Today marks the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth.  John Calvin is often referred to as the theologian of the Reformation.  It is true that he seemed to put into written form the key doctrines (sola scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, solus Christus, and soli deo gloria) of the Reformation more than anyone.  His Institutes is widely regarded as one of the most important theological works in church history.

What many don’t know is that Calvin averaged some 5 sermons a week during his ministry.  He was a faithful (and sometimes reluctant) pastor / preacher.  He emphasized the sovereignty of God over all things, and proclaimed the gospel until his death in 1564.

Many people have formed opinions without ever reading a word about Calvin.  They have decided what they believe about his teachings (even what he taught) by only listening to others who have disagreed.

As well, others have just associated with his theology without learning it for themselves.  In fact, Calvin would certainly have never referred to himself as a “Calvinist.”  He was simply wanting the church to return to Scripture and sound orthodoxy.

One thing is sure, Calvin leaves few with a neutral opinion.  Here is a brief video of Sam Storms (pastor in OK City – and relative of a UBC attender) on why Calvin is controversial:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RVPlZbR1pg]

I agree with Sam, especially on the last point.  One of the most intense confrontations I’ve ever had in serving the Church happened about 10 years ago.  I was teaching a youth retreat and there was a college student who was an intern there to help.  This student was not a member of my church, and during a training session getting ready for the weekend, he lashed out at another college intern about his views on Calvinism and her opposing views to Calvinism.  I don’t even know how it came up, I just overheard part of the conversation before she stormed out of the room in tears.  I immediately went out of the room to comfort her and all she could say was, “I’ll never believe such terrible things about God!”  All I could say was not to let someone’s arrogant perspective keep her from even some of the truths that might be associate with Calvinism, but would benefit her greatly.  My next move was toward the male intern.  I have never rebuked someone as sternly as I did that young man.  I don’t remember him crying, but I know that he was humiliated to the extent that the doctrines he held to, that should promote the deepest level of humility, brought his behavior more in line.

Read this from The Institutes (2.17.3):

That Christ, by his obedience, truly purchased and merited grace for us with the Father, is accurately inferred from several passages of Scripture. I take it for granted, that if Christ satisfied for our sins, if he paid the penalty due by us, if he appeased God by his obedience; in fine, if he suffered the just for the unjust, salvation was obtained for us by his righteousness; which is just equivalent to meriting. Now, Paul’s testimony is, that we were reconciled, and received reconciliation through his death, (Rom. 5:11). But there is no room for reconciliation unless where offence has preceded. The meaning, therefore, is, that God, to whom we were hateful through sin, was appeased by the death of his Son, and made propitious to us. And the antithesis which immediately follows is carefully to be observed, “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous,” (Rom. 5:19). For the meaning is — As by the sin of Adam we were alienated from God and doomed to destruction, so by the obedience of Christ we are restored to his favour as if we were righteous. The future tense of the verb does not exclude present righteousness, as is apparent from the context. For he had previously said, “the free gift is of many offences unto justification.”

I was one of those guys who, years ago, knew I believed in God’s providence in all things, but would not have claimed Calvin as a friend…until I read him.  While I do not care for the label “Calvinist” in many circles, I certainly would fall more into that category than others in opposition.  Once I read Calvin, I realized that I had more to learn from him than avoid.  Through that process I came to hold to Christ being the supreme ruler of the universe and my soul, both with the same end — His magnificent glory!

Now, we have to be careful with any person that we follow as a teacher of the Scriptures (alive or dead).  We must make certain that we find our focus in the Christ they point us to!  We cannot emphasize a system of thought over the Scriptures themselves.  So, be driven to the Scripture.  If you wonder whether or not you would like Calvin, read The Institutes…then test him by the Scriptures.

