Tag Archives: salvation

January 15, 2012

Baptism Retread

By Pooka

http://www.newlifelamesa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/hero-baptism.jpg

I have a few more thoughts on infant baptism. Stuff I didn’t mention here in three big arguments for covenant baptism.

Primarily, I’d like to discuss this in a way that demonstrates how God’s system permeates even our “godless” society and traditions. Children are remarkably claimed by everything into which they are born, except for One Big Thing which mystifies me to no end. A year ago I was unsettled and unwilling to commit to the idea of infant, or covenant, baptism. It was foreign to me, and didn’t make much sense. I was more than willing to at least explore the idea, being more than aware that my Christian education was lacking in most areas, especially in the Reformed ideas of covenants and sacraments. So I read. And read and read. And then I wrote. And wrote.

Denial of infant baptism actually breaks a pattern that has been running for millenia. I’ll keep it really brief. Children have had no choice in things like birth-parents, family name, Christian name, nationality, race, religion or what’s-for-dinner for as long as children have been around. Why in the world do we come up with the idea that they are not members of the church? The church is not a business that only “hires” people of legal working age. The church has never been a club that “cards” prospective patrons to see if they’re old enough to enter. The church has ever been considered an outpost, a consulate or embassy of God’s kingdom in the world. Therefore, I think it should make sense to baptize infants with the understanding that essentially is corroborated by practices of historical and modern custom and legal matters. Here are some references.

Birth abroad … Citizenship … Family Law Basics

Now, to quell the suspicion that I’m using the World to interpret the Bible in a Christian issue that needs to be resolved, I must refer back to my previous posts and the Word in general to make the claim that there’s no argument here. The Scriptures assume, just as they assume covenants in general, that children born to believing parents (or covenant families) are considered participants in the covenants. Isaac did not have to wait to be the covenant child until Genesis 24. Jacob and Esau did not have to wait until they were “of age” to begin the battle of who would be the continuation of the Promise. The firstborn children of Israel had no say in their survival on the day of the passover when the Lord’s angel came into Egypt and started the holocaust.

In every case of children I can think of, none had to prove themselves or hit a certain age before they were anointed or circumcised or sprinkled. Children were partakers of the covenants of God as soon as they entered into the world. The fact that there was this mysterious baptism thing in the New Testament really doesn’t come to bear on the children:

  1. They didn’t need to be included in the revision of being called out: They inherited whatever was going to happen, regardless, because they were children.
  2. Baptism was simply a modal shift from circumcision, not an entirely new practice that completely wiped out all past meaning and practices from the times of the Patriarchs. In fact, Baptism wasn’t even an entirely new idea in the first place. What people apparently are all worked up over was nothing more than the most obvious and poignant means of “setting apart” or “cutting off” seen in circumcision. Baptism, sprinkling, anointing and other means of marking the one who belonged to the covenant all made it into the omnibus version of applying God’s promises in word and touch – baptism.
  3. They weren’t the main actors! Those in the New Testament were primarily conversant adults because they were required to interact with Jesus and His apostles on the level at which the Scriptures speak. And those adults were automatically responsible for those children.
  4. Jesus gave it to them, without mention of their age or eligibility: Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)

Finally, we who are believers in the doctrine of election, of God’s sovereignty, all should be convinced that it is God’s work and choice that we have become His children and that we were not really given the option to turn to Him for our salvation. He dragged us, kicking and screaming, from our place at the brink of hell into His courts where we may enjoy Him forever. What more could help us to understand that His children are as much in our place as we are? More so, for we were afar off, but our children, born into our Christian families and churches are not so far off, are they?

I hope that helps.

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November 29, 2011

I Don’t Exactly Surrender All

By Pooka

 

So this is another long one. It’s an exploration one of the most popular themes from my yesteryear, that which failed to sink Gospel teeth into me. It’s probably not perfectly formed, so I’m up for clarifying critique. On with the show.

The last two White Horse Inn episodes I’ve listened to, along with reading J.G. Machen have started me on another round of anti-navel-gazing ponderance. The questions posed in the gospel of pragmatism are whether our experience, or life story is the Gospel and whether making disciples can be a system similar to the process of a factory. Yep, back to the Finney Finish and Me-ism I go.

What should be amazingly easy, but we all seem to forget constantly, is that ever-present religion of Me-ism. It’s not just that we believe our personal testimony is the prime tool for bringing people to Christ, but that our very life is critical to everything in our Religion. I mean here that if I sin grievously, persistently, that my faith is in doubt. That I might not be saved. I also mean here that if I’m not living “as a Christian should”, that I have no witness to bear.

