Your church is not a democracy.

Or at least, it shouldn't be. We treat it like that sometimes, don't we, though? We take the truth of 'the priesthood of all believers' - the idea that we all have equal access to God through Jesus - and make it mean that we all have equal say in the direction of our churches.

Not so.

Just as there is authority in the family, so there is in the Church. Consider God's words in Hebrews 13:17: "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you."

Something in us reacts against those two words I italicized, doesn't it? Maybe it's our American individualism; our democratic ways; an overextension of proper views of humanity; fear of abusers of authority...

Maybe it's just damnable rebellion, though.

Note God's reasons for our submission to church authorities: they are guarding our souls. Or in Peter's words (from 1 Peter 5), they are shepherding God's flock until the Chief Shepherd comes back. They are acting as Jesus to the rest of us, as they explain and execute God's words in the churches.

Of course they will fail to do so perfectly - indeed, entire institutions that were true churches have crumbled into stupid, self-promoting, heresy-spewing cesspools. And much less every true church - every church which proclaims the gospel - has some error in it, taught and practiced.

That, however, does not negate the command. We are under the authority of a King. He tells us to obey those he's put in charge. Let's do it - for his glory and his kingdom.

Dumb Jews... ?

I grew up with Bible stories, many from the Old Testament, and in my arrogance, self-righteousness, and lack of understanding of how sinful I am, I thought that Bible characters, always forgetting about God and falling into idolatry, were dumb.

I know a bit better now, what with God opening my eyes to my own idols and unbelief.

One of those stories, though, was always the story of Peter. He always seemed so... dumb. His telling Jesus what he couldn't do, denying him, cutting off the dude's ear in the garden, etc.

I want to specifically think about Peter's denial of Jesus, though. I mean, how dumb was that? Peter had been told by Jesus who he was, how he was going to come back to life from the dead; he'd seen miracles! But he denied him.

And the way we're used to thinking about this is often about Peter's lack of faith and boldness for Jesus' sake. And that's true. He sinned. We often sin like him, don't we?

But that's not the point. The point is found previously in the passage. And it's this. God struck Jesus and scattered the sheep. Why'd the sheep scatter? Because the Shepherd was struck; he no longer sustained their faith. Remember who gave Peter his faith? God. And who is its sustainer? God!

So what's the point? Jesus is the creator and sustainer of our faith. The point of this passage isn't "Be more bold!" or "Have more faith!" - it's this: Jesus makes faith; look at how great Jesus is; look how forgiving Jesus is; look at how sovereign Jesus is.

We're all dumb, aren't we? But praise God! He gives us faith, gives us righteousness to be declared righteous before him, and is giving us the new universe. Praise the Lord!

Thank you! And another question for you...

To all that have responded to my request concerning the effectiveness of this blog, thank you! And the blog, God willing, will roll on.

Question - is there anything that you'd particularly like me to comment on - any questions you have that I should blog about?

The Problem with the Young Calvinists

Recently, Christianity Today has been making the observation that there is a growing movement of young, theologically Reformed people. I need to quickly correct that terminology – there are a lot of young people that are getting really into the Five Points of Calvinism; they’re not necessarily getting all of Reformed theology. (I may write about this later…)

That said, I love the fact that the five points of Calvinism are becoming popular again. People are digging into the Bible, seeing the value of reading theology, being centered on God’s glory, recovering the Christian intellect, it’s an awesome thing.

However, there’s one thing that really scares me about it. It seems like these young Calvinists don’t necessarily understand God’s Great Commission – to make disciples of every nation. Now, I don’t necessarily mean they don’t get evangelism. In many pockets, they do, and they’re very focused on being ‘missional.’

But they have forgotten that God cares much more about gathering his elect from every nation than he does about every individual in America. They’ve missed that God’s main purpose on this earth is to glorify himself in every people group – not in every person.

Why might that be? Let me offer a few suggestions.

1) They’ve confused Calvinism with the gospel and thus view evangelism as ‘convincing people of Calvinism’ – and see a ‘great need’ in America for that.

2) They have comfort as an idol and are taking advantage of grace.

3) They view themselves as ‘senders’ – because they want to be like their Calvinist heroes.

4) They don’t ‘feel called’ – and are thus functionally denying sola Scriptura; thus, they’re Five Pointers – but not Reformed.

5) There’s a desire to be ‘cool’ in American culture that supercedes the desire to become all things to all people to win some.

6) An ignorance of the hundreds, if not thousands, of unreached people groups around the world.

There’s probably more to it than this, but this is what I’m coming up with right now. Let’s remember – our goal is the spread of the glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus to every nation – and it’s because that’s God’s goal. Everything we do – the directions of our lives – need to be organized around that principle. Not everyone should go. But for all of us called to vocational ministry, permit me to suggest that it should be our default option.

