I wonder if part of the reason why people many only attend church twice a month on average (which is similar to findings of national gallup and diary surverys), is because we can seem to discuss this issue so cooly and intellectually. Without passion, without purpose, without a sense of urgency or committment, there is no real reason for people to be concerned about whether they attend church every week or not. The lack of passion that allowed people to put social visiting, or football games or hockey games, or disney ahead of any extra effort it might take to gather together as God's people to honor God, rather than self, rather than human beings, rather than our own comfort or convenience, rather than work which could be done at another time, is the same cause for our present twice a month average as it was for our once a Sunday service (instead of twice a sunday, plus young people's in the evening).
I know people will come up with exceptions and all kinds of examples to the contrary, but the stats speak for themselves. In spite of fewer services, many people do less service and worship outside of worship services than they used to do in spite of twice a sunday worship. I'm presently reading thru Kings, and the repetition of a certain phrase sticks in my mind. A king would do what is pleasing to God, but he did not remove the high places where the people offered sacrifices and incense to other gods. Always the other false gods were in the background, causing a divergence of worship, replacing the single minded devotion to God that God himself required. In the end, Israel and Judah paid for their attempted worship of many gods, in a very serious and sad way. I wonder what we ourselves are really like.
Personally I just can't imagine how people could neglect worshipping God on sunday, in whatever location they are in, with whatever group of christians they can find. It would be like going to live with your secretary, or your boss, or your football friends every other week, instead of going home to your wife and kids. We are not removing the many "high places" of false worship in our lives.
Good points made by Don J. Sometimes we pull out very convenient scriptures, don't we?
With regard to Verlyn's point about discerning the body of Christ, I have pondered a bit more. Some versions translate that as recognizing the body of Christ. I'm thinking that the action is actually not about self reflection but is about knowing and recognizing the body of Christ. Yes, that does have implications for how we treat the members of the body, which is the main thrust of this passage. But, the real problem is that some Corinthians were not recognizing the body of christ, but only looking at their outward human appearance with outward social conditions. As John 7:24 says, "stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly". They were forgetting that these people were the body of Christ; they were judging these people, but with the wrong criteria. To judge these other christians means to recognize them as saved repentant fellow believers, since they confessed Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Are "krino" and "diakrino" gramatically related? I get krino - to judge, and diakrino - to judge thoroughly (back and forth).
Phil, and Mark. Attending church is all about value judgements. If we have to ask why we do it, if we don't know why, then that alone is part of the problem. God gave a command of keeping Sabbaths. If we think we are smarter than God, then that is part of the problem too. For me, it is not about a personal investment as a pastor. That would be a problem in itself. No one ought to be attending church to satisfy the personal investment of a pastor or a song leader.
The values attached to church attendance simply have to do with honoring God. It has to do with saying and indicating that honoring God is more important than the superbowl, more important than my personal physical comfort, more important than the latest reality show, more important than my work, more important than cutting the grass or cooking a big meal, and more important than the so-called wants and desires of family and friends. That is what the weekly worship signifies. Its not about making a pastor happy, and its not about making me happy, and its not about making my kids happy.
For that reason, church attendance is an indication of the values that are important in our lives. Church attendance is not about us. It is about God.
We should not confuse alternate methods of church attendance with a total lack of attendance. If a small group worship is done sincerely and completely, then it is still a worship service. A small church with ten families is just as much worship as a large church with 400 families. But if it is merely a friendly social barbecue, without prayer and bible reading and exposition and examination of the word, without praise, and without singing, then it is not a worship service. There is a danger that small group worship can deteriorate into a social party, if the leadership is not very determined and purposeful, so small groups need this extra warning.
We should also recognize that because people do travel much more than in the past, that they may not be participating in worship at home, but can still participate in worship at a church in another town. This happens for students, for retirees, for vacationers. Sometimes family reunions will establish their own church service on a Sunday. Sometimes people may even worship at another church in the same town for special reasons. While this is not desireable if it happens too often, it is not the same issue as someone who stays home because they need a break, or someone who sits on the beach or goes on a hike as a substitute because they are on vacation. God does not take a vacation from us. Parents cannot take a vacation from their young children. And we ought not to take a vacation from our relationship with God. It hurts our relationship with God.
I have once in the last five years, remained in a resort hotel on a Sunday morning with my family, because we had arrived late the evening before, and did not know where a local church was in a strange town. We watched five different worship services on tv that morning, in sequence, an enlightening and enriching thing in itself. But it is no substitute for worship, for actual participation in singing and prayer and fellowship.
