Author: fundyreformed

A Synergistic Defense of Monergism

~ fundyreformed

Okay! Pardon my puns. This post will point you to a defense of monergism that is written by a beliver indewelt by the Spirit (hence it is a “synergistic” defense).

What is “monergism”?

John Hendryx who heads up Monergism.com (perhaps the best online resource for all things Calvinism–or for theology period, really) gives the following brief description of “monergism” (accessible from this webpage):

Monergism simply means that it is God who gives ears to hear and eyes to see. It is God alone who gives illumination and understanding of His word that we might believe; It is God who raises us from the dead, who circumcises the heart; unplugs our ears; It is God alone who can give us a new sense that we may, at last, have the moral capacity to behold His beauty and unsurpassed excellency. “In theology, [monergism is] the doctrine that the Holy Spirit is the only efficient agent in regeneration [the new birth] – that the human will possesses no inclination to holiness until regenerated [born again], and therefore cannot cooperate in regeneration.”

So to put it simply, while synergism says man contributes or cooperates in regeneration, monergism says only God is active in the regeneration process. (For further explanation of this concept, again I refer you to the webpage where I got this quote from.)

Now on to the synergistic defense. Hendryx’s fellow blog partner, John Samson, had posted a brief post showing that 1 John 5:1 supports monergistic regeneration (regeneration preceeding faith) over on their blog, Reformation Theology Blog. One of the comments in response to that article really drew John Hendryx’s ire. He responded with a great and brief defense of monergistic regeneration. I want to point you to his post here, as it is especially helpful. He really makes a strong case for 1 John 5:1 proving monergism, and he also shows how John 6:63-65 does the same.

To whet your appetite for this post here is a brief excerpt:

Those who believe faith precedes regeneration believe we have the ability to see spiritual things before we are spiritual, that we have the ability to hear spiritual things before we have spiritual ears. That we can desire Christ and believe the gospel when we are by nature hostile to God.What does it mean when we are a certain thing by nature? A cat has whiskers by nature and no amount of willing can change that. Likewise we are naturally in bondage to a corruption of nature, slaves to sin and thus cannot be otherwise unless God intervenes to change who we are. Only God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. To believe that our faith is the cause of (or precedes) regeneration is to believe unregenerate, unspiritual man to be spiritual, an impossibly contradictory supposition. It is a rejection of the necessity of the Holy Spirit to change our naturally hostile nature to one that sees the beauty and excellency of Christ.

[Be sure to read the whole article!]

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

The Typical IFBx Conference Sermon

~ fundyreformed ~ 5 Comments

A blog acquaintance of mine, who goes by “Regler Joe”, has started up a blog called Big Orange Truck. (You have to read his second post to understand the background to his title.) His blog promises to point out many of my concerns with the IFBx movement.

Recently, he posted about the typical “IFBx Conference Sermon”:

TEXT: it really doesn’t matter.

INTRODUCTION
Any dramatic story, whether true or exaggerated. No need to relate it to the text.

Here are the sermon’s points:
1. Homosexuals are destroying America.
2. You’re not right with God if you go to the movies.
3. Men ought to cut their hair.
4. Bill Clinton is a liar.
5. Women ought to give up britches.
(pause here to make fun of anyone not saying Amen loud enough to your preaching)
6. Hillary is a Jezebel.
7. Rock music is of the devil.
8. You’re not right with God if you’re not soul winning.
9. John Macarthur is a heretic.
10. Billy Graham is a compromiser.
11. If you’re not running buses you’re a liberal.

CONCLUSION
You need to surrender to the full-time ministry.

He concludes with some poignant comments:

“My point is not whether these statements are right or wrong. My point is that these statements are preached ad nauseam at many IFBx conferences, college chapels, etc., NO MATTER WHAT THE TEXT VERSE IS!

Bible preaching is not using Scripture as a “launch pad” into your sermon. Bible preaching is using Scripture as the substance of your sermon.

“Launch pad” homiletics will put you in orbit around the planet of “error and cultic doctrine”. I’ve been there, and let me tell you, re-entry into biblical reality is rough.”
[Read his whole post]

His example sermon is all too common among IFBxs, I am afraid. I have heard countless sermons of this nature to a greater or lesser degree. I have heard many which are not so egregious, too. But most of what I have heard has very little Bible teaching content to it.

I am going to have to dig out my old sermon notebooks to give some examples, one of these days…

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

They are Wrong, We are Right: Worship Wars and Music

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

Dan Edelen of Cerulean Sanctum has a great post on music, “Calling a Truce in the Worship Wars”. He has noticed and blogged about the fact that in the worship wars, most are content to condemn everyone else’s music. They are right and the whole world is wrong. But should this be our attitude?

