My Journey into Calvinism: Part Two

Written by: Dan Stump

In part 1 of this series I shared how I went from having no understanding of Calvinism, to not believing it and not liking it, to believing it was true but still not liking it, to finally loving these doctrines. Many call Calvinism the Doctrines of Grace. I imagine John Calvin himself wouldn't love the idea of having a theology named after him. For me, it isn't about following a man, but digging into God’s word to see what it says. 

I don't really care what you call it. I just want it to be true.

One thing you will find when researching Calvinism is the acronym TULIP. It isn't the most helpful and can lead to some unhelpful assumptions, but since it is so well known, I plan to use it as a frame of reference when discussing this theology. Here is what it stands for:

T - total depravity.

U - unconditional election.

L - limited atonement

I - irresistible grace

P - perseverance of the saints

Total depravity is a good place to start. What is the condition of humanity after the Fall? Are we able to choose to follow God? Total depravity is also referred to as total inability, which I think presents a more accurate picture. 

Total depravity can conjure up images of people who are rotten to the core and as awful as humanly possible. While we see some pretty horrific things happen in this world, we know from experience that everyone is not a bad as possible. People choose to do good things all the time. The idea behind this doctrine is not that we are as bad as we could be, but that on our own, we are unable to come to Christ due to our sin. It has affected us completely. Our mind, will, and emotions are corrupted. In fact the Bible portrays it as worse than just corruption. We are spiritually dead. Without a work of God, we would all be lost in our sin forever. 

The biblical support for this doctrine is immense. I will touch on a few key passages to get things started.

• Paul lays out our rebellion in
Romans 3:9–18. “I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written: None is righteous, no not one; no one seeks for God....There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

• Later in Romans 8:7–8 Paul says, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” 

• Finally, in Ephesians 2:1, we are told that we are dead in our sins. Until God makes us alive, by His mercy and love, we will remain spiritually dead.

A small sample of some more passages would include: Mark 7:21–23; Jeremiah 17:9; Titus 1:15–16; Psalm 51:5; Colossians 1:21; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Isaiah 53:6.

The picture that we get from God’s word is that sin has totally corrupted us. It has spiritually killed us. We have no desire to submit to God, and we are unable to do so. Jesus tells us in John 3:36 that God’s wrath is on those who reject Him. In fact we are born under God’s wrath because of our nature (Ephesians 2:3). This is what all mankind is deserving of, and destined for. In and of ourselves we have no hope. 

Luckily Ephesians 2:4 has some of the sweetest words in the Bible, “But God”. 

We are hopeless, “But God”We are spiritually dead, “But God”We are deserving of His wrath, “But God”

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:4–5).

Our merciful God has stooped down out of love to breathe life into spiritually dead people. The only way out of our hopeless situation is God. The next post will explore whether or not God has given spiritual life to everyone.

11/23/14 Sermon

Typically, each Monday we will be posting the previous Sunday's sermon. Here is the sermon from yesterday.

Sunday, November 23, 2014
Preaching: Vergil Brown
Sermon Series: Wisdom for Navigating Life
Title: "Wisdom and Marriage"
Proverbs

You can also access the sermon HERE.

Links we recommend 11/21/14

3 Lessons Learned from the Demise of Mars Hill Church

5 More Lessons Learned from the Demise of Mars Hill Church

6 Lessons Learned from the Growth of Mars Hill Church

In three parts, Gerry Breshears identifies several lessons to be learned from the sad situation at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.






Prayer in the Facebook Age

Here are some eye-opening and thought-provoking remarks on prayer and social-media.

Mothering in the Internet Age

Continuing the theme of our technological age, Betsy Childs thinks about Titus 2 and the overabundance of advice in today's world.

Choose Hospitality over Entertaining
In this post, Jen Wilkin compares and contrasts entertaining with hospitality. "Entertaining seeks to impress. Hospitality seeks to bless."


Evangelism: It's Too Complicated

Here is some simple, yet true and pointed, advice about evangelism and hospitality.


Russell Moore Speaks on Gospel and Marriage at Vatican

Earlier this week a worldwide group of religious leaders gathered at the Vatican in Rome to discuss the topic of marriage and family. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission addressed the group, offering an evangelical perspective on gender and marriage. At the bottom of the page is a link to the transcript of Moore's whole speech.

Truly Dying with Dignity

Written by: Thomas Slawson

On Saturday, November 1st Brittany Maynard swallowed a concoction of medicines prescribed by her doctor and died shortly thereafter. She was twenty-nine.

