Sinless perfection in this life - really?

I was asked by a reader to discuss the doctrine held by some denominations that basically says: "It is possible to reach a state of sinless perfection in this life". After researching this a bit, it is clear that some who's theology find its roots in the Wesleyan tradition, such as Seventh Day Adventists, as well as some Pentecostals, would affirm this statement. It is also clear that this is not a doctrine that is held by all who claim affiliation with these denominations.

The issue at hand is the biblical doctrine of sanctification. In looking for information on who held to the notion of  "sinless perfection in this life", I came across an article that gave great insight into who holds to this doctrine and also evaluates it along with other commonly held views on sanctification.

I have placed a link below to the article. I personally believe the positions presented as "The Reformed View" and the author's view, referred to as "My view", have much merit in terms of properly understanding the biblical doctrine of sanctification.

Read and decide for yourself!

5 views of sanctification

A Jesus quote to ponder!

Jesus prays this to His Father, regarding His disciples -

John 17:18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 

If Jesus has sent us "as" He was sent by the Father, what might we expect our lives to look like?



Bonus - another Matt Papa song!

 "Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

Matt Papa - Open Hands!

A Great Quote on Evangelism and Missions!

In regard to doing evangelism and missions, authors Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, in their book Everyday Church,  suggest that the Bible's prescribed way of reaching the lost is not primarily by inviting people to evangelistic events, but rather:

"Our lives are the evangelistic events. Our life together is the apologetic."

They are not advocating a wordless gospel that expects people to comprehend the truth simply through seeing our good works. What they discuss at length in the book is that Christians should live a very different lifestyle, individually and collectively, which actually gets the attention of the lost as it displays the power of the gospel we proclaim.

1 Peter 3:13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

In a time when Christians are often quick to complain about the state of the world and how we are treated by it, it is no wonder that we primarily rely on events and programs to present the gospel. If we were to make our individual and collective lives the main means of witnessing to the world, we might tend to make the gospel less believable, as our often self-centered lifestyles and lack of unity as Christ's church, would hardly seem to confirm the truth.

By God's grace, may we seek to be His witness and His church, as we interact with each other and the world throughout our daily lives!

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

Seperating faith from life is impossible!

A well know writer was shocked to find that Paul Ryan believed a person's faith will make an absolute difference in their life, including their political decisions. I think many people are able to hold the beliefs of their church or religions separate from their lives and decisions, but only because they aren't what they personally believe. What we really believe (about God and everything else) will absolutely affect what we think, say, feel and do. Paul Ryan's democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, who is a Catholic as is Paul Ryan, is a good example of this. His church officially believes abortion is wrong, but Joe Biden believes it is perfectly acceptable. Has Joe Biden separated his beliefs from his public/political life? Not at all, he is acting on what he believes personally over what his church believes officially.

I would suggest that everyone does what they think is best according to what they believe every single time without exception and I challenge anyone to give an example to the contrary.

If you ever find yourself thinking that you acted against your beliefs, you need to reconsider if you really believe what you think you do or why even for a moment, you chose to believe otherwise and act accordingly.

Here is Al Mohler's original blog article -

Of Babies and Beans

Great Message from Voddie Bauchum

I saw this video posted on the Truth Matters blog and just had to re-post it! Voddie Bauchum does a great job of exegeting Acts 17 and demonstrating Paul's willingness to confront the culture, rather than adapt to it.

 



I may just be jealous, but your opinion is welcome!

I was out of town this past week to be with family after the death of my wife's father. I had the opportunity to speak with the pastor of a much larger church than the one I pastor (hence the possibility that I am just jealous), but I am curious how others might see one comment he made. While I can't remember the exact words, his comment was essentially this, "all the growing churches provide great worship experiences". He did offer one exception, a church he knew of that has a very famous pastor, but as a whole he felt the worship experience was of utmost importance if a church is to grow.

I realize how you define "worship experience" could have great impact how this comment is understood. However, I would love to have some feedback on this topic, such as:

Is this emphasis on "worship experience" what we see emphasized in the Bible for church growth?