He begins his post as follows:

“Over the last year, one topic has arisen on more blogs than any other: proper worship. The tenor of these posts is typically aimed at how to do worship right, with the writer explaining why his/her token method of worship is THE ONLY KIND THAT WORSHIPS GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. Like so many aspects of the Faith, we’ve turned worship into a tangle of pointing fingers. Rarely do we claim any higher ground than to contend that our higher ground is loftier than someone else’s.”

He goes on to compare the arguments on both sides of the worship war concerning hymns versus modern praise songs. This section is well worth looking at, as he points out some inconsistencies in reasoning–particularly in those who would jump to ban modern worship songs.

He then concludes with these remarks:

“The focus is not on externals, yet so often this is all we can note when we hold our own ways of worshiping up as the only way, while deriding those who worship in ways we don’t understand….Our worship wars are based on cultural trappings more than anything, and that’s too bad because that’s a very narrow slice of reality that we bring to worship. The true worshiper of God is content in all worship environments that are driven by the Holy Spirit. Such a worshiper is equally at home with an a cappella choir, an amplified worship band, a pulse-pounding black gospel group, a classical quartet, or any other musical expression that is fueled by the Holy Spirit….Worshipers with hearts focused on God, worshiping by the Spirit, can sing (and dance) to any kind of music and God will be pleased with their offering….Why do we strain so hard to define what is appropriate? We want to honor God. We want to do the right thing. But the right thing is focusing more on God and less on our methods.”

I encourage you to check out the whole article. It is well worth a short read.

(HT: The Best of the God Blogs)

We need to be very careful not to have a Michal-attitude concerning the music and worship of others. (Mathew Sims of Under Sovereign Grace pointed out this attitude here.)

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Bobspotted Blogroll: February 10, 2006

~ fundyreformed

This blogroll will necessarily include some older material due to the joyous birth of my daughter interrupting my blogging plans. But I still wanted to compile this blogroll as some of what I read was very interesting and worthy of sharing with you all.

ON PERSEVERANCE

Doug Wilson had a great post on Heb. 3 (See also this recent post of my brother’s treatment of the same issue and passage).

Reformation Theology also had a post on Hebrews 6 which stresses that those who fail to persevere were never genuine belivers in the first place (cf. 1 Jn. 2:19).

Also, check out another good treatment of Hebrews 6 by Mathew Sims.

ON HERMENEUTICS

Reformation Theology gives a great Calvinistic understanding of 1 Tim. 4:10 in this post. (John Piper agrees with this interpretation as well, see his booklet on the 5 points of Calvinism here).

Dan Phillips of the new Pyromaniacs blog has a great post on understanding Proverbs. (This is the first of a 3 part series which promises to be very helpful).

ON BAPTISM

In the recent past, I was involved somewhat in a debate on credo vs. paedo baptism. I posted about it a bit here (including this summary post attempting to clarify what Scriptural bases paedo Baptists had for their views), but the main discussion was over at Pitchford’s Ramblings. You can find the debate recorded in the posts and comments under them listed here.

But more recently, Justin Taylor pointed our attention to another debate on this very issue in this post. Some of you may be interested in looking at the small debates pointed at from that post. For the debate over on Reformation 21 blog, you will have to search by date (this is done by clicking “next” a few times) and you will need to know the debate began on 1/28 and ended (sort of) on 1/30. And the debate at Denny Burk’s blog referenced in Justin’s post is spread over two posts, parts 1 and 2. At the end of part 2 of Burk’s blog, you will find a recent comment by me on the issue, if you are interested.

ON THE CARTOON CONTROVERSY

Justin Taylor brought my attention to some pertinent and insightful comments by John Piper on the current anti-Muslim cartoon controversy.

Also, there is a great satirical post on this controversy (and a little on the End of the Spear controversy: see below) over at NateNotes. (HT: Sharper Iron)

ON GREAT MEN OF THE PAST

Doug Kutilek gives a great article on George Whitfield over at Sharper Iron. This article is full of bibliographical information, and includes some great quotes by the Great Awakening’s most famous evangelist.

Reformation Theology in a post on Sola Scriptura has a good discussion of Martin Luther including his famous words at the Diet of Worms on the authority of Scripture.

ON THE END OF THE SPEAR

I have pretty much avoided talking about the controversy surrounding the placing of the gay actor Chad Allen in the starring role of a movie about Steve Saint and the 4 other missionaries who gave their lives for the conversion of the Wadonai (Acua) Indians in South America, back in the 1950s. I agree it was a wrong move for a professedly Christian movie company to cast Chad, but as it turns out they were not initially aware of his activist stance in the gay community. I do not think that every actor must be straight to play in any good or Christian movie, but it was not wise to give Allen such a platform to advance his agenda with, either.

