History and God

"The greatest proof to me that God exists and this [Christianity] is all true is the history of the Church. With all the scandals and sin, if God's hand wasn't on it, it would have fallen apart a long time ago." ~ Dr. Frank James

Dr. James is a professor at RTS Orlando (one of the sister seminaries of my own). He is a brilliant scholar, knowledgeable historian, and a great professor. I had him for both of my Church History courses.

I really like this quote because it reminds me of the wonder of God's providence. If we look at the history of the Church, there are some triumphs and moments we would love to emulate or relive, but for the most part, the history of the Church has been God saving us from one predicament after another. Without His providential hand on the Church, protecting it, it would have died a long time ago. Do not get me wrong, I love the Church, but that is because she belongs to Jesus and He makes sure that I do.

Think about the history of Israel, for moment. Israel is one of the most ancient cultures still in existence, and they certainly were not a dominant one for the majority of their history. All it takes is a cursory look at the history of the Old Testament to see that most of the time Israel was botching things up and bringing on the judgment of God. They were conquered by many nations much greater than they, and yet, they are still around while most of those nations are long gone. Why? Because God made a covenant with Abraham and promised him that He would make him into a great nation, and God is faithful to His covenants, even if we are not. From a human perspective, the Israelite nation should have died out long ago and yet they lived on. Why? Because God's providential hand was on them.

Consider the persecutions of the early Church in the first few centuries. There were many Roman emperors who were intent on wiping out the pesky Christian religion, but they could not do it. Why? Because God's providential hand was on the Church, sustaining it and refining it in the fire of persecution. "Caesar and Christ had met in the arena and Christ had won."

Think about the Church scandals and fights of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. Once Christians did not have to fight the Roman Empire any longer, we started fighting among ourselves. But, God used these controversies to help the Church define itself by determining the bounds of orthodoxy, now written down in the ancient creeds. However, from a human perspective those scandals and fights should have destroyed us, yet they did not. Why? Because God's providential hand was on the Church, sustaining it amid its own internal turmoil.

You know what this tells me? That God does not really need us. I knew that already, of course, because God is sovereign and independent. Looking at the history of the Church, however, makes this clear to my heart as well as my head. He does not need us to do anything. Yet, He chooses to use us--a sinful, broken people. Why? To answer that, let me tell you a story about a friend of mine.

In order to protect his identity on the Internet, I will change the names. This friend, let us call him Ryan, has an autistic son, let us call him Jack. Jack is 23 years old but has the mind of a seven-year-old, according to Ryan. Ryan, of course, loves Jack with all his heart. If you ever had the privilege of hearing him talk about Jack, that would be readily apparent to you. One day Ryan needed to replace a door nob in his house. Now, by his own admission, Ryan is not very handy, so what would be a 10-minute job for some people is an hour-long job for him. But, this time, Jack wanted to help Ryan replace the nob, and Ryan loves Jack, so he let him help. Now, when you add Jack into the picture, an hour-long job becomes about three hours because Jack makes mistakes or disturbs the process by doing something like playfully picking up the screws and running around the house hoping Ryan will chase him. It tried Ryan's patience, but he loves his son, so he continued to let him help. When Jack's mother got home, Jack declared to her with a huge smile on his face, "We fixed the door nob, Mom!" Ryan's heart was filled with joy at this moment. He knew he could have done it better on his own, but he also knew that Jack needs to be about the business of his father because that brings him joy.

I think this is how God views us. We are the broken race of people who really want to help but are constantly messing things up that He could have done much better on His own. In His providence, why does He let us help? Because He knows that we need to be about our Father's business because that brings us joy. So, He lets us help, and when we screw things up, He puts His providential hand on them and fixes them. This is the story of the history of the Church.

By the way, the image above is the cover of an excellent summary of Church history. If you are interested in getting the highlights of Church history in a single book, I would recommend Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Heavens Declare

¹The heavens declare the glory of God,
   and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
²Day to day pours out speech,
   and night to night reveals knowledge.
³There is no speech, nor are there words,
   whose voice is not heard.
⁴Their voice goes out through all the earth,
   and their words to the end of the world.
~ Psalm 19:1-4

I just recently ran across this beautiful time-lapse video of the earth from the International Space Station. In it you can see the lights of our cities, lightning flashing in storms, the Aurora Borealis, and so much more. It is glorious reminder to me of the beautiful design in our universe and how the heavens truly do declare the glory of God.



