Discernment

Supreme Court Decision on Marriage and Our Response

By in Controversy, Discernment, Gospel, Grace

supreme-court

The Supreme Court continues to make decisions that not only reflect our current culture, but shape it. This past Friday the Justices voted 5-4 to strike down a state’s right to ban same sex marriage. As soon as the news broke there was at the same time great celebration and great outcry. How can that be? How can Americans have such different responses and be so polarizing in their views?

Your “world view” is how you see things. It is your perspective. My world view flows from a belief in God. I believe he is the creator of all things and sovereign ruler of the universe (Genesis 1:1). I also believe he has spoken, and that his word is truth (John 17:17). I believe his word is the guide for my life and that I am responsible to believe it and obey it (Proverbs 3:5,6). So, from that particular world view I form a certain set of values and perspectives on life. Consequently, this is how I interpret events in life like Friday’s Supreme Court decision. I am going to ask “what does God say?”, and “how does he want me to respond?”

I must, however, recognize that not everyone shares my view. There are citizens of our free country, the United States, that do not believe in God. There are others who say we cannot know if there is a God. And then there are those who profess to believe in God yet do not believe in an absolute truth or in the authority of the Bible. So, these, and many others, are not going to interpret Friday’s Supreme Court decision the same way I do. Should I really be so surprised? I need to understand and respect the fact that every human being is a “free” moral agent.

So then, as a Christian, how am I going to respond to this decision and announcement? John 1:17 says, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Grace and truth. God is truth, Jesus is truth, and the Scripture is truth. The Christian is to walk in truth, never compromising what is right before God. We are not to give in to popular culture, nor are we to give in to hate. Jesus, our master, was full of grace and truth. He modeled both and so should we. We find out what God has to say about the matter, follow his instruction and do so with grace.

Let’s not miss the point! This is about the gospel. A loving God sent his only son into this fallen world to rescue us from sin and death. And yes, we were all born sinners and in need of a rescue – all of us. So, let’s keep this in mind and maintain a proper focus. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing – placing our energies into telling the good news of Jesus everywhere we go.

Are We Worldly?

By in Discernment, Discipleship, Worldliness

Most of us have an idea in our minds of what “worldliness” does or doesn’t look like. But, worldliness comes in many forms and has many faces. Worldliness is life without God. It is when He is not part of our thinking, our calculations, or our moment by moment life orientations. It can come in the form of self indulgent paganism or it can come in the form of self righteous phariseeism. It is when we are living life on a horizontal plane rather than on a vertical plane – one that is God—focused.

We are challenged more than ever before to live with that vertical focus. Even technology seems to pull us down to a constant barrage of messages that preoccupy us with the horizontal view. We lose touch with a right view of God and the ability to respond to that right view. And we become worldly… even when are “doing God’s work.”

Last week I challenged our students with how Christ has rescued and continues to rescue us from this present evil age. If you have time, you can listen to it here. And if you haven’t taken a look at the small book, Worldliness, by C.J. Mahaney, I would recommend you pick that up as well.

I would love to connect with you! If you have any questions or would like to connect please use the contact page.

Around the Web (May 13-18)

By in Books, Discernment, Fundamentalism, Preaching

G. A. Dietrich | Book Review of Gospel Centered Discipleship

Greg Dietrich reviewed what looks to be a helpful book that focuses on the gospel in discipleship. I’ve got this book on my list of “to read” for this summer.

 Trevin Wax | A Critical Mind vs. A Critical Spirit

“From the books and magazines gobbled up by the evangelical populace to the sheer gullibility on display in our forwarding of emails, it seems that biblical illiteracy and theological aberrations are widespread even in Bible-believing churches.”

AiG | The Rise and Fall of Inerrancy in the American Fundamentalist Movement

“The Christian fundamentalist movement in America played a key role in defending and promoting the importance of biblical inerrancy. While often ridiculed and mocked, early American fundamentalists withstood the tide of theological liberalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”

Crossway | Training Parrots or Making Disciples?

Jim Hamilton addresses this question on the Crossway blog. “Solid exegesis, biblical theology, and systematic theology are necessary for preaching and teaching. We don’t exercise these skills merely for our own excellence in sermon delivery, but because the people in the pews have the ability to think, analyze arguments, read the Bible for themselves, and formulate answers to questions that we may never even address from the pulpit.”