This is insane. If I sin grievously once or persistently over time, my faith could be in doubt. But that is missing the point. My salvation can not be in doubt, because God has promised me eternal life, salvation by Grace through faith, entirely being His gift. He has not promised me a cleaned-up, perfected life right now. If this was not the case, my baptism should’ve been a bit more dramatic in its results, I believe, and I should also be a very effective preacher, missionary or seminary prof by now. And a lot of other really awesome Bibley things. 

Salvation does not hinge on what I’m doing right now or late at night with my friends. It does not hinge on me falling off the wagon or getting on the wrong wagon. It hinges on me trusting in Jesus Christ. It hinges on me believing The Gospel and not, especially not, in the testimony of somebody else or the change in my life. And my believing the Gospel does not hinge on me! It hinges on God. Assurance is not me and is not subjective. It is God and His Word that assure me.

But we turn round again, at every turning, back to this doubt and sense of hopelessness that we are not saved, or that we have forsaken our right to the fellowship of the church. Garbage. Instead of us re- blanket training ourselves the Gospel has removed us from the sin blanket that makes us dependent on our own goodness to get in with God.

Getting all this Gospel-centeredness straightened out should lead to another amazing revelation. The Gospel is The Gospel. It’s not me and my long tale of conversion. The story I have put up in the About here at LAH is not the Gospel. Notice all the potential Me-ism in there. I put it up there not in hopes that somebody would come to faith by reading it but to show where I come from and where I’ve been, for relevance and sharing the joy of what’s happened. 

If I crash and burn tomorrow, falling into a pit of sinful misery at the bar in Thailand with two women, tequila, a doobie and a stolen car, my pretty story suddenly takes on  a new light. It begs the question, “What about now? All that awesome stuff really didn’t mean anything, did it?” And so my “witness” is shot. And in a majority of churches, I’d be suddenly out of grace, considered unsaved, reprobate, a false convert or maybe even just plain subject to losing my salvation. Garbage. In fact, based on what most Christian teaching implies, if I show up in church next Sunday after my vacation, reformed and confessing my sin, I’d better ask Christ into my life and forgive my sins, heck – even get baptized again, cause I wasn’t really saved last week. But that’s not it at all.

Now I hope and pray the Lord will forever protect me from such a demise. He’s definitely put in place a lot of safeguards that are very likely to limit the chances of me getting into such a situation. But that’s not it for the Gospel. The point here is that what I do is not critical to the Gospel. What Christ did is critical to the Gospel. It is the Gospel. And if I believe it, I’m saved. Not perfected. Romans 12:1-2 the whole New Testament is about believing the truth and then working it out, not hearing the truth and then meeting Joel Osteen.

Okay, so what can I look for, for indicators that I’m saved? If all the stuff above doesn’t clear any fog, maybe this might help a little: Here’s what changes, in varying degree and extent, for a Christian.

Before:  I loved to sin. I felt guilty because I knew I was doing wrong, sometimes, but mostly because of consequences. I constantly dug for reasons to legitimize my evil, self-centered desires and pursuits. I hated the idea of a judging God who set the rules and, regardless of my opinion, made them not-optional.

After: I hate being sinful. I hate that everything I do is tainted with Me-ism and weakness. I do as much wrong as I did before, only now it’s worse. Much of that obvious evil activity that characterized my life is now well hidden. Maybe some of it really is deleted from my programming, but most? Still here. I’m essentially the same dirty person. But I believe that God has promised me salvation. I believe that Christ did what is impossible for me and then paid the price for all that I have done (and will do). So I can rest in these things, thankful that everything I have that is good is provided, not by anything I’ve done, by God Himself.

I don’t exactly surrender all, rather I believe and increase in beliefs about what is true and what follows is a deeper love for God and His ways. That causes a deeper hatred of my ways and the world’s ways. But what everything returns to is the Message. Christ lived for my righteousness, died for my sins rose again for my life.

Sheesh

All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

Refrain:
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!

Feeling? I can’t trust my feelings. Surrender? How can I give up this stuff of my own volition? Freely give? I think it’s better if He takes, so I’m gonna pray for that. Giving me to Christ? God gave me to Christ:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. — John 6:37

Here’s what is good. I fight all day against my sin. At the end of the day I look back and usually I can dump out a decent bucket of sin onto the table for sorting and examining. Sometimes there’s a piece of sin that is not there, often one that is pretty familiar and usually in the mix. But not often. It seems that my evil just won’t diminish, in fact it seems to become more detailed heavy. And I can, by the grace of God, look at it and then at my Savior and know that I’m forgiven and that someday this mess is really going to be cleaned up. And then I look ahead to Sunday, always looking ahead to Sunday, and the reunion with the rest of my people who are just like me, gathered to worship the One we are not: The Saving God Who Keeps His Promises.

