What free grace can do!!

The argument one constantly hears is that free, undeserved grace will set loose the evil that remains in us. Many well-intentions evangelicals cannot see how works should be left out of justification. It just makes no sense to them. And left to themselves will find a way to get it in under the door. But John Newton observed over 200 years ago that the doctrine of free grace accomplishes the very thing that men think can be obtained by preaching the law. In fact, history demonstrates that the preaching of the law as a means to acceptance with God leads away from Him and not toward. John Newton in A Review of Ecclesiastical History which was published in 1769 wrote these words:

Whenever and wherever the doctrines of free grace and justification by faith have prevailed in the Christian Church, and according to the degree of clearness with which they have been enforced, the practical duties of Christianity have flourished in the same proportion. Wherever they have declined, or been tempered with the reasonings and expedients of men, either from a well-meant, though mistaken fear, lest they should be abused, or from a desire to accommodate the gospel, and render it more palatable to the depraved taste of the world, the consequence has always been, an equal declension in practice. So long as the gospel of Christ is maintained without adulteration, it if found sufficient for every valuable purpose; but when the wisdom of man is permitted to add to the perfect work of God, a wide door is opened for innumerable mischiefs.

That’s to Challies for the useful reference.

Pessimisms

Why torture yourself when life will do it for you?  Laura Walker

Fathers of the Church online

My exploration of the Fathers of the Church has led me in so many directions that I have had to intentionally narrow my focus. Right now I am reading the contributions of Thomas Oden and letting him guide me. I am also reading some selected writings of the Fathers at a regular pace. Here is a grand listing of them. No use to go out and buy a lot of books. Too much is available for free especially since copyright is not an issue.

I am interested in adding volumes to my library from IVP’s Ancient Christian Commentaries on Scripture. Oden edits this 29 volume series.

The big worship goof!!!

iMonk has a post on worship in the evangelical church. It’s worth the read. His point? We’ve adopted an approach that demands ridiculous levels of musical, technical and financial commitment and resources. The demands put on music in the average evangelical church is an animal that you cannot feed.

Diversity, generational compatibility, even simplicity are all being blown up. Worship is now a major audience event, led by skilled entertainers, aimed at a demographic and judged by the audience reaction. God? God has been moved around to be things like a reluctant Spirit we sing down with our songs or a divine innovator always blessing as much radical change as possible. Why do I call this a goof? Because there is no way for this to end well. This is like a NASCAR car with the throttle stuck open. We’re stuck on a roller coaster and we can’t get off.

I got off, and I don’t want to go back. I am finding that worship is the work of the people and that the church cannot afford to turn them into an audience willing to pay big ticket prices for a good show. We have created a monster, and though we think we have Frankenstein strapped to the table, we don’t.

Thoughtful people know what is going on. In the midst of all the “excellence” (key word for attractional worship models) the consumer is aware of the actual transaction going on. And when he thinks about it, it is a bit depressing. He knows that this kind of thing puts butts in the seats and nickels in the plates, but in his more honest moments he thinks about what has been lost. The worshiper has been turned into a consumer, a market segment that has been turned into a dumb and emotionally driven matrix of desires, needs and preferences to which the church has learned how to cater.  He knows it, but does it anyway. And at times doesn’t like himself for doing so. I have very seldom met a laymen from a market-driven church that does not apologize for what his church is doing. He knows how big the downside is and where it leads. But he does it anyway. After all, what else can he do? Go to one of those smaller, boring churches where grandma is on the organ and when her arthritis is kicking up there is no telling what song is going to get played no matter how the score reads. No thank you. I think I will go to the show.

Obviously, there is a middle ground here. And the church will find its way back to it. Our moral sense demands it, for something has gone wrong, terribly, terribly wrong.

Today’s Quote 6/14/09

The beloved fourth century early church father, John Chrysostom of Antioch, wrote near the end of his life after being exiled by the Empress Eudoxia for confronting her extreme materialistic and opulent lifestyle these words of prayer and adoration,

“A monarch vested in gorgeous habiliments is far less illustrious than a knelling supplicant enabled and adorned by communion with his God. Consider how august a privilege it is when angels are present and archangels’ throng around. Where Cherubim and Seraphim encircle with their blaze the throne of God that a mortal may approach with unrestrained confidence and converse with Heaven’s dread Sovereign. Oh, what honor was ever conferred like that? How inestimable is the privilege of entering into the throne room of God surrounded by the hosts of His heavenly angels to commune in simplicity and with rapt attention with the One who is devoted to us. If prayer were nothing more than that, it would be the highest honor to pray without ceasing!”