Fire Insurance and the Get Out of Jail Free Card....

    As I write this blog, I'm sitting here wearing my SECURITY shirt from my old youth ministry is Mobile, AL.  It happens to have Romans 8:38-39 on it too!  Keep this in mind as you read!  Ironic!  Recently I posted a post on an online discussion question for the Systematic Theology class I'm taking pertaining to the Perseverance of the Saints.  In Baptist world, we like to identify this as as "Eternal Security" or "Once Saved, Always Saved."  This blog could easily coincide with the Calvinist vs. Armeniasm posts because this is yet another separation of the two camps of theology.  If you've not read those blogs, you should know that I profess to be neither a Calvinist (in the Hyper-Calvinist/Reformed sense), nor an Armenianist.  I believe that both of these theological camps have some major flaws in their presentation and theology.   I would rather be called Biblical!  Isn't that much better anyway?  I will identify with Jesus!   He's the only name I'd like to be linked to in a theological sense. 

    Our professor in that Systematic Theology class asked us to explain the meaning of perseverance of the saints. How does this doctrine provide assurance for the believer? How could its misunderstanding undercut accountability for obedience and Christ-like living, thereby providing a sense of false (unbiblical) assurance for those who have never genuinely entrusted their lives to Christ in faith?
   
 Here is my reply...
    According to Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology, the perseverance of the saints means that all those who truly are regenerated (born again) will be kept by God's power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until they end are truly born again. Although certainly objective (the work of God) in salvation, persevering in subjective (the work of the redeemed) in a sense too. If a "Christian" continues in the faith, then there conversion was genuine and authentic. If they fall away, they their conversion should be understood as false. We must never imply that salvation is a result of works (Ephesians 2), but faith must be accompanied by deeds (James 2). The Holy Spirit plays such a critical role here in assurance of salvation. If one professes a conversion but does not have the Spirit of God in their life convicting of sin, working in sanctification, and producing the fruits of the Spirit, then either they have suppressed the Spirit (which is dangerous) or their conversion is false. In Baptist life, we like to use the phrase, "once saved, always saved" and "eternal security". However, these phrases evoke a level of water-downed faith. It's basically like getting your fire insurance or "get out of jail free card". A genuine believer, however, cannot separate the saving aspect of salvation with the Lordship aspect of salvation! To have experienced conversion in a real way always leads to a pursuit of the things of God. This does not mean that Christians won't fall short and sin, but that sin won't be their master. The Lord is the Master! However, when a genuine believer sins, they do not lose their salvation because it is secure in the hand of God (see Romans 8:38-39). Christ is powerful enough to seal the believer's eternity!

     On a personal note, the burden of being called to pastor is in those "in the flock" that demonstrate no fruit of the Spirit in their life. It certainly is not ours to judge, but Scripture tells us that fruit will be evident of those redeemed. Yes, they may be on the church membership role, served as Sunday School teachers, deacons, committee members for years, but their relationship is not secure with God. This burden keeps me up at night because in the end this person will miss eternity with God by 18 mere inches, the distance from the head to the heart. Matthew 7:22-23 illustrate this burden, "On that day many will say to me, ‘ Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘ I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" May the church be true members of the Church! Salvation is found in other but Jesus Christ! No sacrament, church membership, position, title, or reputation can merit salvation!

   Can true believers lose their salvation?  No.  I cannot label this eternal security though because only genuine followers of Christ persevere until the end!  There are many good people in the church that believe they are genuine Christians because of a prayer they recited many years ago.  "Once Saved, Always Saved" is a delusion for these people.   You cannot lose something that you've never received!  

  So, how do you know?   How do you know that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?
(1) Have you truly, in your heart, asked God to forgive your sins and turned in repentance?  Have you declared your belief in Jesus Christ as "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6)?  Have you committed your life to following Him?  Has there been a change?  Jesus always brings change to the heart and life of those He encounters!  

(2)  Does your life bear fruit of this salvation experience?  True believers will develop Spiritual fruit... the fruit of the Spirit (See Galatians 5:22-23).   Are you becoming more like Christ daily and dealing with your sin problem?

