i'm still here...

no, i haven't fallen off the face of the planet. sistre, please don't revoke my bloghood :) I am still writing, just not on my blog. If you'd like to read any of my papers they can all be found here.

from my Soteriology paper

i was reading through some of my papers i've written for seminary and decided to post this part of a paper that i wrote on "regeneration"...

Why do we need regeneration? Is it a necessary part of salvation? Can a man repent of his sins and trust in Christ for salvation without that specific work of God which we call regeneration? It is to these questions that we will now turn our attention.

First, we must understand the state of the human heart. Scripture is not unclear about the deadness of a sinnerʼs heart and its complete inability to obtain spiritual life by its own strength.

In John chapter three we see a Pharisee, Nicodemus, come to speak with Jesus. We first read Nicodemusʼ words, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (John 3:2b). Jesusʼ response is interesting because He does not respond directly to Nicodemusʼ statement. Instead Jesus seems to cut right to the core issue: Nicodemusʼ need for regeneration, which He speaks of as being “born again”. Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The phrase “born again” which Jesus uses, literally means “born from above.”

But Nicodemus, by his response, shows that he does not understand that Jesus is speaking not of physical birth leading to physical life, but of spiritual birth leading to spiritual life. Jesus goes on in order to make His point clearer:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ʻYou must be born again.ʼ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8).

Jesus here communicates the truth that one must experience the new birth which is brought about by the Spirit. Without this working of the Spirit no one can enter the kingdom of God. So, we can see from this passage that a work of the Spirit, namely regeneration, is necessary in order for one to enter the kingdom of God (i.e. truly be saved).

We see this truth again in Ephesians chapter two. Here Paul plainly tells his audience the state of their hearts prior to salvation:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:1-3).

Paul is speaking to the church at Ephesus, a group of saints (see Eph. 1:1), and he tells them that they, before they were saved, were spiritually “dead” because of their sins. He tells them that they “were by nature children of wrath.” We should notice that he leaves no one out: “among whom we all once lived.” Paul is saying that there is no one who is spiritually alive in and of themselves. Not only were the saints spiritually dead, they were deserving of wrath--Godʼs eternal punishment for sin. Therefore, we see that man needs regeneration. Man needs God Himself to perform a work in his spiritually dead heart. Manʼs dead heart must be given new life through the new birth. If God does not work regeneration, man has no hope of eternal life.

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so i ask you, have you trusted in God's work of salvation? or are you trusting in your own righteousness? by nature you are a child of wrath which means that you deserve God's wrath as punishment on your sin. this is not something you want to face. turn to God. turn to Christ and His saving work. trust Him for salvation. there is salvation in none other.

Submission is Christ

God has blessed me by allowing me to go to Seminary and to learn a lot of things about Him. i have been convicted recently to write more about what i am learning...here is one of the really cool things i recently read.

These are some quotes from Bruce Ware's book "Father, Son & The Holy Spirit"... "There is an ordering in the Godhead, a "built-in" structure of authority and submission that marks a significant respect in which the Persons of the Godhead are distinguished from one another. Surely, they are not distinct in essence, for each shares fully the identically same divine nature. Their distinction, rather, is constituted, in part by taxis (which Ware describes as) "the ordering of Father, Son and Holy Spirit within the Godhead" ...Intrinsic to God's own nature is a fundamental taxis, and He has so designed creation to reflect His own being, His own internal and eternal relationships, in part, through created and designed relationships of taxis."

Ware had just recently quoted 1 Corinthians 11:3 which says, "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." Then he said, "Without question, the Son stands under the authority, or, if you will, the headship of the Father."

See...I see a gaping lack of authority in our culture. I see people who should take authority--they shun it. I see people who should submit to authority--they shake it off and rebel. "This is not the way you learned Christ!" No, intrinsic to the Godhead is structure: authority and submission. Not only are men supposed to submit to God, God Himself--God the Son, submits...willingly submits...to God the Father. And Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11, uses this illustration of the Son submitting to the Father as an example of how we as humans should submit to each other. God has built-in to humanity and human relationships a structure of authority. This is not something "man" as put on "woman" or "masters" have put on "slaves". No, this is something the Son has willingly submitted to...He willingly submitted to the Father. And He asks that we follow His example.

Ware goes on to explain this very excellently, and I won't make this a longer blog post by quoting more and more of him, but it was incredible and eye-opening to see that God the Son willingly (and not just while He was on earth, but even from eternity past and into eternity future, as Ware proves from Scripture) submits to the Father. And this is not just a fact that we learn about Him. This characteristic is what makes Him the Son. For, how else is God the Son different than God the Father besides in His submission? He is not different in His power, His knowledge, His wisdom or in any of His attributes. The only distinction between the Son and the Father is His submission. This is what makes the Son the Son. The authority of the Father is what makes the Father the Father. These characteristics are essential. And for us to shun authority, or to rebel against it, is to rebel against who God is. It is to rebel against the image of God in us. He has imparted to us authority and submission. We would do well to accept these positions gladly, as a way to reflect Him.

Who Made Man's Mouth?

