“The great thing about being Reformed is that there is no passage of Scripture I have to hide from.”
– R.C. Sproul, Jr. quoting David Chilton in TABLETALK (January, 1999).
Preaching
“When Paul said he preached Christ, he meant it” (Separated Unto the Gospel: The Mission and Work of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, 22).
Creation
In the Bible “creation” is an alpha and omega theme: in the Book of Genesis we learn about the original creation when “God created the heaven and earth” and in the Book of Revelation we see the glorified creation (re-creation) when the one who “sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Second Adam who by way of obedience and righteousness will make new all the things that the First Adam corrupted by way of sin and rebellion: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22); “For if by one man’s offence [Adam’s] death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).
“Creation” is an alpha and omega theme because all of Scripture speaks of the Creator-Christ: Christ is the “Alpha” Creator, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4), and Christ is the “Omega” Creator, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. . . . And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelation 21:1-2, 5-7).
The Lord’s Table
“It is the Lord’s Table to which we come. It is not a denominational table. All who credibly profess salvation in Christ, are seeking to maintain a pure testimony, and are not currently under discipline for sin in their local church are welcome to participate in services that for many of us are a foretaste of heaven. Here we view our Saviour in symbols that point us to the day when we will see Him face to face” (Separated Unto the Gospel: The Mission and Work of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, 11).
WCF. VII. Of God’s Covenant with Man – 1. Q & A
Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.
WCF. VII. Of God’s Covenant with Man.
Section 1.
1. What does the depraved sinner deny besides the fact that he is depraved?
In addition to deny his depravity, the depraved sinner denies his creaturehood. Depraved man is bewitched by self-delusions of autonomy and independence from God (the Creator).
2. Have Reformed Christians failed to consistently acknowledge “the distance between God and the creature?”
Yes, some Reformed Christians have failed to consistently acknowledge the basic distinction between the Creator and the creation.
3. How have they done so?
They have done so by when by describing a covenant as “an agreement between two or more persons.” Williamson says, “There is, in such language, at least the danger of suggesting that God and man are equal parties in the disposition of the covenants–as if each agreed to terms sovereignly imposed by the other!” (82)
4. What would God have owed a sinlessly perfect, or perfectly obedient, man?
God would have owed (God owes) only the gracious promises he has self-imposed by way of covenant.
5. By what is God “bound” in his covenant(s)?
Because “God’s covenant dealings with men are both sovereign and gracious” . . . “He is bound by nothing but his own holy Word” (82).
6. By whom is a covenant instituted?
A covenant is sovereignly and graciously instituted by God; a covenant is instituted by the will of God alone.
Worship
“Worship has been defined as “reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God.” It usually is extended to include the rites or ceremonies by which our devotion and allegiance are expressed. Our English word worship is basically the same word as worth. Worship is really “worthship” and denotes that God is worthy of receiving the praise and honor we bring to Him. From the Old and the New Testaments we glean that corporate worship is mandatory for God’s people (Heb. 10:25). It is to be marked by a sense of the presence of the Lord (Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 5:4). Its main elements are prayer and praise (Psa. 105:1-4; Eph. 5:19; Acts 2:42), the reading of the Word of God (Luke 4:16-17), the preaching of the Word (Luke 4:18-20; Acts 13:5; 2 Tim. 4:1-2), and the administration of the sacraments (Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 11:23-24). This worship is to be spiritual and sincere (John 4:24). It is not to degenerate into a mere mechanical, ritualistic, or liturgical form (Matt. 15:8)” (Separated Unto the Gospel: The Mission and Work of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, 7-8).
Teacher’s Task
“”[T]he teacher’s task is to draw attention to what is taught, not to himself” (Carl R. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, 173).
Gospel Reality Check
“A church with a creed or confession has a built-in gospel reality check. It is unlikely to become sidetracked by the peripheral issues of the passing moment; rather it will focus instead on the great theological categories that touch on matters of eternal significance” (Carl R. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, 168).
Reaching the Millennials: An Interview with Thom Rainer, Again
Reaching the Millennials: An Interview with Thom Rainer from Preaching Magazine, Vol. 27 No. 4
Preaching: You mentioned church starts. It seems that a lot of the best and brightest young ministers coming along are saying, “I’m not going to inherit the problems of a previous generation of churches. We’re starting fresh with new churches.”
Rainer: You’re absolutely right. I have one son of my three who is involved in a church plant. These millennials, these young adults, many of them are frustrated with church as usual, with local church actions, business and what they perceive as irrelevancy. So they’re starting churches.
Yet I would have a challenge for some millennials as well. Keep planting churches, have that attitude; but we’ve got about 400,000 established churches in the United States that we cannot give up on. I would say not only start churches, but prayerfully go into these churches to try to revolutionize them even if it takes a lifetime of ministry, because we’re not planting enough churches to sustain the fall off of the established churches. I hope we’ll see both groups rise up, more church planters and more church people as millennial leaders going to established churches to turn them around [CCS, underline added].
Reaching the Millennials: An Interview with Thom Rainer
Reaching the Millennials: An Interview with Thom Rainer from Preaching Magazine, Vol. 27 No. 4
Preaching: You mentioned that probably as many as 85 percent of this generation are not Christian. You’ve taught evangelism; you are an evangelist yourself in terms of sharing the gospel. How do churches go about seeking to evangelize the millennial generation?
Rainer: Here’s the irony: This is the smallest generation of Christians, we think, in America’s history. We could begin to lament that reality and say there’s absolutely no hope. The irony is that this is the greatest opportunity to evangelize [CCS, underline added].