Extemporaneous Ramblings

In juggling, there are a number of basic physical patterns. These patterns express in a vast number variations, that to the non-juggler’s eye appear to all be different. The juggler, however, can see these basic truths expressing in each variations. He or she also knows that without the basic patterns, irrespective of how deeply they are emerced in the variation, the juggling simply wouldn’t be physically possible.

The same is true of props. Juggling balls, clubs or rings (to name just a few common categories that include many more) all exercise that same fundamental set of patterns discussed above.

In exercising pattern and expecially in extending them, errors or drops are inevitable. They are, in fact, a required part of learning and skill extension. Compensating and overcoming them is a direct result of the underlying skill set supporting the activity.

Yet again, in group juggling, such as the club passing that gives us such great enjoyment and fellowship, the activity and the recovery from learning errors depend almost entirely on the underlying skill set.

In the final analysis, without the base patterns, no matter how they may be hidden in any situation, the activity and related growth would not be possible.

Let us then turn to the Christian life and the body of believers.

The faith that we hold, by the Grace of our Lord, provides a support of infinite strength in which to grow in life. There will be errors and miss-steps, as there must be in any development process. As we are called to grow more and more, these errors may at times be large and difficult. But it would not be possible to grow and extend in safety without the underlying grasp of our Lord. This undercurrent supports us just as the base pattern supports the juggler, but though changes beyond the reality of the present.

We learn the juggling pattern, but the pattern of Faith is a gift of God which we, being of the flesh and not of spirit, could not obtain ourselves. It brought us to the point of realising that we have received it as a gift, and it will sustain us despite worldly situations. It will allow the pattern to persist, despite evidence to the contrary at times.

What a joy to juggle and rest in the basic skills, but what a greater joy to rest in the free gift of Faith through Grace, sustained in the pattern established in Him and for His glory.

“Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.”

At the end of a recent conversation with a brother I said “The Elect are elect, period.” He responded “Now that in itself is scary.”

Surely not! For the believer, the place of rest is surely in the safety of Perseverance of the Saints. There we rest in the certainty that we are His and have been since before the beginning of time (Ephesians 1:4), and that no-one shall be able to pluck us from His hand (John 10:28-29).

For those taking the opposite view, what is there? If our calling and continued assurance of salvation was dependant in any way whatsoever upon our natural, worldy selves, then any realistic appraisal of the situation would leave one in constant anxiety and fear. What a nightmare.

What of those who walk away, some might ask? Did our Lord not warn us that some of the sheep would not really be sheep, and that there would be tares among the wheat?

But let us not dwell on that which is not of us, nor upon erroneous and fearful views that the world would use to tempt us to worry and fear. Let us sing the wonderful refrain above from Fanny Crosby, and rest in the assurance of Scripture and the joy of His grasp.

I recently heard an opinion about Grace which gave me concern as I thought about it. It concerned the responsibility of the believer to extend the Grace which they had received on to others. It proposed that failure to do so would likely make the Father unhappy, and would possibly engender some sort of correction. I have no fundamental problem so far.

It further proposed that the extension of Grace telegraphs from believer to believer, with the action of each believer being required so that Grace can pass to others. In illustration, it was suggested to see a string running from believer to believer, joining the body. Grace would telegraph through this chain, extending outward and reaching those downstream. Should the Grace not be relayed by a link, the string would be cut, the Grace would stop there, and those downstream would not receive the intended Grace.

Although I would certainly agree that it is stated biblically that it is the responsibility of believers to extended Grace to others, and that failure to do so may be credited to their heavenly account, the implications made of mans’ position in the distribution of Grace are in error.

The extension of Grace is a sovereign matter. It is of God and not of man. Though we can extend Grace, as it was extended to us, that extension is for our benefit and has no effect on the actual Grace that the Lord has deemed will be extended to another. To posit otherwise is to deny a key part of Devine Sovereignty and make ‘works’ a key part of salvation (and thereby evangelism). This to me is a serious error indeed.

As a sovereign act, the distribution of Grace will occur, no matter what any or all believers should do. It is, again, all of God and not of man. My, or your, actions in extending Grace may be part of our development under the hand of the Spirit, and may make life in the Body a little more pleasant, but it will not play a part in the action of Grace being received by another, or not.

