Orthodoxy

There is a lot of talk in today's church about unity and not causing division in the body of Christ. And while these things are true and good (causing division for the sake of division is not healthy), there are two things the modern church needs to keep in mind.

1. Disagreement is not the same as division. In any healthy body of Christ, there is room for disagreement on some issues. Two people discussing the merits of a particular theology or idea or policy is not only not a bad thing, but it can be very healthy. Now, said discussion should be done in love and with respect, but love and respect does not mean that both sides must agree. It also does not preclude serious discussion. In the end on these issues, it is okay to agree to disagree.

2. There are some things that must be disagreed over. They must be fought for, and choosing to agree to disagree is not an option. These are what the church has called issues of orthodoxy. Orthodox means conforming to established traditions. In the case of the Christian faith these are doctrines that must be agreed upon. These are things that are so clearly stated in Scripture that the church throughout the ages has always agreed upon them, and to not agree is to be guilty of heresy. But what are the things that the church holds to be Orthodox? Well there are certain denominations that hold certain doctrine tightly, but some of it might or might not be Orthodox. So, with that in mind, lets look at what would overall be called orthodox doctrine of the church.

God: He is eternal (John 1:1). He is holy and just. He is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, we come to know the Father (Matthew 11:27). God the Father created all things through the Son, in the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1; 2; John 1:3; Job 33:4), and we are called to worship Him (John 4:23). The Father loves us and sent His Son to reunite us with himself (John 3:16).

Christ: He is the Second Person of the Trinity. He is also eternal. He became a man, and thus He is at once fully God and fully man. His coming to earth was foretold in the Old Testament by the Prophets. In reciting the Nicene Creed, Orthodox Christians regularly affirm the historic faith concerning Jesus as they say, "I believe...in one Lord Jesus Christ, begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again from the dead, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, whose Kingdom shall have no end."

The Holy Spirit: It is one of the Persons of the Trinity and is one in essence with the Father. Orthodox Christians repeatedly confess, "And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified. . ." He is called the "Promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4), given by Christ as a gift to the Church, to empower the Church for service to God (Acts 1:8), to place God's love in our hearts (Romans 5:5), and to impart spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7-13) and virtues (Galatians 5:22, 23) for Christian life and witness. Orthodox Christians believe the biblical promise that the Holy Spirit is given in chrismation (anointing) at baptism (Acts 2:38). We are to grow in our experience of the Holy Spirit for the rest of our lives.

The incarnation: This refers to Jesus Christ coming "in the flesh." The eternal Son of God the Father assumed to Himself a complete human nature from the Virgin Mary. He was (and is) one divine Person, fully possessing from God the Father the entirety of the divine nature, and in His coming in the flesh fully possessing a human nature from Mary. By His Incarnation, the Son forever possesses two natures in His one Person. The Son of God, limitless in His divine nature, voluntarily and willingly accepted limitation in His humanity, in which He experienced hunger, thirst, fatigue--and ultimately, death. The Incarnation is indispensable to Christianity--there is no Christianity without it. The Scriptures record, "Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God" (1 John 4:3). By His Incarnation, the Son of God redeemed human nature, a redemption made accessible to all who are joined to Him in His glorified humanity.

Sin: The Westminster Confession of Faith says of Sin: "Our first parents, begin seduced by the subtlety and temptations of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. They being the root of mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by original generation." Our Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1,2). We are born spiritually dead in our Sin (Ephesians 2:1). To save us, the Son of God assumed our humanity, and being without sin, "He condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3). In His mercy, God forgives our sins when we confess them and turn from them, giving us strength to overcome sin in our lives. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Salvation: Salvation comes when the work of Christ is applied to a person by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a free gift from God and can not be earned, asked for, begged, or in any other way be a work of man. Man is wholly ineffectual in any attempts to save himself from the judgment of God. Only through the free gift of God, the work of Christ, applied to us by the Holy Spirit are those that were known before time.

Baptism: The Westminster Confession of Faith states. "Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in his Church until the end of the world. The outward element to be used in the sacrament is water, wherewith the party is to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by a minister of the gospel, lawfully called thereunto. Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it, or that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated."

To be continued....

The above is compiled from various sources.

Mike

James 1:2-4

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Wow, this verse really speaks to me right now. It seems like in our current life, whenever Sarah and I take one step forward, we take another two right back. It seems that although making headway, we just never seen to get anywhere very quickly.