Merely analyzing trends in some cold objective fashion and justifying or finding a way to adjust, will do nothing to bring us closer to God. God accused the Israelites of committing adultery against Him when they did not keep his Sabbaths. They committed adultery/idolatry when other gods were worshipped on the "high places" and altars of the false gods. Whenever we think we are somehow inately better than the Israelites, and that our practices cannot be judged, then we have fallen into the same trap as the Israelites. And what makes us think that we will not suffer a similar fate that the Israelites and old kings of Judah suffered? Do we think that our pride and smug superiority and other sacrifices will redeem us?
Faith without works is dead, we read in James. While attending church will not save us from our sins, because only Christ redeems us, it is still an indication of where our heart is, and how we value our relationship with God. It is not just a social trend. It is a direct indication of what is important to us, and where our heart is.
I don't know where is an appropriate place or way on here to express appreciation for what Jerry Dykstra has done for the last five years for the CRC. I don't know him personally, nor do I know exactly the details of what he did, nor do I know whether or not I would agree with everything he did in all aspects. But at this point that doesn't really matter. I would like to express my appreciation for the time and energy and committment he made to this position and to this task. It is important that people accept the call of the Lord to provide leadership, and Jerry has done that. As far as I know, he has done that very well, and I admire and appreciate his optimism and positive attitude. I would think such a task is never easy even though it may also have many rewards. It may be possible that some of the rewards of such a job well done may come many years later, when a particular endeavor begun now finally comes to fruition. In any case, thanks for serving, Jerry Dykstra, thanks for serving the Lord, and may God bless you in your future works of ministry in His service!
Edward, David Brainerd's statement may have been his experience, but maybe it was the way he preached about Jesus crucified. We must always start with Jesus crucified, but also Jesus risen, and also spirit sent. In my own experience, I see people struggling with morality, reverence, patience, immoral behaviour, and how to follow Christ. And they are constantly looking for advice and teaching on it. I cannot forget either the statement in the book of Jude, which says "... they turned the grace of God into a license for immorality...". Paul talks in one of his epistles about going beyond the milk of the gospel (I Cor.3), and in Hebrews 5:11-14 " In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
George Whitfield was right of course, on the necessity of being born again in order to bring the gospel. Although I remember reading a story written by George Macdonald, about a preacher who became born again after he had been a preacher for several years, and yet God somehow used his messages to bring a parishioner to Christ. Still, the message grew in power much more after the preacher became a Christian, and although this was just a story, I believe it to be true.
Yes, surrendering at the cross is the first step, as you say. Too often people only surrender theoretically, saying they are sinners but unwilling to relinquish their sin, or even to name it. Sometimes they are like sinners without any sins. But the cross is not the last step; that's why Jesus sent His Spirit to be with us. After the cross, at which the disciples fled, they waited for Christ to return in His Spirit on Pentecost, and then it was that they could preach and witness and be bold and persevere and heal and suffer in joy.
But we also know soon after, about Annanias and Sapphira... had they denied the cross? had they denied the spirit? Were they simply innocently mistaken, that lying to the church in order to be accepted was okay? Today we have many Christians wanting to know how and how much money to give to the church, how to respect their husbands and love their wives, how to raise their children, how to teach sunday school and dayschool, how to manage sexual relations, how to dress, and how to speak as Christ followers. The desire to follow Christ is who Christians are, but sometimes we do things we don't want to do, as Paul the apostle said. And as a Christian community, we can help each other by using scripture and christian love, (and rebuke and discipline, as forms for baptism, prof of faith, ordinations, and scriptures say) to find better ways to serve and follow Christ. That is what His Spirit does through and in us.
One of the ways of refocussing priorities, is to evaluate how much time we spend on environmental and social issues compared to spiritual issues. When is the last time you saw an announcement about someone's spiritual growth or development in the bulletin, or a testimony about the power of prayer in the service, or a cry for help with the lifestyle or disobedience of a child, husband or neighbor, or a rejoicing in the communication and progress with a witnessing? Compare that to the announcements about choirs, bands, christian world renew, facilities, budgets, etc. Even renaming CRWRC to WR is counter intuitive to the mission goals and priorities of proclaiming the name of Christ, which has now been eliminated from this effort. Christ's kingdom is "not of this world", it is in this world, but it will not exist in our lives no matter what we do, if we do not first acknowledge Christ in what we do.