Does the emphasis on "worship experience" potentially de-emphasize other important things such as learning the word, commitment to the fellowship, service to the body and evangelizing the lost?

What makes the worship of our Lord meaningful, is it something visible/external or invisible/internal?









.

A free will vs. a bound will?

I hear many people get confused when they hear others affirm God's sovereign election of people to salvation. The misunderstanding usually comes in the form of thinking "free will" is all people having the capacity and choice to obey God unto salvation vs. "election", which they feel means some people are kept from salvation who want it, while others may be forced to believe, like some kind of robots.

In reality, the situation is well described like this:

Before the fall, Adam and Eve were able to sin or not to sin. They had absolute freedom of choice when it came to obeying or disobeying God. Of course we know they used their freedom to sin.

After the fall, man's will is said to be in bondage to sin (Gen. 8:21, Rom. 3:9-18, 8:6-11, 1 Cor. 2:14-16). We have the freedom to choose, but we use that freedom to choose against God. So, practically speaking, fallen man is not able not to sin, he won't choose to love and obey God. However, we must remember, this is what we want, we are not being forced to sin like robots.

Once regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to sin or not to sin (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 5:16-26, Eph. 2:1-10, 1 John 1:5-2:1). Here also, we are not robots and still may sin, but we also freely desire to obey the Lord we love from our new nature.

Once we are glorified and the fleshly nature is gone, we will live forever with Christ and be not able to sin (1 Cor. 15:50-53, Rev. 21:22-27).

All glory is to Christ as He redeems His people by His plan and power!

OK, I know this may be controversial, but can AA teach the church a lesson?

I would like to offer for discussion the 6th Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). In case you don't know what I mean by that, I offer this very brief explanation. AA has what they call the "Twelve Steps". These steps are the recovery program AA recommends for those recovering from Alcoholism. Less known is AA's "Twelve Traditions", these are principles that deal with AA governance, affiliation, etc. and seek to keep AA from getting off the primary purpose for which it exists.

OK, before I ask for input on this one particular tradition, I ask you not to jump to conclusions that I am anti-church property. Just read the tradition and consider any parallels with the church. 

Tradition 6. Problems of money, property, and authority may easily divert us from our primary spiritual aim. We think, therefore, that any considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from the spiritual.....

You can read a full text of this and the other traditions here: Twelve Traditions

My questions are these -

Do you think the modern church has allowed the "problems of money, property and authority" to "divert us from our primary spiritual aim"?

Does the Bible promote churches owning property?

Does the Bible forbid churches owning property?

Are there principles in the Bible that might guide us in this area?

What might be lost if a church had no permanent building?

What might be gained if a church had no permanent building?

I am very interested in having some biblically supported answers and dialogue, so please participate if you can!

The Silencing of Christians, not in Iran, but Jersey City?

Wow, more and more cases of public officials attempting to silence any public proclamation of the Gospel. Take a look at the New Jersey case here: Christians arrested for evangelizing in public park

Also, see a similar story here: Christians arrested for evangelism after sunset in New Orleans

Acts 4:1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

Glory!

Rom. 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
35 “Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”

36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Justification!

Pride and our call to reach the lost!

Jesus set an example that few of us imitate.

Mark 2:15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Further we read, lest we get all self-righteous!

Luke 13:1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

All need the great physician, all need Jesus' sacrifice applied to them to be saved, and all need to hear the message of the gospel and repent to have eternal life. But, do we allow our pride or a desire to not get involved with "those people", keep us from bringing them the message that saved us? Are they scary, dirty, do they have weird habits, is spending time with them optional?

Consider Jesus' prayer to the Father.

John 17:15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

Have we been sent to do as Christ did?

Is it more likely we will be calling sinners to repentance if we hang around with church folks or by eating with tax collectors and sinners?

Who are the tax collectors and sinners that you could be spending time with? 

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

Link to 9Marks sermons

The 9marks Conference at Southeastern Seminary was most excellent. If you didn't get to attend, follow this link to hear what you missed - SEBTS