My 3rd sermon - Psalm 51

Intro

Good morning, Calvary.  I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.  My family and I went down to Joplin for the day to see my parents, who will be listening to this via podcast, so “Hello, Mom and Dad.”  Last week, as a church, you voted me in as your newest elder and I just wanted to say thank you and I’ll try to live up to that responsibility.  

We have a lot to be thankful for and 1 thing in particular we can be thankful for is a small Latin phrase Vox Scriptura Vox Dei.  Vox is a Latin word meaning voice so Vox Scriputra Vox Dei means the voice of scripture is the voice of God.  This means we don’t need to send some spiritual mystic on TV a $1000 seed offering to “hear a special word from God” and if we want to hear from God all we need to do is open our Bible and read it out loud. 

So let me say a quick prayer over us and I will read Psalm 51 so you can hear God’s sermon first and then we’ll double back and I’ll just flesh out a few points for you.

Long prayer – Let’s pray.  Father we thank you for this Lord’s Day and we thank you for our pastors: Brian and Jay.  We pray that they are having a good holiday off from work to recoup with their families and we thank you for the faithful members of this congregation and for this ancient word to us from the past, regarding your servant David.  Here we see a plea that the people of God stray not far away from the basic principles of this passage – faith in the Gospel – that you and only you can ultimately forgive sin; that we, your people, must daily recognize our own sin in repentance; that we must resolve ourselves with our need for you to act sovereignly; that we who have been forgiven, we who have feasted on the forgiveness of sins…we must act and we must be the ones now who point others back to the banquet table of Christ.  Like David, may our hearts be broken and burdened with our own sin, may we plead with you for forgiveness and for the blessing of the church and for the growth and maturity of the people of God.  This we pray…and all of God’s people said?  Amen.  Read passage!!

Historical Background

If you don’t know much about the Psalms there are about 150, David wrote about 70-75, of those about 18 are autobiographical and of those this one is by far the best.  As a matter of fact I think this may be one of the best chapters in the entire bible.  Psalm 51 is a gospel/repentance song, a plea for mercy and grace written by the great Jewish King – David after his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite.  About a year after these dark events the Lord sent a prophet, a pastor, Nathan to David’s court with a parable about an unjust rich man who took a poorer man’s one and only lamb…at the end of the story David indignant cries, “Unjust!  Let this man face judgment!”  And it was here that Nathan explained to David that he was the selfish rich man greedily taking what didn’t belong to him…and while God promised to ultimately forgive David of his sin, he also directly told David how he would suffer in this life because of his crimes.

If you’ve got your notes I’ve tried to break down the Psalm into 5 parts based off their theme and their paragraphs according to the ESV or as I like to call it the Elect Standard Version. These 5 sections are: Faith in the Gospel, True Repentance, Reliance on God, Motivation for Service and a Petition for God’s People.

Section I – Faith in the Gospel vs. 1-2

            A – Mercy vs. Merit

I love that David starts the Psalm right off with the Gospel.  He trusts that as bad as his sin was God in his mercy would forgive and cleanse him from all his faults.  I know we say we understand that Salvation is God’s work done for us but from a very young age we are ingrained with the Merit system.

From what I remember of Pre-school and Kindergarten the teacher had a large chart with spaces and kids names and the days of the week.  Each week students could earn gold stars by listening and behaving well and whatever and at the end of the week the students with the most gold stars would earn some reward.  Like this, maybe you have studied hard so you earned that A on a paper, or you worked hard so you earned that raise or promotion.  But that’s not mercy or grace.  Grace would be you were the worst behaved kid in school so here is your ice cream, or you were the laziest student in class so here is your A.  Maybe you had the most customer complaints in the entire region, so welcome to management and a corner office.

Grace is undeserved favor and sometimes its important to be reminded of that, as it keeps us humble and not thinking too highly of ourselves.

            B – Compounding sin

One of our girls recently got caught in a lie and to squirm out of it she had to keep coming up with more and more lies to cover it up.  For those who cannot or will not repent there is often compounding sin.  As David lusts for Bathsheba, then that leads to adultery, then to lies and deceit to cove it up, then ultimately to the murder of Uriah when the lies and deceit don’t work.  See this is the way of unrepentant sin; it often makes the sinner’s heart more and more callous making it less and less likely that you will ever repent and more and more likely that you will sin again in the future.  That is why a passage like psalm 51 can be such a powerful engine for real change in a believer’s life.  

Section II – True Repentance vs. 3-6

            A – For the believer

Martin Luther famously said in the 1^st of his 95 thesis that when our Lord and Master said, “Repent.” He meant that the entire life of the believer should be 1 of repentance.

We see this too in the mind of David, as he laments over his sin he uses a particular word in 2 different verses wash which in Hebrew literally means “to wash clothes,” David is poetically describing himself and his sin as dirty garments that need cleaned by God.  This illusion is used several other times in Scripture.  Once in Revelation chapter 7 when the Apostle John is describing the Saints of God  - he calls them those whose robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb or in Zechariah chapter 3 when Joshua the high priest is in a vision before the throne of heaven and his dirty clothes are replaced by God and there those dirty clothes are explained as all of Joshua’s iniquities, his faults, and failures.  Friends, if you are someone with a sensitive heart, unsure of God’s mercy, then this is a great psalm for you.  God’s gift of whiter than white garments, purer than pure vestments and more righteous than righteous forgiveness is greater than your sin.  That is why you can come to the Lord in repentance not because you are great in yourself but because His mercy for you is greater than your wickedness.