It's true, Verlyn that educated preaching is useful and beneficial. And I really appreciated your vignettes on various words and phrases. But sometimes the education doesn't seem to help because even the plain reading of scripture is ignored by the supposedly educated. We had a sermon not long ago on Galatians 5:16 to 6:5 (which is a beautiful passage). In the exposition the preacher ignored verse 19-21 and concentrated on 22. Then he threw in a statement to the effect, "don't judge", more or less without explaining it. So, he probably knows greek. But here we have a passage that distinguishes between acts of sinful nature and fruit of the spirit, and he says, "don't judge". The passage says to restore one caught in a sin, gently, but why would you restore him if you cannot first judge whether he is caught in a sin? So he didn't put "judging" into context, didn't explain how the apostle Peter basically condemned Annanias and Sapphira to death for lying, or how Paul constantly was advising, rebuking, admonishing, warning. "Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature" scripture says. (Paul wrote it). So this educated preacher did not distinguish between the judgement of discernment and the judgement of condemnation. Did he then ignore his Greek? or did he ignore the context?
Verlyn, yes it is not possible to comment on a sermon you did not hear or read... and I probably worded my concern poorly. What I was wondering if you would be interested in looking at how the word "judge" or "to judge" is used, including the greek nuances of the english word, as well as the english nuances. Whether this particular semon misused the word or not, we know that the word is often innappropriately used. But how do we bring together what Jesus said, "Judge not, lest you be judged..." with the statement in one of the epistles, "is it for us to judge those outside the church? No, rather we should judge those inside the church." The word is used at least 80 times in the New Testament, sometimes in what seems to be completely opposite ways. In addition, there are passages that don't actually use the word "judge", but are still instances of judging or discernment in the lives of others. For example, comparisons about those who will not enter heaven (adulterers, idolators, perjurers, etc.), and those who are chldren of God with the fruits of the spirit (patience, gentle, etc.) Or the story of Annanias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Any help you could give in this would be appreciated, especially for elders who must make decisions, or examine life of those who want to make profession of faith, or need to assess a potential pastor or new elder nominee, or a new song, etc.
Verlyn, yes it is not possible to comment on a sermon you did not hear or read... and I probably worded my concern poorly. What I was wondering if you would be interested in looking at how the word "judge" or "to judge" is used, including the greek nuances of the english word, as well as the english nuances. Whether this particular semon misused the word or not, we know that the word is often innappropriately used. But how do we bring together what Jesus said, "Judge not, lest you be judged..." with the statement in one of the epistles, "is it for us to judge those outside the church? No, rather we should judge those inside the church." The word is used at least 80 times in the New Testament, sometimes in what seems to be completely opposite ways. In addition, there are passages that don't actually use the word "judge", but are still instances of judging or discernment in the lives of others. For example, comparisons about those who will not enter heaven (adulterers, idolators, perjurers, etc.), and those who are chldren of God with the fruits of the spirit (patience, gentle, etc.) Or the story of Annanias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Any help you could give in this would be appreciated, especially for elders who must make decisions, or examine life of those who want to make profession of faith, or need to assess a potential pastor or new elder nominee, or a new song, etc.
George McQuire, I personally found this piece of yours very encouraging, and very appropriate. Thanks for this! We need evidence of God's faithfulness, especially when we are going through trials and difficult situations. We need this evidence as much as we need our vitamins and exercise. Sometimes we get it in obvious ways, and other times we just need our eyes opened to it.
As I remember it, the Belhar was accepted as an EFD as a compromise. If the choice was only as a confession, it would have been rejected. People had serious objections to having it under the form of subscription, because they disagreed with certain statements within it, or they felt it was not of the category of a basic confession of faith. If we discuss this further, and disregard why it was adopted as an EFD and not as a confession, there will be a feeling of betrayal and deceit. Instead of trying to discuss its significance, or trying to recategorize it, it would be more beneficial to use it as a guide whenever appropriate, even pointing out where it might be a bit unbalanced or not entirely strictly scripturally accurate, but still has some good points to make. We should not let this become another divisive issue simply because of the insistence of some that it needs to be placed on a higher pedestal.