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November 23, 2011

Where we go, will you go?

By Pooka

Where you go, I will go...

Here is what Ruth said to Naomi:

“Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”

Here is R.C. Sproul’s note on Ruth:

The Hebrew for clung in Ruth 1:14 is the same word used to describe the marriage relationship. In other words, Ruth clung to her mother-in-law in covenant fidelity, knowing that she was bound by her promise before the face of God to remain with and aid her mother-in-law, no matter how difficult it would be. This is the same devotion we are to have to the Lord’s people today. No matter our flaws, we Christians must love and serve one another.

And Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

Nothing could be said more fine, more brave, than this. She seems to have had another spirit, and another speech, now that her sister had gone, and it is an instance of the grace of God inclining the soul to the resolute choice of the better part. Draw me thus, and we will run after thee. Her mother’s dissuasions made her the more resolute; as when Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord,” they said it with the more vehemence, “Nay, but we will.”

We might say today that no one can commit to such a thing as Ruth did without some move of the Spirit. This is an amazing speech from someone like Ruth, amazing and weighted with intensity. She’s entering into the covenant here. And we can’t think she doesn’t know what she’s saying, either. There is plenty of evidence that God’s covenantal structure was present in ancient non-Jewish traditions as well. This fine lady is dropping everything to align herself with Israel.

These are the membership vows we took upon joining our church. I’ve edited so they are personal and line up. The reference is the PCA Book of Church Order, Chapter 57.

I acknowledge myself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and I receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel? I now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that I will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ. I promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of my ability. I submit myself to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace.

I wonder that Ruth 1:16 isn’t commonly considered in the basic introduction for new believers. I certainly never encountered it. I don’t think it was covered much in the years I was in the church as a kid, either. I think this is something to plumb out in discussion with those who frequently reach out in evangelism. When we follow-up with folks, should we not use such clear examples of covenant-making? I must admit, a die-hard Arminian can see the value in Ruth’s declaration here.

Someone could say that Ruth didn’t know what she was getting into here, and was just being expedient about the whole cleaving to Naomi. Ruth just needed something to hang on to, right? I doubt it was that easy, though certainly some pragmatism should be understood. Ruth wouldn’t have a naive approach to what she committed to, considering it was a Jewish family into which she’d married and a Jewish woman with whom she was returning to Israel. Though Alimelech had taken his family out from Israel, I highly doubt he could have conceived of taking Israel out of his family. The traditions and practices would’ve remained, and from first meeting to final words in that relationship, Ruth and Orpah would have been exposed to the richness of the Israelites’ relationship to God. No doubts she had the best introduction to what she was getting into well before she committed herself to Ruth and the One True God on the roadside.

I wonder that our churches do not query us in the way that Ruth volunteered herself. I wonder if there’s anyone today who has been asked,

“Where we go, will you go? Where we lodge, will you lodge? Will our people be your people, and our God, your God? Where we die, will you die, and there be buried? Shall thus the LORD do to us, and worse, if anything but death parts you and us?”

It sounds a bit harsh for these modern days, doesn’t it?

So there’s another version:

1. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?

2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?

3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?

4. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?

5. Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?

Updated for modern parlance and conversant with the realized covenant of Grace, of course, but isn’t it quite similar? The God of Israel instituted the church; and it is Christ’s body, sustained by Him, founded on Him, with all members finding their place in Him. We can all agree on that, it being well-developed throughout the New Testament.

So I find that this pair of vows, in Ruth and in the church are important enough to make me wonder what in the world could possibly be right about a church that refuses to require this of her members? Shouldn’t that be cause for deep concern? That one who hasn’t committed to the people of God, to Israel, to Christ is seen as an accepted, acceptable part of the Body? Good Lord! What standard is there for communion if not this? It would be like the President just walking in after elections and taking over the Oval Office without first standing in front of the nation and taking the Oath of Office! Only worse! God’s people are in office for far more than 4 years in a country far larger than one nation. We’re eternally bound to God and His country! And in our commitment, do we not absolutely have to have a door into that commitment? Dare I say a public one?

I didn’t have a problem taking the vows of membership at New Life. Now, after a year here, having learned much more about what Reformed, Confessional, Creedal and Covenantal really mean, I would retake those vows in a heartbeat, and say them again with far more gravity than the first time. I realize that we have a situation very analogous to Ruth’s covenant promise when we come to Christ’s church. I don’t see how a church could survive otherwise, for without these covenant oaths, there isn’t even a door-keeper. Ruth understood that, and said the password – and I don’t for a minute assume she didn’t intend to make this in front of God as much as Naomi and then expect to have to maintain the same before the Israel she was about to encounter.

