Let's Talk Post-Modernism and the Emergent Church...

The Sunday Sound-Bite...

Gospel Driven Disciples introduces a new component: The Sunday Sound-Bite.

These "selections" will be from various men of God commenting on various topics with the goal of provoking a deeper appreciation of our Lord Jesus Christ and to facilitate obedience to the admonition given in II Peter 3:18 – “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ.”

This third selection is from Ligonier Ministries with Dr. R. C. Sproul, Sr., Dr. Al Mohler, and Ravi Zacharias who are discussing the critical issues involving the Emergent church movement.

"When the tide is low, every shrimp has its own puddle." - Vance Havne

Justification by Faith in Jesus Christ

"Justification by Faith Alone"

Your Weekly Exposure to Edwards

Gospel Driven Disciples posts some highlights from the prolific works of Jonathan Edwards. The following excerpt is taken from Justification by Faith Alone, published by Soli Deo Gloria.

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:4)

We are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of virtue or goodness of our own.

To be justified is to be approved and accepted; but a man may be said to be approved and accepted in two respects: the one is to be approved really, and the other to be approved declaratively. Justification is twofold: it is either the acceptance and approbation of the judge itself, or the manifestation of that approbation by a sentence or judgment declared by the judge, either to our own consciences or to the world. If justification is understood in the former sense, for the approbation itself, that is only that by which we become fit to be approved; but if it is understood in the latter sense, for the manifestation of this approbation, it is by whatever a proper evidence of that fitness. In the former, faith alone is concerned, because it is by that only in us that we become fit to be accepted. In the latter, whatever is an evidence of our fitness is alike concerned.

The great and most distinquishing difference beween the covenant of grace and that of works is that by the covenant of grace we are not this justified by our own works, bt only by faith in Jesus Christ. It is on this account chiefly tha the new covenant deserves the name of a covenant of grace, as I evident by Romans 4:16: “…therefore it is of faith, that it might be of grace.” Therfore justification by works (Galatians 1:6-7) is not an evangelical doctrine, but a legal one; it is no gospel at all.


Note: Edwards is at times most difficult to read and grasp. Some attempts at grappling with his great mind can cause severe head-aches. That is why I expose you to him. Stretch your thinking and reasoning capacity! Read and re-read his writings. Work through them with the same energy and determination used when eating a coconut, or a crab, or any other food you have to beat with a mallet or a club in order to enjoy. Work at it and then enjoy the “juices” of godly truth that oozes out of the passage at hand and drips down into your soul!

Metcalf's Musings

I am still trusting the Lord for His provision during this season of unemployment. I have applied outside of our immediate area as far as Cheyenne, WY and even Billings, MT. I am flabbergasted that I have not been able to find work.

Our darling Daughter, Sonja turned 34 this February! Don’t know who was more shocked, she or us. And to think that our baby will turn 28 this month. We actually have two with birthdays this month, Stacy turns 28 on the 17th and Sharon turns 29 on the 18th. Yep, we had two within 364 days! Why? You got me. Shannon turned 36 this past September.

I will be preaching Sunday at our church. Our pastor has gone to the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, CA. I have actually been to that conference once, what a fantastic time that was. Sunday’s text will be, II Peter 3:14-18. The subject is “How to wait for the return of Jesus.” The proposition states that, the delay in the return of Jesus presents a challenge to Christian men and women as they are waiting for his return. So, the question then becomes, “What should characterize our wait on the return of the Lord Jesus Christ?” The answer: this passage describes four attributes that characterize our wait. We are to be waiting proactively, prudently, passionately, and progressively.

I finished the gospel of Luke in my morning devotions. I have now started the sequel, and so will be meditating and studying through Acts for the next few months. I love Luke. I can’t wait to meet him when I get to heaven. I hope he can spare a century or two.

I made some Kahlua Chili the other day that would knock your socks off! I love a good chili and I love to cook. This was a fairly easy recipe and like I said it is yummy.

I am loving our new cat. Sonja took back her dog and gave us her cat. She had named this little Tortoise colored short hair Coco. I am not too crazy about that name, so I took to calling her Miss Thing. She is now my office cat. Every morning I wake up with her sleeping on my chest. I feed her and open the closet door for her box. Then by the time I have showered and dressed, she is racing to the door to go out to my study with me. The garage had been converted into two or three rooms before we bought the place. So I turned one into a great study. I have my desk, hutch, book shelves, storage/supply cabinet, computer, printer, fax, phone, and file cabinets out here. It is here where I have my morning’s devotion in complete privacy. Miss Thing lays on the crook of my left arm while I type my Sunday school lessons or sermon notes or blog.

Irene was able to drive down with our daughter Shannon and our son-in-law Brien to San Jose, CA in order to visit with her mother last week. Irene hadn’t seen her mom in three years so it was a great time for all of them. Hard trip! It is about 12 hours from here by car and that is getting a little hard to do these days.