            B – For the church

Tying this back to our study of the book of Ephesians, Paul in Acts 20 is about to die, he knows this and he has 1 last chance to tell the Christians of Ephesus what they’ll need to know to live the Christian life without his guidance and he only gives them 3 things: live humbly, repent to God and trust in the work of Christ.  I fear that the biblical emphases on repentance, which requires time and self-reflection are being pushed to the wayside today…either because of the busyness of our lives or because we frankly don’t think our sin is all that bad.  And if that is the case I would suggest re-reading the 10 commandments from Exodus 20 or the sin list in Romans 1.  And see how gossiping is still listed alongside homosexuality and honoring your parents and not coveting your neighbors stuff is alongside murder and adultery, as grave crimes against God.  This may remind us of the seriousness of our errors.  But for those of us believers that strive for goodness only to fail and begin again we are taught in these passages that Divine Grace covers our faults the way a cloak covers a wayward traveler.

One of my favorite ancient writers was a man called Augustine of Hippo.  Augustine said if you recognize yourself being too critical of others then it’s because you are in need of repentance of your own sins.  Listen to this quote, “Men are hopeless creatures – the less they concentrate on their own sin, the more interested they become in the sins of others.  They seek to criticize, not correct.  Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others.”

Section III – Relying on God vs. 7-12

            A – God must be at work

David gives us another vivid picture – that of being purged with hyssop, which is an illustration from Leviticus about the cleansing of leapers.  See in God’s eyes our sin is an incurable disease with 1 of 2 outcomes either eternal death or new life “in Christ.”  In repentance, David shows us his longing to be spiritually cleansed from moral defilement.  David’s example is that a believer should desire renewal back into holiness as much as the joy of their salvation.  David in recognition of his own sin does not give us weak vows toward moral improvement, excuses or blame-shifting, he doesn’t even see his own ability to fix himself but begs the Sovereign God to do it to him and for him.  Create in me a pure heart, oh God!  Grant me faith, gift me repentance and make me willing to fulfill your purposes. 

            B – the Dependent Will

Very popular in American theology is a term called Free will; Libertarian Free will has to do with a separation or independence from God.  As an example, we are free from the rules and regulations put forth by the Queen of England and their Prime Minister because we are not British; we’re free from that. 

Conversely, let me give you a few points from the NT regarding our dependent will.   We are dependent on God for being drawn to God (John 6), conversion (John 3), faith (Eph. 2), repentance (2^nd Timothy 2), the opening of our hearts, understanding of Scripture, the fruits of the Spirit, and on and on and on.  David recognizes his need for God to be the one at work in his life; if you cleanse me I’ll be clean.  It’s not a work he can do on his own, and that’s what motivates and impassions his prayer life before God.  This is why we can pray to God that he will act in saving our friends and family, many who do not even will to be his children yet, who do not even recognize their need for a Savior.  David is our example for Man’s utter reliance on God in the forgiveness of sins, correction and guidance for life.

Section IV – Motivation for Service vs. 13-16

We have already seen earlier that the Gospel is about God’s work in saving sinners and not due to our merit in earning that Salvation.  Yet here we also see a 2^nd universal truth for believers that those to have been forgiven, long for others to be forgiven as well.  This has been the biblical motivation for service and missions since the days of David.  In this section we see that David in recognition of God’s mercy, longs to preach, teach, praise and worship and lead others in these acts as well.  If you have no concern for the growth of the church or the salvation of sinners then perhaps you should look to yourself for sin in need of repentance.

Again from my friend Martin Luther, “The Christian’s life consists of nothing but grace.  To lose oneself in the depth of grace is our truest theology.  God loves those who acknowledge their lostness; he purifies them and sets them free.  Anyone who came to God in a lost condition brought him the most appropriate offering.  True theology is turning from your lost condition to trust in God.”  And thus true service is pointing others to that place of forgiveness as well.

Section V – A Petition for God’s People vs. 18-19

Like David we are called to prayer, begging for blessings for the church “Zion,” and for God’s people “Jerusalem.”  What this section reminds us is that prayer should not be taken for granted – prayer is the best weapon a Christian has.  God is like the A-bomb in the Christian’s arsenal, this is what we should be doing, praying for God’s gospel to go forth, for its gaining ground, and for God’s people.  The most underappreciated but most powerful work in the church today is prayer, unrelenting; never quitting prayer that God will move in his church and among his people.

Conclusion:

Before we close let me just say that behind this chapter, behind the forgiveness of sin, behind repentance, behind a sovereign Savior looms large the cross of Christ.  God gave David the most painful of object lessons ever.  This confrontation between the prophet Nathan and David happens in 2^nd Samuel 12 and in that meeting God teaches David something of substitution.  God tells David that his sin will cost the life of his and Bathsheba’s 1 and only son, their beloved son; the son of the king.  In this we see the foreshadowing of our substitute Jesus Christ, the son of the True King, who died in the place of our sin, to bring us to repentance and faith and forgiveness.  Let us be thankful for that this holiday season.

Let’s pray:

You must do this God.  We, your people, are dependent on you for the salvation of sinners, for the advancement of your Gospel, for faithfulness, keep us willing to serve, we pray for this and we pray like Charles Spurgeon did when contemplating this chapter– “Oh let us seek after this brokenness of heart, for however excellent our words may be, yet if the heart is not conscious of the blackness and hell-deservingness of sin, we cannot expect to find mercy with the Judge of all the earth.  If the Lord wills to break your heart today, consent to have it broken; asking that he may sanctify that brokenness of spirit to bring you in earnest to a Savior, that you may yet be numbered with the righteous’d ones.” We are thankful for you Lord, bless your people and bless your church. Amen.

The best man, on the best subject.

Martin Luther on the Gospel

“Thus the sum and substance of all doctrine is this, that we are not justified by any works, but that faith in Christ saves.  This text (John 6:32)  is a veritable thunderclap that impels you to exclaim: what can my life and my good works help me?  Moses does not aid me.  Moses is only a schoolmaster in this field; he instructs me about an external mode of divine service and the strictest outward decency.  The works of Moses do not give life and salvation.  Here we are informed of another and better bread, called God’s bread, which comes from heaven and is not baked on earth.  It is granted by the Holy Spirit.  It confers everlasting life, a life not merited and earned, a gift from heaven.

