The Mask of Christianity

The Mask of Christianity

Empty smile painted faces

Extended hands and social graces

Little boys who know their verses

Women with designer purses

Suits and ties – a bible clutched

Whose hearts the Savior has not touched

Sit in pews as worship starts

With vacant eyes and empty hearts

Actors trained and singers taught

They sit and rise without a thought

Of who He is, and yet they come

Their gaze is blank—their hearts are numb

They walk around from day-to-day

With empty words you hear them say

“Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord”

Their sheath is bare—they have no sword.

A mask of Christianity

Has become their sad reality

No saving grace - no love is known

The fruit is fake – no seeds are sown

O’ Lord remove their fake veneer

Let them see the Savior’s tear

Pierce their souls-with fiery darts

Give them life – change their hearts

D.L. Kane  - 10-24-09

God's Glory as our Chief End (Part three)

If you have not read the previous two posts, I would encourage you to do so.  It is about understanding why we do what we do and the effect of what we do when we do it.  It's about the overarching motivation behind all of our activities including a Women's Ministry.

God's word is "Christ-Centered" and yet the churches and many of the activities have become "man-centered" or "self-centered".  Ask yourself, "Why do I go to church?"  "Why do I serve in a ministry?", Why do I sing praises?"  "Why do I read the Bible?"   Why do I strive to live a moral life?"  "Why do I share Christ with others?"    

Ponder those questions before reading on...

Q. What is it to live to God?

A. When we live to his service, and lay ourselves out wholly for God.

The Lord has sent us into the world, as a merchant sends his agent beyond the seas to trade for him. We live to God when we trade for his interest, and propagate his gospel. God has given every man a talent; and when a man does not hide it in a napkin, but improves it for God, he lives to God. When a master in a family, by counsel and good example, labours to bring his servants to Christ; when a minister spends himself, and is spent, that he may win souls to Christ, and make the crown flourish upon Christ's head; when the magistrate does not wear the sword in vain, but labours to cut down sin, and to suppress vice; this is to live to God, and this is glorifying God. Phil. 1:20. "That Christ might be magnified, whether by life or by death." Three wishes Paul had, and they were all about Christ; that he might be found in Christ, be with Christ, and magnify Christ.

1. We glorify God by walking cheerfully. It brings glory to God, when the world sees a Christian has that within him that which can make him cheerful in the worst times; that can enable him, with the nightingale, to sing with a thorn at his breast. The people of God have ground for cheerfulness. They are justified and adopted, and this creates inward peace; it makes music within, whatever storms are without, 2 Cor. 1:4. I Thess. 1:6. If we consider what Christ has wrought for us by his blood, and wrought in us by his Spirit, it is a ground of great cheerfulness, and this cheerfulness glorifies God. It reflects upon a master when the servant is always drooping and sad; sure he is kept to hard commons, his master does not give him what is fitting; so, when God's people hang their heads, it looks as if they did not serve a good master, or repented of their choice, which reflects dishonour on God. As the gross sins of the wicked bring a scandal on the gospel, so do the uncheerful lives of the godly. Psalm 100:2, "Serve the Lord with gladness." Your serving him does not glorify him, unless it be with gladness. A Christian's cheerful looks glorify God; religion does not take away our joy, but refines it; it does not break our viol, but tunes it, and makes the music sweeter.

2. We glorify God by standing up for his truths. Much of God's glory lies in his truth. God has entrusted us with his truth, as a master entrusts his servant with his purse to keep. We have not a richer jewel to trust God with than our souls, nor has God a richer jewel to trust us with than his truth. Truth is a beam that shines from God. Much of his glory lies in his truth. When we are advocates for truth we glorify God. Jude 3, "That ye should contend earnestly for the truth." The Greek word to contend signifies great contending, as one would contend for his land, and not suffer his right to be taken from him, so we should contend for the truth. Were there more of this holy contention God would have more glory. Some contend earnestly for trifles and ceremonies, but not for the truth. We should Count him indiscreet that would contend more for a picture than for his inheritance; for a box of toys than for his box of title deeds.