Sheesh. The severity of these oaths, the commitment God has delivered to us, in light of the salvation He has made for us, all should take our breath away. If the continuity of God’s covenants and the Biblical consistency of our own promises which we make in return isn’t obvious by now, where can we go? I guess the test really is, at some point, to look carefully and see if we can honestly say, along with Ruth,

“where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”

If that can happen, then we’ve at least the satisfaction of the keepers of the keys to Heaven.

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November 22, 2011

Rolled Back As A Scroll

By Pooka

The Clouds Rolled Back

 

There are moments when things click for us. Moments, short as a breath atop the mountain, that seem to clear the view can hit once in a long while. We learn to look forward to them; hope for them. But they’re not only brief but few. I think that’s good, since too much of a good thing ruins the impact. I wait impatiently for those glorious times when I’m absolutely in love with my wife. Those are the times when everything seems just right, the world is good and there’s nothing raging for our attention to fix, mediate or put down. They aren’t often predictable, and there’s not much I can do to increase the odds. It’s like God knows just when to make the peace happen.

Another is that split second when I grasp the depth of my sin. There are not enough moments like this wherein I really get as small as I know I am. Head knowledge is not the same as heart knowledge. Sometimes, maybe in church though not always, there’s this sudden snap-freeze in my soul that shows me how thoroughly I need my Savior. That’s a painful thing, but it’s like pressing my hand against something sharp when I need to focus or maintain control of myself – almost ecstatic to realize the Real Truth about me, if just for a heartbeat. It’s always fleeting, probably because if, like Isaiah, I’d be undone to actually pursue the depths of what I’ve only barely tasted.

The glorious value of my Savior is one that hits from time to time. I’d like to cultivate this appreciation, maybe of all these, most. It probably goes hand-in-hand with grasping my sinfulness, but if that’s the case, so be it. Sometimes we’re in church, we pray, confessing our sin and in the moments between confession and absolution the lights come on. Or at the Table, the bread comes down in the minister’s hands and I connect that with our Savior coming down, being broken for us, His church. It’s not really a “spiritual” sort of feeling, it’s like a concentrated realization of truth that’s in the head just breaking through to the heart.

I’ve recently hit the same “high” in studying on these ideas of God’s relationship, covenant and promises with His people. It’s rather overwhelming, if you think about it, to start to realize how far-reaching His faithfulness really is. I wish I could grasp the fullness of the plan of redemption made in eternity past. It’s connections to all that we’ve been told in the Scriptures is just plain awesome (I sure wish the skater crowd of yesteryear hadn’t ruined the meaning of awesome, it would sound more awesome right now).

Christ died for us because He was promised to us. Long before we came around and before He came around, He was on the way to us, the Rescuer of rescuers. When we hear the sirens coming that mean we’re to be saved from the fire, we just know it’s all going to be all right. Christ is a thousand times more than that. We have nothing to fight the blaze that is consuming our souls and spreading the destruction to every soul we touch. We’re all on fire and the Water of Life came to quench our destruction. This is what tastes best at the banquet of this religion. The realization that salvation has come, is coming, was always coming and is still to come. Our God is from everlasting to everlasting and so are His mercy and grace.

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November 18, 2011

How To Get That Old Time Religion

By Pooka

Based on yesterday’s LONG post, here’s a shorter one.

Remember this part?

A few weeks ago, I put up a little bit about how painful it must have been to be one of the convicted Pharisees at Peters Big Sermon at Pentecost (I should rename the post “Cut To The Heart Thrice“). Think about this:

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

Those Pharisees were almost certainly thinking of what they had done to their families! When Peter said this (emphasis mine):

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

We know what happened:

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Look again at Peter’s response:

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Imagine their response to Peter. Here, I’ll help.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved

But think about this. If I’m right and the Pharisees were deeply grieved in their awareness of the vast curse they’d brought upon their families, how much more the impact on their souls when Peter gave them the absolution they so needed to hear. They changed radically because the seeds were already planted. Their lineage (think Abraham and how important that theme means) was saved! That is, if you understand the covenantal undergirding of this exchange between Peter and the Jews.

Now,

Think about this: We can best understand how Christ saved us by this very same covenantal perspective. How can He save us if there is no such thing as the covenant that Adam broke, Abraham received, Moses continued, Prophets and Judges and Kings and Priests maintained and returned to year after year? It’s The One Thing that best explains all this. God imputed Christ’s righteousness to His Children! He has died for us and our children – all those God has chosen for His Son.

Now how do we deny the same thing for our children? They’re God’s to do with as He pleases. According to the Bible and its covenants He pleases to have them brought to the sacraments of our church and to be a part of the covenant community.