Thus you see two kinds of bread here.  The one is not earned, not acquired through a self-chosen, self-devised mode of life, but is an outright gift of bread, food and life.  The other is the bread that man wants to merit through good works and the observance of Moses’ Law.  But whoever refuses to accept life by grace and without merit will never obtain it.  The Father gives it; therefore it is not merited.  It is mine by sheer mercy and grace.  Thus my merit is toppled over and knocked down to the ground.”

(Martin Luther, Sermons on the Gospel of John, Chapters 6-8 (translated by M.H. Bertram), Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1959, p. 36).

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Here we stand - Jason Allen Pres. Midwestern Seminary

• Here We Stand: Midwestern Seminary & Same-Sex Marriage

Posted on: Monday, November 4th, 2013

The 19^th century Prussian statesman Otto Von Bismarck observed, “Political genius is hearing the distant hoof beat of the horse of history and then leaping to catch the passing horseman by the coattails.”[i] When it comes to issues of human sexuality and marriage, skilled politicians are not the only ones listening to the hoof beats of history and lunging for the horseman’s coattails. Religious leaders are too.

As cultural momentum toward full acceptance and normalization of homosexuality and same-sex marriage intensifies so will the pressure on Christian organizations to adopt accommodating policies.  Indeed, venerable Christian and Baptist entities have amended, or are contemplating amending, their guidelines toward same-sex marriage and alternative lifestyles.

Many self-identified Christian entities yet to officially sanction homosexuality and same-sex marriage operate under their own version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “Mum” is their word. They seek intentional ambiguity on issues of gender, sexuality, and marriage to avoid offending one or more of their constituencies. Such middle ground is eroding by the day, as it well should. Every institution’s constituency has the right to know where it stands, and every school—and every school leader—has a moral obligation to make its stance known.

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has long since settled its view of marriage and human sexuality, but it is appropriate to state and restate our convictions, especially in light of the swift and dramatic cultural shifts now taking place. Midwestern Seminary is not polling students, conducting market surveys, or engaging focus groups among likely supporters to determine our position. Nor will we. Midwestern Seminary stands unapologetically for a biblical sexual ethic that affirms marriage as between one man and one woman for life and counts as sin all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage. Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, we have so planted our standard.

Biblical Conviction

Midwestern Seminary is committed to the Bible as God’s inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word. We confess with the Reformers, vox Scriptura vox dei—the voice of Scripture is the voice of God. The Bible speaks clearly concerning marriage and human sexuality, and we joyfully submit to its declarations. As part of his created order, God established marriage as between one man and one woman.[ii] This standard remains consistent throughout Scripture, confirmed by Jesus[iii] and reconfirmed by the apostles.[iv]

Moreover, the Bible prohibits all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts. The Bible’s statements about human sexuality and marriage are clear—sexual activity is reserved exclusively for one man and one woman, bound together before God in a covenantal, conjugal marriage.

Denominational Faithfulness

Midwestern Seminary is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. We abide under their ownership and governance and are legally and morally obligated to keep trust with the Southern Baptist churches that own us.

Southern Baptists have clearly and repeatedly stood with Scripture and the broader Christian tradition on human sexuality and marriage. The vast majority of Southern Baptists classify as sin all forms of sexual immorality and alternative lifestyles. Moreover, the SBC will not seat messengers from churches that “act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior.”[v]

As Midwestern Seminary stands for sexual purity and conjugal marriage, we do not stand alone. We are in lockstep with the denomination that owns us.

Confessional Integrity

As a seminary of the SBC, Midwestern Seminary is bound confessionally to the Baptist Faith & Message, 2000. Our confessional commitment is nonnegotiable, forthright, and unshakeable. We hold our doctrinal commitments with full integrity and keep them in both the letter and spirit of their expectation.

The BF&M 2000 defines marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”[vi] The Midwestern Seminary faculty happily teaches in accordance with and not contrary to the BF&M 2000 and will continue to do so, undaunted, regardless of cultural challenge or societal scorn.

Societal Witness

Finally, Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” necessitates that we “speak the truth, in love” to all peoples on all things, including issues of marriage and sexuality. We understand Scripture establishes and celebrates conjugal, covenantal marriage as the only sexual relationship that glorifies God and facilitates human flourishing.

Furthermore, Scripture labels all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts, as sin. For millennia, these acts have been proscribed by the Christian tradition, and love for neighbor compels us to point out these acts as sin and point our neighbors to the gospel of Christ, which redeems us from all sin.

Conclusion

Persistent agitation to legalize same-sex marriage will not abate, and the national acceptance of same-sex marriage likely will accelerate. We are not mere onlookers, listening for history’s hoof beats and lunging for the passing horseman’s coattails. Neither are we crusty, staid traditionalists, channeling William F. Buckley, standing athwart history yelling “Stop!”

Midwestern Seminary is called neither to ride the cultural current nor to stop it but to transcend it altogether. Our call is to speak consistently the settled truth of Scripture with confidence and grace, and to point all peoples to the message of Jesus, which saves, transforms, and renews. We do so not because the sexually immoral are worse than us, but because they are precisely like us—in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, Midwestern Seminary graciously—yet confidently—declares that God intended marriage to be a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, and that all sexual activity outside of that marital covenant is sin. To this truth, our consciences are bound. Here we stand.

---

[i] Cited by Isaiah Berlin, “Winston Churchill in 1940” in Personal Impressions (exp. ed.; ed. Henry Hardy; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 15.

[ii] See Genesis 1:28–31; 2:4–25.

[iii] See Matthew 5:31–32; 18:2–5; 19:3–9; Mark 10:6–12.

[iv] See Romans 1:18–32; 1 Corinthians 7:1–16; Ephesians 5:21–33; 6:1–4; Colossians 3:18–21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3–5; Titus 2:3–5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1–7.

[v] Southern Baptist Convention Constitution, Article III.1. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/legal/constitution.asp.

[vi] Baptist Faith and Message, 2000, Article XVIII: The Family. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.