3. We glorify God by praising him. Doxology, or praise, is a God-exalting work. Psalm 50:23, "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me." The Hebrew word Bara, to create, and Barak, to praise, are little different, because the end of creation is to praise God. David was called the sweet singer of Israel, and his praising God was called glorifying God. Psalm 96:12. "I will praise thee, O Lord my God, and I will glorify thy name." Though nothing can add to God's essential glory, yet praise exalts him in the eyes of others. When we praise God, we spread his fame and renown, we display the trophies of his excellency. In this manner the angels glorify him; they are the choristers of heaven, and do trumpet forth his praise. Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels. Believers are called "temples of God." I Cor. 3:16. When our tongues praise, then the organs in God's spiritual temple are sounding.

How sad it is that God has no more glory from us in this way! Many are full of murmuring and discontent, but seldom bring glory to God, by giving him the praise due to his name. We read of the saints having harps in their hands, the emblems of praise. Many have tears in their eyes, and complaints in their mouths, but few have harps in their hands, blessing and glorifying God. Let us honour God this way. Praise is the quit-rent we pay to God: as long as God renews our lease, we must renew our rent.

4. We glorify God, by being zealous for his name. Num. 25:11, "Phineas hath turned my wrath away, while he was zealous for my sake." Zeal is a mixed affection, a compound of love and anger; it carries forth our love to God, and our anger against sin in an intense degree. Zeal is impatient of God's dishonour; a Christian fired with zeal takes a dishonour done to God worse than an injury done to himself. Rev. 2:2, "Thou canst not bear them that are evil." Our Saviour Christ thus glorified his Father; he, being baptized with a spirit of zeal, drove the money-changers out of the temple, John 2:14-17. "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."

5. We glorify God, when we have an eye to God in our natural and in our civil actions. In our natural actions; in eating and drinking. 1 Cor. 10:31 "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God." A gracious person holds the golden bridle of temperance; he takes his meat as a medicine to heal the decays of nature, that he may be the fitter, by the strength he receives, for the service of God; he makes his food, not fuel for lust, but help to duty. In buying and selling, we do all to the glory of God. The wicked live upon unjust gain, by falsifying the balances, as in Hosea 12:7, "The balances of deceit are in his hands;" and thus while men make their weights lighter, they make their sins heavier, when by exacting more than the commodity is worth, they do not for eighty write down fifty, but for fifty eighty; when they exact double the price that a thing is worth. We buy and sell to the glory of God, when we observe that golden maxim, "To do to others as we would have them do to us;" so that when we sell our commodities, we do not sell our consciences also. Acts 24:16. "Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence towards God, and towards men." We glorify God, when we have an eye to God in all our civil and natural actions, and do nothing that may reflect any blemish on religion.

6. We glorify God by labouring to draw others to God; by seeking to convert others, and so make them instruments of glorifying God. We should be both diamonds and loadstones (magnetic rocks); diamonds for the lustre of grace and loadstones for attractive virtue in drawing others to Christ. Gal. 4:19, "My little children, of whom I travail," etc. It is a great way of glorifying God, when we break open the devil's prison, and turn men from the power of Satan to God.

7. We glorify God in a high degree when we suffer for God, and seal the gospel with our blood. John 21:18,19, "When thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee, whither thou wouldest not: this spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God." God's glory shines in the ashes of his martyrs. Isa. 24:15, "wherefore glorify the Lord in the fires." Micah was in the prison, Isaiah was sawn asunder, Paul beheaded, Luke hanged on an olive tree; thus did they, by their death, glorify God. The sufferings of the primitive saints did honour to God, and made the gospel famous in the world. What would others say? See what a good master they serve, and how they love him, that they will venture the loss of all in his service. The glory of Christ's kingdom does not stand in worldly pomp and grandeur, as other kings; but it is seen in the cheerful sufferings of his people. The saints of old "loved not their lives to the death." Rev. 12:11. They embraced torments as so many crowns. God grant we may thus glorify him, if he calls us to it. Many pray, "Let this cup pass away," but few, "Thy will be done."