How did Moses think about the prediction God gave him at the end of his days?

Then the Lord appeared at the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the Tent. And the Lord said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?’ And I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.

Maybe he was a covenant type? I wonder what he thought about the demise of Israel?

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February 10, 2011

But as for me and my house…

By Pooka

Part 3 of who knows how many…

Previously I wrote No Hope For Our Children?
And before that Rings… A Look At Baptism
And a fairly big list of resources from Blogorrhea

I don’t believe there really is a one-shot that kills either the paedo/oiko or the credo positions. That is, other than the utter silence of the New Testament where there should be bells, whistles and flashing lights to point us to how dispensation or administration of the covenant have changed to individual believers only. Comprehensively taken though, I am convinced the Scriptures offer no option but household baptism. Here are some important things from my studies.

But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. – Joshua 24:15

Of all of them, Joshua 24 seems to have the power to stop us in our tracks. It is probably one of the most popular short passages for Christians. We find it on the wall in many, many Christian homes. Has anyone thought of the implications of “as for me and my house” in all its depth?

Contrast that with the language of Peter dealing with Cornelius in Acts 10. Look at how Cornelius’ household is mentioned. And then

And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ — Acts 11:13-14

What does it mean for me and my house to serve the Lord? Really? For a Baptist is it not a half-truth, weakly whispered in guilty admission, that we are saying our children are identical with the heathen who know not God even though we impose upon them the law and gospel of a Christian society? For most families in most churches, children are part but not part of the Church, Christ’s body! They witness the outworkings of Scripture and the faithful followers of Christ every day and yet positionally are not within that fold! For me, and I’ve held a particular love for Joshua 24:15 since Christ called me in 2003, it has become inconceivable that we could include children as if they were but never actually realize them as disciples and members of the covenant family.

Look at them, Christians, at your children who are clearly not of this world and say there is nothing different, that even without the credo-paedo conflict our children really aren’t set apart? Now if you agree that we can’t say that, then I must lovingly ask you: which administration honors, does justice, to the special place our children have in Christ’s body? I’m not going out for pragmatism or tradition alone here. I’m calling for a holistic look at Scripture to seek out which makes more sense.

Elect Schmelect! That’s not the point! It’s not an automatic assumption that our kids are regenerate just because they’re in a Christian family and church. It’s because of the fact that they are entitled to and, yes given, access to the Shepherd’s fold, the sanctuary and discipleship of the Body of Christ that we should baptize them. They’re altogether in a different world than the children of unbelievers. They are Christ’s for all eternity or until the day they turn from him, ignoring the threat, and the wrath of God is ultimately declared, which is the other side of baptism.

Can anyone deny that my kids are different? They know the Scriptures and Gospel and know of God at a minimum just by the tutelage they have received from my Wife, me and our church. In this case, my kids confess as well, all four of them, that Christ is their Savior and that they turned from their sin and trust in Him for salvation, but that’s not where the rubber meets the road in this discussion.

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. -Genesis 35:2

The day Christ came to our household was the day Anika returned to the faith in which she was raised and was restored in her relationship with her Lord. This was some time before I was brought to my knees. We’re a 1 Corinthians 7:13 family, if you will. I believe household baptism is correct partially just because of this! But there is no doubt that Joshua 24:15 really came to concrete terms in our family when I believed. And our children are/were marked out, claimed in the process. The household dynamic changed. I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say the family, the home, was uprooted to a new place, spiritually speaking.  

For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. -Genesis 18:19

Here, what is different from our day? If anything, there’s a dearth of command and doing, as per this passage, in Christian households today. We often fail miserably at our God-given position of teachers in regards to our families. We are leaving it to the church, the church actually having the temerity (or is it weakness?) to claim responsibility for sole source of Christian discipleship of children while we parents ensure our kids are well-adjusted citizens, educated and properly socialized, in the world of unbelievers.

For real! Should we not take back this responsibility to command and indoctrinate our children? Should not the church as our oversight demand it of us? What better way than through God’s public and solemn (and joyous), powerful claiming of His own? More churches should be what they really are — Administration of God’s covenant. Church holds the keys! Baptize my kids, then! Hold me to God’s promises and commands! And hold them too! We need this oversight in the Lord.

The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. – John 4:53

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6

Who held onto the hope that I would believe? In 1993 when I stepped from God’s house into the curse of witchcraft, did anyone cling to the promise that comes from Proverbs 22? And did they have faith like the father in John 4? Isn’t that correlative to all this? If the child must be trained up, should he not have a stamp of ownership? Perhaps a seal? Maybe that promise could be physically (visual, tactile) applied in the right forum? Sounds like Baptism. Sounds like the ordinance is more than just a command. It’s part-and-parcel to belonging to the visible body of Christ.