(3)  Is the Holy Spirit's Presence active in your life?   Scripture says that the Holy Spirit is the "seal" of our salvation, the assurance of this relationship with God through Christ (see Ephesians 1).  If the Spirit is present, then your relationship is genuine!

    This blog isn't meant to make true believers question their relationship with God.  However, if you're reading this and banking on a mystical prayer, church membership, or good works to get you to God, then I beg you to fall flat on your face before God today in repentance, belief, and commitment to Christ!  Until next time....

Fan or Follower....

    I thoroughly enjoy reading!  I remember the days that I hated it.  It was those days in high school and college where you had to read certain things that you little to no interest in.  It was painstaking.  Yet, I have found that reading is therapeutic!  It's also a good leadership principle.... Leaders are learners!  I have to ask you, what are reading?  Most often, I am reading something that will spiritually challenge me.  Every now and then I will read something that is just entertaining and can clear my mind.  I suggest that is not the norm though if you are seeking deep intimacy with the Lord.  Below are a few of my favorite books.  These are in no particular order.

Joey's TOP 10...

1. Crazy Love by Francis Chan
2. Radical by David Platt
3. Slave by John MacArthur
4. Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
5. Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley
6. The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus
7. Be Intolerant by Ryan Dobson
8. Forgotten God by Francis Chan
9. The Shack by William Paul Young (although not recommended as a theology work)
10. Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman

    The last book listed there is my most recent read.  It's one of those books that once you pick it up, it's hard to put it down!  It's an easy read, but heavy in ramifications!   I would suggest that you NOT read if you want a comfortable version of Christianity and you want to feel good about your faith.  It's not a "feel good theology" work!  Yet, it's refreshingly honest!  Kyle Idleman did an exceptional job challenging believers to move from "fan" to "follower" describing what each look and operate like!  This is not a book review, but I'd give it 5 stars! 

   I have to admit the entire work was convicting and challenging for me!  As a young pastor-to-be, God is shaping my ministry before I ever begin.  He is using books like this, incredible sermons, good seminary classes, and personal evaluation to mold me into what He wants me to be as a husband, father, pastor, and man!  The premise of Not a Fan is that there is a huge difference between BELIEVE and FOLLOW.  The Church has often watered down the message so that it won't be unappealing to the world.  Although it might be a good marketing technique, it should have no place in the Church!  We don't preach abandonment, surrender, and complete obedience anymore!  It's more of a "smorgasbord" at church, suggesting that people can pick out of the Bible what they want to live out.  Jesus doesn't just demand our belief, He died for our obedience!  He is LORD!  If you want to dive deeper into that connotation, read Slave by John MacArthur!  We are not bond servants in that we get to choose what we want to do.  We are slaves that work at the pleasure and glory of the Master! 

   Here is an excerpt from Not a Fan that I thought was incredible convicting....

"This is how many sermons are presented.  I think a lot of well-intended preachers adopt a Snuggie Theology when they find themselves in churches of a few hundred people and discover an incredible pressure to grow.  The attendance isn't what was hope for, and the offerings are down.  Before they know it has happened they gauge success not by their faithfulness to God's Word but by the weekend stats.  And so the sermons get sanitized.  Scripture gets edited.  The cross gets covered up.  The sermons are more about salvation, but never about surrender.  Often about forgiveness, but never about repentance.  Often about living, but never about dying." (165) 

   
 Again, I'd like to declare that I love the Church and this blog is not one of those "attack the Church" blogspots!  Yet, a generation of FOLLOWERS must rise up and through the Holy Spirit return the Church back to it's foundational principles and doctrines!  Watered down sermons make people feel good, but will do nothing for their eternal spiritual problem!  If we don't preach the full truths of the Gospel including the hard things like surrender, sacrifice, repentance, dying, and Hell, then we are doing similar to the Pharisees, when Jesus of them, that they were making "proselytes" that are "twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." (Matthew 23:15)  I'm not suggesting that "social gospel" preachers are lost, but I'm sure that we are compounding the problem by not standing up and preaching the Truth!  The late, great Adrian Rogers says it best, "It is better to tell a truth that hurts and then heals, then a lie that comforts and then kills."  Omitting the Truth is lying!  God's Word is declared as the Word of Truth!  Preach it!  Teach it!  Read it!  Love it!  Sure, it's painful because it exposes our sinful selves!  Yet, it draws us to repentance and forgiveness!  The goal of a Christian's life is sanctification, to be more like Christ every day as we continually put sin to death!  We need God's Word preached completely and truthfully! 

