'Almighty God . . . . .

One of the positive things about Prayer Book (PB) worship (not perhaps appreciated by some who use a PB) is the way it keeps a congregation and leader 'on track'. Believe it or not, we are prone to wander, to lose direction and to find ourselves headed for the quicksands of heresy (Acts 20.29f; 2Pet2.1).

When I first attended Anglican church PB services in the '80s much about the services was foreign to me. I had been brought up in 'non-conformist' (without knowing it) Pentecostal worship¹ (following some of the practices of the Churches of Christ and Baptists, plus the expression of the charisms of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor 12.8-10).

The Forgotten Father

The title of this post takes its cue from a book written by Tom Smail (1928-2012) on the first person in the Trinity, God the Father, a study, which I heartily recommend.

Smail had a Church of Scotland background but later entered the Anglican ordained ministry; he was evangelical, and charismatic (but with reservations later in his career) in churchmanship.

He was a learned theologian and a godly man who wrote with care about church teachings-practices which he believed were becoming lopsided in emphasis.

He believed that in evangelical and charismatic circles an over-emphasis on the Son and the Spirit with a corresponding under-emphasis on God the Father¹ was in evidence.

One can only speculate why this state of affairs might have arisen. I suspect it began with revival² movements which also affected Australia in the mid-1850s and also into the 20th century.

Song Affects Christian Living 

It's well to remember that the manner in which any church group sings influences their living, sometimes even more than what is preached! The Wesleys back in the 18th century knew that and the Wesley hymns are rich doctrinally because they understood hymn singing to be educational!

The revivalist movements became evangelistic, usually mass evangelism, and produced songs, choruses and hymns. These tended to push the Lord Jesus into greater prominence than had been the case before their development. I guess they took this action for both biblical reasons and because they were reacting to liberalism and modernism which had all but denied the sacrificial and miraculous work of Christ incarnate. 

Hence, these newer movements (rightly) sang much about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to place the work of Christ's redemption at the centre of the plan of reconciliation.

Unfortunately, a decline in the prominence of God the Father ensued. (Maybe this change was also affected by the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements which emphasised the Holy Spirit, and Jesus as the baptiser with the Holy Spirit.)

Who is Jesus?

Every one of the gospel accounts is concerned with this question and every one of them answers it. Each one shows how Jesus is bonded to his Father in heaven.

For example, the declarations of the Peter about Jesus point to his relationship with God.³ One records, 'You are the Christ' (Mk 8.29); another says, 'You are the Christ of God' (Lu 9.20); and a fuller account adds, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God' (Mt 16.16). 

In the fourth gospel, the writer says of his record that it is a call to believe, 'that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God' (Jn 20.31).

We find in John's account, the question about Jesus answered in some detail in chapter 1 verses 1-18. As the Word (logos) he is 'with' God and is God (Jn 1.1c). And further, Jesus is the 'only begotten of the Father' (Jn 1.14) and 'in the bosom' (Jn 1.18), inseparable from God the Father.

To that witness can be added the human witness of John the Baptist (Behold the Lamb of God!)(Jn 1.29a, 36) and then the initially sceptical Nathaniel calls Jesus, 'the Son of God, the King of Israel' (Jn 1.49). 

Following that comes Jesus' own witness to Himself, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man' (Jn 1.51; Dan 7.13-14).

To be 'Christ', 'Messiah' is to be anointed for a calling and task by the Holy Spirit; and in these references, it is God's own Son who has been called to the vocation of freeing his people from the bondage of sin.

My point is that Jesus is always one with the Father even when he is in the garden of Gethsemane and even when he is on the cross.⁴ The cross and all it entailed was done according to 'the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God' (Acts 2.23).

Jesus, The Way To The Father

My plea is not one urging Christians to reduce their devotion to the Lord Jesus -hardly- but in perhaps taking up the challenge of reading the fourth gospel to see how Jesus constantly refers to his Father directly.

Jesus is the only Way but to where? Jesus is the only way to the Father (Jn 14.6) through the power of the Holy Spirit (Jn 3.5).