By now, most people have heard her story. She was diagnosed with a stage IV aggressive brain tumor earlier this year, and doctors said it would take her life in about six months. Learning of Oregon’s “Death with Dignity” law, which allows certain terminally ill patients to receive life-ending medications with the assistance of their doctor, she moved from California to Oregon to die.

Since her passing I have wanted to write down my thoughts from a Christian perspective and have found it extremely difficult to do. Not because there’s nothing to say on the matter, but because, quite honestly, there’s too much say. And not only that, but how it is said is also critical. I could fairly easily rattle off a list of five points as to why assisted suicide is wrong, but the hard part is not sounding like a cold-hearted insensitive jerk while doing so. 

Before Brittany took her own life she had made her intentions publicly known, and this caused quite a stir. Many came out in support of her decision, while others were highly critical. Others compassionately and loving encouraged her to not go through with it. Then it was done. So the question now is, what do we as Christians make of it?

After about five or six separate attempts at writing something, each resulting in me hitting the delete key, I took some time to try and see the issue through the eyes of someone facing a painful terminal illness. In reading about Brittany’s story I remembered that one of the things that initially prompted her decision was watching the movie How to Die in Oregon. I found it on Netflix and watched it. It was probably one of the most difficult things I've watched. I won’t take the time here to recap the whole thing, but the movie follows several Oregonians as they plan and carry out their own deaths in the face of terminal illnesses. They spend their last days of “good” health doing their favorite things, visiting friends and family and then, finally, they gather in a room while someone mixes the meds in a glass of water. They say their goodbyes and drink the solution. Within about ten minutes they fall into a coma and die. 

Part of me can totally understand the reason. These people were in pain. They faced the prospect of losing all of their normal everyday functions of life. They didn't want to face the final, excruciating days of death that their respective diseases would bring, nor did they want their families to have to face it also. And to be honest, I don’t blame them. Given the choice between getting hit by a bus or dying of brain cancer, I’d take the bus just about any day. 

But other than the fact that they were all dying, there was another common thread between them: They believed that at some point their circumstances would no longer have worth or value, and it would be at that point that death would be the best option. 

So why should this matter to believers? Some might even argue, “Why wouldn't a Christian want to ‘die with dignity’ if he or she is faced with a terminal illness? He or she gets to go to heaven!” But there’s a bigger picture here. For the believer there’s so much more to terminal cancer than simply getting sick and dying. 

Suffering in and of Itself is NOT good.

Let me be clear. Suffering, pain, death, cancer, etc. are NOT good things by themselves. They are bad things. They are not part of the original intention of God’s good creation. They are unnatural, and exist because of the fall that left our world, our lives, and all of creation broken and marred. God’s warning to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:17 was that if they ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree that they would “surely die.” They ate, and since that time all humanity has faced the prospect of death and the suffering that comes with it.

But God sovereignly USES and ordains suffering for good.

Here’s the bigger picture. God is not the source of evil. We live in a sinful world, and the suffering and evil we face is because of the fall. Yet God in his sovereignty is working all things together for good, and to accomplish his purposes (Rom 8:28).

There are numerous stories in Scripture that could be noted here. The evil plots of Joseph’s brothers that led to his enslavement and false imprisonment, ultimately resulted in him being in a place to save his entire family from starvation (Genesis 37–47; see 50:20). But probably the clearest example is that of Christ himself. In Luke 22:3 it records that “Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot who was one of the twelve.” The act of betrayal by Judas, as prompted by Satan, resulted in the arrest and crucifixion of Christ. Make no mistake, this was an evil act. Jesus himself prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus was not excited about the prospect of the suffering that awaited him on the cross. Yet it is through this evil and suffering that God accomplished his purpose of salvation through Christ’s shed blood.

There IS real value in suffering.

It is valuable for the one who is suffering.

It has been said before that this life is the only opportunity we have to identify with Christ in his suffering. Our suffering and pain do not save us, but through them we have the opportunity to draw closer to him in the process. John Piper says it well:

Satan’s and God’s designs in our cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy our love for Christ. God designs to deepen our love for Christ. Cancer does not win if we die. It wins if we fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean us off the breast of the world and feast us on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help us say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8) and to know that therefore, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).” John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Cancer, pg. 10.

It is valuable for those around the sufferer.

Suffering can often open doors of opportunity into the lives of others that simply wouldn't be there otherwise. Brittany Maynard spent her last six months of life fighting for and promoting physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill. How much more valuable would it have been for her to use her voice to proclaim the eternally life-changing power of the gospel? 