8. We glorify God, when we give God the glory of all that we do. When Herod had made an oration, and the people gave a shout, saying, "It is the voice of a God, and not of a man," he took the glory to himself; the text says, immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms." Acts 12:23. We glorify God, when we sacrifice the praise and glory of all to God. 1 Cor. 15:10, "I laboured more abundantly than they all," a speech, one would think, savoured of pride; but the apostle pulls the crown from his own head, and sets it upon the head of free grace: "yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." As Joab, when he fought against Rabbah, sent for King David, that he might carry away the crown of the victory, 2 Sam. 12:28, so a Christian, when he has gotten power over any corruption or temptation sends for Christ, that he may carry away the crown of the victory. As the silkworm, when she weaves her curious work, hides herself under the silk, and is not seen; so when we have done anything praiseworthy, we must hide ourselves under the veil of humility, and transfer the glory of all we have done to God. As Constantine used to write the name of Christ over his door, so should we write the name of Christ over our duties. Let him wear the garland of praise.

9. We glorify God by a holy life. A bad life dishonours God. 1 Pet. 2:8, "Ye are an holy nation, that ye should shew forth the praises of him that hath called you." Rom. 2:24, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you." Epiphanus says," That the looseness of some Christians in his time made many of the heathens shun their company, and would not be drawn to hear their sermons." By our exact Bible-conversation we glorify God. Though the main work of religion lies in the heart, yet our light must so shine that others may behold it. The safety of a building is the foundation, but the glory of it is in the frontispiece; so the beauty of faith is in the conversation. When the saints, who are called jewels, cast a sparkling lustre of holiness in the eyes of the world, then they "walk as Christ walked." 1 John 2:6. When they live as if they had seen the Lord with bodily eyes, and been with him upon the mount, they adorn religion, and bring revenues of glory to the crown of heaven.

Now - the next question to ponder is "Do you care about God's Glory?"

Rome is not the only guilty party! How far does Church Authority go?

Are you guilty? 

"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers." Matthew 23:8

In every generation, there are those of an officious spirit who aspire to leadership, demanding deference from their fellows. Such men insist upon unqualified subjection from their followers. Their interpretation of the Scriptures must not be challenged, their dictates are final. Everyone must believe precisely what they teach, and order all the details of his life by the rules of conduct which they prescribe--or else be branded as a heretic.

There have been, and still are, many such self-elevated little popes in Christendom, who deem themselves to be entitled to implicit credence and obedience, whose decisions must be accepted without question. They are nothing but arrogant usurpers, for Christ alone is the Master of Christians; and since all of His disciples are "brethren," they possess equal rights and privileges.

"Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father--He who is in Heaven." Matthew 23:9. This dehortation has ever been needed by God's people, for they are the most part simple and unsophisticated, trustful and easily imposed upon. In those verses, the Lord Jesus was enforcing the duty of private judgment, bidding believers to allow none to be the dictators of their faith, or lords of their lives.

No man is to be heeded in spiritual matters, any further than he can produce a plain and decisive, "Thus says the LORD" as the foundation of his appeal. To be in subjection to any ecclesiastical authority which is not warranted by Holy Writ, or to comply with the whims of men--is to renounce your Christian freedom. Allow none to have dominion over your mind and conscience. Be regulated only by the teaching of God's Word, and firmly refuse to be brought into bondage to "the commandments and doctrines of men." Instead, "Stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free," yielding unreservedly to His authority alone.

God does not require the minds and consciences of His children to be enslaved by any ecclesiastical dominion. Each one has the right to exercise his own judgment.

"Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care . . . not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." 1 Peter 5:2-3. Instead of lording it over God's heritage, preachers are to be "examples to the flock"--personal patterns of good works, holiness, and self-sacrifice; models of piety, humility, and charity.

Love of power has been as common a sin in the pulpit, as love of money, and many of the worst evils which have befallen Christendom, have issued from a lusting after dominion and ecclesiastical honors. Such is poor human nature, that good men find it hard to keep from being puffed up and misusing any measure of authority when it is committed unto them, and from not doing more harm than good with the same. Pastors are to make self-abnegation, and not self-exaltation, their constant aim.

The right of private judgment does not mean that each Christian may be a law unto himself, and still less lord over himself. We must beware of allowing liberty to degenerate into license! No, it means the right to form our own views from Scriptures, to be in bondage to no ecclesiastical authority, and to be subject unto God alone. Two extremes are to be guarded against:
1. slavery to human authority and tradition, and
2. the spirit of self-will and pride.

