Trinity Talk will be officially moving into a new format. Stay tuned!
We have heard in these past sermons about the work of John the Forerunner. He plays a significant role in redemptive history. John himself is beheaded for speaking the truth to political figures. He does not see the death of His Lord, He does not see resurrection or ascension. But yet his role of preparation for Messiah was fulfilled so perfectly that He pointed his contemporaries to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. And we are familiar with John’s motto: He must increase, but I must decrease. “Though Luke does not quote this saying, the early chapters of his gospel are written to illustrate exactly this principle. Luke tells about the greatness and miraculous conception of John (1:5-25), and then tells about the superior greatness and even more miraculous conception of Jesus (1:26-56). He tells about the birth, circumcision, and naming of John, which evokes song from a Jewish priest (1:57-80); then he tells us about the birth of Jesus, and angels fill heaven with song (2:1-14). John is the son of a priest who serves in the temple, but the Master of the temple is Jesus’ father (2:41-51).”[1] Read the rest of this entry »
Baptism gives us a new identity. Leithart observes that “a non-priest becomes a priest through the rite of ordination, a single man becomes a husband through the wedding ceremony, a public citizen gains public authority by inauguration,” so too the rite of baptism makes an individual a new person. Having received a new name and a new identity, he is called to a new future.
The point, as Leithart observes, is not that there is no distinction between “inner and outer.” The idea is that there is no “impermeable membrane between my inner life and outer life.” What happens within us come to outer expression and what happens on the outside “affects my inner man.” Leithart concludes: “These are two dimensions of one united human life.”
Leithart concludes:
I have a dream: My dream is that Confessional Protestants, having devoted themselves to their rites and hymnals, having assembled for Eucharist and common prayer, having studied to be irrelevant, will find that their trumpets have brought down the walls of a city, and, standing stupefied before the rubble of Jericho, they will stare at the evangelical hoards that surround them, and ask, What next?
Leithart is one of those who dares reconsider in light of Scriptures the traditional Westminsterian understanding of baptism and its efficacy. For Leithart, there is much work to be done, especially when it comes to the questions we ask concerning baptism. He writes that ”before we can progress in providing answers to our questions on baptism, we have to repent of our questions.”
Where do these bad questions come from? Leithart concludes that it is “largely a product of modern individualism.”
Toby Sumpter writes:
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” (Mt. 11:19)
We have said before that in one sense Advent occurs every Lord’s Day. Every Lord’s Day the Lord comes to His people in worship. One of the ways that God reminds us of this fact is through this meal. Jesus came the first time eating and drinking and fellowshipping with outcasts, and every week Jesus still comes through the power of the Spirit, eating and drinking and fellowshipping with sinners. This is how God came into the world in Jesus, and through the Spirit this is how Jesus continues His Advent among us. Our collective list of sins is very long and embarrassing. We are not respectable society.
And perhaps this gathering looks a little dangerous. A bunch of sinners and tax collectors eating and drinking together: like that’s a good idea. Or maybe it just looks really silly, a bunch of sinners gathered around drinking wine from thimbles and sharing little bits of bread. How is that potent or powerful? But wisdom is justified by her children.
Here is the feast of Wisdom, and as we eat in faith and joy, and as we live this Eucharistic thankfulness in our lives, God promises to justify this wisdom through us. We are the children of Wisdom, as we feast on Jesus, as we cling to Jesus, as He is our strength, our security, our identity, our everything. Then as the children of Jesus, the Wisdom of God is justified to the watching world. This silly feast is for us the glory of God because here we enact the justice and the mercy and the peace of God for the world. And God promises to use this little feast to draw us and all of history up to great and final Feast. So come in faith and with rejoicing.
Mark Horne concludes:
The typical interpretations of Luke 10.25-37 and 18.18-30 along the lines of a Law-Gospel hermeneutic are obviously flawed and end up undermining the very doctrine they are trying to protect. They allow Jesus to actually encourage people to be justified by good works and then try to save the Reformation slogan sola fide (”faith alone”) by claiming Jesus really was using a clever ploy to get people to give up trying to be justified by good works.
A better interpretation allows Jesus to simply call people to repentance and faith. Because faith involves trusting God’s promises, it involves concrete actions. Nevertheless, such works are not meritorious nor an attempt to earn God’s favor. Rather they are manifestations of a trust in God to save us and take care of us.