If you want a reservoir of images, check out my Space Images Picasa Web Album. I have collected images and captions from all over the web. I add to it anytime I come across an image I find particularly striking.

Also, one of my most popular posts has been "Mote of Dust in a Sunbeam," which is a size comparison to show you just how small you really are in this universe of God's handiwork.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Faith In... What?

"It doesn’t matter how much faith you have, if the object of your faith is not valid you will go straight to hell. The value of the faith is not in the one trusting, but the one in whom you are trusting. … It is not the faithfulness of the one who believes, but rather the faithfulness of the one who is believed in." ~ Josh McDowell

This is a very important point that McDowell is making. It is often thought today that faith saves you. "It does not matter what you believe, just believe in something," you may hear people say. Even Christians sometimes think that it is our faith that saves us, but that is, to quote a friend, "a lie from the pit of hell and it smells like smoke." Our faith is useless if it is not placed in someone who is faithful and deserving of that faith. Faith is foolish if it is not directed at one who is faithful and deserving of our faith. And, that kind of faith is nothing more than the proper response to the faithfulness of what we are looking to. Faith does not save us. It is the work of Jesus Christ that saves and when we place our faith in Him He gives us the gift of the salvation He won for us. Christian faith is objective (meaning dependent on the object faith looks to) and not subjective (meaning dependent on the subject who has the faith). Thank God for that because my faith would get me nowhere fast.

Another important point about this is that this destroys all notion of faith being "a work." It is clear that we are not saved by our works but "grace through faith" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Some have tried to claim that this is inconsistent because faith is a work. Not so. If salvation were dependent on our faith, then yes it would be a work, but salvation is dependent on the work of Christ. Our faith is merely the proper response to His faithfulness to His promises. Faith is merely empty hands where the gift of salvation that Jesus won for us is placed by God. Faith does not add anything to salvation but only the conduit on which is flows to the believer.

By His Grace,
Taylor

John Calvin and Missions

"If it is true that all branches of the Christian family might have done more for missions, it is also true that this branch [Calvinism] has been 'in harness' as long as any expression of Protestantism."

I just finished up a paper for a class on Calvin and missions, which I thought I would share since he and the Reformed tradition have often been accused of not being involved in missions and not caring about missions. Though my paper does not address the Reformed tradition as a whole, it does refute this charge with respect to John Calvin himself, who is generally at the center of this accusation. Below is the introduction to the paper:

John Calvin and his doctrine, the so-called Calvinism that has lived on until today, have continued to be highly controversial in the Church. They were in Calvin’s time and they still are today. One of the constant debates that goes on in the Church today is the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism (a debate that serves to divide Christians in a way that neither John Calvin nor Jacobus Arminius would approve). Within this debate one of the consistent charges leveled against Calvin (and Calvinism) is that he and his doctrine are completely counter-evangelism and counter-missions. The Roman Catholic historian, Joseph Schmidlin, held that all the Reformers, including Calvin, “were not conscious of the missionary idea and displayed no missionary activity.”  Others have echoed this charge. A. Mitchell Hunter, in his book on Calvin’s theology, claimed, “Certainly [Calvin] displayed no trace of missionary enthusiasm.”  Professor of missions William Hogg wrote that Calvinism “worked effectively to throttle missionary endeavor.”  Others have claimed that the Reformers “did not even talk about missions outreach.”  It is said of Calvin that his “horrible doctrine” of divine election makes the missionary activity “nonsense.”  This charge, however, is completely unfounded. 

Those who take a honest look at Calvin’s doctrine and history are forced to conclude that John Calvin was truly a director of missions during the Reformation and the Reformed tradition has produced some of the most active and passionate missionaries this world has seen since the apostolic period. N. Carr Sargant, a Methodist (Arminian) missionary to India, did take a good look at Calvin and wrote, “To praise Arminianism and to reproach Calvinism is the conventional judgment. In respect of missions, however, rigid Calvinism and the warm Arminianism of Wesley were in substance the same.”  He even went so far as to admit that while the Calvinists “had gone to the heathen,” his own tradition only sent preachers to places where Christians were abundant.  In this paper we will look at Calvin’s teaching as well as the Reformation period and show that, while some may have misused Calvin’s teachings as an excuse for evangelistic indifference, Calvin was a director of missions and a man committed to the spread of the gospel throughout the world.

If you would like to read the rest of the paper, you can access it here.

