Fluency

I just finished listening to Max McLean’s presentation of the historical setting and speech of Martin Luther which ended with the now famous quote

“Since your most serene majesty and your high mightinesses require from me a clear, simple, and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the councils, because it is clear as the day that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the word of God, I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me. Amen.”

You can download it free at  Listeners Bible. I recommend the higher quality which has sections.  The total length is 24 minutes.

There are a variety of ways to define worship; here are a few of mine.

Encounter and Expression

Encounter: Meeting with God, seeing, who He is, understanding His attributes and character, what He does for you
(It is thanksgiving focused on the source.)

Expression: Celebrating what God has done, who God is based on your encounter with Him, acting on what God has done

Authentic worship is seeing God while looking life squarely in the face

Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (ESV)

Worship is a verb, it must be active. It is not simply knowing that God is great, but it is proclaiming it and acting on it so that God will be glorified.
Worship involves life actions not just words.

Worship is getting impressed by God

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.”

–A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1961), 1.

So what impresses you about God?

The deepest kind of transformation takes place in us when we become so deeply impressed with God and His purposes in and through our lives that our will, our volition, becomes engaged in the process of change and growth. (Richard E. Averbeck, © “Transforming Discipleship: Foundations of Christian Spiritual Formation.” Spiritual Formation Forum, May 19, 2004)

Robertson McQuilkin

It is easier to go to a consistent extreme, than to stay in the center of biblical tension.

I’m not sure where I heard this, but it rings true:

We only do regularly
what we are held accountable for

Therefore–we need accountability!

I great song.

Nicole C. Mullen
Redeemer
Album: Redeemer: The Best Of Nicole C. Mullen

(Song starts at 1:15 in the video)

C. S. Lewis

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

Rob Bell has caused a stir among bloggers for his fairly incomplete definition of the term/movement  ”evangelical.”

While I appreciate Rob Bell’s creativity, and would not want to judge his motives (I’ve not met him, nor read enough of his writing), I don’t find his logic, exegesis or theology very sound.

So, what is an Evangelical?

Here is a good definition which highlights the central driving features of evangelicalism.

To define “evangelical” we need to pay attention to those who have made it their life study to come to terms with this movement, and two scholars have done just that: Mark Noll in the USA and David Bebbington (The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon And Moody (History of Evangelicalism) ) in the UK. They agree on this: an evangelical is a Christian Protestant for whom the central ideas are the leading authority of Scripture, the necessity of personal conversion, the centrality of the death of Christ on the cross as a substitutionary atonement, and the importance of a life of active following Jesus, seen in such things as Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, and deeds of compassion and justice. That is the standard definition of evangelical. This definition summarizes those who care about getting this term accurate. It is not a definition designed to exclude some of whom they are worried. It’s big tent definition, but it bears no ill-will toward others.

Now my observation today: I’m seeing a baffling desire by many who almost never talk about any of the above four ideas (as central to what they believe) but for some reason want to be called “evangelical.” They make a point to say they are evangelical. To be committed to justice or compassion as the central pursuit in life does not make one an evangelical, though evangelicals should be committed to justice and to compassion — and shame on those who aren’t. But what makes an evangelical is a commitment to the above four ideas (Bible, conversion, cross, discipleship).

God hates sin because He loves people and wants what is best for them
−including intimacy with Him
God always extends grace to those who seek forgiveness
−He requires our honesty before Him, not just on a specific sin, but on our inability to overcome sin on our own
Once grace is extended guilt is removed.
−the removal of guilt does not necessarily remove the lingering consequences of sin