- See more at: http://jasonkallen.com/2013/11/here-we-stand-midwestern-seminary-same-sex-marriage/#sthash.UkBdmpLG.dpuf

• Here We Stand: Midwestern Seminary & Same-Sex Marriage

  Posted on: Monday, November 4th, 2013
  The 19^th century Prussian statesman Otto Von Bismarck observed, “Political genius is hearing the distant hoof beat of the horse of history and then leaping to catch the passing horseman by the coattails.”[i] When it comes to issues of human sexuality and marriage, skilled politicians are not the only ones listening to the hoof beats of history and lunging for the horseman’s coattails. Religious leaders are too.
  As cultural momentum toward full acceptance and normalization of homosexuality and same-sex marriage intensifies so will the pressure on Christian organizations to adopt accommodating policies.  Indeed, venerable Christian and Baptist entities have amended, or are contemplating amending, their guidelines toward same-sex marriage and alternative lifestyles.
  Many self-identified Christian entities yet to officially sanction homosexuality and same-sex marriage operate under their own version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “Mum” is their word. They seek intentional ambiguity on issues of gender, sexuality, and marriage to avoid offending one or more of their constituencies. Such middle ground is eroding by the day, as it well should. Every institution’s constituency has the right to know where it stands, and every school—and every school leader—has a moral obligation to make its stance known.
  Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has long since settled its view of marriage and human sexuality, but it is appropriate to state and restate our convictions, especially in light of the swift and dramatic cultural shifts now taking place. Midwestern Seminary is not polling students, conducting market surveys, or engaging focus groups among likely supporters to determine our position. Nor will we. Midwestern Seminary stands unapologetically for a biblical sexual ethic that affirms marriage as between one man and one woman for life and counts as sin all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage. Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, we have so planted our standard.
  

  Biblical Conviction

  Midwestern Seminary is committed to the Bible as God’s inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word. We confess with the Reformers, vox Scriptura vox dei—the voice of Scripture is the voice of God. The Bible speaks clearly concerning marriage and human sexuality, and we joyfully submit to its declarations. As part of his created order, God established marriage as between one man and one woman.[ii] This standard remains consistent throughout Scripture, confirmed by Jesus[iii] and reconfirmed by the apostles.[iv]
  Moreover, the Bible prohibits all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts. The Bible’s statements about human sexuality and marriage are clear—sexual activity is reserved exclusively for one man and one woman, bound together before God in a covenantal, conjugal marriage.
  

  Denominational Faithfulness

  Midwestern Seminary is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. We abide under their ownership and governance and are legally and morally obligated to keep trust with the Southern Baptist churches that own us.
  Southern Baptists have clearly and repeatedly stood with Scripture and the broader Christian tradition on human sexuality and marriage. The vast majority of Southern Baptists classify as sin all forms of sexual immorality and alternative lifestyles. Moreover, the SBC will not seat messengers from churches that “act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior.”[v]
  As Midwestern Seminary stands for sexual purity and conjugal marriage, we do not stand alone. We are in lockstep with the denomination that owns us.
  

  Confessional Integrity

  As a seminary of the SBC, Midwestern Seminary is bound confessionally to the Baptist Faith & Message, 2000. Our confessional commitment is nonnegotiable, forthright, and unshakeable. We hold our doctrinal commitments with full integrity and keep them in both the letter and spirit of their expectation.
  The BF&M 2000 defines marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”[vi] The Midwestern Seminary faculty happily teaches in accordance with and not contrary to the BF&M 2000 and will continue to do so, undaunted, regardless of cultural challenge or societal scorn.
  

  Societal Witness

  Finally, Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” necessitates that we “speak the truth, in love” to all peoples on all things, including issues of marriage and sexuality. We understand Scripture establishes and celebrates conjugal, covenantal marriage as the only sexual relationship that glorifies God and facilitates human flourishing.
  Furthermore, Scripture labels all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts, as sin. For millennia, these acts have been proscribed by the Christian tradition, and love for neighbor compels us to point out these acts as sin and point our neighbors to the gospel of Christ, which redeems us from all sin.
  

  Conclusion

  Persistent agitation to legalize same-sex marriage will not abate, and the national acceptance of same-sex marriage likely will accelerate. We are not mere onlookers, listening for history’s hoof beats and lunging for the passing horseman’s coattails. Neither are we crusty, staid traditionalists, channeling William F. Buckley, standing athwart history yelling “Stop!”
  Midwestern Seminary is called neither to ride the cultural current nor to stop it but to transcend it altogether. Our call is to speak consistently the settled truth of Scripture with confidence and grace, and to point all peoples to the message of Jesus, which saves, transforms, and renews. We do so not because the sexually immoral are worse than us, but because they are precisely like us—in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
  Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, Midwestern Seminary graciously—yet confidently—declares that God intended marriage to be a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, and that all sexual activity outside of that marital covenant is sin. To this truth, our consciences are bound. Here we stand.
  

  ---

  [i] Cited by Isaiah Berlin, “Winston Churchill in 1940” in Personal Impressions (exp. ed.; ed. Henry Hardy; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 15.

  [ii] See Genesis 1:28–31; 2:4–25.

  [iii] See Matthew 5:31–32; 18:2–5; 19:3–9; Mark 10:6–12.

  [iv] See Romans 1:18–32; 1 Corinthians 7:1–16; Ephesians 5:21–33; 6:1–4; Colossians 3:18–21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3–5; Titus 2:3–5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1–7.

  [v] Southern Baptist Convention Constitution, Article III.1. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/legal/constitution.asp.

  [vi] Baptist Faith and Message, 2000, Article XVIII: The Family. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.