Private judgment does not mean private imagination, but a deliberate conviction based on Holy Writ! Though I must not resign my mind and conscience to others, or deliver my reason and faith over blindfold to any church--yet I ought to be very slow in rejecting the approved judgment of God's true servants. Self-conceit is to be rigidly restrained. Private judgment is to be exercised humbly, soberly, and impartially, with a willingness to receive light from any quarter.

Ponder the Word for yourself; but mortify the spirit of haughty self-sufficiency, and be ready to avail yourself of anything likely to afford you a better understanding of God's truth. Above all, daily beg the Holy Spirit to be your teacher! And always accord your brethren the same right and privilege, which you claim for yourself.

Don't We All Need to Be Reminded of this Daily?

After all, brethren, we are nobodies, and we have come of a line of nobodies. The proudest peer of the realm may trace his pedigree as far as ever he likes, but he ought to remember that if his blood is blue, it must be very unhealthy to have such blood in one’s veins. The common ruddy blood of the peasant is, after all, far healthier. Big as men may account themselves to be on account of their ancestors, we all trace our line up to a gardener, who lost his place through stealing his Master’s fruit, and that is the farthest we can possibly go. Adam covers us all with disgrace, and under that disgrace we should all sit humbly down. Look into your own heart, and if you dare to be proud, you have never seen your heart at all. It is a mass of pollution: it is a den of filthiness.

Apart from divine grace, your heart is a seething mass of putrefaction, and if God’s eternal Spirit were not to hold it in check, but to let your nature have its way, envyings, lustings, murders, and every foul thing would come flying forth in your daily life. A sinner and yet proud! It is monstrous. As for children of God, how can they be proud ? I fear we are all too much so; but what have we to be proud of ? What have we that we have not received ? How then can we boast ? Are we dressed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness ? We did not put a thread into it; it was all given us by the charity of Jesus. Are our garments white ? We have washed them in the blood of the Lamb. Are we new creatures ? We have been created anew by omnipotent power, or we should still be as we were.
From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Weaned Child."

"A dry doctrinal ministry disturbs no consciences"

So, who preached the words on the previous post?

It was Joseph Charles Philpot(1802 - 1869) known as ³The Seceder´. He resigned from the Church of England in 1835 and became a Strict Particular Baptist. He seceded from the Apostate Church of England. Philpot knew first hand what nominal Christianity was all about. Neither did he mince words in his preaching against a dead profession as opposed to vital godliness and true religion! Of these dead religionists he said- ³µIf your religion is only in the Bible, and has no existence out of the Bible in your own soul, which is the case with thousands who are considered great Christians, the same fire that will at the last day burn up the Bible will burn up your religion with it´!

He wrote:

Consider this point, ye ministers, who Lord's day after Lord's day preach nothing but doctrine, doctrine, doctrine; and ask yourselves whether the same Holy Spirit who revealed the first three chapters of the epistle to the Ephesians did not also reveal the last three? Is not the whole epistle equally inspired, a part of that Scripture of which we read,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all goodworks´ (2 Timothy 3:16, 17)?  To despise, then, the precept, to call it legal and burdensome, is to despise not man, but God, who hath given unto us His Holy Spirit in the inspired Scriptures for our faith and obedience.

Nothing more detects hypocrites, purges out loose professors, and fans away that chaff and dust which now so thickly covers our barn floors than an experimental handling of the precept. A dry doctrinal ministry disturbs no consciences. The loosest professors may sit under it, nay, be highly delighted with it, for it gives them a hope, if not a dead confidence, that salvation being wholly of grace they shall be saved whatever be their walk of life. But the experimental handling of the precept cuts down all this and exposes their hypocrisy and deception.´

He also wrote:

Humble, lowly, contrite souls, who are deeply acquainted with the workings of grace and of corruption, whose consciences have been made tender, and who have landmarks of the dealings of God with them, cannot long continue where they have fellowship with neither minister nor people. And, indeed, so opposed is the whole principle and practice of the Church of England to the work of grace upon the souls of the elect, and ‘to simplicity and godly sincerity’, that a minister, who is not a hypocrite or a formalist, must, when he has reached a certain point in Christian experience, either flee out of her or awfully sin against the convictions of his own conscience. He may remain in her as a presumptuous dead Calvinist; he may take the highest tone of doctrine, and preach Sunday after Sunday about assurance of personal salvation; but if once he describes the work of the Spirit on the soul he must, at a certain point, either come out of her or, by remaining contentedly within her pale, manifest himself a hypocrite in experience, of all hypocrites and of all hypocrisies the most deceiving and the most dreadful.