By His Grace,
Taylor

What is Sanctification?

"Union with Christ in his death and resurrection is the element of union which Paul most extensively expounds...if we are united to Christ, then we are united to him at all points of his activity on our behalf. We share in his death (we were baptized into his death), in his resurrection (we are resurrected with Christ), in his ascension (we have been raised with him), in his heavenly session (we sit with him in heavenly places, so that our life is hidden with Christ in God), and we will share in his promised return (when Christ, who is our life, appears, we also will appear with him in glory) (Rom. 6:14; Col. 2:11-12; 3:1-3). This, then, is the foundation of sanctification in Reformed theology. It is rooted, not in humanity and their achievement of holiness or sanctification, but in what God has done in Christ, and for us in union with him. Rather than view Christians first and foremost in the microcosmic context of their own progress, the Reformed doctrine first of all sets them in the macrocosm of God's activity in redemptive history. It is seeing oneself in this context that enables the individual Christian to grow in true holiness." ~ Sinclair Ferguson

If you want to get a great summary of the Reformed, and I think correct, view of sanctification you can find it in Sinclair's article in Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification. His article is worth the price of the book alone, but it is also great to see other traditions' views presented by their best scholars and critiqued by each other. In a nutshell, below is how I would explain sanctification:

What is sanctification? From the Reformed perspective sanctification can be defined as the life-long process (Philippians 1:6) of our whole man being conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) through the work of God’s grace (John 1:16; II Corinthians 9:8; 12:9) by the agency of the Spirit (Galatians 3:1-5; I Corinthians 6:11) applying the blessings of our union with Christ (John 14:20; 15:5; Ephesians 5:25-32) to us through the means of grace—the sacraments, the Word of God, and prayer.

When does this happen? In the logical order of salvation sanctification begins after our justification and adoption and continues until our glorification. One might ask, “Why is this important?” It is important because we must understand that the foundation for the transformative process of sanctification is our forensic standing before God. We are declared righteous and adopted into the family of God by being united to Christ through the Holy Spirit. Only on the certainty of this foundation can we truly understand the way of sanctification. The principal means of the believer’s sanctification is union with Christ. As Paul reminds the Galatians, this foundation assures us that sanctification is not by human effort—it began with faith in Christ, it will end with Christ, and in between it continues with faith in Christ (Galatians 3:1-5).

The key focus that needs to be brought out is that Christ Himself is our sanctification (I Corinthians 1:30) and it is only by our union with Him through the agency of the Spirit that we can “bear fruit” (John 15:5) in our Christian lives. Paul reminds us in Romans 6:5-8 that we were united with Christ in His death, we were united with Christ in His burial, and we are united with Christ in life. It is because of this union with Christ that we can “consider [ourselves] dead to sin and alive to God” (Romans 6:11). Being united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection broke our chains of slavery to sin and made us “slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:15-18). It is only because of the blessings of this union with Christ that Paul can pastorally say to his Roman audience, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (Romains 6:12) for it does not and cannot depend on “human effort” (Galatians 3:3).

If we are united to Christ and can have victory over our sin by this union why, then do we still sin? To understand this we must remember that God has replaced our heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26-27) and created in us a new, inner man—we are a new creation in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17)—but since we have not yet been glorified with Christ the old, outer man still persists (Ephesians 4:22-23). The flesh has been defeated, but the loser still fights. We will not be completely free of sin until we are glorified with Christ and the old man is completely done away with.

How does the Spirit reshape us into the image of God? It is not by works that the Spirit molds us into the image of Christ. Good works do not produce holiness. It is the grace of God working in us by the Spirit through faith in Christ that produces holiness. How then do we receive this grace? The Spirit applies this grace to our lives through the use of the means of grace—the Word of God, the sacraments, and prayer. This is contrary to our normal was of thinking. We feel like we have to do something—that we must bring something to the table. However, we do not bring anything to the table, we rest in Christ. Sanctification, like justification, is by faith in Christ. We do this by letting the Spirit minister to our hearts through the Word of God (the reading, study, and especially the preaching of the Word in public worship), the observing of the sacraments during worship, and prayer (private and corporate). By the Spirit’s work through the means of grace we can respond with works of thankfulness to the unconditional love of God shown in the gospel. By the Spirit’s work through the means of grace we draw near to Christ and let the Spirit sanctify us in Him.

By His Grace,

Taylor