For the believer, every breath, even those that are heavy, labored and painful, may utter the goodness of Christ to a listening ear. Even when speech or even any physical communication is no longer possible, the very existence of life itself testifies to the amazing work of God’s creation. God will not let the death of one of his saints be wasted.

There is hope.

The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.“ For the believer there is a real hope. A hope of eternal life in Christ. A hope of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3–4).

Christians may hope in this truth, that there is a day coming when the very effects of the fall will be completely and utterly removed and all of creation will be restored to a state of sinless perfection. 

If you are interested in further reading on this topic, Randy Alcorn and John Piper have also weighed in. Click on the links to read their thoughts. 

11/16/14 Sermon

Typically, each Monday we will be posting the previous Sunday's sermon. Here is the sermon from yesterday.

Sunday, November 16, 2014
Preaching: Vergil Brown
Sermon Series: Wisdom for Navigating Life
Title: "Wisdom and Friendship"
Proverbs

You can also access the sermon HERE.

Links we recommend 11/14/14

The Case for Idolatry: Why Evangelical Christians Can Worship Idols

This is a tongue-in-cheek post addressing the way some issues are being discussed these days.

On the Wrong Side of History

Here's a video with three well-known pastors discussing a common argument used in debates.

Stop Smurfing the Gospel

In this post Barnabas Piper encourages us to use the word "gospel" thoughtfully.

Lay Aside the Weight of "I'll Never Change"

This piece on the Desiring God website frankly challenges us to deal with sin, confident in God's grace to overcome it.

Hearts, Habits & Happiness

Randy Alcorn recently spoke at Good Shepherd Community Church on the joy of giving. The page linked to here includes the videos of all three sessions.

Cultural Opposition: Lie Down, Lean In, Lay Low, or Leave

This 9Marks article provides four helpful categories related to cultural opposition. 

GBC Core Values: Part Two

Written by: Josh Mathews

The five Core Values of Gresham Bible Church are:

• Knowing God deeply in his word

• Praying fervently for God’s purposes in the world

• Making God known by spreading the gospel locally and globally

• Fostering unity and building up the body through genuine community

• Expressing a growing love for Jesus in a life of worship

In the first post in this series we introduced these core values and looked more closely at the first one, Knowing God deeply in his word. In today’s post we’ll consider Core Value number 2, Praying fervently for God’s purposes in the world.

Core Value #2: Praying fervently for God’s purposes in the world.

At GBC we want to be a church body that is increasingly characterized by prayer. There are several reasons prayer is an important part of the Christian life and the life of the church.

First, Scripture instructs us to pray. In Luke 18 Jesus tells a parable of a widow who repeatedly and persistently pleaded with her city’s judge to give her justice against her adversary. After ignoring her request at first, the judge eventually gave in to her requests. Luke tells us that Jesus used this parable to teach his disciples “that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Many other verses instruct us to pray; for example, Rom 12:12, Eph 6:18, Phil 4:6, Col 4:2, 1 Thess 5:17.

Prayer is important because the Bible commands us to pray.

Prayer acknowledges our dependence on God. We don’t control our lives and the circumstances we are facing. That is why we pray. In 1 Chronicles 14 we find a clear example of one of Judah’s kings, Asa, relying on the Lord and praying. A massive army from Ethiopia has come out against Judah, and Asa and his army are drastically overmatched. Asa cries out to the Lord, praying,

“Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude.”

 And the Lord delivers them from their enemy.

Prayer is important because it is a contrite confession of need and dependence on God.

Prayer is an expression of faith in who God is, a recognition of  his character. When we pray it means we believe that God is powerful and able to answer our prayers, that he is wise to know what is best, and that he is loving and good to care for us and do what is best for his glory and for our good (Rom 8:28). In Asa’s prayer, before he asks for help and voices his reliance on the Lord, he begins his prayer with this declaration about God’s character:

“O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak.”  

Prayer is important because it is a trusting acknowledgement of God’s character.

Prayer is a means by which the Lord accomplish his purposes, in our lives, in the church, and in the world. In Acts the early church is repeatedly described as devoted to prayer (e.g. 1:14; 2:42; 6:4). These fervent prayers are what the Lord uses to empower the rapid and miraculous expansion of the church and God’s kingdom throughout the rest of Acts.

In his book, Power through Prayer, E. M. Bounds says this:

“What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer.”  

Prayer is important because God uses it to work in and through his people in the world.

There are many other things we could say about the importance of prayer. I’ll conclude this post with one point of clarification and a few practical ways we might make prayer more prominent in our lives.