Can a man, for instance, who has known the work of regeneration in his own soul, and whose conscience is made tender by the blessed Spirit, go on long to lie unto God by thanking Him for regenerating infants?

Can he who has been sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and been fed with His flesh, continue long to give the elements of His body and blood to the unbeliever, the self righteous, and the ungodly?

Can he who has tasted the covenant of grace, and experimentally entered into the everlasting distinction between the sheep and the goats, go on long to mock God by declaring at the grave’s mouth of every departed unbeliever, swearer, and drunkard, that he is a ‘brother’, and is ‘taken to be with God’?

Notions in the head, however correct, doctrines, however high, a presumptuous confidence of salvation, however loud and lofty, may allow a man thus to trifle with the living JEHOVAH. But a tender conscience, a godly fear, and a trembling sense of God’s holiness and majesty, such as the blessed Spirit works in the soul, must sooner or later bring a man out of this dreadful mockery.

What would things look like If Satan Actually took over a city

I first heard the quote below from Donald Grey Barnhouse, in Michael Horton's 2008 book, Christless Christianity.  I heard it again (with delight) today from the pulpit at Immanuel Baptist Church in Sarcramento, California.  What a powerful and arresting illustration to bring a much needed truth home to our minds and hearts.
 

What would things look like if Satan actually took over a city? The first frames in our imaginative slide show probably depict mayhem on a massive scale: Widespread violence, deviant sexualities, pornography in every vending machine, churches closed down and worshipers dragged off to City Hall. Over a half-century ago, Donald Grey Barnhouse, pastor of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church, gave his CBS radio audience a different picture of what it would look like if Satan took control of a town in America. He said that all of the bars and pool halls would be closed, pornography banished, pristine streets and sidewalks would be occupied by tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The kids would answer “Yes, sir,” “No, ma’am,” and the churches would be full on Sunday … where Christ is not preached.

Think long and hard on that, Christian. Above all else, Satan desires to keep the Gospel of Jesus Christ from being made known. And he does so often by substituting other things for Him. Like an illusory veil of moralism that hides our need for the Savior. And he does so even within the church.

Below is a review of Horton's Book written by Martin Downes who is the minister of Christ Church Deeside (North Wales, UK).


There are certain books that, even within a few pages, give you the distinct impression that they must be read, and re-read, with great care. Michael Horton's latest volume Christless Christianity : The Alternative Gospel of the American Church is that kind of book.


Horton's analysis of what is wrong with so much that passes for Christianity in the United States, and which of course is being exported across the globe, is clear sighted, substantiated by the evidence, and devastating in its implications. Old errors are alive and well and the good news of God's grace in Jesus Christ is being supplanted by them.


Some twelve and a half years ago R. C. Sproul wrote:
    "We need an Augustine or a Luther to speak to us anew lest the light of God's grace be not only overshadowed but be obliterated in our time."


It is precisely with that same concern, and in that same vein, that Horton has directed his aim at a "Christless Christianity" that draws us away from God's astonishing sovereign grace. This appalling trade-off leaves us with a Christ that we may still call a Savior, but "we really save ourselves by knowing and following the steps of the new birth and victorious living" (p. 54).


This "Christianity-lite" is no more than the redux version of the old errors of pelagianism and gnosticism, a heady brew of works-righteousness and subjectivism, but all tailored to the needs of those reared on 21st century aspirations and expectations.


"Christless Christianity" is anti-gospel error with a smile. It has enough truth, or perhaps words associated with the truth, to maintain plausibility, and enough error to pander to the cravings of our sinful hearts and minds. Our ability to obey is massaged, our spirituality is pampered, but our sins, true guilt, total helplessness, our need for Jesus Christ and his substitutionary death are neglected, ignored, and replaced.