As a Southern Baptist pastor, I know that we have much to be grateful for as a denomination for the work of the Reformers including John Calvin.  Without God’s gracious work through their faithful service we probably wouldn’t have such powerful articles like the following out of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 (and our statement of faith):

God’s Purpose of Grace

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

So, like him or not, be thankful that men like John Calvin were preserved by God to help defend orthodoxy against heretics that claimed the name of The Church so that we may continue to see the Gospel intact.  May we not fear the opinions of men as we hold to the doctrines of grace as they promote the Gospel of God in the face of Christ!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Today we spent our day in Cambridge where we are staying for the next few days; Dr. Magnuson is an alum of the Cambridge system so he is well versed in many things here in Cambridge. We visited many historical sites today, but there were a few of extreme interest and importance to me. The Church of St. Edward King & Martyr is believed to be the site of the first English reformation sermon delivered in December of 1525 by Robert Barnes. I have included a piece of literature (or a picture of it) that you can read to get the full story. The original pulpit that the sermon by Robert Barnes was delivered from is still in use today. Charles Lattimer and others that I have written about also preached from this pulpit in The Church of St. Edward King & Martyr. Without being too touchy feely, in a way I was stand on some pretty sacred ground because of what God did through the obedience of men like Robert Barnes, whom most of us until today have never heard. Whether he did or did not deliver the first pre-reformation sermon or not he did deliver one of the first explicitly gospel centered messages in England and for that we should be grateful.

Just outside the gates of King College, which if I remember correctly has produced 32 noble prize winners over the years, is a tiny blue plaque on the wall marking the former location of The White Horse Inn. King College is the most prestigious college in all of the Cambridge University system. The White Horse Inn has great significance because it is at this pub that “Little Germany” would meet to discuss the writings of Martin Luther and implications of these kinds of teachings. The members of “Little Germany were most likely Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Lattimer, Robert Barnes, Thomas Bilney, and others over the years.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_Tavern,_Cambridge

Finally, I find great irony in the fact that this year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Darwin, the father of evolutionary thinking. Darwin though not a particularly good student from what I have heard was indeed a student in Cambridge. 661 miles miles away thousands are gathered in Geneva Switzerland to commemorate the 500th birth of John Calvin, a man who has had more than a tremendous impact on the church and that statement is far understated. God used and uses Calvin greatly in the life of the church and in Christianity across the world.

Tonight at dinner we had a great conversation, one that I am always interested in having. It went something like this; we have seen a lot and heard a lot…not what are we going to do about it? Certainly this is not a question that can be answered in one dinner setting but it was these types of questions that made the White Horse Inn what it was. What are we going to do to champion the Word of God in our churches today? What are going to do to anthem the name of Jesus Christ in our culture today? What are we going to do to prepare laborers for the harvest? What are we going to do to reach the lost and disciple the eager? What are we going to do in this ministry God has called each of us to? I know for me it was a good reminder that change, transformational change takes time and perseverance as well as fortitude to stay in the place where God has you. There are many implications of which this blog would not be readable were I to expound too much, but these are the types of questions that got the Reformation started and I believe that only by these types of questions and obedience to the answers will our churches be reformed today. To God be the Glory forever!

We had a quite a train ride from Edinburgh with a couple of really wild train exchanges, but we made it safely to Sydney Sussex College in Cambridge where we are staying for the next few days and nights. All the colleges here are part of the Cambridge University system, so I suppose I can say that I lived at Cambridge when I return. This college is 800 years old…that is quite a history. The picture below is part of the building near where we are staying inside Sydney Sussex College.

Probably the greatest treat today upon arriving to Cambridge was knowing we were going to a lecture of a man I deeply respect, Wayne Grudem. The venue held only about 100-150 people and the topic for tonight was The Perspicuity of Scripture, that is to say the clarity of Scripture. Dr. Grudem is a professor at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona. The greatest impact, to date, he has had on my life is his single volume Systematic Theology text titled Systematic Theology (fitting). I highly recommend it, as even tonight he talked about why he wrote it which was quite simply to provide a text that could provide complex doctrines of the nature and character of God and other essentials of the Christian faith in a way everyday people could understand. I also recommend it because he litters his doctrinal discussions with Scripture.

