From sin be daily freed.

Each day let Thy supporting might
My weakness still embrace;
My darkness vanish in Thy light,
Thy life my death efface.

More of Thy glory let me see,
Thou Holy, Wise, and True!
I would Thy living image be,
In joy and sorrow too.

Make this poor self grow less and less,
Be Thou my life and aim;
Oh, make me daily, through Thy grace,
More meet to bear The Name!

Johann Caspar Lavater,

A Leadership Which Lacks Discernment

A few months ago I wrote about “worship pastors” and the problem I see with them in the Church in general, and I explained how our assembly decided to hire one of these guys even though we had a wonderful, mature song leader.  A few days later I wrote an article about the upcoming service being noted on Facebook as going to be having a new song for us to learn -  right from Hillsong and vacuous as it could be.  That Sunday there was a notice in the bulletin from this new “pastor” requesting input, so I responded and sent an email expressing my concern with focusing on one demographic, and using songs from aberrant groups like Hillsong and Vineyard because all it did was give them credence.  I essentially pasted in my article in regards to some of the songs we have used from these groups so as to demonstrate the false teachings in many of them.  His response was basically that there is no “perfect” song.

Well, it appears I wasted my time, because he just used the songs I exposed with bad teachings, and he keeps bringing in more.

In October we sang Chris Tomlin’s My Chains Are Gone, and a few weeks later we sang Grace Like Rain, but we never sing Amazing Grace any more.  So I e-mailed this “pastor” and our lead pastor and asked if we could go back now and then to Amazing Grace, and explained the same thing which I wrote about Tomlin’s song in this post, while also pointing out that Grace Like Rain was an even worse version with a dirge-like melody and the nonsensical phrase, “grace like rain falls down.”  I stated we were going down the wrong road trying to appeal to one demographic.  The response was that, no, they are not trying to appeal to one demographic and everyone has different opinions of music.  Period.

By the end of November my wife and I were only attending every other week as we looked at other places for worship.  Whenever we did attend, we continued with lots of his favorites, horrible rock/country type beats, changing melodies of old hymns, changes lyrics of some other old gyms, and used more and more “contemporary” junk-food songs.  (A friend gave me updates for the weeks we didn’t attend.)  The “worship” periods are mostly opportunities for this “pastor” to perform, and he has been joined on the “stage” by a woman who accompanies him vocally and an elder who has joined him with an electric guitar and acts like part of a rock band.

February 8th our “worship pastor” decided to teach us a new song, Your Great Name.  The lyrics were so poor that I wrote a blog article about it.  Then I e-mailed this “pastor” with questions about examining the lyrics for the poor theology.  The only response I received was the following Sunday when he used that song to close the service - as reported by my friend still inside.

We haven’t been back since then, partly due to weather prevention, but mainly due to finding an assembly which seems to be working out.  We love the people in our old assembly, and have some good friends there who are also unhappy with the music but are staying for various reasons.

Well, my “operative” reported that this week the “worship team” did a special music time in lieu of prayer time, and the song they sang was Lay Me Down by Chris Tomlin.  Since I never heard of it, I looked up the lyrics; take a look:

With this heart open wide 

From the depths from the heights

I will bring a sacrifice

With these hands lifted high 

Hear my song, hear my cry

I will bring a sacrifice 

I will bring a sacrifice

[Chorus:]

I lay me down I’m not my own

I belong to you alone 

Lay me down, lay me down

Hand on my heart this much is true

There’s no life apart from you

Lay me down, lay me down

Lay me down, lay me down

Letting go of my pride 

Giving up all my rights

Take this life and let it shine 

Take this life and let it shine

[Chorus:]

I lay me down I’m not my own

I belong to you alone 

Lay me down, lay me down

Hand on my heart this much is true

There’s no life apart from you

Lay me down, lay me down

Lay me down, lay me down

[Bridge:]

It will be my joy to say Your will Your way

It will be my joy to say Your will Your way

It will be my joy to say Your will Your way always

Did you notice how much “I” and “me” there is?  Is there really any explanation as to whom this song is addressed?  This could be a song to a girlfriend or a boyfriend; yes, one of those “Jesus is my boyfriend” genre.

WHERE IS THE DISCERNMENT!?!?!  This song has no place in the assembly — NONE!  And it is an example as to why we cannot return to that assembly so long as they have that “pastor” for their “worship” leader.  It demonstrates the lack of discernment of the entire leadership who would allow this stuff to continue.  We have watched this assembly slowly move closer and closer to the market-driven model and it has been a very disappointing journey, especially since this assembly had a reputation for its solid teaching.

As I have said before, the music we sing during our worship meetings in the assembly is teaching us just as much as are the sermons.  When the teaching in the assembly begins to go down this road, it is time to find another place of worship.