If that is so, we should also ensure that we don't become 'Jesus people' alone but disciples of Christ our Lord giving all the members of the Godhead their rightful places as revealed in scripture; and at the same time, emphasising the unity of God (Deut 6.4; 1Tim 1.17; 1Jn 4.7).

1. Interestingly, 'western' Christians (Catholics, Protestants) tend to emphasise the oneness of God over the three-ness of God -the reverse being the case in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Pentecostals and charismatic Christians don't always self-identify with Protestantism so I'm not so sure they can be easily classified using these categories.
2. 'Revival' is chiefly about the renewal of an existing but dying or dead church. However, revival of the church frequently leads to others outside the church's meetings being drawn into the Faith through active evangelism.
3. In the NT, the Father is typically called 'God' (e.g., Jn 17.3; 2 Cor 13.14); less often are the Son (Jn 1.1; 20.28; Rom 9.5; 1 Tim 3.16; Titus 2.13), and the Spirit (Acts 5.3-4).
4. Despite the strange doctrine taught today that God 'left him'! We need to examine Psalm 22, the psalm from which Jesus is quoting, and realise that to quote the first line of a psalm as He did is to invoke the rest of the psalm as well. But furthermore, this psalm is a Messianic psalm! That's the major point involved in Jesus' citing it on the cross. He is saying in effect, 'I am the Messiah!'. Christians should read through the entire psalm, carefully noting the details. In particular, we need to note how the psalm ends.

A Church's Most Important Piece Of Furniture (2)

'Then the preacher said the most provocative words that church congregations need to hear and act on today.

The most significant piece of 'furniture' or fitting in this building are: 

the doors through which you will all leave at the end of this service and go out into the world.'

I ended with the above words in my last post.

I'm a bit crabby at the moment. Yes, I know, good Christians are not supposed to get irritable, fractious, fretful, cross, petulant, pettish, crabbed, crotchety, cantankerous, disagreeable, miserable, morose, peppery, edgy, impatient, querulous; etc but I am. 

I think my crabbiness has to do with the fact that the visible, institutional church doesn't get it! But then I have to remember that for many years I didn't get it either until a rude, Dutchman woke me up out of my dogmatic slumber. 

So I have nothing to boast about. None of us does. The church is in such a parlous condition in Australia that none of us has anything to brag about. Australia is also in such an alarming state and the Lord God is its only salvation but it fails to give Him the time of day.

So, what am I talking about? I'm talking about the church which fails to preach in such a way that every area of the WORK and LIFE of the congregation sitting being taught is addressed by the Word of God. Every area! 

Let me give you an example. Tom leaves his church building and on Monday he is at work in a job he hates. It is boring and to him seemingly pointless. He goes to an enlightened church friend and talks about this problem. 

His friend says, 'Maybe this boring job is where God wants you to be for the time being. How can you erect a small sign of God's Kingdom in this place? If you saw your boring job as Kingdom work, what would that do for the way you approach your work?'


Tom decided that he would come to work a quarter of an hour earlier each day and set that time aside to meet any others who were in early. Gradually with this change, he developed stronger relationships with his work colleagues which had all sorts of exciting consequences. 

For example, the others found out he was a Christian which provoked conversations about the Faith; two of them separately asked him if he would pray for various situations in their lives.

This group of workers began then to think about their work practices and how their work situation could be improved. They approached their supervisor about forming a work practices committee to suggest improvements to the running of the business.

Tom asked his church to pray for him at his work. In fact, his Vicar's interest in Tom's request led him to say, 'Could I come to your workplace and see what you're doing?'.

Like music to my ears! The institutional church seeing that it's not all about it and its evangelism programs, or getting every church member to become an evangelist. God is the God of every legitimate part of human living.

The Australian community is not listening to the church because it is not doing its ministry in workplaces, neighbourhoods, mothering networks through its congregants, the little people. And by ministry, I don't just mean trying to get people to come to church! Ministry in these areas is more than that. And it's more than evangelism. Much more.   

