Monthly Archives: August 2005

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Sola Scriptura
Solus Christus
Sola Gratia

By God's grace alone are we saved. Without the grace of God, we are nothing, can do nothing, can be nothing - but lost. I'll let God speak for Himself.

I'll start with the greeting of Paul, to his spiritual siblings

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 1:3)

By grace, we are chosen in Christ (Romans 11:5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.)

By grace, and nothing of ourselves, we are saved. (Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—)

Even the workds that we do are not our own, it is the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10 No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me)

We are dead, but for grace (Ephesians 2:5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.)

I'll leave you with this, the closing of Paul to the Thessalonians:

1 Thessalonians 5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Amazing Grace
lyrics by John Newton, 1779

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come.
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

And when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the vail
A life of joy and peace.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.

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GRAND RAPIDS -- Despite the stunning resignation of its top administrator over an allegedly inappropriate relationship with a female colleague, the Christian Reformed Church will recover and heal, the CRC's newly named executive director says.

Read more...

Right off, this may be seen as airing somebody else's dirty laundry - but there is a very real purpose in it. Paul tells us church leaders are to be rebuked publically, so that others can be warned - read this and be warned.

This is my denomination, and Mr. Bremer has been well loved in it. A woman that I work with said today that he had been her family's pastor when they lived in another state and when he was first chosen, one of the ladies in my ministry group said the same thing. He has been highly respected and it is always sad to see a man of God fall. Our prayers should cover all of the people involved.

The thoughts that I've (I've been pondering this for a few hours) are a result of things that were said at work. I've said before that I live in a very special area; of the four staff in my classroom this summer, all four are professed Christians, two are CRC, two are Catholic - in most areas, how many public school classrooms can say that?

Anyway...we were talking about the news this morning and this came up.

The first thoughts center around the act. (hint: the third thoughts may be the most important.)

One of the women commented, "You see, it happens in other churches, too." I have a few thoughts related to that comment - the first one that happened to pop into my head was that "at least our denomination took care of it, instead of tranferring the guy and/or paying somebody off and/or sweeping it under the rug." But that doesn't make the sin any less, it just makes the denomination more credible in the way that they deal with it.

The second group of thoughts center around the consequences.

1) When confronted with the information, Bremer resigned within hours. The consequences were immediate, definite and public. (1 Timothy 5:19-20 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning) It does matter, Biblically, that it was public and not swept away, only to be made public years later.

2) Bremer denies a sexual relationship and officials are not alleging a sexual relationship. This is important - it really is. This means that the CRC is taking a stand that male/female relationships that are not sexual, but still cross boundaries are still serious enough for this kind of consequence.

The third set of thoughts center around the aftermath

One of the women I work with said this: "I told my husband that if he ever made a fool of me that way, with his name in the paper and all that - it would be all over - no second chances."

Within this marriage, this story could be a testament to consequences, or it could be a testament to repentance, forgiveness and restoration. Only time will tell what it will be.

If Bremer repents and commits to accountability and everything else it takes to make repentance real - will his wife forgive "seventy times seven". I know that every time it comes to mind (and it will come to mind), the forgiveness will have to take place in her mind. At least seventy times seven - and many more.

Will she forgive as God forgives? Will she commit to never bringing it up against him - to him, to others and even (with God's help) to herself? In the face of her husband's repentance, will she see her lack of forgiveness as a sin at least equal to the one that her husband committed?

Only time will tell...and God's hand will have to be on all of it, and my prayers are with them.

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Sola Scriptura
Solus Christus

If we believe that Scripture is our only infallible and ultimate authority for faith and things of faith, it follows that all other theology must flow from Scripture. When when theology comes from extra-Biblical writing and/or historical writings and/or tradition and cannot be backed up by Scripture, the theology must be discarded.

Solus Christus - Christ alone. By Christ's finished work on the cross, alone, are we saved.

There is no other mediator (or mediatrix) (1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus...

There is no other Redeemer (or redemptress) (Hebrews 9:15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. )

John Calvin said in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, "Christ stepped in, took the punishment upon himself and bore the judgment due to sinners. With his own blood he expiated the sins which made them enemies of God and thereby satisfied him...we look to Christ alone for divine favour and fatherly love!"

The Heidelberg Catechism, Question 30 asks, "Do such then believe in Jesus the only Saviour who seek their salvation and happiness in saints, in themselves, or anywhere else? They do not; for though they boast of him in words yet in deeds they deny Jesus the only deliverer and Saviour: for one of these two things must be true that either Jesus is not a complete Saviour or that they who by a true faith receive this Saviour must find all things in him necessary to their salvation."

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Thanks to the commenter on Thinklings that recommended a book, "Finding God in Harry Potter", I took this and ran with it, probably way farther than I should have. My son and I just saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and on the way home, Tom bore the brunt of my ranting, conceded that I had a point and then tried to make me take a Ritalin (I'm joking - about the Ritalin part.)

If fact, this whole post is not meant to be serious, please don't take it seriously - the point is that if you try hard enough, you can find a "christ figure" (lower case "c" on purpose) in just about anything. The lower case "c", because sometimes what you think is Christ isn't Christ at all...and sometimes we try to see Christ (or God) in things that were never meant to portray Him. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...and sometimes fiction is just fiction. So, put your tongue in cheek now, since that's where mine is...it's ok to say "ew" and "you're really wierd". Anybody that knows us (my family) will tell you anyway that trying to believe that we're anything resembling normal is - wierd.

Anyway, I'm not giving anything away, since what I'm poking at is in the original also. Short review - I liked it, but don't take little kids. Johnny Depp was a little wierd and over-acted, but that was the point, so it was ok. Tom missed "the song". I knew beforehand that some women really had an "ick" thing going on when they saw Depp photos as Willie Wonka side by side with Michael Jackson. Not me - right away (and there was an "ick factor") ummm....Geena Davis.

And - on with the show...

We know that we're to spread the Gospel to the whole world (Wonka bars went out to the whole world). Only a few (five) would really receive the "call" (ticket).

And, in fact, even many who think they're accepting the invitation (factory tour) are only doing it out of greed, not out of gratefulness. In the end, they won't receive the prize (Matthew 7:23
Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!')

All of us with have to deal with tempation. I can resist drugs very easily, but man - put me in young Mr. Gloop's shoes...The dragon tailors our temptations to our weaknesses. Augustus Gloop and the chocolate river, Violet Beauregarde and chewing gum, Mike Teevee and technology, Veruca Salt and, well...greed for just about everything. Most of us can add our own names and our own weaknesses (1 Peter 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.) The comparison falls apart here, because it was Wonka that was putting the temptation in front of these children and God doesn't tempt us with sin - but you do get the impression that Wonka knew what was going to make these kids fall.

Onward - it really struck me that of all those who hear the Gospel, only a few accept. Even of those that accept, some of those don't really mean it. Only those who remain faithful to the end receive the prize (Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.)

Wonka was looking for his heir, and we are heirs (Galatians 3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.)

Charlie was the only one who perservered to the end. The biggest difference is that he only had his own power. We are running with the the anointing of God, the power of the Holy Spirit and the Blood of Christ (2 Corinthians 1:21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us).

We may be called to give up everything we own, everything we love - we may be called to leave our home, our family - in order to live for Christ, to receive the prize.

I'm not sure exactly how to end this, except to remind everybody that YES!!! This is a stretch! That's the point. In most Hollywood productions, any resemblance to Christ is accidental.