I will not do justice to what was spoken on tongiht but I will hit a couple of really great high points. (these are my notes based on what I heard him say so not direct quotes) The clarity of Scripture means that complex doctrines can be taught in a way that can be understood. Scripture affirms that it is able to be understood but not all at once, and not without effort, and not without ordinary means, and not without the help of the Holy Spirit, and not without human misunderstanding, and never completely.

Clarity is a property of Scripture, NOT of its reader who varies greatly!

(One quick word about the photo below, this is obviously me with Dr. Grudem and I look like I have had a hat on all day because I have, but what a treat to meet him tonight.

I am sitting on a train to Cambridge right now meandering through the beautiful countryside from town to town. I just finished reading a little booklet on the life and ministry of Charles Simeon titled, Simeon, by Max Warren. Simeon was a faithful pastor in Cambridge for 54 years where he died in 1836. This book has some amazing insights into the pastor and believer that Charles Simeon was; one of which I will share with you that has had an impact on me this morning as I sit on the train bound for the very streets that Simeon walked in faith for the Gospel.

Writing to a distressed believer he says, “….There is another thing that I would suggest…namely, that you are too much occupied in looking at yourself, and too little in beholding the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by the former you are to be humbled; but it is by the latter that you are to be “changed into the divine image” (2 Cor 3:18). You want a greater measure of holiness to warrant your confidence in the divine promises; when it is only by apprehending those promises that you can attain the holiness you are seeking after (2 Cor 7:1). You must learn to “glory in your infirmities (so to speak), that the power of Christ may rest upon you”. You are nothing, and it discourages you; but you must be content to be nothing, that Christ may be “all in all.”

What a profound statement about how we are to view ourselves in light of the mercy and grace of our holy God. I have my headphones on listening to some music while working on some of seminary classwork, and the song that seems to compliment so well the profession of gratitude I wish my life more readily reflected is a song by Andrew Peterson called, The Good Confession (I believe). I have listened to this song at least 5 times as my heart wants to jump out of my chest proclaiming the very anthem of this song, I BELIEVE…HE IS THE CHRIST…SON OF THE LIVING GOD…MY LORD…MY SAVIOR! I am more and more convinced that I could spend the rest of eternity proclaiming this truth and never adequately speak the gratitude of my heart to my God who saw fit to wash clean the filth that is and was my life apart from Him. I am including the lyrics that are speaking so powerfully to me today and hope you find time today to google, itunes, or myspace this song and take it in for what it is, a anthem of the majesty of the glory, grace, and love of God the Father. What is your life dying to cry out? Is it true genuine gratitude to a God who loves you so much He sent his Son to die on your behalf paying the penalty for sin forever that you might be made right in the eyes of God? Is it your status? Is it your pride? What is your heart dying to cry out and what is stopping it? I beleive, He is the Christ…Son of the Living God!

The Good Confession (I believe)
I was a boy, just nine years old, I heard the call and came. They buried me beneath the water, then I rose again. Well, you know my dad was a preacher man. I walked the aisle and I took his hand. He said, “Son, just do the best you can, and say the words, ‘I believe he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Through the years I barely fell; I mostly dove right in. I drank so deep from the shallow well only to thirst again. Well, I sang the hymns at the summer camp, then I rocked and rolled with a lousy band till I heard a song that took my hand and led me home. And I believe he is the Christ, Son of the living God.
All I know is that I was blind but now I see that though I kick and scream, Love is leading me. And every step of the way his grace is making me; with every breath I breathe, he is saving me. And I believe.
So when my body’s weak and the day is long, when I feel my faith is all but gone, I’ll remember when I sing this song that I believe. I believe he is the Christ, Son of the living God, my Lord, my Savior. Oh, hosanna, I believe.