People of God, we will ask you today: In Whom do you trust? On what do you place your trust? Do you trust in chariots and horses, do you trust in the American Military to defend you from the wiles of the devil? Do you trust in your family lineage? Or do you do trust in the Lord your God, who made heaven and earth; Father, Son, and Spirit, One God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity?
Answering that question means everything to us. “Everything hinges on how you understand the Bible and on what you profess as biblical truth.” It is not just belief in the Bible; it is belief in the True God of Scriptures. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons all claim to love and trust the Scriptures, but we see clearly that their understanding is very different than ours. We believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, begotten not made. The cults will deny the truth of the Advent Season, which teaches that God became man incarnate.
So there is more than simply saying “No Creed, but the Bible.” In fact, this statement is useless, and we should avoid it all costs. Creeds and confessions are not as authoritative as the Bible, but they still play a crucial role in the life of the Church. They are unavoidable. When someone asks you what you believe, and if you pause and answer with a statement, well, that is a creed. What we are claiming at Providence, and virtually what the Church universal has said for almost two thousand years, is that the Church needs to summarize those things which are most important in the teachings of the Bible. Read the rest of this entry »
In light of current debates of Leithart’s Baptismal theology, here’s his latest work free on-line.
What does baptism do to the baptized? Nothing? Something? In this study, Peter Leithart examines this single question of baptismal efficacy. He challenges several common but false assumptions about God, man, the church, salvation, and more that confuse discussions about baptism. He aims to offer a careful and simple discussion of all the central biblical texts that speak to us about baptism, the nature of signs and rites, the character of the church as the body of Christ, and the possibility of apostasy. In the end, the author urges us to face up to the wonderful conclusion that Scripture attributes an astonishing power to the initiation rite of baptism.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Paul begins in chapter three by calling us to rejoice in the Lord. In verse 9-11, he calls us to die and then he calls us to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection. This is the Purpose Driven Life: Die and you shall be raised. It won’t sell many books, but this is the call of the apostle.
First, we die. We become like Christ. We know that the Advent of Christ was one of mercy and grace to others. He came as a servant. He came to bring humanity from the rubbish and the stench of Adam’s sin and make us into sweet smelling herbs and spices, a glorified and beautiful humanity to God. When we follow Him, we esteem others better than ourselves. We make meals for those who are sick and recovering, we invite people over for a movie or fellowship during the week, we call them, we send them a card, we smile when we meet, we weep with those who weep. This is all a part of dying to self, because dying to self is to make others alive in Christ.
Secondly, we desire to know the power of Christ’s resurrection. We now live out our faith in the middle of the assembly. Because you are resurrected, you join the resurrected Christ in His mission. You desire resurrected living. This means you forget your former life and former ways, you move forward. You press on toward your goal of Christ-likeness. You have been forgiven in Jesus’ Name, and now in Jesus’ Name you live the life of faithfulness. Do you want to know how to walk like Christ? Paul says look to those who do it better than you. Look to those who are walking as Christ did. Learn from them. Watch them as they imitate Christ. Watch them as they interact with their children. Learn from one another. I will never forget what Randy Booth told us in Advance Family Conference. He said that we are to be 10% more like our neighbor. Not just like him, but 10% more like our neighbor. If we have weaknesses in one area, become 10% more like your neighbor who is strong in that area. In this manner, we become like one another in the ways that reflect Christ-likeness, while maintaining our distinct personalities and gifts, which are so crucial for the well-being of the Church.
I exhort you brother and sisters, to live the life of death and to be raised into the newness of Christ’s image in the year to come. Amen.
The more than 12,000 pages of documents relating to lawsuits alleging decades of sexual abuse of children by its priests have now been released. Cardinal Egan, who defended the secrecy of these documents concludes his op-ed in the New York Times by stating:
It’s marvelous when you think of the hundreds and hundreds of priests and how very few have even been accused, and how very few have even come close to having anyone prove anything.
Responses to Egan’s remarks took various sides, but mainly in opposition to this stunning statement. One responder who was sexually abused writes that “Priests, after all, were next to God.” Priest received an incredible amount of protection. Their superior status and the enormous fear, including the guilt and manipulation suffered by priests, hindered many from ever being known. As one responder observed:
The question, then, for Cardinal Egan is not how many priests actually do not abuse children, but how many abusing priests have gotten away with it.