- See more at: http://jasonkallen.com/2013/11/here-we-stand-midwestern-seminary-same-sex-marriage/#sthash.UkBdmpLG.dpuf

• Here We Stand: Midwestern Seminary & Same-Sex Marriage

  Posted on: Monday, November 4th, 2013
  The 19^th century Prussian statesman Otto Von Bismarck observed, “Political genius is hearing the distant hoof beat of the horse of history and then leaping to catch the passing horseman by the coattails.”[i] When it comes to issues of human sexuality and marriage, skilled politicians are not the only ones listening to the hoof beats of history and lunging for the horseman’s coattails. Religious leaders are too.
  As cultural momentum toward full acceptance and normalization of homosexuality and same-sex marriage intensifies so will the pressure on Christian organizations to adopt accommodating policies.  Indeed, venerable Christian and Baptist entities have amended, or are contemplating amending, their guidelines toward same-sex marriage and alternative lifestyles.
  Many self-identified Christian entities yet to officially sanction homosexuality and same-sex marriage operate under their own version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “Mum” is their word. They seek intentional ambiguity on issues of gender, sexuality, and marriage to avoid offending one or more of their constituencies. Such middle ground is eroding by the day, as it well should. Every institution’s constituency has the right to know where it stands, and every school—and every school leader—has a moral obligation to make its stance known.
  Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has long since settled its view of marriage and human sexuality, but it is appropriate to state and restate our convictions, especially in light of the swift and dramatic cultural shifts now taking place. Midwestern Seminary is not polling students, conducting market surveys, or engaging focus groups among likely supporters to determine our position. Nor will we. Midwestern Seminary stands unapologetically for a biblical sexual ethic that affirms marriage as between one man and one woman for life and counts as sin all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage. Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, we have so planted our standard.
  

  Biblical Conviction

  Midwestern Seminary is committed to the Bible as God’s inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word. We confess with the Reformers, vox Scriptura vox dei—the voice of Scripture is the voice of God. The Bible speaks clearly concerning marriage and human sexuality, and we joyfully submit to its declarations. As part of his created order, God established marriage as between one man and one woman.[ii] This standard remains consistent throughout Scripture, confirmed by Jesus[iii] and reconfirmed by the apostles.[iv]
  Moreover, the Bible prohibits all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts. The Bible’s statements about human sexuality and marriage are clear—sexual activity is reserved exclusively for one man and one woman, bound together before God in a covenantal, conjugal marriage.
  

  Denominational Faithfulness

  Midwestern Seminary is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. We abide under their ownership and governance and are legally and morally obligated to keep trust with the Southern Baptist churches that own us.
  Southern Baptists have clearly and repeatedly stood with Scripture and the broader Christian tradition on human sexuality and marriage. The vast majority of Southern Baptists classify as sin all forms of sexual immorality and alternative lifestyles. Moreover, the SBC will not seat messengers from churches that “act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior.”[v]
  As Midwestern Seminary stands for sexual purity and conjugal marriage, we do not stand alone. We are in lockstep with the denomination that owns us.
  

  Confessional Integrity

  As a seminary of the SBC, Midwestern Seminary is bound confessionally to the Baptist Faith & Message, 2000. Our confessional commitment is nonnegotiable, forthright, and unshakeable. We hold our doctrinal commitments with full integrity and keep them in both the letter and spirit of their expectation.
  The BF&M 2000 defines marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”[vi] The Midwestern Seminary faculty happily teaches in accordance with and not contrary to the BF&M 2000 and will continue to do so, undaunted, regardless of cultural challenge or societal scorn.
  

  Societal Witness

  Finally, Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” necessitates that we “speak the truth, in love” to all peoples on all things, including issues of marriage and sexuality. We understand Scripture establishes and celebrates conjugal, covenantal marriage as the only sexual relationship that glorifies God and facilitates human flourishing.
  Furthermore, Scripture labels all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts, as sin. For millennia, these acts have been proscribed by the Christian tradition, and love for neighbor compels us to point out these acts as sin and point our neighbors to the gospel of Christ, which redeems us from all sin.
  

  Conclusion

  Persistent agitation to legalize same-sex marriage will not abate, and the national acceptance of same-sex marriage likely will accelerate. We are not mere onlookers, listening for history’s hoof beats and lunging for the passing horseman’s coattails. Neither are we crusty, staid traditionalists, channeling William F. Buckley, standing athwart history yelling “Stop!”
  Midwestern Seminary is called neither to ride the cultural current nor to stop it but to transcend it altogether. Our call is to speak consistently the settled truth of Scripture with confidence and grace, and to point all peoples to the message of Jesus, which saves, transforms, and renews. We do so not because the sexually immoral are worse than us, but because they are precisely like us—in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
  Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, Midwestern Seminary graciously—yet confidently—declares that God intended marriage to be a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, and that all sexual activity outside of that marital covenant is sin. To this truth, our consciences are bound. Here we stand.
  

  ---

  [i] Cited by Isaiah Berlin, “Winston Churchill in 1940” in Personal Impressions (exp. ed.; ed. Henry Hardy; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 15.

  [ii] See Genesis 1:28–31; 2:4–25.

  [iii] See Matthew 5:31–32; 18:2–5; 19:3–9; Mark 10:6–12.

  [iv] See Romans 1:18–32; 1 Corinthians 7:1–16; Ephesians 5:21–33; 6:1–4; Colossians 3:18–21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3–5; Titus 2:3–5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1–7.

  [v] Southern Baptist Convention Constitution, Article III.1. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/legal/constitution.asp.

  [vi] Baptist Faith and Message, 2000, Article XVIII: The Family. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.