All Glory forever belongs to the One who sits on the Throne FOREVER! Amen and amen

Today marked the end of our longest stay in any one place, we departed London and headed for Edinburgh, Scotland. The train ride was awesome and beautiful as we passed the wonderful English countryside and headed for Scotland. However before we left London, we had the privilege of worshiping at East London Tabernacle Baptist Church. There wasn’t anything spectacular about the church, though it was one of the intentional church plants of Spurgeon. The thing I have most enjoyed about worshiping at two different churches here in England so far is they don’t look exactly like our churches in a couple of really great ways. First, they more closely resemble what I picture the universal church looking like as men and women from every tongue tribe and nation are in the very presence of God worshiping Him forever. These churches are very culturally diverse and every thing about that feels right to me. We are so white middle class in our church in a community that radically not! What a joy it was to anthem the name of Jesus with my brothers and sisters in the Lord, to whom there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile. Second, when the worship service is over no one is eager to leave. There literally were very few that left immediately after the service as this time was devoted to fellowship and meeting guests. We are so quick to slip out the doors of the church and talk about where we will go eat it seems that all too often we rob the Lord of the message He is stirring in our hearts. We don’t give proper time to let the message sit and linger having it’s full effect on us at that moment. It was a joy to watch the body of Christ reach out to visitors and members alike after the service.
After we got to Scotland, the view out my window is what I am standing on in the picture below. Me and two friends, Drew and Matt, summitted the top of Arthur’s Seat and took in the views of Edinbourgh and an awesome thunderstrom that literally blew right around us. Pictures never do justice for the experience of climbing this ancient volcano. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Seat,_Edinburgh




Please continue to pray for Randy and Ana as they should now be in Alabama with family preparing for the funeral and burial of Randy’s father who passed away 2 days ago. Randy and I are in the same extension center and he and his daughter flew out this morning to be with his family after the passing of his father who was ill.

Blessings
Stephen

Give me Preaching or give me death!

“Give me liberty or give me death!” is the powerful quote by Patrick Henry in 1775 that helped bring the Virginia Commonwealth into the fight for independence.  It is one of several important statements that were both symbolic of the fight for independence and instigating to garner actual support needed at the time.  It’s a great quote.

Now, my play on the quote is less aspiring, but I still hope it provokes a mini-revolution in some preacher’s heart somewhere.

Some background…

I grew up in a church much like many of you — traditional Southern Baptist experience that I remember particularly marked by two things: 1) Get decisions by getting crowds and 2) Make a BIG deal about the holidays.  Now, I want to say right off (knowing I could offend some – even family – who may read this blog or attended the church I did) that I had a rich experience in my home church, coming to Christ there and being called to ministry.  Much of the most important early decisions of my spiritual life were made while at my home church.  So, I am grateful to God for working through many faithful workers (even if it was a revolving door with vocational leadership – the lay leaders are the ones I remember most).  Bottom line, over time I’ve come to be grateful for God’s faithfulness in my early years.

That said, when I remember those two elements mentioned above, I tend to be somewhat (okay, VERY) skeptical when I see a semblance of the same elements in churches today.  When you combine the “crowd” idea with the “holiday” idea you often wind up with an awfully “Americanized” church experience.  If the church is faithful, there will be a smattering of “gospel” elements, but often it feels more like a nod to what we are supposed to be about as a church (and at any worship gathering) rather than what is clearly central.

Personally, this puts me at risk with family, friends, even church members.  It sounds like I’m against all things holiday (no Santa, no Stars-n-Stripes, no bunnies — these aren’t good examples because we actually don’t teach our kids about Santa and ignore bunnies altogether at Easter — do love our country and the American flag).  Nonetheless, it’s risky.  What I’m against in TOTAL are competitors for the gospel when we gather together as God’s people.  By nature, we are easily distracted (with ourselves) and if we promote things above the gospel on a Sunday morning that make much of “us” (as individuals or a nation) I believe we lose sight of our true identity as believers (a humble, sorry lot redeemed by God’s grace in Christ Jesus and made citizens of heaven, NOT more entrenched as citizens of earthly kingdoms).