A Church's Most Important Piece of Furniture (1)

A church minister recently related this experience. He said, he heard another church minister ask his congregation, 'What is the most important piece of furniture in the church building?'

You might think, the questioner went on, that it's the church's lectern because it's the place where the holy Scriptures are read. 

But you'd be wrong.

You might think, he continued, that it's the pulpit where the Word of God is preached or the Lord's table from where the 'spiritual body' and 'spiritual blood' of our Saviour are dispensed.

But, you'd be wrong.

By now, the whole congregation is wondering where is all this going?

What could be more significant than any of these items that have been mentioned?

Then the preacher said the most provocative words that church congregations need to hear and act on today.

The most significant piece of furniture in this building are the doors through which you will leave at the end of this service and go out into the world.

Next time we will consider why these words are so important.

Lordship Salvation

Introduction

Last time we examined Free Grace Theology (FGT) and how, according to this theology, we receive salvation. FGT maintains that we receive it on the basis of belief-in-Christ alone. Significantly, FGT distinguishes between the 'call to believe' and the 'call to follow' (see Free Grace Theology) arguing that for salvation it is only necessary to believe on the Lord Jesus (e.g., Acts 16.31), that is, to answer the 'call to believe'.

Lordship Salvation

In opposition to FGT is Lordship Salvation (LS)¹ which believes that the 'call to follow' Jesus Christ is part and parcel of the 'call to believe' (Matt 28.19-20; Rom 1.5, 16.26; etc). LS is convinced that discipleship is an inherent part of true belief in Christ as Lord.

Hence, one of the major teachings of LS is that being saved-by-grace-through-faith is always followed by works (Eph 2.8-10; Jas 2.17-20). The two (belief, and good works) will inevitably go together because 'faith without works is dead'.² (FGT would say that discipleship is a thoroughly desirable result of belief in Christ but not an automatic one.)

John MacArthur's, The Gospel According To Jesus (1988)³ sparked a major controversy between the two groups. MacArthur spoke about his views here: his major point in his article centres on the nature of saving faith.


Theologically, this is the crux of the disagreement between the two sides with FTG saying that saving faith is 'confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in your heart that God has raised him from the dead' (Rom 10.9, 10 also). But, MacArthur for LS counters this notion by saying that saving faith necessarily involves repentance (Acts 2.38; 3.19; 11.18; 17.30; 26.20) obedience to Christ (Matt 7.21;1 Jn 3.23-24).

Repentance

Both camps argue about the meaning of repentance^4,5 with FTG asserting that it simply means to change one's mind about someone or something. One the other hand, the LS group says that repentance is not just changing your opinion about who Jesus Christ is. For in scripture repentance is inextricably connected with sorrow for sin, turning from sin, and a change of life (e.g., see Matt 3.8). Jesus joined repentance with believing the gospel (Mk 1.15): 'repent and believe the gospel'! 

Why was Jesus able to declare to others that Zacchaeus had entered into eternal life (Luke 19.1-8, 9-10)? Jesus knew because of the change in Zacchaeus heart towards the poor, and about his former (presumed) cheating of taxpayers (Luke 19.8). 

LS would argue that it wasn't just that Zacchaeus believed in Jesus as the Messiah but that he showed repentance for his former life by granting restitution to those he had cheated. Jesus confirmed Zacchaeus' new status by saying, 'This day is salvation come to this house'.

Covenantalism

At another level of theology, this squabble can be understood in terms of different views about how the biblical covenants are organised. The LS group tends to adhere to a view usually called 'covenant theology'⁶.

The covenantal view of redemption history holds that the Trinity made 'the covenant of redemption' among themselves purposing to save humanity by the Father sending of the Son, anointed by the Spirit, to die and rise again for sinners. 

Before the Fall into sin, 'the covenant of works' operated; after that, 'the covenant of grace' functioned under both the old and new administrations. Hence, three covenants in all.