- See more at: http://jasonkallen.com/2013/11/here-we-stand-midwestern-seminary-same-sex-marriage/#sthash.UkBdmpLG.dpuf

• Here We Stand: Midwestern Seminary & Same-Sex Marriage

  Posted on: Monday, November 4th, 2013
  The 19^th century Prussian statesman Otto Von Bismarck observed, “Political genius is hearing the distant hoof beat of the horse of history and then leaping to catch the passing horseman by the coattails.”[i] When it comes to issues of human sexuality and marriage, skilled politicians are not the only ones listening to the hoof beats of history and lunging for the horseman’s coattails. Religious leaders are too.
  As cultural momentum toward full acceptance and normalization of homosexuality and same-sex marriage intensifies so will the pressure on Christian organizations to adopt accommodating policies.  Indeed, venerable Christian and Baptist entities have amended, or are contemplating amending, their guidelines toward same-sex marriage and alternative lifestyles.
  Many self-identified Christian entities yet to officially sanction homosexuality and same-sex marriage operate under their own version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “Mum” is their word. They seek intentional ambiguity on issues of gender, sexuality, and marriage to avoid offending one or more of their constituencies. Such middle ground is eroding by the day, as it well should. Every institution’s constituency has the right to know where it stands, and every school—and every school leader—has a moral obligation to make its stance known.
  Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has long since settled its view of marriage and human sexuality, but it is appropriate to state and restate our convictions, especially in light of the swift and dramatic cultural shifts now taking place. Midwestern Seminary is not polling students, conducting market surveys, or engaging focus groups among likely supporters to determine our position. Nor will we. Midwestern Seminary stands unapologetically for a biblical sexual ethic that affirms marriage as between one man and one woman for life and counts as sin all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage. Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, we have so planted our standard.
  

  Biblical Conviction

  Midwestern Seminary is committed to the Bible as God’s inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word. We confess with the Reformers, vox Scriptura vox dei—the voice of Scripture is the voice of God. The Bible speaks clearly concerning marriage and human sexuality, and we joyfully submit to its declarations. As part of his created order, God established marriage as between one man and one woman.[ii] This standard remains consistent throughout Scripture, confirmed by Jesus[iii] and reconfirmed by the apostles.[iv]
  Moreover, the Bible prohibits all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts. The Bible’s statements about human sexuality and marriage are clear—sexual activity is reserved exclusively for one man and one woman, bound together before God in a covenantal, conjugal marriage.
  

  Denominational Faithfulness

  Midwestern Seminary is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. We abide under their ownership and governance and are legally and morally obligated to keep trust with the Southern Baptist churches that own us.
  Southern Baptists have clearly and repeatedly stood with Scripture and the broader Christian tradition on human sexuality and marriage. The vast majority of Southern Baptists classify as sin all forms of sexual immorality and alternative lifestyles. Moreover, the SBC will not seat messengers from churches that “act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior.”[v]
  As Midwestern Seminary stands for sexual purity and conjugal marriage, we do not stand alone. We are in lockstep with the denomination that owns us.
  

  Confessional Integrity

  As a seminary of the SBC, Midwestern Seminary is bound confessionally to the Baptist Faith & Message, 2000. Our confessional commitment is nonnegotiable, forthright, and unshakeable. We hold our doctrinal commitments with full integrity and keep them in both the letter and spirit of their expectation.
  The BF&M 2000 defines marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”[vi] The Midwestern Seminary faculty happily teaches in accordance with and not contrary to the BF&M 2000 and will continue to do so, undaunted, regardless of cultural challenge or societal scorn.
  

  Societal Witness

  Finally, Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” necessitates that we “speak the truth, in love” to all peoples on all things, including issues of marriage and sexuality. We understand Scripture establishes and celebrates conjugal, covenantal marriage as the only sexual relationship that glorifies God and facilitates human flourishing.
  Furthermore, Scripture labels all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts, as sin. For millennia, these acts have been proscribed by the Christian tradition, and love for neighbor compels us to point out these acts as sin and point our neighbors to the gospel of Christ, which redeems us from all sin.
  

  Conclusion

  Persistent agitation to legalize same-sex marriage will not abate, and the national acceptance of same-sex marriage likely will accelerate. We are not mere onlookers, listening for history’s hoof beats and lunging for the passing horseman’s coattails. Neither are we crusty, staid traditionalists, channeling William F. Buckley, standing athwart history yelling “Stop!”
  Midwestern Seminary is called neither to ride the cultural current nor to stop it but to transcend it altogether. Our call is to speak consistently the settled truth of Scripture with confidence and grace, and to point all peoples to the message of Jesus, which saves, transforms, and renews. We do so not because the sexually immoral are worse than us, but because they are precisely like us—in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
  Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, Midwestern Seminary graciously—yet confidently—declares that God intended marriage to be a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, and that all sexual activity outside of that marital covenant is sin. To this truth, our consciences are bound. Here we stand.
  

  ---

  [i] Cited by Isaiah Berlin, “Winston Churchill in 1940” in Personal Impressions (exp. ed.; ed. Henry Hardy; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 15.

  [ii] See Genesis 1:28–31; 2:4–25.

  [iii] See Matthew 5:31–32; 18:2–5; 19:3–9; Mark 10:6–12.

  [iv] See Romans 1:18–32; 1 Corinthians 7:1–16; Ephesians 5:21–33; 6:1–4; Colossians 3:18–21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3–5; Titus 2:3–5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1–7.

  [v] Southern Baptist Convention Constitution, Article III.1. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/legal/constitution.asp.

  [vi] Baptist Faith and Message, 2000, Article XVIII: The Family. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.

- See more at: http://jasonkallen.com/2013/11/here-we-stand-midwestern-seminary-same-sex-marriage/#sthash.UkBdmpLG.dpuf

• Here We Stand: Midwestern Seminary & Same-Sex Marriage

  Posted on: Monday, November 4th, 2013
  The 19^th century Prussian statesman Otto Von Bismarck observed, “Political genius is hearing the distant hoof beat of the horse of history and then leaping to catch the passing horseman by the coattails.”[i] When it comes to issues of human sexuality and marriage, skilled politicians are not the only ones listening to the hoof beats of history and lunging for the horseman’s coattails. Religious leaders are too.
  As cultural momentum toward full acceptance and normalization of homosexuality and same-sex marriage intensifies so will the pressure on Christian organizations to adopt accommodating policies.  Indeed, venerable Christian and Baptist entities have amended, or are contemplating amending, their guidelines toward same-sex marriage and alternative lifestyles.
  Many self-identified Christian entities yet to officially sanction homosexuality and same-sex marriage operate under their own version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “Mum” is their word. They seek intentional ambiguity on issues of gender, sexuality, and marriage to avoid offending one or more of their constituencies. Such middle ground is eroding by the day, as it well should. Every institution’s constituency has the right to know where it stands, and every school—and every school leader—has a moral obligation to make its stance known.
  Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has long since settled its view of marriage and human sexuality, but it is appropriate to state and restate our convictions, especially in light of the swift and dramatic cultural shifts now taking place. Midwestern Seminary is not polling students, conducting market surveys, or engaging focus groups among likely supporters to determine our position. Nor will we. Midwestern Seminary stands unapologetically for a biblical sexual ethic that affirms marriage as between one man and one woman for life and counts as sin all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage. Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, we have so planted our standard.
  