Let me give you a brief example.  One time I had a letter from a member of a worship team that said, “Can’t you step out of the spotlight just a few times a year to let us play?”  The charge related to having zero preaching in lieu of having a music only service (I think it related to a holiday).  This didn’t provoke happy thoughts for me, but I had to make sure my response was equal to my offense, which had nothing to do with me being at the “center” (as the preacher), rather the proclamation of the gospel being central to every worship gathering.  This has been my tenet for years (long before UBC) and will continue to be.

There are times for some of these special occasion services and I believe that holiday services can be done in such a way that God is truly glorified.  Usually, however, the tone of these services when performed (and I mean that intentionally) on a Sunday morning feels more like God empowering us to be a great people with great dreams, able to accomplish anything – but little if nothing related to the gospel, the TRUE gospel.  The gospel that redeems men from sin and reconciles them to God because God hates sin and will deal with all sin (meaning, the gospel is NOT about God redeeming a people so that we can bless them with democratic ideals — take it easy, love democracy…).

I’m just saying that the church must be distinct.  What torch are we to bear?  I believe it is the gospel proclaimed (usually expositionally) through the preaching of the Word that must be our aim every single Sunday morning (or whenever our main worship gathering is).  Again, there are times for other things, as long as they are consistent with our aim as a people.

Too hard?  Maybe.  Too narrow?  Certainly by some standards.  Truth is, I think my dad should be honored as a veteran, as well as other men in my family who have died serving our country.  I think there is a general kindness that we should be reminded of each Thanksgiving and Christmas to amp up our generosity.  But when we leave out the proclamation of the Word, which scripture commands we do when we are gathered as a people, we have done something less than have a biblically-defined worship service.  At UBC, we seasonally remember our vets and pray for our military and gospel-centered military chaplains.  But we do so without forgetting that while dying for our country is noble and good, it’s not that same as Romans 5:8 that says Christ died for His enemies (the ones that killed him) not for those already His friends.  One thing points to another and is a powerful image of the more eternal thing.

So, I’m not saying let’s not celebrate our country or holidays, but I am saying let us not waste one corporate worship gathering without proclaiming the very Word of God that will last longer than any country, any holiday.

This is just one reason I’m so grateful to God for a church that is so receptive to the Scriptures and understanding that preaching is to be central to each time we gather on a Sunday.  I’m thankful for elder / pastor types (like John Mueller) this past Sunday who faithfully proclaim the Word helping the church to see that it is the Word that is central not the personality proclaiming it.

May God make us the kind of Christians who go hard after the eternal while faithfully brining the eternal into the temporal world we live in.  We will blow it on this point and I’m certain that many of us will fail at being too stringent.  May we be gracious and loving in our veracious love for Scripture proclaimed KNOWING that the REAL difference in us will occur when that Word proclaimed changes the way that we LIVE.

First, Independence Day (July 4th) is a wonderful celebration of the freedoms that are afforded us in this great country, preserved through the lives and deaths of great politicians and soldiers through the last 233+ years.  Ultimately, God has seen fit to give our country a common grace of democratic freedoms, which are most clearly seen in our freedom to worship Him.

We would be missing the point of earthly freedoms if we did not allow such earthly reminders to point us to the real (and eternal) independence we have as born-again believers in Christ.  To capture this thought, I’ve included a quote below by Spurgeon on Christ’s rule over heaven and earth and hell (thanks 9Marks):

“It is the iron crown of hell, for Christ reigneth there supreme. Not only in the dazzling brightness of heaven, but in the black impenetrable darkness of hell is his omnipotence felt, and his sovereignty acknowledged; the chains which bind damned spirits are the chains of his strength; the fires which burn are the fires of his vengeance; the burning rays that scorch through their eyeballs, and melt their very heart, are flashed from his vindictive eye. There is no power in hell besides his. The very devils show his might. He chaineth the great dragon. If he give him a temporary liberty, yet is the chain in his hand, and he can draw him back lest he go beyond his limit. Hell trembles at him. The very howlings of lost spirits are but deep bass notes of his praise . While in heaven the glorious notes shout forth his goodness; in hell the deep growlings resound his justice, and his certain victory over all his foes. Thus his empire is higher than the highest heaven, and deeper than the lowest hell.” C. H. Spurgeon, “The Savior’s Many Crowns” Oct. 30, 1859, printed in New Park Street Pulpit, vol. 5, p. 450.

