The Return of Calvinism

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Principles of Reformed Worship

In reading through D.G. Hart's "Recovering Mother Kirk" this afternoon, I came across his 5 principles that are to characterize Reformed worship...

1. Centrality of the Word of God

2. Theocentric (God-centered)

3. Dialogical (worship is a conversation between God and His people)

4. Simplicity

5. Reverence

Certainly, there are others that we could list (one of which is Christ-centered preaching), but these 5 are a good starting point for evaluating our worship.

Is America God's Special Nation?

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I particularly enjoyed this quote: "Concomitant with those sins is the sin of our ministers of failing to preach the gospel of Christ's glorious law keeping, death, and resurrection for his people." A great reminder to those of us ordained to preach to continue to feed our people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Classis Meeting

There were two main items on the agenda of Classis Pacific Northwest: The ordination exam of Mr. Brad Lenzner and the organization of the URC church plant in West Linn, Oregon. Brad did fantastic on his exam, passing with flying colors. He will now pastor Emmanuel URC in Hanford, California. And it is with much rejoicing that classis gave concurring advice to organize Grace Church in West Linn, Oregon. From its beginning in January 2009, Grace Church has grown from 5 families (17 members) to 10 families (34 members).

Pictured here are Brad and his wife, Samantha.

Federal Vision Rubbish

I came across this quote today from Federal Vision advocate Rich Lusk:

"Good works justify persons in James 2, not faith or one’s status as a justified sinner. James is not telling his readers how to 'justify their justification' or how to 'give evidence of a true and lively faith'. Instead he says their persons will not be justified by faith alone, but also by good works of obedience they have done. The use of the preposition 'by' is important since it indicates a sort of dual instrumentality in justification. In other words, in some sense, James is speaking of a justification in which faith and works combine together to justify . Future justification is according to one’s life pattern." Rich Lusk, “Future Justification to Doers of the Law.”

A "dual instrumentality" in justification? And how exactly is this faithful to Scripture or our Reformed confessions? Having been condemned by a number of ecclesiastical bodies (URC, PCA, OPC, etc.), it would be nice to see all the FV boys head to the Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals, which is the pro-FV body where they all belong.

Gig Harbor Bible Study

The Gig Harbor Bible study is up and running and will be meeting for the third time tomorrow night. We as a consistory (and as a congregation) are diligently praying that the Lord would open the door for this to be a URC church plant. You can find more information at their website here. In addition, the audio for the first Bible study is now posted here.

Federal Vision, part 2

Here's part 2 of the discussion between Scott Clark and Lane Keister regarding the Federal Vision.

Weeping for Jesus?

Just ran across this great quote by Charles Spurgeon on the death of Christ:

You need not weep because Christ died one-tenth so much as because your sins rendered it necessary that He should die. You need not weep over the crucifixion, but weep over your transgression, for your sins nailed the Redeemer to the accursed tree. To weep over a dying Saviour is to lament the remedy; it were wiser to bewail the disease. To weep over the dying Saviour is to wet the surgeon's knife with tears; it were better to bewail the spreading polyps which that knife must cut away. To weep over the Lord Jesus as He goes to the cross is to weep over that which is the subject of the highest joy that ever heaven and earth have known; your tears are scarcely needed there; they are unnatural, but a deeper wisdom will make you brush them all away and chant with joy His victory over death and the grave. If we must continue our sad emotions, let us lament that we should have broken the law which He thus painfully vindicated; let us mourn that we should have incurred the penalty which He even to the death was made to endure ... O brethren and sisters, this is the reason why we souls weep: because we have broken the divine law and rendered it impossible that we should be saved except Jesus Christ should die.

Grounded in the Gospel

Yesterday, I mentioned an article by Scott Clark in Tabletalk Magazine, which discusses how the theology, piety, and practice of today's evangelicals differs quite drastically from that of our Reformed confessions. There is a new book coming out next month, "Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way," that touches on the subject of catechization. Not having read the book yet, I can't give it an unqualified endorsement. But, if you'd like to read a brief excerpt from the book, click here. In a day and age when experience is king, may we have the courage to return to "building believers the old-fashioned way."