The various biblical covenants explicitly referred to such as the Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New are different administrations of the covenant of grace. This notion is derived from the writings of John Calvin and thus Christian traditions associated with his teaching ('Reformed', Presbyterian, some Anglicans and some Baptists) have continued the Lutheran-Calvinian Reformed teaching of the importance of repentance and obedience in the lives of those claiming to be recipients of God's grace.        

1. Could also be titled, 'discipleship salvation' but as it is commonly called 'Lordship salvation' I will use that title.
2. The answer given by the FGT camp to this citation of James 2 is to say that James is speaking about the judgement of Christians with respect to future rewards (Jas 2.12-13).
3. Two expansions and revisions followed in 1994, and 2008.
4. God is even said to repent (Gen 6.6; Exod 32.14) (which can be understood as language used to accommodate to humans as creatures living in a world of change).
5. The Greek is metanoe-o' which literally translates as 'a change of mind'. However, we should not just accept 'literal' meanings as though they were law. It's far better to examine the way the word is used in the Bible to discover its meaning in context.
6. However, this is by no means a hard and fast rule. John F. MacArthur adheres to LS strongly but is a dispensationalist. I grew up in a movement which accepted and preached LS without question but which was also dispensationalist. 

How Are We Made Part Of God's Salvation?

It may be thought that debates about what constitutes 'salvation' are just arguments for theologians in academia. However, as someone has rightly said, 'ideas have legs'.

That is, ideas don't just swan around in some academic ether but become embodied in preachers' hearts and minds, and in words and actions. Hence, members of congregations become affected.

Dispensationalism And Salvation

Dispensationalism has been defined in posts on my One People Of God blog¹ as a view taken of many Bible issues on a radical theological distinction between Israel and the Church. In short, two people of God exist: one earthly, Israel; and one heavenly, the Church.


An implication of the acceptance of this belief in a radical distinction between Israel and the Church is the associated idea of there being at two gospels: one for the Jewish people, and one for the Gentiles (and Jews) prepared to believe that Jesus is God's Son.

Dispensationalists base this claim about these two gospels on the fact that when Jesus Christ preached to the Jews, he spoke in terms of a 'gospel of the kingdom' (e.g., Matt 4.23). Dispensationalists argue that that gospel is the good news that Messiah would come, end the kingdom oppressing the Jews (i.e., Rome in the first century after Christ), free the Jews from their enemies, and set up a Kingdom to rule over all the earth.

However, as we know that didn't happen! Israel rejected the Messiah and consorted with the Romans to put him to death by crucifixion.

According to dispensationalism, God then put his plans for liberation of Israel on hold -he postponed the preaching of the Kingdom- and ushered in the church age.

This new 'church' age has a different gospel associated with it: the 'gospel of grace' (e.g., Acts 20.24). Hence, the Christian church (according to dispensationalism) does not come under the banner of the 'gospel of the kingdom' (e.g., Matt 4.23) or the 'gospel of God'. (The latter, it is said, was preached only to Israel (Jewry)). The Church comes under the gospel of 'free grace' and theology associated with this viewpoint is dubbed 'free grace theology'(FGT). This FGT then, is strongly linked with dispensationalism². 

How Is One Saved According To FGT?

To simplify the situation: the central principle all the FGT groups hold in common is that belief alone in Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation.

Now you may be saying, 'Well that's what I believe too and, furthermore, Acts 16.31, teaches that explicitly so what's the problem?'.

The issue that arises in response to the above question for those outside the FTG group is the one of obedience. The FGT group does not accept that obedience to the commandments of Christ is necessary for salvation. 

In other words, not only does FTG draw a sharp distinction between justification by faith alone and the work of sanctification in believers' hearts, it maintains that justification by faith is all that is required for ultimate salvation.

So, once a person has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they are saved and do not have to do anything else to be saved. That includes anything in the future either; for to be saved means to be eternally saved.

Next time, we will examine the opposition to FGT which comes in the doctrine known as Lordship Salvation.


1. These posts are now also to be found exported to this blog too. See earlier months in this year for relevant titles. The posts are roughly in sequence.
2. However, not all dispensationalists are adherents of FGT. John MacArthur, a dispensationalist, is one of the strongest opponents of FGT.