Which yields a second thought…

In a recent article, Conrad Mbewe, a Baptist pastor in Zambia, exhorted American Christians on several ways they could could help the Zambian Church.  One point that seemed particularly significant to me was the following:

3) DEMONSTRATE BIBLICAL CHURCHMANSHIP

Western Christians entering Zambia as missionaries are generally very good examples to us with respect to their personal and domestic lives. In these two areas, we see a very clear difference between them and their non-Christian counterparts from the Western world.

However, where we see no difference is in their commitment to the local church. Their church attendance is scanty to say the least. They do not join a local church. We do not know where they give their tithes and offerings. They are not involved in any local church ministries (except to preach when they are asked to do so), and so on.

As a result, our young professional Christians believe that this is enlightened Christianity. They also end up having a very loose relationship with the church. I really think that this has been the Achilles’ heel of the work of Western missionaries in Zambia today. They are not good examples of biblical churchmanship!

We need to find a way in which Western missionaries can maintain relationships with their sending churches and at the same time exhibit biblical accountability to local churches where they labor, so that they can be good examples in this area to those whom they win to Christ.

This gives some evidence to a concern / suspicion I’ve had in the years I’ve worked with (or chosen not to work with) certain mission agencies or para-church organizations.  Many mission organization (SBC or not) do a great job in arousing a passion for missions and equipping individuals to live as missionaries.  However, many of them lack a most critical element:  teaching missionaries to love the CONTEXT of their work – The Church.

When missionaries go and proclaim the freedom in Christ from sin, death and hell even in cultures where freedoms are withheld in just about every way, they often do so with an independence that is not good.  It is not good for a missionary to go and do mission work independent of the local church sending and the local church established locally.  We have made huge strides in de-Americanizing the churches we start on the mission field, but too often we treat the local church in a missional setting as if it would just be icing on the cake if it just happened to pop up after we’ve done our missionary work.

However we train missionaries to proclaim the freedoms we have in Christ, we must make certain that they have a biblical ecclesiology and model that on the mission field.  We are not saved unto ourselves.  We are ransomed as a people by God and for God, gathered together in local settings to show the distinctiveness of being His people and proclaiming the gospel through Word and modeled in deed (particularly toward fellow believers).

On this Cross in the Road

Much of the classes I am taking this summer deal with our spiritual forefathers in a sense, and today gave me an opportunity to walk the streets, sit in the churches and cathedrals, and praise God for men that loved the Lord Jesus enough to be martyred for their beliefs. I hesitate to even begin to list some of the men I am talking about that walked the halls of various colleges and universities in the historic Oxford system for fear of leaving some out, nevertheless; John and Charles Wesley, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Cranmer, John Wycliffe and many others.

For obvious reasons, today was nostalgic as I sat and ate lunch with our group in the historic Eagle and Child Pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien would regularly go to discuss theological matters. However today the most valuable place was a very simple cross in a road in the heart of Oxford where three men were martyred for their faith. I am including a link so you can read more about their stories. I am including an except from the story but urge you to take 5 minutes to read their stories: Speaking of Cranmer who was the archbishop of Canterbury,