Horton writes:
So much of what I am calling "Christless Christianity" is not profound enough to constitute heresy. Like the easy-listening Muzak that plays ubiquitously in the background in other shopping venues, the message of American Christianity has simply become trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant...I think our doctrine has been forgotten, assumed, ignored, and even misshaped and distorted by the habits and rituals of daily life in a narcissistic culture. (p. 21)


Instead of a gospel that is grace all the way down, "Christless Christianity" is "moralistic, therapeutic deism" (p. 40). Even though it may try to distance itself from the old legalism of the fundamentalists, it is in fact a gentler form of legalism with an irrepressible confidence in human ability. It is law, and not gospel. This whole approach is typified by the dazzling self-help moralism of Joel Osteen:


"Osteen seems to think that we are basically good people and God has a very easy way for us to save ourselves--not from his judgment, but from our lack of success in life--with his help. "God is keeping a record of every good deed you've ever done," he says--as if this is good news. "In your time of need, because of your generosity, God will move heaven and earth to make sure you are taken care of." (p. 70)


Indeed the pandering to works is astonishing:
Make no mistake about it, behind all of the smiles there is a thorough-going religion of works-righteousness: "God's plan for each of our lives is that we continually rise to new levels. But how high we go in life, and how much of God's favour and blessing we experience, will be directly related to how well we follow his directions." (p. 86)


But it is not only the Joel Osteens and Robert Schullers of this world who confuse law and gospel, the same is true in the writings of emergent guru Brian McLaren (p. 110-4). The good news for Osteen is how to become a better you.  For McLaren it is following a new way.  But for both the work of Christ outside of us, apart from us, and crucially for us, is being jettisoned. Horton rightly says "Jesus and the community, his work and ours, blend into one saving event" (p. 114).


If the Reformation gave us a clearer grasp of the biblical offices of prophet, priest and king, "Christless Christianity" by way of contrast, majors on Jesus the prophet and teacher, is muted on Christ the king, and has no real need for the high priestly suffering of the Son of God.


One could be forgiven for thinking that Christless Christianity is merely a withering critique of all that is wrong with the pragmatic, pelagian, individualistic, market and emergent driven American church landscape. However, at every turn Horton points us, to borrow the title from another of his books, to a better way. As well as having a polemical edge this book is spiritually enriching. It is as we are reminded of our sinful depravity and helplessness, as we are humbled, that we are led again and again in the book to the sheer grace of God in Jesus Christ, to his atoning blood, glorious resurrection, and total sufficiency. Indeed Horton directs us to preaching Christ, to the churchly means of grace, as God's provision for burned out souls.


Michael Horton is an astute observer of the evangelical church scene and its relationship to culture.  The difference between his assessments of the data, and that of a George Barna or a Willow Creek, is ultimately rooted in a different theology and a different ecclesiology.  Claiming to be orthodox on paper counts for little if your approach to church life and the gospel effectively undermines the truth.  The sections of the book that deal with the doctrine of the church ought to leave us with some serious thinking about what the church is before God, and what the church must do in the world.


"Christless Christianity," leaves no orthodox doctrine untouched.  God is reduced to our fellow sufferer, our sympathizer.  Sin has become bad feelings and poor self image.  Christ has become our example and our teacher.  Eternity has become time, the world to come eclipsed by the here and now.  Scripture becomes a self-help manual.  The true biblical world-view has been inverted.  God's holiness no longer stands in such stark contrast with our sin, and therefore his justice and our eternal condemnation no longer remain our most pressing issue.  By this route, atonement and justification need not be denied because, frankly, they are now irrelevant.


Let me end this review with a striking passage that I think encapsulates the reason why evangelical church life is so desperately faddish, frantically pursuing a boom and bust cycle of spiritual experience:

Similarly today, the preaching of the law in all of its gripping judgment and the preaching of the gospel in all of its surprising sweetness merge into a confused message of gentle exhortation to a more fulfilling life. Consequently, we know neither how to mourn nor how to throw a real party. The bad news no longer stands in such sharp contrast with the good news; we become content with so-so news that eventually fails to bring genuine conviction or genuine comfort but keeps us on the treadmill of anxiety, craving the next revival, technique, or movement to lift our spirits and catapult us to heavenly glory. (p. 63)

Tell me what you think of Jesus...

Our estimate of Christ is the best gauge of our spiritual condition; as the thermometer rises in proportion to the increased warmth of the air, so does our estimate of Jesus rise as our spiritual life increases in vigor and fervency. Tell me what you think of Jesus and I will tell you what to think of yourself. Christ is, yea, more than all when we are thoroughly sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost. When pride of self fills up the soul, there is little room for Jesus; but when Jesus is fully loved, self is subdued, and sin driven out of the throne.