Think of it this way. If Grace flows via a string, that string goes to each of the elect from the Lord. Maybe the agency of that direct link is you and I, but the link is to the Lord. Our actions are for our development within His plan for us, and maybe for another, but the actual action is always from Him.

Since Grace flows from the Father, by means of the Spirit, the actions of one believer have no real relevance upon another in that respect. To propose that extension of Grace is dependent in any way upon the activity of men means that it can be thwarted by those actions. That is to deny God’s absolute sovereignty therein.

So why split hairs over a simple view of Grace? Viewed from a perspective of absolute faith in the Sovereignty of the Lord in this matter, one may draw the correct conclusions. If that is not the case, however, and if the listener (as was likely the case in the situation under review) has a shaky base in the Sovereignty of God and other tenants of the Reformed faith and/or they have an underlying base of ‘works’ theology, then the message here is fraught with possible misinterpretation and seriously wrong conclusions.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil” (Prov 3:7).

Am I advocating a cessation of critical thinking? Far from it. However, as we are natural men by nature, our Lord wisely provided a sphere of safety for believers within the Scripture. That provides a safe home from which to analyze, discuss and live. We have true freedom therein.

Once one steps outside that zone, as is the case it this senario where the wisdom of man is used to redefine that of the Lord, one steps outside that safety net which the Father has so graciously provided. That is clearly not as He wishes.

As with all events, these senarios play out for the benefits of the Lord’s plans. The question that must be asked is whether denial of the authority of the Lord’s Word (let us make no bones about it, for that is what this all implies) is the hallmark of those who are actually His…

For believers, the only acceptable safety is in His hands, and He made it clear that being in His hands involves the acceptance of His rule. The rule is not related in any way to our common sense, nor anything else of us.

All glory be to Him.

My recent posts about the “Alone’s” and the reality that all is solely for the Glory of our Lord, lead me to recount an experience of a few months ago. These experiences leave me not only with dismay at the events themselves, but with concern that what they represent is more common within our Christian circles than we might think.

Through some para-church activity I met a fairly senior clergyman from a mainline denomination, a denomination that variously professes a reformed belief set. With many years experience and solid credentials, I made what I considered reasonable assumptions about his beliefs (we could jump to a new thread about ASSumptions, but we won’t go there for now).

In the course of events and interactions, and because of my own reformed persuasion, I asked casually one day in conversation about a doctrinal difference that had arisen. Let me also add though I hold strong views on the subject, my way of approaching this is to ask for clarification, as in “I think such and such, but I am eager to hear alternate doctrine base upon scripture”.

What I expected was a discussion of scripture or doctrine or the like, possibly with alternate thoughts on interpretation or even translation. Call me naive if you will, but what occurred shocked me.

The one and only explanation he gave was that “God has common sense. God and scripture must be seen with common sense within our context”. No theology, no scriptural reference to the matter at hand or the situation, nada. Just belief above all else that interpretation must be based on God’s common sense in relation to the situation at hand today.

Now folks, common sense is nothing of God. It is absolutely of Man. With that in mind, it could be renamed Natural Sense, as in, coming from the natural man - “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (1 Cor 2:14).

So this fellow is basing his life, theology and ministry on beliefs relative to man’s common sense (presumably his common sense in most instance, but that is actually irrelevant). This is relativism in a both seductive and insideous form! There are no real precepts from the Lord that can not be conveniently re-thought in this mindset. Faith and the action based thereon is now in man.

We have been warned and admonished about this repeatedly in scripture: ” Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding” (Prov 3:5), “Do not be wise in your own eyes” (Prov 3:7), and that the ways of God are not the ways of man. There are many other instances, but the natural man’s common sense is demonstrate to in many case to be antithesis of the ways of the Lord. Sola Scriptura!

In the situation at hand, on the surface, it looked like a simple dissagreement over biblical interpretation, and the effect of that on the activities of church life. What it was in reality was the illumination of Spiritual Warfare, and the subtle inroads of Satan in the body of believers. Does that go too far? I don’t think so.

The effect is actually massive, for once that Relativistic view is taken, many tenants of obedience fall quickly away. It is the first domino falling in a long series. Scary indeed.

Does this imply that there is no room for family discussion within the body of believers? In the words of Paul “May it never be” (Rom 6:2a). But let us hold fast to the Word as the only source, interpreted by His grace alone.