We finally finished John chapter 2 in the Sojourners Adult Bible class this past Sunday. I start John 3 this coming Sunday. We started John in September. We are taking our time and examining the text paragraph by paragraph.

Notable Quotes: It’s Just A Family Tradition!

Sometimes you just come across a statement that goes beyond the category of just simply scratching your head. Such statements go beyond categorizing and so they float around for while causing your eyes to itch, your stomach to burn, and you forehead to get all wrinkled and crinkled up. Here are such “notable quotes:”

“When you’re trying to market Jesus, sometimes there’s a tendency to mute traditional Christian symbols. Difficult doctrines are left by the wayside. Hell is a morally repugnant doctrine. People wonder why God would send people to eternal punishment.”

So stated The Rev. Fred Johns, pastor of Brookview Wesleyan Church in Irondale, Alabama. He gave this remarkable gem to the Religious News Service when he was explaining his avoidance of the doctrine of hell as a market-driven approach.

“My campaign is not based on a foundation of lies. My values are not lies. It’s just the information I provided to the people is false.”

This gem escaped from Antwon Womack, a candidate for the Birmingham, Alabama Board of Education when he explained why he would not drop out of the race after this resume was shown to be riddled with lies.

Hank Williams Jr. might like this third and final “Notable Quote.” You remember his song, Family Tradition? It starts out, “Country music singers have always been a real close family, but lately some of my kinfolk have disowned a few others and me. I guess it's because I went and changed my position, Lord, I guess I went and broke their family tradition."

Well it seems that once upon a time the United Methodist’s and the Evangelical Lutheran’s were a real close family, but at some point some of the kinfolk disowned a few others from each side. More than likely it was because someone went and changed their position and in doing so went and broke the family tradition.

Well good news its seems, The Rev. Donald McCoid, the ecumenical official for the Evangelical Church in America made this statement when approval was given for a communion agreement between the two groups:

“We have always been kin. We’ve been cousins, and now we’ll be a part of a closer family.”

Rev McCoid, I think Hank Jr. did his song in the Key of E. What key are you going to do this new rendition in?

What say Ye?

Is that service for here or to go?

It seems more families today are forgoing religious funerals for memorial services according to an article in the USA Today. The article states that many families are opting to forgo the typical sermon and scripture references in place of a “secular styled celebration.

USA Today reported that many memorials are being conducted with unique and personalized eulogies without any mention of God or the hereafter. Seems families are opting for a more religiously sanitized celebration than a gospel laced exhortation to the grieving families.

I have planned my memorial service. It started because of my penchant for writing poetry and songs. One day for some reason I wrote what I would like on my Tombstone. I opt for the celebatory memorial. It goes like this:

A Husband, a Father, a Friend for a time

He has now come to the end of the line

Since our gracious God was merely a lender

Would you please, return him to sender?

What about you? Have you thought or planned for your memorial service?

 Do you prefer the typical funeral or a celebratory memorial event?

What say ye?

Do Prisoners Need Protected from the Bible?

Put this one in the, “Well, blow me down, I’ll be dipped, and the never thought I would live to see the day” column! It appears that someone in the common sense and let’s do something right department over at the ACLU slipped up. They actually protested a Virginia Prison’s decision to censure religious material that was sent to the inmates.

ACLU Staff attorney David Shapiro said, “The censorship of religious materials sent to prisoners violates both the rights of detainees to practice their religion freely while incarcerated as well as the free speech rights of those wanting to communicate with prisoners.”

It seems that Anna Williams son was incarcerated at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford, VA. She went to the ACLU after her son informed her that her letters to him were being censored. She had apparently sent letters with verses from the Bible to encourage and support him during the time of his confinement.

It seems jail officials allegedly removed religious materials from her correspondence. It was reported that a three page letter had been reduced to simply the greeting, the first paragraph, and “Love, Mom.”

Daniel Mach, the director of Litigation for the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief said, “People do not lose their right to religious worship simply because they are incarcerated.”

Has it come to this, that mothers can not write their own sons in jail or prison words of encouragement from the Bible? Do prisoners need to be protected from the Bible? Are you writing words of encouragment from Scripture to someone who is currently incarcerated?

What say Ye?

The Worst Thing To Call A Sinner

"There is no greater mockery

 than to call a sinner a free man."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

(1834-1892)

Show me a convict toiling in the  chain gang, and call him a free man if you will; point out to me the galley slave chained to the oar, and smarting under the taskmaster’s lash whenever he pauses to draw breath, and call him a free man if you will; but never call a sinner a free man, even in his will, so long as he is the slave of his own corruptions.

In our natural state, we wore chains, not upon our limbs, but upon our hearts, fetters that bound us, and kept us from God, from rest, from peace, from holiness, from anything like freedom of heart and conscience and will.

The iron entered into our soul; and there is no slavery as terrible as that. As there is no freedom like the freedom of the spirit, so is there no slavery that is at all comparable to the bondage of the heart.