Mr. Joseph Alleine

i've never heard of this guy before. but i'm reading "lectures to my students" by C. H. Spurgeon for my "Leadership" class. Spurgeon quotes Alleine's wife as saying of him, "At the time of his health, he did rise constantly at or before four of the clock, and would be much troubled if he heard smiths or other craftsmen at their trades before he was at communion with God; saying to me often, 'How this noise shames me. Does not my Master deserve more than theirs?' From four til eight he spent in prayer, holy contemplation, and singing psalms, in which he much delighted and did daily practise alone, as well as in the family. Sometimes he would suspend the routine of parochial engagements and devote whole days to these secret exercises, in order to which, he would contrive to be alone in some void house, or else in some sequestered spot in the open valley. Here there would be much prayer and meditation on God and Heaven."

quotes from "God Has Spoken" by J. I. Packer

I'm reading this book for my class "Bibliology" and it is arguing that the Bible truly is God's Word and, as such, it is clear, understandable, and sufficient.

Packer's words are (sad but) so true for our generation:

"...the Word of God is in a real sense lost. Why is this? For it is not as if the Bible were no longer read and studied in the churches. It is read and studied a great deal; but the trouble is that we no longer know what to make of it. Mesmerized by the problems of rationalistic criticism [and, may i add, post-modernism], we can no longer hear the Bible as the Word of God. Liberal theology, in its pride, has long insisted that we are wiser than our fathers about the Bible [can you say 'Rob Bell', 'Erwin McManus'?], and must not read it as they did, but must base our approach to it on the 'assured results' of criticism, making due allowance for the human imperfections and errors of its authors. This insistence has a threefold effect. It produces a new papalism--the infallibility of the scholars, from whom we learn what the 'assured results' are. It raises a doubt about every single biblical passage, as to whether it truly embodies revelation or not. And it destroys the reverent, receptive, self-distrusting attitude of approach to the Bible, without which it cannot be known to be 'God's Word written'." (page 25-26)

"...it appears that modern theology, for all its claim to stress the personal quality of God's revelation to us and our knowledge of Him, actually takes a sub-personal view of both. To maintain that we may know God without God actually speaking to us in words [which is what many are saying today when they propose that God's word cannot be taken at face value] is really to deny that God is personal..." (page 53)

questions

I ordered a number of my books for this quarter from Amazon. As I get them I am beginning to familiarize myself with them so I can be better prepared for when classes start. One book I just got earlier today is "Our Sufficiency in Christ" by John MacArthur. In the Preface of his book he quotes a letter from C. S. Lewis' "Screwtape Letters." Here's a quote I found quite relevant to today's culture:
[Note: "the Enemy" in this quote is God since the one writing this letter is a demon, Screwtape.]

The Enemy loves platitudes. Of a proposed course of action He wants men, so far as I can see, to ask very simple questions; is it righteous? is it prudent? is it possible? Now if we can keep men asking "Is it in accordance with the general movement of our time? Is it progressive or reactionary? Is this the way that History is going?" they will neglect the relevant questions...As a result, while their minds are buzzing in this vacuum, we have the better chance to slip in and bend them to the action we have decided on."

How much this reflects the current attitude of what calls itself "the church"! How sad, yet how true.

may this not be true of us!

yes and no

it's funny how God works.

it's so true. God works in ways we don't understand. for a while now i've had two dreams. the earliest of the two started in 2005 when i started this job of "student minister". since then i've wanted to go to seminary in order to improve my capacity and ability to minister. the second dream began last summer as my roommate, craig, and i were sitting in our living room talking about missions--we thought it would be great to organize a missions trip that was open to the entire church body. both of those dreams have been growing since they were born. today God answered them both.

i got home from the gym this morning and checked my mail. i was really hoping to get my IRS economic stimulus check...no dice. i only got one letter and it wasn't from the IRS. at first i wasn't too moved by the letter. i looked at who it was from "The Cornerstone Seminary." huh. (does your mind ever do those double-takes?) wait a minute!? the Cornerstone Seminary?!? This is the letter I'd been praying about and hoping would come! Would they say I could go? Would I get accepted? Or is this a letter saying, "sorry, you didn't make the cut." I felt the envelope, there was definitely more than one page in there...it only takes one page to say "nope." but if there's more than one page...it was probably a "yes" and the other pages were to let me know what to do from here! I was too excited to open it right away. I took it inside and prayed that my attitude would be right no matter what. "God, where You lead I will follow" was my prayer. I opened it up..."Dear Matthew, I am delighted to tell you that you have been accepted into the Master of Divinity program at The Cornerstone Seminary. We are privileged to have you in our student body and egley elgheyroue alehg..." the rest of the words were a blur through my tears and excitement. I read that first sentence about three times and then cried, shouted for joy and laughed all at the same time. I was so excited!

After celebrating a bit more, finishing the rest of the letter and letting people know, I went about the rest of my day.

Then Craig gave me a call and said he needed to talk about Belarus. He came back to the apartment where I was also. Craig is the one who is heading up the trip...the one we had brainstormed about together last summer. He said that my funds weren't coming in and basically I needed to make a decision today: am I going to Belarus or not? Wow. Let me look at my list of "to do's" today...nope, that wasn't on it. The quick version of my decision process: I prayed, asked God to give me peace no matter what. Earlier I had prayed "God, where You lead I will follow" regarding Seminary. I prayed the same about Belarus. I called many people trying to see if God would provide financially and keep the doors open for me to go. He didn't. He closed the doors. He said "yes" to Seminary..."no" to Belarus.

It's funny how God works.