New Journal, New Blog, New Article

And a whole new YOU! Just kidding. That last sentence made me feel like Joel Osteen. I think I need to go shower.

That said, I've begun blogging for a new journal called Relief. I'm doing a series on how to study the Scriptures. Check it. And props to Heather A. for letting me do this! Fun stuff.

Respond, please!

I’m trying to figure out whether or not this blog is helpful. So take a minute and respond. If you’re a subscriber or regular reader, please respond in a comment to say what would be helpful to you for me to include, change, etc.

For those of you whom I’ve tagged in Facebook notes – I’m no longer going to be tagging people. If you’ve found what’s here helpful, go ahead and subscribe (there should be a command in the 'bookmarks' menu) to the actual blog at http://derekjoseph.blogspot.com - and comment on what might be helpful to you.

I look forward to getting your comments. This blog has to be about Jesus and effective in his Kingdom, or I will happily get rid it.

How You Should Vote

The following text is the outline for the video which appears above.

1) God created governments
2) God created governments to execute righteousness on earth
3) God’s righteousness is evinced in the Law – the OT Law
4) Other nations are held responsible for disobedience to God’s Law in the prophets
5) There is no normative ‘moral Law’ outside the OT Law – every time conscience/natural law is mentioned it’s negative and subjective
6) So the purpose of government is to uphold God’s Law
7) That includes everything in it – including just war, capital punishment, wisely taking care of the poor to an extent, and even the worship of God. – some things more important than others.
8) That will never actually happen until Jesus returns
9) But we have some authority in our government – and thus responsibility to make sure our government conforms to God’s Laws.
10) We also have the responsibility to be honest with our presuppositions – we don’t start from the position of pragmatism – we start with a belief that God owns us, and that his Law is an expression of love to bring us to Jesus.
11) We also have to start with the presupposition that international or national law (Geneva convention; Constitution) aren’t ultimate. We have to submit to law given, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek to change them.
12) Practically, I typically vote republican. Morally, I believe they are closer to God’s Law. Economically, no one is advocating we stop taking care of the poor. And quite frankly, someone whining about poverty in our country, I believe, is myopic – and probably has never been out of the Western world.

Are prophecy and tongues for today?

What follows are the bulletpoints from the video posted above.

Here are some facts to consider when we think about whether prophecy, tongues, and other miraculous gifts have existed since the apostolic age.

Before I begin, one thing I should mention that I didn't include in the video - 'cessationism' - or the idea that the miraculous gifts ceased after the apostolic age - was the accepted position of the Church from after the apostles until the present day pentecostal movement, which began around 1900. Though that doesn't mean it's true - that does say that there should definitely be no arrogance towards the position.

That said - the facts:

0) Scripture doesn't say that gifts have or haven't ceased.
1) The office of apostle has ceased.
2) Scripture is sufficient to provide us all the information we need to live the Christian life.
3) Jesus taught that after his era, many gifts would disappear (John 9).
4) New Testament prophets are different from Old Testament prophets.
5) 'Prophet' can mean someone who receives direct revelation from God OR someone who interprets it.
6) Prophets in the New Testament Church were subjected to the Church, and the Church to Scripture.
7) There were signs of the apostles; and thus the 'signs of the apostles' have ceased. (2 Cor. 12)
8) Scripture gives us strict rules about how to use these gifts.
9) We must interpret experience by Scripture - not Scripture by experience.

How to help Christians NOT understand their Bibles

Link to the video here.

Good news! God killed Jesus!

And of course raised him to life from the dead!

And it's good news because God was going to judge you for your rebellion - but - if you've submitted to Jesus as your divine owner, his death has taken your place and you're forgiven!

In Matthew 26, Jesus gives his disciples passover. The passover meal had four cups of wine, which symbolized the four aspects of God's saving Israel as described in Exodus 6. The third stood for God's action in saving his people and the fourth for entering into God's majestic presence forever. The cup Jesus gave the disciples was the third. So God's action in saving his people is Jesus' death (which results in the New Covenant and salvation!) AND Jesus doesn't drink the fourth because he's waiting until we're with him physically and we really know God!

Then Jesus tells the disciples that God is going to 'strike' him.

Then Jesus asks the Father if it might be possible for the 'cup' to pass from him. The 'cup' in the Old Testament represents God's wrath.

Praise the Lord! We're forgiven because God killed Jesus! And our forgiveness is sure because he lives again!

Do the sins of others sadden you? (News)

If you read Habakkuk 1:1-4, you'll see how sad he is at the sins of others even though he's not personally suffering. And that is a mark of one's desire that God be glorified - and thus - love for God... let's repent of our lack of love for God and thank him that he's forgiven us because of Jesus.

That said, a few news items -

Two teenagers make a bong (for weed) out of a human skull.

That guy that kept his daughter in the cellar and raped her repeatedly is saying he's sorry; he was wrong. How should we respond? How much are his apologies playing on your emotions?