Remember this old Gaither hymn? We used to sing it all the time when I was a kid. Salem Baptist Church in Colorado Springs. Loved this one:

The Family of God

      I’m so glad I’m a part of the Family of God,
      I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His Blood!
      Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
      For I’m part of the family,
      The Family of God

You will notice we say “brother and sister” ’round here,
It’s because we’re a family and these are so near;
When one has a heartache, we all share the tears,
And rejoice in each victory in this family so dear.

      Chorus

From the door of an orphanage to the house of the King,
No longer an outcast, a new song I sing;
From rags unto riches, from the weak to the strong,
I’m not worthy to be here, but praise God! I belong!

      Chorus

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February 8, 2011

No Hope For Our Children?

By Pooka

Another in my process into the Reformed Faith or Covenant Theology or Household Baptism (a.k.a. Paedo Baptism). Again, props to a great source on all this; thanks, RubeRad. Previous post related is Rings here at LAH.

I think this is a simple line of logic. Makes clear sense to me, anyway. It’s hard, but faith is built on hard rocks and difficult depths.

There are three positions to take

  1. All babies and others who cannot respond to the outward preaching of the Gospel will go to heaven.
  2. Some babies and others who cannot respond to the outward preaching of the Gospel will go to heaven.
  3. No babies and others who cannot respond to the outward preaching of the Gospel will go to heaven.

I’m going to take option 2 based on demonstrations in history (bible): Some children are/were saved Genesis 7, Hebrews 11, Joshua 2:18, Psalm 103:17, Acts 2:38-39, 16:31, Titus 1:6. Some were not saved: Eli’s sons: 1 Samuel 2:12,  Absalom and Esau. Some may argue that there was an age of accountability in these examples. I wonder, since we’re all known before our birth Psalm 139. God doesn’t, in my understanding of Scripture, make decisions based on looking forward to our decisions.

David’s statement about his infant son who has died in 2 Sam 12: “I will go to him, but he won’t return to me.” is not clear, but is used as classic proof for infant salvation.

wcf 10.3 covers Effectual Calling. God is pleased to call to Himself, failing in no way, all people He has chosen. He doesn’t make mistakes, nor is there a “blanket” call to all people amongst whom only a portion respond. There is the call of the Gospel to all people and there is the Effectual Call of God to His elect.

I believe it is very important to think of this calling out of the elect as a lifetime process. Someone who is called to repentance and faith in Christ later in life is to be considered elect. They may not believe but they are elect from the get-go, right? Say they are born and baptised into a believing, churched family yet do not come to the family of God until they are middle-aged. Should not their baptism be of great value? Can they not look back allllll the looooong way back to their baptism and see there, in hindsight the engagement ring and promise that was sealed unto them many years ago and then appreciate all the more God’s promises?

Conversely, a child not baptised but born to a family that is faithful and churched, though coming to saving faith in Christ at middle-age is still saved, baptised when converted. But at what loss? I think, though baptism doesn’t play a part in salvation (it’s not salvific) is it not sad that this person was decidedly different in upbringing from the first? In what I’ve been coming to appreciate about the integral part that baptism and the church play in the family from cradle to grave, it seems a great disservice and a lack of putting perspective on the lost years of God’s promise.

Yes, God’s promise is eternal and yes, it works backward in the life of a man whether baptized in youth or not. Just as a believer who dies never baptized still has the promise. But there’s a richness, a fulness that is lacking. O to look back on the day of my baptism and say here, right here, did God declare that I belong to Him, though it took me twenty eight long years to run to Him in belief and faith. But I don’t have that joy. Do I regret it? Somewhat. It is what it is, of course. But, knowing what I know now, I surely don’t want to lay the foundation for that lack in my own children and for their children. So much would I like to see the better horizon for them and their offspring and if that can be realized, the seal of God on my household, that I would be a fool to avoid it or neglect due attention to it.

But what about those who don’t believe and are still baptized? They still benefit from the common grace that God maintains in His church. They are raised in the moral and spiritual environ of the church and their believing families. They may truly be raised up for God’s judgement, but is not His judgement, His glory and holiness magnified in what He does?

Rather than stew and trouble over this dark side of God’s covenant, is it not better to lay our hopes in Him, to trust our Lord to make all right in the end? He has promised us eternity and salvation. What God does is right, period, and our understanding only comes into play when He wills it to be so. We may not know what will happen or why this side of Christ’s return, so we must go with what we have at this time. God has promised His blessing, however richly full or limited, according to His good pleasure and devices.