Amazing Grace

This afternoon, I read a brief interview with Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. In the interview, he was asked, "Why do you think Christians fail to find God's grace amazing?" Here's his answer:

"There are many reasons, but usually they involve three things. First, we have such a low sense of the holiness of God and we are insensitive to the sheer intensity of it. To whatever extent our sense of God's holiness is diminished, to that extent our sense of amazement at God's grace will be diminished. Second, we adopt superficial views of our sinfulness and too often guard against the ministry of the Word and Spirit exposing it. Jesus said that it is those who are much forgiven who love much. The reason is that those who are most conscious of their sin become most conscious of their need of grace, and therefore most aware of the wonders of grace. Third, we think too little of the costliness of grace. It comes freely to us because it was so expensive to Christ to satisfy the justice of God on our behalf. Sadly, in our contemporary "Christianesque" subculture, we are weak in reflection and meditation on Christ and the meaning of the cross."

Raising Children Gary Ezzo's...oops...God's Way

Good article here on the subject of raising children and the danger of being enslaved to a particular methodology.

Religious Experience

One of the best devotionals available today is "Tabletalk," published by Ligonier Ministries. In the February issue of Tabletalk, Dr. Scott Clark of Westminster Seminary California writes an excellent piece on the contrast between Reformed theology, piety, and practice and American evangelical theology, piety, and practice. One of the points that he makes is that the theology, piety, and practice of American evangelicals is shaped by religious experience, rather than by the objective work of Christ. You can read the article in its entirety here.

To show you what is meant by this, notice the following statement from a large, broadly evangelical church in southern California, sent to me today by a colleague: "Our relationship to God as believers provides us with the privilege of moment-by-moment communion with God. It is this silent communion of our spirit with the Spirit of God that is essential to our continued walk with Him." Now I'm not exactly sure what is meant by "this silent communion of our spirit with the Spirit of God," but it certainly goes hand-in-hand with what Scott writes about the religious experience that is so central in many churches today. And the sad thing is that this mentality is creeping into many churches that call themselves "Reformed." May the Lord give us the courage and the conviction to pursue the theology, piety, and practice of our Reformed heritage and confessions!

Another Recommendation

I know, I know...a lot of recommendations lately. Who has time to read all these books and listen to all these podcasts? Well, in light of the poor ecclesiology that permeates much of the church today, as well as the way people view worship, I would really recommend that you pick up this book. As part of the blurb says, "Dig below the surface of today's worship wars and rediscover the biblical and theological foundations for a Christian understanding of worship." Whether you fall on the traditional side of worship or the contemporary side of worship, you need to read this book to understand what the Bible says about the subject of worship. The best price I've found is here at Westminster Seminary California's bookstore.

Reformed Forum

If you're looking for some good mp3 programs to add to your iPod or other device, let me suggest that you check out Reformed Forum, where you will find a number of thought-provoking, edifying discussions. Click here

New Book

Next week, Rev. Danny Hyde's newest book will be released. It's titled, "Welcome to a Reformed Church." Having read the book already and written an endorsement for the book (which earned me a free copy), I cannot recommend this book highly enough. This will be a great book to hand to visitors who wonder what a "Reformed" church is all about. At the same time, it will be an excellent book for those who have spent all of their lives in a Reformed church and yet don't have a great grasp on the distinctives of a Reformed church.

It will be available next week, with Ligonier offering special discount pricing if you order multiple copies. Find out more here.

Audio Recommendation

Click here to listen to a good discussion of the Federal Vision between Dr. Scott Clark and Rev. Lane Keister.

And the Winner Is...

Beginning on Wednesday, April 28th, our men's book club will start discussing a new book, "Why We Love the Church" by Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck. In a day of muddled and at times, downright poor, ecclesiology, it is critical that we understand the importance of the church.

You Can't Get This on Your Blackberry

If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, you can now get a free app called "Christian Creeds & Reformed Confessions." This contains the following: Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort, and the Westminster Standards. Very, very cool! Click here for more details.

Men's Leadership Training

One of the most critical components to the health of a local church is godly leadership...specifically, godly male leadership. Because of this, it is imperative that churches are proactive and train men to serve in the offices of the church. In April, we will be beginning a men's leadership training course that will meet once a month from April through October. This course will be a prerequisite for any men to serve as an office-bearer in the Bellingham URC. Much of our time will be spent studying and discussing the book "Called to Serve." We already have 15 men signed up to take the course. If interested, please sign up this Sunday. We'll have a brief meeting after the morning service of March 14th to discuss the specifics (day of the week we'll meet, time, etc.).

Men's Book Club

The following are the 4 finalists for our next men's book club, which will begin in late April...