In the beginning of the Church....

    How do we get this from that?  How do we get our version of Christianity from what is outlined as the beginning of the Church in Acts?  In fact, I would agree with many that our version of Church has very little in common with the Early Church!  Now, please understand me here.  I am not bashing on the Church or any individual church congregation!  I love the CHURCH!  I praise God that I am apart of a local body of believers that is amazing and I praise God that He has allowed me to serve Him in some amazing fellowships!  However, I am under conviction that the majority of "churches" are missing it entirely!  

    I feel as if God is pouring into me right now!  I have never had the opportunity to rest, read, and study like I have until now.   I have to admit I really miss being in the ministry of the local church!  I have accepted God's timing in this matter though!  I have found the blue lining in this sabbatical, intimacy!  I have no reason to boast except that in Christ!  However, my intimacy level with Him has significantly deepened!  He is pouring into me through His Word, books that I am reading, my professors, and through sermons I am hearing live and in podcast form!  Praise be to God for this incredible journey!

  One of the most recent sermon messages I've heard comes from one of my heroes, Andy Stanley.  As I listened last night, I got excited with the ramifications of Acts 2!  Acts 2 is about the Day of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit came down and changed everything!  Many conservative Baptist may feel a little uncomfortable about this event for our Pentecostal and charismatic brothers have interpreted the gift of tongues differently that we have.  That's entirely a different discussion though!  Do not be anxious about this blessing though!  As Andy Stanley says, "It was opening day in the church!"   Jesus promised that He would send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, in His departure.  In fact, He said that it was good that He go away so that the Spirit of Truth can come and empower these disciples!  Acts 2 is the fulfillment of this wonderful promise! 

   The beauty of the Holy Spirit's Filling in Acts 2 is that God empowered ordinary men to do extraordinary work that would spread the Gospel across the globe!  On that day, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in "tongues" that were previously unknown to these mostly uneducated disciples.  In context of the Scripture here, these "tongues" were not unknown by the crowd, for people began to understand in their native language the message of the Gospel!  We must look at the full context of well developed text to better understand the gift of tongues!  Whether you are Baptist or Pentecostal or any other denomination, tongues must be understood as a gifting to evangelism!   Peter then began what we might label the first sermon ever preached in the church!  Can you guess what it was about?  JESUS!   It was the story of His Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension!  The message was about the declaration that God "has made him (Jesus) both Lord and Christ." (2:26).  The end result of this great beginning is found in Acts 2:41...

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

   The remainder of Acts 2 lays out the distinctions of the this movement of God in that they were discipled by the Apostles, fellowshipped daily, prayed fervently, met the needs of the poor and need, and were evangelistic!  And the movement continued...

And the Lord added to their number day by day those were being saved. (Acts 2:47)

    Imagine a Revival like that in your church!  I don't believe people would worry about parking, the color of the carpet, worship style, what people wore, or anything else trivial!  When the Spirit of God moves like this, people are saved and the Church is awakened again!  You can count on a deepening intimacy, passionate worship, strong Biblical teaching and preaching, and contagious evangelism in these days!

   The Filling of the Holy Spirit is not a second event after salvation.  The only exception to this was the Day of Pentecost for it was the beginning of a new work of the Holy Spirit, a new covenant work in the life of the church!  Today however, it's not a matter of getting more of the Holy Spirit!  It's a matter of the Holy Spirit having more of you!  Will you surrender all to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to do as He chooses?  Will you share the Gospel today?  Will you pray for Revival fires in the Church?