Christos 2014: Church leaders Conference

FBC Liberty City is hosting the Christos 2014 conference on October 6-7. This is a conference for pastors, church and ministry staff, elders, and lay leaders of various sorts. Our theme this year is "Theology, Proclamation, and the Supremacy of God's Word." We have an amazing group of national speakers lined up to encourage and challenge us to become more articulate in the great biblical and theological truths of the Christian faith. Register early HERE for discounts and free resources. Check out the video and links below.

http://www.christosconference.com/
https://twitter.com/ChristosConf
https://www.facebook.com/christosconference
Christos You Tube Channel

The Apostle Paul and the Doctrine of Sovereignty

 (Photo courtesy of St Paul's)

¹² I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. 
Philippians 1:12-18 ESV

I recently preached a sermon (a video of this sermon can be viewed here) over the above text. In it, I discussed how the Apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote these words. What, then, is the reason for his great optimism? Paul was convinced that God was sovereign and had a plan of redemption that transcended any trial or circumstance. Moreover, Paul, though his situation was bleak, actively embraced the theological truth of God’s sovereignty and sought to be a willing participant in God’s plan of redemption.

What does sovereignty mean? The dictionary defines it as follows: “having supreme rank, power, or authority.” This seems to be correct with respect to God. Certainly, the Bible (and reason for that matter) teaches that God—the creator of all things, infinite in knowledge and power, eternal in being—is sovereign. God has supreme rank, power and authority. We can also conclude from this truth that this great God is intentional and has a plan. 

The passage listed above is a fine example of this. Paul clearly recognized this truth. This is why he was able to rejoice even though his circumstances were poor by earthly standards. As one writer notes: “Paul had been bound but the word of God could not be bound.” Yet, these poor circumstances were the means by which God furthered His redemptive plan. God is sovereign over all, God was sovereign in Paul’s circumstances, and God is sovereign in your life. 

We want to be careful when we discuss God’s sovereignty. Some, unfortunately, speak of God’s sovereignty as though it were sheer power or omnipotence. We must always remember that God’s sovereignty can never be separate from His moral goodness. Theologians very often organize God’s various attributes into two categories: natural and moral. Natural attributes are things such as omnipotence, omniscience, immutability, etc. God’s moral attributes are things such as his faithfulness, goodness, holiness, etc. Andrew Fuller once said that God’s natural attributes are those that evoke respect and the moral attributes are those that evoke love. In the end, however, we must never compartmentalize God and his attributes. People sometimes think of God as an all-powerful ruler, or, perhaps, only as a loving but impotent deity. Whenever we compartmentalize God in this way, we misunderstand Him altogether. God is a unity and all of His attributes work together in harmony. Everything that God does as the sovereign king of the universe is done from the perspective of perfect moral goodness. If all of this is true, then be a willing participant in God’s sovereign plan of redemption. 

   

View the sermon here.          

Denominationalism, Baptists, and the Bill of Rights

An appreciation for one’s denomination is not as prevalent today as it once was. Nevertheless, concerned members of the body of Christ should have an understanding and an appreciation for the heritage and contribution of their denomination. What are our distinctive beliefs? What have we contributed to the Christian community and society generally? These are important questions. Since I am a Baptist, I would like to recommend that you read a great article (here), written by Kenneth Keathley, regarding the Baptists key involvement in the adoption of our great nation’s Bill of Rights. 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY  

A Preliminary Response to “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation”

A recent doctrinal statement has been released wherein Southern Baptists are implored to reject Calvinism as a theological benchmark and to embrace a series of doctrinal affirmations and denials that presumably affirm a kind of baptistic Arminianism. And indeed a number of prominent and respectable Baptist ministers and theologians have signed their name in approval. The document may be read here.

I have only briefly looked over this document, but I plan on reading it much more carefully in the near future. I will blog on this more fully at a later time. Nonetheless, I have a couple of preliminary observations:

“. . .we are asserting that the vast majority of Southern Baptists are not Calvinists. . . We believe it is time to move beyond Calvinism as a reference point for Baptist soteriology.”

Though I generally agree that Calvinism as a baptistic nomenclature is less than helpful (for reasons of ecclesiology and missiology rather than soteriology), I am troubled when the writer asserts that the majority of Baptists are not Calvinists. He may be right about this (in a robust 5 point sense); yet, I find myself asking: how does the writer know? In other words, he did not publish his research.

Also, something else disturbing to me is that the doctrinal affirmations and denials lack nuance. For example, when speaking of election, double predestination is assumed, and there is a failure to acknowledge moderate Calvinism which opts for preterition as an alternative—something that is historically quite common among Calvinists (Andrew Fuller for instance). The result of this lack of nuance is that though I realize my theological views are often different from the writer of this document, I am nonetheless affirming and denying right along with the document (with some obvious exceptions of course). And, the writer, as a result, is in danger, at times, of making a caricature of this so called “New Calvinism.” If we can agree (and I’m preaching to both sides now) that many of our theological conclusions are the same, then, perhaps, we can co-exist with a greater degree of unity. More on this later…

Theological Studies Ministry

 

I have been reminded this week of how blessed I am to have been called to FBC Liberty City as minister of discipleship. I announced last Sunday that the church would be launching a theological studies ministry and offering a course on biblical interpretation (hermeneutics)—the first of several classes leading to a certificate in theological studies. I had no idea if anyone would be interested in such an endeavor. After all, we live in a post-modern time (so we are told), and people are much less interested in propositional truth—opting rather for subjective narratives. Well, the good people at Liberty City must not have received this memo, because we have had a great number of folks sign up for this formal course.

Now the discipline of hermeneutics is essentially the science of biblical interpretation. The class, then, will analyze the way in which the church has interpreted Scripture throughout history and consider what interpretive template is best employed by Christians today. What an exciting and important endeavor!

Our vision statement reads as follows:

The vision of FBC Liberty City Theological Studies Ministry is focused upon serving the Church by equipping God’s people with the necessary biblical and theological infrastructure needed to maximize their impact for Christ in their own communities and around the world.     

Theological Literacy in the Home

Josh McDowell has, within the last few years, written a book entitled The Last Christian Generation. His research has revealed a startling number of youth from Christian homes having abandoned a number of foundational Christian beliefs. These teens are not turning their back on spirituality; rather, they have rejected several important and crucial aspects of Christian theology.

It is my conviction that as parents we must become ourselves more theologically literate in the home. Parents must see the urgent need to teach their children the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, so that their spiritual and devotional responses to God may be informed by the content of Christian doctrine. This can be accomplished if we will make a deliberate commitment to thoroughly acquaint ourselves with the foundational theological teachings of Christianity.

I am in the process of putting together a seminar and corresponding book resource in order to help families in the Church implement a plan to accomplish this great task. I would love to get any feedback you may have.