“O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home”

As I was writing the previous post in this thread, on the “Alone’s”, the words of the wonderful old hymn above were running through my mind. Only through His grace and calling do we have this privilege to express ourselves to the Glory of God. Our help, our hope, our shelter, our home - it is all of Him and Him alone.

It is our hope to glorify Him in our lives, not because we can, but for the larger reason that He made us and called us specifically and solely for that purpose.

As we glorify only Him, He is truly our hope and home, stretching from the past into times to come.

Let us share that with others, thereby again glorifying Him alone.

Soli Deo Gracia, all for the Glory of God in simply terms. How easily it rolls off our tongues in word and song, especially on a Sunday morning. But do we live that way?

As we sing His praise, surrounded by the fellowship of other believers, the glory of the Lord seems close by. But even there, in the emerging church life, there is all too often an element of our glory, along with His. But the glory is ALL His, and none of us.

Whether we are walking in the world, or singing in the church, let us remember who holds it all, moment to moment. Our true level of dependence is truly as staggering and complete as is the degreee to which we often forget it.

Through the Lord and His ways we are called to Him, expressed by ‘Grace alone, Faith alone, Christ alone, and Scripture alone’ - the guiding responsible principles by which we are guided and live. As we finish this set of principles with ‘For the Glory of God Alone’, let us try to remember that with every step and breath that we take.

We have been called and lead to a place of worship and relationship with the Lord solely for the purpose of His glory. There is nothing in it of us.

In the process of expanding the site and particularly in the addition of various theology related feeds, I have had a chance to survey more other blogs and theology sites that usual.

It has been a humbling experience indeed. There are so many people writing so much wonderful material, both in blogs and larger site offerings. It is the blogs, though, that particularly humble me. Relaxed and often informal in presentation, many of these sites contains wonderful exposition and discussion.

In the face of this, why would I try to add more - especially from a more limited perspective and knowledge than others? Simply because I, like them, feel called to do so. So on we go, hoping to at least shed a little light on some areas, through the mercy and grace of our Lord and His Spirit.

Soli Deo Gloria.

In looking over some articles at the site of one of our new theology links, monergism.com, I was struck (as a firm believer in the Doctrines of Grace) by the inevitability of mongerism for those who embrace Sola Garcia.

As I let my mind rest on the complete Sovereignity of the Lord and on His total holiness, I simply can not comprehend any reality outside sovereign grace wherein to dwell.

If this is foolishness, then let me continue to be foolish, as the Lord predicted that both He and we would be regarded (1 Cor 2:14).

Further, the work of the Holy Spirit, as the active agent in the equation here on earth, is then equally unavoidable in the quickening of the Elect.

Now, before someone points it out, this is a simple equation. There certainly great theological discussion on the details and concepts. Having acknowledged that, however, the basic truth is, as it is express above or similarly, in the end quite simple.

Does this mean that those who believe (and confess Him as Lord) are then permanently freed from worldly turmoil, temptations, doubts and other difficulties? Not a chance. Perfection in experiential knowledge of the truth, as far as I can see, will only be in the presence of the Lord when He returns. Living here on earth in the interim, we witness and are faced with the battle for truth, and Spiritual Warfare is the daily reality.

Nonetheless, we have His assurance that we rest in Him, and despite the circumstances of a world moving towards spiritual calamity before His return, His Spirit works within us and we will indeed see Him face to face for all eternity.

All glory be to our Lord!

So, if you read my previous post, you know that I just don’t get it on the subject of New Years Eve. However, it seems that not getting it doesn’t save one (at least not if they are a parent) from the legendary New Years Eve aftermath.

Although I don’t get it, my teenage daughter and her church youth group do get it. As a result, they arranged an all night evening at the church to generally celebrate, socialize and avoid sleeping. Good fun, well supervised and very appropriate.

Now the part that drives this post. As a responsible parent who frets appropriately when overnight actiivities are underway, and who takes an active part in many of them, the upshot is that though not getting New Years Eve, I now have an insufficient sleep hangover appropriate to someone who does get it!

This also got me to considering how many other people are in the same boat, albeit for other reasons. A huge number of people work massive overtime in support of those who get it. Right? Many of those people, though they may get it, can’t have it because they were working endlessly. They also are suffering the aftermath without the beforemath. Another interesting senario.

So now, as a mental vegetable, I can only post silliness such as this. Go figure…