If we think little of the Lord Jesus we have very great cause to account ourselves spiritually blind, and naked, and poor, and miserable. The rebel despises his lawful sovereign, but the favored courtier is enthusiastic in his praise. Christ crucified is the revealer of many hearts, the touchstone by which the pure gold and the counterfeit metal are discerned; his very name is as a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap; false professors cannot endure it, but true believers triumph therein. We are growing in grace when we grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let everything else be gone, and let Christ fill up the entire space of our soul, then, and only then, are we rising out of the vanity of the flesh into the real life of God.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "A Song Among The Lilies," delivered August 30, 1874

How Much Authority does "The Church" have?

Let's look back at some history:

The Act of Uniformity was an Act of the Parliament of England which prescribed the form of public prayers, administration of sacraments, and other rites of the Established Church of England, following all the rites and ceremonies and doctrines prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer.

Adherence to this was required in order to hold any office in government or the church, although the edition of the Book of Common Prayer prescribed by the act (1662) was so new that most people had never even seen a copy. It also required episcopal ordination for all ministers.

The Act of Uniformity prescribed that any minister who refused to conform to the Book of Common Prayer by St. Bartholomew's Day 1662 should be ejected from the Church of England. This date became known as Black Bartholomew's Day, among dissenters, a reference to the fact that it occurred on the same day as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572. Oliver Heywood estimated the number of ministers ejected at 2,500.

This group included Richard Baxter, Edmund Calamy the Elder, Simeon Ashe, Thomas Case, William Jenkyn, Thomas Manton, William Sclater, and Thomas Watson, to name just a few. Biographical details of ejected ministers and their fates were later collected by the historian Edmund Calamy, grandson of the elder Calamy.

Although there had already been ministers outside the established church, the Great Ejection created an abiding concept of non-conformity.

Iain Murray argues that the issue was deeper than "phrases in the Book of Common Prayer and forms of church order," but regarded the "nature of true Christianity." The Bishop of Liverpool, J. C. Ryle, referred to the Ejection as an "injury to the cause of true religion in England which will probably never be repaired.".

My comments: Why did these men not submit to Church Authority? Did they not believe that God had placed the Church of England over them? Did they believe that if they would not submit to what the Church leaders felt was biblical that God would not bless their ministries?

Which side would you have been on? Can you actually know beyond a doubt? If you believe that any man or any ministry that the “church” does not recognize or sanction will not be blessed of God and will not further the kingdom, you would have very well been on the Church of England's side, as that was their argument for ejecting these men.

Of course, all of this opens the door to who or what is the “Church” and to what “authority” should we submit. I guess that all depends on your denomination and/or which local church you are a member of.

If you have not studied this part of Church History; I suggest that you do. And study it in depth. It will not only open your eyes to some important errors; but will also convict you in realizing that, what happened then is happening today, it is simply happening on a smaller scale in each and every local church.

Bottom Line:

Being recognized by, and a member of, a local church does not necessarily make you a legitimate member of the universal church anymore than being recognized and ordained by the visible church makes one a legitimate pastor in God's eyes. There are legitimate "fakes" and illegitimate "fakes" in pulpits and pews across this world. My comfort comes from knowing that God knows who are His and who he has called and that we will all stand before Him as the Perfect Righteous Judge. It is not my call to make.

Are You Touched to the Heart by Sacred Excess or Do You Have a Sneering Heart?

As you read Spurgeon's statement below, think about your church and your own heart.  We are personally very aware of , and have personally experienced, the reality of those truths penned two centuries ago.   Think about this.  Does your church err on the side of decorum?  Does your church stifle the genuine Spirit led joyful expression of praise during corporate worship because of a fear of excess?   Does it disturb you if a brother or a sister were to dare raise their hands in praise to the Lord during the corporate singing of hymns, because, "We don't do that here?"   How sad it is to witness and realize that most care more about what man thinks than what God delights in, as we try to "control" everything with our rules and regulations regarding what is appropriate and what is not, at the expense of true worship.