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
I wonder if part of the reason why people many only attend church twice a month on average (which is similar to findings of national gallup and diary surverys), is because we can seem to discuss this issue so cooly and intellectually. Without passion, without purpose, without a sense of urgency or committment, there is no real reason for people to be concerned about whether they attend church every week or not. The lack of passion that allowed people to put social visiting, or football games or hockey games, or disney ahead of any extra effort it might take to gather together as God's people to honor God, rather than self, rather than human beings, rather than our own comfort or convenience, rather than work which could be done at another time, is the same cause for our present twice a month average as it was for our once a Sunday service (instead of twice a sunday, plus young people's in the evening).
I know people will come up with exceptions and all kinds of examples to the contrary, but the stats speak for themselves. In spite of fewer services, many people do less service and worship outside of worship services than they used to do in spite of twice a sunday worship. I'm presently reading thru Kings, and the repetition of a certain phrase sticks in my mind. A king would do what is pleasing to God, but he did not remove the high places where the people offered sacrifices and incense to other gods. Always the other false gods were in the background, causing a divergence of worship, replacing the single minded devotion to God that God himself required. In the end, Israel and Judah paid for their attempted worship of many gods, in a very serious and sad way. I wonder what we ourselves are really like.
Personally I just can't imagine how people could neglect worshipping God on sunday, in whatever location they are in, with whatever group of christians they can find. It would be like going to live with your secretary, or your boss, or your football friends every other week, instead of going home to your wife and kids. We are not removing the many "high places" of false worship in our lives.
Posted in: To Judge or Not to Judge: That Is the Question
Good points made by Don J. Sometimes we pull out very convenient scriptures, don't we?
With regard to Verlyn's point about discerning the body of Christ, I have pondered a bit more. Some versions translate that as recognizing the body of Christ. I'm thinking that the action is actually not about self reflection but is about knowing and recognizing the body of Christ. Yes, that does have implications for how we treat the members of the body, which is the main thrust of this passage. But, the real problem is that some Corinthians were not recognizing the body of christ, but only looking at their outward human appearance with outward social conditions. As John 7:24 says, "stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly". They were forgetting that these people were the body of Christ; they were judging these people, but with the wrong criteria. To judge these other christians means to recognize them as saved repentant fellow believers, since they confessed Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Are "krino" and "diakrino" gramatically related? I get krino - to judge, and diakrino - to judge thoroughly (back and forth).
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
Phil, and Mark. Attending church is all about value judgements. If we have to ask why we do it, if we don't know why, then that alone is part of the problem. God gave a command of keeping Sabbaths. If we think we are smarter than God, then that is part of the problem too. For me, it is not about a personal investment as a pastor. That would be a problem in itself. No one ought to be attending church to satisfy the personal investment of a pastor or a song leader.
The values attached to church attendance simply have to do with honoring God. It has to do with saying and indicating that honoring God is more important than the superbowl, more important than my personal physical comfort, more important than the latest reality show, more important than my work, more important than cutting the grass or cooking a big meal, and more important than the so-called wants and desires of family and friends. That is what the weekly worship signifies. Its not about making a pastor happy, and its not about making me happy, and its not about making my kids happy.
For that reason, church attendance is an indication of the values that are important in our lives. Church attendance is not about us. It is about God.
We should not confuse alternate methods of church attendance with a total lack of attendance. If a small group worship is done sincerely and completely, then it is still a worship service. A small church with ten families is just as much worship as a large church with 400 families. But if it is merely a friendly social barbecue, without prayer and bible reading and exposition and examination of the word, without praise, and without singing, then it is not a worship service. There is a danger that small group worship can deteriorate into a social party, if the leadership is not very determined and purposeful, so small groups need this extra warning.
We should also recognize that because people do travel much more than in the past, that they may not be participating in worship at home, but can still participate in worship at a church in another town. This happens for students, for retirees, for vacationers. Sometimes family reunions will establish their own church service on a Sunday. Sometimes people may even worship at another church in the same town for special reasons. While this is not desireable if it happens too often, it is not the same issue as someone who stays home because they need a break, or someone who sits on the beach or goes on a hike as a substitute because they are on vacation. God does not take a vacation from us. Parents cannot take a vacation from their young children. And we ought not to take a vacation from our relationship with God. It hurts our relationship with God.
I have once in the last five years, remained in a resort hotel on a Sunday morning with my family, because we had arrived late the evening before, and did not know where a local church was in a strange town. We watched five different worship services on tv that morning, in sequence, an enlightening and enriching thing in itself. But it is no substitute for worship, for actual participation in singing and prayer and fellowship.