“He (Cranmer) had believed, with a fervor that many people today will find hard to understand, that it is the duty of every Christian to obey the monarch, and that “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13). As long as the monarch was ordering things that Cranmer thought good, it was easy for Cranmer to believe that the king was sent by God’s providence to guide the people in the path of true religion, and that disobedience to the king was disobedience to God. Now Mary was Queen, and commanding him to return to the Roman obedience. Cranmer five times wrote a letter of submission to the Pope and to Roman Catholic doctrines, and four times he tore it up. In the end, he submitted. However, Mary was unwilling to believe that the submission was sincere, and he was ordered to be burned at Oxford on 21 March 1556. At the very end, he repudiated his final letter of submission, and announced that he died a Protestant. He said, “I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn.” And when the fire was lit around his feet, he leaned forward and held his right hand in the fire until it was charred to a stump. Aside from this, he did not speak or move, except that once he raised his left hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.”

Article Link: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/269.html I am sure there are better articles for this that are a more full treatment of this, but this one is brief and will give you a little bit of history! Enjoy!

Again I am flooded with these questions in my mind like would I be willing to defend the faith at the price of my life? Would I be willing to recant my recantation and honor my Lord in the end should I have chosen foolishly? I like to believe that the Lord will sustain those who are truly His to the very end, Praise God! I was also just reminded of how grateful I need to be for the men and women that have stood for the faith generation after generation to as Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1-3, ” You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” In addition to that, the passage in Timothy where Paul implores Timothy to guard the good deposit of the Gospel…today I was privileged to walk one of the many streets of those who heeded Paul’s advice to Timothy to preserve the riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The architecture was amazing and with every church and college I walked in I said to someone near to me, “I wish my brother was here….he would love this!” He is an architect for those who may not know. Oxford truly was breath taking on many levels and I am glad that I had the opportunity to walk the cobblestone roads of Oxford, England today praising my Father for His sovereignty in preserving the Gospel through faithful men. The picture I am posting is a picture of the actual pulpit where John Wesley and C.S. Lewis gave several sermons in St. Mary’s Cathedral. Arguably Lewis’ most famous sermon he preached from this pulpit was preached June 8, 1942 titled, “The Weight of Glory” if you are interested in it you can google it and download it for free.

One last note about the location of the pulpit; it is not the focal point in the church, in fact it is off to the side. In many Anglican and other denominations the Eucharist table is central whereas in almost all traditional Evangelical churches today, even bad ones , the pulpit is central in the churches. The reason for the dispute is based on what is seen as most important for the church. In traditional evangelical churches the proclamation of God’s Word is the most common means by which the church is edified, sanctified, and the most common means of grace extended to sinful man. However, in churches where the Eucharist table is central it is usually so because the common thought is that is what is most important to the church. Many believe that the means of grace, that being the receiving of God’s grace comes through receiving of the Lord’s Supper. This is part of the doctrine of transubstantiation whereby the bread and wine are believed to literally become the actual body and blood of Jesus while retaining there bread and wine qualities. Many believe, though I disagree, that it is in the receiving of such elements that God dispenses his grace to man.

Romans 10:9-17, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Blessings,
stephen

Here’s a word-picture for you…

This new ipod / iphone speaker is called “The Edifier Luna5″.  Here’s what I’m thinking.  As big as this speaker is (in fact, Jan saw the picture and says, “Don’t you dare buy that ‘Darth Vader’ lookin’ thing!”) without the smaller device plugged in (ipod or iphone) that contains the content to be magnified, it’s just a big, useless “Darth Vader lookin’ thing” speaker.

The body of Christ should be compelled by Scripture to edify (that is, build up) one another in love with the Scriptures.  Without the simple, powerful Word of God plugged into our lives, we’re just big mouths with nothing of benefit to say.  At best we utter static, or at worst we pick up on other “signals” and just are negative.

According to Paul, the Gospel is what edifies the church the most…

9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

Make sure the Gospel is plugged into your life and then encourage one another with it.  Be an Edifier!