  Biblical Conviction

  Midwestern Seminary is committed to the Bible as God’s inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word. We confess with the Reformers, vox Scriptura vox dei—the voice of Scripture is the voice of God. The Bible speaks clearly concerning marriage and human sexuality, and we joyfully submit to its declarations. As part of his created order, God established marriage as between one man and one woman.[ii] This standard remains consistent throughout Scripture, confirmed by Jesus[iii] and reconfirmed by the apostles.[iv]
  Moreover, the Bible prohibits all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts. The Bible’s statements about human sexuality and marriage are clear—sexual activity is reserved exclusively for one man and one woman, bound together before God in a covenantal, conjugal marriage.
  

  Denominational Faithfulness

  Midwestern Seminary is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. We abide under their ownership and governance and are legally and morally obligated to keep trust with the Southern Baptist churches that own us.
  Southern Baptists have clearly and repeatedly stood with Scripture and the broader Christian tradition on human sexuality and marriage. The vast majority of Southern Baptists classify as sin all forms of sexual immorality and alternative lifestyles. Moreover, the SBC will not seat messengers from churches that “act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior.”[v]
  As Midwestern Seminary stands for sexual purity and conjugal marriage, we do not stand alone. We are in lockstep with the denomination that owns us.
  

  Confessional Integrity

  As a seminary of the SBC, Midwestern Seminary is bound confessionally to the Baptist Faith & Message, 2000. Our confessional commitment is nonnegotiable, forthright, and unshakeable. We hold our doctrinal commitments with full integrity and keep them in both the letter and spirit of their expectation.
  The BF&M 2000 defines marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”[vi] The Midwestern Seminary faculty happily teaches in accordance with and not contrary to the BF&M 2000 and will continue to do so, undaunted, regardless of cultural challenge or societal scorn.
  

  Societal Witness

  Finally, Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” necessitates that we “speak the truth, in love” to all peoples on all things, including issues of marriage and sexuality. We understand Scripture establishes and celebrates conjugal, covenantal marriage as the only sexual relationship that glorifies God and facilitates human flourishing.
  Furthermore, Scripture labels all sexual activity outside of covenantal marriage, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual acts, as sin. For millennia, these acts have been proscribed by the Christian tradition, and love for neighbor compels us to point out these acts as sin and point our neighbors to the gospel of Christ, which redeems us from all sin.
  

  Conclusion

  Persistent agitation to legalize same-sex marriage will not abate, and the national acceptance of same-sex marriage likely will accelerate. We are not mere onlookers, listening for history’s hoof beats and lunging for the passing horseman’s coattails. Neither are we crusty, staid traditionalists, channeling William F. Buckley, standing athwart history yelling “Stop!”
  Midwestern Seminary is called neither to ride the cultural current nor to stop it but to transcend it altogether. Our call is to speak consistently the settled truth of Scripture with confidence and grace, and to point all peoples to the message of Jesus, which saves, transforms, and renews. We do so not because the sexually immoral are worse than us, but because they are precisely like us—in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
  Driven by biblical conviction, denominational faithfulness, confessional integrity, and societal witness, Midwestern Seminary graciously—yet confidently—declares that God intended marriage to be a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, and that all sexual activity outside of that marital covenant is sin. To this truth, our consciences are bound. Here we stand.
  

  ---

  [i] Cited by Isaiah Berlin, “Winston Churchill in 1940” in Personal Impressions (exp. ed.; ed. Henry Hardy; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 15.

  [ii] See Genesis 1:28–31; 2:4–25.

  [iii] See Matthew 5:31–32; 18:2–5; 19:3–9; Mark 10:6–12.

  [iv] See Romans 1:18–32; 1 Corinthians 7:1–16; Ephesians 5:21–33; 6:1–4; Colossians 3:18–21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3–5; Titus 2:3–5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1–7.

  [v] Southern Baptist Convention Constitution, Article III.1. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/legal/constitution.asp.

  [vi] Baptist Faith and Message, 2000, Article XVIII: The Family. Available online, http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.

- See more at: http://jasonkallen.com/2013/11/here-we-stand-midwestern-seminary-same-sex-marriage/#sthash.UkBdmpLG.dpuf

Carl Trueman Says I don't exist !!!

A Dispatch from the Realm of Non-Existence

In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 4:34 pm I had the great privilege yesterday of being reminded once again that I do not exist.  I listened again to the Mortification of Spin podcast – I actually like the podcast, you see – and I discovered that Baptists – all Baptists – have an ecclesiology which is entirely unknown to me.  Apparently my type of Baptist simply does not exist.  This does not surprise me at all; the Reformed have been denying our existence for at least a decade now.

In this particular podcast Todd Pruitt and Carl Trueman discuss Baptist and Presbyterian ecclesiology.  Rev. Pruitt’s ordination in a Southern Baptist mega-church and his

We’re all alike, see?

five years of service in a “non-denominational” congregation have apparently rendered him an expert on all things Baptist.  Meanwhile Dr. Trueman, while a favorite among Reformed and Particular Baptists for his scathing critique of contemporary evangelicalism, continues to pretend that the moniker “Baptist” simply means “contemporary evangelical.”  Evidently it has meant that ever since the first Baptists formed their congregations in Seventeenth Century England and immediately uploaded links to the Gospel Coalition on their websites.  Dr. Trueman is, after all, an historian, so we can only presume that he knows what he knows.