Merely analyzing trends in some cold objective fashion and justifying or finding a way to adjust, will do nothing to bring us closer to God. God accused the Israelites of committing adultery against Him when they did not keep his Sabbaths. They committed adultery/idolatry when other gods were worshipped on the "high places" and altars of the false gods. Whenever we think we are somehow inately better than the Israelites, and that our practices cannot be judged, then we have fallen into the same trap as the Israelites. And what makes us think that we will not suffer a similar fate that the Israelites and old kings of Judah suffered? Do we think that our pride and smug superiority and other sacrifices will redeem us?
Faith without works is dead, we read in James. While attending church will not save us from our sins, because only Christ redeems us, it is still an indication of where our heart is, and how we value our relationship with God. It is not just a social trend. It is a direct indication of what is important to us, and where our heart is.
God help us!
Posted in: The 'Resignation' of Our Executive Director
I don't know where is an appropriate place or way on here to express appreciation for what Jerry Dykstra has done for the last five years for the CRC. I don't know him personally, nor do I know exactly the details of what he did, nor do I know whether or not I would agree with everything he did in all aspects. But at this point that doesn't really matter. I would like to express my appreciation for the time and energy and committment he made to this position and to this task. It is important that people accept the call of the Lord to provide leadership, and Jerry has done that. As far as I know, he has done that very well, and I admire and appreciate his optimism and positive attitude. I would think such a task is never easy even though it may also have many rewards. It may be possible that some of the rewards of such a job well done may come many years later, when a particular endeavor begun now finally comes to fruition. In any case, thanks for serving, Jerry Dykstra, thanks for serving the Lord, and may God bless you in your future works of ministry in His service!
John Zylstra
Posted in: Defining the Main Thing
Edward, David Brainerd's statement may have been his experience, but maybe it was the way he preached about Jesus crucified. We must always start with Jesus crucified, but also Jesus risen, and also spirit sent. In my own experience, I see people struggling with morality, reverence, patience, immoral behaviour, and how to follow Christ. And they are constantly looking for advice and teaching on it. I cannot forget either the statement in the book of Jude, which says "... they turned the grace of God into a license for immorality...". Paul talks in one of his epistles about going beyond the milk of the gospel (I Cor.3), and in Hebrews 5:11-14 " In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
Posted in: Defining the Main Thing
George Whitfield was right of course, on the necessity of being born again in order to bring the gospel. Although I remember reading a story written by George Macdonald, about a preacher who became born again after he had been a preacher for several years, and yet God somehow used his messages to bring a parishioner to Christ. Still, the message grew in power much more after the preacher became a Christian, and although this was just a story, I believe it to be true.
Yes, surrendering at the cross is the first step, as you say. Too often people only surrender theoretically, saying they are sinners but unwilling to relinquish their sin, or even to name it. Sometimes they are like sinners without any sins. But the cross is not the last step; that's why Jesus sent His Spirit to be with us. After the cross, at which the disciples fled, they waited for Christ to return in His Spirit on Pentecost, and then it was that they could preach and witness and be bold and persevere and heal and suffer in joy.
But we also know soon after, about Annanias and Sapphira... had they denied the cross? had they denied the spirit? Were they simply innocently mistaken, that lying to the church in order to be accepted was okay? Today we have many Christians wanting to know how and how much money to give to the church, how to respect their husbands and love their wives, how to raise their children, how to teach sunday school and dayschool, how to manage sexual relations, how to dress, and how to speak as Christ followers. The desire to follow Christ is who Christians are, but sometimes we do things we don't want to do, as Paul the apostle said. And as a Christian community, we can help each other by using scripture and christian love, (and rebuke and discipline, as forms for baptism, prof of faith, ordinations, and scriptures say) to find better ways to serve and follow Christ. That is what His Spirit does through and in us.
Posted in: Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
One of the ways of refocussing priorities, is to evaluate how much time we spend on environmental and social issues compared to spiritual issues. When is the last time you saw an announcement about someone's spiritual growth or development in the bulletin, or a testimony about the power of prayer in the service, or a cry for help with the lifestyle or disobedience of a child, husband or neighbor, or a rejoicing in the communication and progress with a witnessing? Compare that to the announcements about choirs, bands, christian world renew, facilities, budgets, etc. Even renaming CRWRC to WR is counter intuitive to the mission goals and priorities of proclaiming the name of Christ, which has now been eliminated from this effort. Christ's kingdom is "not of this world", it is in this world, but it will not exist in our lives no matter what we do, if we do not first acknowledge Christ in what we do.