Starting today, I’ll be posting some blog entries by Stephen Martin, UBC’s Collegiate Pastor, as he studies abroad (via Southern Seminary) in England…

Speakers Corner

Today was a most unusual day, both in London and for me personally. This day was unusual in London from the stand point that Speaker’s Corner only happens once a week on Sundays in Hyde Park in Central London. It was most unusual for me because what Speaker’s Corner is…let me explain. For a number of years, there have been radical Muslims engaging in debate over who is the One true God with what I will call a group of “radical” Christians. This debate has been started by these “radical” Christians and their street preaching against the beliefs of the Koran. For most the term radical Christians will elicit a picture in your mind…some accurate and some not so accurate. Those “radical” Christians at Speaker’s Corner today very much love the Lord and want very desperately for the Sunni Muslims in Central London to love this same Lord and God through the worship of adoration of the Son, Jesus Christ. The “radical” Christians at Speaker’s Corner today use a polemic method of sharing Christ, that is to say where an apologetic is a defense of the faith; a polemic is an offense of the faith. These “radical” Christians were quick to point out that Speaker’s Corner is unique and this method is most likely not transferable in every Muslim environment. Literally in Hyde Park today as thousands fled to the grounds to hear Dave Matthews opening for Bruce Springsteen, there were Muslims clerics and “radical” Christians alike proclaiming their beliefs from step ladders, hence the name Speaker’s Corner. There was shouting, debating, points, counterpoints, and even a few fists thrown by angry Muslims (though none of those punches were thrown at our group), all over the issue of who is the One true God. There are groups that go to Hyde Park every Sunday to engage in this open air preaching debate and part of the design is to draw a crowd and engage willing listeners in evangelism opportunities. You need not look far because if you did not engage a willing participant in one of the opportunities, one of the willing Muslims would engage you in conversation. One of the most helpful things I heard in going to Hyde Park today was the conversation you enter into when it is heated is not as much for the person you are debating rather for the those who are casual observers of the conversation. It is about what you say, but is also about how you say it. I am posting a link to an article about Speaker’s Corner from Christianity Today, 2008http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/june/21.34.html Whether you agree with the method or not is not the point of this post. Learn what you can learn from this post and the article and ask yourself what are you willing to do for the name of Jesus Christ to be anthemed on this earth?

Before I tell you what I learned I want to take you on a little journey through my mind as we sat in a pre-meeting about this excursion/adventure that we had no prior knowledge of before it was announced. Before we left to walk to Hyde Park I ran the gamete of emotions; fear and excitement, hope and inadequacy, spiritual warfare and spiritual victory, etc. We had been told that though unlikely, violence was a possibility and, we were told that some Muslims would be very nasty to us personally. It was kind of a prepare for anything type of let’s go get’em pep talk! The skies were overcast and even spitting some rain and I found myself in my flesh thinking, “maybe I will pray for rain so this thing might get canceled.” I have never in my life thought about doing anything of this nature in this manner. I have shared my faith before and I have witnessed to friends and others, but never gone out looking for confrontation of sorts. Then, as I was thinking about the reality that the victory is the Lord’s forever and ever and I as a child of the King can claim this victory I was reminded of at least three things: First, this was not and never would be about me, this was about the Lord and what He wanted. Second, instead of praying for rain in the flesh, I was reminded that I was to pray for fruit walking in the Spirit. Third, I was reminded of one of the verses that I have been memorizing this summer: Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” So literally in a worst case scenario, the worst that could happen to me is I could be killed for my faith. While that would be and was a little difficult to think about I was reminded of the words of Paul, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain!”

Today was a most unique experience indeed! I am glad that I had the opportunity and I am glad that I engaged in conversation today with a Muslim man named, or as they say in London a man called, Hussein. Pray for him, that the Lord would open his heart and his mind and he will come to know without a shadow of doubt that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I am posting 2 pictures from today so you can see Hussein to be reminded to pray for him and one of the crowd gathered at Speaker’s Corner. May God receive all the glory and honor forever and may the seeds planted today in the hearts and minds of those who engaged in conversation and those who only observed bring about fruit that glorifies our God and King! Been outside YOUR comfort zone lately???