Reconsider the Signs; They are Also Seals

"When God makes a promise 

and confirms that promise with a sign, 

there is nothing empty about the sign."

R. C. Sproul, Tabletalk Magazine, October 2017 Edition, page 39

Three days back the 500th anniversary of what is commonly considered the beginning of the Protestant Reformation was celebrated. Many Christians across denominational lines commemorate this day, October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses of debate to the church building door in Wittenberg. This cross-denominational party is somewhat strange, since I'm not sure Luther would consider many of these denominations to be made up of genuine Christians. I'm guessing the vast majority of these folks don't know that, because they don't read Luther. They don't know that the great point of contention that kept Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther from joining forces to create one great wave of Protestant reform was the meaning of the Lord's Table. They don't know that a case can be made that during those reformation years of battle more blood and more ink was spilled over this subject than any other. And they don't understand Luther to be the very sacramental man that he was. It's worth reading how it was that Luther understood the sacrament's relationship to authentic faith. Zwingli believed the sacraments to be memorials and reminders, but not necessarily attached to Christ's promise of His presence or His administration of grace.

I don't agree with Luther on the Lord's Table; not altogether. Neither do I agree with Zwingli, much at all. What I agree on with both is that the Lord's Table matters in a way that is worthy of hearty debate and perhaps division. It is not my intention in this post to make a case for my Reformed understanding of the Lord's Table. It's more simple than that. It's to say that all of us should rethink this matter, and not walk idly through life ignorantly accepting what it is we grew up with on this topic. And what many of us grew up with (including me) is that this isn't a terribly important thing. The Reformers disagreed, because the Bible disagrees. There is quite a bit at stake here, the most significant being in what ways God Almighty has promised His presence.

And, the Bible speaks of the signs (Baptism and the Lord's Table) as not only that, but also as seals. These practices seal to us the promises God is proclaiming by them. God is speaking in these things. It is not that man is testifying, or merely remembering, but that God is preaching to His assembled people.

For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free

"Men's ordinances cannot be observed 

together with the Word of God, 

because the former bind consciences and the latter looses them. 

The two things are as much opposed to each other 

as fire and water."

Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, page 96 in the Revell Edition

The Bondage of the Will

I was honored to write the forward for this special edition of one of the real classic Christian texts. Time is well spent learning church history in general, and the untamed Martin Luther in particular. Five hundred years later, this book still matters. It's for sale here

Why I Am A Calvinist

In a letter to my congregation regarding our possible re-plant as a Reformed Baptist Church, I included 4 reasons why I am Reformed. Perhaps they may prove helpful to you.

1. The Clarity of Scripture

-Frankly, I cannot read texts like Dt 29:1-4; Je 31:31-34; Ez 37; Mt 11:20-30; Jn 1; Ac 2 & 4; Ro 9-11; Ep 1 & 2; He 12:1-3; Ja 1:18; 1 Pe 1:1-5, etc, and come to any other conclusion. Salvation is of the LORD, from beginning to end. A study of the lives of the saints of Scripture illustrates this teaching.

2. The Nature of Sin

-Scripture explains the depths of our depravity as so great that we cannot help ourselves in any way. Scripture goes so far as to say, in regard to our spiritual abilities, we are in fact dead (Ep 2:1-10, to name only one text). That is as bad as it could be. The Ephesians text repeatedly describes unbelievers as dead in sin, that is, dead to God (v1 & 5; cf Ge 2:15-17 and Chapter 3). This is what makes Ephesians 2:4 & 8-10 so startling. After laboring to show us as dead in sin and by nature children of wrath and living in the lusts of our flesh, (all Paul’s words), he pens this, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. . .made us alive together with Christ (for by grace you have been saved).” Paul repeats this last thought in v8, and then explains how salvation happens.

-In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul likens God’s call of an unbeliever to faith to God’s calling light out of the darkness that covered the earth, as we read in Genesis 1. In other words, to be saved, it is not simply a nudge in the right direction that we need, or a persuasive argument, or anything less than to be reborn in the inner person (this is what Jesus means by being “born again” in John 3). In John 3, Jesus credits this work of rebirth to the Holy Spirit and tells us that He is like the wind, moving as He wills. Jesus clearly understood salvation to be wholly and only a Trinitarian work – the Father calls sinners (Jn 6:44; Ac 2:39); the Son pays their penalty (Jn 10:11; Mk 10:45); the Holy Spirit regenerates (Jn 3:5-8; Tit 3:5).

3. The Nature of Faith

-The nature of faith, or belief, is that we find ourselves believing. We do not cause or make ourselves believe. We believe according to evidence. We know this is true from experience. No one decides they want to believe something and then by their will are able to get themselves to believe it. That is not the nature of belief. So Scripture gives us the source of belief – the Word of God (Ro 10:17; 1 Pe 1:23-25). And Scripture gives us the cause of our belief – God the Holy Spirit (texts given in previous paragraph). Why is it that a hundred people can hear the gospel and only one of them believe? Why is it that you believe, but not your spouse, your sister, your children, etc? Do you see why prayer is so important to preaching, evangelism, and missions?

-The “problem”, if I may call it that, of unbelief is compounded by the gospel’s call to bank everything on an invisible reality, namely God Himself. God has certainly not left Himself without witness. He has given us creation (Ps 19; Ro 1), conscience (Ro 2), Christ (He 1), and Scripture (Ps 19:7-11; Jn 20:30-31, 21:24-25; 1 Pe 1:10-12; 2 Pe 1:19-21). And while the evidence is ample, it nevertheless calls us to a Being we have never seen. And it calls us to put all of our hope and confidence in Him alone for our salvation (He 11:1-6). Only the invisible God who calls unbelievers could produce such a faith, so that Peter may write to us, “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pe 1:8).

4. The Nature of Glory

-Scripture teaches that God saves people in a way that secures for Him all glory. He does this by excluding all human boasting (Ro 3:21-4:8; 1 Co 1:18-31; Ga 6:14; Ep 2:8-9). Simply put, I cannot come up with any other understanding of Scripture, other than the Reformed understanding, that ensures the glory of God in salvation. People do not work their way into God’s favor, or reason themselves into faith, or persuade themselves into belief by some other means. In the Bible, faith is said to be a gift; and the Giver gets the glory. So, if I am able to contribute to the saving work, even if it is only by my right choice, then I have grounds for boasting. This cannot be.

-God is not in the business of holding a person down and forcing him/her to say yes to Him, as a bully might do on a school playground. God is in the business of making unbelieving people genuinely want Him. He does this by a deep work in the nature of the person (regeneration, as discussed earlier). He acts upon us to turn our natural hostility to His rule into a loving embrace of His presence. He gives us repentance and faith (Ep 2:8-9; 2 Ti 2:25). And again, the Giver gets the glory. And the Christian rejoices in this (Mt 11:20-26; Ro 11:33-36; 1 Pe 1:6-9). We really like when God is magnified. It makes us glad. It is only the sinfully proud that do not delight in the exaltation of God at the expense of their own exaltation.