So, bottom line, baptize your children. Dedicate them to the good name of our Lord and His promises. He will sort out the rest. And when they are baptized, they must be, by their inclusion, part of the church visible, part of the instruction in righteousness, party to the counsel of God, the discipline of His church and all other things. We owe it to them just as we owe our witness to the Gospel to every pagan around us who has not known God, or His holy things.

Hebrews 8. It’s a covenant. Not just for us but for our children!

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February 7, 2011

Cease

By Pooka

 

Your run through the darkness
Fearing the deepest shadows
Lashing out at all that breathes
Trusting no eyes that meet your own

Do not force the sunlight
It gives the shadows strength
It lifts fallen faces to sight
It confirms your doubt

Son of the day
No longer abide
In the dominion of darkness

Hurt brings the fallen
Closer to the depths
Fear lets slip fingers of reason
Flee the whispers of your tongue

Seek out the holy star
Forget the terror and despair
You cannot leave them behind
Forget they are there

Son of the light
No longer abide
In the dominion of night

Slashes and scourging have brought no light
Pain lances no wounds
Pride and vanity are all encompassed
Until you relinquish death

_________________________________________ 

Originally published on: Nov 30, 2006 @ 1:10

About surrender.

Giving up our precious pain and darkness.

Stepping out into the frightening love, liberty and righteousness He has offered us.

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February 2, 2011

Inverted Pyramid

By Pooka

There are two pyramid to consider, one being our upward travel and the other our uplifted travel. The first is right-side-up and the other inverted. I heard Dr. Horton mention the inverted pyramid idea in passing while discussing the Incarnation at a conference late last year. I heard the recording and this little part, right near the end of his lecture really struck me.

The regular pyramid is more commonly known, I believe. It’s in use in Bible Counseling and probably in other areas of teaching regarding Christian living. Nothing really wrong with this one, but in light of considering the inverted version, a more complete view is needed.

Christ pours everything down upon us. Word, Table, Baptism, Church, Faith, Repentance, Law and Gospel, Church Discipline — all the things that really matter and fills us with them and lifts us up to Him (more than just symbolized in the Lord’s Table). That’s the inverted pyramid. You could group some of the terms together, like Word, Law and Gospel, or Church and Discipline, but I broke them up for comprehensive coverage.

We could say that conversion is the first thing poured out on us, with our stone hearts being replaced with hearts of flesh, then repentance and belief and all that follows. It certainly can’t be denied that all of these are provided in or by the church and that introduction and sustainment of the needful things are found right in baptism and the Lord’s table. I’m sure they’re representative of the whole in one way or another, but that’s for later studies.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1:3-10

In Him you are also being built.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4:1-5

Law: cannot be kept. No hope. Defined as working to earn God’s favor, earn our escape, our salvation. It’s what condemns the unbeliever and guides those who are in Christ.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:21-25

Gospel: Law kept in Christ for us. Substitution. He did it for us. Gives us our salvation, God’s favor. It assures and comforts us when we see that even our attempts to keep the law are flawed and inadequate.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4

Our work is a participation in our sanctification, but we know even our work is His work in us. It stands more to reason that works are the natural product of a life more in line with an accurate reflection of the Gospel’s effect on us. We’re more like Christ which produces the works. Here is where the regular pyramid fits in. We are closer to the top (Christ), which brings us closer together, being more aligned in the same fashion.

We have to recognize that depending on Him means that He is pouring all that into us, and causing us to respond in faith. We work, work hard, not in hopes that we’ll get more of His grace or other benefit but because we have received His grace. That work is our participation in our sanctification (participating as in part of the play, not as in part of the construction team). We conform to the Author’s intent, not build the Architect’s design.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10

And if our salvation is not of us, neither is our being saved or will-be saved. He keeps and sustains us.

What might become apparent here, if we look closely enough, is the importance of the church. Man, this sure tends to sound Romish (Roman Catholic), but hey, they took the right idea and went south with it. Why else did Christ institute the Church? Just for us to have a support-group? Just to fill a hole left by the wayward Jews?

We have a church, just as each individual Israelite had his tribe and nation, because that was where he was accepted, confirmed, built up, sustained, raised, taught, disciplined, married, respected and buried. Where else in the world can we go for any of this? The prez? The local college? The masons? Anybody?

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June 21, 2010

Truth Heart Will

By Pooka

I was listening to a recording of Martin Lloyd Jones on the way to work today. The subject concerned “miserable Christians.” Essentially, a Christian who is miserable, distraught or lacking in confidence is a product of bad math. There are three components which, when combined in the right order, make up the process of salvation and subsequently, sanctification. Any deviation from the formula is bound to produce an aberrant Christian life. Deviations include taking one element out of the list and keeping a combination of the remaining two, focusing on only one element, or starting with the wrong element.

