Ron Steel: "Mercenary Mindset"

This morning my pastor Ron Steel preached a sermon from Matthew 20:1-6 called "Mercenary Mindset." This is the best treatment of the "Laborers in the Vineyard" parable I've ever encountered. Pastor Steel really did a masterful job connecting the passage with the immediately preceding passage on the rich young ruler. I was well-fed. You can access the audio and video files here.

O. Palmer Robertson: Distinguishing the Action of Christian Individuals from the Action of the Church in Broader Social Engagement

In 1988 PCA Teaching Elder O. Palmer Robertson wrote "A Protest in Response to the 'Summary Positions' Paper on Church/State Relations." He concludes point five writing:

Indeed, as members of the kingdom of Christ that has come, is coming and is yet to come, the Christian as an individual and in cooperation with others should involve himself in advancing the truth of Christ in every area of life. The Church should never shrink from applying the truth of God's Word to every issue of life. But when the church as the church takes on characteristics that distort its proper marks before the world as they are expressed in the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments and the exercise of church discipline, then its distinctive role in the world will be blurred.

Brian Hough: On Parents, Children, and Prayer

Prayer is a means of redemptive grace God has ordained for his people. John Calvin called it the chief exercise of faith. As a young father and Pastor to Families with Youth, I am more and more thankful for this blessed divine provision every day. Also, I am often convicted at my lack of faith, demonstrated in my failure to pray. God loves it when his children cry out to worship him in prayer! Here is an excellent post from fellow PCA Pastor Brian Hough encouraging parents to regularly pray with their children.

Lane Keister: Encouraging Confessional Churches

Here. He begins:

I get really tired of people complaining about the Westminster Standards. These people want us to broaden our horizons beyond confessional boundaries so that we can be more ecumenical. I would like to ask these people, aren’t there enough generally evangelical denominations? . . .

Christ, Kingdom, and Culture Conference Videos

Videos from the recent Christ, Kingdom, and Culture conference at Westminster Seminary California are now posted online. I am looking forward to viewing these!

[HT: Heidelblog]

Miscellanies 14: Should Churches Promote Movies?

I was recently approached by a promoter of the movie The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry with the request to promote the movie in the local church I serve. I haven't viewed the movie yet. It may be very well done. But I wanted to share my response to the request to promote the movie.

I first wrote:

Thank you for taking time to write Twin Oaks PC about this. You are obviously excited about the movie and tenacious in promoting it. That is commendable. However, it is my understanding that this sort of thing falls outside the singular mandate Christ gave his church. He has called his church to be about the work of extending his kingdom by the teaching and embracing of the doctrine of the Gospel, the administration of his ordinances, and the performing of public worship in purity (Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.4). The production or viewing of movies, while wonderful means of common grace (I enjoy movies often), are not included in this mandate. Therefore, I would have to decline your request to promote this movie as a church, using resources given for her special redemptive work.

Nonetheless, I would be willing to view it and give you my feedback, if you'd like.

The promoter then graciously offered me a free viewing online and respectfully asked me to clarify the reasons why I thought the church should not be in the business of movie promotions. I responded again:

My unwillingness to lead the church in the promotion of a movie like the Sperry movie (I would distinguish it from video recordings of lectures or sermons) is this: The church's mandate is to preach the Word, administer the sacraments, and exercise church discipline (basically stated in WCF 25 and 30). These are sometimes called the three marks of the church. It is through these three means that God gathers and nurtures his people from among the nations. Since the making and promoting of movies like the Sperry movie is not included in this mandate, it should not be done by the church.

Individual Christians may make, promote, and enjoy movies as they live out their lives in the common realm (i.e. the world). But according to Scripture, the sacred realm (i.e. the church) is distinct from the common, the distinction being governed by the three marks.

There is, of course, some overlap between the sacred and common realms. They are distinct but not separate. For instance, teaching elders may surely, with Christian prudence according to the general rules of the Word, make use of common things in their teaching, thus sanctifying them unto God's service. This happens every time we consecrate bread and wine for the Lord's Supper or when preachers illustrate their text using personal anecdotes. Also, movies might include themes, messages, or scenes from the sacred realm. I see this most often in wedding and funeral scenes. These examples are, however, quite different from the church as the church actually making and/or promoting things which are essentially common (e.g. bread, wine, a book of personal anecdotes, movies, etc.). I believe it is incumbent upon every officer of the church, and particularly her teaching elders, to be very careful not to blur the lines between the sacred and the common.

I hope this is helpful for you. I would be happy to continue exploring these issues with you. Let me know if I can clarify any further.

I shared my response with my friend Jared Nelson to see if my thinking was on target. He summarized what I was trying to say very well writing:

I’m taking it that your main point might be summarized as: As an individual, I might see a movie and recommend it to friends. But when functioning in the role of a minister, I will promote and require my people to attend to the preached word, the visible word of the sacrament, and prayer but will not promote or require a movie (or tv show, or yoga position or cola product) for their spiritual formation.

Exactly!

Article on Youth Ministry

Here. And an excerpt:

Even in the church, we have established a pattern of perpetual regress that is tearing down the last vestiges of maturity that our fathers laboured to achieve. Evangelical churches are honouring divisions that have existed in our culture for less than a century – divisions which have no basis in either Scripture or common sense. These divisions breed immaturity because they hinder young people from associating with, and learning from, their elders.

Rather than admonishing our young people with Paul’s mandate, “Flee youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22), we provide a forum for youthful lusts to be pursued. We have compromised standards in the name of relevance.

We must therefore reject the appalling notion of the model youth minister as a recently graduated extrovert who looks and acts just like a high schooler himself. Responsible youth ministry in the church involves teaching and exhorting parents to raise their children Biblically (Deuteronomy 6:7; Ephesians 6:4). . . .