We have a five year plan and are right on target. But there are times when it seems that we may be able to make it into a 3 year plan. Then something comes up that puts us back on the 5 year plan. At times like those (in an overly dramatic fit born out of a misplaced persecution complex) I cry out (in a voice befitting William Shatner in Star Trek II) "WHYYYY??? WHHHHHYYYYYY???"

And of course God waits for my fit of self induced pity to pass and leans in closely and says "Because it is my plan for you."

Now, like a child who didn't get to play in their little league game because they were hurt (and it was in their best interests in the long run not to play) that does not do a very good job of consoling me at that very moment. But not because it is not correct or not good, but mostly because I do not want to be consoled. I want what I want.

But as I look back on things in the long run this verse comes to mind.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

And I see that the person I have become is because of my trials (which are as much a part of God's grace as the blessings I receive every day) and I do count it all joy. Now keep in mind that joy does not necessarily mean happiness. My trials do not make me happy. I often am not smiling and happy while I am going through them. But I do count it joy. Why? Because as the definition of joy says it "brings the prospect of possessing what one desires." And deep within my being I don't desire a big screen TV or a nice house or 2.4 kids or even a wonderful loving woman in my life (although I am grateful for all these blessings and they also bring me varying levels of great, if not temporary, joy), but at the core of my being, what I desire is to be with Christ and have that great joy that he has set before me.

Now I need to get better at the second part of that first statement, and to take joy in meeting trials. You see, my joy is often after the trial has passed and I can look back on it and see God's intent. But I must learn to take joy the moment the trial arises, knowing that whatever man has meant for evil, God has meant for good (by the way I need to write a blog post about that verse from Genesis at some point).

The last part of the verse is where most of us (Christians) live. Because when the trial is done, and our faith has been tested and proved steadfast (by the way, not steadfast because of anything we do, but rather because that is the nature of the faith God has given us), we can look both back (knowing that God brought us through the trial and that we have learned and grown in it) and forward (seeing that one day this steadfastness will produce a glorified body and a clean soul able to live in perfect obedience to the will of God) and praise our wonderful God.

Mike

Grace and Mercy and Mentors

So Sarah and I had a long conversation last night and we both realized we did not have the best grip on exactly what mercy and grace were and what the difference between them was. I started to try and explain it, and realized I had no idea how to do it.

So we turned to Scripture and it really didn't clear anything up (mostly due to my lack of understanding I am sure). So I turned to a mentor....

Which made me think. Having a mentor is very important.

Often today churches don't emphasize the need for mentorship. People are often actually told to read their Bible with no guidance. This can lead to very tragic theological consequences.

Not to say that people cannot understand the Bible on their own. And not to say that tradition ever trumps Scripture, but we have tradition and we have mentors for a reason. We can all use a voice of those more advanced in the faith than us to help us understand that which is just beyond our comprehension.

In this case grace is something that is not a one time thing (as we often think of it), but rather it is a one time gift (at regeneration) and it is an ongoing gift. So that there is common grace (those blessings that are given to all people regardless of their elect status) like air to breathe, food to eat, etc. Then we see the grace in sanctification (some people get more of this grace than others). Finally we will see grace in glorification (which we will all get an equal dose of as the elect).

Then we see mercy as the application of the work of Christ to sinners in their justification. But we also see it in the lives of the reprobate (because God delays their judgment).

Without tradition and without a mentor Sarah and I might have taken much longer to understand these concepts if we even got them at all.

Mike

The Old Rugged Cross

So, I am going to do that Mark 13 blog entry. Mark 13 is one of those chapters that is very easy in parts and very complicated in others. So I am still researching it (if this sounds like a cop out it might be). But I have something else on my mind today as well.

You see, I often struggle with my traditional, conservative self facing off with my revolutionary, progressive self. Part of it is that I am a moderate by nature, and part of it is the fact that I am moving from the time in my life where try to make the world the way it should be, to the part where I am learning to live in the world as it is.

So, you say, what does this have to do with an old rugged cross? Well, nothing specifically, but of course that song takes me back to my childhood, and of course appeals to my conservative side.

So, what does this have to do with anything? Well, as I was going to look at Mark 13 today, I was thinking where is my Bible? You see, we have tons of Bibles around the house, but often I will forgo them in lieu of an online Bible. My progressive side says it is much easier to compare different translations, and it is easier to use an online Concordance.

But part of me loves a well used Bible. Notes in the margins. Worn out pages. A cover that has been bent back. Hilighter. It is just so appealing to me. I mean I know I can't give my Bible to God and it doesn't really impress him.

So is it just a tie to my childhood and something that I really love, or is it a point of pride for me to have a "well used" Bible.

It is something I need to think about.

Mike