Perhaps one of the reasons a church doesn't want to move from holding a hymnal to reading the words of that very same hymn on an overhead projection is because, "If their hands are free, who knows what might happen?"   Read the warnings and wise insight of C. H. Spurgeon, who could never be accused of fanaticism, and yet who saw the very same things that I see in the churches today and examine your own heart as it pertains to these things: 

"Our happiness should be demonstrative; chill penury of love often represses the noble flame of joy, and men whisper their praises decorously where a hearty outburst of song would be far more natural. It is to be feared that the church of the present day, through a craving for excessive propriety, is growing too artificial; so that enquirers' cries and believers' shouts would be silenced if they were heard in our assemblies. This may be better than boisterous fanaticism, but there is as much danger in the one direction as the other. For our part, we are touched to the heart by a little sacred excess, and when godly men in their joy over leap the narrow bounds of decorum, we do not, like Michal, Saul's daughter, eye them with a sneering heart."

How "Irregular" is the "Regulative Principle"? - Part One

So your church holds to the "Regulative" principle.  Once again, I must say, "Tell me what you mean by "regulative" and I will tell you if my church adheres to it?  I purpose that there are so many versions being played out that the term has lost any clear meaning.

During my studies, I came across an article written by a professor at a Reformed Baptist Seminary.  It is appalling.  (I have pasted an excerpt below followed by a few comments).  Keep in mind, this is a man who is teaching and influencing the impressionable minds of young men; some, who will one day take the pulpit of a local church.

In my travels, I occasionally find myself present in a less-than-simple worship service. Most of our churches take the regulative principle of worship seriously, and avoid the intrusions of choirs and solos. But every once in a while I am invited to preach in a congregation that does not understand (or sometimes accept) the RPW, and have to endure the stylings of the not-so-special music.


Let’s be honest. Most church music of this type is mediocre at best. The pastor (or worship leader) smiles after the performance, duly thanking the individual(s) involved, and the people say ‘Amen’-or worse, they applaud; what an abomination!-and the performer returns to his/her seat alternately to revel in the acclaim for a job self-perceived to be well-done or wallow in self-deprecation over a poor performance.


There have been moments when I wish that I could be Simon Cowell: “That was Cruise-ship karaoke” or “that was bad even for a high school musical” or even “That was a nightmare”. At least Mr. Cowell is honest in his evaluations of those who wish to be America’s Idols.


Perhaps we should give our ‘special’ musicians a title like ‘Ecclesiastical Idols.’ That would fit in well with the mood of the day, and more accurately express just what they are doing-performing, not worshipping. And then, the leaders of the church can give proper evaluations. It might even be possible to let those who sit on the platform respond to the routine with comments.


I guess that it does say something about our culture that those who covet stardom are titled ‘Idol’. But isn’t it ironic that in worship, the same kind of idolatry is overlooked. Shouldn’t we call it there exactly what it is?

The lack of understanding exposed in this man's thoughts is alarming.  Every single argument that he holds about music, can be equally applied to all elements of corporate worship.  Think about this.  Public reading of scripture can be a "performance"; Preaching can also be a performance; Congregational singing can be a performance.  What do I mean?  Well, is it not possible for one to be singing a hymn during congregational singing with the thought, "I wonder what the people in the pew in front of me think of my beautiful voice?   Perhaps if I sing loud enough, even those two or three rows in front of me will hear how gifted I am."

Cannot a man who leads a corporate prayer be entirely focused on the eloquence of his words; the melodious tone in his voice; his ability to move people emotionally by his strategically planned pauses and his powerful speaking voice?

Cannot a man who takes the pulpit to preach be doing so as a performer?

Cannot the people in the pew be also guilty of "judging the performance" of the man leading a corporate prayer, or the man preaching a sermon?

If you are an honest, thinking man at all, it is crystal clear that the answer to the above questions is YES!  Any form of worship; whether it be singing, praying, preaching, and, yes, even the public reading of scripture can be as a stench in God's nostrils.

What a sad state the church is in today.  I will close with another quote from "Worship by the Book":

"What is at stake is authenticity...Sooner or later Christians tire of public meetings that are profoundly inauthentic, regardless of how well (or poorly) arranged, directed, performed.  We long to meet, corporately, with the living and majestic God and to offer Him the praise that is His due."   - D.A. Carson