This morning at Providence we sang one of the most glorious Advent hymns called: Arise, Sons of the Kingdom. Here is the first verse:
Arise, sons of the kingdom!
The King is drawing nigh;
Arise, and hail with gladness
The Ruler from on high.
Ye Christians, hasten forth!
Your praise and homage bring Him
And glad hosannas sing Him,
Naught else your love is worth.
The agenda of the FV school of thought is to talk about the things God talks about in the way God talks about them. –Bill DeJong
See: DeJong’s reply to Clark’s questions
Steven Wedgeworth’s introduction to Klaas Schilder
Luke 3:1-9 Advent: The Triumphal Preparation
 |
Speaker: Pastor Uriesou Tenorio Brito
Date: 12/6/2009
More audio from Providence Church Pensacola
Type: Sunday Sermon
Topic: Advent
Price: FREE
|
My good friend James Grant summarizes the situation well:
In 2007, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) approved a study report that concluded the movement known as the “Federal Vision” was outside the boundaries of the Westminster Standards. This basically means that a minister holding to some of the doctrines and beliefs that are found in the FV movement could be brought up on charges in the PCA. Read the rest of this entry »
From Contra Mundum, Volume I, 1955
The Biblical and the socialist-communist laws of love are irreconcilable and are in mortal conflict. They are not primarily two laws about “love” in varying degrees, with the socialist law having a higher degree of love, and therefore better. The socialist law of love is hyper-pious; it is sanctimonious. It is hypocritical.
Since we acknowledge that there are differences and nuances being articulated in Federal Vision circles from the standard Reformed dogma in this day, then the next priority for anyone studying the matter is to be able to understand it well. Once an individual concludes that it is his duty to disagree, Wilson says, “at the bare minimum you should be in a position to state the position that you are opposing,” such that your opponent can say that that is what his position teaches. In understanding Federal Vision theology, grasping crucial nuances are essential to get at the heart of the debate. It is important to go Ad fontes, back to the sources. The web provides valuable resources in this respect. No one can say in this day that FV advocates have not provided sufficient information to understand their position (FV Resource site). However, even with all these resources, Bill DeJong still proves that some really are not that concerned about properly representing FV theology.
The book of Revelation is a book that “often results in confusion,” says author James B. Jordan. In the The Vindication of Jesus Christ: A Brief Reader’s Guide to Revelation, James Jordan seeks to clarify a book often biblically mistreated. Calvin and Luther stayed away from Revelation, as well as many other authors throughout the centuries. In our own day, converts to Christianity neglect Genesis through Jude to find solace in Revelation. This, of course, leads to all sorts of exegetical abominations. From flying helicopters in John’s vision to modern scenarios of warfare, Revelation in the hands of a novice is bound to be treated with utmost disrespect.
On the other hand, Revelation in the hands of an able and biblically-saturated theologian is precisely the reformational agenda. James Jordan is one of the world’s leading scholar on Revelation. He has written on it, he has done 204 lectures on it, and he knows Genesis through Jude like no one else alive today.This makes a Brief Reader’s Guide an invaluable addition.
Jim Jordan argues that Revelation is filled with interpretive clues; clues that facilitate the reading of often complex passages. For instance, one of these clues is that in Revelation “angels are portrayed as bringing final judgment on creation.” This clue affirms that the creation being judged is the First or Old Creation. Since this is the case, the reader can know with certainty that the book was written “before the final destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in AD 70.” How do we know this? Because the Old Creation (Old Testament) was “superintended by angels, while the New Creation is superintended by redeemed humanity.” Jordan makes no theological assumptions without leading the reader to specific biblical passages to prove his conclusions.
What is unique about this book?
In the preterist camp ( I am using preterism as synonymous with partial-preterism, which is orthodox) there are many who build a case for an early dating of Revelation (pre-AD 70) on the basis of Josephus and other extra-biblical books. Jordan sees this as helpful and useful, but not necessary to make the case for an early dating of Revelation. In fact, he sees the book of Acts as essential in understanding the Revelation. As he writes:
In Acts, we routinely see the Romans defending the Church. Revelation predicts, however, that in the near future Rome, the “Beast,” will also turn against the Church. Revelation extends the history in the book of Acts down to the end of the Old Creation.