When we pray, our prayers should include more than just requests. We tend to think of prayer as asking God to help us or give us something. However, the prayers we see throughout Scripture include praise, thanksgiving, and confession, along with supplication, or request. The Psalms provide numerous examples of all these different aspects of prayer. David often cries out to God to deliver him from his enemies. Yet, surrounding these requests and pleas for help, the psalms are filled with praise and thanksgiving for who God is and what he’s done for his people, along with confession of sin as well. And in Paul’s letters, his prayers typically begin with thankfulness for the good things the Lord is accomplishing.

So what kinds of things can we be doing? How, practically, can we grow, individually and corporately as a church, in the area of prayer?

• Come to prayer meeting on Sunday mornings at 9:30. A group of us meet for prayer every Sunday morning in the room on the end of the west hall at Dexter McCarty.

• Have a plan for prayer. The prayer bookmarks, which are available on the information table, are a good tool for this. On one side of the bookmark is a brief template for prayer based on the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6, along with a few references to other passages on prayer. The other side gives space to write out a plan, listing certain things or people to pray for on each day.

• Use the church directory. It is a good tool for praying systematically for others in the church. Also, there are some tools in the front of the directory that give good examples for how to pray. One benefit of these examples is that they emphasize praying for people’s spiritual health, which helps us avoid the tendency to pray only for physical needs for people.

• Set aside time to pray with your spouse, with a Christian friend, or as a family. Like Bible reading, it’s helpful to make a habit of praying. And praying with other believers helps with consistency, and it cultivates Christ-centered relationship.

• Pray together with your small group. Some groups share requests and pray for each other throughout the week. Others set aside a chunk of time to pray during small group itself. Some do a combination of these two. One way or another, seek to make prayer a part of your small groups.

• Come to prayer meeting on Sunday mornings at 9:30.

Links we recommend 11/7/14

4 Ways to Lovingly Discipline Your Children

In light of last week's sermon on Wisdom and Family, this post touches on some practical advice for loving discipline. It's written by Sarah Eggerichs, whose husband, Emerson, wrote the book Love and Respect.

3 Low Cost/High Impact Family Traditions

Kimberly Thornbury suggests a few practical traditions for this time of year.

5 Common Small Group Myths (And the Truth to Help Transform Your Group)

This post gives us some good things to think about related to small groups.

9 Things Everyone Should Do When Reading the Bible
In this post Bronwyn Lea offers good advice for reading the Bible carefully and purposefully.

Why We Need the Church

Here are some great points about our need to be involved in the local church.

God’s Strange Method of Pursuit

Written by: Dan Stump

I remember back to my dating days. I am not what you would call a romantic. Poetry doesn’t naturally flow out of me. But when it came time to win the heart of a girl, I would do whatever it took. When I desired a deep relationship, love letters and chick flicks were no problem.

Often we think of God wooing us in this same way. There is definitely some biblical imagery of a God who pours out His love in this way. That is why I was so surprised as I read Amos 4:6-11. It expanded my view of how God deals with us. His love is so much more complex than we think.

Israel had wandered. She was like a girl playing the field. If you were a girl with many suitors you would expect each of them to pile on the gifts and compliments. God does the exact opposite here. He starts by depriving them of food. Next he withholds water. Soon he is destroying their crops, vineyards, fig and olive trees. Are we surprised that Israel isn’t returning to Him? Don’t try this in your next relationship!

After that he kills off their horses, sends disease, and has their young men killed. Finally he overthrows them like He did Sodom and Gomorrah. Not exactly the way I would expect to be pursued.

The repeated refrain from God is, “Yet you did not return to me.” I took your food, yet you did not return to me. I took your water yet you did not return to me. I destroyed your crops, killed your livestock, had your young men killed, and overthrew you completely, yet you did not return to me.

“I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
“I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
 “I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.

“I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
“I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. (Amos 4:6-11 ESV)

God was sending them harmful things in order that they might recognize their waywardness and repent. As things got tough, they were supposed to cry out to God for help. Instead they continued in their stubborn wandering ways.

Do we view times of trial as sent from God? Do we see suffering as an opportunity to turn to Him? Or is our view of God so small that we think He would never do something like this; never treat us this way? Does our theology have room for God to love us by sending disease?

11/2/14 Sermon

Typically, each Monday we will be posting the previous Sunday's sermon. Here is the sermon from yesterday.

Sunday, November 2, 2014
Preaching: Vergil Brown
Sermon Series: Wisdom for Navigating Life
Title: "Wisdom and Family"
Proverbs

You can also access the sermon HERE.