Scripture clearly places the responsibility for child rearing on fathers: “And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1 – 4). Many parents believe that they are “doing their job” by seeing their children off to a youth meeting. Most do little or nothing more. Fathers are responsible for directly overseeing their children in spiritual matters.

Effective youth ministry is the father’s task; he has the responsibility to establish a godly atmosphere in the home. Fathers must be leaders in worship, prayer, reading and studying the Bible and in fellowship with other saints.

Fathers, through abdication, are bringing their children up in practical atheism.

As a father of two children, a four-year old and a two-year old, and a pastor to families with youth this article is quite convicting.

David Strain: A Heuristic Syllogism on the Two Kingdoms

The basic argument of Two Kingdom Theology is this:

(1) Jesus' kingdom is not advanced or defended by the sword (John 18:36; 1 Cor. 10:4; Eph. 6:12).

(2) And God has ordained the civil magistrate to maintain order and enforce justice by the sword (Rom. 13:4; 1 Pet. 2:13)

Since the ethics of Jesus' kingdom (i.e. the ecclesiastical, sacred realm) and the civil magistrate (i.e. the civil, common realm) are fundamentally unified (which is the basis for Christian participation in the common realm contra separatism) and the sacred and the common exist simultaneously, then . . .

(3) Therefore, there are two distinct kingdoms at work in the New Testament era (i.e. the ecclesiastical and the civil, the sacred and the common, Jesus' kingdom and the civil magistrate).

David Strain has posted a fuller presentation of this argument here.

Nick Batzig: On Justification in James 2

Here

Justin Taylor: On Media Saturation among Teens

Here

David Strain: On Sabbath Observance in the PCA

Here. And an excerpt:

Given that the Westminster Confession and Catechisms continue to be the subordinate standards of the PCA, even with exceptions being granted by presbyteries, it does not seem unreasonable to expect to find a higher degree of reverence for, and diligence in the practise of, Sabbath observance among us. My, albeit limited, observations thus far have not affirmed that expectation, sad to say. In fact, my perception is that, in the PCA at least, Westminster Sabbatarianism is a strange and little known and even less loved feature of Christian devotion.

David VanDrunen: On Natural Law and The Two Kingdoms

R. Scott Clark recently interviewed David VanDrunen on Office Hours. VanDrunen discussed issues from his new book Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought. I look forward to reading VanDrunen's new book soon.

Words of Institution and Eucharistic Prayer

This morning I had the responsibility to give the words of institution and Eucharistic prayer for the Lord's Supper during our worship service at Twin Oaks Presbyterian Church. Here's what I said:

The Lord Jesus Christ opened his great sermon on the mount saying “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:3-6). When we come to worship God according to his Word, we come impoverished. We come as receivers. We come to feed upon Christ. We come to ingest him in the depths of our soul. His body was offered up and his blood was spilled for us and for our salvation. Indeed Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:35, 53-59). We know that Jesus was not referring to a carnal eating and drinking because he said, “not as the fathers ate and died.” Instead he was referring to a spiritual eating, an eating that is no less real than carnal eating yet even more effective in that it nourishes us unto eternal life. Jesus has prepared his Table for us. As the Apostle tells us, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).

This is the Lord’s Table. It is open to all those who are trusting in the finished work of Christ alone for their salvation, to all those who are communing members in good standing of this or any other church where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly preached. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Let us pray, Father we are thankful that you have gathered us now around the Table of your Son, because he offered himself up to you as our sacrifice of atonement. Would you also now grant by your Son’s mediation that the Holy Spirit would attend our eating of this bread and our drinking of this wine and so cause us to feast spiritually upon the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, being raised up to commune with him in the heavenly temple with great joy, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

2010 Spring Sunday School Schedule

This spring the subject of my Senior High Sunday School class will be The Doctrine of God, chapters 2-5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. Here's the schedule:

1. Doctrine of God: Introduction (Jan. 3)
2. Doctrine of God: The Attributes of God Part 1 (WCF 2.1) (Jan. 17)
3. Doctrine of God: The Attributes of God Part 2 (WCF 2.2) (Jan. 24)
4. Doctrine of God: The Trinity Part 1 (WCF 2.3) (Jan. 31)
5. Doctrine of God: The Trinity Part 2 (WCF 2.3) (Feb. 7)
6. Doctrine of God: God’s Eternal Decree and Causation (WCF 3.1) (Feb. 14)
7. Doctrine of God: God’s Eternal Decree and Foreknowledge (WCF 3.2) (Feb. 21)
8. Doctrine of God: Predestination and Foreordination (WCF 3.3-4) (Feb. 28)
9. Doctrine of God: Predestination unto Life (WCF 3.5-6) (Mar. 7)
10. Doctrine of God: Foreordination unto Death (WCF 3.7) (Mar. 14)
11. Doctrine of God: Predestination and Assurance (WCF 3.8) (Mar. 21)
12. Doctrine of God: Creation (WCF 4.1) (Mar. 28)
13. Doctrine of God: The Imago Dei (WCF 4.2a) (Apr. 4)
14. Doctrine of God: Natural Law and Commandment (WCF 4.2b) (Apr. 11)
15. Doctrine of God: Providence (WCF 5.1) (Apr. 18)
16. Doctrine of God: Providence and Causation (WCF 5.2-3) (Apr. 25)
17. Doctrine of God: Providence and Sin (WCF 5.4) (May 2)
18. Doctrine of God: Providence and Discipline (WCF 5.5) (May 9)
19. Doctrine of God: Providence and Hardening (WCF 5.6) (May 16)
20. Doctrine of God: Providence and Preservation (WCF 5.7) (May 23)
21. Doctrine of God: Conclusion (May 30)