The reader will also find a helpful discussion on the “Literary Structure of Revelation,” “The Fundamental Symbols,”The Historical Context of the Trumpets and Bowls,” The Centrality of the Kingdom and the Centrality of Jesus as the Standard of Measurement.” Jordan will define terms, which will allow the reader to more fully recognize and understand their usage in the text.
Anyone interested in the significance of numbers in the book will find it immensely interesting that Jordan does not see 666 as having anything to do with Nero Caesar. He sees it as a reference to false religious leaders of the day (certainly a new preterist interpretation of this Jewish number).
Finally, for those who have read David Chilton’s Days of Vengeance, this short study is an improvement on some of David’s deficiencies.
Revelation is a Divine Liturgical Service.The Church is central to God’s purposes. Her worship is the fear of evil nations who reject Messiah’s claims. Revelation is the wilderness period of the Church from AD 30-70. We live in the day of the conquest of the land.
Helpful Links:
Free Audio Lectures by James B. Jordan
The James B. Jordan Complete Audio Collection (including his 204 lectures on Revelation)
Buy “The Vindication of Jesus Christ: A Brief Reader’s Guide to Revelation”
Sheriff’s office: 911 came from Wood’s House
“An adult patient was taken to Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, the same place Woods was treated after he crashed his sport utility vehicle outside his home last month, fire rescue spokeswoman Genevieve Latham said. The patient’s condition was not immediately known.”
Preliminary Thoughts on Envy and the Jews by Doug Wilson
“… this means that cultural achievement and blessing, far from being a distraction from the gospel, is a necessary adjunct to the gospel. “Here, think these thoughts about Jesus in your head” is not the kind of thing that will make the Jews think long and hard about the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy.”
Locusts and Honey by Peter Leithart Read the rest of this entry »
|
Speaker: Pastor Uriesou Tenorio Brito
Date: 11/29/2009
More audio from Providence Church Pensacola
Type: Sunday Sermon
Topic: Sermon
Price: FREE
|
On this Advent Season, the sermons will be only from the gospels. We will hear much about the birth of Christ, the context surrounding it, and the cataclysmic effect of Christ’s incarnation. But even in this season, we are also reminded that the gospels depend heavily on the Old Covenant, and in particular, they depend heavily on the prophets and the psalms. So reading from the Prophets, and in particular, the Psalms are a strong part of our liturgy. I have said this before and I will say it again, that approximately 90% of our liturgy is taken from the Scriptures. We sing the Scriptures, we receive assurance from the Scriptures, we hear the Scriptures, and we receive a benediction from the Scriptures. This is purposeful and it is Scriptural. The Scriptures demand that we be saturated with it.
This is one reason why we have a responsive psalm in our liturgy following the singing. We sing a psalm together and we corporately declare the psalm together. One of our goals in the future is that once we have matured in psalm singing, and we are maturing, that whatever psalm we have for responsive reading we will also have for corporate singing.
In part, this is what the responsive psalm is: Talking to one another; speaking the words of Yahweh to one another; echoing the psalmist’s passion to one another, echoing the psalmist longing for worship to one another.
Providence Church is a Scriptural saturated church, and our desire is to be saturated with God’s inspired hymnbook.
This morning I exhort you to use these psalms daily. If you will notice in the bulletin, you will always see next Sunday’s psalm printed for you. We place them there for you so you can familiarize yourself with these texts, so you can be attuned to the phase of the Church Calendar we are currently in.
Another point is that when the pastor leads you in these psalms he is leading you to respond with vigor; to respond with greater joy than the psalmist himself. Why? Because the Psalmist hoped for the coming Messiah, we live in the day of the Messiah’s reign. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray: Almighty God, thank you for the psalms. May we grow into the maturity of the psalmist in our singing and corporate response.
A quote from this Sunday’s sermon at Providence:
…the text seems to equate this type of thinking with the worst of theological errors. The overall point of this passage is that unless you embrace the Messiah who is being introduced by the Forerunner, you will perish. Biology matters little apart from Messiah.