Here are the three:

1. Truth
2. Heart
3. Will

We can’t take these out of order or say that only one or two will suffice to save or support us. What can we desire if we don’t have Truth or love? What can we want if we don’t hate our sinful nature? What can we love if we don’t know what to love?

Notice that, overall, Truth is king. If there is no understanding, there can be no change of heart. A call to Christ that is based on the heart or will cannot succeed to saving faith if there is no foundational proposition based in truth. We cannot love what we do not know and therefore cannot want to do what we love.

It cannot be stressed enough, however, that Truth must be more than pursuit of propositional excellence. “Pure Science,” does nothing for or with the Gospel. To engage purely in consuming, dissecting and deliberating about the Truth is to produce a cold, debate-filled clutter of musty papers and files that has no light of its own. Truth-only results in a darkening of the life, for it has not reached in and illuminated anything. There is only a desire for more facts, more detail and comprehensive vocabulary. Simply put, knowledge is not necessarily Truth.

But Truth is still king. It demands first place for without it, there can be none of the other two. God comes in here, and drills the Gospel down into our souls, creating a love for it, a realization of its magnitude and worth. And with that He produces in us a will to conform to it.

If we were to take love alone, claiming that God supplies love in saving us and not any such thing as understanding, what would that produce? I believe the inevitable includes vacillating, weak people who are easily overcome in a crisis. They are great for hugs and pity-parties, but have no tools to lend encouragement or exhortation to anyone. They do not understand the Gospel and so cannot put it to their own lives or proclaim it to others for their salvation or sanctification.

If we take the will and focus entirely on that, sort of saying that the Christian life is a moral or legal process, what happens? Obviously legalism comes into play and we’ll see people who are demanding, insensitive and judgmental. Pursuit of the system for its moral qualities makes a person who is blind to their own condition and that of others. It degrades the whole need for a Savior and the love of God which changes lives.

As an aside, I think it is critical to my job as a father to keep this in mind. Children can so easily be manipulated by adults. I can press them to a decision or appeal to their emotions or even develop in them a fact-focused view of the Bible, none of which will give them the whole, balanced Gospel. In addition, when they come to that balanced Gospel and believe, it is not all wrapped up and time to breath a sigh of relief. Sanctification works in the same way. I cannot assume a different focus once my kids are Christians. They need, just like everyone else, a balanced and complete diet of Truth, Love and Will either taught or demonstrated. I just can’t sit back and allow the creeping misconception that love runs on autopilot or that performance justifies all by itself. Both of those are products of incomplete Truth.

All through the Bible, the message returns to doctrine. In Romans and Ephesians, Paul hits doctrine first and then goes to application. In the OT, Moses teaches and teaches, giving instructions that foreshadow the New Covenant. The message of Doctrine is an ever deepening love for the things of God. We hear the first message, the Gospel of Christ crucified and risen, the message of our depravity and need for a Savior. Then we learn about grace and how it has been at work all along in the Bible. And so on. We fall in love with the Gospel, not the words, but with the point of it. It’s the revelation of Himself, God, to us and His clear proclamation of salvation. We fall in love with that and then fall in love with more and more of it until there is a desire to conform to it. Then the will comes into play and we want to do God’s will. We want to comply with His law.

All of these things are the Spirit’s work in our lives, but He always starts with the Word. The Spirit testifies of Christ, of God’s work of salvation.

“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” – John 15

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. – 1 Peter 1:12

See that? The Spirit of truth! The preachers preached the Gospel by the Holy Spirit. Read 1 Peter 1: 10-11 as well, and there is much more about this.

So, I hope that the point is made, there must be all three, though I focused mostly on Doctrine, or Truth. We can’t get to the others without the first. It’s important to remember that a sole focus on doctrine isn’t healthy, but that of premier importance in the process.

As many Bible teachers say, we must return to doctrine. We have to preach the Gospel to ourselves daily. It is the great moment to call upon Christ as Lord of our lives and repent of sin just one time at the beginning. That is where justification is. It has to be followed by a devotion to keep that Gospel in our minds so that we grow! And it’s not impossible, for ALL THREE are the work of the Holy Spirit. Salvation includes a working love for the Gospel, the Lord revealed within, a hatred of our sin and the meanness of the world and a desire to serve the One, not the other.

I wish I could record here how important this is to me, and how it makes me feel sometimes when I get a glimpse of the wonder of this equation. I suppose the Psalmist is the best one to whom I can refer.

The Law of the Lord Is Perfect
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. –Psalm 19

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