Posted in: Playing with Hebrew Word Usage
It's true, Verlyn that educated preaching is useful and beneficial. And I really appreciated your vignettes on various words and phrases. But sometimes the education doesn't seem to help because even the plain reading of scripture is ignored by the supposedly educated. We had a sermon not long ago on Galatians 5:16 to 6:5 (which is a beautiful passage). In the exposition the preacher ignored verse 19-21 and concentrated on 22. Then he threw in a statement to the effect, "don't judge", more or less without explaining it. So, he probably knows greek. But here we have a passage that distinguishes between acts of sinful nature and fruit of the spirit, and he says, "don't judge". The passage says to restore one caught in a sin, gently, but why would you restore him if you cannot first judge whether he is caught in a sin? So he didn't put "judging" into context, didn't explain how the apostle Peter basically condemned Annanias and Sapphira to death for lying, or how Paul constantly was advising, rebuking, admonishing, warning. "Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature" scripture says. (Paul wrote it). So this educated preacher did not distinguish between the judgement of discernment and the judgement of condemnation. Did he then ignore his Greek? or did he ignore the context?
Posted in: Playing with Hebrew Word Usage
Verlyn, yes it is not possible to comment on a sermon you did not hear or read... and I probably worded my concern poorly. What I was wondering if you would be interested in looking at how the word "judge" or "to judge" is used, including the greek nuances of the english word, as well as the english nuances. Whether this particular semon misused the word or not, we know that the word is often innappropriately used. But how do we bring together what Jesus said, "Judge not, lest you be judged..." with the statement in one of the epistles, "is it for us to judge those outside the church? No, rather we should judge those inside the church." The word is used at least 80 times in the New Testament, sometimes in what seems to be completely opposite ways. In addition, there are passages that don't actually use the word "judge", but are still instances of judging or discernment in the lives of others. For example, comparisons about those who will not enter heaven (adulterers, idolators, perjurers, etc.), and those who are chldren of God with the fruits of the spirit (patience, gentle, etc.) Or the story of Annanias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Any help you could give in this would be appreciated, especially for elders who must make decisions, or examine life of those who want to make profession of faith, or need to assess a potential pastor or new elder nominee, or a new song, etc.
Posted in: Playing with Hebrew Word Usage
Verlyn, yes it is not possible to comment on a sermon you did not hear or read... and I probably worded my concern poorly. What I was wondering if you would be interested in looking at how the word "judge" or "to judge" is used, including the greek nuances of the english word, as well as the english nuances. Whether this particular semon misused the word or not, we know that the word is often innappropriately used. But how do we bring together what Jesus said, "Judge not, lest you be judged..." with the statement in one of the epistles, "is it for us to judge those outside the church? No, rather we should judge those inside the church." The word is used at least 80 times in the New Testament, sometimes in what seems to be completely opposite ways. In addition, there are passages that don't actually use the word "judge", but are still instances of judging or discernment in the lives of others. For example, comparisons about those who will not enter heaven (adulterers, idolators, perjurers, etc.), and those who are chldren of God with the fruits of the spirit (patience, gentle, etc.) Or the story of Annanias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Any help you could give in this would be appreciated, especially for elders who must make decisions, or examine life of those who want to make profession of faith, or need to assess a potential pastor or new elder nominee, or a new song, etc.
Posted in: Vindication Praying: The Missing Petition on Most Pastors' Prayer Lists?
George McQuire, I personally found this piece of yours very encouraging, and very appropriate. Thanks for this! We need evidence of God's faithfulness, especially when we are going through trials and difficult situations. We need this evidence as much as we need our vitamins and exercise. Sometimes we get it in obvious ways, and other times we just need our eyes opened to it.
Posted in: “Well, That’s a Thought”
As I remember it, the Belhar was accepted as an EFD as a compromise. If the choice was only as a confession, it would have been rejected. People had serious objections to having it under the form of subscription, because they disagreed with certain statements within it, or they felt it was not of the category of a basic confession of faith. If we discuss this further, and disregard why it was adopted as an EFD and not as a confession, there will be a feeling of betrayal and deceit. Instead of trying to discuss its significance, or trying to recategorize it, it would be more beneficial to use it as a guide whenever appropriate, even pointing out where it might be a bit unbalanced or not entirely strictly scripturally accurate, but still has some good points to make. We should not let this become another divisive issue simply because of the insistence of some that it needs to be placed on a higher pedestal.