Tim Keller wants to Save Your Yuppie Soul, New York Magazine
The evangelical Christian preacher says the secular holy trinity of money, ambition, and achievement is the root of all evil. So why are so many New Yorkers flocking to him?
From Contra Mundum, Volume I, 1955
We do not, however, believe that John Calvin settled all theological, or political, or social or economic problems. We paraphrase a great author on another subject:
It has never happened in any other case that the whole of a science was discovered, at the first attempt, even by the greatest genius; and so it is not surprising that the whole of [social science] was not discovered even by [Calvin]. His greatest handicap was that he was a forerunner; our greatest advantage is that we come after. We who are richer by four centuries of work than the founder of [Calvinism], should endeavor to work better than he . . .
Cheaters, and Tigers, and Idiots, Oh My! by David Bahnsen
This Will Not End Well by George Will
George Will writes:
The president’s party will not support his new policy, his budget will not accommodate it, our overstretched and worn down military will be hard-pressed to execute it, and Americans’ patience will not be commensurate with Afghanistan’s limitless demands for it. This will not end well.
A case can be made for a serious, meaning larger and more protracted, surge. A better case can be made for a radically reduced investment of resources and prestige in that forlorn country. Obama has not made a convincing case for his tentative surgelet. Read the rest of this entry »
My lovely wife is now blogging at Gloria in Excelsis Deo.
I want to offer a few summary thoughts on the Federal Vision following to a great extent Douglas Wilson’s two lectures delivered in the UK. You can purchase the audio here. These posts can be read in two minutes or less. They are basic and should offer a helpful introduction to the topic. I have written a few papers on the topic of Covenant and Election and hope to post them in the future.
Douglas Wilson’s first talk is on the Federal Vision: Conception and Misconceptions. Wilson begins by making a case for why these lectures are necessary. It appears that the UK version of the FV debate is now taking place. Though it is a seven year debate in the US, it is only fresh and new in the UK; thus, answering and clarifying questions concerning the FV is crucial at this stage.
Wilson remarks concerning controversies that “God expects us to be good stewards of everything He entrusts to us, and this includes our disputes.” Hence, the question we should ask in this debate is: “How can we conduct ourselves so that the cause of the gospel is not hindered in the UK or anywhere else?”
Preliminary Comments
We need to understand what the issues actually are. We cannot deny that there are legitimate differences being articulated in the Federal Vision. For instance, no one can deny that Paedocommunion is a uniquely FV emphasis in contrast to traditional Reformed understanding. On the other hand, there are as Wilson calls it “diversionary issues,” which are not issues at all. These are issues that are thrown out there and associated with the FV, but are simply not at the heart of FV thinking. These issues take us away from the real and substantive matters in dispute.
Editor’s Note: Someone has been gracious enough to let me know about a response to Marcellos’ book by John Reisinger entitled In Defense of Jesus, the New Lawgiver.The reader can purchase both books, but I will focus exclusively on Barcellos’ in these reviews.
The book is endorsed by several prominent Reformed Baptist and a few strict subscriptionist Presbyterian writers. This says a few things:
a) These scholars are committed to the London Baptist Confession and Westminster Confession of Faith. This implies a certain confessional presupposition.
b) These writers have a high view of Scriptures. George Knight, for instance, delivered a lecture at Greenville Seminary many years ago about the necessity of Scriptures to all of life. The other endorsers will happily agree.
c) These writers all share a common distaste for Dispensationalism. Kenneth Talbot writes: “…this new teaching (NCT) is nothing more than implicit dispensationalism.” Further, he says that Barcellos’ book “has brilliantly identified the unbiblical errors upon which this man-made doctrine has been established.” In their estimation, NCT is simply a resurrection of another error.
d) The debate centers around exegetical concerns. All writers affirm that Barcellos is capable of critiquing NCT exegesis.
e) All endorsers of this book believe strongly in the continuing validity of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament age.
I can summarize Barcellos’ and his defenders’ theology in the following three statements:
a) High view of biblical authority.
b) Commitment to Confessionalism.
c) Belief in the Continual Validity of the Ten Words to the modern day, which includes a high view of the sabbath (4th commandment).
NCT advocates will certainly concur with the first, but take exception with the second and third.
In the next post, I will focus on the preface to the book.
Recent Comments