But Jason Janz of Sharper Iron (whose early articles sparked much of the controversy in the blogworld, eventually reaching the New York Times) recently posted his second critique of the movie centering on its failure to present the Gospel message. I agree with Matt Simms that this is after all a movie. We should not expect it to overtly share the Gospel with pointed clarity. But Jason’s beef lies more in the realm of the movie promoter’s claims that the movie actually does convey the Gospel. I think much of his critique is accurate, and a movie about missionaries giving their lives to spread the gospel and the subsequent amazing changes the gospel made in the life and culture of an Indian tribe, at least should actually point out the main motivating force and prime mover in all of this””the gospel. It was the gospel that drove the men to such sacrificial lengths, and it was the gospel which so amazingly transformed the tribe. And sadly that fact is not explicitly declared in the movie itself. It allows evangelicals who know the story like the back of their hands, practically, to read into the movie what they want to see there. And in effect it does not educate the viewers ignorant of the story about the truly glorious power of the Gospel as shown in the story.

An interesting side development of this story was the controversy surrounding Kevin Bauder’s comments concerning the movie on his blog. For a brief overview of that story check out Phil Johnson’s post over at the Pyromaniacs blog. But I want to point out an excellent response to this by Bauder in which he graciously apologizes and owns up to what he is convinced was error on his part. He exemplifies a Christ-like spirit and presents a great challenge to us all to listen to the rebukes of our friends and be willing to repent when repentance is called for.

AND THANKS

Yes, thanks to Mathew Simms of Under Sovereign Grace and Nathan Fitzsimmons of The New OpinoNate for adding permanent (at least for now :)) links to my blog from their blogs. Oh, and thanks also to Nathan Pitchford for promoting my 1 Thessalonians “one-another” post over at his blog Pitchford’s Ramblings. May the content of my blog continue to earn links elsewhere as I desire to gain as large an audience as possible for the glory of Christ and the edification of His church.

A People Who Pursue Sanctification

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

The following is taken from a sermon note-sheet and bulletin insert designed to go along with a message preached by the pastor of Martin Baptist Church on 1/29/06. Posted by permission.

A People Who Pursue Sanctification

Hebrews 3:12-14 “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

Introduction

  • Justification = God declaring us “innocent”–by faith alone in Christ.
  • Sanctification = God transforming us gradually–by faith alone in Christ.
  • Justification = the root. Sanctification = the fruit.

Observations from the Text

  • Each of us is vulnerable to hardness of heart.
  • This hardening takes place when we turn away from God in unbelief, and pursue the deceitful pleasures of sin.
  • This is a frightening thing, because if hardness of heart remains unbroken, it leads straight to Hell, proving we were never born again after all.
  • Therefore, we should be earnest about cultivating tender hearts of faith and hope in Christ–thereby proving the reality of our conversion.
  • God has ordained that this struggle be a group effort of daily Christ-centered conversations with one another.

The following questions and answers were developed from real life questions and scenarios Dave has encountered in his ministry.

What about Eternal Security?

Eternal Security is real and biblical [vs. 14; Rom. 8:30; Phil. 1:6]. But God’s Word repeatedly warns us against presumption and self-deception [Matt. 7:20-23; Luke 8:4-15; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 6:7-8]. Yes, “once saved, always saved”; but salvation is life-changing [2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:24]. So if your life doesn’t change, if there is little evidence of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in you–then the Bible calls upon you to diligently “make your calling and election sure” [2 Pet. 1:10].

What about Assurance of Salvation?

Assurance of salvation, according to the Bible, has less to do with a past event or decision in your life [since these things always have the potential of being fabricated by Satan–Matt. 7:21], and more to do with the present awareness and evidence of the Holy Spirit’s influence in your life [Gal. 5:22-23]. Jesus told us, absolutely, that if we love Him, we will obey Him [John 14:15]. There can be no assurance of salvation without genuine obedience to Christ [1 John 2:3-6]. There are obviously different levels of growth and obedience [Rom. 14:1; Gal. 6:1-2]–and God does ordain seasons of great struggle and little assurance, so that we would be further propelled to look to Christ and follow hard after Him [Psalm 43, 51; Rom. 8:23; Heb. 12:1-3, 12]. But at the end of the day, our assurance of salvation is rooted in visible acts of faith and love which spring from the deep hope we have in Christ [Col. 1:3-5; 1 thess. 1:4-6].

Isn’t this Works-Salvation?

No! We do not persevere in order to gain a share in Christ; rather, we make evident that we already have come to share in Christ–if we do indeed persevere in faith unto the end [vs. 14; Matt. 24:12-13; John 15:8]. We do not “work for” our salvation, but we do “work out” our salvation [Phil. 2:12]. We are told to “take hold of eternal life” and “fight” the life of faith [1 Tim. 6:12]. We do work vigorously, passionately, and reverently–but all along we attribute every good work in us to the power of the Holy Spirit and the sovereign grace of God [Gal. 2:20, 3:3, 5:22; Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:12-13; 1 Cor. 3:6, 4:7, 15:10; Heb. 6:3].