While a few moments of this podcast addressed the question of baptism (in of course a superficial and unserious way; the wait goes on for some ex-Baptist Presbyterian to actually explain why he made the change – my favorite to date was Derick Thomas’ explanation: “It was sort of a gestalt thing!”), the bulk of the time was spent in a discussion of Baptist ecclesiology – a subject of which it is evident that neither Trueman nor Pruitt know much.  The syllogism of the podcast went something like this:

• There are some truly awful things that have happened at the lunatic fringe of the Southern Baptist Convention
• All Baptists ever are exactly like this.
• It’s too bad they aren’t Presbyterians, because then nothing could ever go wrong.

While Messrs. Trueman & Pruitt talked a lot about “congregationalism,” they don’t seem to understand exactly what it is.  Aside from the failure to differentiate “congregational” from “independent,” they fail to fully appreciate what it means that Baptists, like all independents, relate to their denominations differently than do Presbyterians.  The congregation participates by supporting common missions, not necessarily by adopting the identity of the whole.  The point here is not to argue which approach is more biblical, but instead to make a simple observation: in the loosest of Baptist associations (the convention model) it is wrong to assume that the ecclesiology of one church is that of another.  All Southern Baptists do not operate as loosely as some.  I was also ordained in a Southern Baptist church; my experience was nothing at all like Rev. Pruitt’s.

This determination to flatten out all of Baptist experience leads the mortifying duo up to the very edge of slander.  Dr. Trueman actually names Mark Dever at one point.  If indeed – as he says – Mark is his friend, then he must know that Dr. Dever’s entire career has been dedicated to the recovery of sane ecclesiology within the Convention.  His ecclesiology is not that of the Presbyterians – in fact it is not quite identical to my own, but it is so far removed from the undisciplined chaos which Dr. Trueman ascribes to all Baptist life as to make the implied association a somewhat scandalous misstatement.

And then there are the Non-Existent Ones, those historical Baptists who trace not only our soteriology but also our ecclesiology to a Seventeenth Century Particular Baptist root.  If the smug charges of Pruitt & Trueman don’t really apply to the likes of Dever, they certainly do not apply to us.  I don’t know whether or not Rev. Pruitt has heard of us, but I am quite certain that Dr. Trueman has.  His refusal to admit any variation in Baptist experience is therefore beyond disappointing.
It is difficult not to judge the motives of highly-visible Presbyterians who refuse to admit the existence of Particular Baptists even while they mock the idea of any sort of reformational heritage among Baptists.  One would think that the likes of Darryl Hart or Scott Clark might at least point at us and say, “And then there’s those guys; they’re wrong too, although obviously in different ways and for different reasons.  But wrong as they are, at least they aren’t the same sort of Baptists as Franklin Graham or Mark Driscoll.”  But no.  The admission of our existence seems to be beyond the Presbyterian apologists.  It is as though they fear that if they were to admit that every Baptist is not Andy Stanley, someone might actually ask them to address the question of baptism again – thoroughly, biblically, and without reference to needlessly vapid philosophical terms.

Baptists they are, are they?

So it is more convenient for them to return Baptists like me to the realm of non-existence.  As a Baptist whose ordination exam lasted more than fifteen minutes, who knew the pastors who laid hands on me, and above all who is answerable to a confessional standard which has been around longer than the last ten minutes – as such a man I clearly must not be permitted to exist.  But if they will allow me, perhaps I might address the two spinners from within my disembodied, dis-en-souled, non-personhood for a moment:  Be careful of consigning your critics to the ether through a Yoda-esque wave of the hand.  When you lack critics, you lack criticism, and you may stumble through various embarrassing lapses of self-awareness.

I know that you think that you are responding to Baptist critiques, such as that one in which we all mistake you for Episcopalians.  Honestly, in my life I have yet to meet a single Baptist who has expressed such a silly idea.  It is bad enough that you misunderstand us; must you also misrepresent our misunderstandings of you?  And if you do not know our critiques, how can you grow from them?
Men who admit no criticism tend to look more foolish then they actually are.  As, for instance, this statement: “…groups like the Gospel Coalition find it so hard to understand why people like us are skeptical of their project.  Structurally, I have a problem, because if you’re Southern Baptist you have to sacrifice nothing in throwing your energy into something like the Gospel Coalition.  If you’re a Presbyterian and want to throw your energy into the Gospel Coalition, you have to sacrifice everything that makes you a Presbyterian.”  Gentlemen, you do know who the co-leader of the Coalition is, don’t you?

And then there’s this: “We have by and large avoided personality cults.  There are one or two big names in the PCA, but what strikes me about things like the Southern Baptist Convention is that for all of the fact that they repudiate Presbyterianism and they repudiate Episcopalianism, they are functionally Episcopalian, because they vest great power in significant individuals…What I like about Presbyterianism is that that power which you have outside your congregation is regulated by rules and procedures and other people.  It isn’t just rooted in the charismatic personality.”
Gentlemen, let me close with a story.  A few years back I got word that a seminary classmate of mine had taken up the pulpit in a new church not far from mine.  I had lost track of him, and I wanted to know what he was up to, and so I went to his church’s website.  On their front page I found the following statement: “We are a church founded on the ministerial philosophy of Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York.”  And after I dug through every sub-page on their site I eventually found an acknowledgement that they were indeed a part of the Presbyterian Church in America.

I see Particular Baptists. All the time. They’re everywhere.

But no, you don’t have Presbyterian bishops.  Of course not.  You have been spared from the contemporary idolatry of the Big Name through your superior polity.  And of course you don’t need to worry about this criticism, because it is coming from no one.  Remember, I don’t exist.  Carry on, and please – take care of the real world; I have friends who live there.

Tom Chantry, Pastor

Christ Reformed Baptist Church