This is what happens when we start saying 'God told me' and are referring to something that Scripture does not say or define. Sick.

Witches are protesting the war in Iraq! I think I'm won over. Quite convincing behavior...

And finally, I'm glad that we can be honest and say that statistics and pragmatism are more reliable than God's word when it comes to how we should behave sexually. Forget about the fact that you have no basis for believing in statistics or have any basis for even defining happiness without the Scriptures.

Good Preaching vs. Bad Preaching! FIGHT!

Recently, my beautiful fiance and I went to a worship service at a church in Indianapolis. The sermon was theologically sound, gospel-centered, and well-delivered. But she was not happy at all with it. Why? The dude barely referred to or read Scripture!

Remember Paul's commands to Timothy (a young pastor) - 'devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture' - and 'preach the word.'

Tie-in here - I just finished up at College Church's Workshop on Biblical Exposition. It was so restful - restful because I was in the Scriptures so much without distraction. And they are life!

That got me to thinking. Why preach?

Well, so we'll love God!

And also - what is preaching? It is clearly showing people the glory of God in the face of Jesus in the Scriptures the Holy Spirit gave us.

Tenacity for the Church Can Send a Man to Hell

There are a lot of evil doctrines afoot in the American Church today. Friendliness to Roman Catholicism, rejection of Scripture's authority, a decrying of penal-substition
as 'divine child abuse,' pragmatism and a failure to preach God's word, unScriptural methods of ministry, feminism...

But some of us, in our desire to protect people from idolatry (making a false 'God' to worship) and ultimately from hell, make ourselves worthy of it.

Consider the Amalekite in 2 Samuel 1. Saul was an evil man. But he was in a position of authority over God's people because God put him there. And David - whose ministry Jesus finished - killed the one who bragged about killing Saul.

David didn't refrain from pointing out Saul's sin, remember. But, though he did it publicly, always was gentle, loving, and invited repentance. I'm reminded of Paul's instruction to Timothy.

Let's never waver in being firm in condemning sinful doctrine and ministry practices; but with love and humility. Remember - those of who've been in ministry - look back - you've screwed up a lot, too. Thank God that he's the One building his Church!

Jeremiah Wright and the Pope

What do they have in common? Apparently, according to many 'Evangelicals,' they're my brothers in Christ.

I feel rebuked. I mean, yes, Jeremiah Wright, professional racist, says 'Jesus' a lot. Click here for that story.

Oh, and the Pope, professional dress and stupid hat wearer, is anti-abortion. Click here for that one.

So I guess being my brother in Christ has nothing to do with the Gospel. Or in Greek, the 'evangelion' - where we get the word 'Evangelical.' Good thing, too! Because, man - if I broke fellowship with those guys I might end up being called a racist. Or a heretic.

For Dr. James White's commentary on Wright, click here.
And to read about how the Roman Catholic Church condemns the Gospel, click here.

I'm so very glad we don't live in a democracy... and re: the new Christian left

You know why I'm glad the US isn't a democracy? Because then we'd have a bunch of ignorant, armchair wannabe politicians running a show they know nothing about. I'm glad I have the power to elect a set of values to do the hard work of research and decision-making.

That said, that's not the point of this post.

When I was a kid, if you were a Christian, you were a Rush Limbaugh listening, James Dobson loving, pro-life, party line Republican.

Or at least close to it.

Now days, it seems it's the opposite, especially with young people. Young Christians seem bent on political liberalism. And at least part of the reason for that is that they're rebelling against the excesses of older Christians who often subjugated Scripture to political agenda - often speaking without love for the opposing side.

News flash: those of you in this 'movement' - you're doing the same thing. And stop pretending you're the little minority doing the right thing in complaining against this big majority of old mean Christians who hate poor people. Seriously. Get over yourselves. You're a result of reactionary groupthink.

When I was in seminary, I had a crisis. Should I be against 'gay marriage?' (I mean in a legal sense. Of course if anyone in the church did that we'd discipline them and excommunicate them if necessary.)

But what about the laws of the land? Should they prevent 'gay marriage?'

This resulted in a search of what the Scriptures said about governments and how we as God's people are to interact with such institutions.

Now, you might, and rightly, say, that there was no representative government in those days! Well, that's sort of true. But so what? Do we believe the Scripture is sufficient for every good work or not? That means it will provide us a framework through which to think about how we interact with government - about how we vote and who we vote for even.

And quite frankly, I think it's quite stupid to assume one knows what that framework is unless one has studied it.

And a greater weight of responsibility lies on the pastors in God's Church to make sure his sheep know what that framework is.

And as a closing thought - it makes me sick to see how Christians are swayed by smooth talking, content lacking, emotion-grabbing politicians. But hey, the same is true of a lot of pastors that are popular today. Guess it shouldn't be that surprising.